REVIEW 3315 Olivia's House

[Rick]

Thanks for an informative review: you have an amazing attention to detail. And, as usual, it was a very entertaining read.

I agree that the highlight of this set is the detailed interior. Even though the Friends line introduces some shiny new accessories, I like that most of the details are achieved by fairly common pieces. The kitchen is my favourite room of the house, but the living room chair and sofa, the little cabinet in Olivia's bedroom, and especially the shower doors are great examples of the level of detailing that can be achieved with very common LEGO pieces.

On the outside, it looks like the designers didn't just borrow the barbeque idea from the CREATOR line. The lawn mower idea is also largely borrowed. The garden is also very nicely done. The lime plates forming the flower beds add some variation to the garden and, yet again: simple, but works surprisingly well.

Yes, indeed even flames can be inserted into the little attachment holes on the sides of the hair, with an interesting result.

So, LEGO men can't have flaming hair? Outrageous!

[Redhead1982]

Pandora, thanks for this excellent review! I really enjoyed reading it.

As the first pictures came out, I wasn't so sure about getting the set, it looked too pinky with the magenta roof, and the figures were a minus too, but then there was the bathroom curtain and kitchen utensils in blue! That was really standing out for me.

After reading your review, my main interest is still in the interiors of the set. However, as you put it, the fact there are some tan panels included instead of classic bricks is a down-point for me , although it's common in some city sets. But on the other hand, the set is a great way of getting some interesting (new) colours and elements, such as the new flowers, kitchen utensils, drawers, trans-pink umbrella... Also, it's very welcoming to see a house fully furnished. I am really looking forward to see new MOCs using parts from the Friends series.

[Lorentzen]

Pandora: Yummy yummy review. It was an absolute joy to read through your review - and it is certainly also a joy to see how many people have begun to appreciate this new theme.

[CopMike]

Truly terrific review Pandora ! Great detail, great pictures and funny text !

As for the set: I´m getting a couple - great parts and colors, I think I have a crush on the Friends theme !

[Sarah]

Anyone who has this set already: Have you played with it with the minidolls? How do they do on the swing?

[Pingles]

Anyone who has this set already: Have you played with it with the minidolls? How do they do on the swing?

The seat of the swing is a smooth plate so the figure cannot stick to it but the hands DO grab the "chains" of the swing so you can go bonkers swinging them until they are screaming for help.

As the father of a 3-year-old daughter the set is very nice but not particularly pre-school friendly (certainly i am stretching the lower age limit so take all of my criticisms below with a grain of salt).

The lawn plates are not fixed to the house. There are three lawn plates and inexplicably TWO of them are connected with the other floating. I attached plates beneath and the set "plays" much better. Perhaps this was done to make the footprint smaller on such a large structure, I don't know. But it was a bit of a pain for my daughter so I connected them.

The chairs are all a precarious balance situation. The characters like to slide off unless you can find a good angle for their waist and even then they do not sit well. I will be revisiting them to see what I can do to make that friendlier.

As with any modular building some of the spaces are pretty tight. They have placed many small features deep inside instead of at the edge so young hands seem to have trouble using the blender, bathroom sink, etc.

My daughter LOVES the set and there's a lot of pretending that is gonna be happening there. I am excited for her. Overall it is fantastic but I do wish they would rearrange things to make the items with the most play value towards the edge of the rooms.

[tafkatb]

I love all the new kitchen utensils here - and that brick-built blender - And we finally get forks and knives, but... where is the spoon?

...Oh my god.

There is no spoon.

[Leela]

Thanks for the review and beautiful pictures!

This set is a perfect dollhouse for me. It has all the most important rooms, the rooms are furnished and there are excellent accessories. Open back is great for playing with the house and minidolls. I love the kitchen and the bathroom (there's a toilet!). It's so great that the rooms are modular. I really like the garden and especially the swing.

It still seems a little too pink for me and I'm not a fan of the big wall pieces but I love this set so much.

I would like to see such a house for each of the minidolls, e.g. once a year, and that way we could also get parents/adults for all of them

...Oh my god.

There is no spoon.

[htbomb]

Excellent review. If my daughters were still kids this set would be under construction in our house.

The Friends sets come at in interesting time as I just recently bought the Large Pink Brick Box for my 10 year old niece. Had these sets existed I probably would have bought one instead. Though I still like the idea of more basic creative brick play.

[Legogal]

Wow! Pandora, This review rocks....and so does this set!!! Just reading the review made me rush to the Lego Store this afternoon and buy 8 more Friends sets, including this house.

We have built most of the Lego houses offered in the past 5 years, and none have had adequate interior furnishings. Many had no interiors at all. So I have made furniture and floors for most of mine...at a tremendous cost and effort.

