Review: 41749 Newsroom Van
Posted by MeganL,A controversy is brewing in Heartlake City! Not only is that momentous enough, it warrants just the second news van that we've seen in the Friends world - 41749 Newsroom Van. The first van was 41056 Heartlake News Van in 2014. The news that was covered back then was a birthday celebration, but the Friends team has come up with something much more newsworthy this time around.
Summary
41749 Newsroom Van, 446 pieces.
£24.99 / $29.99 / €29.99 | 5.6p/6.7c/6.7c per piece.
Buy at LEGO.com »
A great story at a reasonable price point
- Compelling story
- Clever use of space
- Adorable new owl
- None
The set was provided for review by LEGO. All opinions expressed are those of the author.
Inside the box there are four numbered bags, two instruction books, and a moderate-sized sticker sheet. From the sticker it looks like Mayor Stephanie is making the rounds.
Minidolls and animals
There are three characters in the set. The first is Peter, who we last saw in 41732 Downtown Flower and Design Stores along with his sister, Victoria. He's on his own in this set, this time protesting a tree being cut down. Next is Darrel the logger, who is dressed appropriately for his work in a high-visibility work shirt, jeans and boots, along with a brightly coloured hard hat. Not surprisingly, he comes equipped with a chain saw. The Friend representation on the set is Aliya, who is there to cover the story. She's wearing a bright yellow tank with sleeveless cardigan, with a yellow skirt and metallic pink sandals. With that footwear, I'm guessing the tree is not far into the woods.
Aliya comes with an alternate head, and therefore expression. While the first looks expressive, the second looks somewhat more determined, with the furrowed eyebrows and wry smile.
The adorable Friends animal in this set is the owl, whose home is being threatened by Darrel and his chainsaw. When I saw the premise of this set, I immediately thought of the spotted owl controversy here in the U.S. back in the 1990s. If you're interested in reading more on the subject, a history on that controversy can be found here. Considering how polarising this issue was in the U.S. at the time, I'm a little surprised that LEGO chose an owl for this set. Regardless, the owl is very cute, and new to this set.
The completed model
The first part of the build is the aforementioned tree, which Darrel has his eyes set on levelling, and Peter is trying to save. Peter's sign is here, as well as a construction warming sign. Taking a closer look at the tree reveals why Peter is so intent on saving it: there's an owl's nest with an egg!
The tree branch can be tipped, showing the dangerous consequences for the egg.
Peter isn't alone in being interested in the events at the site.
(Note: protesting sloths not included in this set.)
The main part of the build is the van, that comes with two cameras - one provided on a tripod, and the other on an overhead crane.
A sticker at the front shows that, like all the other vehicles in Heartlake City, this van is powered with electricity. The satellite dish in the back of the roof ensures that Aliya can broadcast her stories no matter where she is.
The back of the van has some extra detailing.
I was quite delighted to discover that the van opens up to allow easy access to the inside. Good thing, too, as there's lots to discover. The designer has packed a lot of detail in this small space.
The centre of the van shows Aliya's workplace, with her phone and a microphone on the desk. On one side is a multi-screen display, where we see some preview coverage of the tree/owl story, as well as a shot of Mayor Stephanie out on civic duty.
The other side of the van shows a workspace as well as another monitor, this time featuring the owl.
Continuing with accessibility, the roof of the cab lifts off, showing that there's room for two Friends in the front.
Overall thoughts
This is a great set. The first Heartlake News Van was somewhat underwhelming. It was a nice, small set, but much like many Friends sets at the time, the focus of the set was on something quite superficial, like a birthday. This news van is far superior, and I love the swing operation to expand the work space, which is crammed with details. While $5 more expensive than its earlier counterpart, 41749 comes with 170 more parts, is a better building experience, provides more play value, and tells a richer story.
This new generation of Friends is showing that things have changed a bit from the first generation. Not only do the Friends show greater diversity, but apparently they're not afraid to take on some weightier topics, such as deforestation in addition to wildlife protection (the latter having been covered several times).
The Friends designers continue to include moving functions in smaller sets, which is great. This year, the smaller sets have been stellar in portraying a story with not a lot of parts. I've been particularly impressed with the sets at the $30 price point this year.
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34 comments on this article
Great review! I love that this set has stickers showing that the van is reporting not just on the owl situation but also the ribbon cutting at the new Community Center. The back of the news van unfolding into a mobile studio is a very cool feature.
Construction worker: "But the lumber from this tree was going to be used for the addition to Mayor Stephanie's mansion."
Aliya: "What a scoop!"
The only news source we can trust
I'm siding with Darrel on this one.
At first glance, this reminded me of 75902: The Mystery Machine (news van/standalone tree)
I thought that reel-to-reel printed tile was retired! It hasn’t been seen since ‘21 according to the database.
