Officially, I'm on vacation from Eurobricks, visiting the Great White North, and lo and behold, l got a hold of one of the nicer looking 2010 sets, the not-creatively-titled-at-all Apple Tree House (thanks to Ricecracker for the pass along). Only because it's a 2010 set, I decided to do the review from my parents basement. The color on these photos isn't great, and I plan to reshoot it once I'm back home

I was anticipating this set, just because of its beautiful color. Can a book be judged by its cover?

Set#: 5891

Name: Apple Tree House

Theme: Creator

Year: 2010

Pieces: 539

Price: $53 Canadian

MSP: U.S.$ ?, £ ?, euros ?

Peeron

Brickset

Bricklink

The booklets

There are a standard three Creator booklets, one for each build, and the ads that come with each.

The Pieces

None of the pieces jump out at me as new, except the basketball net, which I haven't seen before. The base plates are a slightly brighter shade than the 'grass' ones.

The Build

This is at about step 15. It's not that complicated, compared to the other Creator sets I have, but it is minimal and elegant.

One clever thing, I thought, was the mailbox, the base of it is simply two L-bricks.

With the next 15, you've added the garage door, and a staircase to the second floor, and have pretty much finished the main walls.

Just after another 15 or so, the main part of the building is done, minus the takeaway roof. Most of the building techniques are either the same or variations on the Creator house series.

A few more pieces are left over and we get to....

The Finished Product

This is the money shot I guess. Lawn mower, apple tree, basketball net. On the right side of the house is a water tap.

The back is nothing special. It doesn't lend itself well to being a 'real' house.

With the garage door open, and a loose basketball by the net. There certainly are nice details, like the flowers and the house lights.

The lawn mower is simple, but effectively gives off that 'lawn mower' feeling. The tree has some loose apples. A flowered bush sits in the distance.

The roof pops off, but the spaces are tight inside, so I can't imagine putting many minis in.

<EDIT>

Here are the other two builds, as I warned would come!

The second house is quite nice, a chalet of sorts. While the first floor is alright at mini-fig scale, the attic is useless.

Strangely, the window panes aren't used. They're supposed to be empty.

The garden is nice enough, but the lamp seems a bit out of place.

Access to the insides are through the roof. That piece dangling below it is supposed to lock it into place, but it really doesn't work. The roof slowly falls down.

Inside, there is but a fireplace. I suppose that's an important feature of a chalet.

This part is interesting, it's a shrubbery I think. Very irregular, and built into the wall.

The garden is so-so relaxing.

The house is decent for mini-fig scale.

And these are the leftover pieces.

The third house is also a nicely detailed one. A three-story one.

The floors separate for access.

Unfortunately, the inside is so small, it may as well be closed.

If it was micro-scale, I'd really like this design.

This set isn't really meant to be viewed from the back.

Nothing much to see here.

The yard is really nice! This has all you need.

Again, it is a little small for mini-figs.

Even at the picnic table, there's no room for food.

Slightly less pieces are left over here.

The Final Verdict

Design: 8/10 I like the overall look of this set. It's not an unbelievably good set, but it is very tasteful, and the blue and white really look nice together. I'd love to live there. The inside isn't particularly done well at all. The alternate builds, while looking nice, aren't particularly mini-fig friendly.

Build: 6/10 Really unexceptional. It was a deja vu of other sets, with very few 'Wow' moments. Not boring, or unenjoyable, but nothing exceptional either.

Playability: 8/10 The inside is cramped, the garage is just a little tight. There is just the new Lego equipment, like the lawn mower and the apple tree. The alternate builds help add to the playability.

Price: 7/10 Not terrible, but it should be less than $50.

Overall: 7/10 I like this and all, but not as much as I hoped to. It's a decent set that doesn't try particularly hard to do anything new. The overall design of it is nice though, and would fit in with most suburban Lego towns.

This is a good set that adds to any collection, but in the big picture feels fairly unessential. If you have no other Creator house sets, then I definitely would recommend it.

My rating is pending to change after seeing the other two builds.

<edit>

I bumped it up a couple points, but the overall rating is unchanged.

Edited January 11, 201015 yr by def
Indexed

Baseplate is bright green? I find that very strange. Or is it normal green, just a little bit brighter.

