41050- Ariel's Amazing Treasures

The Little Mermaid was one of my favorite movies when I was a tiny Kane, so my jaw dropped when I saw that Lego was making two Mermaid sets, as well as a handful of other Disney Princess sets.

I would have gotten a Cinderella set or the other Mermaid set, but they seemed to provide too little for the price and drew too much from the early Friends concept of overly colorful and easy build sets.






The set comes with Ariel, fish friend Flounder, a gate construction, a small plant section, and a section with treasure chest and treasures.  A good water themed addition to my Summer Collection.

6517- Water Jet

It's hard for me to believe that this Town set is 18 years old.  I would have been about 7 when I received it to bulk up my town, which is right about when I started getting a lot of sets as gifts.  The water jet set stands the test of time and comes with one minifigure, water vehicle, and two buoy constructions.  A great little addition to my Summer Collection.

41028- Emma's Lifeguard Post

This is my third Friends set with Emma in it.  It's nice to see that they moved the settings of these small sets to the outdoors and it thus provides a nice addition to my Summer Collection.











This set comes with minidoll Emma, a dolphin, a lifeguard tower, a flag post, a sandcastle construction, and several accessories including swimming flippers, binoculars, a bucket, and a first aid case.

41041- Turtle's Little Paradise

The Friends subtheme of animals now consists of 12 little habitat sets, with 6 more planned.  Oddly, this is the second time a turtle has been done, the other being set 41019- Turtle's Little Oasis from just last year in 2013.  I'm happy that they have made a second turtle as I'm fond of them, and all can go in my Summer Display.

Unlike the other turtle set and others in early Animal Series', this turtle home has a natural appearance and is a dollar cheaper, which are both welcome changes.


In this set, we get a purple Lego turtle, a habitat with water, tree, and flower elements, and a separate small fruit plant construction.

40078- Hot Dog Stand

This was a free polybag with qualifying Lego purchases during July 2013 and I'm fairly certain I made sure my virtual cart was full enough to qualify for this set.  Some of the "free with purchase" sets are truly amazing and this is my favorite one so far with two minifigures (male and female), a hot dog cart, and a bicycle.

41019- Turtle's Little Oasis

Both this set and the series idea in general are fantastic.  Some of the Friends animals seem way too big for me to incorporate in regular Lego life, but the concept that this little animal is now placed only in the context of his happy little home somehow makes the animal seem more realistic.  Turtles are one of my favorite animals, so I was overjoyed to have a genuine Lego turtle and a nice little home for him.  Yes, him.  Although provided with a purple bow, a hole in Mr. Turtle's head for said bow, and the knowledge that the Friends theme is aimed at girls, my turtle is a dude.