Review: 41453 Party Time
Posted by CapnRex101,
41453 Party Time is among the most appealing sets from the new Unikitty! range in my opinion, due primarily to the inclusion of Hawkodile. This impressive figure is unique and he looks superb in official images, matching the character from the animated series with remarkable accuracy.
However, my interest in this set was lessened quite considerably by its price of £29.99 in the UK. That seems extremely expensive, especially when compared with the US price of $19.99. Fortunately, this set is currently available for just £15.00 on Amazon and that cost seems much more reasonable to me.
Characters
Almost every set from the Unikitty! theme includes Unikitty, as one would expect. This version of the character is exclusive though and I think it looks fantastic, featuring an excited facial expression which matches the party environment. The bright colour scheme really stands out and I like the 1x3 inverted tile that provides a sturdy connection between Unikitty's head and her body.
Puppycorn makes use of the same element, albeit moulded in tan rather than white. The printing on the front of his head lines up with this inverted 1x3 tile but the two colours do not match perfectly which is disappointing. Nevertheless, I like Prince Puppycorn's new ears and his facial expression is only available in this set, much like Unikitty.
The Unikitty! theme is populated with numerous creative characters, the most interesting of whom is probably Hawkodile. This brick-built figure is much taller than others from the range so matches the animated series and his muscular build has been replicated very effectively, consisting of broad and rectilinear shoulders that contrast with a comparatively narrow pair of legs.
I love Hawkodile's sunglasses and his yellow beak looks marvellous in relation to the source material, featuring a severe expression which befits Unikitty's bodyguard. The new wings look brilliant too and I like the printed 1x3 tiles on Hawkodile's arms, although the black Technic pins which allow his arms to move appear out of place. Even so, this is undoubtedly my favourite character from the entire Unikitty! range.
Master Frown is focused almost entirely upon spoiling the enjoyment of others so his appearance in this set is rather disconcerting. Nevertheless, his miserable facial expression conveys a great deal of emotion and I like Master Frown's dark blue robe too. The exposed studs on the arms look slightly strange though and I think 1x2 tiles would have been preferable.
The Completed Model
Most of the Unikitty! sets bear little resemblance to events from the animated series but 41453 Party Time is unusual in that respect. It appears to take inspiration from 'Birthday Blowout', featuring a DJ mixing desk, a banner and an enormous cake. This is simply constructed around a 4x4 round Technic brick and its colour scheme seems rather muddled, although I do like the iced decorations on the sides.
Two presents are included too. These are assembled using 1x1 corner panels and 1x2 corner panels which is reasonably effective, although I prefer the specialised components that were designed for the eighteenth series of Collectable Minifigures. In addition, the stickers on top of each present could have been replaced with printed designs but the pearl silver and pearl gold horns inside the parcels are fun.
A colourful DJ mixing booth and a stage occupy most of the 214 pieces in this set. LEGO has produced several similar models in the past and this example is attractive, featuring some lovely balloons, a large banner which is decorated with two stickers and a rotating stage. There is room to place two figures on the stage and another fits behind the mixing desk. I like the printed records but they cannot turn which seems like a missed opportunity.
Overall
41453 Party Time is an enjoyable set, as one would anticipate given its name and subject matter! The colourful stage looks wonderful and an excellent selection of characters are included. Hawkodile stands out in particular, featuring several appealing pieces and an attractive colour scheme.
Unfortunately, these positive attributes do not excuse the exorbitant prices of £29.99 or €29.99 found across Europe. Conversely, this set costs $19.99 in the US which represents reasonable value in my opinion. I would therefore recommend 41453 Party Time to Unikitty! fans, albeit only at a significant discount on the European prices.
I hope you have found this review informative. Let us know by liking this article and share your thoughts on the set in the comments below.
Thanks to Huw for the photos in this review.
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33 comments on this article
Probably buy this for parts and build something better for with my daughter who love lego friends..
^My thoughts exactly.
A sure skip for me. This reminds me some of the Mixles and Nixles. Yep I will say again, SKIP!
Also reminds me of The Justice League Anniversary Party set 70919.
I can already see this theme selling incredibly well in Europe ;-)
i'm assuming that the reason the hawk looks so close to the show is that i think most of the characters in the show are based on lego. The characters were designed specifically in mind to have a good translation to lego.
