In the final of the Friends Animal Series 3 we take a look at a unique animal for the series. Thanks again to
varko.cz for their fabulous
service that included this set. So far in this line we've had
THREE dogs, one cat (no love, TLG), two woodland animals, a coney, and a marine reptile. Out of eight animals, seven and one half of these are land based. Of course this only includes the polybags. If you count the $7.99 - $9.99 sets, there have been more livestock involved. And repeats of many animals (dat bunny!), except the cat. Wait, scratch that. We get one more driving a
sports car.
Finally, we take to the air.
The first time we saw a Friends bird was in Olivia's Treehouse with the very first wave of sets. That set has finally and sadly sold out on LEGO's website. TLG calls this bird a sparrow but with a paint job it can become anything. A little lime and it's a parrot. I wonder what would happen if you could put stripes on it...? Maybe I could paint my Ford Fiesta white with a red hood stripe and turn it into a Camaro! No? Maybe at least a Mini?
Speaking of paint schemes, this set does a fine job of not looking like a psychedelic nightmare sneezed in a rainbow popsicle factory. There are three main colors and just a hint of others thrown in. Enough for accents but not enough to make you think the designer was colorblind. There are still some slight adjustments that could have been made. There is a tan row in the bird cage that should really be white for better continuity. As is, it makes me think of soiled newspaper. The four different pinks/purples get a little distracting but it's the only color that varies so it's not too drastic.
In a surprise move, this Friends Animal set has more Technic pieces (six) than all the other ones do combined. While some sort of bar element would have probably sufficed for the pole and the perch, TLG made a better decision for strength in employing Technic. And the color choices match up as well. The bird cage pole is brown, the perch is brown, and the perchpole is, well, dark grey. Close enough though an axle cast in brown would be pretty cool. Speaking of missed opportunities, the tip of the axle peeks up through the perch. This would have been an awesome place to use a decorative bright pink
half bushing.
At $5 + tax for 32 + 3 pieces this is no steal. You're paying 15c per piece for nothing significant. TLG has had these on sale since day one for $4 (+ tax) so you're more likely to get your parts for 12c each. The bright light blue 4x4 round bricks are kind of unique. They make me want to build a Friends themed siege machine. And it's nice to see that the last 1x technic plate holdout comes in a new color. I mean, comes in a new color and in a set that won't set you back your monthly rent. Although the packaging suggest I place this in my greenhouse which I don't have. There goes a few grand to build one.
Maybe it's my mood or maybe it's the convergence of well done on this set. I say buy it. It makes a nice decoration for your desk. Or greenhouse.
Up to Series 5 now with the Animal Friends. I think Mixels is going to catch up. On top of that Mixels seems to be a little more cohesive as a theme. Hard to tell. The animal series are all about 40 piece color explosion mignettes with an animal fed from a platter. It seems like there's been a little break since series 4, maybe things have changed. Although series 5 quietly snuck up on me and appears to going out of style. Series 6 coming soon? 
