Review: 41075 The Elves' Treetop Hideaway
Posted by LostInTranslation,
When images emerged of the set I am about to review, 41075 The Elves’ Treetop Hideaway, it immediately stood out to me as the highlight of a theme that already looked fairly strong as a whole, so I jumped at the chance to review it for Brickset and find out whether it lived up to my high Elf expectations. The Hideaway is the largest set in this first wave of Elves, priced at £39.99 / $49.99 / €49.99 and contains 505-pieces, including 3 minidolls.
The box features the customary blue border depicting the five main characters and a central image of the finished model, with a glimpse of the Sky Fortress from the summer wave in the distance. I am a big fan of the box art used for the Elves theme – the swirling blues and purples convey a very enticing and magical impression, which I also think is quite gender-neutral.
The back of the box highlights the play features, of which there are several in this set, against the backdrop of a map of Elvendale. One image on the back of the box shows intriguing swirls of magical energy emanating from the printed dish at the base of the treehouse, surrounding Emily Jones and her bag. This is the magical portal by means of which Emily arrives in Elvendale, and the finished model represents her first meeting with the Elves as they take her in and agree to help her to return home.
There is an unobscured illustration of the map of Elvendale on the back of the second instruction book, which shows all of the place names and the locations of the keys required to transport Emily home. As an aside, in the top-right corner of the map there is the name “Red Mountain” and a silhouette of what very much seems to me to resemble a dragon – I am definitely hoping this theme continues into next year and we get a dragon in a future Elves set!
As mentioned above, there are three minidolls included in this set. The first is Farran Leafshade, who is identical to the version included in 41076 which was previously reviewed by CapnRex101, so although he is also a great figure, I shall skim over Farran and talk about the other two minidolls in greater detail.
The first is Azari Firedancer, the Fire Elf, and the most common Elves minidoll so far, appearing in two other sets. Azari is described on the Elves microsite as being fun-loving, brave and extroverted whilst sometimes also irresponsible and hot-tempered. Her bold personality and her nature as the Elf who can control fire are reflected in the design of the figure, as her outfit is in striking shades of magenta and bright light orange, and her top and the hem of her skirt sport flame-like edges.
She has body art on her face and arm in the same colours too, and her hair, like those of the other female Elves, is graduated in colour from a dark red down to yellow at the tip of her tresses. I absolutely adore the shades used for the Elves’ hair pieces but, as I stated in my previous Elves review, the ears peeking out do somewhat limit their usefulness. Azari is accompanied by her pet Enki, who is apparently a panther cub. Enki is sand blue with white patterns on his face and is actually very cute.
The third figure is exclusive to this set and represents Emily Jones, the human girl who finds herself magically transported to the Elves’ kingdom as a result of some kind of charm on the necklace left to her by her recently deceased grandmother (who, ***possible spoiler alert***, is ‘one of the five magical elven sisters who swore to defend Elvendale and the portal’, according to the microsite – interesting. Defend it from whom? Please please please the dragon!).
Emily sports a white t-shirt with navy stripes matched with sand blue shorts and sneakers, fairly casual and plain attire in contrast to the colourful Elves, and her brown hair is also simple by comparison, just hanging in a plait down her back. Emily is described as a shy but friendly dreamer who loves nature, and I do actually think the minidoll’s freckled face does manage to convey these qualities in quite an endearing manner.
As with the rest of the Elves theme, this set is a veritable treasure trove of new, interesting or rare parts. As well as the new foliage elements and the fantastic new flower stem (of which I shall be buying a copious amount), this set also includes a trans-purple chain, a 4x4 light trans-blue dish with a printed swirl, a printed 2x2 glittery trans-purple dish, sand green 1x3 and 2x2 slopes with no studs, an ornate sand green fence part, and several dark red slope pieces (one of which, the slope 72 2x1x3, should be useful to those trying to Bricklink a Café Corner, as that set requires 36 of this part, which has been only been available in three sets hitherto).
The build itself is initially into two sections, the two trees which will ultimately be connected together to form the Elves’ treetop dwelling. The decision to use predominantly dark red for the tree trunks is a great one as I think it looks fantastic and very harmonious with the reddish brown accents used. The structure of the trees is built up with various kinds of slopes and the wonderful foliage elements are solidly anchored into the build rather than being attached at the end.
