I wasn’t expecting to find this set for quite some time. This set from Lego’s Disney Princess line was due to be released in January 2015, but it seems they decided to rush it for the Christmas shopping season, at least in Europe. It was available on its own, without any of the other Disney Princess sets, in a huge custom display. Apparently Lego understands how critical the Frozen license is this year. With the movie barely a year old, Elsa and Anna were crowned official Disney Princesses already and then made into a set that is sure to top shopping lists wherever it’s available.

So, what do we get? There’s a total of 291 pieces plus spares, building a small ice castle with three floors as well as some peripheral stuff. While some would have wanted a Ultimate Collector’s Series type expansive castle made entirely from transparent blue, that’s clearly not an option for a consumer (and kid) friendly price. The build is fairly straight-forward which should suit young builders.

Since this is obviously a playset, we get a bunch of random things to play around with. The sled is a much smaller type than the one used by Kristoff, but it does fit two characters. There’s a small icy hill to ride it down, if you enjoy mildly exhilarating rides, as well as picnic blanket which obviously references the ”In Summer” scene. The castle is well detailed with an overall white and transparent blue theme, as if snow had fallen on the original ice creation. As well as adding detail, this was necessary as transparent parts tend to stick together, which would have made the castle were brittle and hard to play with. On the bottom floor there’s a sink and some ice cream, along with spare skis (there are spare skates too but unfortunately they’re not made from ice). The middle floor has a bed with a neat stickered cover as well as a stand for the crown – Lego Elsa certainly doesn’t throw hers away. And then there’s a tiny reading room up top with a letter and a book. Reflective stickers are used throughout to add detail. I can also mention the sparkly dust used on the ice walls to make it even prettier. Without those, you could confuse this for the Chima set, Sir Fangar’s Ice Fortress, and that would be horrible, now wouldn’t it?

Apart from the ice walls, there’s a few interesting pieces used. I hadn’t seen these new angled walls before. There’s also some really classic macaroni pieces used – those were among my first Lego from 1974, so they’re pretty classic. There’s a liberal amount of transparent wall sections and tiles, along with the spiral staircase in mint green. The carrot stems come in brown just like in the Minecraft sets and there’s some brown chocolate ice cream swirls. A decent parts pack, I guess, but it’s also interesting to note that the 2014 Chima sets mix well with this, as well as the Winter Village sets, if you want to expand either one.

But as with all licensed sets, you get them mainly for the figures, as did I. Elsa’s Sparkling Ice Castle comes with two actual minidolls, as well as a special figure: Elsa, Anna and Olaf. Elsa and Anna are standard Friends minidolls, but they are highly detailed and somewhat unique. While they, sadly, use the same old boring Friends faces, they have fantastic detail on their dresses. They also both have unique hairpieces including Elsa’s physics-defying braid. As Friends-style figures they have holes to place ribbons and stuff on their heads as well. It’s also interesting to note that they come with new cloaks designed specifically for minidolls, with smaller neck holes. Elsa’s is sparkly using the same technique as the recent Vitruvius and Galadriel cloaks. Moving on to Olaf, he’s a fairly simple build, reminding me of the sidekick robots who used to come with Classic Space sets. His head is molded specifically for this figure but doesn’t really capture his looks, mostly because of the lack of hair. Since the Lego carrot is so big, they chose to use an orange unicorn horn for his nose instead. Either way, he’s a side figure but it’s nice to get him.

While the set takes a few Friends/playset related liberties with the design, it’s still recognizable as Elsa’s castle. The figures are great, if not perfect (I would have liked a more solemn look for Elsa, but again, that doesn’t exactly fit with the carefree Friends design). At a medium range pricepoint, it should be accessible to most fans, which is, incidentally, pretty much everyone on the planet. In fact, if Frozen mania doesn’t stop, I could see Lego turning this into a series of its own. It happened with Minecraft, didn’t it?