Isn't this too early for Easter? I am not egg-sactly sure why. Perhaps, this hard working Easter Bunny Girl wants to paint as many eggs possible before Easter. So, let's make this quick. Hop onto my 30th RA review, set #853990 - Easter Bunny House.

 

Overview

Name: 853990 - Easter Bunny House
Theme: Seasonal 
Year: 2019 (1H)
Pieces: 57
Minifigures: 1
Price: GBP 6.99 / USD 7.99 /  EUR 7.99 / MYR 39.90

 

 

Introduction

It seems that TLG is switching things up a little bit with the new seasonal sets this year. This set is not a free gift with purchase. Instead, it is just a normal set that you can buy from LEGO store. 

Front view (with sleeve)

The packaging for this small set is slightly different from the previous seasonal set, particularly 5005249 Easter Bunny Hut. From the outside, it is seemingly a clamshell box but it is just an octagonal prism packaging which can be opened at the bottom. In addition, it has a yellow paper twine with an egg-shaped tag. This is very handy if you are going to buy this set as a present.

 

Back view (with sleeve)

 

The sleeve is simply held by 2 clear tapes at the back. 

 

 3/4 Profile (sleeve removed)
 

Once you remove the sleeve, there is no "door" or tear-off flaps that you can open. It functions like a normal box only. Nothing more, nothing less. You simple open the box flap at the bottom to free the contents inside. 

In the absence of any other packaging material inside, we get low-density polyethylene plastic bag and super glossy instruction booklet.

 

 

Build

Without being melodramatic, these are the contents of the plastic bag:

 

Front view

And in less than 10 minutes you are able to build this 3 little builds: a patch of foliage, a chicken coop and a scooter with 6 "eggs" on an egg tray.

Immediately, what caught my attention in this build is the sunny side up printed 1x1 white round tile that serves as the headlight of the scooter. Is it an egg or a light? I  think it depends on what you want to imagine. It is not the most creative usage of part but it looks wacky so I like it very much. It's also worth to mention that this is one of the easiest and cheapest way to get medium azure scooter at the moment.

As for the most annoying part -- it's the roof. I don't like its construction because the hinges are not resting on any other element. The two red 2x4 tiles end up looking awkward when they don't touch perfectly at the tip.

Despite the minimal parts, the chicken coop has a hallow space in the middle which the chicken can use to lay eggs.

 

3/4 side profile view
   

 

At this angle you can appreciate the clever use of tan slope 45 1x1 Double as ladder steps for the chicken.

What I don't really appreciate is the usage of part # 58176 as white eggs. There are 6 of them at the back of the scooter and I suppose this one of the most reckless way to  transport a fragile produce. In the past, other sets use that part as egg, but that was back when the egg mould with hole has not been made yet. Now that there is an actual egg mould, frankly, I don't buy this part as a good substitute for eggs anymore.  However, the problem with the egg element (part # 53677) is that it is wider than a single stud so it is impossible to fit 6 eggs in 2x3 stud array. Even if you put 6 of those on a wider plate, you can't present the tray of eggs without being cartoonishly disproportionate to the scooter.

I understand the design constrains but it is just absurd that the previous Easter Bunny Hut got a properly printed easter egg while this one has nothing at all.

   

Notice the door at the back? This is a neat little feature because you can open this door to get the eggs laid by the chicken.

The space in the middle can hold only 4 'eggs' given the limited space.

 

Minifigures

Easter Bunny Girl

This Easter Bunny Girl can be paired with the Easter Bunny guy from 5005249 Easter Bunny Hut as they are stylistically similar.

The pink ribbon printed on the light aqua torso gives it a mix of "minty" and preppy style.

In addition to the prominent bunny teeth, the cutesy minifigure face also has white whiskers that adds more charm to the minifigure.

As a side note, the Easter Bunny guy from the Easter Bunny Hut hardly got popular in my opinion. Personally, it was not in my "must have" minifigure list because the original CMF Bunny Suit guy is so much more charismatic, which makes these variants appear redundant. It could be good or bad depending on how many Bunny Suit Guys you already have. So, now that a new Easter Bunny Girl can be paired with the Easter Bunny Guy, I wonder if this will make the older set popular.

 

Something egg-citing is on the way!

Conclusion

I'm not going to drag this review longer so let me put in summary:

Pros:

• Very collectible Easter Bunny Girl minifigure
• Interesting parts included
• medium azure scooter

Cons:

• Unlike the previous seasonal sets, the packaging does not really add value  since it is just a hollow box
• An easter bunny without an actual egg mould (sunny side up doesn't count!)

Review summary

Playability: 7/10 - For this price point, the playability is reasonable
Design / Building Experience: 6 - Can't really say I am satisfied building the chicken coop because on how the roof was designed
Minifigures:  8/10 - This makes a great partner with the previous Easter Bunny Guy minifigure from 2018.
Price / Value for money: 7/10 - Think of this as an XTRA set + CMF and the pricing makes sense.
Overall: 7/10 - It is a cute small set for collectors but I wish it is a dollar cheaper or came with more parts.

 

 

Thanks for the review!

To be fair the egg mould is almost bigger than the hen and are mostly used as dinosaur eggs in sets
I like the set, but could have included a second hen/chicken to be even better

  On 2/6/2020 at 7:51 AM, Roebuck said:

Thanks for the review!

To be fair the egg mould is almost bigger than the hen and are mostly used as dinosaur eggs in sets
I like the set, but could have included a second hen/chicken to be even better

You're welcome!

LOL. I know the size of the egg is very big but that's another mystery why that mould is gigantic than what it is supposed to be. I don't think the designers were even thinking of dinosaur egg early in the design phase because it was first used in Angry Birds. Then right after that came 1 seasonal easter set  and then an Easter Batman minifigure with pink egg and a basket.  So yeah, I am clueless why we deserve an easter set without an egg.

Anyway, agree on more hen.

Cheers!

NICE Review!  I found the roof interesting.  love the steps.  And more importantly, it's not a gift with purchase.  Sometimes, I rather just spent the money on one small set than trying hard to reach the threshold.

 

  On 2/8/2020 at 3:50 AM, Pchan1983 said:

NICE Review!  I found the roof interesting.  love the steps.  And more importantly, it's not a gift with purchase.  Sometimes, I rather just spent the money on one small set than trying hard to reach the threshold.

Thanks. I also find the roof interesting -- just not in a positive way 

I also agree with you. Sometimes a small set is a low-hanging fruit that collectors can easily grab without spending needlessly.

Great sharp pictures as always! I love the stair build and the egg tray.

Last year's was a lot better with the actual egg piece that was painted. The fact this isn't a free gift is very weird to me. And the only way that it's worth $8 is if the set included a sheep.

Good review for a 'bleh', overpriced set.

Edited February 9, 20205 yr by Maple