He cuts down owls, he eats his lunch,
He goes to the portaloo.
He chainsaws little children,
And chops that van in two.
He's a lumberjack and he's okay...
Great review and, as always, fun to read (and to spot the omnipresent sloth(s)).
With the color scheme of the news van, I'm getting a strong "Buzz Lightyear" vibe, especially from the picture that features the van's sides opened up, almost like wings.
Or is it just me? :-)
Given it's size, hasn't the tree already been cut down?
@tyresoflaherty said:
"At first glance, this reminded me of 75902: The Mystery Machine (news van/standalone tree)"
Yeah, or set 452
I’m surprised by the comments here joking about Darrel attacking Peter with the chainsaw
I thought I was the only one making those jokes!
I guess I will be in the minority here, but I much prefer the older version.
The new one to me looks ugly as heck. Bloated, far too wide, and shouldn't a report about something as happy as a birthday be worthy of news too? Why should only negative things be newsworthy?
Activist Friends and tradesmen cast as the villains? This is a but much.
Once upon a time, the child's imagination supplied the news, à la 6553, 6661, 6659, or 664. But this pre-packaged story feels manipulative and has more than a whiff of sexism. Lego cuts down trees by the thousand—bird nests and all—for set boxes and now part bags, and brags about it to adults. That's not shameful; all forms of production involve environmental trade-offs. And somewhere in the supply chain of every object we buy, there was somebody taking above-average personal occupational risks. But that's a complex message that's hard for children to grasp, and the trees=good/dudes-with-chainsaws=bad reductionism here steers them in the exactly opposite direction.
This set is tackling a subject that's too mature for its audience, and it's doing it in an unhelpful way.
P.S. The spotted owl is still well on its way to extinction, logging bans notwithstanding. It turns out that spotted owls, with their notoriously finicky housing habits, and getting naturally out-competed by a less-picky endemic American owl, the barred owl, which is moving west. Barred owls' migration from east to west is likely due to the *reforestation* of the interior of the country, which progressed after the cessation of man-made fires which regularly and intentionally burned the Great Plains prior to European settlement. Ecology is complicated, kids, as is the role of humans within it.
Excellent review. For my part ,I would have liked a few less parts on the van, and a bit more on the tree. So that
nest,egg and owl would be a bit better hidden in there.
@Lemerbrix06 said:
"I’m surprised by the comments here joking about Darrel attacking Peter with the chainsaw
I thought I was the only one making those jokes!"
This is Lego, the good and bad guys can be whoever we want. Spyrius can be freedom fighters, Darrel can be a chainsaw-wielding ogre, Peter can be an officious NIMBY who's prepared to block a vital decarbonisation project if one tree gets hurt.
Is this the first Fiends set that includes a "bad guy" character?
@Ridgeheart said:
"Are we sure Aliya's a good guy in this set? Because that secondary face screams otherwise."
The first thing I thought of when I saw her van's color scheme was the Joker, so...
Darrel should go after 21318 if he wants more lumber for his effort.
@Kantspell said:
"Is this the first Fiends set that includes a "bad guy" character? "
I believe so and I find this to be an interesting set, for that reason. Darrel is very much the Thanos of Heartlake City, it appears!
I must say, I am suspicious of the sloths too. They are always around causing trouble, but have the convenient excuse of 'not being included in the set'. Dubious...
@cflyg said:
"Great review and, as always, fun to read (and to spot the omnipresent sloth(s)).
With the color scheme of the news van, I'm getting a strong "Buzz Lightyear" vibe, especially from the picture that features the van's sides opened up, almost like wings.
Or is it just me? :-)"
Yes, totally! :) It's not just you, but we might still be a minority.
Interestingly, the description tab at 41749 says the lumberjack is called Peter and the protestor is called Darrel.
@CapnRex101 said:
" @Kantspell said:
"Is this the first Fiends set that includes a "bad guy" character? "
I believe so and I find this to be an interesting set, for that reason. Darrel is very much the Thanos of Heartlake City, it appears!"
Won't be long and he's asking for sharks with frickin laser beams attached to their heads :-)
IIRC, the first Friends antagonist to appear in a set (albeit prior to the reboot) is Kacey in set 41378 . I bought that set for the submarine, and used Kacey as a mech pilot in a MOC.
@SDlgo9 said:
"Interestingly, the description tab at 41749 says the lumberjack is called Peter and the protestor is called Darrel."
Yes, I noticed that, it's on LEGO's website as well, and it's not unusual for mistakes like this to be made there. However the box art is clear about everyone's identities, not to mention Peter has been in a previous set.
@blueshift is correct about the first Friends antagonist, though I'd say she was a rival more than an antagonist. I believe Kacey ended up become friends with the Friends anyway.
