So far in the adventure camp theme we've seen two Friends with their cosy cabins, another pair working on their archery skills, and yet another pair working on their artistry and kayaking skills. All the sets came with a cute Friends animal.
Now it's time to take a look at the largest set in the adventure camp, 42631 Adventure Camp Tree House. I suspect we're going to meet the other three Friends here, and I expect more animals. (The sloths may make an appearance or two, as this is where they spent their summer vacation.)
We've met some of the Friends at the cosy cabins in the Adventure Camp, two more at the Water Sports Centre. At this rate, it looks like the whole crew is spending time at the camp. The smallest set in this theme is 42622 Adventure Camp Archery Range, where two more of the Friends are refining their skills, this time at target practice.
After getting a good night's rest in their cosy cabins, I'm sure the Friends will wake up refreshed and ready to take on the day. What better way to spend the day than being on the water? There's no surprise, then, that the adventure camp subtheme continues with 42626 Adventure Camp Water Sports.
The main subtheme for the Friends line this year is an adventure camp! This isn't the first foray into the adventure camp world for the Friends (the first time was in 2016), though this venture seems a little more robust. While the first iteration consisted of a tree house and some smaller builds, the theme this year has some more substantial sets. Our first set for this subtheme is 42624 Adventure Camp Cozy Cabins, which rectifies a gap in the previous subtheme - it gives the Friends a place to sleep.
Cafés are a staple in the Friends universe, so it's not surprising that 2024 brings us another one. There have been no fewer than nine cafés in the Friends line. This year's rendition is 42618 Heartlake City Café. The colouring is quite striking with some French accents. At one of the lower price points, I'm interested to see what kind of detail is included in this set.
How does this version stack up against the other cafés? Read on and find out.
Water seems to be a major theme in the second half of Friends this year. There's an adventure camp series, two sets dedicated to the beach, and finally, there's 42630 Heartlake City Water Park.
It took eight years for Heartlake City to get its first water park, but the Friends designers have provided us three parks in the last four years. 2020's 41430 Summer Fun Water Park was quite impressive. That was followed by a much smaller version in 2022 with 41720. This year's effort seems to be placed between the two, so I'm expecting some fun detail without the higher price tag of the original set.
After an extraordinarily busy summer, I finally have some time to devote to taking a look at the Friends sets from the second half of the year! Not to mention, the sloths have been restless, so it's also time to see what trouble they manage to get into with these sets.
For me, the most intriguing set of the wave is 42638 Castle Bed and Breakfast. Heartlake City has had a few hotels, but this is the first bed and breakfast. The architecture looks great, and I always like seeing something new in Heartlake City.
One of the largest U.S. conventions, Brickworld Chicago, is back this weekend at the Renaissance Schaumburg Convention Center. The convention for attendees starts Wednesday night with a mixer, with an opening ceremony Thursday night. There are many other sessions offered Thursday through Saturday.
Like previous years, U.S. LEGO Masters contestants will be in attendance from all seasons, and will be in panel talks and displaying their own MOCs. The convention will be open to the public on Saturday from 10-4 and Sunday from 10-3.
I'll also be there for most of the weekend. On Friday I'm leading the Women's Brick Initiative (WBI) workshop, where we will be creating a collaborative build purely from parts from 41748 Heartlake City Community Centre, as well as more quilt squares for the WBI quilt. There will be a WBI social immediately after the workshop.
Over the weekend you'll be able to find me at the WBI table, which will feature our collaborative builds, including the WBI quilt. Please stop by and say hi - I will have a limited number of 1x8 Brickset bricks to give away.
When I heard about the new Icons set, the only description I received was that it was "music-related". To be perfectly frank, I thought Huw was sending me another writing exercise, similar to when I reviewed the Elvis Presley art set, or the iconic Rolling Stones logo. However, on opening the box for 10334 Retro Radio, it looks like I hit the jackpot, and was queen for a day.
Could this review be another fun opportunity to work in references to the subject matter?
