Review: 43215 The Enchanted Treehouse
Posted by benbacardi,LEGO has released a number of new sets under the Disney 100 branding, to mark the company's 100th anniversary. 43215 The Enchanted Treehouse is the only one of these to feature minidolls, and feature them it does! The set comprises a large two-part treehouse, joined by a zip line, with plenty of play features and colourful interactive models.
Summary
43215 The Enchanted Treehouse, 1,016 pieces.
£149.99 / $159.99 / €169.99 | 14.8p/15.7c/16.7c per piece.
Buy at LEGO.com »
An excellent selection of minidolls and a fun playset.
- Fantastic minidolls
- Fun and interactive treehouse
- Reasonably priced
- Can be a bit fragile if moved
The set was provided for review by LEGO. All opinions expressed are those of the author.
It contains 1,016 pieces, and is aimed at 7+, so there are no tricky or particularly adventurous builds. Two sticker sheets are included; a white-backed one with 15 stickers, and a transparent one with five, and there are nine numbered bags inside. I remain disappointed to see they are all plastic; LEGO are certainly taking their time rolling out the paper versions!
Minidolls
There are an impressive 13 minidolls in the set, the largest number in any set to date (there have been a few sets with more minifigures, but not minidolls). It's also the debut appearance in minidoll form for four of the characters, having only previously appeared in one of the Disney CMF lines or as a microdoll.
I asked my daughter to sort them into groups of two or three for the photographs, so let's start with her first choice of Tiana, Belle, and Jasmine.
Tiana appears in her human form (rather than the frog she spends most of the film as!), in a very detailed dress print reused from 43205 Ultimate Adventure Castle last year. She's holding a lantern, which I don't recall being specifically related to her character in the film.
Belle is appropriately carrying a book, and her skirt has been updated from the previous much wider mould used in 43196 Belle and the Beast's Castle to match the style of the rest of the minidolls in the set. It looks much more realistic, and her face printing has also been updated this year.
Jasmine's wearing her distinctive blue crop top and harem pants, which are both new for this year. She's appeared in a number of sets before, both as minidolls and a minifigure, but her expression is new. She's carrying an oud, a traditional instrument similar to a lute.
Next up is Raya, Moana, and Pocahontas. Raya is wielding a short sword, and wearing a yellow wrap top, large belt, and baggy green trousers above her brown boots. Her hat and hair are dual-moulded, and she has a new expression with a crooked smile.
None of Moana's prints are new, but she looks excellent, with a small smile, detailed torso and dress printing, and holding a paddle. A canoe is included in the set, with room for two minifigures.
Pocahontas also looks brilliant in her debut minidoll appearance. Her hair, distinctively swept to one side, is also used for her only other representation, in minifigure form in this year's Disney 100 CMFs. It's great to see LEGO branching out to other Disney characters they haven't used before. She's carrying a small round tile decorated with a compass print, and her triple-moulded skirt and legs look excellent.
The next group is Alice, Mirabel, and Mulan. All three have new face prints; with friendly smiles, and Mirabel with her distinctive circular glasses. Alice is all-new as a minidoll (previously in the original Disney CMF series as a minifigure), and her dress and pinafore print looks fantastic. She's carrying a magnifying glass, and has a small black headband in her blonde hair.
Mirabel's outfit is very accurate to the film, and is reused from her previous appearance in 43202 The Madrigal House. Not pictured here, but can be seen below, she is holding an accordion, as she plays in the film.
Mulan dress and hair have also been used before, but they look fantastic and are instantly recognisable. She's carrying a bow and arrow.
Up next are Wendy and Tinker Bell, both from Peter Pan. This is the first minidoll appearance for both; Tinker Bell has been a minifigure in two previous Disney sets, and Wendy has only appeared as a microdoll in 43220 Peter Pan & Wendy's Storybook Adventure. Accordingly, their expressions are new, with Tinker Bell sporting an appropriate smirk to match her somewhat mischievous personality. Wendy shares her face print with Alice, which is a slight shame, but it suits the character well.
