Review REVIEW: FABULAND 3629 Barney Bear (Bruno Bear)

[Pandora]

Number – 3269

Name – Barney Bear (Bruno Bear)

Theme – FABULAND

Year – 1981

Minifigs – 1

Pieces – 16

Price – Price paid unknown; original MSRP unknown. Currently £9.23-£10.26/ $14.00-$15.72/ €10.71-€12.02 for used sets on Bricklink or £39.49-£64.78/ $59.91-$98.26/ €45.81-€75.14 for MISB sets on Bricklink.

Links: Brickset, Bricklink, Peeron.

The Box

The characteristic FABULAND background provides the setting to display Barney Bear and his car. There aren't that many green pieces in FABULAND, mostly keeping to red, yellow, blue, black and white, and as a result these colours stand out vibrantly against the light green FABULAND background.

The back of the box has the characteristic 'catalogue' pose for Barney, as he clutches his wrench to advertise supplies for serial killers everywhere. And he looks so innocent! The other pictures show him zooming off into the distance, and pretending to have a flat tyre to lay in wait for another innocent victim, still clutching his weapon of choice. Noticeably absent, however, are any pictures of alternative builds. None. Nada. Not one.

The sides of the box have identical pictures of Barney fixing an engine the only sensible way; by hitting it with a wrench. One side has unfortunately suffered a little damage from a long lost shop sticker, and the box is a little battered and bruised from the passage of time, but nothing too terrible.

Even here on the bottom of the box, the last side to have pictures on it, there are no pictures of alternative builds. Instead we have a candid shot of Barney taking a comfort break and clearing up the age-old question of what bears do in the woods. Oh, and there's a nice picture of the car, too.

The Box Contents

The Instructions

As always with a FABULAND set, the instruction booklet is a small piece of folded paper, with a charming hand drawn picture of the set and its figure on the front. FABULAND can be seen sitting on a hilltop in the distance. Barney looks innocent and adorable clutching his trusty wrench and positioned next to his getaway car.

Another lovely feature is that the instructions for these early sets are given as a cartoon, showing Barney building his own car. Admittedly this is easy to do in a set with only a few parts, but it's such a lovely way to illustrate (quite literally) how to build the set.

Another regular feature is the multilingual introduction to the main character of the set. This gives the Fabufig some personality and gives you an idea of how he or she fits in in the town. As ever here's a mish-mash translation of what's said:

"This is Bruno bear. He is always friendly, helpful and reliable. Or genuine and sincere and always ready to give help."

There is usually a hand drawn picture of FABULAND too, and this is actually different from the one seen in 329 Bernard Bear and his Lorry from just 2 years previously. For a start there are far more Fabulanders around, most notably a panda careering across the hilltop with a crazy monkey clinging onto the attached ladder.

In addition to the instruction leaflet, there's a little advertising pamphlet too, again a usual thing in these sets. Like the other pictures, this front picture is also new, and shows much less odd behaviour than that seen in 329 Bernard Bear and his Lorry, except Bonnie Bunny looks like she's been caught in some bad act, though. And I have to wonder what the cat and the lamb are doing on the top of the hospital..

Inside this pamphlet there's another, different view of FABULAND displayed in sets, plus small pictures of the sets themselves, as no potential for advertising should be wasted (which is fair enough, really). If you looks carefully at the larger picture, you can see that many eyes are drawn by Chester Chimp's antics on top of the ladder. Those crazy chimps.

On the other side of the pamphlet, in amongst all the other pictures of sets, is yet another sweet picture of a little boy and a little girl building FABULAND together. And they seem to be having fun together. Equally.

The last little bit of this pamphlet is a small cartoon. For 329 Bernard Bear and his Lorry we had Charlie Crow in the rain, but here we can see Perry Panda getting annoyed with his lazy companion Chester Chimp, who's content to lounge on the job. I adore these little cartoons, although it's a little weird that the cartoons themselves don't relate to the actual set.

The Parts

There are only 16 parts here, so not much to choose from, really. The wrench is available in loads of sets (200 or so) and mostly it's basic bricks, however, if you want the printed FABULAND brick, then this is the only set you can find it in. Additionally the curved roof is only available once each in red, blue and yellow, and obviously therefore this is the only set containing this part in this colour. Furthermore, the yellow window frame is only available in this colour at all, and only in three sets; the same other sets as before, namely 3635 Bonnie Bunny's Camper, and 3634 Charlie Crow's Carry-All. So, out of 16 pieces, 3 of them are quite rare. Not bad, really.

Minifigure

Hello Barney Bear, who may be a psycho killer who draws innocent Fabulanders into the countryside with his fancy car and clubs them to death with his wrench. He looks so adorable and innocent, but we know what dangers lurk beneath. Barney Bear has conveniently found himself an alibi, by appearing also in 3670 Service Station. Clever, very clever.

The Build

I've recreated the building steps shown in the instructions (well, as best I can with real LEGO, the instructions were drawn and subject to artistic license). Barney carefully places his precious printed grille piece at the front of the chassis, with a couple of 2x4 bricks forming the bonnet and engine.

Barney next places the FABULAND vehicle door pieces on either side, otherwise he won't be able to get in and out of his car.

Time to build up the back of the car; the boot or trunk depending on where you live. It's easily comprised of 2x3 and 2x4 bricks.

