Up till now, I'd never looked twice at Friends as my two boys' reaction to it could best be described as 'absolutely not'. Now, with a daughter getting of age (well, Duplo age, but you can never be too early with some things ;-) I could not resist the temptation when I found a bag of Lego with some Friends minidolls and instructions. Despite having no knowledge at all of what sets (if any) there really could be I paid the asking price of €10 and, after inspection at home, it turned out to include this set, #41009 Andrea's Bedroom, #41003 Olivia's Newborn Foal (x2), #41011 Stephanie's Soccer Practice and #41019 Turtle's Little Oasis so I was happy thinking I got the daughter off to a good start.

Let's start with the minidolls, an apt name as they do seem more like dolls than the standard minifigures. There's Mia and Katharina, Mia being one of the five-girl-band I suppose but this appears to be the only set with Katharina, who is she? The proportions on the dolls look good, the hands look a bit big and could be closer to the body but then they wouldn't be compatible with minifig items so this is acceptable. Worse is that they have less articulation, no hands that can be rotated and both legs can only be moved together so a walking pose is impossible. They do come with nice equestrian helmets with integrated ponytails which could be used on minifigures. There's also a cat (cute version), a frog (not cute version) and two cute horses (which look like rounded versions of the standard horses) with saddles. But while a minifigure on a corresponding horse with saddle looks like it is horse riding, a minidoll on a corresponding horse with saddle looks like it is vaulting, it looks a bit off to me.

There's quite a bit of different colours but thankfully the pink is rather subdued, dark pink flags and accessories and a few bright pink tiles and slopes, but most noticeable the stable doors. Most of the building is tan with some white, yellow and blue accents, there's a few dark red pieces too but two of them are large 8 x 16 tiles which make this colour pop more than just the piece count would suggest. Several yellow 1 x 2 bricks with grill (hay), white fences, some flowers, an apple, two carrots, a book, buckets, baskets and a medium blue half barrel, there's a rather nice selection of pieces at hand here. There should also be a dark pink hand cart but unfortunately that was missing. Also included are some garage door sections used as an obstacle! I wouldn't want to jump the other obstacle with those flags waving over it but that's probably just me :-).

The build is definitely on the easier side of things but doesn't look too bad, all things considered. Especially the central barn looks rather good despite its simplicity, with a few modifications this could fit right in in a City farm or even in a Castle village. In fact I like the alternative layout better, positioning both stables next to each other and the barn to the side. There's a few stickers to make things look cuter (butterflies, flowers) but the one causing most grief is the one on the dark pink bucket, in my experience stickers on rounded parts never seem to hold on that well and this one is no exception.

I didn't really expect to review this yet (see first sentence) but when I came home the day after putting it together I was surprised to find my boys actually playing with these Friends sets, so there. Granted, that probably was not the most conventional way to play with them (think 'bad day', 'accidents happen' and such and you'll get the idea, I also saw #70126 Crocodile Legend Beast involved at one point - best not to ask what that was doing there) but still, I had thought they'd be giving this a wide berth and was proven quite wrong, much to their own surprise I'd imagine.

So up till now, when we were in a toy store and the children would be nagging to get a set I could get them quiet by saying "Yes, as long as it's a Friends (NO!) - or, possibly, an Elves (NOOO!) - set." I'm afraid that that won't work anymore...

EDIT: in fact, I have now been officially asked to go out and get them more Friends sets. This was not really what I was expecting when I picked up that bag :-s

I got this set and built it. I really like the stables. I have the Heartlake Vet and the Heartlake Stables, and they go together well. It's a good set. It has 2 minifigures and 2 horses. Also features a lego frog, fences, and a cat.