It’s been already a month that the new CMF series has been officially out (and more unofficially)… Yet it seems like yesterday to me.
Because Boris received the box of minifigs late, we decided to not proceed with our usual crowd review of the series. Still, Boris asked if one of us wanted a full series to review.
My first reaction was “no”. From the images available online, I wasn’t particularly excited about this series. There were a couple of cool minifigs I wanted, but I wasn’t feeling like photographing the 16 minifigures. To me, the series was too focused on new accessories and some of the minifigures were rather “meh” once the accessories removed.
But then I thought… What about focusing on these new accessories and see how many of them I can reuse for my LEGO Elves photography? So I ended up saying yes. But somehow it still took a full month. First the Swedish or Finnish (or both?) has been slow. Then I got on the same day the Gingerbread House which got prioritized. And then it took longer than I expected to gather all the photos I wanted and come up with a (rather lengthy) blog post.
In this (rather late) review of series 19, I will focus on the accessories that inspired me for my LEGO Elves photography, and more generally to use with Minidolls. There are however quite many accessories I didn’t use. These include generic accessories that didn’t spark a flame, new ones I didn’t care about, new ones I like but don’t fit my Elves, and most animals as they actually don’t need to be used alongside another figure.
(The post will also feature a mini-review of the new Friends Italian Restaurant that I recently bought and build, and then used for some photos.)
The Gamer
The green hair was the perfect fit for Faran. So I imagined him playing video games in the forest. This is one of the minifigs that didn’t spark anything in me and which main selling point is the new joypad printed tile. Unfortunately, I find it quite hard to use in a realistic way with even more with Minidolls than with Minifigs.
The Shower Guy
The shower guy was one of those figures I loved as soon as I saw the first pictures online. It’s also a figure that is the opposite of many others in this series as I find the figure more interesting than the accessories. While it’s cool to see the new duck piece recolored in green, I simply prefer the traditional yellow one. (I can’t wait though for LEGO to make a black duck!)
That said, it was actually quite hard finding what to do with the accessories and the Elves. Besides the duck, the only accessory that is really new and has any interest is the towel. Unfortunately, it can’t fit a Minidoll without requiring at least modifications. I would really have loved to have that towel piece when I photographed Admiral Ackbar in my sauna two years ago.
The Knight
This was the biggest surprise for me. When the series was unveiled, I liked the shield and the sword. (I was happy to see two of the swords with the figure instead of only one!) But it quickly became what could easily be my favorite figure of the series.
The Monkey King
This was supposed to be both a great figure on its own, and a source of great accessories for Elves. I was looking forward to re-using the headpiece, but I noticed when I tried that the ears are actually made of a different flesh color than all the Minidolls.
That said, I really love the red thingy the Monkey King has on his head and it will stay in my box of hair accessories in my backpack.
The Computer Geek
Another one of the figures that stand out in this series. The computer scientist in me could only love it. Unfortunately, I can’t use the cool torso for my Elves. While the hairpiece is definitely a cool new one and can fit any Minidoll, I don’t think it fits well the Elves. The white laptop is great though.
The Mummy & The Adventurer
For me, these two go together. And needless to say that the fan of LEGO Adventurers Desert could only love these two figures.
The Firefighter & the Rugby Man
Nothing to see here. These two are easily my least favorites.
First the firefighter. We already have plenty of firefighters in City sets. For that reason, I find its interest extremely limited no matter how good the print on the body is. The helmet could have been handy for my Elves, but unfortunately, blonde doesn’t fit any of them. (I would have loved a brown hair version for Azari though…)
The Rugby Man comes second least favorite. I don’t care about Rugby but this one ranks above the firefighter because:
- It’s more unusual than a generic firefighter.
- The rugby ball is a far more interesting accessory. (Yet still not interesting enough to inspire me photographically.)
- The face is funny and can be reused for other purposes. (But not with Elves…)
The Poop Lady, the Flamingo Lady & the Pizza Suit
I grouped these three together because they didn’t inspire me a lot when it came to taking photos in the forest. In short:
- Without a doubt, the poop lady’s dogs are cute. But the real star here is the poop piece. I actually bought a second figure just so I could have a total of 4 poop pieces.
- The flamingo is great and my favorite animal in this series. The purple hair is my favorite hairpiece from this series too but I already had used it for the Aira computer geek photo.
- I wasn’t sure what to do with the Pizza suit with the Elves… But then I built the new Friends Italian Restaurant I had recently bought.
So at some point, I thought I would have to also do a review of La Locanda. But I had these three CMFs (and their accessories) that I didn’t know what to do with. So I decided to rather include them in the set and add a few words about this set that might have become my favorite LEGO Friends set.
So what’s so special about this set? Well, it’s just superb. Contrarily to many other Friends set, the amount of flashy colors is kept to a minimum and the result looks so realistic that it could look like a Creator set if it weren’t for the Minidolls. That said, it’s not perfect for photography and it was actually quite a challenge to frame the photo with Faran cooking the pizza. Even after removing the table and the chairs.
The Bad Guy
Surprisingly, the helmet and the pauldrons fit quite well Cronan the Goblin King. Usually, Minifig helmets don’t fit very well Minidolls. But because this one has no transparent visor, it works quite well despite the futuristic look.
The Fox
I love foxes, so that’s another great figure.
That said… I knew the fox would be a disappointment when it comes to Minidolls. The tail simply can’t fit a Minidoll without some drastic modifications. In addition, like most helmets, the fox helmet doesn’t fit well Minidolls. This is because the eyes and mouth are lower on a Minidoll face than a Minifig, thus the mouth tends to be hidden when Minidolls wear traditional Minifig helmets.
The Panda
Like the fox, I can only like this figure. But it’s even worse than the fox. With this kind of costume helmet, the holes of the eyes simply don’t align with the eyes of the Minidolls. So I didn’t even try with this one.
The Biker
The biker was another pleasant surprise. I didn’t have much expectation from both the figure and the bike. Somehow, I always thought Minidolls can’t fit bikes and thus never tried. But when I got this one, I decided to give it a try and was actually shocked to discover that it actually worked…
The Verdict
This series has been full of surprises. Both good and bad. The bad ones are usually when I can’t reuse accessories of a very cool Minifig with Minidolls. (For example with the Monkey King hairpiece.)
The good ones can be the opposite, like the bike that made me realize that Minidolls are somewhat compatible with Minifig bikes. But also figures I didn’t expect to like or love. The one that stands out is the Knight who will stay in my backpack alongside the Snow Queen.
Out of the 16 Minifigures and their accessories, the only other elements from this series that will also stay permanently in my box of figures/accessories traveling with me are the white laptop, the Adventurer’s backpack and hat, the Knight’s blue flame, the Monkey King’s red hairy thingy… And the little poops of course!
Sharing the Adventures in The North of my Plastic Friends.