Next thing to do is to hoist the windscreen into position. It's a heavy part for a little bear, but Barney's been working out.

Then all Barney has to to is pop the curved roof piece into place, grab his trusty wrench and he's good to go! Doesn't he look adorable?

From the back you can see that the rear of the car is also decorated with a yellow 1x2 brick, which makes it look like Barney has packages stacked at the back of his car. That little yellow brick makes a lot of sense there, from a design perspective; it's clear that something is needed in that spot.

Having recently reviewed 329 Bernard Bear and his Lorry, I thought it would be interesting to compare the two. In only a couple of years the boxy feel of 329 has evolved into a smoother and more rounded vehicle in this set. The main differences between the two are afforded by the addition of the curved (and printed) FABULAND grille piece, and the curved roof piece. You could argue that the moulded roof removed some building steps, but really it's just replacing putting together three 1x4 bricks and a 4x6 plate.

So here's Barney with his pride and joy, posed as he is on the box front. It's a cute little car, brimming with the FABULAND aesthetic, which often seems to me to be based on vehicles from the 1920's. The set number, and the reappearance of the bear, suggest that this was a sort of update of 329, and although 329 is a fun model, when it comes down to it the shape of this vehicle appeals more.

Conclusion

Design: 9/10 As I've mentioned, this car is classic FABULAND style, and some people really love that, and some don't. It is a personal thing, but I am a fan of FABULAND, and this car is a beautiful representation of this style. The curved FABULAND pieces - the chassis, doors, grille and roof, form the entire design here really, but I like the 1920's aesthetic, playfully recreated with bright colours.

Parts: 9/10 There aren't many pieces at all, so to find two specific FABULAND pieces only found in this set, is really quite remarkable. I'm surprised, given how early this was in FABULAND's overall release, that neither of these pieces were reused at any point. Aside from the FABULAND specific parts, the others are really just basic bricks in basic colours.

Minifigs: 8/10 Barney's another bear, and he's cute; there's absolutely no denying that. He has the adorable first-generation eyes and brown bears are pretty limited in FABULAND. Although the mould itself is used often, Barney appears only here and in 3670 Service Station (with Peter Panda Bear, who looks more like a black bear than a panda). Barney's brown bear brother is Bernard bear who appears in 329 Bernard Bear and his Lorry (seen above, and he's not necessarily Barney's brother).

Build: 8/10 There aren't many parts, and they don't take long to put together, but it's still fun, not least because the instructions themselves are adorably displayed. By adding character to the instructions, character is added to the build. There is also something exciting about building a 30 year old LEGO set for the first time, too.

Playability: 8/10 As a car, this model provides full zoomability function, and the model is sturdy enough to withstand the fiercest zooming. Having doors that open and providing Barney with an accessory allows for more scene-setting. He can fix his car, club unsuspecting victims over the head and drag them into the passenger seat and drive away. Endless fun!

Price: 7/10 Really the prices currently on Bricklink are pretty high. As always, it will depend on how much you want the set itself ano/or its pieces. There are a few rare pieces and it is a cute model with a lesser seen Fabufig, so the lower end of the used prices isn't unreasonable. You may see this set going cheap on e-bay (or a local equivalent) in which case it may well be available for much less.

Overall 82%

This is a charming car which is beautifully representative of the FABULAND theme. It's fun, with a cute little bear who even has an accessory (in fact there were two wrenches in the box) and the model is nicely curved and smooth, but still with studs visible. It's an enjoyable build, and the presence of rare parts makes it more desirable. If you're a FABULAND enthusiast then you'll enjoy this set.

Thank you for reading, comments are always very welcome. High-Res pictures can be found on my

flickr account.

[Rick]

Thanks for another lovely Fabuland review.

I really like this set. Perhaps it's because it's the one vehicle in the series that used this roof I didn't have as a kid, but more likely it's because it reminds me so much of a hot rod (which should of course be driven by a raccoon ). The colour scheme is great and, in my view, the model strikes a really nice balance between using basic and more specialised pieces. This makes it more difficult to build alternative models, which perhaps explains the absence of any on the back of the box, but it certainly improves the looks of the vehicle. Vrooooooommm!

[Rufus]

It's interesting to see how quickly the Fabuland sets evolved, over only 2 years. The presence of the window and roof molds, and the printed grille piece, really add character to the car that was somewhat lacking in 329's blocky truck. It's great that the vehicle bases have tow hooks and eyes, allowing you to make a little road-train or something too.

The bear molds are cute, but Barney's eyes aren't a patch on the Racoon or Panda eyes (or even the odd Bulldog eyes).

Thanks again for another top-notch review! I can't think of a better use for a 32-year-old MISB set.

[Purpearljellyblob]

Thank you for another great review!

Really good pictures, and above all, Barney Bear is really cute!

[Chichar]

Great review!

It's simple, yet so elegant...

[Flandy]

Bumping an old thread here, apologies for that, but this is the very first Lego set I had, bought for me when I was 3 and I still have all the parts to build it, but am lacking the figure! I guess it's time to bricklink him!

[Sven F]

Great to see a Fabuland review. 
This is one of the sets I didn't have, but i know all the pieces from Charlie's carry-all.  Might add some of those roof pieces to my wanted list, you never know.