Review: 41703 Friendship Tree House
Posted by MeganL,The early wave of Friends sets in 2022 has been stellar so far - every one has been fantastic. As previously noted, 2022 marks 10 years of the Friends sets. To celebrate, the LEGO Friends team sent copies of the 10-year celebration set, 41703 Friendship Tree House, as a gift to many recognised communities.
Brickset received a copy, and Huw was gracious enough to send it on to me. The Friends theme has had treehouses before, but nothing like this. I think if you buy just one Friends set in the early 2022 wave, that the Friendship Tree House should be it.
Since this is a special set, we may have some special guests in this review as well.....
This set came with a special decorative sleeve which is quite nice.
The back of the sleeve shows the progression of the theme, spotlighting several sets. I think I've reviewed half of these for Brickset!
The packaging has minidolls, accessories, and animals featured in the pattern, and I was quite pleased to see that a sloth was featured!
Note: sloths might not be in the set, but they are on the packaging!
There were a couple of stickers and a nice card as well. It's interesting that the character featured in the 10th anniversary logo is not one of the five Friends. Instead it's Savannah, a character introduced last year.
Inside the box there are eight numbered bags, a slide, a 8x16 plate, an instruction book, and a sticker sheet.
Minidolls
There are four minidolls in this set, and the Friends theme continues with furthering diversity. We have two or the original five Friends, and two male characters in this set. I think this is the first set I've seen in this wave that has more than one of the five Friends in it. This is the first time we're meeting Jackson, who is dressed in a varsity jacket with a blue t-shirt in jeans. He's in a brightly coloured wheelchair to get around. Mia is dressed for a day of working at the treehouse wit some overalls, sturdy green boots and a green shirt. This is the first time we're seeing River in casual attire - he was dressed much more formally in 41689 Magical Ferris Wheel and Slide and 41684 Heartlake City Grand Hotel. I think I like Olivia's outfit best of all, as she's fully decked out in beekeeping gear, with a bee and honeycomb motif.
Two of the minidolls are provided alternate expressions. Mia's expression isn't that much different than the original, except her smile is open-mouthed and a bit wry. River, on the other hand, looks like he's not very excited at all to be close to those bees! While Olivia doesn't get an alternate head, she does get a really cool beekeeper helmet.
I'm happy to see more backprinting on these minidolls. I especially like the pattern on Olivia's outfit.
Auxiliary builds
The Friends are raising money for charity, and one of the ways they're doing that is by selling honey. There's a beehive with a removable honeycomb sheet (a printed tile), a small kiosk to sell the honey, and a bicycle with which to ferry the goods. I can see this keeping Olivia very busy!
Another of the Friends ventures is making birdhouses. There's a workstation with a vise to make the birdhouses. The grain on the wooden planks in this set are all stickers. I really don't understand why LEGO provides stickers for wood grain in some sets, and provides printed pieces for others.
The requisite cute animal in the set is a bunny that has its own little hutch as well as an enormous carrot.
Completed model
It's clear from looking at the treehouse that there's a lot going on. In addition to raising money for charity, the Friends are in the middle of renovating the treehouse, as evidenced by the hodgepodge of colours throughout. I can assure you that if anything looks off kilter in the build, there's a good chance it was designed that way. It's a house that's been built in an enormous tree, and the designer has done a good job in conveying the sturdiness of the tree trunk while keeping the organic feel with all the foliage, and yet including plenty of play opportunities.
The front door of the treehouse is one level up, and there's clearly some work to be done. The window by the front door needs straightening, but there's a nice building technique included in making it look awry.
The railing is in process of being painted magenta, as Mia's about to do here. There's a paint can on the railing.
However, a portion of the railing is also used as a ladder, thanks to a clever swivel technique. Props to the designer for this little function.
A small ladder leads up to another small platform.
One of the Friends pursuits is making birdhouses, and there are several included in this model, along with some birds.
