Review: 41709 Vacation Beach House
Posted by MeganL,With the new Friends sets coming around the corner, there's time to take a quick look at one more of the first wave.
When I first saw 41709 Vacation Beach House, I noticed that the outside detailing was very similar to 41704 Main Street Building. I was hopeful that the rooms in the beach house would be compatible with the earlier set.
If you're curious as to whether they are compatible, what Friends sets looks like without the stickers applied, or if the sloths will make another cameo appearance, read on...
Summary
41709 Vacation Beach House, 686 pieces.
£59.99 / $79.99 / €69.99 | 8.7p/11.7c/10.2c per piece.
Buy at LEGO.com »
A serviceable latest entry in the series of Friends beach houses
- Modular rooms to allow for different layouts
- Styling consistent with Main Street Building
- Diverse minidolls
- US price is quite high
- Rooms not consistent with Main Street Building
The front of the box shows two of the Friends at a beach house along with two of their companions. The insert in the top left shows the modularity of the set, similar to what we saw in Main Street Building, and got my hopes up that this would be fully compatible. I had visions of taking pictures of Main Street Building and the Vacation Beach House together. Alas, it was not to be, as the rooms in the Vacation Beach house were smaller than the rooms in Main Street Building.
I ended up building set after having misplaced the stickers, but found them later. You can see that many of the stickers are pretty gratuitous. Sticker 11 is to be applied on a TV screen, and appears to be foreshadowing a race theme, or perhaps it's recalling the go kart theme from a few years ago.
Minidolls and animals
There are four minidolls in this set. Two are the original Friends, Stephanie and Mia. Stephanie is working the cool kid vibe with a fuchsia fedora over her long blonde hair, a new hairpiece in this set. Her outfit is also new with a bikini top with matching purple sarong. Mia is wearing a sleeveless green vest over a blue shirt, with a pair of bright orange shorts (new to the set) that almost matches her hair. Mia and Stephanie are accompanied by Sebastian and Elijah. My theory that Elijah is Mia's boyfriend continues, as they're in this set again (the first time they were seen in 41702 Canal Houseboat). He's wearing the same outfit here, which does coordinate with Mia's outfit rather well. Sebastian's outfit is also new to this set, with a colourful tanktop decorated with plumerias and palm trees and some teal shorts.
Unfortunately, there's not a lot of back printing on the torsos with the notable exception of Sebastian. I'm happy to see more of that terrific pattern.
Of course there are cute animals included - we have a cat and a dolphin. I thought the dolphin wasn't new, but according to the database it's new this year. The cat is also new - I particularly like the heart shaped white patch in its chest.
The completed model
There are some small auxiliary builds. The first are some electric scooters. This is the first time we're seeing the scooter in both colours. I had to put Stephanie on the bright reddish violet scooter as it matches her hat!
A jetski, and a banana boat are also included as part of the outdoor activities available at the beach house.
The bottom floor of the house has two main rooms and an entryway. The house is accessed through double doors, and off to one side is a fully stocked kitchen with stove and sink. Some groceries (I'm guessing that's orange juice on the shelf?) and other kitchen supplies are out. A watermelon sites ready on the counter, a food that's rather fitting for the house.
I'd missed seeing the sloths, and since they always show up around food, it's not surprising they showed up here.
Note: sloths are not included in this set, though they do match the decor.
The other part of the first floor is a really nice lounge area. There's a TV with some game controllers, so if there's inclement weather, the Friends will have something to keep them occupied inside.
Note, these sloths are not included in the set, either.
Upstairs there are two bedrooms. The larger bedroom has a larger bed with nightstand. I love seeing the boombox in this set. It's the first appearance in a set - previously it has only been seen with a CMF or Vidiyo figure.
Not to disappoint as it's a Friends set, there is a bathroom, and it's found here.
The other half of the top floor has a bedroom and a rooftop terrace. The bedroom has bunk beds, and based on the light purple plate, it seems like Olivia may be staying at some point. It looks like she may have left her rocket behind from 41713 Olivia's Space Academy.
Never to waste space, the roof also boasts a small pool, with two drinks for the two of the Friends to sip on as they enjoy the view. This angle also shows the camera on the table, ready to snap all the scenic sunsets.
Another view of the upper floor. As is not unusual with Friends sets, there's no discernible way of actually going upstairs, but the details do make up for it.
The outside of the building is full of details, including some dots and arcs that are similar to what's seen in the Main Street Building. I really like all the foliage added, and the potted plants included on the terrace.
From this angle you can also see the ping pong table (stickered detail not included), compete with paddles and a ball.
It wouldn't be a beach house without a beach! The designer has used different colours of blue to good effect to show the waves, and there are a couple of shells on the sand.
A small dock is found on the other side of the house, complete with an air pump for the banana boat, and a pair of swim fins for any Friend who has the urge to go snorkelling. A life preserver is also here - safety first!
There's a lot going on in the building. The bottom rooms can be separated to be stand alone, and the upper rooms can be stacked in a modular style. Unfortunately, the footprint isn't quite the same as Main Street building.
From the shore, the build looks very tropical. I like all the yellow accents on the architecture.
Overall thoughts
It feels like there have been several Friends beach houses - the original was in 2014 (41037 Stephanie's Beach House), followed by 2020's 41428 Beach House, and then last year's 41693 Surfer Beachfront. This version is quite functional, more so than earlier versions. I like this set more than the 2014 and 2020 version, but my favourite beach build of recent years is 41693 from last year. In this set, I really enjoy the diverse minidolls, I love the architectural styling of the building, and really love that the rooms are modular and can be rearranged.
