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Nicknoo

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Nicknoo's Stats

Reviews

4.3
Average Rating
61
Helpfulness Votes

0
Featured Reviews
7
Review Count
February 3, 2015
First Review
October 5, 2015
Last Review

Nicknoo's Reviews

Elsa's Sparkling Ice Castle

Posted:October 5, 2015

Nicknoo

Age: 45-54 years old

Building Experience: Novice LEGO builder

Overall:

4 / 5

The Frozen essence

" We tried to resist but it's familiarity that thaws a frozen heart. Yes, yes we bought it for a 4.5 year old. Yes, yes, she 'LOVES' Elsa and Anna. And yes, she does play with it.... quite a lot.

The build: it's pretty straightforward. I had to go back a couple of times (but I think I'm still new to this). You get a number of useful items, the sleigh, a pair of skates, a pair of skis, Olaf's 'in summer' picnic. So there's some play value and boy can those littlies stretch out what they've got.

When I'm pressganged into playing, I struggle a bit to find new ways to play; we've skied, we've picnicked, we've sleighed or is it sledded?, we've taken it in turns to skate. Only one bed so I've built another! We also made some pretty blue flower ice scapes from our other lego bricks as this seemed more in keeping. We made a telly and sofa. I'd have liked 2 mugs for the girls to have cocoa so have borrowed from another set. The ice lolly and ice cream are ok but I felt in the movie they both loved 'choclate'.

I think this feels like the 'start' of your Frozen piece. For builders (as opposed to players), it actually sparks lots of extra building. Every new set of Mixels is a potential Marshmallow man. For players, like my daughter, we've got a Friends boy to be Kristoff. (Andy is a good sub.) And now I find myself mulling over what could be a troll! I keep looking at hobbit characters......

So it's good and your little ones will get play value out of it. You on the other hand may feel it's not quite complete..... "

I would recommend this to a friend!

From: Berkhamsted

From: United Kingdom

Age: 45-54 years old

Building Experience: Novice LEGO builder

Purchased For: Daughter

Build Time:

02 hrs

Play Experience (Optional):

4 / 5

Value for Money (Optional):

4 / 5

Level of Difficulty:

Easy

Very Easy

Very Challenging

I would recommend this to a friend!

+2points

5of 8found this review helpful.

Jasmine's Exotic Palace

Posted:October 5, 2015

Nicknoo

Age: 45-54 years old

Building Experience: Novice LEGO builder

Overall:

3 / 5

It's okay.....

" So we really like Princesses and we really like Lego so why just 3 bricks?

The build: It's an easy build and you have the palace and a number of other elements like a perfume stall, the fountain, the oasis, the snake and barrel, the stand for the lamp. And all these elements are pretty.

The play value: You also get Jasmine, the flying carpet and Rajah but....the whole set is crying out for Aladdin. Honestly, my 5 year old liked this and loved having Jasmine but it doesn't hold her attention for long. You look at the lamp and you think Aladdin, you get on the flying carpet and you think Aladdin. Basically, the story is his and the set needs him!

As soon as I added a Friends boy (our Aladdin stand in), some food for the pair of them, a minifig genie, a minifig snake charmer, a table, stool and bed, she got more play out of the set. But that's a lot of extra parts to make good.

So I wouldn't recommend starting with this one if your child is like mine and likes using the sets as a backdrop for playing with her characters. I'd recommend the Brave set (as somehow it has more play value and sparks more creative play with a similar number of parts) or Aurora's bedroom as it costs less but again has similar if not more play value. "

From: Berkhamsted

From: United Kingdom

Age: 45-54 years old

Building Experience: Novice LEGO builder

Purchased For: Daughter

Build Time:

45 mins

Play Experience (Optional):

3 / 5

Value for Money (Optional):

3 / 5

Level of Difficulty:

Easy

Very Easy

Very Challenging

+4points

4of 4found this review helpful.

Rapunzel's Creativity Tower

Posted:October 5, 2015

Nicknoo

Age: 45-54 years old

Building Experience: Novice LEGO builder

Overall:

5 / 5

Pretty fun set

" This was a Christmas present for a 4.5 year old who loves Disney's princesses.

The build: this didn't take too long and the end result is very pretty and something that is very true to the film Tangled. And like many other customers we have put the tower on a more sturdy base as we keep it set up ready for play.