Shops are a staple in the Friends universe, so it's not surprisingly that Heartlake City has had its fair share of shopping malls. The last was 41450 Heartlake City Shopping Mall in 2020, and the first was 41058 Heartlake Shopping Mall in 2014.
With the new generation of Friends, it makes sense that there has to be a mall for them to hang out, and so we have 42604 Heartlake City Shopping Mall. The first mall was fine, the second featured a working escalator and it looks like this version has not one, but two escalators, and a few more stores.
How does this shopping mall fit in the new Heartlake City?
The smallest set in the Friends first half this year is 42608 Tiny Accessories Store. Typically these smaller Friends sets have shown to be quite a good value with plenty of play opportunities, so I'm expecting the same in this case.
It took a while for Heartlake City to get in the medical business; the first hospital didn't debut in the Friends world until 41318 Heartlake Hospital in 2017. Fortunately, the second generation of Friends didn't have to wait seven years for a hospital (though it has been seven years since the first hospital).
The new cast of Friends are having their medical needs being addressed with 42621 Heartlake City Hospital. I remember the first hospital having many windows and almost as many stickers, but very few minidolls. I hope that the newer hospital has rectified that somewhat.
This set shows a rather momentous occasion - Autumn is receiving a prosthetic arm!
It seems that Friends in Space is quite popular, as there's a new space-themed Friends set coming out on April 1.
42602 Space Rover is clearly meant to be a companion for 42605 Mars Space Base and Rocket. It makes sense, as now the Friends astronauts (Friendstronauts?) have something to get around the planet in!
Though....am I the only one who thinks it looks like a monster truck?
Some of the more detailed sets that the Friends line have included the main characters' houses. The houses were a great way to see more about each character. With the first generation of Friends, we saw a house once every two years.
With the new generation having eight main characters, at that rate it would take sixteen years to see all the houses! The first Friends house was last year's 41730 Autumn's House. This year, we get two Friends houses, with 42620 Olly and Paisley's Family Houses. While this does shorten the timeframe to see all the houses, I wonder how much detail is sacrificed.
21346 Family Tree is the 54th entry in the Ideas line, and the second one released this year. It's also the second set from the collaboration with Target for a fan contest (the first was 21343 Viking Village). The tree has striking colours, and the final version looks to be quite similar to the original fan model.
Following up on the enormously popular Botanical series which brought more fans to the hobby, LEGO is branching out to the animal world with 10331 Kingfisher. This bright, colourful bird that has been captured in many eye-catching photographs is an interesting choice.
Will animals prove to be as popular as the plants? I'll take a detailed look at the model from every angle after the break.
Earlier, we checked out Friends in Space, aka 42605 Mars Space Base and Rocket. In that set, the astronauts were chatting with Nova via video chat. We find out where Nova is in 42603 Stargazing Camping Vehicle.
This set reminded me of 41116 Olivia's Exploration Car from 2016. Let's see how far exploration has come in the last seven years...
42639 Andrea's Modern Mansion has made a big splash in the January wave of sets. And for good reason - it's the largest Friends set ever released (2275 pieces), the most expensive (£169.99 / $199.99 / €199.99), has the most minidolls (10), and is the first with a 14+ recommended age rating.
With that price and piece count, this is a set comparable to the modular buildings. Appropriately, the designer of this set, Wes Talbott, does have a modular building (10270 Bookshop) in his portfolio.
This is the set that many Friends aficionados have been clamouring for - a Heartlake City build that appeals to the theme's older fans. It's also the first retail set with all five of the original Friends! Let's see how the original Friends have grown up in this sophisticated, stylish build that's sure to please Friends fans and create some new ones.
Friends 2023 was excellent, and the Friends team has their work cut out for them to maintain the fantastic quality from last year.
It's also been a while since there's been a Friends set that's explored something entirely new, but we certainly have that with 42605 Mars Space Base and Rocket. Finally - Friends in Space!