I do not generally collect LEGO Friends sets. This is actually the first one that I have ever built. I bought another one a couple of years ago, but I never actually put it together. I bought it because it was on liquidation when Target went out of business in Canada. It had lots of windows, which I needed for a custom project. This one caught my eye a while back because I want more food trucks in my LEGO city, and I love hot dogs. It also recently went on liquidation at Walmart. As I write this, it is 25% off, which is a pretty good sale. So, let’s see how it measures up.

Set Summary
Name: Amusement Park Hot Dog Van
Set #: 41129
Theme: Friends
Cost: $39.99 CDN
Brick Count: 243
Minifigures: 2 (they are actually mini-dolls)
Of Interest: You get a hot dog suit!
Release Date: August 1, 2016
Summary Review: 72%
VALUE: 70% (At full price, you are paying slightly more than average per brick.)
BUILD: 50% (I like the idea of this set, but the execution is lacking.)
MINIFIGURES: 83% (Well designed dolls, and very good brick-to-fig ratio.)
ENTERTAINMENT: 85% (Good build time for the price, but needs modifications.)

Review
VALUE: 70%
With 243 bricks, and a price tag of $39.99, this set clocks in at $0.16 per brick. This is two cents more expensive than the average cost of a brick for the Friends theme, based on the January 2017 LEGO catalogue (click here to read my analysis). It is also three cents above the average cost of a brick across all themes in the catalogue. This would normally earn the set a value score of 70%. As I am writing this, the set in on liquidation at Walmart for 25% off. I paid $30.00 for it, which brings the cost per brick down to $0.12. That brings the score up to 90%.
Overall, I like the look of the Hot Dog Van. I also like the design for the stools. I suppose you don’t see this build much in regular LEGO sets because the seat tops are flat and cannot accommodate a real Minifigure. But, I think they look neat all the same. The roof of the van is also built to come off easily to access the interior, which is sadly a little sparse and only contains a grill, cash register, and steering wheel.
MINIFIGURES: 83%
While technically not “Minifigures”, you do get two mini-dolls with this set. The Friends characters all come with names, so in this kit you have Stephanie and Nate. Starting with Nate, I was interested to note that his hairpiece is a regular LEGO Minifigure hairpiece. Despite the strange head shapes of the mini-dolls, it would appear as if they are still compatible with regular LEGO head accessories, which I did not know before. Nate has a striped shirt on, but the stripes do not extend to the back of the torso. He is wearing what appear to be cargo style capris as well. His greatest feature is that he comes with the hot dog suit from Minifigures series 13, even though it does not fit him well. I don’t really like the design of mini-dolls in general, but putting that aside, I would give Nate 7/10.
This set took me 65 minutes to build going at a leisurely pace. At full price, that would mean about $0.62 per minute of build time, which is already pretty good (90%). However, since I got this set on liquidation, each minute actually cost me $0.46, which is amazing (100%).

Overall: 72%
Generally, the look of this set is really nice. It has an ok value at full price. But, as I mentioned before, it is on liquidation in Walmart stores in Canada for 25% off as I write this. That makes the value great. I found the actual design to be a little weak, and I will modify mine structurally and aesthetically before adding it to my city. I don’t like mini-dolls, but for those who do, these ones seem well designed. I do like that their hair pieces can be used on regular Minifigures too. Overall, buying this set at full price, I would rate the Hot Dog Van at 72%. But, buying it on clearance gets it 78%.
Are there any Friends collectors out there? How does this set measure up to other sets from the theme? Feel free to leave your thoughts in the comments below.
Until next time,
-T.N.B.
I’ve always been partial to those little hot dog accessories… AND it’s a hot-dog shaped truck… AND it comes with a hotdog costume? This might be my favourite set I’ve seen all year! 😛 This would mix awesome with some Scooby-Doo minifigs…
I know what you mean. You can’t believe how excited I was when LEGO produced that hot dog bun piece.
My daughter has a few Friends sets. Some are well thought out and others seem like a gimmick. She plays more with regular legos however.
I’ve looked at the packages of many sets and thought they looked gimmicky too… But, they do come with a lot of windows which are great for custom projects…
Now I would like a Hotdog. I don’t really like the Lego Dolls either… just seems wrong to me
I always keep stuff in the freezer for emergency hot dog cravings.