There are plenty of things to do in Heartlake City and the new LEGO® Friends gang has a brand new Sports Center to enjoy. It’s not the first time the LEGO Friends theme has focused on sporting endeavours. Back in 2017, the original LEGO Friends could visit a similar Sports Center. This new set features a similar collection of activities and expands to include a multipurpose sports pitch. Continuing my look at the Summer LEGO Friends sets, here’s a closer look at the Sports Center.
Product Details
Set Name: Sports Center | Set Number: 43744 | Pieces: 832 | Theme: Friends
RRP: £84.99/$94.99/94.99€ | Number of Bags: Bags x 6 | Instructions: 1 x Paper booklets + Builder App | Stickers: Sheet x 1 | Characters: Leo, Ivana, Niko & Hanna
Availability: LEGO Stores, LEGO Online & General Retail
The first part of the build is focused on a small sports pitch. This features a basic and rather small pitch area which can be modified by adding different elements. The pitch surface uses an 8×16 flat tile, which provides a smooth surface to move the players over. This is done by two Technic axles mounted on a rotatable 2×2 round brick. So they can be moved side to side as well as having the ability to move back and forth. Three different sports are portrayed on the same pitch, by adding two goals it’s a football/soccer pitch. Removing those and adding a net across the centre of the pitch turns it into a tennis court. Finally, adding a catapult to one end of the pitch and a basketball net to the other turns it into a basketball court. The pitch is accompanied by a score counter. I’m not a fan of the sticker strips which wrap around the round bricks, they seem to peel away too easily. Something not unique to this set either.
The main building houses the Sports Centre and considering it’s a compact area, a lot of detail has been built into the set. The ground floor is home to a refreshment area, along with a shower room and a cool little locker area. This uses a couple of different cupboard elements, each filled with various accessories. But it’s the little trophy adorning the top of the lockers I like the most, so simple but a fun little detail. There are a fair few stickers used on the set, with most of them used in the interior of the building, such as those lockers, showers and various walls.
The upper floor makes excellent use of parts to craft various pieces of gym equipment. The cycle set is particularly cool and extremely detailed considering it’s such a small build. The main building is flanked by a tall column section that features a neat rock-climbing tower. This makes great use of the rock-textured plates, featured for the first time in a blue colour. It is dotted with sports bottle caps and a flexy rope. The whole thing is mounted on a Technic axle so it can be rotated for an extra challenge.
I’ve previously commented on the impressive brick-built signage of the LEGO Friends sets and the Sports Centre continues the trend with a sports-themed wave, decorated with a trio of balls. Two of these are stickers but the larger football disc is printed. As it’s simply connected to the roof with a hinge plate, it looks like the wave is floating. The Friends Design Team has nailed creating great signs for buildings.
The set includes four mini-dolls, which are all unique to this set. Despite the characters appearing to wear similar sports gear, their torsos are each different thanks to having numbers on their backs. Zac is the only main character included in the set, the rest of the characters expand the Heartlake City community. Hanna and Niko can swap heads, although the change to their expression is quite minor.
Overall
It’s a set that is packed with lots of little details and I like how different sports and activities have been included in various aspects of the set. Some of these use interesting parts to achieve those details, but the set doesn’t feel like it warrants the fairly high price point. Especially when you compare it to other similarly priced sets such as the Botanical Garden and Beach Amusement Park, which offer better play and build experiences. The option to swap heads on a couple of the characters is fun but the alternate expressions are so minor it seems a little unnecessary. Pricing of sets seems to be an ongoing issue and it’s often the only major downside of a set. It’s certainly a major issue with this set.
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