Just want to add that all though it seems like an unfinished set the only uni kitty set that interests me is the theme park track one i, d buy two of those just for the purple track parts.. The rest are abit Meh..
It's a fun party set with decent brick built figs but that price RRP is HIDEOUS! After the Resistance Transport Pod this is (almost) a new low on licensed prices...
LEGO is officially US biased.
@DaftArcher20968: absolutely.
I commented on this in the article about the Harry Potter Barnes and Noble minifigure set.
It is scandalous how the rest of the world is continually and intentionally discriminated by TLG in recent years.
Thank god there are enough other interesting hobbies to choose from. Sad about my once favorite hobby though. But I am really sick of it, and many of my friends as well. Thankfully we have got so many sets already that we simply don't need new ones anymore anyway.
Way to go TLG.
At the moment, we have the world's cheapest LEGO prices here in Turkey and this set is the only exception with its US price being lower.
Sad to see LEGO alienating loyal fans with bonkers pricing. Set a global retail price and adjust it for each country's exchange rate. Some other factors will come into play of course, such as import duties and shipping rates, but those do not equate what is basically a 100% mark-up as is the case with this little set.
Maybe the UK cost is the VAT, this set wasn't for me but I like the bodyguard.
^A similar set from the City Line is 18 in the UK. There isn't very much a licensing thing here, since it is a Lego-created brand to have such. Even the Marvel/DC sets are 20 there for a $20 set.
This looks like the lego Batman movie set, The Justice League Anniversary Party, just with unikitty.
People say LEGO is discriminating against others and favoring the U. S. -- and I don't necessarily disagree, but even $19.99 seems a little hefty for a set like this.
I do like the Hawk guy, and I feel like Lego were trying to create something meme-worthy with Master Frown. I like it when Lego tries something a bit different and out-there, and these sets are all wonderfully colourful and bright.
But in all my local shops, they're not selling. And the collectable figure packets are just gathering dust. It's kind of an odd theme, and with the prices, it feels a bit like Lego is taking their customers for granted.
I do agree with you Zordboy.
Frankly speaking, as an America-dweller, I think $20 is some horsecrap too. I'd have to say $15 would be the highest I'd ever go on this one.
I wish it weren't so predictable that male AFOLs would be reduced to babyish, impotent whining any time that LEGO launched a theme that was cute, fun, and/or silly (and not licensed from similarly absurd properties with a 20–90 year history like Batman, Spider-Man, The Wizard of Oz, Ghostbusters, Sonic the Hedgehog, Mickey Mouse, The Flintstones, Scooby-Doo, Alice in Wonderland, Doctor Who, or Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles).
The price of this theme outside the US is definitely an oddity, even compared to other themes based on IPs co-owned by LEGO and Warner Media like Mixels or The LEGO Movie. And unlike the theme's general silliness, those price concerns ARE something legitimately upsetting. I wonder if perhaps it's a result of LEGO having to recoup additional advertising expenses in countries where Cartoon Network (which airs the Unikitty TV series) is not as widely viewed. By comparison, the US price seems rather fair for the contents.
I don't quite get people thinking this set looks unfinished. It seems to depict a fairly complete party scene. What exactly is it missing?
Hawkodile is some kind of being you think should be executed into a minifigure like any Chima eagle but weirdly ends up as a brickbuilt. Weirdly Dr Fox still uses a minifigure base.
I like this theme encouraging kids to create brickbuilt characters in a System scale not just stick to minifigure, . And overall the party scene, aside from characters, work as good as Friends set. So it wouldn't bother if you like the UniKitty gang or not, you can still add TLM minifigures for the fun.
@Dorayaki: Dr. Fox is brick-built. She uses the same style of arm-with-Technic-pin as the Bricksters from last year’s Nexo Knights sets. And in general, even considering the quirks of the Unikitty cartoon’s animation style, Hawkodile looks a lot blockier (and bigger) than a minifigure would. That said, I agree that the choice of brick-built characters is very creative, not to mention helps them fit in better with the design language of Unikitty herself than normal minifigures would!
