LEGO Friends have have eleven new sets arriving in June 2024!
LEGO Friends have have eleven new sets arriving in June 2024 and we got our hands on them early! With plenty of out door adventures and fun in the water, come take a look at what’s on offer.
All these new LEGO Friends sets are available from LEGO.com and LEGO Stores from 1st June 2024.
LEGO Friends Heartlake City Café (42618)
The Heartlake City Café is a strong start for this wave of LEGO Friends. The vintage inspired colour theme and interior makes it clear that this is a old styled café. The exterior of the model gives us an iconic LEGO Friends splash of colour in greens and purples through the seats and plant life, whereas the inside gives us undertones of yellow and blue.
The main overhead sticker has a croissant with chefs hat above an inscription reading ‘Since 1932’. The mascot is a reference to set 42606 – Mobile Bakery Food cart, and the establishment year the same as LEGO‘s origin!
Inside the model we are greeted to a work station lathed with mixers, coffee machines, ovens and display windows. Everything clearly is made in house, and LEGO conveys that brilliantly. The lower shelves are even stocked with ingredients such as eggs and flour to make croissants – appealing to the little baker in the target audience.
The figures that come with this set are Paisley and Olly, two figures normally seen in sets together. The hat for Olly is new, being a beanie/hair combo in coral. The prints on these figures are nice but nothing ground breaking. I do love the café employee, and with printing on the smock showing the mascot, it seems that this brand of café isn’t going away in Heartlake City any time soon.
LEGO Friends Adventure Camp Archery Range (42622)
Being someone who dabbles in archery myself, and has two little girls, I’m immediately incredibly biased towards this one. The set comes with a recolour bow and arrow shooting mechanism that appeared in the Avatar sets. This is the first recolour for these parts, and knowing how often that dart will go flying away, the colour choices are fantastic.
Ignoring the minifigures, there is still a lot that you get here for the price you pay. The newer tree design with this set is great for those who like that style, and even the mushroom in the set is in the new flamish orange colour. The archery flag is a new mould, and gives us a small space to stow the bow when done. All parts of the set feel like they do something cohesive to the final model, whether that is style or functionality. Heck, even the target can be move further or farther away for difficulty.
The two characters are Autumn and Nova, both wearing variations of a camp outfit for the Adventure subtheme. I also love that Autumn is sporting her newer prosthetic, previously exclusive to the large hospital set not too long ago. The figures are solid, and the choice to empower characters like Autumn is fantastic. I do wish Nova had an alternate head for aiming like Autumn does.
LEGO Friends Beach Water Scooter (42623)
The Beach Water Scooter set does what it can with the lower price point to attempt to make as many possible stories as it can. The lifeguard tower is equipped with life preserver, and binoculars, allowing for life-saving scenarios or animal rescue.
There are more accessories that what you’d initially expect, with ice pops, sunscreen, a water bottle, shells, a sea star and life preserver. There is also a dolphin and crab too, which the box depicts the crab stealing the ice pops.
There’s nothing too crazy with this set, but for a LEGO Friends city or a pairing to the animal rescue theme of yesteryear, it’s not a bad choice.
LEGO Friends Adventure Camp Cosy Cabins (42624)
The Cosy Cabins set gives us our first insight to the Adventure camp lodgings for 2024. These cabins are open-sided lodgings with enough space for four campers between them both. We get an insight to camp life here, with a long drop toilet, firepit, and mountain bikes to explore the surrounds.
My favourite details about the set actually come from the stickers, which is odd for me. On one of the seats around the fire is a print of gecko/skink on the seat, and we get a spider on the inside of the yellow cabin. We also get a sleeping bag covered in socks, food and who knows what else too – true to camp life and living out of a bag.
The set has some tools iconic to camp life too, such as marshmallow sticks, an axe, guitar and even smores to eat. The figures continue the Adventure Camp theme too, but with one of them clearly in charge.
But the thing I can’t get past in this set is the price. It’s a nice set, but feels like it should be a fraction less in price. Or maybe I need to adjust my purview.
LEGO Friends Beach Smoothie Stand (42625)
This set is the one of the wave I have the most mixed opinions of. The Smoothie stand feels very tiki inspired, and I do like the clear watermelon-grape-orange design on the rooftop a lot. This set also introduces us to the new hammock/swing mould for 2024, which connects into standard technic bricks.
We get a blender build on the side, as well as a chest with various jars of ingredients, lining up with stickered menu. The part I’m confused about with this set is the dune buggy.
The buggy isn’t a bad build in any manner – it just feels really out of place. Every other diner or café that LEGO Friends has made normally doesn’t include a side vehicle. If LEGO needed to include one somewhere in the theme, I feel it would have been better off in the Water Scooter set, and then bouncing the prices around accordingly.