There's a surprise in one of the birdhouses - it swings open to reveal a QR code that takes you to the LEGO Friends website.
It wouldn't be a treehouse without a swing, and there's one included on the opposite side of the tree. Considering the chains are so long, this moves about really easily, which explains why some of the pictures where it's included are a little blurry.
The top level of the treehouse is an observatory, where there's a telescope for Olivia to check out. There's no discernible way to get up here, but I love the use of the space.
Turning around to the back of the model, we see that there's even more going on here.
The first two levels show a kitchen with a large cake in it, and of course, the requisite Friends bathroom. Did you have any doubt that one would be included? A slide provides an emergency exit from the kitchen area. Note the boombox on this level, a slight nod to Andrea.
Because of the close quarters, it's a little hard to get a picture, but it's there. You can see that some painting is already in the works by painting the ramps yellow.
Upstairs from the kitchen there's a sitting area. This looks to be the hub of activity for the Friends at the treehouse. There's a computer terminal with a small bookshelf underneath. Over the window there's a picture of a mountain - I wonder if that's foreshadowing a mountain theme later in the year? - and a calendar. The way the calendar is laid out is the same as June 2022. The 17th and 28th are marked. I'm guessing those dates have some importance to the designers.
Other features of the sitting room is a set of bunk beds, and a seating area with plenty of cushions (details provided by stickers). A guitar is there for the musically inclined. Mugs are close by, and of course, there's food. I love the pizza!
As always, where there's food.....
Note: sloths are not included in this set. But one was on the packaging!
Pulling back a bit, we see the first three levels of the treehouse.
The top level of the house is accessed by a small ladder in the seating area. It's a pretty cramped area, but there are two beds here as well as a desk and lamp. Really, plenty of room for all the minidolls to get comfortable. I really like the use of foliage throughout the build, and what's included on this rooftop piece is a good example.
The rooftop hinges up, allowing easy access for play.
One of the outstanding features of this set is the elevator. It's a challenging part of the build, but is why multiple levels of the house are accessible to Jackson. Jackson can just wheel on the elevator platform at the lowest level.
Turning the winch moves the elevator up, affording Jackson the ability to get to the kitchen and the sitting room levels.
However, the best part of this mechanism is that it's all connected to the wind turbine - so we have a wind powered elevator! Turning the wind turbine moves the elevator as well. This picture gives you a closer looks at the mechanism. Putting this together was probably the most technical build I've seen in a Friends set, and I love that it's here.
The build is quite striking from every angle. Again, the foliage branches look terrific, with abundant use of multicolour leaf pieces and flowers. In addition to birds, pollinators are well represented here with the bees, butterflies, and ladybugs.
I love how the painting is shown as being in progress as the treehouse is being painted yellow from the original blue, such as the yellow stripe on the third level where painting has just begun.
While Jackson, Mia, and River are busy painting and renovating, Olivia is taking care of some special customers.
Note: goats are not included in this set. They're not on the packaging, either.
Overall thoughts
This is a fantastic set! I see that the designer is Antica Bracanov, and she's done an amazing job. I think it's the most impressive of all the sets of the first wave - and that's not to sell the others short. All the sets are terrific, and I think the Friends team have outdone themselves with the sets for early 2022.
This set provides an absorbing build experience - pretty close to many adult sets - a terrific technical gear system with the elevator, diverse minidolls, multiple expressions for two of them, so many thoughtful details with the birdhouses, the foliage, the swing, the beekeeping - I could keep going on. I love the continued theme of diversity and inclusion not only in the minidoll representation, but incorporating accessibility in the design.
The sustainability professional in me also loves the incorporation of that theme in these sets. In the Tree House there's the wind turbine, but it's also so important that the design team has included the beekeeping portion. Pollinators are so important, and I'm thrilled to see them featured prominently in this set.
According to lego.com, Friendship Tree House is 1114 pieces and will be $79.99 U.S.
