Heartlake City is awash with places to grab a bite to eat and hang out with friends. Past sets have taken us to juice bars, cafés, bakeries and even a mobile hotdog van. Now the new generation of LEGO® Friends can experience a good old fashion 50s eatery with the Downtown Diner. The set features some interesting elements, inventive minibuilds and a cool sticker or two. As the new LEGO Friends set reviews continue here’s a look at the Heartlake Downtown Diner.
Product Details
Set Name: Heartlake Downtown Diner | Set Number: 41728 | Pieces: 346 | Theme: LEGO Friends
RRP: £24.99/$29.99/29.99€ | Number of Bags: Bags x 3 (plastic) + loose elements | Instructions: Paper + Builder App | Mini-dolls: 3 | Stickers: Sheets x 1
Availability: LEGO Stores, LEGO Online & General Retail
Although the focus of the set is the diner building, it features a separate section which features a seating area. I like how the long rounded ‘loaf’ bricks have been used to create those classic diner-style seats. It’s just odd it’s not connected to the main building and so feels like a little bit of a spare part.
The diner building is quite a compact place but it features a few nice details. Many of them are little builds which are added to the interior of the set. These include a simple arcade cabinet, chest chiller and a jukebox. The jukebox is actually connected to a Technic pin and gear wheel, which can be twisted to make the music player rock. The diner also includes a kiosk collection window which is actually a ‘skate-thru’, very hip.
Diners are often styled after their 50s inspiration and traditional décor often includes the use of certain colours and patterns. These have been used in the set but they seem to clash a little with the more commonly used pastel colours of the Friends sets. So although the coral pink and bright blueish green goes together nicely, I don’t think they work next to the prime colours used elsewhere in the set. This is mainly the case on the exterior, if the curved roof canopy used different colours, it would blend better.
There are 3 mini-dolls included in the set. Over the last few years, the Friends theme has vastly expanded its cast of characters, that’s even before the reboot. With the new sets focus on the new group of friends, 2 of them are from the main character line-up. They include Liann and Aliya. Both characters in appear in other sets and their outfits can also be found in other sets. There is one exclusive mini-doll, Charli. The Diner assistant is entirely made up of unique pieces, including a pale blue hairpiece. On the subject of hair, with all these new characters, there are plenty of new hairstyles introduced in the Friends sets. They all seem to be standard pieces now instead of the rubbery ones often found in older ones. These are much easier to connect to the heads and will also see them used in other themes.
Overall
It’s not the most exciting of the new Friends sets and feels a little more like one of the older sets. Yet it has a few interesting details, in particular, all the little mini builds even down to such things as the sub sandwiches and napkin dispensers. I definitely think the seating area should have been connected to the building or at least make it detachable so there’s a choice. I would say it should have just been an outdoor seating area but I like the retro diner seating design too much. I do feel the colours clash, the Friends sets have always had a unique colour palette and that’s not the issue, it’s the blend of those commonly used pastel colours with the more traditional colours which seems odd in places. My absolute favourite part of the set is the tiny black cat. Its expression is very smug and the inclusion of a missing animal poster featuring said cat adds to the notion it knows full well that people are looking for it.
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This set was provided BricksFanz and provided by the LEGO Group for review purposes. The thoughts within this review are that of BricksFanz and do not reflect those of the LEGO Group. Providing a set for free does not guarantee a favourable opinion of the set.