The play value: There are a lot of lovely parts to this set; you get Rapunzel, Pascal, Flynn Rider, the frying pan, paintbrush, easel and paint pots, a cook book, oven and cookies, the chair and hairbrush so you have lots of ways to enact the fairy story. Possibly not important for anyone else but important for my 4.5 year old who likes to play with the figures in the set once it is built. The number of times we've been through the plot is...well a lot, but it sure keeps her occupied and happy.

We have found a witch mini figure so I can be Gothel. We have now got a few Disney sets: Brave (Merida), the Frozen set, Ariel's magical kiss, Ariel' s Amazing Treasures, Sleeping Beauty's bedroom and Jasmine's palace and I would recommend this one to anyone looking to buy a Disney Princess lego set because it works as a play set so well on it's own. "

I would recommend this to a friend!

From: Berkhamsted

From: United Kingdom

Age: 45-54 years old

Building Experience: Novice LEGO builder

Purchased For: Daughter

Build Time:

01 hrs

Build Time:

30 mins

Play Experience (Optional):

5 / 5

Value for Money (Optional):

5 / 5

Level of Difficulty:

Easy

Very Easy

Very Challenging

I would recommend this to a friend!

+5points

7of 9found this review helpful.

Vet Clinic

Posted:October 5, 2015

Nicknoo

Age: 45-54 years old

Building Experience: Novice LEGO builder

Overall:

5 / 5

Great set provokes lots of play and conversations

" This was bought for my 4.5 year old daughter as a gift. She's not as interested in building but she likes to play with the Friends figure (Mia) in the set once it is built.

This set was very interesting for her and me (I am sometimes 'pressed' into playing) as there were so many things to talk about. The clinic comes with an impressive amount of equipment not least the x ray, the febrilators, the weighing machine and what I think is an ultrascan. There's a stethascope, syringe, bottle, a compress(?) so there's plenty to spark the imagination. Once we'd played a few times, I discovered my 4.5 year old had made all kinds of 'advances' in medicine able to diagnose and cure all types of illnesses not in the way you'd expect. It did and does keep her occupied (a year later) and interested for long periods of time.

Building the set was pretty straightforward and, if I'm honest, fun! It's quite a big set but we took it on holiday in a tupperware and used it everyday. I'd recommend using small pots with screw on lids or small resealable plastic bags for keeping the small parts safe.

I think it would have been great to have had a bandage that could be attached to the dog/cat's legs. You know like how the hair accessories can be pushed into hair. You can put a compress on the head though.

But all in all a very fun and thought provoking for me (trying to recognise the instruments) and my daughter. "

I would recommend this to a friend!

From: Berkhamsted

From: United Kingdom

Age: 45-54 years old

Building Experience: Novice LEGO builder

Purchased For: Daughter

Build Time:

01 hrs

Play Experience (Optional):

5 / 5

Value for Money (Optional):

5 / 5

Level of Difficulty:

Easy

Very Easy

Very Challenging

I would recommend this to a friend!

+10points

11of 12found this review helpful.

Stephanie’s Pizzeria

Posted:October 5, 2015

Nicknoo

Age: 45-54 years old

Building Experience: Novice LEGO builder

Overall:

5 / 5

Great little set with loads of play value

" This is one of our favourite Friends' sets. It was given to my 4 year old as a birthday present and it's a set she returns to over and over again. She's now 5 and it's still right up there in being played with. It gives so much play value.

What we like: there are so many things to like about this set, the reception with phone, the pizza oven comes with a paddle, 3 pizzas, 2 stools and a table, the water bottle, glasses and salad bowl, the scooter and the Stephanie figure. You can play with this on it's own but if you have one more Friend or mini figure, this set just keeps sparking off lots of ways to play. It's also quick and easy to build.

We have bought this a couple of times as birthday gifts for other friends as it's just so neat. It can all be packed up in a small takeaway box to play on holiday or in a restaurant too! "

I would recommend this to a friend!

From: Berkhamsted

From: United Kingdom

Age: 45-54 years old

Building Experience: Novice LEGO builder

Purchased For: Daughter

Build Time:

01 hrs

Play Experience (Optional):

5 / 5

Value for Money (Optional):

5 / 5

Level of Difficulty:

Easy

Very Easy

Very Challenging

I would recommend this to a friend!

+2points

2of 2found this review helpful.

