LEGO Elves 41076 Farran and the Crystal Hollow [Review]

Last week I reviewed the littlest Elves set. Today, I’ve got 41076 Farran and the Crystal Hollow. I picked them up at Toys R Us; I’m happy to report it is now available on the LEGO Shop online. This set has 175 pieces for $14.99.

41076 Farran and the Crystal Hollow

I admittedly wasn’t sure how I felt about this one at first, since it’s fairly simplistic. From the box, it looked like a tree with some trans green and trans blue pieces. I found that once I was done, I really quite liked it. Shocking, I know.

This set comes with two medium-small bags, and two little bags. Interestingly, the instructions are in two very small booklets. It seems like it could all fit in one, so I’m not sure why they were split into the two different booklets—and two different sizes at that.

This set comes with Farran and his little yellow squirrel buddy. The paint on the ears was a much better color match than Aira. The little squirrel is quite adorable in his bright light orange color. Farran has a little green lightning bolt on his face, and I can’t help but be reminded of David Bowie. Just a little bit.

41076 Farran and the Crystal HollowThe first build is a little bit of rockery, and so far my only disappointment with the line: it’s the first appearance of a catapult, and it seems awfully random. It tosses the little gold decorative bits that are often used for ice cream or cupcakes.

You do get to use one of those lovely lavender leaves, though. This set also comes with one of the nice purple ones, and bright pink 5-point crystals.

41076 Farran and the Crystal HollowThe main build is the Crystal Hollow. This is admittedly still a little odd, but given this is LEGO, and a theme about Elves, I just have to overlook it. The design itself is solid.

The Crystal Hollow is pretty clever. The crystal in front opens when you pull on the little leaf emblem, and reveals a key of some sort. The angled crystals are held firmly with click hinges. The addition of the wine bottle also strikes me as a tad odd, but hey! You get another green wine bottle.

There more of the lavender leaves, and of course, the six-pronged flower stem. I can see that getting some fun use.

I say buy this one. It’s a great piece-to-part ratio, it’s fun, it’s clever, and it has excellent pieces. There are nice grey, green, and brown pieces for the City, Space, and Castle builders in your life. Nice accessories for your minifigs. That bright colored squirrel. You can see more pictures on Flickr.

Even better: right now, LEGO is offering a free Azari’s Magic Fire polybag with any LEGO Elves purchase, while supplies last.

1 comment on “LEGO Elves 41076 Farran and the Crystal Hollow [Review]

  1. Aanchir

    I really love the design of this set. It’s cool how the crystals and the tree are growing together. It’s hard to tell whether the crystals are growing out of the tree or the other way around. Either way, it definitely feels magical.

    In the LEGO Elves app and mini-movie, the Crystal Hollow (or “Sparkle Rock”) is just depicted as a hill with a tree on top and crystal formations underneath, which to me is much less interesting than how it appears here. The mechanism for revealing the Earth key is not too complex but still fairly impressive, and I love the colors of the tree and crystal formation.

    To me, the catapult is not very confusing at all. It’s a method by which you can act out Miss Spry the squirrel pelting acorns at Farran to keep him at bay. As always, I love the decorative and magical nature of the trees. Not only do they grow gems on their branches, but the acorns, too, are sparkly and ornate.

    Farran and Miss Spry are both great designs. I am tempted to try and cosplay as Farran at this year’s Brickfair, though who knows if I’ll end up going through with those plans.

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