Lego 41051: Merida’s Highland Games / Disney Princess

Another entry in the Disney Princess line. I had thought this was Zoey’s “least desired” in the line, but she came home from the store with it in hand the other day (after finding some cash on the ground!).

Specs: 145 pieces (11 extras, including a cute little cookie and a cool key); 2 bags (+ 8×16 green base); 1 sticker sheet; 57 steps over 55 pages (2 books); took the 5yo Roarbot about an hour to put everything together

I honestly think this is the least appealing set in this line. I think Zoey found it on sale, which is why it came home. The best parts of this set are, by far, the little brothers as bears. The set comes with three, and they’re pretty much awesome.

The Merida minfig is fine, but she looks more like a Friends character than a special Disney piece, despite the crazy red hair. There are some cool pieces here, though. The bow and arrow and archery setup is neat, and Zoey was over the moon with the chicken leg. Seriously, she almost didn’t want to finish assembling this thing; she just wanted to play with the chicken leg.

The three small parts of this set are all a bit underwhelming. The tree is poorly designed and breaks apart fairly easily. It’s too top heavy. The “cookie catapult” is fun, but was this in the movie? I don’t seem to recall Merida catapulting chocolate chip cookies at any point. The little waterfall and cooking pit is probably the coolest of the three, but only because you can turn the fish on the spit.

The thrust of this set is the wall/castle. Unfortunately, there’s really nothing to it, and it doesn’t serve much of a purpose. Outside, it has a pretty purple door that opens and a moving branch that can “hide” the key. “Inside,” there’s a tiny nook that’s almost completely taken up by one table and a single chicken leg. There’s really nothing for Merida to “do” in there, except maybe admire the family tapestry sticker.

Zoey’s already brought in some horses and pieces of other sets to liven things up and give poor Merida a bit more of an adventure.

Verdict: Unless you’ve got a Brave/Merida fanatic on your hands, this is the set to miss in the first wave of Disney Princess Lego. There are limited options for pretend play with the castle wall, which forms the bulk of this set. The archery aspect is cool, but there’s not much here. The baby bears are by far the highlight of the set, and that’s a shame.