Toy Fair 2016: Friends & Disney Princess

[Hapori Tohu]

The minidoll is a relatively new invention in the LEGO palette, and already there are three different themes making use of them. We already covered Elves, so today we're looking at Friends and Disney Princess, which feature a variety of sets with some great parts and colors. If you're interested in seeing what's coming out this year, read on!

 

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[Aanchir]

It's actually the bunny's birthday, not Andrea's!

 

The supermarket set is fantastic, with lots of great food including fruits and veggies (watermelon!), roast turkey, and even a sushi bar! The shopping cart is a nice detail, and I love that the bulletin board has flyers for the Adventure Camp and the Amusement Park!

 

I don't like the Cupcake Cafe. It looks alright, but it's huge! Counting the outdoor seating area, it's wider than a modular building!

 

The Adventure Camp sets are the Friends sets that I love the most. Maybe it's from having been to summer camp so many times, but I love sets like this that encourage a love of the outdoors.

 

The Puppy Daycare set looks great, but I'm not quite convinced that recolor of Flamy the Fox from LEGO Elves is actually a dog.

 

I like the new riding club, both in terms of the architecture and the two new horses "Spice" and "Ninja"!

 

The Amusement Park series is exciting, although I'm a bit underwhelmed by the roller coaster. I do love that the space ride has Classic Space logos! The hot dog van is fantastic and packed with humor!

 

I was not expecting more Pop Star sets this year, but I'm impressed with the two there are. The Villa is a great place for Livi to get away from the hectic life of being a famous superstar, with a security camera to keep out the paparazzi, and some really ritzy taste in architecture, furnishing, and fixtures. A great place for Livi and Andrea to have a romantic? getaway.

 

I have no love for Palace Pets. They are creatures that exist purely for the sake of merchandise, and even then have no reason to exist because most of these princesses already have perfectly good pets/animal companions without having to make up weird new ones. It's a transparent Littlest Pet Shop knock-off. And the raccoon is blue. FOR SHAME.

 

I'm not a big fan of the Disney Princess theme in general, since it tends to be somewhat simplistic and seems to ignore the real spirit of the movies in favor of a sanitized portrayal of "the magical life of a princess". But the set with Belle and the Beast is alright, and I love all the Beast's charming little servants! It's been years since I've seen the movie but I can remember a lot of them by name. The real standout sets in the Disney Princess theme are always the Frozen sets, particularly Arendelle Castle Celebration. Beautiful architecture, creative building techniques, and charming party decor.

 

Overall, none of these sets are really on my wish list so far. But we'll see if that changes as the year goes on.

[Ta-metru_defender]

Elsa has Loki's staff? Sure. Makes sense.

 

Also, that pug set is adorable. May pick it up for the girlfriend.

[Hahli Husky]

Oops I want more of this than I anticipated. :V Like the exploration car, and the arcade, and the space ride, and the hot dog van, and the roller coaster. Though I do agree with Aanchir on the latter in that it's a little underwhelming? Maybe because the minute I read the words "roller coaster" I was automatically hoping for a steep slope in the tracks. But it's still a cool set.

 

I'm unreasonably excited for the Beauty and the Beast castle. Offsite pics have shown some (note: nearly all) of the characters having pretty unsettling faces. Also I'm mildly suspicious they went the way of all the original Beast toys and made the Beast head a hollow piece that pops down over a normal figure head. Nnnnooott as sure about that now that I'm seeing more scale, but lord is his head still an unnerving size when compared to his body. And also to Belle. I need this set.