Review: 40522 Valentine Lovebirds
Posted by Huw,LEGO has been producing a matching set of models to celebrate Valentine's Day, Easter, Halloween and Christmas for a number of years. Last year's were cute animals on plinths.
This year they consist of two cute animals on an elaborate base and the first of them, 40522 Valentine Lovebirds, is now available at LEGO.com.
Summary
40522 Valentine Lovebirds, 298 pieces.
£11.99 / $12.99 / €12.99 | 4.0p/4.4c/4.4c per piece.
Buy at LEGO.com »
Cute and colourful birds that make the perfect Valentine's gift.
- Beautiful plumage
- Designed for building together
- Nothing, it's perfect!
In response to our review survey you asked for photos and information about the prototype, so let's start with that.
The birds modelled are Fischer’s Lovebirds which were first discovered in Africa in the late 19th century and are named after German explorer Gustav Fischer.
They exhibit no sexual dimorphism, so it's not possible to differentiate males and females by their plumage. The feathers of individuals, though, are various shades of greens yellows and oranges.
Pairs of birds are very affectionate towards each other and mate for life.
I was surprised that such a small set has parts packed in 6 numbered bags, two each for the birds and two for the base. The inclusion of two instruction manuals is welcome because, appropriately for this set, it enables you to build it with someone else should you wish to.
The parrots have a SNOT core and are quick and fun to build. They are identical in design but have different colour heads and breasts.
The 1x1 'U' shaped tiles make splendid breast feathers. The wings are attached with just one stud which enables them to be angled appropriately.
There are no unique parts in the set, but there are some rare ones, most notably bright green 1x2 slopes, used on the animal's backs, which have appeared in only three sets.
The base is quite elaborate, which is welcome, but perhaps unnecessary. It's decorated with heart tiles in two shades of pink and clusters of foliage.
The brown plates below their feet look a bit of out place but are necessary to ease attaching and removing the birds to/from the turntables on the base. They could be removed if you wish to display the parrots alone or in another setting.
I think they look absolutely splendid from all angles and I hope others in the series are as good as these.
It's available at LEGO.com for $12.99 / £11.99 / €12.99 so are a great impulse purchase or gift, either for your partner for the 14th February, or the aviculturist in your life.
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33 comments on this article
This is adorable, and maybe my favorite Valentine's promo yet! The birds are super-cute, and having two instead of one to build makes it seem perfect for building together with a special someone.
Perfect gift for Valentine's! So adorable, and I love the colors.
Beautiful - what a lovely little set, and the photograph of the real birds is also splendid!
Beautiful plumage made me laugh :D
This has one of the best ppp of recent sets.
@dbbunny said:
"Beautiful plumage made me laugh :D"
Perhaps I should have noted 'not being Norwegian Blues' as a con :-)
Adorable little set. No one can hate this, right?
As cute as it is, I would probably remove the big heart, and replace the small pink ones with some more foliage.
It's a cool set, I'm going to get it and build it with my gir... oh wait :,)
"The birds modelled are Fischer’s Lovebirds which were first discovered in Africa in the late 19th century and are named after German explorer Gustav Fischer."
I am pretty sure they were discovered by someone else before Fischer - perhaps 50.000 years earlier.
@Huw said:
" @dbbunny said:
"Beautiful plumage made me laugh :D"
Perhaps I should have noted 'not being Norwegian Blues' as a con :-)"
It would make me very happy if there was a ghost Norwegian Blue for the Halloween set!!
@WizardOfOss said:
"Adorable little set. No one can hate this, right?"
I was going to say something along the same lines.
I know I have been quite harsh towards many LEGO sets in recent years, and didn't even want to comment anymore (and I still intend to stick with that as much as possible), but this set is near perfect imho.
Cute to the extreme, nice build, and above all, excellent value for money, so rare with LEGO these days. Indeed it's almost impossible to find a negative - other than those birds not being Norwegian Blues, what with their beautiful plumage. At least they're not dead, just resting ...
;-)
You are right! They are perfect, and even the little bags of parts were joyful to look at in all their colourful glory. Even the little tiny pile of extra parts were fun to play with. The Lego designer(s) behind this set must be so happy with it!
The look lovely, and not noisy at all!
Edit: and they just arrived today, with the coin display.
Absolutely going to be getting these for me and the Mrs to build together.
Agreed on the value for money point too - should definitely be in the "pro" list!!
Day one order for me since we have a pair of the real Fischer’s Lovebirds at home :-) … the set arrived already, have to build it a.s.a.p.
VERY good set <3
Very good "seasonal" set for sure, I liked the 2021 series , but those look even better , cost a little less and a great selection of parts.
I had to Google "Norwegian Blue" to figure out what you all were talking about! :)
Great, just in time now my boyfriend break up with me.
Nice review, beautiful set!
Veri cute. Much better than last year’s bear
Being an aromantic asexual person, I find this seasonal theme (day) boring and overrated.
bought this set as an impulse buy when I impulsively ordered the Lunar New Year sets. Lego really has a hold on me. Can't wait to build!
@LethCobra said:
"Being an aromantic asexual person, I find this seasonal theme (day) boring and overrated."
Cool. I've never celebrated the Lunar New Year once in my life, but they still make for some neat sets
^ Agreed. If I can't find love, at least these two Lego birds can.
I think the design is so strong because of the size of the original animal. Unlike other sets that try to reduce larger animals (e.g. brown bear) to smaller builds and end up looking cartoon-ish, this one is very close in scale to the real thing and makes their realism much more believable. It also helps the amazing variety of curves and coloured pieces available too ! Well done Lego.
Stunningly good set!
@Huw said:
" @dbbunny said:
"Beautiful plumage made me laugh :D"
Perhaps I should have noted 'not being Norwegian Blues' as a con :-)"
But I'm betting you didn't want to work at Brickset. You wanted to be........ A lumberjack.
Seems like a gorgerous little set. I prefer the brown bear from 40462 marginally more as that build appears more exquisite with a significantly better base; nevertheless this one indisputably also seems idyllic and great value for its affordable price tag.
@Huw - You've unleashed a beast with that casual Python reference!
Cute set though. Perfect gift for a loved one who isn't that "into" LEGO but you wish they were...
The bunnies for Easter are up (coming soon) at shop.lego and look like they follow the same build two simultaneously model. I think their surrounding scenery is better and they're cute but it's hard to compete with those birds.
@BrickBoriqueno said:
"The bunnies for Easter are up (coming soon) at shop.lego and look like they follow the same build two simultaneously model. I think their surrounding scenery is better and they're cute but it's hard to compete with those birds."
Yeah, last year's was way better, but I wasn't sold on them until the penguin and by that time it was too late.
Gorgeous set.
Picked it up today and have had to drop it into an inaccessible dark place in order to stop myself from building it - only have to keep my hands off it for one month, that will be easily!?