Wendy's wearing a simple blue dress (all new parts), with back printing showing the complete bow around her waist, matching the bow in her hair. Tinker Bell's wings are made from stiff transparent plastic, and she's wearing a plain green skirt and her fairy strapless top (also all new parts).
Finally, a line-up of Disney Princesses wouldn't be complete nowadays without Elsa and Anna from Frozen. For some reason they're highlighted on the box with a different background to the rest of the 11 minidolls; perhaps LEGO knows that they grab the attention of the target market more than the others!
Both have appeared in multiple sets since 2015, which is no surprise given their popularity. They are both sporting new expressions, however, with open-mouthed smiles, much like the rest of the minidolls in the set.
Some ice is curling out of Elsa's hand, while Anna holds a marshmallow on a toasting stick. They're both wearing their classic outfits from the second Frozen movie, complete with capes.
As mentioned above, Moana can paddle the included canoe around, while Mirabel plays her brick-built accordion.
In all, there is an excellent selection of minidolls in the set, with many entirely new face prints and some great expressions.
The Treehouse
The enchanted treehouse itself consists of two main sections; one larger one, with three floors, connected by a zip wire to a smaller one. We first build the lower treehouse over the course of a couple of bags.
The treehouse is built around a small waterfall, which cascades into a little pool of water. There's a set of stairs (half brick-built, half a large single piece) leading up to a balcony above the waterfall, with a slide the other side back to the ground. The balcony fronts a small arch topped with a large pearlescent roof.
The whole build is dotted with lavender and violet leaves, and a handful of butterflies, giving it a mostly organic look despite the blocky shapes.
On the ground floor, to the right of the waterfall there's a round platform on which a minidoll can stand, that can be rotated by turning a gear on the rear of the model. The majority of the simple mechanism is cleverly hidden away beneath the platform itself, and the curved tiles and plates make the whole thing seamless.
The rear of the treehouse is a little more unsightly. The gear to turn the platform can be seen on the left, and a chest sits in the cavern behind the waterfall. The pin protruding above the archway is the connection point for the lower end of the zip line.
Opening the chest reveals LEGO's classic treasure map. I wonder which of the Disney Princesses will find the treasure first?
The second part of the treehouse is larger, and the main focal point. It's built in three sections that are joined together by a couple of technic pins, with two large tree trunks flanking a doorway through to stairs that lead to the first level. As with the other half of the build, various organic elements surrounding the model give the structure an organic look. The main colour of the treehouse is a pale aqua, and accordingly the set contains a number of parts new in this colour.
At the base of the tree to the left of the door, there's a small campfire with a pair of stools; somewhere for Anna to toast her marshmallow!
To the right of the doorway, there's a target for archery practice (presumably for Mulan, who is the only one wielding a bow), and a climbing wall. Small mushrooms dot the base, some of which are printed with a very cute new design.
The climbing wall reaches a platform on which a pair of binoculars stands, mounted on a rotating cog. A minidoll can be placed behind them, and you can position the direction you want them to look by turning the gear towards the rear of the model.
The treehouse reaches a third storey on the left, which culminates in a balcony flanked by branches. There are various opalescent rock crystals dotted about at all levels of the treehouse. Above the door behind the balcony at the rear of the model is the attachment point for the top end of the zip line.
Turning the model around, the treehouse is open-backed, and each section contains a small mini-build of its own. The stairs behind the door curve up to reach the balcony and platform on the first level, although there is no apparent way to get up to the next level.
Inside the trunk to the left of the door is a large bookcase and sofa for the minidolls to recline upon, with a round tile cushion. The bookcase is made of two 4x4 tiles adorned with stickers; assuming you're able to apply them straight, it looks excellent, and even includes a couple of easter eggs such as Aladdin's lamp! A sand timer is nestled beneath the curved staircase.
