Review: 41687 Magical Funfair Stalls
Posted by MeganL,
An inventive theme this year in Friends is a magical funfair! I think this is such a terrific idea, and a great twist on some of the themes that have been in previous years, such as the amusement park. Let's take a look at one of the midsize sets in this range, 41687 Magical Funfair Stalls. I'm really looking forward to seeing what kind of magic is included in these sets.
As this was the last set I built before my cross-country move, I don't have the number of bags, and neglected to take a picture of the sticker sheet.
Minidolls
Emma is the Friend is in this set, and with the exception of her hair, is entirely new to this set. This theme shows that all the Friends have had their faces painted, which I love, and Emma has one of the more intricate designs with some small butterflies on her left cheek and eye and the profile of a larger butterfly on the right side of her face. I love the face painting, and I'm looking forward to getting all the Friends with their designs. Emma has a new outfit in a white and gold t-shirt with a fuchsia tie-back apron over top. She's wearing a new blue skirt with gold shoes. Emma's brother Henry makes a presence here as well, wearing the same outfit as we've seen before.
Camila is new to this set, and appears to be the resident magician of the funfair, so I would expect we will see her in other magical funfair sets. She certainly looks the part with striking fuchsia hair with double ponytails, and her outfit is suitably flamboyant with a gold sleeveless vest and turquoise overlay. She's also wearing a double-hemmed purple and blue jagged hemline skirt topped with harlequin patterned boots. Over top of it all is a fantastic multi-colour cape. This outfit reminds me so much of an Elves character, and makes me miss that theme very much.
There is an animal in this set (of course, it's a Friends set), but it's more appropriately included later in the review.
The completed build
There's a small build in addition to the stalls - a face painting station, where the Friends have stopped to get their extra facial adornment. A sticker provides some ornate detail that gives the station a magical touch.
As the set name suggests, this set is made of four stalls at the magical funfair. The first is not that magical at all - it's a welcome stall with a turnstile to welcome visitors. I found the turnstile to be a little difficult to rotate fully, but that could entirely be due to my lack of building prowess. As the welcoming staff to the fair, it's a fun one with the large bunny head on top accented by duel colour banners. Strategically placed star stickers also add to the magical feel.
The back of the turnstile is relatively plain but does show the connectors that are included in every stall, so all the stalls can be connected whichever way works best.
The next stall is a necessary one - lego.com calls it a ticket window, but considering there's a new 1x2 printed tile that shows playing cards, I'm preferring to think of this as a stall where one can learn magic card tricks. The top hat on the top of the stall is the perfect symbol for this.
The back of the stall shows a lock box, so perhaps it's meant for money after all.
Because this is a Friends set, there has to be food, so it makes sense that the next stall is an ice cream cart. Besides, what better treat to enjoy at a fair than ice cream? There's some nice parts usage involved with the large ice cream treats at the top of the stall.
The back of the stall includes a cash register, and some rather interesting funfair staff - it figures we'd find them where the food is involved!
(Note: sloths are not included in this set)
The last stall is where we get to some magical business! This stall at first glance just looks like a bed on which a Friend can take a nap. However, there's a rabbit in a top hat close by, so you might suspect something else is going on.
However, thanks to some strategically placed black plates, there's a clip for a minidoll to hold onto
and abracadabra, a Friend can levitate!
The back of the stall shows the Technic mechanism behind. Since the rabbit it still there, it's clear that he's the one responsible for the magic.
As mentioned earlier, all the stalls can connect together.
In this permutation, they don't quite make a circle, but it's close. I don't know if other combinations were tried if it would be possible.
I tend to think they look best in a slight arc.
Overall thoughts
I love the idea of a magical funfair - so fun and whimsical. This set is a nice introduction to the theme, and it definitely makes me want to check out the others to see what magic is involved! I love the addition of the facepainting and getting all of the Friends. The colours are bright and vibrant and there's plenty of play opportunities, especially with the levitation trick. If you're so motivated, the stalls could be modified to fit into any carnival or fair layout.