All of a sudden Lego drops this bomb on us, completely furnished! Holy cow! And at 70USD, it is a steal! (And of course I had some VIP points that helped lower the price even more.)

Three years ago I bought several furniture sets from Lego, and they cost 25-30USD. That makes this set a real value IMHO. Plus the colors are to kill for.

Lego, please give us more sets like this! How about a house with parents for each of the four other girls?

I have been playing with Duplo dollhouse 4966 and playhouse 9225 because there has been no decent Lego one.

I am now on the last bag of the build, and it already looks great! And I managed to pick up some of the new collectibles while at the store, and they are going into this neighborhood as well!

Thanks again for all the details in the review! It is spot on! :wub:

[Flipz]

Well, to all who wanted to rebuild this set without the pink features: LEGO has beat you to it. I just saw a Friends advertisement, and the other houses in the town they had set up appeared to be Olivia's House with the pink replaced by red and/or black, and with different windows to match. I'll try and find the commercial online and grab some stills.

EDIT: Looking at it again, one of those houses is actually a new build, not a mod of Olivia's house. But the other one...I still can't get a clear enough look to tell.

Edited January 12, 2012 by Flipz

[Legogal]

I've just finished building 10 of the Friends' sets, and next I want to remove as much red and yellow as possible because I prefer pastels. Olivia's house was especially fun to build!

Amazed that the tan, white, and lime green colors go so well together; the first two make wonderful buildings, but I have never combined lime with them. And pinks (all but the lighter ones) look great with those colors as well....thankfully!

It will be difficult matching the blues as the new one does not look that great with all of my aqua, teal, Maersk and other blue pastel colors. And I have not figured out how to use my many shades of purple with the new color. But something will work if I pull them all out and remove many of the red and yellow pieces.

Guess this means that it is time to increase my stocks of lime pieces and pull out all of the pinks. Sounds like fun!

[refriedbeans]

Quick question Pandora, I would like to know if the yard is physically connected to the house. Thank you for your help and thanks for the wonderful review!

[Sandy]

Quick question Pandora, I would like to know if the yard is physically connected to the house. Thank you for your help and thanks for the wonderful review!

There's actually two separate sections of the yard and neither of them is connected to the house or each other as far as I can see. But isn't it only positive that the sections can be moved independently, without a fear that one of them breaks off and falls on the floor during transport?

[refriedbeans]

There's actually two separate sections of the yard and neither of them is connected to the house or each other as far as I can see. But isn't it only positive that the sections can be moved independently, without a fear that one of them breaks off and falls on the floor during transport?

Thanks for the reply! I don't mind that the yard isn't attached and you have a good point! Thanks again!

[paanjang16]

Having already built this set, I come to the conclusion that it beats the houses from Creator and even the modular series when it comes to accessories. While Creator houses is usually empty, this is a fully equipped house with a proper toilet! The best part is that it is fully compatible with normal minifigs too!

Some pictures with the minifigs enjoying themselves after a long day at Lego City.

[KateB]

Very nice review, thank you :-)

This is just the cutest house and whilst trying to think of all the reasons why I shouldn't expand my range of sets to include Friends (as I'm currently spending so much on Harry Potter Lego) I've realised that resistance is futile. Especially as I am a Lego house collector and clearly, this is a house so the rules dictate that I must buy it.

Damn it!

Let's be honest, what girl could resist this set, however much she tried to (raging feminists aside)!

[xinbei]

Thanks for the great review. I just love this set...

[TheLegoDr]

We just received this set from S@H for my wife and daughter, but have yet to build it. We actually ordered the whole line recently. My daughter is now obsessed with the Friends line. She is only 2, so below the recommended age, but she has loved my legos for over a year now, so this was a good transition. She really loves the animals and the bright colors.

Thanks for the review!

I can't wait to see it in person.

[Pyrrh]

A wonderful review. I am quite new to the whole Lego thing, but my 3-year-old daughter (and myself) are into Hello Kitty and I bought the Mega Bloks sets. She has been quite adept at learning to manipulate them. I started her with a very small set and reward her every day (that she behaves) with another piece or accessory. I used the actual buildings for potty training rewards, lol! Starting out with few blocks helped her to figure out the manipulation, I think. And handing them out piecemeal has kept her interest in it. I also added a handful of LEGOs (my mom had bought a set 20 years ago and we dug it up, finally making use of it) so she could build slides and things for the Hello Kitty figures to play on. I always ask her what she wants to earn next, not telling her what I actually have available, and we can usually come up with something. Lately she has asked for things like a brush, and a toilet. So I went looking around and found this new set which I absolutely LOVE. The buildings are going to take some work to build but that brings my husband into having fun playing with her. These sets will keep me stocked in daily incentives for a long time!

