Review: 41447 Heartlake City Park
Posted by MeganL,
One set that hasn't received much attention in the first wave of Friends sets is 41447 Heartlake City Park. It's the first park I can remember in the Friends theme. It's one of those kinds of sets that makes you wonder why it hasn't been done before, as it seems a natural fit with Heartlake City. I think it's one of my favourite sets in this early wave of Friends; read on to find out why.
Inside the box there are five numbered bags, a 8x16 green plate, a small sticker sheet and an instruction book. The sticker sheet likely isn't needed as the set would be fine without it, but the choices of stickers are fascinating to me, as I'll discuss later.
Minidolls and animals
Three are three minidolls and one microdoll in this set. I'm loving the trend of more minidolls in smaller sets this year! Our three minidolls are the sweethearts Emma and Ethan. Emma is wearing the same wrap style coral top with a tree design as she did last year at her Fashion Shop, and her skirt has also been seen several times before. Ethan, on the other hand, has busted out a new outfit for this occasion, and is demonstrating that real men wear dark lavender. He has on what appears to be a teal hoodie with dark lavender arms. There's the hood, the tie strings and the patch pockets printed with great detail. Ethan pairs that with dark slacks and grey shoes - apparently he saves the exciting colours for his hoodies! Olivia similarly is wearing an outfit we've seen before - a blue dress with a sweetheart neckline with a cool yellow vest with impressive detailing.
With all the details on the front of Ethan's torso, it's rather disappointing that there's no printing on the back. I can't imagine it would be difficult to print the hood on the back. Unless I got a mistake minidoll without the printing? There's a little detail provided on Emma's and Olivia's torso, which looks nice.
Henry is the microdoll included, and he's new to this set. While the minidoll is new, Henry the character is not. He was previously seen in 41318 Heartlake Hospital, albeit as a full sized minidoll, in the role of the patient. He is the first Friends character to appear in minidoll and microdoll form. It's not clear what relationship that Henry has to the Friends, though it may be logical to assume that Henry is Emma's brother as he's included in this set. His head and body are both new pieces. His expression is suitably cute and I love his freckles. He has on a green shirt with white polka dots and patch pocket.
As most Friends sets have an animal, and a park setting is a natural for animals, a squirrel is included. The squirrel was introduced last year and has been used in two previous Friends sets and two Disney Princess sets. Neither of the microdoll or the squirrel have printing on the back.
Completed Model
There's only one auxiliary build, but it fits perfectly with the park: a swan boat. I love the hinged swan wings that also serve as doors to get into the boat.
There's seating for two, so it's a perfect for Ethan and Emma to spend some quality time together.
The main area of the park is structured into three areas. Going from left to right, the first area looks like it's hosting a birthday party! That would explain why the minidolls are at the park today. There's a lovely flowering brick built tree providing shade for the area, which includes a small table. Party accoutrements are all laid out with three brightly coloured balloons, a rather large wrapped present, and a fancy flowered cake. I particularly like the decorative piece used for the top of the cake. I thought it was a new piece, but it turns out it has been used in two Friends sets (that I didn't review) last year.
Hanging from tree is a festive pinata - Emma was equipped with a stick with which to hit it. While the pinata does open, it sadly only contains one piece of candy, making it hardly worth the effort! Also notice the carved initials in the side of the tree. Ethan's alterego is Prankzy the graffiti artist; and it looks like Prankzy has spent part of his day memorializing his affection for Emma.
Also worth noting on the other side of this tree is another sticker = this one a nod to Classic Space. It's not the first nod to Classic Space in a Friends set, though it is nice to see here.
The next portion consists of a bridge that crosses a stream. When building the set, I thought the bridge led to an island in the middle of a lake, but the box art for the set shows instead that the bridge crosses a stream that joins two lakes together. Regardless, it's a lovely bridge, and the highlight in this area is the high flying, brightly coloured kite overhead. There's some nice detail in this section, including some 1x1 blue opal pieces to accentuate the water and some of the foliage, including a water lily.