For the price (361 pieces, $29.99, £24.99, 29.99€) it's a fun little set. There are also a number of newer and relatively rare colours in this set, a set inventory can be found here.
I really like how the Friends team continues to come up with fresh, new, and inventive themes. I'm really looking forward to checking out some of the other Magical Funfair sets this year.
Many thanks to LEGO for providing a copy of this set for review. All opinions expressed are mine.
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26 comments on this article
Great review and cool set.
Also I love the little imperfections you include in your builds, just like the target audience would. Will drive some OCD ridden AFOLs crazy too, which is a nice bonus ;-P
Had to look twice at the levitation mechanism, it's very well hidden from the front!
The melting ice cream stickers to carry the pink colour down from the roof are a rather nice touch!
This is just a bad set, come on!
It is very lackluster, almost all decorations are stickers, only 1 stall has got something to do with magic (and it has a hughe in your face technic mechanism, ugh)...
The entrance stall is pointless, the ticket booth and ice-cream booth should have been replaced with actual magic stalls....nope, nope, nope
This is crap...
Another great review, looks like a fun set to me, plenty of play value and it will surely be available at under £20 in time.
Will there be an official Brickset review of 41684: Heartlake City Grand Hotel? Very interested in the differences between that and the (excellent) 41101 version of the Hotel.
You should have left the mechanism photo out- A good magician never reveals their tricks.
That's brilliant. I love the levitation surprise. Definitely adding this to my Legoland theme park collection. Thanks for the review!
The design makes a fun Fairground set that stealth works with the System Fairground stuff. Given how few parts each section has, the set is brilliantly designed.
What I don't like is the color scheme. Too many colors and most of them are muted colors that not only don't work well together they don't scream "FAIR!" to me. The colors are "Friends" colors and that color scheme just seems off when used here.
@BelgianBricker said:
"This is just a bad set, come on!
It is very lackluster, almost all decorations are stickers, only 1 stall has got something to do with magic (and it has a hughe in your face technic mechanism, ugh)...
The entrance stall is pointless, the ticket booth and ice-cream booth should have been replaced with actual magic stalls....nope, nope, nope
This is crap..."
I mean, it is frustrating that there's only one unambiguously magic stall, but how else would it be a complete, working funfair without any of the other booths?
Also if the Technic mechanism is in-your-face maybe you just need to turn the stall around...
I like this. The levitation feature is clever and the small details are nice. Not a bad price either I think. If this is a mid-size set, I wonder what the big one could be.
Even though I love the friends theme, I feel it is moving towards a wrong direction as this set proves. The box art has significantly changed, neglecting the animated cartoon series almost completely, the fun and attractive box design gone for a basic dark purple boring design. These design changes are questionable and I really wonder if young kids these days like plain toy boxes. Plus, the sets are paying less and less attention to detail since the beginning of the year! The only sets to get Somewhat good detail is the exclusives (surfer beachfront and park) while there are sets like this which are so overly simplified and just not fun IMO. The stalls are shallow and the magic trick is a lackluster way to sell the set when the rest of the set is not even interesting. Not many details and accessories are provided as sets from previous years and I’m quite sad. The buildings are also getting more and more shallow!
Thank you for the review! I almost overlooked this set, then literally gasped when I saw the minifigure levitate.
Who cares if you can figure out the trick rather quickly - the point is it wow's on first look!
@AustinPowers said:
"Great review and cool set.
Also I love the little imperfections you include in your builds, just like the target audience would. Will drive some OCD ridden AFOLs crazy too, which is a nice bonus ;-P"
:-) Thanks…..I think? I’ll admit some are definitely intentional, but that gives cover for those that aren’t…..
@Bricktuary said:
"
Will there be an official Brickset review of 41684 : Heartlake City Grand Hotel? Very interested in the differences between that and the (excellent) 41101 version of the Hotel."
Yes, there’s one in the works. Later this month for a standalone review, next month for a comparison with 41101 if one would be helpful. My copy of 41101 is currently in storage and won’t be available until then.
