Belville Adventurous Puppies - No Pooper Scooper Required
Written: Dec 18 '02
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Pros: A great set for collecting accessories, the pink treasure chest.
Cons: Not much fun as a stand-alone set, pieces get lost easily.
The Bottom Line: I simply couldn't pass up this set! The pink treasure chest was more than worth the clearance price of $1.50.
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| Freak369's Full Review: LEGO Belville Adventurous Puppies 5831 |
Once Lego started releasing the Belville sets they realized that the series really didn’t have an overall theme – except that it was targeted to young girls. The early parts of the series took on a Cinderella type theme with both good and evil being represented. Witches, magic potion bottles, creepy cottages and dark forests were matched up with princesses, horses, pink butterflies and tea parties. There weren’t many of the sets that sparked my interest until I started to take a closer look at them and saw all the cute and cool little accessories that were included with them. Thanks to one of the greatest outlet stores in the United States [Factory-2U] I’ve been able to track down some of the older sets as well as some that were only released as a promotional item. How they got the sets and why they are dirt cheap are of little concern to me – as long as they keep getting them in stock – I’ll be there buying as many as I can.
Adventurous Puppies
Well, firstly this should be called Adventurous puppy, not Puppies since you only get one dog in the set. There really isn’t much to this set and if you aren’t a fan of girlie type things – this will have absolutely no appeal to you. The small, colorful flower garden is cute and fun to build – but once you are done there really isn’t much to do but sit there and look at it. These small elements get lost easily so make sure you are keeping track of them if younger children share the same play area with older kids. The dog bowl, stenciled dog food block and scooper are great accessories for this set and can easily be used with other sets in the Belville series. The only drawback is that most of the figures in the current series [Princess and Cold North] are too big to handle these tiny little items.
The pink treasure chest is the main reason why I purchased so many of these sets. There are only a total of four Lego sets that have the clear pink chest and collecting them has been a real chore until I found this set at Factory-2-U. The chest has a lot of uses with this set – mainly to house all the small accessories or possibly to put the puppy to bed. If you have other Lego sets you can easily mix and match pieces to make a small pedestal for this or convert it into a small table by placing a flat 4x4 baseplate on top of it.
Fido, the dog featured in this set, remains a mystery to me. I’m not sure if it’s a male or female since the name Fido is usually reserved for male dogs but through the illustrated booklet that is provided with the set – you kind of get the feeling that it’s a girl puppy. In any event, the dog really can’t do much except sit there. The yellow leash / lead that is included is a nice accent but without any other figures in the set – it seems a little useless. What did the Lego designers expect you to do – tie him to the chest?
Butterfly or Dragonfly?
Included with this set is a winged insect – take your pick between butterfly or dragonfly. Since I purchased about ten of these sets I found myself literally overrun with these little babies and I swear – at one point in time I think they started to multiply. My neighbor Jane saw them, fell in love with them and took them home and made hair clips out of them. When you compare this to the size of the Fido you’ll see one fatal design flaw – the scale. The butterfly / dragonfly should be a lot smaller than the dog – I guess this must be one of those Texas insects since everyone says everything’s bigger in Texas. Even though I am not usually fond of cute little girlie things, this set has a lot of potential to those that are. The butterfly is pink, several shades of purple with a touch of yellow – and to top it all off – it’s sporting a huge smile.
Fido’s Adventures
Be sure to look out for all the small books in the Belville series since in most cases they replace the instruction booklet. The older sets in the series feature booklets that range between nine to fifteen pages and are beautifully illustrated. No text is provided within these booklets so these sets are great for those that haven’t started to read or those that are just learning. My only word of warning is that this set – and others in the series – have small pieces so make sure your child is well aware of the dangers associated with the elements. I could never understand why they geared this part of the series towards the 4 and older group since there are such a large number of pieces that could be considered choking hazards.
The Bottom Line
If you’ve never checked out the Belville series before I highly suggest that you visit the Lego site to see the various sets that they have in stock. The older sets are jam packed with accessories however the newer ones are more kid friendly. Little girls who have an interest in Barbie dolls as well as Lego building sets might really like the Belville line. Personally I think the Barbie line is getting a little out of control with the multitude of different styles – but that’s just my opinion. The Belville series is slowly improving and streamlining the theme however they need to bridge the gap between the older sets and the newer ones so that the two are more compatible. I purchased this set for one piece – the pink treasure chest. The rest of the elements are going to be used for stock inventory or swapped with online brick brokers to get more of the pieces that I want. Just because I hacked the set to pieces doesn’t mean that I don’t like it – but overall it’s just too “girlie” for me.
I usually like to recommend other sets that work well with the particular set I am reviewing however in this case I can’t. Almost all of the sets that are currently being offered by Lego in the Belville series are too large to work with these elements. To try and use the treasure chest and dog accessories with any of the other sets would be a complete joke since the dolls, buildings and other animals are way too big to be matched up with this set. I really wish Lego would listen to their customers feedback and create a small mini series to bridge the gap between the initial portion of the series and the current line.
The Stats
Set Name: Adventurous Puppies
Family Set: Belville
Lego Set: 5831
Number of Pieces: 15
Age Recommendation: 4 and older
Ease Of Assembly: Easy
Time Of Assembly: 2 Minutes
Cost: $ 1.50 [clearance]
For more information about the Belville line, please visit http://www.lego.com/belville
As always, thanks for the visit …
^V^ Freak ^V^
© 2002 Freak369
Related Reviews….
Belville Wind Surfer
http://www.epinions.com/content_64724831876
Belville Cottage of the Witch
http://www.epinions.com/content_77567004292
Recommended:
Yes
Amount Paid (US$): $1.50
Type of Toy: Blocks
Age Range of Child: Whole Family
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