This looks like outsider art.

Add that sink to the ‘parts I didn’t know existed’ register.

@MCLegoboy:
I'd have gone with Futurama, because I know where she's not: the Universe.

Huh. I like this set. Unsure of why the 'designer' is using a more hands-on approach with life-size items rather than drawings or models, but I suppose CAD was in its infancy then and I don't see a drafting table.

@MeisterDad said:
"...I don't see a drafting table."

It's the pile of parts, lower left.

I'm surprised to see that Belville and Star Wars coexisted back in 2000's. I thought Belville was a much older theme.

Love the Dove Blue parts!

But is she sitting after having just put together the stuff she's sitting on, or having just smashed to bits the stuff in the corner?

"Interior Designer"? More of a "Inter-Dimensional Designer":)
Now I'm just trying figure out:
-Is this a new version of an "Open Space Concept", or
-Is she just trying to A-"Void" work...:D

Unlike its owner, that bandana clearly isn't compostable. Well, it's basically plastic...

@Lego_lord said:
"I'm surprised to see that Belville and Star Wars coexisted back in 2000's. I thought Belville was a much older theme."

It is. Belvillle started around '94

That sofa doesn't look at all comfortable, and the table's not got the safest of tops to sit things on either. Also, is that a sink, or does the chair convert into a commode?

Interesting. I'm familiar with the set from back in the day, having seen it on shelves and having encountered it every time I read the 2004-5 catalog. And yet, this is the first time I'm seeing this image of it.
On sites like Peeron they often have similar images of the era's sets, often with weird poses and stuff placed around haphazardly. Compare http://peeron.com/inv/sets/8564-1 and 8564 for example).

Could those be originally from lego, or from fansites?

Newer set listings over here in Brickset now always show the product image with a white background, but from my experience that is usually not the case for sets around 2004 and before, as those often use instruction scans (see yesterday's set image 3402. That tiny set image was not on the box XD). From a cursory glance at my Bricklists it seems like these white-background images started with 2009 sets...

I wonder why this set does have a product image?

@MCLegoboy said:
"What are astromech droid legs doing in this set?

[looks through instructions]

Oh I see now, that makes sense. Still weird to see a very specific Star Wars part being used outside Star Wars though."

This (and the shorter version) pops up every now and then as a sturdy, compact stand, or sometimes as just a decorative piece in other sets. And I kind of love it when that happens - it's basically TLG saying "yes, this IS from a licensed theme, but you know what - go crazy with it, make it up as you go along, that's what we do".

It's like seeing Superman's hair or Marvel-helmets or Friends-pets in City-sets (all of which, we have). Maybe we should all lighten up a bit and just use whichever parts we like, whenever we want to.

Except Galidor-parts. We're not animals.

Banana for scale (right in the middle).

@MCLegoboy: My favorite non-Star Wars use of astromech parts is 70804, which actually had all the parts to build an all-white astromech with no printing.

@Binnekamp said:
"On sites like Peeron they often have similar images of the era's sets, often with weird poses and stuff placed around haphazardly. Compare http://peeron.com/inv/sets/8564-1 and 8564 for example).

Could those be originally from lego, or from fansites?"

From Amazon, I think - at least in the case of those Bionicle ones. I remember browsing there for sets a few years into Bionicle, specifically looking for other pictures of them, and a lot of the Amazon listings had those pose-on-white-background pictures.

Yes, checking 8589's page on there, I'm sure of it: it always stood out in my memory that the photo of Lerahk on Amazon showed him with a random red hip - just as that site's photo does, so they must be the same pictures. These days Amazon just uses Lego's official marketing images, but I guess they didn't do that at the time - though whether these pictures were Amazon's own or sourced from elsewhere I don't know. They sometimes showed the sets assembled incorrectly, though, so I wouldn't think they were from Lego themselves.

.
...on the subject of today's set, I'm still curious if there's any known reason why the Belville figures' arms changed from having articulated elbows to being a single solid piece. This picture shows the older style of arms, but the pictures of the box and instructions on Bricklink show her with the newer style instead, which got me thinking of it again.

The famous 'Danish Design' at it's best

All that work to be done, and she’s just sitting there watching TV and drinking tea… Cleary I chose the wrong career field!

Just another early 2000's set.

@Binnekamp:
@ThatBionicleGuy:
From 2002-2004, I attended NYTF. One of those years, I was given a retailer catalog which had white pages and showed very basic images of the products (some so early in development that the final design almost looked like a different model altogether). These days, those images are probably watermarked to prevent RLFM sites from posting scans, but 20 years ago it really just came down to the fact that very few fans sites had been invited in years prior, so I have to wonder if that was used as a source to fill in missing images.

Later on, they shipped a media package to me that included a series of digital images of then-upcoming Bionicle products in a range of different resolutions (the idea apparently being that you wouldn’t need to edit them if you could just pick the one that worked best for your situation). These days they have a standard procedure for dispensing high-res digital images of new products, and everyone probably gets all the same stuff they use on their own product pages.

@dr_legolass:
She’s freaking out about how disappointed My Dad is going to be with her lack of progress. If you want to deal with that stress load, I’m sure she’d be willing to swap jobs with you…

Ah the good old days of gender specific misogynistic Lego sets.

When you look into the void long enough, the void looks back.

*shudder*

I take back anything negative I've ever said about the Friends line.

(actually, I think the Friends line has become pretty impressive--I still prefer minifigures to minidolls, but I don't necessarily mind the minidolls anymore.)

When I was a kid I got this set just for pieces to make my own furniture for minifigs.

40357 : BYGGLEK would be a modern minifig variant.

40307 : Castle Interior Kit 40388 : Mini-Doll Dress-Up Kit also serve a similar purpose.

Also, some Advent Calendar had very furniture focused builds as well.

@bookmum: Hmm...you're right; she has a banana...Wait...SHE HAS A BANANA!!! RUUUUUN!!!

@brick_r said:
" @bookmum: Hmm...you're right; she has a banana...Wait...SHE HAS A BANANA!!! RUUUUUN!!!"

At least she's not a snake with a banana