If you're going to get just one Friends set in the first half of 2022, I would make it the Friendship Tree House.
Many thanks to the LEGO Friends Team for the gift of this set. All opinions expressed are mine.
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36 comments on this article
Do we have any idea what the January 2022 GWP will be? All of these reviews lately have me interested in sets, but I don’t have an incentive to buy them from LEGO at full price. No calendar available for next month and we’re less than a day out.
The set looks great, but the wheelchair is a huge miss. It can't beat the fantastic minifig version I'd say.
Olivia is actually wearing a James Webb Space Telescope suit.
Are the back pockets of the minidolls textured or printed? If textured, this is the first I have seen of it.
@Bricky_Dee_Williams said:
"Do we have any idea what the January 2022 GWP will be? All of these reviews lately have me interested in sets, but I don’t have an incentive to buy them from LEGO at full price. No calendar available for next month and we’re less than a day out. "
Nothing very exciting, I'm afraid. According to the Australian LEGO.com pages, the offers are polybags 30588 free with qualifying City purchases, 30416 free with qualifying Friends purchases.
I don’t know for sure, but a couple of things in this build seem like references to previous sets in the theme’s run for me. Fitting as it’s the 10 year celebration set, of course. The things I spot are the red boombox, which is (almost) identical to one featured in 3932 Andrea’s stage from 2012 and a big bulky cake very reminiscent of that in 3930 Stephanie’s outdoor bakery from the same year. Very curious if there’s more of these easter eggs to find!
@MeisterDad said:
"Are the back pockets of the minidolls textured or printed? If textured, this is the first I have seen of it."
Yup, I noticed that too! However I then looked at a couple minidolls from my own collection and they have textured pockets as well. So uh, I guess we’ve both been blind for quite a while then lol
Nice review of a good look g set. And again, Friends tones down the pink. This is a great wave of sets.
I'm not exactly the target audience for this set, bit this is just fantastic. So many fun and smart details (that turbine-driven elevator!), it looks quite impressive overall and the price tag seems very reasonable by Lego standards. Can't even really complain about the stickers, seems like a decent number with nice details. Great set!
I want to love it more, but the many, many cylindrical shell elements really turn me off. I like the rest, I just wouldn't know what to do with those "tree" pieces once I've converted or disassembled the building for other uses. Hard to commit to a purchase, but perhaps there will be a good sale one day and I'll get it, after all...
I was just talking to a friend yesterday about LEGO. They grew up with LEGO Friends from its early years, and cited 2013's 41013 as one of the sets they used to have, when they were 7. Personally my first experience with a Friends minidoll set was in 2018 when I returned to the hobby, just when the theme had been rebooted. It's so wonderful to see how far the theme has come. I hope it will continue to bring people of all genders and walks of life together. Here's to another 10 years of friendship!
I'm not a Friends collector and probably won't get this, but it looks really cool. Almost looks like a Friends theme version of 80036 City of Lanterns or 43202 Madrigal House
I do not wish to sound sexist in any way but I am not a fan of the minidolls.
However, these Friends sets look absolutely awesome lately.
Looks great and I really hope that the upcoming 2022 sets all include at least one QR code so kids kids can use a smartphone as soon as possible when playing with Lego.
Is this the first time they have used City animals instead of Friends ones in a set? Another objectively really well designed set! I'll pass on it though since the only part of the minidoll I'll use is the hair...
@PhantomBricks said:
"Is this the first time they have used City animals instead of Friends ones in a set? Another objectively really well designed set! I'll pass on it though since the only part of the minidoll I'll use is the hair..."
The small bird mold here has actually been used in both mini-doll and minifig sets since its debut in 2019, where it appeared in the Ideas Tree House and Disney Minifigures Series 2 as well as two mini-doll based Disney Princess sets. And it has appeared twice in the Friends theme prior to this year. So it's not necessarily a new feature.