I hope Unikitty! will get more sets, because I hope for Hawkodile vs
Eagleator set
@Lordmoral: Re: "Maybe the UK cost is the VAT"
Right. 19.99 USD versus 29.99 Pounds (equivalent to more than 39 USD!)
So sure, about 96% VAT, that must be it.
*rolleyes*
Honestly, 20 USD for this set seems about tolerable, but the equivalent of almost 40 USD!?
Like I said, TLG seem to have lost all their marbles to think anyone would buy sets at such ridiculous prices.
Or are they actively unselling them?
@AustinPowers, I have a legitimate question for you. If you hate what LEGO is currently doing so much, why are you still commenting here? I don’t think it contributes much, personally. Not trying to be a jerk, I’m just curious.
Overall, great set and great theme! Shame about the UK price, though...
The set has 11 parts listed as being only in 1 set. 8 more listed as only in 2 sets. That does not explain the US/EU price gap, but it does help explain why the set is more expensive than many would like. Most folks like new parts, new colors, and no stickers, but this could be a "lack of sticker" shock for the price.
Every time I hear the UK's LEGO pricess I'm blown away. How do you guys put up with that!? Beyond Star Wars and some of the Superhero sets the pricing here in the States is usually great, a real shame.
@TheBrickPal: legitimate question.
Up to recent times, LEGO has been my favorite hobby by a large margin. I am 41, have been playing with LEGO for almost four decades, and have been a fan and promoter of the brand among friends, family and colleagues for many years as well. As such I feel very attached to the brand and I think many among us here at Brickset or other LEGO fan sites, as I would call them, feel the same or at least in a similar way.
As such, I am deeply saddened and quite frankly very angry about what TLG has done in recent years, which I feel is alienating many people, especially outside the US.
Pricing is one of my gripes, or rather price gouging as I would call it. This is not only annoying for someone who once bought over a hundred sets a year, but also for toy store owners, of which I know quite a few, who tell me that LEGO doesn't sell as well as it used to, and many shoppers seem to give negative feedback about ridiulous prices being a major reason why they stop buying sets.
Second is the perceived quality of sets or entire themes, with ever more emphasis on "stuff" that doesn't help sell sets or even entice people, kids especially, to be interested in LEGO anymore. I can see it even with my own kids and their friends. Only a couple of years back they were excited about new waves of Friends or City or Technic sets. Now the Friends theme seems so stale as to necessitate TLG moving into things like the go carting theme, which no girl I know cares the slightest bit about. A sentiment those toy store owners I mentioned echo as well.
Other themes perform as duds as well, mainly because of the obscure source material. Remember, even though it might seem incomprehensible to you, over here most of the shows LEGO themes are based on are simply not shown on TV or on pay channels that people don't get (Unikitty, Nexo Knights, Adventure Time, Mixels etc.). Add to that Superhero/Superhero Girls, BrickHeadz and you have got the perfect recipe for shelf huggers galore.
A notable exception and source for hope is Ninjago. But that alone doesn't carry a brand.
Summing up, yes, I really am very angry when I think about how TLG is currently running the brand.
But otoh I am still owner of over a thousand LEGO sets, and still very interested in what is happening in the community. Plus, Brickset in particular to me is the best LEGO resource site on the web. Combined with Bricklink and Rebrickable it is imho the best AFOL experience you can get.
Also, I haven't totally given up hope that things might lighten up again in the future. After all, TLG has had a few rough patches in the past as well.
And finally, if everyone here only gave positive comments all the time, and agreed how perfect everything is, how could any kind of meaningful discussion arise?
@AustinPowers: You've stated at length that you think a lot of today's themes aren't as relevant to European kids or adults as older themes, but I think you'll find a lot of American AFOLs tend to believe the same thing. Do you really believe complaints about new waves of existing themes being either too repetitive or too off-the-wall — or even complaints about any and all brand-new themes like Ninjago, Friends, Chima, Mixels, Nexo Knights, Unikitty, etc. being stupid, pointless, or unappealing — are a strictly or even a primarily European phenomenon?
