Historically, the LEGO Friends line of sets was geared almost exclusively to young girls. The sets were full of pinks and purples with enough ribbons, bows, and flowers to choke a horse. Thankfully, LEGO recently did a full Friends redesign and now I have to say that the line is one of my current favorites out of all the stuff LEGO is producing!
For today, we are going to look at one of the earliest sets from the Friends redesign: LEGO 41728: Heartlake Downtown Diner.
The Diner comes with 346 pieces and retails for about $30. In the set, you get three minidolls (Aliya, Liann, and Charli). I'm still not a huge fan of the minidolls (I much prefer the classic minifigures) but I will say that Friends sets do usually come with some tremendous hair pieces and this set is no exception.
I mean, you've got the muted blue hair for Charli and a pair of hair pieces for Liann (one with her helmet and one without). That's good stuff (and of course you can mix-and-match to your heart's content). While I'm not a fan of minidolls as a concept, I will say that the three included figures in this set all look great. Charli's outfit, in particular, is perfect for working at a diner! Finally, for cat lovers there is a kitten named Shadow included in the set as well.
The set build is basically split into two parts. You've got the main diner structure as well as a table.
The table itself doesn't fit within the diner in any "nice" way though the back of the diner is open so you can easily slot the table behind the rest of the diner if you wish. As for the table build, you get a nice booth table complete with a comically large sandwich! It took me a moment to figure out what the gray thing on the table was but I believe it's supposed to be a napkin dispenser (which makes perfect sense for a diner). The trash can is also included, though it doesn't really fit anywhere in particular.
Moving on to the main build, here's the front of the diner:
I love, love, love the look of this building! The large sandwich "sign" at the top is nice, the red and white roof design looks great, and even the skateboard winder (and arrow sign) is fun. Heck, even the colors here are nice and not overly "girly" like Friends sets of old (though the entire structure is still built on light purple plates so it's not like all the purple has been removed from Friends stuff).
From behind, you can see the full diner interior.
Highlights here include the jukebox (which "rocks" by turning the gear on the side of the building) as well as the arcade game near the front door. The window on the left (as oriented in the above photo) is the skateboard "drive up" window. I also like the blue and white checkered floor though I wish the entire diner got the tile treatment!
The set does make use of ample stickers (you can see several in the above shot - including the screen of the arcade game) but I think the stickers definitely add to the set and are basically a "must include." Luckily, all of the stickers were pretty easy to apply nicely and neatly so no real complaints from me there.
Here's a closer look at the set's action piece - the rocking jukebox. In reality, it's nothing more than a pin with a gear on it to grip while turning. It's a funny little inclusion but it easily could have been omitted (for the record, I'm glad it was included as it brought a smile to my face as I built it)!
Finally, here's the outside view of the skateboard window. More stickers for the menu but otherwise this is a good looking build. I think the skateboard window was a clever idea to avoid having a drive-up window (in which case LEGO would have had to include a car of some sort in the set along with the requisite rise in price). The little bit of road works here - and the slight slope is enough to allow the skateboard to roll a bit when playing with the set.
The Bottom Line (out of 10):
Fun: 4
Play Value: 4
Kid Value: 4
Adult Value: 9
Overall: 7
Overall, I think this set is perfect for anyone interested in adding to their LEGO city. The diner fits in with other LEGO City sets and, thankfully, isn't loaded with the typical purples/pinks that make earlier edition Friends sets really stick out (usually in a bad way). There isn't a ton of proper play features here but with three minifigures and a decent building I imagine creative kids could still have a fair bit of fun with this set. That said, I can't help but think that this set would be mostly appreciated by adult collectors (and when was the last time we could say that about a set from the Friends line)?!
Even more exciting, some of the more recent Friends releases look even better than the diner set. I haven't personally purchased any of the newest sets yet but I definitely hope to get a couple of them. For me, the 2023 Friends line might be my favorite line out of all of the LEGO releases that I've seen thus far this year. Kudos to LEGO!
Cool looking set. Shame the booth doesn't fit inside the diner... although maybe someone will buy 2 of these sets and created an inclosed one that fits both booths.
ReplyDeleteAs for the Friends line... I honestly haven't given it much thought. There are so many other things to buy (Star Wars, Speed Champions, Architecture, and Art)... I can't really afford the money or space to build a whole new line.