And the price seems realy high too. I was expecting something in yellow house range, but this is almost twice that

4996 - 522pcs - 35usd ("yelow house")

4956 - 731pcs - 50usd ("white house")

4954 - 1174pcs - 70usd (tan "town house")

6754 - 956pcs - 60usd (tan "family home")

5891 - 539pcs - 60usd ("Apple tree house")

It has almost the lower pisece count at almost the higher price. I hope that you are wrong about the price.

Correction: I see on Brickset that price is 44,95 which is more reasonable. And some people got it with 20% discount which is even better.

Edited December 24, 200915 yr by Cwetqo

The basketball ring is not new, its mostly been used as a life preserver (although it was also used in white as a toilet seat in some sets like the recent police station)

5891 - 539pcs - 60usd ("Apple tree house")

It has almost the lower pisece count at almost the higher price. I hope that you are wrong about the price.

Correction: I see on Brickset that price is 44,95 which is more reasonable. And some people got it with 20% discount which is even better.

In New Zealand it will be $NZ 89.99 which from xe.com = $US 63.48

Nice review of a nice set. I like these Creator house. The back of the house looks weird. Needs a window or two.

Thanks a lot for such a great and brilliant (and early). The new shade of green seems to be integrating itself into sets quite fast. The Winter Toy Shop also has a weird shade of green bricks - somewhere between the regular green and dark green. I really do like the simplicity of this, too.

Not a fan of the colors.

Quite frankly, the color combination of dark blue with white and grey walls and a red stripe... strikes it as a bit too odd, even when compared to other CREATOR houses (the $70 USD house is just about perfect color-wise).

It's also quite a bit tight inside, that even the Beach House (smallest creator house) just feels 'bigger' inside. Of course, I'm counting on the fact that this one has a garage, making the 'livable' space feels a bit cramped to me.

Also the price/piece. Too high, considering it has about the same piece count as the Beach House but at 50% the price (Target sells the Beach House for $29)

The only real win in this set are the accessories: The lawn mower, b-ball court, the garage even. Other than that, this set looks rather average

Edited December 24, 200915 yr by wooootles

This is the only Creator set, that I will buy next year. Being a fan of Creator House series, I enjoyed this set very much especially with the current color scheme. I really like the navy blue roof top, unlike using traditional rooftop colors such as black and red. Furthermore, there is some neat sections such as the garage, basketball court, lawn mower and etc.

Shall look forward to get this set.

Another house I'd love to own. I only rate it "above average" instead of "Outstanding" because it's a bit cozy and lacks windows in the rear (I have to find out what the official price will be, 60 USD would be far too much). Great alternate models.

Thanks for the review!

To be honest, I was rather disappointed with this house. The tree always fell apart as I was building it, and I found there to be many useless parts. The 1x2 modified plate at the bottom of the basketball net is redundant; the net is sturdier when you just put the technic piece directly onto the baseplate. To prevent the garage door from going inwards, they used a 2x2 slope, effectively preventing a vehicle from going in as well. Two 1x2 plates could've been used instead. The 1x1 technic bricks for the garage door are grey. Why didn't they just use white, considering they are the only two in the entire set? A lot of 1x1 round plates are used in places where 1x1 plates would look better. There is a 1x1 round plate behind where the satellite is. If they removed that, and pushed the 1x2 modified plate back, it would've looked much better. Oh, and the chimney is just ugly .

Then again, I might just be mad because I dropped mine on the floor.

For those of you complaining about the price, it's $60 CAD, not USD. Still overpriced, though ($60 CAD = $57.18 USD).

I think that color scheme is nice.

Not common, but nice!

Good review. If priced right this would be a great suburban city builder. I would hope it is no more than $39.99 but I expect it to be $49.99 US

Is the green similar to the green plate we got with the "Xtreme Tower" set?

Is the green similar to the green plate we got with the "Xtreme Tower" set?

Yep, it's the same.

Good review of, at least for me, an obscure set. It's pretty nice although the staircase could have been better.

Nice review. Not sure about the set, my main criticism is that it doesn't have as many windows/doors as the Family Home, Model Town House or Beach House

Thanks for the review.

I think the major defect of this house is having too little space for both the living room and the upper floor that you can't really add any decoration or furniture to adapt it to minifig-friendly.