Likewise, even American buyers have been discouraged by and vocal about the perceived high prices of LEGO for decades. And I can't find any indication that increases in German LEGO prices have been out of proportion with increases in American ones. Ten years ago, a City set that was $20 in the US was ´typically €20 in Germany, and one that was $10 in the US was €10 in Germany, even though at that time, the exchange rate was 1 EUR = 1.47 USD. Today, City sets that are $20 in the US are typically €20 or even €15 in Germany, and City sets that are $10 in the US are still €10 in Germany… but the difference in value between the two currencies today has become much smaller (1 EUR = 1.15 USD).
As far as declining sales at local toy shops, that's not even CLOSE to being a European-only issue. Today even the local toy shops that managed to survive the rise of "big box" national retail chains like Toys 'R' Us, Walmart, and Target are struggling against the steep competition presented by online mega-retailers like Amazon.
And while low-priced toys tend to be pretty reliable sellers in any market, toys like LEGO that have always been relatively high prices are hard for toy stores in general to sell competitively, when physical and online retailers with more diversified inventories are able to offer lower prices while still having enough non-toy products to stay insulated against either short-term or long-term declines in the toy market as a whole. I suspect that most local brick-and-mortar toy store owners in the United States would probably describe the trends they've witnessed/experienced with LEGO sales similarly to how toy store owners in Europe do.
Overall, I get the impression that your perception of LEGO sales strength in Europe is much more dire than the reality of the situation. After all, note that in the latest interim report, LEGO sales in North America declined slightly, while sales in Western Europe grew by low single digits. The overall financial results for 2017 saw sales decline in both Europe AND North America, though their chief marketing officer Julia Goldin attested that even amidst that decline, LEGO remained an especially common wish on kids' Christmas lists, particularly in the United States and Germany.
In 2016 (the year Nexo Knights launched) LEGO sales figures in North America were slightly down while sales in all European markets were up by single or double digits. None of these results seem to suggest that LEGO's sales slump in the past 2–3 years has hit Europe any harder than North America — if anything, it seems to be the other way around, with LEGO achieving considerably more promising results in Europe than over here (even though growth rates for the toy market as a whole during this period have been fairly similar between the two continents).
How can any of those trends be interpreted as LEGO focusing TOO MUCH on appealing to American buyers at the expense of European ones?
For the record, the Australian price for this set is $39.99, which is *utterly* absurd. Particularly given other sets in the same-size boxes are literally *half* that price.
There must be some behind-the-scenes factor to explain the absurd pricing, here, but I'm more than tempted to agree that Lego has lost its damn mind on this one.
@Zordboy: The Australian price does seem excessive, but in this case nowhere near as excessive as the British/Belgian/Danish/Dutch/Norwegian/Swedish/Finnish prices. $39.99 AUD is only around one and a half times the American price of $19.99 USD, whereas the prices in the aforementioned European countries are around twice the US price — an uncharacteristically huge price hike for many of those countries.
I've been noticing a surprising number of examples recently where Australian and New Zealand prices (which previously used to rival the Scandinavian countries for most exorbitant of the prices that the Brickset database compiles) have gotten a lot tamer by comparison. For example, with the sets 60176-1 and 60185-1, the Australian prices are literally the lowest price listed here on Brickset as far as exchange rates are concerned. I'm not sure how much of that is just the currency changing in value though. A lot of larger City Mining/Mountain Police sets as well as smaller and larger City Great Vehicles sets seem to have Australian prices more equivalent to those in the US and many parts of Europe (albeit still not as absurdly expensive as they used to be).
@Aanchir: Re: "After all, note that in the latest interim report, LEGO sales in North America declined slightly, while sales in Western Europe grew by low single digits."
Do they report numbers of sets sold or sales value? Because if the latter, the slight increase in Europe might be due to the price hikes rather than due to more sets being sold.
And about those. You chose City sets as an example. City though is kind of the anomaly as those sets' prices have ideed risen the least (prices on the box of comparable sets might have even stayed the same, yet for a lower piece count).
@AustinPowers: Wasn't aware City was an anomaly in that way, just that it was a good example of a pretty standard theme that had been running for 10+ years and that I was able to find older German prices for (Brickset didn't catalog set prices for any countries but the US and UK that long ago, and all attempts I made to find scans of older German catalogs came up dry). It doesn't help that many discussions of prices from that long ago are more focused on sales and markdowns than original RRP, that many reviews stating Euro prices at that time didn't specify which country's prices they were referencing, and that the Indiana Jones theme being current then means a lot of searches including "German" or "Germany" as a search term return false positives.
