Set Review ➟ 21319 Central Perk
"I'll be there for you…"
Friends is an iconic TV series—if you are a certain age. But there appear to be many people just the right age, or maybe all the reruns have had their effect too. So when Aymeric Fievet proposed a model of Central Perk…the café where a lot of the "action" in this series takes place…he got 10,000 votes, a review by LEGO, and the idea was selected to become an official LEGO Ideas set.
If you want to know more Aymeric, there is an interview with him on the LEGO Ideas website. Today, however, we are concentrating on the the set that came out of his idea.
Let's start with the box. LEGO ideas set boxes come in two flavours. There are some that are similar to the boxes you can find for just about any LEGO set and the only thing that sets them aside is the LEGO Ideas banner. Other boxes have a more special feel. They are similar to LEGO Architecture boxes and give you that extra special feel. The Central Perk box is of the second type and a lot of attention has been paid to the details on the box.
The front shows a general view of the Central Perk set as well as images of the 7 minifigures that are included in the box. But have a look at the sides of the box which has a special pattern. More about that later.
The back of the box shows another view and a few close-up scenes as well as the typical LEGO Ideas banner
The sides of the box (left and right) have Friends themes doodles. One side shows the Central Perk logo and the other side shows close-ups of the 6 main characters. From left to right, top to bottom, Joey Tribbiani, Rachel Green, Chandler Bing, Phoebe Buffay, Ross Geller and Monica Geller.
The inside of the box is a classy black and it feels really full:
At the bottom of the box you find the instruction manual and a small sticker sheet. The instruction book comes with the customary background information about the Fan designer, the LEGO designers and some background on the TV series.
The One With Gunther
The set contains numbered bags 1-6. The first stage contains the largest parts as it consists of building the base for the entire TV set. While most of the construction is a pretty straight-forward piling up of plates and tiles, some hinges are used to create the angled part on the right and still keep it fixed to the rest of the base:
A little side-note about element quality: of course all LEGO elements are made in moulding machines, which means they must all have an injection point somewhere on the piece. Usually those points are chosen in such a way as not to draw attention and often you really need to search for them to even really see them. Some colours appear to be more complicated though. The injection points on the dark green plates and tiles really stand out as a lot whiter:
Once the set is built though, you really don't notice them anymore. It's just while building that they really stood out for me.
The finished base shows a number of gaps in the floor that will be filled with decorated scene elements.
Time to clean up the extra pieces and move on to bag number 2.
By the way, here is Gunther. He is also in the set and having him in Central Perk really rounds out the cast.
The One With The Coffee Machine
Bag number 2 introduces Rachel and serves to build the left wall of the set.
Building this wall is a lot of fun. There are plenty of different and interesting building techniques, with parts built on the side, forwards and upwards. The large coffee machine is the centerpiece of the build and looks fabulous. I also love the radiator in the right corner.
The rear of the build looks interestingly messy :)
Rachel is… Rachel. Using a shield by way of a tray looks good, but minifig arms are short and her hair gets in the way. It doesn't look like the coffee cup (a great element by the way!) is going to arrive with much in it. Even so, as a presentation piece it looks nice.
This part also introduces the first printed element (more about those later)
Printed Elements
While there are a few stickers (just 4!) the set also contains a number of cool printed parts. The two main attractions for me are the Central Perk menu and the main window. As you can see, I couldn't find one of the heads. It turned out to be in the bin and it took some doing to shake it out :D
The One with the Back Door
The sticker sheet already gave it away: the next character to make an appearance is Joey. He, of course, comes carrying a pizza box and slice.
The rest of the bag builds the back wall, with the back door, This part is fairly simple, but still includes a fun techniques to keep the door anchored to the rest of the wall.
The top part of the bar bar will be used in the next step to hang the curtain (spoilers :-) )
There is also a couch along the back wall and standing chandelier with candle flames. The poster is a tribute to Phoebe's famous "Smelly Cat" song.
The One With The Counter
Time to hang the curtain in front of the back door
And then on to another two iconic elements in the set: the counter and the high table and stools right in front of it. The table and stools are placed on a rug that is brick built. This not only provides a nice mosaic for the rug design (and places it slightly higher than the floor!), but also includes studs that face up to anchor the different elements on top of it or place minifigs.
The rug slides nicely into place and can also be lifted out again to serve a a separate set piece.
The counter has a nice angled shape and together with the printed "Service" sign it really completes the rear part of the set.
The One With The Musical Corner
We now move the the left side of the build and add the front doors and front window. The placement of that window is a matter of choice: do you want to see the print from the back, the way you would if you were inside the café looking outside, or do you prefer to see to see the logo of this iconic café facing inward. The instruction booklet provides instructions on how to easily change it around :)
Again there are a few interesting techniques in this part of the build. One is related to the way the main window is included. The windows frame needs to be rotated 90 degrees to fit the build, so this section is built sideways and then clicks into place.
The rug that goes in front of this window is built in a similar fashion to the one in front of the counter and also clicks into place.
Then it is time to add some furniture and set the stage for tonight's artists.
This part of the build features Phoebe Buffay and her guitar. It also includes a guest appearance of Ross and his keyboard. You build the keyboard at the start of this building stage but it doesn't get a (official) place in the scene.
It's curious to see in this case the keyboard is a printed 1x4 tile. A new element.
The One With The Furniture
The final bag serves to build the rug that holds the main part of the set: the sofa chairs where many of the conversations in the TV series take place. The rug uses the same technique as the other two and has a large number of studs and even two half pins facing upwards.
After that it's time t start building furniture. An orange sofa, an armchair and two chairs. The large coffee table is once again brick built, in much the same way as the rug, with studs to securely place a mug, newspaper and other elements.
And then you can add the final character in the series: Monica, the queen of muffins.
The set represents a recording studio and so on either side of the front of the set there are posts with studio lights
Finally there are some cool details, like two umbrellas (pink and black) that are placed in the umbrella stand next to the door:
The Characters
You have already seen all of the characters in the different build stages, but for those who want a closer look, here they are all together one by one:
Conclusions
It has been a long time since I last saw Friends on TV, but this set brought back many fond memories. The set is a very entertaining build, with lots of fun techniques and details. Each stage brings in a new character (or two) and there are plenty of accessories to make the set come alive. There are coffee cups in addition to the mugs, a guitar and microphone stand, umbrellas, a pizza box, a newspaper... the list goes on.
The finished set is also quite sturdy and easy to transport. The height of the studio lamps is just too high to make it fit in its own box, but without those posts the wall height fits snugly inside.
I feel this set accomplishes a double goal: I had fun building it and setting the stage for a couple of scenes and now I really want to see a bunch of episodes of the TV series again.
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