The other side of the doorway is a small smoothie stall, with two drinks pre-made and a well-stocked machine ready to pour others.
At the top level, which is decorated very ornately with various different translucent elements, a pinboard sits behind a small sofa. There's a to-do list pinned to the board, as well as a map and a cute selfie of Raya and Mulan!
On the other side is a small workbench, with a flower, geode, and other scientific items on the sticker behind. There's a pair of scissors and tile printed to look like a page from a textbook in the drawers.
The clip next to the workbench is designed to hold the small branch the minidolls use to hook over the zip wire and slide down; modelled wonderfully here by Jasmine for us! There's just enough of a height difference between the two treehouses for the minidoll to slide down slowly, though they may need a little encouragement occasionally.
In the photo above, you can also see the training dummy nestled in the nook behind the balcony on the first floor of the treehouse. This is just attached by a stud at the rear, so can easily slide out for Raya to parry with.
With the two treehouses connected via the zip line, the model is complete.
Conclusion
As my daughter is just within the target age range for the set (on the lower end), I asked for her opinions:
What is your favourite thing about the set?
All the minidolls! And the zip wire.Who do you think would enjoy playing with the set?
Anybody who likes LEGO, princesses, and play parks.Are there any princesses you think are missing from the set?
Merida from Brave, and Aurora (Sleeping Beauty).
It has proved at hit with both her and her younger brother; certainly, they have both spent quite some time playing with the minidolls and making up stories around the treehouse. It can be a little fragile sometimes (such as the zip wire disconnecting), but I also know that my five-year-old son can be a little heavy-handed sometimes!
The star of the set is clearly the impressive selection of minidolls. Their shape definitely suits the Disney Princesses more than a minifigure would; it is just a shame their articulation is significantly less.
The two halves of the treehouse look fantastic together, and there's plenty of play value with the slide, stairs, zip wire, canoe, and various other smaller builds and interactive sections. It looks good both on display and during play.
At £149.99 / $159.99 / 169.99€, it's not an impulse purchase, but for over 1,000 pieces, I feel it's a reasonable price, even including the Disney license "tax". A great play set for fans of Disney Princesses of all ages, and the minidolls look great lined up on display too.
Even if one does have to wonder why LEGO like treehouses quite so much…
43215 The Enchanted Treehouse is available at LEGO.com.
93 likes
35 comments on this article
Great review! The teal stair pieces are just a new mold; the previous version came in a dozen colors.
@560heliport said:
"Great review! The teal stair pieces are just a new mold; the previous version came in a dozen colors."
Gah, thanks! They always get me with that…
Transparent rocks and plants! Medium lavender and bright light blue leafs! These are so beautiful!
Hmmm, to get a handful of the minidolls or wait for it to drop a bit in price.
Wow, fantastic photos! All those shiny pieces look fabulous! This whole set looks very polished and luxurious.
always great to get an opinion from the target audience!
This price is just ridiculous for what you get.
POWER MINERS NEXT MISSION: EXTRACT THOSE PURPLE CRYSTALS
I 100% disagree. This is in no way reasonably priced, even allowing for extra licensing fees. The simple fact of the matter is that most of the minidolls aren't exclusive and if you ever bought some other sets you already have them. Therefore it's not justifiable that the set is so expensive. Likewise, the many recolored parts cannot serve as an excuse. This is simply LEGO and Disney skimming the cream for no good reason. This is clearly just a standard 100 Euro set and even that would be expensive and questionable, given how poorly those Disney Princess sets sell around here. I'm afraid they are only adding to the long line of such sets that will only sell on massive clearance discounts near their EOL...
I appreciate the review, however the photos are all washed out by your bright background. The review should have used a contrasting dark background. I believe this has been brought up before particularly regarded sets that are close in hue to your backgrounds.