Im not interested in the set at all and I think its somewhat poorly executed as well, but I love the concept. It just doesnt really have much going for it.
I've never bought a LEGO friends set before and I feel like I'm missing out, I have my eyes on this and Magic Fun Fair Rollercoaster (41685)
@CCC said:
" @BelgianBricker said:
"This is just a bad set, come on!
It is very lackluster, almost all decorations are stickers, only 1 stall has got something to do with magic (and it has a hughe in your face technic mechanism, ugh)...
The entrance stall is pointless, the ticket booth and ice-cream booth should have been replaced with actual magic stalls....nope, nope, nope
This is crap..."
I count two. The levitation stand and the stand with the top hat and cards."
The top hat stall is the ticket booth
this is how far it has become: people will simply accept anything as long as it says "LEGO" on the box. If this would have been a set from a competing brand, you would all be making fun of it, but because it says "LEGO", it is all good, and everyone is like: yes please, just take my money already, I don't care...
Sigh...
Well, I for one quite like how this set looks. I don't mind that there's only one "magic trick" since this set's other stalls seem to help cover some of the essentials (tickets, food, and an entrance) of any sort of fair, magical or otherwise. And the magic trick itself is quite well-designed, so much so that when pictures of the set first emerged I was left puzzled as to how it actually worked (especially since mini-dolls have far fewer connection points than minifigures with which they could be "lifted").
The color scheme of the funfair sets is particularly interesting since unlike most Friends or Elves sets it uses Spring Yellowish Green for the ground, which contrasts with the purples, pinks, and yellows used heavily on the stalls themselves to give the whole area a sort of eerie "glow". A lot of the sets (though not this one, it seems) also include actual glow-in-the-dark elements. It all ends up looking very distinct from the previous two "amusement park" subthemes (one of which was more generic and the other of which had a boardwalk/pier aesthetic).
The pastel sloths are perfect for fun fair “prizes”, and the way they hang is perfect for a game booth. Might not get this set, but now I have to hunt down some sloths…
@MeganL wrote:
"duel colour banners."
I'm reminded of when I bought 7103 and the receipt said"Jedi Dual."
As for the ticket booth, maybe their tickets are just styled to look like playing cards?
It's a nice theme and a nice set, but it's best as an add-on set for the theme, I don't think it has much value without other, bigger, amusement park sets.
@BelgianBricker said:
"This is just a bad set, come on!
It is very lackluster, almost all decorations are stickers, only 1 stall has got something to do with magic (and it has a hughe in your face technic mechanism, ugh)...
The entrance stall is pointless, the ticket booth and ice-cream booth should have been replaced with actual magic stalls....nope, nope, nope
This is crap..."
Who took a dump in your cereal today??
It’s a cute and colourful set with great mini dolls & a cool magic feature, that the target market (young girls) will most likely love!
It’s not designed for grumpy AFOL’s who complain about everything!
You must be fun at parties….
Maybe the top-hat booth is a ticket window with a trick: if you can show the attendant a card trick that he or she either hasn't seen before, or can't figure out, you get in free! I like this set, I think it looks like what it's called, and looks like a decent value for the price. I think you could add it to any amusement park, fair, or carnival. @MeganL I always enjoy your reviews.
It's okay, but in contrast to you I feel that the whole magical fun fair theme is the next ill-fated misfire from LEGO. Prices are already dropping to insane levels left and right and it's easy to see why. As someone already stated, there is very little of value in these sets and the stalls aren't even the worst of them. I think I will focus my energy and money on the forest sets and the City safari packages instead...
i like the friends sets in general. the colour schemes and buildings. what keeps me buying less of the friends theme are the minidolls which compared to the regular minifigs suffering on real bad quality. the minidolls tend to loose their heads real quick when stacked on and off a few times. result is: hold the minidoll upside down and the head just falls off. yey.. throw in some good`ol minifigs instead and i am willing to buy more of it!