Winter Elves Scene (40564) Review

A very, very, early happy holidays to everyone. This weekend is the the return of the Double Points VIP Weekend in-store and online. Prior to the American Black Friday weekend, we’re treated to a special weekend of extra points, sales and usually a Christmas themed gift-with-purchase. And this year is no exception with the adorable Winter Elves Scene (40564). It’s another simple vignette, one that will look right at home with your other holiday builds. At this point, The LEGO®️ Group has created quite the collection for you to display during Christmas. Let’s take a look at this latest GWP.

NOTE: This set was provided by The LEGO® Group to True North Bricks for review. This does not guarantee a favourable review and all opinions are my own. For a breakdown of the rating system, please click here.

SET SUMMARY

• NAME: Winter Elves Scene
• SET #: 40564
• THEME: Seasonal
• COST: Free with Purchases over $220 CAN ($24.99 value)
• BRICK COUNT: 372
• COST-PER-BRICK: $0.07
• MINIFIGURES: 2
• BRICKS-PER-FIG: 186
• RELEASE DATE: Available starting November 17, while supplies last

QUICK REVIEW

• VALUE: 95% (perfect cost-per-brick value at the retail value $24.99)
• BUILD: 80% (fun details and elements for a small set, smart backgrounds)
• MINIFIGURES: 69% (reused figs with minimal details, no accessories)
• ENTERTAINMENT: 78% (nice set to add to your holiday collection)
• OVERALL SCORE: 81% (good little set with nice details for a GWP)

VALUE: 95%

The Winter Elves Scene (40564) is a gift-with-purchase that can be yours with any purchase of $220 CAD or more. If you look on the website, it has a listed value of $24.99 CAD. Often enough you can buy the GWP separately, but if not, It’s yours starting this weekend (November 17th). Taking that retail value, we get a cost-per-brick of $0.07 – which is pretty amazing, a 100% score amazing. Being a small set, you won’t be surprised to hear that I built it in under an hour (42 minutes). This translates to a cost-per-minute value of $0.67 for a score of 89%. Taking both together this cute little build nets a value score of 95%.

BUILD: 80%

Those adorable Elves come in a small box with the usual holiday packaging. I’ve always liked that ‘Limited Edition’ seal in the top corner, it’s pretty iconic at this point. Inside the box are 4 numbered bags and an 83 page instruction booklet. The end result is simple but charming scene of a couple of Elf friends enjoying some traditional winter fun. In this case, ice skating and snowball fights. Or, at the least, the impending ‘danger’ of a snowball fight.

Construction wise, this is a fairly straightforward build. The layering of snow, ice and water is nicely done. You build up a few studs worth of layers to get a bit of height. This also helps create a turntable element where one of our elves can spin around and look like he’s skating. It’s the only interactive element and it reminds me of the Ice Skating Rink (40416), the seasonal GWP from 2020.

A nice background

I think the nicest element in this set is actually the background. The combination of trees and flat, 2D ‘mountains’ are quite clever and effective. It’s nothing groundbreaking, just some nice colour work, a bit of texture and smart perspective. You’ll of course find the typical tree construction of angled plates and cheese slopes. While these foreground trees are lighter green, the background ones are done in a flat relief and in dark green. It’s a smart and simple way to show a bit of depth.

Like any GWP, it’s a small offering and not a ton of bang for your buck. It does have a decent piece count though. Granted, most of those pieces are smaller elements, ideal for this small scale. So while there’s not a lot to really build, I think the designers did a great job incorporating some fun techniques and variety. In the end I’m giving this simple build an 80% score.

MINIFIGURES: 69%

LEGO®️, elves and Christmas are staples of the brick holidays. Just take a look at a set like the Elf Clubhouse (10275) from last year’s Winter Village line. Even last year’s GWP, Santa’s Backyard (40484) had an elf for good measure. So once again, let there be elf minifigures. In this set, you get two of ’em. Each one is a pretty standard design, reused from prior releases. Each one has front and back torso prints, one expression and a one-piece hat/ear mold. The short legs, while logical, really limit movement. They’re also plain.

With two minifigures and 372 pieces, this set gets boasts 186 bricks-per-fig. That’s a moderate score of 77%. While one elf gets a nice pair of ice skates, I’m not counting the 1×1 white ‘snowball’ stud as an accessory. OH! There’s also a squirrel. It’s an adorable animal mold and it’s honestly kind of awesome. The minifigs themselves get a score of 62%. Combined with the brick-to-fig score, I’m giving these elflings a final minifig score of 69%.

ENTERTAINMENT: 78%

The Winter Elves Scene (40564) is fun. It won’t occupy your afternoon, but it’s a cute set. Kids will enjoy the cartoonish minifigs and the simple interactive skating play feature. Like all the GWPs, this will make a lovely gift. If you’re doing some shopping anyways, it’ll be a nice treat for yourself or another brick fan. There’s no stickers or fussy parts to contend with either. If you have prior holiday GWPs like The 2016 Snowglobe (40223) or 2019 Christmas Tree (40338), then this will fit right in. A nice LEGO®️ Christmas Village is a lovely tradition that you can add to each year. This is an improvement over last year’s GWP and I’m scoring it a 78%.

OVERALL: 81%

If you’re doing some brick shopping this VIP weekend, you’ll enjoy getting the Winter Elves Scene (40564). If you’re already spending $220 CAD that is. And these days, that’s definitely easier to do. If you’re not really that close to the threshold though, I wouldn’t go out of your way to snare this. It’s good, but not great. Many prior holiday sets make a stronger impact, with the same or even less pieces. Pairing this with set #40565 will make a nice cohesive display though. I’m giving this set an overall score of 81%

Happy Double Points Weekend everyone! I hope you have a nice start to your holiday and shopping season. Do you have any sets on your list for yourself or as gifts? Are you a big collector of the seasonal GWPs? How many elf and Santa figs do you own by now? Comment below and let us know. Thanks for reading and until next time, keep on brickin’. 🧱

-Frank

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