@Rimefang said:
"I appreciate the review, however the photos are all washed out by your bright background. The review should have used a contrasting dark background. I believe this has been brought up before particularly regarded sets that are close in hue to your backgrounds."
The pictures are clear, crisp and excellent. Details are all readily visible and color balance is perfect. You might need to have your eyes checked.
@MrKoshka said:
" @Rimefang said:
"I appreciate the review, however the photos are all washed out by your bright background. The review should have used a contrasting dark background. I believe this has been brought up before particularly regarded sets that are close in hue to your backgrounds."
The pictures are clear, crisp and excellent. Details are all readily visible and color balance is perfect. You might need to have your eyes checked."
Sorry, but I disagree. White on white simply doesn't stand out
@MrKoshka said:
" @Rimefang said:
"I appreciate the review, however the photos are all washed out by your bright background. The review should have used a contrasting dark background. I believe this has been brought up before particularly regarded sets that are close in hue to your backgrounds."
The pictures are clear, crisp and excellent. Details are all readily visible and color balance is perfect. You might need to have your eyes checked."
Nahhhh the resolution is good for sure but the white against the light aqua actually hurt my eyes to look at. I also think these pictures are a bit overexposed personally. I really would have liked to see a grey or blue background here, it would have been much easier to look at.
Nice, reminds me of the Elve sets.
I really wish you could close up the larger section so the tree looked more like a tree and less like a castle wall. It's hard enough believing in a light-aqua tree trunk without having to mentally join its two halves together!
More generally, although I love all the details of the design, this is another example of a set that will make sellers on Bricklink some extra money--splitting this into a package of minidolls (or even each one separately) and a building set will definitely please a variety of potential buyers. Not that I don't like these minidolls, but I'd rather get this set as a parts pack for an even larger fantasy treehouse, perhaps combining it with the upcoming Dreamzz set.
"Fantastic minidolls"
I thought that was a contradiction in terms.
;-p
@Psithur said:
" @MrKoshka said:
" @Rimefang said:
"I appreciate the review, however the photos are all washed out by your bright background. The review should have used a contrasting dark background. I believe this has been brought up before particularly regarded sets that are close in hue to your backgrounds."
The pictures are clear, crisp and excellent. Details are all readily visible and color balance is perfect. You might need to have your eyes checked."
Nahhhh the resolution is good for sure but the white against the light aqua actually hurt my eyes to look at. I also think these pictures are a bit overexposed personally. I really would have liked to see a grey or blue background here, it would have been much easier to look at."
But grey backgrounds are SOOO UGLY! They're like beige for clothing... The images were really crisp and clear for me, and while it could be argued that the exposition could be lowered, the only problematic component in this review was the white piece that Anna holds.
Great set otherwise, and great way to get all the princesses. It's only missing Meridia and Raspunzel, if you ask me.
@Rimefang said:
"I appreciate the review, however the photos are all washed out by your bright background. The review should have used a contrasting dark background. I believe this has been brought up before particularly regarded sets that are close in hue to your backgrounds."
I was thinking the same thing. When I work in photography workshops, I always advise that for photographing white things, it is better if the background is non-white or at least darker than white.
About the review: very insightful as always, about the price of the set: too expensive.
The plantlife, crystals, and fantastical colors of this set remind me so fondly of the Elves theme... though I preferred that theme's unique characters and worldbuilding over this motley assortment of licensed Disney characters.
@MrKoshka said:
"The pictures are clear, crisp and excellent. Details are all readily visible and color balance is perfect. You might need to have your eyes checked."
Actually... The exposure is all wrong. Light Aqua and white photo boxes don't go well together. This should have been shot with at least -1.5f lower. Clearly a good camera was used, so the details are indeed crisp and the edges are sharp, but the whites and other areas facing the lights directly are definitely blown out.
