Review: 41727 Dog Rescue Center
Posted by MeganL,
The dog rescue efforts in Heartlake City have been busy lately, as we've seen in 41738 Dog Rescue Bike and 41741 Dog Rescue Van. The third set in this dog rescue story is 41727 Dog Rescue Center. Now we'll see where the Nameless Canine from the Rescue Bike and Pickle from the Rescue Van end up next.
Summary
41727 Dog Rescue Centre, 617 pieces.
£54.99 / $59.99 / €59.99 | 8.9p/9.7c/9.7c per piece.
Buy at LEGO.com »
A worthy culmination of the dog rescue arc
- New golden retriever
- More fabulous Friends hair
- Completion of story arc
- Straightforward build
Inside the box there are six numbered bags, one unnumbered bag with two 8x16 plates and a slide, one instruction booklet, one instruction book, and two sticker sheets. One is dedicated to window blinds, which is my least favourite kind of sticker.
Like most sets in this wave, there's a map showing where the Center is located. Many rescue are located on the outskirts of town, like this one is.
Minidolls and animals
There are three minidolls in this set. Gabriela is a staff member of the rescue; she's wearing scrubs and some blue gloves. Gabriela continues the trend of Friends characters having awesome hair! Major kudos to the designers for this year's fantastic hair designs. We've met Autumn before in her hiking gar and boots.
Zac completes the trio, and he's wearing a colourful red, yellow and white shirt with an asymmetric zipper and a zippered pocket. There's not a lot of printing on the back of the minidolls, with the exception of Zac's which has a nice detail of a wave logo on his hoodie.
Being that this is a Dog Rescue Center, of course there are dogs! We see Pickle again in this set. Their wheels have been upgraded to those we saw in the van, and their harness has been exchanged for a bright neon one. They'll certainly be visible in the dark! Grace the golden retriever looks like she has a bit of a scar on her forehead, indicating she's survived some kind of adventure. Last, there's Dash. Dash is also predictably cute, but unfortunately is missing their eyes. Dash and Grace are new to this set, and I welcome the addition of a golden retriever.
The completed model
There are a few small builds associated with the model. First is a bath, apparently one of the first activities a newly rescue dog can participate in, and I'm guessing one of the least favourite. Next is a sign indicating that the pups are available for adoption, including a rather sad looking one in the centre.
Next up is an agility playground, with a bar to jump over, a catwalk (or would it be a dogwalk?), a few balls on sticks and a sausage as the ultimate treat for our rescued canines.
All the action happens at the Center, which is composed of an administration building and some connected kennels.
The outside of the centre is rather plain, with the exception of the interesting spacing of the windows. It's similar to what we've seen in other sets in the wave. The medium blue roof boasts two very large windows that require the window blinds. The centre is powered by the solar panels on the roof. The angled roof does introduce some nice building techniques for builders learning that skill.
A large brick build bone sign is featured prominently over the front door. A lamp is found on the sidewalk, with another "Lost Dog" flyer as we've seen in other sets.
Inside the front doors is a reception area with a check in desk, a waiting chair as well as some food and water for any canines that happen by.
Behind the desk is a montage of pictures, one of which shows Autumn adopting Pickle.
Upstairs is an examination area. I particularly like the little doggie AED featured!
The upstairs includes everything needed for examining our rescued canines.
The equipment can be used to examine more than dogs.
(Note: Sloths not included in this set, but it does remind them of their debut in 41424).
The rest of the centre is the kennel area. There are three kennels, each furnished with food and water. One has a very large bone provided! The third kennel allows for some extra fun, as the play area in the tree has a slide that leads down to it.
There are plenty of opportunities for the dogs to play at this end of the building. There's a rather steep ramp leading to a platform in the tree, and of course, the aforementioned slide.
Overall thoughts
I really like the story arcs that are being represented in this year's Friends sets. I know that previous years have been based on the animated series, but this year's stories seem a bit easier to connect the dots without watching any of the episodes (which I haven't as of this writing). This set, combined with the Dog Rescue Van and Dog Rescue Bike, completes a nice story of rescuing lost dogs and giving them an opportunity to find new homes.
I wish there was another minidoll in this set, but the minidolls that are included have some terrific hair. There have been some great Friends wardrobes this year, but I think the hairpieces are a standout. I also like that three dogs are included in this set - while that might be a given that you'd have dogs in a dog rescue set, that hasn't always been a given in previous years.
This is not a set that you'd want to pick up if you're looking for new or innovative building techniques (the roof is nice), but it tells a great story.
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22 comments on this article
There's an awful lot of lost dog-related activity in and around Heartlake City, and I think I can see why: if you train your strays on an agility-course and teach them to use such astoundingly steep ladders to climb up trees, maybe you shouldn't be surprised if those same strays are able to clear a one-brick high fence with ease.