Even if the MSRP is US$44.99, with just 539 pieces, it is DIFFICULT to take 5891 as a value buy... sorry...

Edited December 25, 200915 yr by Alywin

I can't believe the largely negative responses to this set! It is one of the few must-haves from the Jan releases for me The colour scheme is bright without being tacky, and very unique for a series which has alternated between tan/ red/ white/ black permutations. We get several useful elements in new colours, like tan windows and the door frame. Finally, the inclusion of new dark blue roof pieces such as inverse corners and the roof cap pieces means that for one other colour apart from basic red and basic black, we get an almost complete suite of roof tiles in a beautiful and sought after colour Just think of the possibilities for large scale house MOCs or for Castle builders!

I also prefer the scale of the models, which look much more suited to figs than something like the very strangely proportioned 6754 Family Home with its giant shutter windows bigger than most minifig doors and it's odd and unfinished looking roof. Come on, how many of you actually buy these sets and deck out full interiors for them anyway? The 6754 was a McMansion but this is a modest building of classy beauty.

Incidentally, the bright green baseplate is the same bright green as bright green has always been, as was last found in a 16 x 32 baseplate in the 2003 Orient Expedition palace. It is not a new colour, it just hasn't been in non-Belville sets for a while.

I think the US RRP is $39.99, more at TRU. US buyers got a good deal on the 6754 Family Home, so I hope the Aus RRP will be a better deal than we got for that (the Family Home is $AUD129.99, which is currently $US115 - think about that before complaining how bad the price of this is ).

Thanks for the review! My love is undiminished!

A very nice Review Def!

This looks like another nice creator set. But personally, the one from this year was better imo.

This one has some very nice little things in it though. I really like the Lawn Mower, and how the letter box is done looks very cool.

Thanks for the Review!

CommanderFox

Thanks for the review.

I think the major defect of this house is having too little space for both the living room and the upper floor that you can't really add any decoration or furniture to adapt it to minifig-friendly.

Even if the MSRP is US$44.99, with just 539 pieces, it is DIFFICULT to take 5891 as a value buy... sorry...

Thanks for the review Def!!! Unfortunately, I totally agree with Alywin's comments. Overall it looks nice, the colours go together well, but I'm disappointed in the lack of interior space. Whay can't TLG give us some sort of interiors for the houses? I wouldn't think it would be that hard. Also, I was a bit shocked at the price; this will definately be a sale purchase.

Thanks 'def' for the review !

The only good things are the lawnmower and basketball ring/backboard , I think the house is too small and I don't like it as much as 2009 Family House.

The back of it has nothing but a large window in the roof ? oh, dear !

But this is what the original idea could be from

The color scheme is really a welcome break in the Creator houses line. And the attention to (exterior) detail is great. The inside indeed is a little cramped, but from the outside it looks great. Just hope the price won't be above €35. So far these Creator houses have been excellent value for money. Maybe this one has a wider piece variety than previous houses (more different, small elements) that would explain the higher price point?

The color scheme is really a welcome break in the Creator houses line... Maybe this one has a wider piece variety than previous houses (more different, small elements) that would explain the higher price point?

Exactly! Maybe those that haven't been buying Creator houses since 2004 (although the first 4886 Building Bonanza isn't branded Creator, it certainly set the trend for large back-walled models) are more in need of red roof tiles, but for those of us who have the whole series, the prospect of another house in white/ red/ tan/ black house is not very appealing. This is a great sideways move.

I don't think it's too small, either. Sure, it's small but look at it in comparison to something like a super-detailed Cafe Corner. It actually bridges the scale quite well, whereas the badly proportioned 6754 Family Home looks out of place and too big next to most other models. Like the odd looking oversized 2010 Rebel headgear and AT-AT driver helmets, there comes a point when big is just *not* better

Since noone seems to know the official price yet (not even in $US) I don't know how anyone can yet accurately judge whether this is better value than other sets in the line.

Since noone seems to know the official price yet (not even in $US) I don't know how anyone can yet accurately judge whether this is better value than other sets in the line.

What, are you saying that a price in CAD isn't official?

What, are you saying that a price in CAD isn't official?

You can have Canada. It doesn't really mean much for the rest of the world, unfortunately