This is the new small Pink Brick Box, replacing the 5585 Pink Brick Box from 2008. If you read the reviews for the older set, you'll see some common complaints about the lack of a minifig and not enough of the rare colors/too much of the common colors. This set addresses all of those earlier criticisms, and gives us an extra bonus as well.

Box/Instructions

This is one of the brick boxes that comes with a nice reusable plastic storage case, in this case in Pink. As with all of the brick boxes, this one has plenty of empty space to store additional sets or bricks.

One interesting thing about the instructions is that it has LEGO Friends on the back cover, so this clearly is intended as an introduction that will lead a child into the LEGO Friends line, or as a supplement to the LEGO friends line.

Parts

The earlier Pink Brick Boxes included a good mix of standard colors (Red, Yellow, Blue, Green) along with some of the rarer colors (Orange, Pink, Purple, etc.). Since the rarer colors were the main attraction of the set, the inclusion of the more common colors generally was negatively received by many. This set addresses those complaints quite well.

In this set, you won't any red, blue, yellow, green, black, or white standard bricks. Some of those colors are completely absent, while others are used very sparingly to provide interesting parts like slopes, plates, arches, etc.

What you will mainly find is lots of Orange, Pink, Dark Pink, Purple and accents of Lavender, Magenta, and Lime. This set is just filled with interesting and rare colors!

As far as interesting parts, it has one croissant, a plate, and a dark pink cup. Strangely, while it has two of the arched windows, it doesn't include panes for those windows.

However, as an added bonus, the set also includes one of the new orange brick separator tools!

Minifigures

Unlike the previous small Pink Brick Box, this set does include a minifig, and a unique minifig at that. She is wearing a purple shirt with flowers, and is a welcome addition to the male dominated LEGO City.

It is however interesting to note that this set includes a standard minifig, when the instruction manual has tie ins to LEGO Friends. Personally I don't mind since a new female minifig torso is always great, but it is something to note for those who are looking for extra bricks to add to their LEGO friends collection.

The build

There are instructions to build a few basic models, a house, car, dog, table, and a few trees/shrubs. Nothing terribly exciting, but enough to subtly introduce a child to basic building techniques.

The completed model

Again, the completed model isn't terribly exciting, but I think it's enough to satisfy a young child who has outgrown Duplo and is new to LEGO.

Summary

This is a set that is easy to overlook if you purchased the predecessor, since the box looks almost the same sitting on the shelf in the store. If you bought the previous set and weren't terribly impressed, give this set a second look because you might be surprised. It eliminates the common colors almost completely, gives us eight more pieces, includes a minifig and a brick separator, plus tons of parts in rare colors. All of this for the same price. LEGO, you've outdone yourself on this one, great job!