That said, here's the results of a more comprehensive search. It seems like 2008 German prices on several sets (both from themes that are still with us and themes that have ended) were even MORE egregious compared to the City prices mentioned above:
3831, 3832, and 8293: €35 (DE) vs. $30 (US)
4996: €33 (DE) vs. $30 (US)
4997: €80 (DE) vs. $70 (US)
7585: €45 (DE) vs. $40 (US)
7587: €23 (DE) vs. $20 (US)
7624: €13 (DE) vs. $10 (US)
7625, 7669, and 7670: €26 (DE) vs. $20 (US)
7626: €48 (DE) vs. $40 (US)
7644: €90 (DE) vs. $80 (US)
7671: €47 (DE) vs. $40 (US)
7672: €68 (DE) vs. $50 (US)
7673: €46 (DE) vs. $45 (US)
7674: €65 (DE) vs. $55 (US)
7676: €140 (DE) vs. $120 (US)
7682: €40 (DE) vs. $30 (US)
7683: €60 (DE) vs. $50 (US)
7733: €26 (DE) vs. $25 (US)
7736: €5.50 (DE) vs. $5 (US)
7737: €11 (DE) vs. $10 (US)
7739: €70 (DE) vs. $60 (US)
7741: €15 (DE) vs. $10 (US)
8557: €100 (DE) vs. $90 (US)
10188: €420 (DE) vs. $400 (US)
There were also plenty of other sets that, like the City prices cited previously, cost as many Euros in Germany as dollars in the US (and consequently, had much higher German prices based on the then-current exchange rates): 4837, 4838, 6117, 6118, 6119, 6187, 7037, 7038, 7040, 7645, 7646, 7679, 7734, 7738, 7744, 8154, 8155, 8292, 8295, 8495, 8630, 8633, 8634, 8635, 10184, 10185, 21000, 21001, and 852293.
I would be amiss, of course, not to mention those sets where the German prices were closer to parity with US prices than any of those mentioned above. From highest increase over USD price to highest reduction from US price (after applying the exchange rates at the time): 8297 (35%), 4993/4998/7743 (31%) 7048 (29%), 5610/5611/5612/5613/5614/5615/5618/5619/5620/5621 (28%), 852271/852272 (27%), 8697 (25%), 8294 (23%), 7731 (19%), 6192 (18%), 7583 (13%), 7675 (12%), 7649 (5%), 7732 (-2%), 7586 (-4%) 7724/7979 (-17%). That said… I'm not getting the sense that City prices back then were in any way as much of an anomaly as you describe.
As for this year's sets: within the "normal" category of sets (not counting gear, books, extended, etc), Brickset lists 515 sets. Of those, 355 have both English and German prices listed. Of those, the average set (whether you define average as mean, median, or mode) costs the same number of Euros as it does in USD. The highest ratio between German Euro price and American dollar price is 1.2 Euros per dollar, while the lowest is .67 Euros per dollar. With exchange rates applied, that means sets cost anywhere from 38% higher in Germany than the US to 23% less in Germany than the US, with an average price 15% higher in Germany than the US.
While the 2008 data cited above is admittedly incomplete, the big picture doesn't seem nearly as favorable after applying the then-current exchange rates. The set that was most expensive back then in Germany than the US, 7741, was around 120% more expensive in Germany,were cheapest back then in Germany compared to the US, the Advent Calendars, were only about 17% cheaper than in the US. And the median and modal average (don't have the time or the patience to calculate mean for these ones since I haven't been writing all the specific prices down) are €1(DE):$1(US) just like today… except that the current exchange rates meant sets with this price ratio were 47% more expensive in Germany, not just 15%.
So again, every indication I've seen indicates that price discrepancies between the US and Germany have been getting MORE equitable, not less.
If you do have any catalogs from back then that can provide more thorough price information, then by all means let me know what prices they tend to have listed! Even if it turns out that I'm wrong it'd be interesting to know which particular sets/themes back then were priced more fairly than today and which were not!