Review: 40498 Penguin

My daughter is fond of these, so we have the first three (the owl is only partly built so far). For me, I don’t care for the bear much at all, but the rabbit is very nice.

We’ll be getting the penguin too, without a doubt.

Ehhhh

Very cute!

Although the link between Christmas and penguins is nonexistent, more Lego birds are always welcome. Seems like we are not the only ones who feel this way, Halloween Owl disappeared quick.

Yup, that's a big penguin alright. I admit I haven't been paying attention, though--I didn't realize there was a theme running through the year. The four look very nice together.

It's cute, but I don't think I have anything to to do with it once it's done.

I enjoyed them at first, but as time went by I noticed the appeal of these type of sets, and brickheadz, is wearing off very fast. It's just more of the same.

The Santa's Sleigh set is a much better "Christmas set" this time, IMO.

I can't stand octagonal ice crystals!

A penguin is still not christmasish enough to me.

So is this the first of a Brickheadz series of Batman's rogue gallery? ??

An octagonal ice crystal? Boy, I really hope somebody got fired for that blunder!

Thank goodness phasing out of creepy Brickheadz.

@fulcrumbop said:
"Thank goodness phasing out of creepy Brickheadz."

You mean apart from 40492?

I like these a lot. I like the holiday brickheads too, actually. I think they all look good in their different ways. I store these sets during the year and bring them out at the seasonal time (I know this is super nerdy but I enjoy it), and seeing these sets again each year delights me. This year's small holiday sets w animals are lovely, I think, though I've not built the bear yet, and don't have the penguin yet. I don't have a problem with the penguin. I don't care about whether the snow flake has 6 or 8 points, I like it anyway. I think Lego could do a cardinal for Christmas, if they wanted an idea for something a little different for next year, perhaps? Cardinals are pretty traditional, right? Please, Lego, just keep making these kinds of sets.

As a "penguin fancier", I will definitely be pickup up this one! We also have 40497 Halloween Owl so they will look good together.

@Lyichir said:
" @elangab said:
"It's cute, but I don't think I have anything to to do with it once it's done.

I enjoyed them at first, but as time went by I noticed the appeal of these type of sets, and brickheadz, is wearing off very fast. It's just more of the same.

The Santa's Sleigh set is a much better "Christmas set" this time, IMO."

Isn't it wonderful, then, that you can choose whichever Christmas set appeals to you more? I don't see the point of weighing one against the other as if it's either/or when we're getting both in the same year.

None of these have really appealed to me as much as the incredibly adorable bunny that released for Easter. But that's in part because I love bunnies and thought that one was particularly cute and realistic. I'm glad that penguin fans will be able to get the same enjoyment out of this!"

Of course it's wonderful, why would I think otherwise ? :)

As for weighing one against the other, for some it's a question of budget or display space or any other reason. Isn't that what's reviews are for ? Otherwise we would just get all sets and that's it.

As for myself, I limit myself to one "holiday themed" set per season, as I rather save the money for the end of year sales of more "important" sets I want. I was just sharing my thoughts, of course for each his own.

The Easter bunny was cute indeed, out of the current 4 I find it to be the best one.

im glad burb got so many presents!

@Alatariel said:
"A penguin seems quite random indeed. If I had to pick a bird I'd say a robin is more Christmassy (at least they appear on Christmas cards a lot in Europe). Not sure if this is universal though. It's still quite a cute set, but the Halloween owl is my favorite. "

Here in the US I seem to recall a moderate association with Cardinals, probably thanks to their crimson plumage

In the animated Christmas special “Santa Claus is Coming to Town”, there is a penguin named Topper that befriends Chris Kringle. He was about as lost as you could be. That is what makes me link penguins to Christmas.

@Alatariel:
I don’t think I’ve ever seen anything that was decorated with a European robin, and the American robin migrates south for the winter. The bird I see most associated with Christmas in the US is the male cardinal, which sticks around all year and is bright red (sometimes the brown female is paired with the male, but rarely appears alone).

@Reinier:
I know, right? Everyone knows the vast majority of H2O ice in the universe has an amorphous structure.

@Librarian1976:
Nope. Before this was Owlman, then March Harriet, and it all started with KGBearst.

The only one of the four I would consider buying is the Easter bunny, as that looks kind of cute to me.
The bear and owl looked too creepy imho (plus I don't care for Valentine's Day or Halloween related products anyway), and this penguin doesn't feel like it has got anything to do with Christmas. Should have been a red robin if anything, but as that is mainy just a UK symbol for the festive season, I understand that it would probably not have enough worldwide appeal. Then again, same can be said to be true for the penguin. ;-)

I agree the bunny is the best of these four sets, but I like them all, and I have no problem thinking of the penguin as a Christmas bird (though cardinals and chickadees do feel more Christmassy to me). The 8-pointed decoration inside the base is obviously meant to *suggest* a snowflake while sensibly fitting inside a square container, so that doesn't bother me either.

Can someone please enlighten me: why is an eight-pointed snowflake a bad thing?

@ThatBionicleGuy said:
"Can someone please enlighten me: why is an eight-pointed snowflake a bad thing?"

Real snowflakes are always six-pointed due to the nature of ice crystal formation, but that only makes eight-pointed snowflakes an "incorrect" thing and not necessarily "bad"

@Galaxy12_Import said:
" @ThatBionicleGuy said:
"Can someone please enlighten me: why is an eight-pointed snowflake a bad thing?"

Real snowflakes are always six-pointed due to the nature of ice crystal formation, but that only makes eight-pointed snowflakes an "incorrect" thing and not necessarily "bad" "

Oh, huh. I didn't know that. Thanks for explaining! :D

@Galaxy12_Import:
Like carbon forming either coal or diamonds, depending on what pressure it is subjected to, there are 19 forms of H2O ice that form either at a specific temp and pressure, or from one of these forms of ice when it transitions to a different temp/pressure. Some of them have wild configurations...but I haven’t had any luck finding out if any of them form an 8-pointed crystal structure. A couple sound like they might form cube-shaped crystals, which definitely doesn’t fit the “always six-pointed” narrative we all learn in grade school. What I wasn’t prepared to discover is that the vast majority of ice in the universe is amorphous, meaning it follows no predictable pattern. It’s also only found like this in space, where I suspect it exists this way because it’s loose molecules of ice that are pulled together by gravity, rather than crystal structures that grow as liquid or gaseous H2O freeze to an existing crystal structure. But it’s also worth noting that of all of these forms of ice, Ice I (the one we’re most familiar with) is the only one that we encounter naturally, as pretty much every other type only forms under conditions that aren’t survivable by humans.