Today is day 7 in my “Fortnight of Friends” series. We’re now half way through, and this is the last of the small sets. Today’s set is #3936, “Emma’s Design Studio”
We previously saw Emma in Day 2, Emma’s Splash Pool. Now we learn that besides liking to splash about in pools, Emma is a fashion designer. The Emma minidoll in this set comes packed in the stretchy hard-to-open bags (both torso and legs). Like yesterday’s Stephanie, today’s Emma is the same face and hair as the earlier version but with different printing on the body. This will allow kids (girls) to mix/match outfits.
The first thing we build is a dresser, or chest of drawers. Each drawer has a different color tile in it, I suppose representing bolts of fabric. I’m really pleased to see so many sets containing the cabinets with drawers in the Friends line. I’ve always been a fan of doing the interior details of my MOCs, and these pieces have been traditionally hard to come by in the boy-focused LEGO sets. The cabinets being in purple, and drawers in pink, may limit their usefulness in many of my MOCs, but I’m sure I’ll find uses for them. Pink 1×3 tiles are new, and a nice treat. The dresser comes with a stool for Emma to climb up in order to reach the top drawer. I was surprised to find that this set came with a mix of old and new style jumper plates … the new ones with the fingernail groove, like tiles, and the old ones that mount flush to the part beneath, like plates. Two of them go on the stepstool and one goes on her work table – I put one of each type on the stepstool to call attention to this packing anomaly.
The next thing we build is some sort of easel or drafting table, with the printed dress design on it. You might have been wondering about printing vs. stickers on the Friends line, but I can assure you that there have not yet been any stickers in any of these sets. The paw print on Mia’s Puppy House, the blackboard on Olivia’s Invention Workshop, the printed tiles on Andrea’s Stage, and the umbrella on Stephanie’s Outdoor Bakery were all printed parts too.
Emma’s table is the next thing to build, which includes a nice little (printed!) ruler on a 1×6 tile, a pink iPod-like device on a pink 1×2 tile, a camera, a dark pink mug, and a flowerpot. The legs are light purple with purple feet, and the table is covered in 1×6 light orange tiles. There’s also a neat little lamp using a skeleton leg as part of the post, which I shall definitely copy in future MOCs.
Finally we get a desk for Emma, in a color scheme matching the table, with a laptop computer (a return of the part last seen in the Agents line) and what I can only assume is some sort of sandwich.
I am happy about all the purple parts and the aqua colored bricks. Like the other Friends sets, there is some pink, but it’s not overwhelmingly pink. The main color is purple. I doubt I’ll have use for the printed piece with the dress design, but the laptop computer is nice to see back.
Tomorrow we start the second week of the Fortnight of Friends with the first of the larger sets: #3183, “Stephanie’s Cool Convertible”
So nice to hear that the smaller Friends sets have printing instead of stickers! These are definitely going to be my go-to present for birthday parties of my daughter’s friends this year, at least for those little girls who don’t already have tons of LEGO. I think the Friends sets are excellent ‘gateway drugs’ to LEGO.
Been loving the posts Bill! I built all mine in a rushed flurry of excitement the first day they came out, so its nice watching your review! Sadly the “no sticker” roll you are on, ends tomorrow with that convertible, but I agree, it is lovely having new printed parts, even if some arent that useful.