However, this is a case where the US market is definitely on the wrong end of the currency exchange. I'm not sure why the price is so disparate between markets (686 pieces, $79.99, 69.99€, £59.99). 41693 from last year was the same size and $10 less. Therefore, I would not recommend this set - at least for this price - in the U.S., though other markets do provide better value. If you're in the US, I would recommend that if you get this set, do as I did and get it on sale.
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19 comments on this article
Love the inflatable banana! And the building, too. As I'm into the beach theme, this ist a must have for me...
Looks more like a house that some kid has built from all the bricks left in a big box where color is ignored just to have it done. But maybe this is a misunderstanding and this should be used as a demo house to showcase all the colors TLG is able to produce.
A bit quick to already get a 33% discount on Amazon, so only £39.99 atm.
There was also a boombox in 40486.
@TheOtherMike said:
"There was also a boombox in 40486 ."
I think the article means this specific teal version, the grey boombox was in a lot of sets going back to 2016 Ghost Busters Firehouse.
Other boom box colors are even older via CMF.
That's the least private toilet we've had in a while. No door, and there's a window directly behind you only one brick above your back!
@TeriXeri , the boombox element actually debuted in 2013 with the Collectible Minifigures Series 3 Rapper. That one was black and gold.
Before this mold, they appeared even earlier in Town Jr. Of all things as 1x3 printed bricks!
@Binnekamp said:
"
@TeriXeri , the boombox element actually debuted in 2013 with the Collectible Minifigures Series 3 Rapper. That one was black and gold.
Before this mold, they appeared even earlier in Town Jr. Of all things as 1x3 printed bricks!"
True, series 3 Rapper and series 5 Fitness Instructor had Black and Lavender Boom Box back in 2011, the grey one was still the first one in a regular, boxed set, and the only color used in regular sets until now.
(I consider CMF and GWP as special cases, not regualar boxed sets)
Great set with one huge minus. The down part cant be easily sepparated so it hinders compability with other "rooms" sets
@MeganL: Unrelated to this review, but did you see the Duplo sloth in one of the recently revealed sets? I think your sloths could use a big sibling!
Great review, MeganL! It's been too long since we've seen some Friends stuff on here :-)
I am *definitely not* the target market for this set, but my daughters are and they are really not keen on the garish mish-mash of colours recently seen in Friends buildings. They much prefer some kind of uniformity. Recent ones look like someone has gone mad with the Dulux catalogue!
My daughters *love* bright colours, but not all at once! ;-)
This, 41703 Friendship Tree House and 41704 Main Street Building especially so.
@MeganL , great review as usual. I was wondering if brickset would consider to stop putting friends sets in "girls" theme group, just to reflect the effort of the Lego group to eliminate gender bias of their sets. I never bought a single friend set because I'm not keen on minidolls (I'm a minifig collector ;)) and the colour choices of friends sets used to repel me but since last year (and particularly this year), I've seen fantastic sets and I think I will buy a few of them. I know that minidolls are seen as "girly" but in a way it would be nice if the friends sets weren't labeled so.
@Lyichir said:
" @MeganL: Unrelated to this review, but did you see the Duplo sloth in one of the recently revealed sets? I think your sloths could use a big sibling!"
I have! Expect to see them make a cameo in a review once they're released :-)
@Hyperion16 said:
" @MeganL , great review as usual. I was wondering if brickset would consider to stop putting friends sets in "girls" theme group, just to reflect the effort of the Lego group to eliminate gender bias of their sets. I never bought a single friend set because I'm not keen on minidolls (I'm a minifig collector ;)) and the colour choices of friends sets used to repel me but since last year (and particularly this year), I've seen fantastic sets and I think I will buy a few of them. I know that minidolls are seen as "girly" but in a way it would be nice if the friends sets weren't labeled so."
I absolutely agree with you! However I think the tags in the database may be coming directly from LEGO. @Huw should be able to shed light on this.
@Hyperion16, @MeganL, I've moved it to 'Modern day', same as City.
It just occurred to me that with three of those Hogwarts sets and some technic pins, you'd have one larger model (like the triple-Batmobile polybag from a few years past).
Plus, three more chocolate frog cards.
I think the racing cars sticker for the TV screen is a game, hence the gaming controllers.
(Apologies if I missed this later in the review.)
@Huw, @meganL, Thanks to you two. It's really nice ! Modern day, just as city is a perfect choice ;).
@Mechalex said:
" @JudgeChuck said:
"I am *definitely not* the target market for this set, but my daughters are and they are really not keen on the garish mish-mash of colours recently seen in Friends buildings. They much prefer some kind of uniformity. Recent ones look like someone has gone mad with the Dulux catalogue!
My daughters *love* bright colours, but not all at once! ;-)
This, 41703 Friendship Tree House and 41704 Main Street Building especially so."
I don't want to imply you don't know your children, but our offspring do sometimes echo our own opinions in order to please us. It's a natural part of growing up - absorbing and regurgitating our parents' opinions until we start making our own. Some children are more forthright and sure of themselves. I just wonder if they perhaps keyed off your own comments about the colour scheme.
"
I never commented to them about it. This came straight from them, on seeing the new sets on Brickset. Trust me, they say what they think! ;-)