Review: 41735 Mobile Tiny House
Posted by MeganL,
The first wave of the new Friends sets have some fascinating looking sets! Much attention has been paid to 41732 Downtown Flower and Design Stores, but I thought I would start the reviews for this wave with one of the moderately priced sets, 41735 Mobile Tiny House. Friends vehicles are typically excellent sets, so I expect this set to be the same.
Summary
41735 Mobile Tiny House, 785 pieces.
£59.99 / $64.99 / €64.99 | 7.6p / 8.3c / 8.3c per piece.
Buy at LEGO.com »
A good introduction to the new characters with another excellent Friends vehicle
- Effective use of space
- Plenty of play value
- Good value for the price
- Car/SUV is a bit basic
The set was provided for review by LEGO. All opinions expressed are those of the author.
Inside the box (which has the new rebranding, and no annoying indents in the front) there are six numbered bags, two instruction books, and one moderate sized sticker sheet. I'm travelling while writing this review, so wasn't able to take a picture of the sticker sheet, which I'll add later.
During the relaunch interview, the Friends designers mentioned that there would be additional information in the instruction books. In this instruction book we can see where the Mobile Tiny House is located, with presumably where Paisley, Leo and Liann live.
Each character is introduced with three icons that are associated with them - in this case, a chef's hat, a surfboard, and a soccer ball. Leo's pet Churro is also introduced here, in the much anticipated grumpy cat mold.
Minidolls and animals
There are three minidolls in this set, Liann, Paisley, and Leo. Liann is wearing a fun denim vest with colourful patches over a long sleeved green and white striped t-shirt. It's nice to see long sleeves on a Friends character! She has orange shorts and coral shoes to finish her colourful outfit. Paisley, with her distinctive hair, is wearing a short-sleeved fuchsia hoodie, and some pale blue bell bottom pants. We can't see much of her shoes, but they're dark blue. Leo finishes the trio and is wearing a tropical shirt with mismatching sides, though I really like the palm pattern on one side. He has colourful coral shorts, and seems to be really embracing the surfer dude vibe. That corresponds with a surfboard being one of the icons included in his introduction.
The purpose of the mobile tiny house is to have a bit of a camping experience. All the minidolls have accessories that help with that. Liann and Leo both have sausages for roasting on the fire, while Paisley has brought her guitar to provide some musical accompaniment. After years and years of all the Friends faces being the same, it's nice to see some variety in the expressions.
There are four animals included in the set. First is Churro, the much anticipated grumpy cat. Churro has some delightful markings, and I particularly like the accents on his ears. Next is Popcorn the iguana, Liann's pet, in bright orange. The set description calls the bunny a pet, but Paisley is scheduled to get a pet later in the year, so it must be the pet of one of the other Friends. Finally, there's squirrel for the forest area. It wasn't until I took the picture that I noticed the squirrel is winking!
The back of the pets don't show much detail, but Popcorn has some lovely detail.
Completed Model
There's a small ancillary build to help set the scene. A signpost shows the way to the mobile camping site. The campsite is a charming scene, with two trees built similar to the style found in 41677 Forest Waterfall. A roaring campfire is close by - hopefully those trees will be safe! Three logs are there for stools, and in addition to the sausages for roasting, there's an egg frying in a saucepan. The Friends will have a hearty breakfast!
If they manage to get some, that is. Once the animals smelled food cooking, they came from all around, including some visitors.
(Note: sloths not included in this set.)
Next up is the small SUV used to pull the tiny house. It's a pretty basic model, with bright colours that are de rigeur for Friends vehicles. I like the license plate.
The back similarly is very bright.
It's difficult to see, but three minidolls do fit comfortably into the SUV.
The tiny house connects to the SUV via a hitch.
On one side of the tiny house, we can see the front door, with an address number of 46 (I'm not sure what that signifies). This door is equipped with a pet door, the first time I recall seeing a door with a cutout like this. The paw prints and scratch marks on the pet door (thanks to a sticker) show that it is well used! There's also a mailbox and bird house near the door. On the roof we can see solar panels to help power the house as well as attractive plants and a skylight.
Looking at the forward facing portion of the house we see the hitch in detail as well as a water tank and a few windows.
The other side of the house shows more solar panels, plants, and another skylight. There's a ladybug with a hanging plant just outside the window. In a nice way of maximising space, part of the wall hinges down to provide a seating area for the minidolls (since there's certainly no space in the house!).
Let's open up the tiny house and take a closer look.
The side where the door is found has some sleeping quarters on the top level. There's space for one of the minidolls, and a spot for the pets, complete with sleeping area, water, and some food. The lower level shows the foyer and of course, the mandatory Friends bathroom.
The other side of the house has the other sleeping area - two beds separated by a nightstand with a small lamp. The bottom floor has a small but complete kitchen, as well as the fold down couch.
A close up of the bathroom side shows more of the detail, including the ladder to get from the lower level to the sleeping area.
