LEGO Elves Aira & the Song of the Wind Dragon 41193

When I was younger I played with Lego a lot. One of my favourite themes back then in the late noughties was the Castle series. I remember specifically I loved the Skeleton Tower as it included a princess mini figure, who I'm pretty sure was the ONLY female available in the first year of the theme. 11 years later, and how far we have come! Lego's flagship fantasy theme is primarily female populated as well as female oriented. Though I do have to say that anyone who is skipping out on the Elves line simply because of the minidoll or pretty bright colours is making an extremely silly (patriarchally misguided) mistake. I wish everyone would just embrace the feminine fun of the minidoll lines as they include some of the BEST lego set designs of recent years. I say this because when building Aira and the Song of the Wind Dragon in particular (after a long Lego hiatus of around 8 years) I was blown away! First of all these minidolls are beautifully made, and the character designs are high fantasy at its best. From what I've read online Lego gives the Elves characters a new outfit every year and this time around Aira dons some great armour, ready for a showdown with Noctura later on! Cyclo the Wind Dragon is another phenomenally designed creature. I loved the use of the smaller ball and sockets to allow for him to be a good scale to the minidolls, but also because it means he is extremely posable: tail and all! Now, onto the Music School which makes up the bulk of the set. While the majority of the build uses more neutral colours such as white and tan, the small highlights of baby blue really pull the aesthetic together and the use of lime green also gives it a great pop. This makes it very pleasing on the eye and a wonderful display piece (which is how I plan on using it.) This set isn't just pretty though, it's full of play value too! The school comes stocked with 3 different musical instruments, as well as a hidden treasure chest and a constructible bow for Aira (the latter two features can easily tie together and form a narrative.) Combine those small details with the more obvious inclusion of a DRAGON and Phyll the Shadow Bat's disc launching mini zeppelin, and both boys and girls alike will find great enjoyment. The value for money on this set is also excellent, in terms of both the price to piece ratio and in the value of the pieces you get (lots of little cool translucent stuff, with a lot left over at the end too.) Overall I'd recommend everyone to buy this. Boy or girl, young or old: it is an amazing set! After I finished building this I logged straight back online and ordered all of the other 2018 Elves sets, and I am incredibly excited for them to arrive. The team designing and working on this theme are amazing and deserve all the recognition in the world, this is truly some of the best toy design I've ever seen! (I've recommended all the sets which feature the Elemental Guardians as I think that's the real draw for this year's sets, however I'd recommend them all if I could!)