CC Set Review: 10656 - My First LEGO Princess

[Bruce N H]

Hi all,

Join the Classic Castle set review discussion. Please post your opinions on the set play ability, piece selection, design, etc. Which sets stand up to our catapult of critique and which ones crumble in shame!

This week’s set is 10656 - My First LEGO Princess.

My First LEGO Princess includes a unique fig, an articulated horse in brown, a small building, some fences, and some random bricks and elements.

[Bruce N H]

I'll start off. I love the opportunity to get a new princess, but I really disliked this torso:

I think she'd look a lot better if they edited out some of the superfluous details, like the pink bow and that pendant thing hanging down from her belt.

This set was a relatively cheap way to get the articulated horse, which I've only got a couple of so far (Gandalf's cart is the other relatively cheap castle-themed set to include this horse). Best thing about this set was how thoughtful LEGO was about the horse - they included the cart hitch and brick, but also an extra brown tile for when the horse is not pulling the cart. They also included an extra leg element so the princess could ride the horse. The only missing thing was a saddle element, which they really should have included even if they'd done it in pink or some similar color.

I never like the large battlement pieces, so thought that was miss for me, especially since it is in an unusable color. For my daughter, OTOH, the building is a nice little add-on that she can make herself without help.

Some nice little elements included, like the gold and jewels, the gold shutters, the basket piece in lime green. Also interesting that they just threw in a smattering of other bricks in rarer colors that seem to have no connection to the official set design.


Bruce

[Bluesecrets]

I was super excited to get this set when it first came out, but then I got it. That princess is...disappointing. Why? Because first of all she has to be a child princess due to her clothing and accessory choices, but they make her a full sized adult. So either she has no sense of style or knowledge that the big pink bow is a bit over the top, or she is some kind of little child with a hormonal growth defect...she is still disappointing. And for me, not a fig I will actually use. The horse, well it was nice. I love the colors of the bricks. I always used the different colors, even if just for filler, but I being one who likes to build in different shades enjoy them.

But, I was going to buy multiples of this set...after one copy, I didn't buy more. Will it serve its purpose and get little girls buying and building? I doubt it. The Disney Princess line will pull girls and adult females in first then Friends...eventually they will see this set. But I bet the majority will go "meh." Unless it is a gift.

[rogue27]

I bought two of these during a BOGO 50% sale, and I think it is a decent parts pack. Princess, horse, accessories, and bricks in less common colors.

The figure could have been better though, and I don't like the turret piece. As a result, I never had a desire to open the second one, nor did I ever want to purchase more. Can't seriously recommend it to anybody here; we're not the target audience.

[Elephant Knight]

I bought this set for the fig and horse. The bricks are a mostly a useless colour for me, so not really a plus there. I never really looked to closely at the princess, so I didn't really think on how silly she looks.

I give it a 6.3.

EK

[andhe]

The torso was a new piece, but the printed skirt/dress slope had been previously used for the admirals daughter in the pirate theme http://www.bricklink.com/catalogItem.asp?M=pi086
It's a shame they didn't give a full new dress print, and makes me wonder if they had a load of the slopes left over, so just added a new torso.

There is a nice selection of parts, especially if you wanted to make a pink castle (do skittles come in pink?) though I can't help think the horse would have looked better, or fitted the set better, if it had been white? A white horse combined with a new printed dress I think would have made the set a lot more attractive to AFOLs.

From a child's point of view, it's a cute set, but unlikely to compete with the Friends stuff, especially as the Disney Princess stuff seems to fulfill a similar bracket, but has the added benefit of brand identity.

[Bluesecrets]

There is a nice selection of parts, especially if you wanted to make a pink castle (do skittles come in pink?)

Yes they do.

I think this set came out prior to the Friends line if not, then it was really close in time frame to the first couple sets. I agree that the Friends and Disney Princess line are more likely to get a girl wanting them. But if I was a parent of a child and wanted a nice small gift for a girl, I may find myself looking at this...if I couldn't find the other two options.

[Bruce N H]

It's a shame they didn't give a full new dress print, and makes me wonder if they had a load of the slopes left over, so just added a new torso.

I can't imagine that's what happened. It's not like the factory is just producing pieces willy-nilly and then they design sets around the existing parts. Instead if they design a new fig with new printed torso and dress, they're going to produce them in roughly equal numbers. It's probably more likely that they already had the design for the dress and so they just re-used it.

It does seem like this is a dead-end set. If the Friends minidolls didn't exist (or if sales had been horrid and they'd discontinued them), I could imagine this being the starter for a small line of "My First Princess" sets. Now, as noted above, such a line is pre-empted by the Disney Princess Friends sets.
Here's some rampant speculation - I'm guessing they already had a deal worked out with Disney, since the Duplo Disney Princess line came out over a year ago. But then they were waiting to see how the Friends line worked out to decide whether System Disney Princesses would be done as minifigs or minidolls. The first Friends sets and also the initial Disney Princess Duplos both came out in 2012, but they waited until now for the Princesses in System, after the Friends were established as a successful line.
Even more rampant speculation - I wonder if there are minifig versions of Ariel, Snow White, etc in some LEGO designer's drawer, that got rejected when they went with Friends sets. Maybe we'll see these in 20 years or so (remember that BrickJournal article that came out a couple of years ago where they showed some rejected space fig prototypes that had been shelved in the 80's?). One interesting piece of information is that the new mermaid tail part first came out in 2011, and I suspect they had potential Little Mermaid sets as one possible use of the new piece.
Personally I wish they'd gone with figs, but that's because I don't think minidolls fit well into my minifig universe.

Back to this set, I see the point about a white horse, but the more odd color choice IMO is to make the princess' extra legs black. It seems like they should have given her white legs to go with her torso.

Bruce

[ffilz]

This isn't such a dead end set.

Have folks seen the new Juniors line? Two pink buckets and a little flip case with minifigs along the lines of this set. The smaller bucket is a princess set (the other two are more town themed). Of course their are "boy" sets in the juniors line.

Frank

[Miro78]

I'll start off. I love the opportunity to get a new princess, but I really disliked this torso:

I think she'd look a lot better if they edited out some of the superfluous details, like the pink bow and that pendant thing hanging down from her belt.
Bruce

Here is a better quality image of it if you'd rather use this one. I took this original image, so you have my permission to use it which ever way.


Here is the original size:
http://www.brickshelf.com/cgi-bin/gallery.cgi?i=6069048


Miro

[Serow]

I just picked this set up myself, surprisingly at a Books A Million. I also got the Castle Brickmaster book there, which was a surprise as well. In any case, when I got home I was quite pleased by the included princess, and I enjoy the pink castle setup. Lots of flowers, and some fun accessories. It's a small set, but it has a nice feel to it. With the Disney princess line, I wouldn't expect to see much more like this for a while using traditional minifigs, but I'm glad to know one of the girl's Junior buckets is castle themed as well. I'll certainly be picking it up, when I spot it. My budding kingdom can use more of a female presence!