This shows the kitchen in more detail, with a finished chicken dish on the counter, and the cleaver attached to the side of the fridge.
Finally, the roof portions flip up, to allow greater access to the upper levels for play.
Overall thoughts
Friends sets are known for packing a lot of detail in small spaces, and Mobile Tiny House is an excellent example of this! All the essentials are included in the house. It also continues the line of excellent Friends vehicles. I'm enjoying the new Friends characters, and while no alternate expressions were included in this set, I do like that the minidolls have expressions other than smiles. I like the extra information provided in the instructions that will give some of the backstory of the Friends, as well as where the sets are located in the overall Heartlake City map. The vehicle here is a bit basic, but the tiny house is the star of the show, and the campfire scene is a lovely add on. At $64.99 for 785 pieces, it's a great set for the price.
The Friends designers mentioned at the relaunch that not all the core Friends characters know each other prior to this release. I think it's safe to say that Paisley, Leo, and Liann are already friends.
If this set is any indication, the Friends line continues to keep rolling. We have most of the first wave for review. Which Friends sets are you most interested to see? Let us know in the comments.
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34 comments on this article
I think the cat-door piece originated in the Home Alone house first.
The sticks look like hot dog pickaxes
I like those shades of blue on the roof.
Not sure about the price, it's a little on the high side of what I would pay, maybe if I can find it for 20% off at some point.
Grumpy cat :D I love it <3
I might get a tiny house to store my LEGO collection.
Adorably cute and fun representation of the “tiny house” movement. Impressed at what the designer was able to cram in all of there!
Am I correct in thinking the new minidoll hairpieces are standard ABS and not rubber?
The best thing is it has all amazing animals in one place!
Personaly I am getting it later to get the Bionicle promo :)
That’s an iguana?
So, looking at this objectively, there’s three sleeping…mats? All on the same tier. One is separated from the other two by…a bedstand. For privacy. They all live in different places around town, and this is located way off in the other direction? It has a door for Leo’s pet. Leo has a hookup shack. On wheels.
@Murdoch17:
Sure did. There was a bit of discussion about it, and I think the set designer even mentioned having to get a new mold made just because of how the pet door factors in to Kevin’s traps.
Good review! This set is an interesting departure from the usual caravan and camper van sets we've seen in previous waves. There's a similar mobile tiny house set in this year's Duplo range, so I guess LEGO expects this new-ish camping trend to resonate with kids. It certainly results in a unique build!
I'm not totally a fan of the colors of the SUV — the yellow side mirrors in particular feel a bit like one color too many, and for that matter, silver tiles would probably make more sense for the mirrors themselves than Tr. Light Blue. But the seating capacity is really great for its size, and the horizontal lavender stripes are a really nice visual touch!
The house itself has a very nice color palette, and lots of great exterior details like the mailbox, birdhouse, box frame windows, skylight, and water tank. The Brick Yellow/Tan SNOT bricks do stand out a bit unpleasantly from the Medium Nougat base color, though. Inside, I love how well furnished the model is! Many similar-sized Creator 3-in-1 houses over the years have failed to include discrete bedroom, bathroom, and kitchen areas, so it's nice to see all three represented here. And there's plenty of amenities for the pets as well!
By the way, the bunny IS in fact Paisley's pet, also appearing in 41724 . According to the set's page on the LEGO Shop site, its name is Melody, which is thematically appropriate for the musically-inclined Paisley! It's a shame the manual doesn't name it, though honestly getting names for ANY of the pets in the manuals is more of a treat than I'm used to.
It's always neat to see details in a set that allude to characters' interests, identities, and personalities, and this set is no exception. Besides Paisley's signature guitar, the empanadas in the kitchen also touch on Leo's Mexican heritage, and the sleeping bag stickers provide some neat personalized touches for the characters like sheet music on Paisley's sleeping bag, beach motifs on Leo's, and a sketchbook with a drawing of Churro on Liann's. The characters' outfits are likewise brimming with personality!
The campsite finishes off the scene beautifully. I love this style of brick built tree and am very glad to see it again! And the campfire is built in a neat new way as well (though I personally would fold the logs down further than you have in your photos).
All in all, this set does a great job showcasing these characters in more of a vacation/leisure setting as opposed to most of the other sets' more "everyday" settings. That said, the 4+ set 41376 does share this camping trip theme, with a focus on two of the other new friends! I can't help but wonder how some of the other new characters like Zac, Nova, and Olly might spend their time on a camping trip like this, particularly since they have more "indoor" hobbies. Maybe we might get to find out in a future set!
Thanks again for the review! Not expecting to pick this set up myself (lots of other more tempting sets to choose from in both this wave and the previous wave), but it certainly shows that the Friends design team is far from running out of new subject matter to explore (or new ways to explore existing subjects)!
Lime cleaver!!
F*** the sloths! Stop adding something that is not a part of the set. It’s super annoying!!