The bridge leads to a pavilion, that has a large sign on either stating quite clearly that you're at the park. I like that the signs are on both sides. A dock - presumably where the swan boat starts and finishes its outings - is built on one side of the pavilion. A flowering tree is on the far side of the pavilion, which is where the squirrel has a perch (there's also one on the other flowering tree on the other side of the stream). During BricksLA in January, designer Joel Baker mentioned that he managed to fit in four of the new curved window pieces in this set. They look terrific in the pavilion.
This tree might be the squirrel's favourite, though as there's an acorn hidden in a compartment in this tree. Obviously, the one tree branch got moved a bit between my build table and photo station.
The back of the pavilion looks very similar to the front, though the designer has placed an interesting sticker, similar to Prankzy's artwork on the other side. Considering the designer is Joel Baker, I wonder who A might be?
The far side of the tree normally wouldn't merit a picture, but there is a sticker on this, so in the interest of a complete review, I'm including that. Not only that, but it's the most intriguing sticker in the set. What does having "Elvendale" on the tree mean? Could we have some crossover between themes? Has Emily or her sister Sophie visited Heartlake City? So many possibilities…..
We've not done with the pavilion, however. Friends designers have been known to incorporate moving functions in their set when possible, and this set is no exception. With the inclusion of a few technic pieces, 4x4 round plates, and some splat gears, when the cupola at the top of the pavilion is turned, the entire floor of the pavilion turns into a dance floor. This way, once Ethan and Emma are off on their swanboat ride, Olivia can teach Henry to dance.
Of course, they're not the only ones who like to dance.
I love this dance function in this set. It would have been easy enough to just build a pavilion, but with a few extra parts, the designer has added a nice building technique for kids to learn and something that adds immeasurably to play value.
Overall thoughts
In a city that has had a plethora of restaurants and shops, having a park is a great addition to Heartlake City. I'm continuing to love the additional minidolls in a set this size - three minidolls and a microdoll in a $40 set is great! It's a very pretty set to look at, and there's plenty of play value with the party, the swanboat, the pinata and the dance floor. Even the squirrel has lots to do, with two flowering trees and something to eat, too.
For those looking at this as a potential parts pack, not only are there four of the curved window pieces, there are also several relatively new pieces in the set. A complete inventory can be found here.
Considering all the play value inherent to the set (432 pieces, $39.99, 39.99€, £34.99), I think it's a decent set for the price. In fact, even though it's early in the year, when it comes to gift giving guides at the end of the year, I think this set will merit serious consideration for that $25-$50 range.
Elves fans can only hope that the Elvendale reference is foreshadowing something!
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29 comments on this article
This set is a Toys "R" Us exclusive in Singapore.
It's a pretty little set. I really like those curved window frames, and for that matter the entire pavilion. And the bridge. And the kite.
This set is quite neat! When I first saw pictures of the set I thought the dance floor in the pavilion was just one large turntable. The four small turntables that are all geared together make it much more interesting. Obviously as an Elves fan I love the Elvendale reference, and the kite is quite a clever build making good use of some of the more recent wedge plates and tiles.
i love d' heartlake park but its a tad overpriced at 59.99 sgd compared to the organic cafe at 39.99 sgd and its almost the same size except this has more detail and plants in it cause its a park. (btw J + A is J.D the pop star + Andrea)
I think the squirrel has appeared before (not the same).
https://brickset.com/sets/41182-1/The-Capture-of-Sophie-Jones
I love how it looks, but for the time being I don't love its LEGO-exclusiveness and the price. I'm definitely waiting when it becomes available at regular retailers now in March and hoping for a more cost-efficient purchase.
Just missing a few large plates to give more of a park feel and somewhere to have a picnic. Should combine really well with 41325 City Playground which was an excellent set.
@ShadoWind , the Elves squirrel is either design ID 19810 https://brickset.com/parts/design-19810 or 31869 https://brickset.com/parts/design-31869 , while this new one is 49086 https://brickset.com/parts/design-49086 . I was sure I had seen this same squirrel before in my daughters' Elves sets, such as 41076 .
I cannot see any real difference between the three, though there are very slight differences in the name of each design.
The only set with 35787 (Tile, Modified 2 x 2 Triangular) in bright yellow.
Is Henry necessarily the same person? Presumably two characters can have the same name?