How often do we see a minidoll set reviewed by someone other than @MeganL? And @benbacardi, I agree with your daughter. Merida should be in this set, if only to give Mulan someone to have archery competitions with. I 'm not planning to get this set, but if I were, I'd probably rectify that omission, since I have 41051. I would say that Elsa's accessory looks more like water than ice, but I once used https://brickset.com/parts/6167742/dragon-s-fire to represent her ice powers, so I can't really throw stones.
A great review. I commend the inclusion of appropriate age Lego critics. It should dilute criticisms from AFOLs who have forgotten that our favourite hobby is a toy
Nice but tiny for the price. Long live Elves!
Yes, my favourite scene from "Beauty and the Beast" was when Belle and the Beast made some healthy fruit smoothies as a refreshing, hydrating snack.
What!? No Princess Leia either!? I knew I had a bad feeling about this! XD
More 'house-tree' than 'tree-house', but this is pretty nice. It's not huge, but it is well-built, and that is a luxurious selection of princesses (and some amazing recoloured parts!). Let's just fast-forward: no, the rules don't make sense. Yes, your favourite characters should count as princesses. Yes, including that one. No, they're not in here. No, that doesn't make this a bad set.
I don't think I'll be getting this any time soon, but it does look pretty good. It's going to make many people very happy.
Thanks for the review, and the age adapted review !
I bought it for my daughter's birthday in a couple of weeks and at first I thought it was way too expensive for a kid's gift but then I pondered that it was a unique occasion to get all the "cool" princesses in one set and I'm looking forward to build it with her (so it's less expensive if it's a bit for me right ? right ? :D ) and see her play with it : there's so much to do with all the dolls and mini activities around the set !
That being said I do agree with your daughter that Merida would have been perfect in that set, replacing Belle or Tinkerbell easily, and could have dueled with Mulan on a bow contest !
Finally they released a set from Wreck-It Ralph II...
I love the color palette in this set! It's definitely on the expensive side, but you still get a lot for your money, considering the number of characters and the recolored pieces.
My daughter is really excited for this set—she loves all the beautiful trans and sparkly pieces and the overall color scheme. Having avoided Disney Princess sets up until now because they’re so relatively expensive, I like that I can get this single set and have minidolls of most all of the Disney heroines, so in that regard I consider it a relatively good deal over buying individual sets for each character. Not so great if you already have some of the dolls though, and it would be nice to score it on sale in time for Christmas…
@Darth_Dee said:
"Finally they released a set from Wreck-It Ralph II..."
We need Princess Vanellope Von Schweetz!
It occurs to me that this set is reminiscent of the cancelled "Disney's Princess Academy" short. https://www.deviantart.com/davidkawena/art/Disney-s-Princess-Academy-Concept-Art-01-322530941
@Alpha_Tango:
She's not a Princess, she's a President!
I'm going to get this eventually (when it's 50% off) for that granddaughter I might theoretically have in 20 years. She's going to luv it!
@StyleCounselor said:
"I'm going to get this eventually (when it's 50% off) for that granddaughter I might theoretically have in 20 years. She's going to luv it!"
"Ah! Grandfather has bestowed unto me a gift from the Long-Long-Ago, the Before-Times. I would've preferred fuel, ammunition or maybe a new machete to help ward off the supermutants, but maybe this will fetch a good price in Bartertown. Thank you, Grandfather!"
@Ridgeheart said:
" @StyleCounselor said:
"I'm going to get this eventually (when it's 50% off) for that granddaughter I might theoretically have in 20 years. She's going to luv it!"
"Ah! Grandfather has bestowed unto me a gift from the Long-Long-Ago, the Before-Times. I would've preferred fuel, ammunition or maybe a new machete to help ward off the supermutants, but maybe this will fetch a good price in Bartertown. Thank you, Grandfather!""
By then humans will have undoubtedly mutated to digest ABS for its wonderful nutrients. It will be the answer when my sweet lil' squid-baby asks: "Pop-pop, what's for dinner?"