@Ridgeheart said:
" @Chilis_no said:
"F*** the sloths! Stop adding something that is not a part of the set. It’s super annoying!!"
Veto: keep the sloths."
Please keep the cameo appearances from the sloths!
The sloths are something I sincerely look forward to in MeganL's reviews of Friends sets, the same way I enjoy seeing goats in some of Huw's reviews. I love the idea of different reviewers having signature Lego animals. (My signature animal would be the Porgs from Lego Star Wars.)
Hilarious! The grumpy cat is annoyed at the presence of the sloths. Looking straight into the camera as if to ask "Why?".
I think the animals from the set plus the sloths is a hilarious scene. About the house, love the details, inside and out. But the tiny house is hideously painted. Horrible mix of colors.
Nice review! And it's a charming design. The colour scheme is quite identifiably Friends.
But I've got 2 questions. Is that a door of 3 stud width in the kitchen? I don't think I've seen such a thing before since the 4-height/3-width doors from the 80s.
What is beyond the 3-width door?
So potentially you could sit on the throne and cook your dinner at the same time. Nice.
Ps. love the sloths
Love what they did with the instructions! I hope we get something like that in other themes as well!
Keep the sloths!
Oh uh sOMeBodEeZ anGrWeEE aBouT sLOThss!!!
The sloths are great! I always love seeing them pop up in unexpected places!
It's a cool concept of a mobile home, something different from the Caravan/Camper builds, and I can really see this set as something the Friends actually built themselves.
The previous generation of Friends theme have shown multiple tree houses or modified club houses before, with sets like 41340: Friendship House and 41703: Friendship Tree House for example, so the building skills look to be there.
@Aanchir:
By "discrete bathroom", I'm assuming you mean the one that's completely exposed to the kitchenette and the bank of windows behind it that's almost as big as all three "beds" combined?
@BJNemeth said:
" @Ridgeheart said:
" @Chilis_no said:
"F*** the sloths! Stop adding something that is not a part of the set. It’s super annoying!!"
Veto: keep the sloths."
Please keep the cameo appearances from the sloths!
The sloths are something I sincerely look forward to in MeganL's reviews of Friends sets, the same way I enjoy seeing goats in some of Huw's reviews. I love the idea of different reviewers having signature Lego animals. (My signature animal would be the Porgs from Lego Star Wars.)"
F@@@ THE PORGS!!!!!!!
I think the fold down couch is meant to be a dining area as the seats are removable
F***k! Sloths are awesome! Megan is f****ing awesome!! Brickset is f*****cking awesome! Happy f*****cking New Year!
Is this where we really are at? Aren't we better than this? I would report it as abusive trolling if it weren't just so ludicrous.
Cursing is fabulous when used with panache.
Happy New Year, everyone. Let's be better. Keep Brickset wierd and awesome.
@windjammer said:
"But I've got 2 questions. Is that a door of 3 stud width in the kitchen? I don't think I've seen such a thing before since the 4-height/3-width doors from the 80s.
What is beyond the 3-width door?
"
The 3-wide door frame (used here for the fridge) must be new. Nice! The door blade itself is probably the same as in the 6-wide double doors.
cute sets
@Jacopyright said:
" @windjammer said:
"But I've got 2 questions. Is that a door of 3 stud width in the kitchen? I don't think I've seen such a thing before since the 4-height/3-width doors from the 80s.
What is beyond the 3-width door?
"
The 3-wide door frame (used here for the fridge) must be new. Nice! The door blade itself is probably the same as in the 6-wide double doors.
"
It's not a door frame, it's a new cupboard element 2656, and a new door to fit, element 2657. The cupboard is 5 high, so the relatively new 3 wide doors to fit the 6 wide frame would be too tall.
New Elementary demonstrated the part with the existing drawers, check the article called "New blocks on the kids" in the new elements section.
I think it's been used fairly extensively in the new Friends sets (probably because they feature a lot of domestic situations). I think there are some lockers in the new Friends school using this part as another example of how it is being used .
"mandatory friend's bathroom" even in a tiny house. They can still fit in a bathroom. very impressive.
I reckon we should all chip in to buy Megan additional sloths.
I think someone needs to pay a bit more attention to the post-processing of these photos. The orange of the car is so over-saturated it looks like a new colour in the vibrant yellow / coral style.
@darthsutius said:
"
I reckon we should all chip in to buy Megan additional sloths. "
This is the way.
I for one would buy a LEGO FRIENDS set instantly if all the minidolls were replaced with lookalike sloths, in reference to Megan herself. It would be the perfect FRIENDS set, without dispute *
* of course, the advent calendar with the blood emperor Dreadflipper comes close.
I'm not invested in to this series at all (I have no LEGO Friends sets), but this one is tempting.
@LEGOldHead80s said:
"I'm not invested in to this series at all (I have no LEGO Friends sets), but this one is tempting. "
Same here, especially with the more neutral colours, and I could modify the house to fit minifigures and maybe change up the colour scheme to be a bit more realistic.