Random set of the day: Belville Garden Fun
Posted by Huwbot,
Today's random set is 5820 Belville Garden Fun, released during 1996. It's one of 5 Belville sets produced that year. It contains 29 pieces and 1 minifig.
It's owned by 209 Brickset members. If you want to add it to your collection you might find it for sale at BrickLink or eBay.
40 likes
30 comments on this article
You're supposed to sit on that swing young lady, you're going to get yourself hurt!
Bellville; it doesn’t get more fun than that.
@anthony_davies said:
"Bellville; it doesn’t get more fun than that. "
In the garden, no less
One week after claiming to be impartial, it’s back to Clikits/Scala/Belville for @Huwbot.
@PurpleDave said:
"One week after claiming to be impartial, it’s back to Clikits/Scala/Belville for @Huwbot."
Must not be a Friends fan, given it's been 5 weeks since they were allowed to be a RSOTD.
I also set up a trapeze in my garden for my kids.
Until The Incident.
Fun, whether you want to have it or not, will always be found... in the Belville Zone.
@gorf43 said:
"Fun, whether you want to have it or not, will always be found... in the Belville Zone. "
I read that in Rod Serling's voice.
How much fun is she having really, though, since she's riding that swing in a way that's surely going to result in either broken bones or a trip to the emergency room, and her dog is currently attempting to eat her bread roll?
That doesn't sound like a fun afternoon at the park to me.
@Murdoch17 said:
" @gorf43 said:
"Fun, whether you want to have it or not, will always be found... in the Belville Zone. "
I read that in Rod Serling's voice."
Nice! That was my goal!
My favourite thing about this set? That chrome tile with the ball on top. Awesome!
Ooh... creep factor at Level 11 on this one.
It's interesting to see how old some of the parts are. This set is from the mid 90's. Standart brick aside, even some of the accessories we use today is from 80's. Excellent parts design by Lego.
@Isabella_and_Lego_Liker :
Ahem. I’ll have you know, @Huwbot only likes the _un_successful girls themes.
@Zordboy :
At the moment the photo was taken? Lots. Two seconds later? Not so much. And she probably hasn’t been paying attention to the dog. Misbehavior of dogs is usually in response to something people did wrong, and lack of attention, particularly with puppies, is pretty high on the list.
@CarolinaOnMyMind :
Yeah, well, that is why they call it Belvi11e, after all...
That’s the pose of someone determined to do a whole 360 flip on that swing
The dog is ever creepier than the figure IMO. It's just a solid blob of darkness - almost like non-existent!
That loaf of bread has a very chemical color. Don’t eat it, doggie!
I like the blue backpacks used as flowerpots and the chrome pieces
Since when did lego make sets based on deleted scenes from The Shining!?
More comments than likes?
Can't think of anything witty to say about this as much as I want to.
Sorry.
Although the mum side of me is yelling "sit down on that swing properly before you do y'self an injury" while muttering "FFS I hate the fricking park can we go home yet?" to myself.
@PurpleDave said:
" @Isabella_and_Lego_Liker :
Ahem. I’ll have you know, @Huwbot only likes the _un_successful girls themes."
Oh? Belville lasted for a pretty long time, compared to Scala, Clickits, and... the other Scala.
On the other hand, I'm looking forward to 2031, just to see if a certain, unsuccessful theme is going to be picked for one month continously...
The swing looks a bit small for her as she is unable to stand up fully, maybe its mum on the swing while the kids are not around! The baseplate is also way too small, was Lego seriously expecting kids to lay out a rug and arrange the furniture and fences around it each time they played?
@Isabella_and_Lego_Liker
Must not be a Friends fan, given it's been 5 weeks since they were allowed to be a RSOTD.]]
Why was friends only allowed 5 weeks ago?
" @magnumsalyer said:
" @Isabella_and_Lego_Liker
Must not be a Friends fan, given it's been 5 weeks since they were allowed to be a RSOTD. "
Why was friends only allowed 5 weeks ago?"
