GreatKhanArtist

I think I saw Tahu in my toast this morning--oh, wait, that was Elvis.

I hate them. There is nothing mechanical about them and they really just look like more Hero Factory sets. System all the way.

Love that wizard!

We really need some decent pics of everyone for spoilers before reviewing these! There is no coverage of Nuremberg on the website. Release dates?

Thank heavens they're not those stupid "Masters of the Universe" floating around the interweb. I'm from that era, but some things are best left to die.

Thank you for this review. I am very happy to see that the trash compactor can be made into a dumpster truck. I'm hoping this will be the case with the ice cream truck. I really like the one featured in the trailers, but I don't want some kind of mutant action truck, I only want a regular ice cream truck for my City. Please review the ice cream truck next and assuage my fears.

Yes and no. During the late '90s and early '00s, TLC was losing money at an astonishing rate. During this time, there was also an overwhelming number of angry-face minifigs. When TLC went back to research what they could do to stay in the black, they discovered customers do not like mean, angry or cranky minifigs. Among other things, minifigs started getting happier again. (They also sold the themeparks and discontinued some themes, among other things.) If minifigs are getting angrier, it's because the market is driving them that way. That said, in recent years, TLC has acknowledged its AFoL and TFoL audience as never before. We are now having product marketed directly toward that audience, including the Lord of the Rings/Hobbit and to some extent, Star Wars. Conversely, Lego has also expanded its traditional staples with perrenial favorites. The Town line is geared towards younger audiences and there is no violence there. Even the robbers are smiling! (okay, they're cunningly grinning) Friends is also a very happy go lucky line. Sociologists have attempted gender neutral play experiments (wherein children of both sexes/genders are given equal opportunites to play with stereotyped toys) and they have found that even young children have their preferenes. Boys gravitate towards trucks, and girls to dollies. In short, boys will be boys, at least in western culture. I think that having different faces on minifigs is healthy for roleplaying. I always used the bearded head for my pirate captains, because, unbeknowst to me at the time, it represented wisdom and experience--that is what my culture taught. Likewise, children expect villians to look angry and mean. Culture has influenced sets in other subtle ways as well--bicycling minifigs now wear helmets (the ambulance set from 2012), and we have coloured minifigs. Finally, like many documentaries, this falls into the single-sided viewpoints trap. Research papers are meant to skew the audience one way or the other and are written to favour one side of an argument. Probably this is because money and notoriety are associated with said papers... And we still build houses in our lego family. Lots of houses and cars that are driven by both happy and angry minifigs. Hey, sometimes you just have a bad day on the road. -KhanArtist

This was an excellent review. There is a lot of misunderstanding in the marketplace concerning these sets, however. My sister, who would buy these sets for my niece was under the impression that the pieces were larger than standard bricks, probably because the minidolls are larger. In my TRU in Calgary, Canada, these sets are both in the lego and girly aisles.

Once upon a time, Kirk Kjeld Kristensen said that Lego did not produce green bricks because he did not want to see little boys making tanks. How times have changed... To quote Kevin O'Leary, investment guru: "Are you more interested in making money or being socially responsible?" Good thing we have the upcoming friends line, where girls can help animals and play in treehouses.

I think this line will do okay. I will definately purchase the smaller sets for my niece, who is getting a bunch of town sets for christmas, having been introduced to Lego through Duplos and then the Pink Brick box. What is interesting is the line of sets themselves. A number of these bare uncanny resemblence to Barbie accessories. IE: the vet clinic is a popular Barbie theme, with Barbie caring for cats and dogs in the "I Can Be..." line, and having numerous tiny puppies over the years ( i know because I bought some), including a pooper scooper. Here's hoping TLC doesn't have the new minifigs picking up brown 1x1x1/3 round studs...Also worth noting is that some of the popular city and Belville sets have merged into this line. The girly car and the horse stables being examples. For the girl who has everything, this line can also be merged with standard bricks. This is really something that is exceptional about this line, as TLC has always been praised for its universal compatability.In the future, I would like to see this line venture into Creator with dollhouse-type sets, similar to Fischer-Price's "Loving Family" line. Modular rooms and a large dollhouse set would be appropriate for the target market, with light and sound bricks for the deluxe model, a la Apple Tree Hous's working doorbell. Additionally, caring for baby and other family-based sets would be popular with girls, as modeling the family is a common role-playing experience for girls.Looking forward to my niece--the target market's--responce.