It's fascinating to see how the theme has evolved over the years. I'm particularly pleased to see more complex builds and mechanisms, one of the problems with "girl" Lego when I was growing up was that it only really catered to the very young.
Also I like where Lego is going with inclusivity and environmental responsibility. I grew up liking Shell and Maersk because they were things I saw represented in Lego. Maybe my kids will grow up liking wheelchair access and wind turbines!
Is it weird for me to feel nostalgic about Friends being ten years old? Ive bought only a few Friends sets for pieces, and havent really paid close attention to the theme, but seeing it be TEN years old, where has the time gone? But I think they celebrated the anniversary well with this incredible set!
This is reminiscent of Fabuland.
@Lyichir said:
" @PhantomBricks said:
"Is this the first time they have used City animals instead of Friends ones in a set? Another objectively really well designed set! I'll pass on it though since the only part of the minidoll I'll use is the hair..."
The small bird mold here has actually been used in both mini-doll and minifig sets since its debut in 2019, where it appeared in the Ideas Tree House and Disney Minifigures Series 2 as well as two mini-doll based Disney Princess sets. And it has appeared twice in the Friends theme prior to this year. So it's not necessarily a new feature."
Ah, thank you! I must confess that I don't keep up with the theme unless there is a review on Brickset.
Another fabulous Friends set!
Is the beekeeper helmet compatible with Minifigs as well?
I'm still put off by the Friends color scheme but the design is stellar and ... beekeeper! My wife keeps bees as a hobby and is a Lego fan so this set is currently on my Wanted list.
There are enough good things here to overcome the typical Friends color choices and the fact I don't really know what to do with minidolls.
I love this ramshackle building. It's the kind of thing that the 9-year-old version of me would create so I find it nostalgic. At the same time it's verticals remind of Ninjago City, the simple shapes of Fabuland and the ramshackleness of 75980 Attack on the Burrow.
The Friends theme looks spectacular for 2022. I love the colors and its design here.
@HAL_9001 said:
"Is the beekeeper helmet compatible with Minifigs as well?"
I think it's the same one that was used in the CMF series from early 2021, so it was originally designed for minifigs. Minidoll and minifig hair is generally interchangeable so it makes sense that other headgear would be too.
Amazing looking set. Not much to un-Friend with this one either as there’s not many pink bits in it.
Willfully blending the motifs of a letterman jacket, a wheelchair, and a treehouse, 41703 demonstrates profoundly bitter sarcasm on the subject of teenage American suburbia from Lego's designers.
At first, I was like, "How is a guy in a wheelchair supposed to get into a treehouse? That seems a little cruel." Then I saw the elevator in the back view. Should have figured the designers would have more foresight than I was giving them credit for.
This looks really cool. Probably the best tree house, 'tree' house and tree 'house' lego ever made.
Friends really upped its game this year!
Really neat set! I'm curious why the need for some of the wood grain stickers though - Lego makes a printed 1x4 tile with wood grain, as well as a 2x2 round tile with wood grain.
Isn’t Savannah more of a recurring character? Why is she on the banner?
Just an oversight I found. This is a good set, but the Main Street is higher on my priorities.
Kinda looks like a mashup of the co-released Friends city block and the Elves treehouse (in a good way!)
I do wish minidolls had more lower torso options. The wheelchair would be more realistic and easier to maneuver if the legs were bent.
@MeganL said:
"The grain on the wooden planks in this set are all stickers. I really don't understand why LEGO provides stickers for wood grain in some sets, and provides printed pieces for others."
Interestingly the print of the stickers look very similar to the really nice printed dark orange tiles that still only appear in 40487: Sailboat Adventure. With the planks here being lime and medium nougat I guess stickers makes sense then, especially for the lime ones, but I really hope the printed dark orange tiles will show up in further sets.
It looks great, but the elevator feels like such a hughe waste of space...
Just got mine, and though I planned to keep it for my daughter's 4th birthday, I probably won't be able to resist the urge to build it for the next 16 months. Looks so cool!