Review: 41682 Heartlake City School
Posted by MeganL,This year in the Friends theme, there have been quite a few ideas that were last visited several years ago. Sets from this year that harkened by to years past included the 41683 Forest Horseback Riding Center, the shopping mall (review forthcoming), and the hotel (again, review forthcoming).
It's been eight years since the Friends have had a school (41005 Heartlake High), and there's another one this year. It's October and well into the school year, so it's back to 41682 Heartlake City School for this review.
Inside the box there are seven numbered bags two 8x16 tan base plates, instruction book, and a relatively sizable sticker sheet.
Minidolls
There three minidolls in the set, which is slightly disappointing considering the cost of the set, and that smaller sets have had just as many minidolls this year. Olivia is the only Friend in the set. She's wearing a new school uniform and looks quite smart in the navy jacket with yellow piping on the lapels. The jacket is on top of a lavender sweater and button down white shirt. Marisa makes her first appearance in this set, presumably as a teacher - I'm basing that opinion solely on the calf length of her skirt, which is making its second appearance this year (it was first seen on June in 41450 Heartlake Shopping Mall). I think in the Friends anyone older than a teenager doesn't wear a miniskirt. Marisa's torso is new, which surprises me as I thought I've seen the high waisted tie belt on a torso before. Perhaps the pale green top with orange belt is new, along with the two silver necklaces.
Julian is back again in this set - his job at 41448 Heartlake City Movie Theater is clearly part time. He's also dressed in the school uniform with the same lavender cable knit sweater with blue trim with white button down shirt as Olivia's wearing. There's some printing in the back of the minidolls, but nothing overly intricate.
No cute animals in this set, so I'm guessing it wasn't "bring your pet to school day".
The completed model
There's one small minibuild included, which is a little out of sorts - a basketball hoop. It's great that it shows physical activity, but it's not associated with one of the classrooms, nor is there any other equipment for a P.E. class.
The last school was built in a modular set up, something that was somewhat popular during the first few years of Friends. This one is not, and is in a more traditional "dollhouse" design.
Through the front doors of the school is the mainstay of most high schools in the US - the trophy case. Alongside the trophies are two lockers.
The other side of the hall has a water fountain as well as another two lockers.
The ground floor has classroom dedicated to the arts, and a cafeteria. The arts classroom is well outfitted. There's a small stage for performing underneath the Comedy and Tragedy Masks of Theatre.
On one side of the room, there are musical instruments - a piano, a guitar, and other musical details provided by a sticker.
The other side of the room has a trunk that's filled with props for the stage.
On the other side of the entry hall is the cafeteria, that's laid out with some cups, an untidy stack of plates as well as an assortment of sandwiches.
Of course, since there's food, it's naturally where you might find some unexpected guests.
Note: sloths are not included in this set.
There's a table for four that can be a minibuild…….
But that can also be attached to the main build.
I wonder which of them uses the computer? Note: sloths are not included in this set.
Upstairs, above the entry hall is the bathroom, because you can't have a Friends set without one!
It's pretty standard as Friends bathrooms go, though the graffiti on the walls (supplied by stickers) are interesting.
The first classroom on the top floor is a science lab. There are two desks and a lab bench. I love that the designer included a 1x1 pink plate for under one of the desks to denote some bubblegum! It's not visible in the final build, but it's great knowing it's there. That lab bench is equipped with a microscope, scrutinizing a lady bug. Sticker details include Erlenmeyer flasks and a lab coat.
Behind the desks a sticker shows additional details of test tubes, books, and certifications.
The other side of the lab is a whiteboard, with one of my favourite stickers ever in a Friends set. I love seeing the Pythagorean theorem, benzene rings, and an integral on this sticker. This engineer highly approves!
The last classroom is an art studio, and like the others, there's a lot packed into a small space. A still life of a pineapple is in progress on the larger easel, while another smaller work in progress is on a desk.
