LEGO Friends 41376 Turtles Rescue Mission review

LEGO Friends 41376 Turtles Rescue Mission is a charming little set, complete with buildable turtle sanctuary, amphibious car and a handful of utterly adorable baby turtles

Price: £17.99 / $19.99 / €19.99  Pieces: 225 Available: Now

As with all LEGO Friends sets, 41376 Turtles Rescue Mission contains a collection of pastel shaded parts, in this instance 225, which not only compliment each other but help to make the set bright, colourful and fun. The set contains a turtle rescue sanctuary, small tropical island, amphibious car, three baby turtles and one mother turtle in addition to Zobo and Olivia in an exclusive dark pink wet suit. 

The set is split into two bags, the first concentrates on a small island that Zobo (Olivia’s robot pal) sits upon, helping to feed the baby turtles. The design for Zobo is really fun, adding a lime green flipper underneath his body and what look like inflatable arm bands on his arms (two trans-orange 1×1 half tiles) Zobo’s head piece is the fairly new round 1×1 plate with binoculars, currently only available in the LEGO Friends theme.

Zobo sits on a small beachy outcrop, in a tan and medium azure colour scheme, where a couple of baby turtles have hatched. Not only are regular egg pieces included but there is also a fantastic hatched egg too. The baby turtles fit perfectly inside and look incredibly cute.

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LEGO Friends vehicles have a tendency to be a little hit and miss. Thankfully here, Olivia’s amphibious car is a fun little build. There’s nice detail added in the shape of the control stick, printed dials and propellor attached to the back. Inverted 1×4 curved slopes are used at the front and back to create simple yet effective shaping. The colour scheme of white, dark blue and yellow works really nicely together too and ties into Olivia’s Friends colour scheme as seen in other sets. There is space on the back for both the unhatched and hatched eggs that can be swapped out for baby turtles depending on preference. 

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The second stage of the build focuses on the turtle sanctuary and is a little more involved than the first two smaller builds. Early into the build a beach ball, small slide (to keep the baby turtles entertained) and a small sand castle are added. This is clearly a sanctuary that’s supposed to be fun as well as a place where Olivia can keep her rescued sea turtles safe.

The sanctuary is raised from the ground, in keeping with real world beach huts and other buildings close to the shore line. Three medium nougat 1×6 tiles are used for steps, which is a simple technique but one that works well here.

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The walls are cleverly built up quickly with the use of window frames, door frames and 1x1x3 bricks. In fact in about four stages the hut goes from ground level to the roof. Railings are attached to either side of the door entrance and a life-ring and life jacket are hooked on either side, all of which adds nice detail. A watermelon slice and printed drink carton makes up the detail on the reverse.

The awning is built in the now traditional technique of using alternating coloured 1×2 curved bricks – if it isn’t broke, don’t fix it! The colour scheme compliments the rest of the set and really does conjure up feelings of the tropics.

All in all it is a fairly straightforward yet enjoyable build. What comes as a surprise though is the wonderful little turtle facade that sits on top. Made from a handful of 1×2 curves and inverted curves, the shaping and look of a sea turtle is wonderfully captured. It is a fantastic addition that adds so much to the final design.

Finally, a palm leaf with pink flower on top and nougat coloured plain minifigure head as a coconut underneath is attached to the side.

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Olivia comes in an exclusive dark pink wet suit. While it completely makes sense for her to be dressed in this way for the set, the printing and overall look is not quite as good as other recent Friends sets. Really, it’s a small negative considering all of the brilliant accessories and animals that are included.

LEGO Friends 41376 Turtles Rescue Mission is a strong addition to the theme. It’s a really fun building experience and the set comes packed with wonderful little extras. What’s more, the set is designed to teach kids the importance of looking after the planet and caring for all animals.

This product was provided for review by the LEGO Group.

41376 Turtles Rescue Mission is available now at LEGO.com. You can help support Brick Fanatics’ work by using our affiliate links.