31019 Forest Animals
Posted by Huw,
Fans of Creator animals are spoilt for choice this year, what with this set and set 31021, Furry Creatures that we reviewed earlier this month.
Previous Creator animals have all been of 'threatening' beasts: lions, dinosaurs, dragons, eagles and so on, so it's great that both these sets feature 'cute and cuddly' ones that will appeal to both sexes.
The main model in this set is a rather nice toucan and a monkey.
The toucan is suitably colourful and a pretty good representation of what could be a Keel-billed Toucan. The feet are too large (and the wrong colour) but I guess they need to be that way for stability.
The wings can be folded out or tucked in, like shown below.
The monkey is great. Like the cat in the other of this year's sets, the focus has been on its head which is very detailed. I'm not keen on the spindly arms although if it's supposed to be a spider monkey, they are probably about the right length.
There's not much going on round the back...
It's very pose-able though, thanks to ball joints and a ratchet joint at its neck. The jaw also opens.
The second model is of a bear. Definitely a teddy bear rather then grizzly, I'd suggest.
The ears are very cleverly attached.
He can stand up, but like most teddy bears, he looks much cuter sitting down :-) He can be built without taking the banana or Toucan apart if you have a spare 1x2 and 2x2 plate in any colour as they are used internally.
Finally, the third model is of what I assume is a chipmunk or something like that, although the ears are too large to for a chipmunk. It's certainly like nothing that's native to the UK!
Whatever it is, it has a certain charm and as usual the head has been very well designed.
Creator sets are among the best value available and this one illustrates perfectly that LEGO is not all about building vehicles, buildings and fighting machines.
Great models and a useful selection of parts for a decent price. What more could you ask for...
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18 comments on this article
The 3rd animal looks like a squirrel to me.
Indeed, the third animal is meant to represent a squirrel according to the set's description.
OK -- it's nothing like those in the UK!
I received this set as a gift and only built the Monkey and Toucan, but I did enjoy building those more than I thought I would. I really liked the way the technic bricks attach inside the Monkey's head. I also have to agree that the squirrel doesn't really look like any I've seen either.
Can't help but feel that this set would've been so much better if it'd used the new small ball and joint pieces. The monkey's arms in particular could've been so much better with those.
I think this is the squirrel that the 3rd model was based off of: https://encrypted-tbn2.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcRBLtazm_YRFa_-n1CxHs5LcuVqMUIIR9sdRY1PpOfT0cJBAV5O
I'm in the U.S., and I've only seen this kind down south on vacation before, so they're definitely only native to certain areas.
Built this set at the weekend and really enjoyed it. Already given quite a few away this year and I can see it being a firm favourite. Great value for money when Amazon had them for £10 recently.
That's supposed to be a squirrel? Yikes.
I thought it was some sort of marsupial with ears and feet like those.
When I built the monkey I just couldn't attach the eyes in the way the instructions showed. I think my gf started building the head but got bored, then I took over. So there's a chance she could have gone wrong somewhere, but I couldn't see any problems with it. Did anyone else have this problem?
Were your eyes the old type with a cross at the back rather than a hole in the middle?
According to the American version of the box (http://www.brickshelf.com/gallery/grogall/Creator/31019/a_31019_box_front.jpg), it "rebuilds into a teddy bear or a squirrel". Naturally, all the animals are really cartoony, with the squirrel being especially exaggerated. I don't mind the lack of realism, but I find that it's the least cute-looking of the bunch, what with its long legs, buck teeth, and beer gut. I'm a bit disappointed that there aren't any alternate models making visible use of the more colorful parts from the banana and toucan. Of course, it's hard to think of another animal quite so colorful, but perhaps the teddy bear could have been wearing a colorful bow tie, or the squirrel could have been holding an orange and brown walnut or acorn.
To me, the squirrel's ears suggest the Eurasian Red Squirrel (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Red_squirrel), which makes sense as it's the type that would most likely be prevalent in Denmark and Germany. Apparently they're not in common in Great Britain as they used to be, but they DO live there. Here's a photo snapped of one in southwest England: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Redsquirrel_eating_2012.jpg
Creator has long been one of the more gender-neutral LEGO themes. The LEGO Friends theme's houses owe a number of their design principles to the Creator houses, and the two themes share a number of designers (as do the modular buildings, which are every bit as decorative). These cute animals seem to reinforce that gender-neutral approach. Rather than being selected for their ferocity and given angry glowing BIONICLE eyes, they are selected for being fun and playful, and given more expressive cartoon eyes. I definitely appreciate this approach. Creator is not characterized by the same open-ended play as a basic brick bucket, but I still have a sense that of all themes, Creator is the theme that is most likely to have something for everyone.
@Huw Yeah - the eyes have a cross on the back. It seemed like they needed a hole for them to connect properly. I thought I was going mad. They still connected, just not quite the same as the instructions showed. I didn't realize there were two different variations of that piece.
@Brainslugged: Huh! I wouldn't have thought there would be two variants of that piece, since that particular eye print is new for this year. Bit of a mistake on the LEGO Group's part, I'd wager.
If you replace the 1x2 jumper plates used for the eyes with traditional 1x2 plates, the version of the eyes you have should fit fine (one of the benefits of the cross-shaped design). However, they will not rotate freely like the ones with the O-shaped design would on jumper plates.
^^ Interesting. This is probably one of the first sets that requires the new design of that part.
I'd write to LEGO CS and get them to replace them, they will for sure.
Well that's one mystery solved - thanks guys. Now we can move onto flight MH370.
@Brainslugged, I had a similar issue. One of our eyes had a cross and the other the circle. . I contacted Lego and they sent me a replacement. so we now have two circle eyes.
I will say this is one of the few sets my daughter had interest in this year. She loves monkeys.
I also agree. It was nice to FINALLY see something that wasn't simply an animals that people assume boys would like....not a shark, dinosaur, lion, spider, crocodile, snake, eagle,
My son has equally eyed these sets.
Whenever I acquire a Creator set, I always build all three, in order from least favourite to favourite, leaving my favourite one built.
After building the squirrel then the bear, I got caught up with work for a week or so, then just after pulling apart the bear to start on the monkey, I found an email from Rebrickable with an awesome Tyrannosaurus and duck (TF? Lol) build.
Now after having built the Tyrannosaurus I can't decide whether I want to build the monkey still or not!
Here's the link for the Tyrannosaurus alternate build: http://rebrickable.com/mocs/tomik/tyrannosaur-and-duck
I had fun using this set for my LEGO Creator Build a Week for the month of February - https://www.flickr.com/photos/wiredforsound23/tags/31019