@Ridgeheart said:
" @CapnRex101 said:
" @Kantspell said:
"Is this the first Fiends set that includes a "bad guy" character? "
I believe so and I find this to be an interesting set, for that reason. Darrel is very much the Thanos of Heartlake City, it appears!
I must say, I am suspicious of the sloths too. They are always around causing trouble, but have the convenient excuse of 'not being included in the set'. Dubious..."
Darrel is, at best, one of Nova's mid-tier henchmen. You might fight him as the boss of stage 1, but I guarantee that you'll be mowing down palette-swapped Darrels in the later stages by the dozen."
This made me actually laugh.
Your distrust of Nova never ceases to amaze me!
As for the whole villain thing... is Darell really a clear cut case? To me he seems like he's just doing his job. Maybe they just need to find a solution to make everyone happy.
The solution, of course, being to use the technic mechanism in the tree to see how far the egg will go. Problem solved.
And looking at the older set I like the rooftop camera and mobile studio here more. Also, it reminds me of 7639 Camper, which is a plus.
But why is there no cameraman here? I'd say that's a big miss!
@Binnekamp said:
" @Ridgeheart said:
" @CapnRex101 said:
" @Kantspell said:
"Is this the first Fiends set that includes a "bad guy" character? "
I believe so and I find this to be an interesting set, for that reason. Darrel is very much the Thanos of Heartlake City, it appears!
I must say, I am suspicious of the sloths too. They are always around causing trouble, but have the convenient excuse of 'not being included in the set'. Dubious..."
Darrel is, at best, one of Nova's mid-tier henchmen. You might fight him as the boss of stage 1, but I guarantee that you'll be mowing down palette-swapped Darrels in the later stages by the dozen."
This made me actually laugh.
Your distrust of Nova never ceases to amaze me!
As for the whole villain thing... is Darell really a clear cut case? To me he seems like he's just doing his job. Maybe they just need to find a solution to make everyone happy.
The solution, of course, being to use the technic mechanism in the tree to see how far the egg will go. Problem solved.
And looking at the older set I like the rooftop camera and mobile studio here more. Also, it reminds me of 7639 Camper, which is a plus.
But why is there no cameraman here? I'd say that's a big miss! "
Yeah, I'd say it's more an example of the activities of well-meaning people organically giving rise to conflict. Of course, only one side is armed with tools of dismemberment.
@SDlgo9 officious NIMBYs really are the most undersold villains! Especially when they're trying to preserve parking spaces.
Reminds me of the TMNT van
@CapnRex101 said:
" @Kantspell said:
"Is this the first Fiends set that includes a "bad guy" character? "
I believe so and I find this to be an interesting set, for that reason. Darrel is very much the Thanos of Heartlake City, it appears!"
But, in actuality, he's just a pawn of Nova, who wants to keep that tree so it'll give her access to more defenseless baby animals for her schemes.
That is, until Dreadflipper the Emperor Penguin returns for another reign of Christmas, wintery terror.
@AustinPowers said:
" @CapnRex101 said:
" @Kantspell said:
"Is this the first Fiends set that includes a "bad guy" character? "
I believe so and I find this to be an interesting set, for that reason. Darrel is very much the Thanos of Heartlake City, it appears!"
Won't be long and he's asking for sharks with frickin laser beams attached to their heads :-) "
Every Fiends set has some bad dudes in it. It’s right there in the name!
This news van is one of the premium vehicles in LEGO 2K Drive. A van getting the first scoop ahead of the pack by winning races!
... And he would would have gotten away with it too, if it weren't for those meddling kids!
Been wanting a stand-alone news van in the city line for a while. Friends seem to get all the best concepts.
Why does Darrel have to be a bad guy? It’s not his fault an owl built a nest in the tree he’s supposed to cut down. Someone should have checked that out before giving him the go ahead. Thoughtless bureaucracy is the real villain here.
The two tree stumps suggests Darrel arrived earlier when no one was looking, and the 3rd main tree looks like it was already cut down to size a few years ago, but great to raise awareness that you don't want your local forest to look like the remnants of a single tree from this set!
@Ridgeheart said:
" @Zordboy :
I predict the rise of something more terrible than even Dreadflipper this year. The winds grow colder, and bite with jagged teeth. And between their shredding, the winds hiss and wail the name "Frostflipper". From beneath us, he rises. No one will ever be safe, ever again."
I was all set to buy the Marvel advent calendar, this year ... but then I was looking at the City advent calendar, and there's a spoiler on the front of the box (I wish Lego wasn't so flippant about that, but, anyway...) of a minifig carving an ice statue of a penguin, and I just thought, "She's carving up a tribute of Dreadflipper", and my mind was made up, it was the City advent calendar this year.