Elves - Summer 2016 is Coming

klatu003 · March 2016

Ok. I'm officially hooked on this theme. Picked up and built the dragon sets #41172 thru #41176. They continue the excellent styling of the 2015 sets. #41176 Secret Market Place was especially charming to build. These sets have tons of interesting pieces and clever little design features. The finished buildings are compact, but have plenty of play features and are pleasing displays. The dragons share a basic structure, but each tail, for instance, is made with different parts, so you don't build the same thing over and over just in different colors. The bigger sets being released this summer include a White Dragon in #41179. #41180 Ragana's Magic Shadow Castle has a darker color scheme, in black and purple. In that set the elves have a new hoodie-with-elf-ears part that is super cute. And the mini-dolls have really nice printed costumes. I still despise their stiff-wristed stiff-legged lack of poseability, though.

Just google some set numbers or "Elves Summer 2016" if you want to see pictures - they are out there.

akunthita · March 2016

I love this theme as well. The sets are so charming, beautiful, and the piece selection is excellent. I also really like the mini dolls in these sets. Very cute.

sklamb · March 2016

I can take or leave minidolls in general but I must admit they work beautifully as Elves. And I'm definitely looking forward to the Magic Shadow Castle!

DNA · March 2016

I like the elves theme. The Starlight Inn sucked me in. Then all of the dragons. I really didn't have an appreciation for this theme last year but this year I have really enjoyed building some of the sets. Such great colors and unique pieces. Elves has a great design team. These sets are played with often at my house. My 8 year old niece loves this theme so much. She's not allowed to have lego sets at her house. My sister in law doesn't like the small pieces and dislikes lego in general so my niece plays with them and builds at my house.

The white dragon looks beautiful. The Shadow Castle looks fantastic. I'm going to build a house for Maleficent using that shadow castle.

I agree about the printing on the costumes. I especially like the printing on this one

Image: https://us.v-cdn.net/5015319/uploads/editor/rk/8c2orud1vsqw.jpg

I really like the trans pieces and the crystals that come with the elves sets. The green and blue trans are a great contrast to the purple in those magic shadow castle pictures. Looking forward to that set.

Image: https://us.v-cdn.net/5015319/uploads/editor/r0/1k8pt1rsoz2g.jpg

Aanchir · March 2016

I've been loving the Elves theme since the outset. Even before the Elves theme was announced I felt that a logical next step in LEGO's attempts to get girls into building would be a story-driven fantasy adventure theme aimed at slightly older girls than LEGO Friends. Elves fit the bill perfectly and yet still managed to surpass my wildest expectations. In a sense, Elves is to Ninjago as Friends is to City. My brother and I made sure to get every set last year (some of which we reviewed for New Elementary) and we've gotten several of this year's as well.

The LEGO Elves mini-dolls have really amazing outfits and hairstyles. I kind of wish LEGO could find a way to translate LEGO building to fashion dolls (the way they translated it into action figures with Bionicle and subsequent "constraction" themes) so I could own larger and more detailed versions of the characters. Their animal friends are also adorable!

This year's dragons are fantastic designs. They have diverse brick-built physiques with lots of articulation, but still with that curvy, lifelike charm they need to fit in with the mini-dolls and the smaller animals. The world of Elvendale also continues to feel exotic and beautiful with its many colors and distinctive architecture.

If you haven't checked it out yet, the official LEGO Elves website is full of fun details like webisodes, promotional songs and music videos, character bios, gorgeous character art, and an interactive map of Elvendale. One thing it doesn't have that I wish it did is a page or pages about the smaller animals and baby dragons.

I've also been enjoying the LEGO Elves story a great deal. The animations are colorful and exciting, and I love the characters! This year's first two episodes were a lot of fun and there's apparently going to be one more before the end of the year. The webisodes tend to be quite funny and heartwarmign, and the chapter book adaptations of the main episodes are also pretty great.

I'm very excited for the summer sets, especially the queen dragon and shadow castle! The Brick Show has a great video showing off the Shadow Castle from lots of different angles, and it has a lot of the kind of "livable" details I always love to see in a LEGO castle, without cutting down on the more ubiquitous LEGO castle features like a throne and a dungeon.

One disappointment is that none of the summer sets include a cloak or hood for Farran! Last year he didn't get a cloak either, but it was kind of understandable since he didn't actually appear in any of the summer sets. But this year he's in the Precious Crystal Mine, so it doesn't make sense to me that he doesn't get a cloak and hood in that set. Do boys not get to dress up? :P

Thank you for creating a topic for discussing LEGO Elves! I probably should have started one myself by now, but I have a bad habit of not discussing things until other people make topics for discussing them.

klatu003 · March 2016

^ I was really surprised that there wasn't a discussion already for this major theme with such impressive sets coming out. Us Elf lovers need to keep a better balance to the endless Super Heroes & Star War threads - not that there is anything WRONG with those themes.

Bumblepants · March 2016

I love this theme too. Great for MOC parts for me and my girls adore the minidolls and are really excited to collect the dragons. The Treetop Hideaway was one of the best sets we got last year. It is refreshing to have so many play features that are new and creative and not flick-fire missiles. The Adventure Ship is also an excellent build and full of neat features and parts.

Pumpkin_3CK5 · March 2016

The Starlight Inn should've been a bigger set. I'd like to see LEGO pull a Temple of Airjitzu on this theme with a full fledged Elven Tavern/Inn set.

SithLord196 · March 2016

I actually think it's a pretty cool theme as well, but am leaving the collecting of it to my fiance.

She still needs the Treetop Hideaway and Castle from last year. We also need to organize our second bedroom in order to build and display what we have.

Bumblepants · March 2016

I just discovered the spring yellow/green fox coming in the second wave this summer. Not usually a sucker for animal parts but that one looks super cool. Think I will have to get that one.

Ronyar · March 2016

I was in a Lego store last night, and the dragons were getting a lot of attention and comments. I think Lego developed a hit with these.

Aanchir · April 2016

New Elves pictures got revealed recently. The out-of-box pics have been added to the Brickset database, but there are also some great details to be seen in the pics of the front and back of the boxes: http://www.thebrickfan.com/lego-elves-summer-2016-official-images/

The lift function of the Dragon Sanctuary was news to me, as were the fireplace in the foyer of Ragana's Magic Shadow Castle and the little "mouse house" in the Precious Crystal Mine!

On a less set-related note, this year's TV special "Dragons to Save, Time to be Brave" has been released on YouTube!