REVIEW: 31010 Creator Treehouse

[Jareth]

This set was a must have as soon as I saw pictures of it. And since I had a day off, I figured why not do a complete review of it. But where to post it? I bought it for the trees and tudor panneling for castel creations, but that doesn't seem right. And I suppose a lot of creator sets really belong in "Other" but I think that any of the three builds here would look great in a town setup. Actually most of the creator houses are this way.

A final note. Gollum is NOT included with this set.

Enough chit chat...bring on the set!

Number: 31010

Name: Treehouse

Theme: Creator

Subtheme: Houses

Year: 2013

Minifigs: 1

Pieces: 356

Price: $30 US

Here are the other five views of the box:

Here's the three instruction books and a few pieces not in a bag. There was some folding going on, but I've had worse and I'd rather have folded instructions than folded stickers. That being said, with three instructions, I think TLG would be better off protecting the instructions better.

As you can see we have the excellent treehouse, some cool looking tudor panneling on a garden shed and a boathouse. The rest of the parts come in 6 polybags.

Polybag 1: Fairly basic. This is my first experience with the upside down tiles.

Polybag 2: Probably my favorite. I can always use more tree branches, I only have a few garbage cans, and I love lego string. I usually save lego string for other projects, but this set gets the full treatment.

Polybag four: Again not much to say here. This isn't a rockstar parts pack, liek most creator sets, it's true vallue us giving you a lot of the same part. Like those 1x2 reverse slopes in dark brown. I'd much rather have 10 of those than 10 specialized pieces.

Number five: Love the frog!

Number 6: That's a lot of 1x1 round tiles! I really like this detail piece a lot more than the 1x1 slope. Also of note are the Dark green 2x2 round plates. First time in this color!. Also, the tan "arms" up in the corner look like Gollum's arms, but they aren't.

"My Armses! Gives us back our armses!"

Minifigs: I didn't take a picture of the lad http://www.bricklink.com/catalogItemPic.asp?M=pln173

Red cap, freckled face, blue torso, light blueish grey stubby legs. For me, the legs make the fig. Allthough the stubby legs are now a lot mroe common, castle builders are not likelly to come across them in LBG.

Build:

Lots of ground to cover here.

According to the instructions, I should sort them by color, which I will not do.

It also says I should build them in this order.....ok, why not save the best for last?

Wow, that is a lot of plate on plate construction. On the plus side that rock path looks great!

Here is the garden shed! I'm not sure what the red cones are supposed to be, but maybe they'll be usefull in one of the other builds. Don't worry happy frog, Gollum can't catch you without arms!

Leftovers

Build #2 midway This one is sort of "Meh" for me. I do like the rocks under the raised floor, but I hate the use of blue plates to connect that water to the land. Water should flow downhill. Also, the dogs body is used in the wall here.

Now this is what makes this build for me. That oven is great, and it also explains why there is a pizza in this set. Also the use of a reverse tile is better used here than in the main build. Well Done!

Build 2 complete: Gollum steals a pizza.

Ok, the back of the set. I think they could have done better with the tree. Even stacking the two trunsk together would have been a colossal improvement. To make it worse, the arch does not really fit there.

Leftovers from build 2

Ahh, Build 3 The use of different colors in the tree is well done and the Octagonal shape is close enough to round. The larger truck has a lot of white brick to bulk it out. And the red cones are....traffic cones? Why was he growing them in the garden? whatever, there is enough other detail to wory about that. I'll just consider them extra parts.

The final build. The green round plate holds the treasure map in a secret compartment, and the water doesn't flow uphill. I love the brick built dog. Perhaps I'll do a westminster dog show build with different brick build pooches. And the water doesn't flow uphill.

Leftovers from #3 "AND ARMSES!" Yes Gollum, there are extra armses, but one is dark grey....it makes you look like mecha-smeagul.

Playability:

We allready mentioned the Oven from the boathouse and the secret compartment from the treehouse. Now, lets see how freckles defends his dog from Gollum.

First we use the trash can winch to put water in the red box.

Then we raise the ladder.

Spoosh! "ARGH! Theivses ahs taken poor Smeagul's armses!"

Oh right...here is a rear view of the treehouse.

This illustrates two things. First of all, if TLG is going to continue using the 1x4 plate with two studs to connect different floors of houses together, then they should probably make them in more colors. Second, why didn't they use the branch pieces? It looks ok without them, but much better with them.

I guess they are trying to move beyond using them. If I was planning on keeping this as a display piece, I would keep the branches on it.

Price: Creator sets are usually pretty good. 8.4 cents per part.

Conclusion:

Parts: 9/10

Minifigs 9/10

Build: 10/10

Playability 10/10

Price: 12/10 (yes, 12 out of 10)

Total: 10/10 I plan on buying two more of these. This a great set for new techniques and plants. I'd advise it for anyone, but especially castle and town builders. I have also recomended this set to a friend of mine who is trying to get her daughter into regular lego sets instead of friends.

MVP: (Most valued Piece) I almost didn't do this catagory, because I had such a hard time deciding. I love all the brown and green pieces (AND A FROG!) and the windows are also great. But in the end, I decided on the 2x2 round plate in dark green. This piece made all the difference in making plastic look like leaves. It was a tough decision with so many great pieces here

[Lazarus]

I just got this, bought it as soon as i saw it. Love it and was a fun build.

Really liked the kids short legs my fist min fig with kid legs haha.

I just did not like the way the bin does not hang in the middle like the pic and slides to the side. Only one thing i did not like.

It was a good add on to one of my houses in the back yard.

[Legogal]

Jareth,

Thanks for reviewing this Creator set because it helps to know what is inside and how the builds look before spending our hard earned moola on a treehouse. It looks like a fantastic set for acquiring parts...to build add ons, etc. And a treehouse is a great idea because it can be stored above another lower set.

Your outside review on a folding table was ingenious...often we don't have a place or the space to do a review, and you managed to brighten up things! So glad the neighbor's dog did not knock it over while chasing the other neighbor's three cats...phew!

In general the Creator houses offer lots of possibilities and are a great source of parts, some of which are hard to find.

Thanks again and happy building!

[Hey Joe]

Hey! Thanks for reviewing this set, you did a good job. I'm planning on getting it myself as it'll look great next to my Creator homes on my train layout.

Joe

[slovakiasteph]

Thanks for the review! Although I sometimes curse you reviewers because after I'd decided to NOT buy a set, all the details you present make me decide I WOULD like it after all!

[Rick]

Thanks for the review. I'll move this to Special Themes, the home of Creator, though.

[paul_delahaye]

I'm loving these creator houses, and buildings, great value and good piece count for the money,

[slovakiasteph]

How is the reverse tile used in the main build?

[Jareth]

How is the reverse tile used in the main build?

The Reverse tiles are used for the bottom of the ladder platform. They are not really needed, but I appreciate them anyway.

[jluck]

Brilliant set...One of my favorite creator sets thus far. I really love the details! Thanks for the review.

[The Ghost Racer]

That's a good set, but in my opinion the house is too small and not very detailed.

[gryffindorcommonroom]

This is one of my favourite sets of the year. My childhood dream - living in a tree house!

[parksroad]

Thanks for this review! I loved it when I first saw the Toy Fair pics, then decided against it, then broke down and bought it all of a sudden yesterday and love it even more than I thought I would. Just tremendously charming, and love the creative use of simple pieces--including the brick-built trees and dog, which feel nicely retro and artistic to me.