Review: 41369 Mia's House
Posted by MeganL,
41369 Mia's House is the largest Friends set in the first wave of 2019. Mia is the fourth Friend to have a house; we've built Olivia's, Emma's, and Stephanie's houses since the Friends theme was introduced (with Livi's Pop Star Villa as a bonus addition to the theme).
Let's take a look at Mia's House as we ponder the following questions: Will the house reflect Mia's personality? What will her parents look like? Will this house be a modular like the other houses have been? And what has happened to Mia's hair?
The front of the box shows Mia's house from the front. It's a Craftman styled home with brown siding and stone details on the front and side. An open porch/balcony is featured on the upper floor. The home is located in a forest like setting, which is very appropriate considering Mia's love of the outdoors and allows Mia's horse, Metzie, some room.
The back of the box shows some of the play features of the set and the detailed interior of the house. Unlike other Friends' houses, Mia's house is not a modular, where the rooms can be rearranged into different configurations. Inside the box there are six numbered bags, one 8x16 plate, one 6x16 plate, Metzie the horse in another bag, and an instruction book with sticker sheet.
Minidolls
There are three minidolls included in the set - Mia, and her parents Ann and Angus. Looking at Ann, it's easy to see where Mia gets her freckles from. Ann has auburn hair that's braided in a long plait down her back. She's dressed in a purple and green top with a slash closure tied with a dark green belt. Ann's head, hair and torso are all new to this set. Angus also has auburn hair, though his hair has been seen numerous times before. He wears a khaki shirt that has a tree emblem on one of the chest pockets, perhaps this indicates that Angus works as a forest ranger.
And then there's Mia. She's wearing a new shirt with an acorn decoration on the front. The shirt is white with the acorns in bright orange, which matches the bright orange sleeves. Mia pairs that with khaki shorts and bright orange shoes which also matches her shirt. This bright orange also matches Mia's hair (which is called "bright red" in LEGO colour). This change in hair colour is a significant departure from Mia's hair in previous years. Originally I thought it was a printing error on the front of the box, but the hair colour is really that bright. Here's a picture of Mia from this year and from last year as contrast:
For some reason I find this a much bigger change than the Friends reboots than last year. I'm not a fan of that bright red/orange hair. I prefer last year's, or optimally, having the same hair colour as Ann and Angus would have worked better.
There are of course cute animals included in the set - Metzie the horse and Twister the bunny. Metzie is pale gray with dappling on his hindquarters. Not surprisingly, some of Metzie's dapples are in the shape of a heart. I love the design and Metzie looks lovely but I am disappointed that his hind legs don't move like the horses found in the later Lord of the Rings sets. Twister looks as cute as you would expect a bunny to be.
The completed model
There are two small builds with the set. The first is a well, with a pail with water. There's no discernible means of getting water out of the well - while there's a crank included, there's no rope or chain to lower the pail.
There's an outdoor eating area included, complete with table and three chairs for our three minidolls (apparently the older brother who's off to college doesn't merit a chair any more). The table is ready for brunch: a baguette; some cheese and a container of orange juice is ready for our minidolls.
The rest of the build is the house. The recessed front doorway boasts a clear front door with a nice floral design. Unfortunately the design is provided by a sticker, unlike the windows in Stephanie's house which were printed pieces. A nice touch is the bee hive just outside the door.
To the right of the front door there's a large rock (represented by a LURP) with some of the newer greenery pieces as landscaping. At the side of the rock there's a flight of stairs leading up to the second floor porch. Behind the rock and stairs there's a couple pails for Metzie - one each containing carrots and water. Her saddle (a relatively new piece in dark azur) is also stored here.
At the top of the stairs there's a porch that runs half the length of the house. A door with the same floral design as the front door is found here, and there's a couple of small windows with flowers on the sills. The dark azur pieces used for the window frames are new to this set.
Turning the set around, we start to see the details of the back of the set. There's a small bathroom on the top floor. I couldn't get it in the picture, but the most amusing sticker (to me) in the set was the sticker that has a picture of a roll of toilet paper on it. I like the use of 2x2 tiles for the floor in this room.
One level down, on the ground level door there's the living room. I found the couch construction to be rather interesting and I thought at first that the cushions were put on backwards, but it works. This could also be a recliner, except the couch is positioned right against the wall. A picture of Mia and her brother is on the wall.
The kitchen is next to the living room. 2x2 tiles are used again for the floor, but puzzlingly enough they don't extend to the end of the plate. Though the kitchen is compact it's relatively well equipped. Medium blue kitchen accessories are included as well as most necessary appliances, including a smoothie maker. Those of you who love food pieces will appreciate the inclusion of a fried egg piece in the set.
Over the kitchen there's the largest room in the house - Mia's bedroom. It's two levels. At the entryway there's a welcome mat (could it also be someplace for Twister to hang out?) next to a small table with a flower. The rest of the space is dedicated to a workstation that includes a desk, chair and shelving unit. A crate containing Mia's helmet for her rock climbing and other outdoor activities is off to the side.
There's a ladder that leads up to Mia's sleeping area. The bow window in this area is also new to this set.
The most interesting part of Mia's room is the alternate entrance to it! There's a rock wall along the side of the house that offers a trap door to get into Mia's room. The bright yellow clamp can be used to swing open the door.
Overall thoughts
41360 Mia's House (715 pieces, $69.99, 69.99€ , £59.99) is a worthy addition to the Friends house line. It's a good example of how far the Friends sets have come in illustrating the individual Friends' interests. The forest setting, having Metzie and Twister included, the craftsman style home, and the rock wall are just several features that shows Mia's interest in the outdoors. Contrast that with 3315 Olivia's House - a nice house, but very generic and reflects none of Olivia's interest in science and technology.