Paints and paint brushes line one wall, and miscellaneous art supplies are located above the desk.
The overall build is a pretty good size, with all the hallways and classrooms.
The front of the set looks much like you'd expect of a school, plenty of brickwork, lots of windows and the name of the school in large letters on top of the doors. Of course there's a heart motif in the sign, it is Heartlake City, after all.
Overall thoughts
I can see this set being very popular, if I'm to project from my own childhood experiences. Kids love to play school, and this is an ideal set to provide that play value. For the price (605 pieces, $59.99, 64.99€, £59.99), I would have liked to have seen one more minidoll, since many Friends sets seem to be include more minidolls this year than in the past. Two of the three classrooms are dedicated to the arts, which are so important, but I would have liked to have seen more dedicated to the STEM fields. I can imagine it's difficult to design a fun math classroom, though! Bonus points to the graphic designer for that one awesome whiteboard sticker in the science lab.
There are plenty of newer recolours in this set, a parts list can be found here.
While not an especially challenging build, I can see this set being madly popular with its target audience. There's lots of possibility for play here, and the build itself can be the base of a MOC to a house or other structure.
Many thanks to LEGO for providing a copy of this set for review. All opinions expressed are mine.
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27 comments on this article
I really like that clock. The overall building does feel rather small, though, even for a minidoll-scale building... maybe it's the way the windows are stacked practically the entire height of a wall. Interesting use of stickered shields for the masks, though I would've liked to see them printed. The color scheme is unique!
This set just looks so extremely bare-bones.
it's quite good for 60$!
I wish I have something similar in normal "city"... maybe a modular or a traditional set with minifigs (after 70425 , the only LEGO school for boy!)
@pazza_inter said:
"it's quite good for 60$!
I wish I have something similar in normal "city"... maybe a modular or a traditional set with minifigs (after 70425 , the only LEGO school for boy!)"
City will have a School set next year actually.
One of the other things I love is this set is 32 wide so is perfectly designed to be placed onto a baseplate.
I hate these ‘facade’ type sets. 8 deep and doesn’t even have a proper roof.
I don’t mind snickered details in Friends sets, I think they actually add a lot, but in this case a lot of them seem to be in place of brick-built accessories instead of complementing them. Very weird that there are so few actual science accessories- there are appropriate parts for Erlenmeyer flasks and test tubes would be very simple as well.
Vandalized bathroom? This is a real school...
When I was in school, the graffiti on the bathroom walls was a little different.
A really nice set in my opinion. My nieces are getting to that LEGO playing age now, and I keep looking at more and more LEGO Friends and City sets suitable for their age, just hoping they will become LEGO addicts like me. Already bought a couple for christmas presents.
@TomKazutara said:
"How come there is no school for City ?"
Used to feel the same when I was collecting City. There are only so many police stations, fire stations, hospitals, and airports (even spaceports) one city can have - someone has to live there too, right?
For a similar price the houses will always be more interesting as each room can have its own character making the build more interesting and playtime stories easier to invent. Whereas a school by design is rather utilitarian and more difficult to make the build and play interesting. So credit to TLG for trying something different, but unsure if it will be as popular as say another cafe would have been.
I agree with everyone else about City. I guess with no schools, everyone grows up to be criminals and arsonists.
As for this set, it does feel barebones... is inflation hitting Heartlake City?
Also: those stickers give me 80s dollhouse vibes.
Always enjoy reading a Friend set review, looking forward to the mall and hotel reviews too.
I like the soap dispenser in the bathroom in this school set, good to see an essential detail covered. I wouldn't want to own this set (I have some Friends vehicles in my food truck and campervan collections, but no buildings) but I'm not the target audience. The open back style is ideal for acting out school scenes which I would think is exactly what the target audience will want to do with this when it's built.