Because the RSOTD only picks sets older than 10 years ago. Friends debuted in 2012, and it's been 2022 for 5 months now.
What surprises me about this set is that it has a PROPER SET IMAGE! No guessing what it even is because we have instruction scans as the main image with a literal parts pile to go of.
Oh wait, that's with Scala. My dream of seeing those sets clearly on this site are as shattered as those sets are on their set images T_T
I like that puppy mould though, it was cute.
@jkb:
I’m basing that on a combination of two things. One is that Belville was never really present in stores over here. While it may have lasted a long time, it apparently never sold well enough to stake out shelf space next to Space, Castle, and Town. I know North America didn’t really become a major market until 1999 with the launch of Star Wars, but my observation is that themes that didn’t show up here at all were ones that have more of a niche fan base today.
The other thing was the most miserable keynote speech I’ve ever attended at Brickworld Chicago. For starters, the opening ceremonies were held in a hallway, and the number of chairs they could provide was limited by fire code, and those were understandably reserved for the elderly and others with physical conditions that made it more difficult than normal to sit or kneel on the floor. But the keynote speaker was super depressing. She talked about her time as a set designer, and every single theme she worked on was considered a failure by the company. These included Homemaker, Scala, Clikits, and of course Belville. It’s worth noting that I heard she had left the company by the time Friends was launched. So, whatever your observations may be, Belville was not ranked among the successful themes by The LEGO Group. It may have been kept on life support longer than normal because they were getting desperate to have a theme that was a hit with girls.
I consider minidolls to be a terrible design, but I still recognize that Friends has outsold several of the themes that I enjoyed. I can’t say that about any theme targeted at girls prior to the debut of Friends.
@Binnekamp:
Five months? I thought Europe was only a few hours ahead of the US!
@PurpleDave said:
" @Binnekamp:
Five months? I thought Europe was only a few hours ahead of the US!"
Well... yes. No. ... It's complicated.
@ other topic: I suspected life support, but your report of the former set designer is heartbreaking =(
As far as I remember, as a key idea, building bricks were meant for boys and girls alike from the earliest days on. Which was totally not how other toy companies ran their marketing, of course. I guess early building propositions being stuff that rather boys liked (vehicles, machines, H0-train landscapes etc.) didn't help. I suppose all of the designers back then were male and didn't have the, err, required perspective.
But I think Homemaker gave us at least some useful parts. And when I was around six, I was friends with a girl who had plenty of Basic and Fabuland, so at least SOMETHING worked ;)
Oh, and paradisa had some good builds like 6411 orr 6416. Of course, they were too pink for boys.
Oh, and we envy you Amreicans for the sweet, sweet exclusives you got!
ah yes belvillie
@jkb:
Oh, it’s depressing on multiple levels. That they kept trying to get a foot in the door with 50% of the market and never really succeeded. That this set designer went her entire career with TLG without a single success. That we had all showed up from all corners of the world to celebrate our love of the brick and spent however long with the most uncomfortable seating, and listening to a speech about people _not_ sharing our enjoyment at all. I think they made a conscious decision to stop asking for company insiders to deliver keynote speeches after that one.
Mostly, it has caused me to start noticing things I might have missed. Somehow we seem to have largely skipped two full generations of FFOLs in the US. I’ve heard this is not the case in Europe. And I’ve heard that, much as I hate their design, minidolls may be the thing that shifted the US market in a more gender-balanced direction, not because young girls are especially drawn to minidolls over minifigs (to the contrary, they seem to be drawn to female CMFs and female IP-based minifigs like Hermione), but because the mothers and grandmothers who buy sets for them think the minidolls are more girl-appropriate than a theme like Paradisa.
Regarding exclusives, it’s a two-way street. I knew someone in college whose parents would bring him Castle sets when they travelled to Europe because the same sets were not available in the US.