Some play value has been sacrificed by not having modular rooms like all the previous houses. However that has been offset somewhat by the addition of the rockwall and other play features. I do like that Mia's bedroom has taken up more real estate than in the other houses.
I think Mia's House does the best job so far of reflecting a Friend's individual interests. Mia's colour of bright yellowish green is featured as an accent colour throughout, and I really like the choice of the craftsman style home.
Fans of the Friends Houses will definitely want to pick this up. I'm looking forward to seeing what Andrea's House will be like - if current timing holds, that will be in another two years. I'm hoping then that perhaps the designers will refresh some of the other Friends' houses to reflect their colours and personalities better.
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14 comments on this article
Wait: A horse in a Friends set?
Anybody thinking of commenting- read smooth criminals comment first, I think you'll find it's already been said.
Mia’s parents remind me of John Connor’s fosters from Terminator 2.
Rather fond of the wood panel Friends sets. Trap door chimney climbing just sold me. Fun feature.
Not the best lego friends house i preferred Olivia, s house followed by Emmas and then livi, s Mansion, buts its nice enough i like the dark purple & lime Accents throughout the structure, but i wish they'd kept Mia's hair the original colour instead of the bright red..
I love almist all of it but colorsheme.
I swaped all putple for green in photoshop and BOY it makes set looks way better and more natural.
I am really missing the Elves line. I would really love to like more of the Friends theme but for me it just isn't the same. This is quite nice though and may consider getting it at some point.
I might get this house but without the figures.
I very much prefer the bright red hair, I think it's much closer to Mia's appearance in the rebooted animated series. It's probably similar to the Twin-Pod Cloud Car dilemma where orange was too bright (in person anyway) and dark red was too dull. I agree with you that dark orange would have been a closer compromise... but perhaps they decided that bright red was more youthful. I absolutely love Mia's outfit though.
This set contains several of my more-liked LEGO colors and even though it's very two-dimensional and not modular at all compared to past Friends house sets, it still seems like a decent playset just on its own. If nothing else, it's not a bad parts pack at the right price. I really dig those dark azure window frames.
Imagine being her parents...why would they buy a one bedroom house? If anything, they should’ve had the bedroom be theirs and just had Mia slept in the loft still, but that’s probably not a great situation...doesn’t she have a younger brother too? So much went wrong when the architect designed this house...from the outside, it looks big, but the builders seem to have forgot to add a wall on the back. I wonder how much Ann and Angus payed. I certainly wouldn’t buy a house with no walls on the back in the middle of a forest with one bedroom and four people in my family. xD
"...apparently the older brother who's off to college doesn't merit a chair any more..."
Maybe he didn't want to work in animal care or be an outdoor performer (the only two employment industries in Heartlake City) and the family disinherited him?
Maybe she dyes her hair?
Set was designed by AFOL community member and former president and ambassador of croatian LUG Kockice, Antica Bracanov. There is also designer video, which is I think is not common for friends sets (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xgi1k0A3Oac)
Great review! This set is a gorgeous design, and I love its rustic, outdoorsy feel, which contrasts really nicely from the more suburban look of the other main characters' houses. It also finds many ways to tastefully express Mia's passion for animals, extreme sports, and the outdoors. Her vivid signature colors established in last year's reboot (Medium Lilac, Dark Azur, Bright Orange and Bright Yellowish Green) are all present here, but with lots of earth tones like Medium Nougat, Brick Yellow, Medium Stone Grey, and Reddish Brown to help offset them.
It does surprise me somewhat that it is moving away from the previous standard employed by larger LEGO Friends buildings and houses, whereby buildings were largely constructed from 16x16 or 8x16 modules that could be rearranged or conceivably even mixed and matched. I suppose last year's sets started this trend, but it is a little more noticeable here since all the previous houses for the individual main characters adhered to that standard a little more strictly.
The design of Mia's parents in this set really helps to give insights into where her love of the outdoors comes from, what with her dad's career as a forest ranger and the eco-conscious hippie vibes of her mom's outfit. Mia's outfit here is also really cute and stylish, with somewhat more subdued colors than we've seen her wear in the past.
To be honest, I was really surprised with the reboot last year when Mia's hair color DIDN'T change in the sets, since it was one of the most conspicuous changes in the illustrated and animated versions of the character. I wonder if this new Bright Red color is meant to be permanent or if it's just a stepping stone towards more of an orangish color like she has in the animations.
Speaking of which, I FINALLY got around to watching the LEGO Friends: Girls on a Mission series on Netflix a couple weeks ago, and it far surpassed my expectations — enthusiastically looking forward to more episodes, as well as more characters from the series like Dr. Alva showing up in sets!
@Cwetqo: That's awesome! I love that female AFOLs are becoming part of the charge to create building and play experiences that bring more girls into the LEGO hobby — and hopefully one day into the AFOL community themselves!
It's also especially neat to see designer videos like this since I think sometimes the relative anonymity of the LEGO Friends designers compared to, say, the Creator Expert designers has reinforced some people's assumptions that the design of LEGO Friends sets is driven by out-of-touch male executives relying solely on outdated "conventional wisdom" about what girls like.
Thanks for the review @MeganL, and I look forward to seeing more Brickset reviews of this year's LEGO Friends sets!!!
My little one wanted this set as a "last" Elves set - Emily's home. We'll remodel it a bit for that purpose, but it looks very much like it.