Review: 40236 Romantic Valentine Picnic
Posted by MeganL,
It's early January, which means it's time for the first seasonal set of the year! After a decidedly mixed bag of seasonal sets last year, we start off the year with the Valentine's Day seasonal. 2017 takes us back to the vignettes style, which had a very favorable reaction when they were last featured in 2015. Does the first offering look to continue that promising trend?
The front box art shows a romantic scene of a young couple enjoying a picnic in a verdant, parklike setting. There are Cupid decorations on the box and it looks as if the brick built bird has thoughts of love on his mind as well. The top right corner of the box has a large heart with some lines inside, presumably to indicate a To: and From: lines when the set is used as a gift. The back of the box shows the scene with various permutations of the features of the set; the young woman holding a letter (presumably a love letter), the young man with all the picnic accoutrements piled in his arms, as well as the couple enjoying various aspects of the set. It certainly looks as if food elements are used to great advantage here.
Inside the box (which is another of the annoying thumb tab openings) we find three unnumbered bags, a small 8x8 green baseplate and a folded instruction booklet. The back of the instruction booklet shows a preview of the next seasonal, 40237 Easter.
The two minifigs in the set are a young man and a young woman. Both are attired casually for the setting. He is wearing a hoodie along with a t-shirt with a star on the front; she is wearing a pink tank top with some nice detailing. Both torsos are relatively rare - hers has only been in two other sets, and his has previously only been seen in 60135 Fun in the Park. Unfortunately, his head is the typical LEGO face but at least is smiling, while she wears a rather bemused expression. One could interpret this as she's not very impressed with the picnic spread in front of her; however I think she's just squinting from the sun. She does have a double sided head, and her other side has her wearing sunglasses and a smile.
The first part of the build is a delightful little fountain, with a 4x8 half circle green plate as a base. It looks quite refreshing, doesn't it?
Next is a small table with a couple of large sandwiches (for minifigs, anyway) as well as some liquid refreshments for the picnic with a couple of glasses. We then get a flower box with abundant blooms on a small patch of greenery.
The main picnic area is on the 8x8 baseplate, on which a red and white checked blanket is built with 2x2 jumper plates. I like the use of the jumpers as it allows for the accessories to be rearranged as desired. And what accessories there are! In addition to the chocolates and love letter that come with the minifigs, there are some cookies, a teddy bear and a pineapple as well as a couple white cushions for our romantic couple to sit on. A balloon finishes the area in the corner.
The last part of the build is the tree that has lots of foliage and flowers as well as a birdhouse. At the top of the tree we have the presumed inhabitant of the birdhouse, however he seems a little large to fit! This last part of the build is also on a 4x8 half circle green plate.
The two half circle green plates can be placed next to the main picnic area to form a heart.
Overall thoughts
I really enjoyed the vignettes in 2015, and this set picks up where that series left off. It's a lovely little build, with plentiful details - this couple has thought of just about everything for an idyllic picnic in the park. For the price (126 pieces, $9.99, £8.49, 9.99€) it's not a bad deal. It's a nice way to start off 2017!
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30 comments on this article
Looks cool! Thanks for the review.
As a Friends fan I think I have every single one of these parts, it would've been nice if they offered something new for us.
It is a lovely set though.
Picnic on February 14th? Well, maybe with global warming...
In the southern hemisphere maybe, but not round here. Though I suppose that a strictly accurate set of people in parkas with a flask of hot tea, bare trees and muddy grass might not sell as well?
Thanks for the great review! The heart layout is a nice idea.
Why is one sandwich grey? xD
Lovely set- wish it used new baloon part though...
@deephorse: LOL, just imagine the box art for that set you describe. Yummy ;-)
Looks lovely, the food elements are a great touch.
I think she is bemused by the fact she is wearing a tank top in February. I like the set but it's a horribly poor plan to have a Valentines day set picnic.
Great addition to last years fun in the park and fountain sets. Large variety of parts in such a small set is nice to see again.
No picture of the Easter preview??
This set looks good otherwise. If I can find it I will have to get it.
What's annoying about thumb tab openings?
Jd - thumb tabs can be hard to open, in addition they can deform the box when you depress.
^ It's fairly easy to cut the thumb tab boxes open with a penknife, through the glue, leaving the thumb tab intact.
Nice set.
Very cute, lovin' the heart shape - the only reason this set makes sense for valentines day.