The seat of the swing is a smooth plate so the figure cannot stick to it but the hands DO grab the "chains" of the swing so you can go bonkers swinging them until they are screaming for help.

As the father of a 3-year-old daughter the set is very nice but not particularly pre-school friendly (certainly i am stretching the lower age limit so take all of my criticisms below with a grain of salt).

As with any modular building some of the spaces are pretty tight. They have placed many small features deep inside instead of at the edge so young hands seem to have trouble using the blender, bathroom sink, etc.

My daughter LOVES the set and there's a lot of pretending that is gonna be happening there. I am excited for her. Overall it is fantastic but I do wish they would rearrange things to make the items with the most play value towards the edge of the rooms.

The Mega Bloks swing bottom has two pegs that HK fits on, and it is tall so the Friends figures could stand on it, I guess. It will be fun to see how they will work with this swing with the slippery bottom! Screaming for help, indeed.

Most of the Mega Bloks HK buildings are just one plastic surround for the walls, with one roof section, and a baseplate - but they have made it so you can attach the buildings to a bigger baseplate and you slide the floor of the room in and out. It is much easier to play with that way. I wonder if there is a way to manipulate the Friend's buildings to do the same?

I had no idea LEGO was such a culture. I'm a little freaked out at the questions I had to answer just to register - after twenty failed attempts I had to Google answers to some deep LEGO questions to get in. But just looking at the set reviews has been worth it.

To be honest, never having been a LEGO fan before, the new mini figures have both my husband and myself intrigued more than the old blocky figures.

I think you may have two more LEGO junkies!

I love all the new kitchen utensils here - and that brick-built blender - And we finally get forks and knives, but... where is the spoon?

...Oh my god.

There is no spoon.

OMG. I am dying here. And we just watched Matrix again last week.

[mrklaw]

super detailed review, and its great to hear some feelings about the set along with the facts. This set is something my daughter has her eye on for her birthday and from reading this review she'll be very happy. I didn't want to buy her something that was simply 'for girls', but this looks far from a cynical marketing exercise. I love the playset approach with the open backs to the house, and the modular building gives scope for customisation in a simple way even by kids. And I love the furniture - I like a lot of the houses from Lego, but often they aren't furnished and I think that adds a lot to these friends sets.

I don't even mind the minifigs themselves. Having them slightly more realistic probably helps with role-play. I don't understand why you can't move their legs independently or twist their hands. or that they don't have holes in their bums to stay sat on chairs - that limits playability which is a bit backwards.

Edited April 8, 2012 by mrklaw

[Johan J]

Great review!

I'm getting one of these, and have to look into the other Friends houses.

[LukeWarmTea]

Great review Pandora - now I want to buy this set for myself instead of my daughter!Just wondering (I know this is a very old thread) but is this set still the same as it's initial release? We've got a variety of new and old wave Friends, and not a single set has come with ads for Creator in the booklet. Is this still a thing?

Also, is it possible there are voters in the poll who don't actually own or have ever built the set? (Cause that's a bit sucky.) And finally, Pandora - I noticed there's no review up in the Heartlake City list of Emma's Horse trailer 3186, which is a set we own and love - although the colours are horrible. Is there a review somewhere I just haven't found yet? Thanks a bunch!

[Pandora]

Great review Pandora - now I want to buy this set for myself instead of my daughter!Just wondering (I know this is a very old thread) but is this set still the same as it's initial release? We've got a variety of new and old wave Friends, and not a single set has come with ads for Creator in the booklet. Is this still a thing?

Thanks for the compliment, and yes the 3315 Olivia's House sets currently on sale are identical to the Olivia's House reviewed here. I don't remember seeing Creator ads in Friends sets recently, but it's been a while since I opened a new Friends set, sadly.

Also, is it possible there are voters in the poll who don't actually own or have ever built the set? (Cause that's a bit sucky.) And finally, Pandora - I noticed there's no review up in the Heartlake City list of Emma's Horse trailer 3186, which is a set we own and love - although the colours are horrible. Is there a review somewhere I just haven't found yet? Thanks a bunch!

Yes, it is indeed possible some voters may not own the set, but anybody is free to vote. The vote is, after all, based on the opinion people have of the set themselves after reading my review. Back when I first posted this review I think it's fair to say that there was rather a lot of animosity towards the Friends line, which I also believe has significantly dissipated.

The Friends review index, maintained by the ever-lovely and efficient Rick, is up to date, so if there's a review missing in the index then that means there isn't one on Eurobricks, I'm afraid.

[LukeWarmTea]

^ Thanks Pandora, I'm sorry you haven't been able to open any new Friends lately - Christmas can't come soon enough!