Heartlake Grand Hotel

Posted:October 5, 2015

Nicknoo

Age: 45-54 years old

Building Experience: Novice LEGO builder

Overall:

4 / 5

Lovely, but.....

" This was purchased as a gift for a 5 year old. She is a big fan of the Lego friends range and has a number of sets.

What she liked: the number of figures you got with the set (5), the taxi, the lift, the number of rooms, the pool, the number of seats, the food and drink sets, the revolving door and the 3 suitcases. We knew there were only 2 bedrooms so no complaints there. (You'd think those Friends would be used to sharing.) She is not a builder but enjoyed helping make up the smaller sets. She has enjoyed playing with it as it's new but as a mum I would say she gets as much if not more play value out of some of her less expensive, smaller Friends sets. For example The Juice Bar and Stephanie's pizza parlour provide hours of play and are less hard on the wallet. I would reiterate, my daugher likes to use the hotel as a doll's house, perhaps if she was a builder as well, it would give her greater play value. So our criticisms are very much based on our child's age and play behaviour.

What I liked: as ever it was easy to build with around 11 plastic bags and 2 manuals. The build starts with the small stuff first which is great because my 5 year old had things to play with while I finished off the big hotel. She also did some building and got satisfaction about doing some herself and seeing the results quickly. I really appreciated that Nate was supplied with hair to wear when he takes off his cap. Nice touch, Lego.

My 5 year old is a bit young for the Friends range but I'm not sure how many typical 8 year olds would really appreciate all the touches: the turntable, the bar, the soda bottles. They were beautifully thought out and I really liked them but part of me felt they were a bit out of her (most 5-12 year olds?) life experience (I know, we need to stay in 5 star hotels more often) which may be why I think that the actual play value is less than in some smaller sets which are easier to relate too. I had to explain what the bell boy did and the luggage trolleys.

So, it is lovely, adults will admire the touches but I'm not sure there's as much play value in this as in some of the less expensive smaller sets. "

I would recommend this to a friend!

From: Berkhamsted

From: United Kingdom

Age: 45-54 years old

Building Experience: Novice LEGO builder

Purchased For: Daughter

Build Time:

03 hrs

Build Time:

30 mins

Play Experience (Optional):

3 / 5

Value for Money (Optional):

3 / 5

I would recommend this to a friend!

+14points

21of 28found this review helpful.

Heartlake News Van

Posted:February 3, 2015

Nicknoo

Age: 45-54 years old

Building Experience: Novice LEGO builder

Overall:

4 / 5

Friends Trucking Across the Universe

" This set was purchased for my 4.5yr old daughter. I bought the set because it had a male figure in it (Andrew) and I felt it was important to even up the status quo. We currently have a lot of female Friend characters.

I built the set and I'm probably a novice. I found it pretty straightforward though some of the pieces are very tiny for my fingers to piece together.
I was a bit disappointed that Andrew didn't have hair for when he takes off his hat and headphones and I found the tv camera quite tricky to position in his hand. I didn't realise that one of the stickers is meant to be a weather chart. It's very generic. It would have been nice to have had a choice of maps, mainland, island and some suns, rain, cloud to stick on ourselves. It would have been a good opportunity to discuss weather reporting with my daughter and give her more ways to play.

Having said that there are lots of nice touches, the swivelling satellite dish on the truck roof. The roof that raises up and down, the opening side door. It is a bit of a pain to have to remove the roof of the cabin to get the characters into the driving and passenger seat. Why no door? Why no swivel roof? But it does help my daughter exercise her fingers.

She gets a lot of play value out of it. No news or weather reporting but Andrew is getting to film a lot of Friends Have Talent performances. Naturally the female Friends tend to drive. And all the other 'Friends' break all kind of road safety rules by jumping into Stephanie's car and following the news truck.

I'd recommend it as a play set as it's quite different and allows for a lot of creative play that's not just linked to the cake. If anything I'm not sure we needed the cake, maybe an alien from another planet? "

I would recommend this to a friend!

From: Berkhamsted

From: United Kingdom

Age: 45-54 years old

Building Experience: Novice LEGO builder

Purchased For: Daughter

Build Time:

01 hrs

Build Time:

20 mins

Play Experience (Optional):

4 / 5

Value for Money (Optional):

4 / 5

I would recommend this to a friend!

+7points

11of 15found this review helpful.