As with the other Elves sets, the bright, unnatural colours of the foliage really stand out against the more muted tones of the main structure, but the touches of sand and dark green then bring back the idea of nature. When building the Technic mechanism for opening and closing the ‘curtains’ at the top of one of the trees, I was concerned about how chunky it was and whether the black parts would stick out like a sore thumb in the overall build (one of my pet hates) but actually I think its ends up fairly well camouflaged by the limb elements.
The aforementioned mechanism is one of several play features included, and in this set I can actually see these features genuinely adding play value. The movement of the branches, the container that can be winched up with supplies and the collapsible connecting bridge all aid storytelling and work well, standing up to repeated use. There is a multitude of lovely little details dotted around the set as well, such as the bed which folds out into two sofas, Enki’s little corner and the al-fresco dining area, not to mention the psychedelic toadstools and glittery lamp which remind us of the other-worldly nature of the treehouse.
It’s rare I find myself unable to find fault with a set; I dislike being too effusive or glossing over drawbacks because of a favourable overall impression. But in this case I have considered this long and hard and it truly is difficult to manufacture any negatives (though there is a redundant 1x6 black plate attached to the green base early on in the design which does not seem to serve any purpose).
I even think the price point, so often the sticking point with mid-size to large sets, is fair value and I would happily pay full price for the set (which is likely to occur because I want more of these new and exciting parts). I wholeheartedly recommend this set, whether for a child, an adult collector or a MOC builder, as I honestly don’t think anyone would be disappointed by it. And in the unlikely event that they are, I’m sure I’m not the only one who would be more than happy to take it off their hands!
Thanks to the LEGO CEE team for providing the set for review and Huw for the photos.
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25 comments on this article
Forestmen
reboot
never
ever
I really want to get like 4 of these to make a giant one! :-D
Can't agree with you LIT, I think at full price this is terrible value for money.
I really hope that LEGO will make a full poster for the Elves theme. The artwork is just so beautiful! Love all the new sets, but this is my favorite. So many great parts!
It is even at the mythical 10 cents per piece which is harder and hard to find these days, has a ton of playability , and 3 minidolls.
It is good value for the money.
Lost in Translation, I very much agree with your review. We have this set, and it definitely is the highlight of the line. Both my daughter loves it and as does my son after watching a video review of it and then seeing it built. The bridge/ladder, 'tree curtain', winch, portal, couch/bed.... It all adds a ton of playability, and then there are more details on top of that, and is definitely one of the top sets we have built this year,
Shouldn't that be "High Elf" expectations? :)
All but the smallest boxed set in the range are less than 10c/piece. Not that I put any store in that method, but this set has a LOT of very small pieces which makes the actual 10c/piece it's at look even poorer.
I've been waiting for Elves for weeks. And I see the sealed boxes labelled Elves put in ToyRUs for days.....
> Forestmen
Or rather say Castle.... but yes, many of the elements could be good supplement for Castle scenes if you think your LEGO kingdoms lack some magics. Although it's still different from so-called hideouts used by real forestmen.
Unlike @LostInTranslation I find the elf ears sticking out of the hair *very* useful for expanding Middle Earth's elf population. Luckily they are mostly flesh color ears.
This is a great set and a wonderful theme. Long live LEGO elves of all kinds.
Fantastic review! I definitely look forward to getting this beautiful set, though I need to make some space in my room as I have no idea where I'm going to display it!
The map of Elvendale on the back of the second instruction manual is awesome, but like many maps of Elvendale, there are locations it doesn't show: in this case, the Highland of Helyan and the Forest of Deep Secrets to the south of the Leaflands.
Regarding the dragon on Red Mountain, we are getting one in 41077, but of the baby variety! Who knows if we might see a full-size dragon in this theme... I certainly hope so, given what a fantastic job LEGO has been doing with the dragons in the Ninjago theme!
@aleydita: I've never understood this perspective. All my time as an AFOL I've heard people talking about how large "juniorized" parts are a cop-out and were ruining the value of sets (even when they are parts that could not function as intended if made from smaller elements, like the Power Miners drills). But suddenly in the past few years I've been hearing the opposite argument — that tiny pieces are a cop-out and that they somehow don't actually add value to a set.