Romantic summertime picnic might be more apt, but hey, I like it, and all seasons are fine for a little romance ;-)
@shaase: that's exactly why I purchased this set, to expand the park and fountain diorama.
Not wildly exciting, but a cute little set for the price. I definitely prefer the diorama style seasonal sets to the brick-built globs by a landslide.
I saw the girl's expression as just a cute smile. If anything I feel like she looks more impressed to me than disappointed.
The picnic is nice, although some aspects like the pineapple feel a bit over-the-top. It would also have been nice if it included a picnic basket of some sort, maybe the same rubber basket piece that is frequently used in Friends sets. However, I understand that the huge spread of treats and gifts here is way too much to fit in a basket that size!
The scenery is lovely, and the fact that it can be arranged into a heart shape is just the icing on the cake! It's a shame that the Easter set can't be arranged into a similar sort of pattern, although I understand that an egg shape might be a little trickier to achieve with a one-plate-thick base.
Unlike a lot of people, I really have no preference between vignettes and brick-built characters (I found all of the past two years' seasonal sets quite charming in their own right). It is nice that this year's vignettes seem to stand out from those of two years ago in that the 2015 ones were set "at home" (either inside or at the front door of a house), while so far this year's have a more wide-open outdoor setting.
@lordofdragonss: The sandwiches are Brick Yellow (Tan) and Sand Yellow (Dark Tan). The greyish appearance of the Sand Yellow one is probably because of the blue background.
@Carbo: I think the boy figure's shirt and jacket are generic enough that they could stand in for either gender — they're not particularly revealing or tight-fitting, and the colors and star pattern aren't all that girly. Of course if you wanted to interpret this as a happy lesbian couple out on a picnic there'd be nothing stopping you!
Awesome! I love the parts included here. Nice review.
This is so cute; I love the way the layout arranges into a heart! That's my Valentine for my partner sorted, then. :)
How exactly is the torso for a female, Carbo? It's a purple shirt with a blue blue hoodie. There are no waists or hips or breasts.
Love the vignettes glad they're back.
The first thing that struck me was the short-haired figure's torso, because I wouldn't have chosen it if I were designing the set, I would like a nice royal blue hoodie zipped up, but I like that it's open for interpretation because I'm not going to automatically assume gender based on social norms, even in a toy. Best part about Lego is that if it's not floating your boat, you can change it out.
I also agree with Aanchir that the smile is not at all disappointed or squinty. It's a pretty cute look, to me it reads as being amused or impressed with the bizarre spread. "Yay! Pineapples!"
Had it minidolls, it would be a must buy for me because I'd jump at any chance to get more boy minidolls. It would be great if the set were released as a minifigure and minidoll version.
These minifigures are quite appealing though, and I really do enjoy that the larger bases form a heart... but then you're left with the smaller base and table.
"Look, love, these form a heart!"
"And what about those?
"Erm, no, no, no... Just look at these... A heart!"
I get the pieces fit in the price point, so why not get the extra bits, but it just kind of kills the overall mood created by the set. Sometimes, less is more, eh?
Love the heart-shaped baseplate, but I agree with ericjohn that the extra parts don't really fit. I think a nice touch would be to add another bird, so they can be a couple too.
Also, LEGO, it might be nice to see some non-heterosexual couples in this sort of atmosphere.
Just sayin'.
VaderFan2187 it's not so much political correctness as it is life. But yeah, it looks like they used grey bread and white bread. Unless the color balance of the camera is off (some other pieces looked bizarrely tinted) and the non-neutral background is just fooling the eye-- likely since in the last photo if you compare the breads to elements you know the color of like the jelly cookies that are tan, the white bread reads as the same color as those, which then means the grey bread might be that odd sand yellow color. Probably just the way the colors come across in the photos.
Being gay isn't PC. lol Wow.... However just change the head of the female to male. I have dated guys who have worn things like that tank. :)
And Carbo, I think you are missing the point of Fun in the Park. It's to mix and match minifigure parts and do whatever you want. Yeah the piece was used for a girl, but even the direction show you to rebuild the mini figures. Until about 3-4 years ago EVERY fire and police torso was used to make a male, does that make those torso prints only for males? Nope.
That's the fun in Lego anyway, isn't it? You can mix and match anything you like. Build your own gender. Hell, give the figure of your choice a Chewbacca headpiece if that's your poison ;-)
Most torsos are generic and can be used for either men or women. Even if the torso has cleavage...so too do many modern men.