I did look at the pale yellow uniform skirt and think how impractical it would be to have such a light coloured skirt for school. Also bright purple cable knit tank tops... someone has an interesting idea about school uniform style. Or maybe the graphic designer wore a hideous (or hideously dull) uniform as a child and is enacting fantasies of their preferred uniform ;)
This set has basically the same positives and negatives of most Friends sets. Friends is a better line of City sets than City sets are. The variety of buildings and settings depicted is outstanding.
On the other hand, the standardized Friends color palette is limiting, especially if the sets are being used alongside City sets.
Particular positives about this set are the large number of windows and doors so even if viewed from the front the room behind can be seen. The set depicts a variety of activities in its limited $60 budget (well, $60 is limited for a school).
Negatives are that the larger the real-life thing depicted the more compromised a Lego set is, unless the budget is really high. That's what we get here - a school with limited depth that's not much more than a facade. Though, as stated above, it's not simply a matter of "what you get" but "what you get for your money".
Overall I give the set a 'B' grade. There's nothing so wrong with it I wouldn't recommend it (which would be any grade below a B) but it's a solid set typical of Lego.
What I would love to see reviewed in the 2021 Friends line are more of the magic-related sets. I think there's been one reviewed so far but I'd like to see more. I think they look very interesting.
@gunther_schnitzel said:
"I hate these ‘facade’ type sets. 8 deep and doesn’t even have a proper roof. "
I love these 'facade' type sets. 8 deep and doesn't even have a proper roof - so they're really easy for the actual target audience to play with.
@gunther_schnitzel said:
"I hate these ‘facade’ type sets. 8 deep and doesn’t even have a proper roof. "
What do you expect from a dollhouse type set? This is to play with, so requires easy access. A 16 studs deep set would be difficult to access for play.
It's not like sets "in the good old days" were any better - many were only 4 studs deep.
I'm not the target audience, and prefer larger buildings for my city. So I bought 2 of these at a discount, and with the help of some extra parts made it 16 studs deep. And added a roof.
I’m a tad disappointed that the school is so short on the ground floor, it’s fairly plain too! Love those glow in the dark shields
Also, why are there no police stations and banks in friends? - probably because the target audience won’t like those as much
@guachi said:
"What I would love to see reviewed in the 2021 Friends line are more of the magic-related sets. I think there's been one reviewed so far but I'd like to see more. I think they look very interesting.
"
I've got two of those in the works :-)
What's the poster above the "treasure chest" say? The word looks like "Fider" but no Friends character has been named that. It might be a designer reference then.
@Norikins said:
"What's the poster above the "treasure chest" say? The word looks like "Fider" but no Friends character has been named that. It might be a designer reference then."
Friday?
The Friends have 2 schools now while City just a haunted school....
I just got this set yesterday! I'm very excited to add it into my Lego City, I don't even care if it's a Friends set because it looks great.
This is probably the best Friends set I've seen. Good use of the parts, nice design, lots of play value. The overall building design and colours could also be readily converted into other public buildings - town hall or library, for example.
It does seem quite expensive for what you get, though.
@TomKazutara said:
" @pazza_inter said:
"it's quite good for 60$!
I wish I have something similar in normal "city"... maybe a modular or a traditional set with minifigs (after 70425 , the only LEGO school for boy!)"
Uh, excuse me, but wasn't Hidden Side aimed for boys and girls ?"
Perhaps, but that haunted school looked nothing like any real school, whereas the Friends school buildings (the older one as well as this new one) actually do look like the real thing.
It is nice but without stickers it is really poor of details. The first version 41005 was really more rich of personalization. The new friends sets are no more modularizable, this in my opinion is a loss, for playability but also for the easiness of transforming the build in something in a modular city. Really happy to don't see pink and fucsia in frontend (except flowers...)
"Note: sloths are not included in this set."
That's it, I'm out.
Is the bathroom gender non- confirming/non-binary? I Jokingly ask because I recently visited my alma mater University of Maryland 20 years after I graduated and I noticed these bathroom signs around campus, so showing my age about these issues on the forefront.