Things I wish had existed when I was a kid. Off topic - Lego Friends animals

 This is totally off topic but I am so impressed by these that I had to share.
In our house we collect Lego minifigures. The little blind packaged Lego people that you can get at most supermarkets for about five dollars. They're cheap, provide thirty seconds entertainment and look cute. Of course the fact that they're blind packaged means you don't always get the one you want, but the surprise is part of the fun and occasionally when you get multiples you can use them to do fun things like this:

My brother decided Tarzan wasn't going to be as friendly with the monkey as he is in the movies.

So, last week I had surgery (which is why I haven't updated) and afterwards a friend gave me a couple of the Lego Friends Animals sets. I've never paid any attention to the Lego friends, I've always had the impression that all the Lego in them is pink and lilac and overly simple. Surprisingly it's not!

O'kay the packaging is lilac and pink and there are more pink and lilac bricks than in say a Monster Fighters set but not so much so that it's unbearably saccharine. And they don't seem to be any more simplistic than the traditional sets either. In fact, having looked at a lot of Lego on line over the last week, I would estimate, if I was still a little girl and got a non-friends Lego set, I would have built it, and then lost interest. I can picture the child me playing with the Friends sets for hours.

Anyway back to the pets. These come in little bags like the mini-figures, but they have a picture on the front that shows what you're getting, so they're not blind packaged. Like the mini-figures they're cheap. Here the minis are five dollars each, the pets are five dollars and eighty cents or something. But there is so much more playability!

Firstly you don't just get a pet. Each pack does include a pet, but it also includes bricks to make a playscene. BUT not just one playscene! Each set comes with instructions to build one thing, but you can download instructions from the Lego Friends website to make a second scene and you can combine it with two of the others to make a third scene!

Squirrel made with packaged instructions

Squirrel made with downloaded instructions

Squirrel set combined with cat and turtle sets

These were so much fun, that I actually bought all of them (so far there's nine) and spent a whole day assembling and reassembling them - and I'm a grown up! If I was still a kid, I probably would have exploded from excitement and for a toy that's under ten dollars that's pretty impressive!

So far there are three series of three pets. And each series combines to make a bigger set.

Series one is : cat, turtle and squirrel

Series two is : hedgehog, poodle and bunny

Series three is : fawn, puppy and parrot

The Fawn is my favourite (and another thing that would have made me explode if I was still a kid).

 

Seriously if you know a little girl that could do with a five dollar reward or present, or if you need something to add to a present for a little girl - get one of these! They are amazing!