As for the figures, it’s clear who is running the shop and who is the customer. The thing I don’t like is Nova’s second head. Is she winking? Is she reacting to sour juice? Or is she realising that this head should have been included in the Adventure Camp Archery Set and not here? Hmmm.
LEGO Friends Adventure Camp Water Sports (42626)
The Adventure Camp Water Sports set is the first building in this wave to take up considerable space. The set is heavy with stickers that build an atmosphere, from details about water safety, to warning signs about bears in the area. The striking orange/yellow/teal colours keep consistent with the flags in previous sets, and really set apart from the outdoors around the model.
There is a small mix of wildlife, with a bear, fish, butterfly, numerous bees, but its the flora that I love. There are numerous mushrooms, flowers, cat tails, lotus flowers and a gigantic tree breathing life into the set and giving it the outdoors feel. I love that elements like the tree and sand embankments are built into and around the model, keeping it with nature.
The lower floor feels more like a shop/kayak station, whereas upstairs is where all the relaxing items are. The inside of the model gives us a look at downtime, including first aid, table tennis, books to read, photography and painting.
The set is nowhere near devoid of things to do, and I haven’t even talked about the water sports! Not only do we get two kayaks, we also get a log raft for two characters to sit side-by-side. There is huge emphasis on play with this set, as well as scene setting.
LEGO Friends Heartlake City Water Park (42630)
Heartlake City‘s Waterpark is a vibe and I’m all for it. Sporting tall windy slides, an Atlantis/Mermaid theme, underwater creatures and camera station, this thing is great!
The set comes with three slides to choose from; a raft slide, green tube slide and tall spiral slide. Each slide has a different feel to them, and give the set a good breadth between them. I also like how the base of the park is encased in a barrier, implying the whole base is covered in water. There is also a dedicated kiddie/whirl pool!
The Waterpark is has the best build experience compared to all other sets of this wave, and it’s ‘controversially’ because of the stickers. If you’re considering getting this set for a kid who isn’t necessarily very dextrous just yet, the stickers of the animals on the slides is the best way to help. If one of them doesn’t sit in the right space, it doesn’t matter – they are sea creatures. They don’t need to orient themselves perfectly, and if they want to mix them up, they can!
Aside from the slides and stickers, there is still a lot to love. The animals adorning the build are always great additions to have, and the other minifigures feel right at home with the space too. It’s also worth highlighting the minifigure (Sara) with the Colostomy bag on their body – implying they have had a previous surgery, and possibly bowel cancer too.
LEGO Friends Adventure Camp Tree House (42631)
The Adventure Camp Tree House is the biggest set of this wave, both price tag and size. With what is almost a full culmination of all the previous Adventure Camps into one, the set includes Canoeing, campfires, cabins, wildlife and fun.
There is so much to do in this set that it immediately feels like it is worth the price tag. We have log swings, high ropes, wall climbing, ‘monkey bars’ with safety net, telescopes music, slides… there is so much here!
My big highlights for the set is the Adventure Camp map on a 4×4 tile, showcasing the other sets, as well as the small signage and markings around that really bring it to life.
The set isn’t short on flora and fauna either, with mushrooms, beavers, squirrels, owls and trees galore. This is an absolutely solid choice if you can afford it.
LEGO Friends Castle Bed and Breakfast (42638)
Bed and Breakfast is bedazzling French Chateau hotel that isn’t too far off fitting within a LEGO City landscape. There is a prominent cleanliness across the exterior of the build, devoid of studs that sets it apart from other Friends Sets. Although I’m not huge on buildings using the flesh colours among the walls, it’s a soft pastel look that otherwise works with the set.
Inside the Hotel we are greeted with an entry book, vintage lamps, chairs, beds and bath. All of these things set the tone beautifully. There is even an upstairs attic with a few hidden goodies, like a chest, helmet and globe.
The figures included in the set are all solid choices, and the prints on them all match the characters perfectly. I’m a big fan of the hotel owner’s new recoloured hair, as well as Aliya’s top.
It’s also worth noting that there was no coincidence that all characters don’t have a light Caucasian skin tone. The whole ‘gingerbread man in a gingerbread house’ thing.
Solid set, would recommend.
Verdict
What can I say? LEGO Friends continues to pioneer ahead and brings us a colourful and fun world to build in.
There is only two sets that I had gripes with, but plenty of others that are phenomenal builds. I’m a fan of getting flora and fauna rich builds for low price points, but all feel rich with playability. Solid wave, 8/10.
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