The J+A is my wife and I. She is also Captain Ashley in 41429 Heartlake City Airplane.
It's heart warming to hear the positive reaction to the round window element. I was holding onto the idea for it for a long time before it found a reason to be made. The element Designer was Yoel Mazur, and we've teamed up a few times now.
@Joel_Baker said:
"The J+A is my wife and I. She is also Captain Ashley in 41429 Heartlake City Airplane.
It's heart warming to hear the positive reaction to the round window element. I was holding onto the idea for it for a long time before it found a reason to be made. The element Designer was Yoel Mazur, and we've teamed up a few times now."
Awesome. My kids are going to be excited to learn that Captain Ashley from 41429 has a cool backstory!
Nice kite! I might add a couple to the top levels of my Ninjago modulars. Definitely easier than trying to MOC new equivalents of the puffer fish, pig and carp...
Y'know, this review has actually helped me reach an epiphany :)
I've usually steered clear of the main sets in the Friends line because I find the minidolls to be too 'super-deformed', buuuuuuuut this makes no sense at all as they're actually shaped a lot more like real people than the minifigures that I've always considered to be 'normal'!
Apologies all for subjecting the world at large to my own little eye-opening moment :D
^^^ Joel is keeping quiet about the Elvendale sticker....
Just looked and Joel designed 3 Elves sets.
Child minidolls are creepy.
At least it's getting easier to get more characters than the main girls. I have an army of them and like, two boys.
Love the shout-out to elves.
It is a lovely little set.
But is Henry about to be attacked by that squirrel?
@crankybricks said:
"Is Henry necessarily the same person? Presumably two characters can have the same name?
"
In addition to the significant height difference, comparing facial features there is no resemblance between the two Henrys.
I think it's safe to assume they are different characters.
I love the Elvendale Easter egg. I've always assumed that the Joneses were residents of Heartlake, and I'll take this bit of graffiti as confirmation. I'm liking this set, and continue to be impressed with the quality and variety of builds in Heartlake. I hope to be similarly impressed with Lego City one day.
But where is the toilet?
A great set and for those who might wish to include this in their Lego City with minifigs it's very good for that.
The kite is cute. And I have to give a shout out to a vehicle with working doors!
Fairly priced at $40 it's a real steal if it his 20% off like Friends sets sometimes do.
B or B+ set as I mostly look at Friends sets for my Lego City. I'd probably rate this higher strictly as a Friends set.
That kite build is very clever, I love it.
The little brother looks like Young Sheldon.
Thanks for the review. It is a wonderful little set with a few heartwarming features:)
Looks like good value for a lot of features. I love the dancing area.
If only they'd done splat gears like that in Duplo instead of those rubbish loose ones.
Man, that Elvendale sticker tease...
My daughter likes Friends, but I have to admit, our whole family liked Elves. I would love to see them bring that theme back.
There was a Friends playground before-41325. It was designed by a young fan, maybe as part of a contest? I continue to rate Friends sets way above City for creativity and usefulness of businesses and spaces other than a police station.
Also, would LOVE to have Elves come back.
Super-cute set! In line with other comments, my heart totally leapt when I saw the Elvendale sticker! My whole family would love to see that line come back...
I like it .
Very beautiful and great set but the most awesome think about this is the elvendale sticker on the tree!!! I would really like to see this wonderfull theme AND the beautifull minidolls make a commeback because it was and it still is my favourite lego theme ever and the reason why i loved lego in the first place!!! I sent a lot of email's to lego almost praying them to bring this theme back because it was a great andventure and magical theme that a lot of people enjoyed, and and each time I got the same answer:
"...You never know—some of the old treasures have been known to make a comeback!"
and I always believed that sooner or later they would make an announcement that the theme would return at some point!But nothing happens so far and we continue to get different themes that unfortunately discontinue after one or two years!!!(a.k.a. hidden side).Let's hope that this sticker tells us something about a comeback because i really want to see elves back! Just bring this really awesome theme Lego you have so many new and beautiful pieces from 2018 that would really help the theme stay for many more years!!!BRING BACK THE ELVES!!!!!
Wait, are sloths included in this set?
Great review!