Just running some quick calculations, this set and the Cafe Corner have close to the same price per kilogram, suggesting you're getting around as much plastic for your money in this set as in that set. But the Cafe Corner has a much lower price per piece, and by dividing each set's net weight by its piece count we find that the average piece in the Cafe Corner is about 28% smaller than the average piece in the Elves Treetop Hideaway. So which set's perceived value is REALLY most influenced by having lots and lots of tiny pieces?
I'm very dismissive of the price per piece arguments, I only even mentioned it because someone else did. I just think this set is poor value. For a €50 set I just don't think it's substantial enough, what with all the arches and leaf canopy creating a false impression of size. You can't really compare the two sets you mention in any case, for one thing the CC is 8 years old, a similar set now would be much more expensive. It's also a display model and comes with 100s of low weight tiles for aesthetic reasons. The CC came with around 470 actual bricks for £88. This set comes with a little over 55 for £40. There's no comparison.
To me it looks good value, lots of interesting parts and a very nice design - which are things I include in considering the value of a set. Price per piece just does not work, price per weight is closer but often doesn't account for things like packaging etc so still not a great indicator to my mind. I think the only reliable indicator of good value is each persons own perception of what they want from a set, therefore it's only every going to be an opinion.
"I think the only reliable indicator of good value is each persons own perception of what they want from a set, therefore it's only every going to be an opinion."
Absolutely, completely agree.
I politely disagree. The Hideaway to me is a gorgeous setpiece with substantial size and play features. There's the portal, a winch, the bridge/ladder, the bed that turns into a sofa, the map hiding place, and the opening leaf canopy. With three essential characters to the theme, it makes it easy to get all of them, meaning to get all five Elves and Emily, one only needs to get this and the boat. There's a lot of unique parts as well.
^Aren't this set's small pieces also "for aesthetic reasons"? And the fact that Cafe Corner would cost much more today just reinforces my point that the Treetop Hideaway's value for money compares favorably to sets like that. To me, this set seems more or less on par with what you could reasonably expect at the $50 price point.
Dragon, now that has poked my interest.
I want to buy this set just for that blue chain. The green fence is nice too.
The chain piece is available from bricks and pieces.
The price is a bit of a red herring. I sold some used Ninjago sets before Xmas and got back 75% of what I paid, on this basis this set costs £10!
I wanted to get this set, so did my wife. Somehow my daughter didn't want it, she wanted either ALL of them, or just the ship. Very odd...hard to reason with a 5 year old. So we waited on this to see how long she plays with the ship. To be honest, I think she likes it, but I like it more...odd.
The sets have some useful parts in odd colors. Some I'm okay with, others not so much. But I like having variety anyway. Some of the sand green pieces and dark red will come in handy. The purples, I'm still in the air about.
The hairpieces are what I was most interested in with the elf ears, but after seeing some of the hair actually is multi colored in the back, they won't be as useful as I originally hoped.
I will pick this up eventually I'm sure, but try to wait for a sale.
@James Skywalker: Huh?
As much I love this set (that bed is amazing!) here is a list whatI don't like:
-The fireplace is next to a tree
-The leaf-curtain looks horrible and works poorly
-Unused place in the second tree even if it has a window
-not enough leaf-pieces (5 more and this set would look amazing)
-the little stream looks out of place
The stickers are amazing, but I put longer ones on spare 2x4 plates- it would be a waste to sticker the slopes.
I higly recomend this set still- great characters, pieces and as I said stickers!
A dragon possibly in the future? Now we just need a Venger minifig...
I just saw this set in Target, and it looks incredible from the box. Thanks for the great review and pics. I can't imagine any 5-10 year old not wanting this one. And the rest of us as well just for the supply of parts even if you are not crazy about the build, which I really admire.
This set wins with its astounding details and playability and sheer joy of color. LEGO hit another home run. (Bring on the Elves...I've been trying to reside in an elf-free house, but I give up!)
Just so you know Enki is Farran's pet, the dragon is actually in Aira's Pegasus Sleigh (and is quite adorable) and Emily is also in the Sky Castle set