I understand the appeal of repeat business, but honestly, you're just going to keep rescuing the same dogs over and over this way.
The "Lost Dog" flyer is magically changing its orientation from picture to picture :-)
I think the main strong point of this set is that it uses many regular bricks instead of just pillars and panels.
Of course there are still large pieces used , but it's nice to see smaller regular bricks used in places that could have used simpler, larger combined bricks or longer bricks.
What I mean, there are mainly bricks 1x1 - 1x6 . instead of 2+ high, or 8-16 long bricks.
It makes reuseability of the set's parts a lot better.
A 'Hiking Gar' sounds like quite the dangerous fish, I hope those aren't living in Heartlake
I think the sausage is actually the threat of their ultimate fate if they don't pull their weight on the agility course! Everyone knows that these minidolls are pure evil.
That dog's eyes are just closed ... right? Right?!
Lovely set. Lots of useful pieces as well.
And those window blinds give me a warm and fuzzy nostalgic feeling since they remind me of those classic white striped windows in my childhood sets from the Eighties.
Great review. You've got an oopsie in your build. Distracted by puppies no doubt.
One of the Fence 1 x 4 x 1 Lattice is flipped. :)
Sloths and dogs living together! Mass hysteria!
The modularity of the kennels is a neat feature. If you're a real dog lover you could potentially buy additional copies of the set to expand the rescue center even more! The wheelchair ramp is also a good accessibility feature that more sets should have (though here it's probably included mostly for Pickle's sake)
" We see Pickle again in this set. Their wheels have been upgraded to those we saw in the van..." Don't you mean upgraded *from* those? Nitpicking aside, I join you in applauding the presence of a Golden Retriever, which is one of my favorite dog breeds, if not the favorite.
@AustinPowers: You mean like in 6380?
@TheOtherMike : yes. Or 6373. Or 6382. Among others.
@ForestMenOfEndor said: "That dog's eyes are just closed ... right? Right?!"
Yeah. Oh boy.
Do we want the blind dog navigating the flimsy ladder up into the tall tree?
@Zordboy said:
" @ForestMenOfEndor said: "That dog's eyes are just closed ... right? Right?!"
Yeah. Oh boy.
Do we want the blind dog navigating the flimsy ladder up into the tall tree?"
Or the one without hind-legs? Or the one with the concussion?
Quite a nice set. The lavender is a bit much on the building though. Previous years had been a bit more subtle about pinks and purples.
@Ridgeheart said: "Or the one without hind-legs? Or the one with the concussion?"
Good lord. This is getting worse.
What the hell is going on in Heartlake City right now?
The comments here really darken my day. It's amazing how many implications one can draw from a seemingly innocent building toy.
@Torrent_Studios said:
"The comments here really darken my day. It's amazing how many implications one can draw from a seemingly innocent building toy."
The set is excellent at telling a story. The story itself might not be one you want to hear, but it's there.
Wait wait wait, hold on. If this is the last set in the story, does that mean that Nova, _after_ rescuing Pickle, kicked him out again?!? That's messed up!
@Ridgeheart said:
" @Torrent_Studios said:
"The comments here really darken my day. It's amazing how many implications one can draw from a seemingly innocent building toy."
The set is excellent at telling a story. The story itself might not be one you want to hear, but it's there."
Well, I didn't think one of LEGO's most light-hearted themes would bring up such dark stories...
@Torrent_Studios said:
" @Ridgeheart said:
" @Torrent_Studios said:
"The comments here really darken my day. It's amazing how many implications one can draw from a seemingly innocent building toy."
The set is excellent at telling a story. The story itself might not be one you want to hear, but it's there."
Well, I didn't think one of LEGO's most light-hearted themes would bring up such dark stories..."
I just want to find out who's been abusing these poor dogs and bring them to justice. Normally I'd suspect Olivia, but she's been thrown into space.
I hasn't escaped my notice that 41755 features a minifig-skull, a maimed and decidedly unhappy dog, and a SWORD.
It's always the quiet ones.
@Ridgeheart said:
" @Torrent_Studios said:
" @Ridgeheart said:
" @Torrent_Studios said:
"The comments here really darken my day. It's amazing how many implications one can draw from a seemingly innocent building toy."
The set is excellent at telling a story. The story itself might not be one you want to hear, but it's there."
Well, I didn't think one of LEGO's most light-hearted themes would bring up such dark stories..."
I just want to find out who's been abusing these poor dogs and bring them to justice. Normally I'd suspect Olivia, but she's been thrown into space.
I hasn't escaped my notice that 41755 features a minifig-skull, a maimed and decidedly unhappy dog, and a SWORD.
It's always the quiet ones."
Oh no.
Also, I had a look at 41755. Beforehand, I wasn't interested in the new Friends sets although the new teal was a bit more appealing than the old purple. Now though, I might wanna pick 41755 up. The pieces look useful and there are two of the new Friends.