Recently I was contacted by Funwhole Official, and a few messages later, a lovely little set, the Newsstand, was on its way to me to review. I have previously purchased and built a few alternative brands before; some were good, some were really bad. I was curious which category this would fall into. The images on their website looked really good, but that didn’t prove much. I decided not to have high expectations.
This set was gifted to me, but that doesn’t guarantee a positive review. Let’s see, then, how good (or bad) the Funwhole Newsstand is.
Funwhole Newsstand
It’s a small set, containing 556 pieces. It’s probably one of the smallest building sets from Funwhole. The ones that have less pieces are generally car models.
A very professionally-designed box, several numbered bags like we’re used to. There are two different bags which contain the lighting parts. The best part of the Funwhole brand is the lighting kits in all their sets, no matter how small. This makes them great for displaying. There’s also a instructions booklet, which is, again, very well-designed.
There were a few steps that were especially hard for me. I spent a good amount of time trying to connect the parts. While there were only a few, I wouldn’t prefer to spend so much energy on that.
As for the lighting kit… you start to build them from bag one. Right, but how do we control if it works? There’s nothing on the box that indicates whether the batteries are included or not, or even what kind of batteries are needed. When I came across the “Batteries not included“ text in the instruction booklet, I was halfway through the model and by then I had figured it out. It would’ve been better to have this on the box, along with what type of batteries are needed. At least there is an option of supplying power through a USB cable, so that’s a plus.
As a whole, the Funwhole Newsstand set is a great set. I looked at a few LEGO City and Friends sets that have a similar piece count. The price is much cheaper compared to them, and since it’s designed directly for adults, it’s full of cool details. The clutch power of the parts and their stability is really good. If LEGO gets a 100, Funwhole gets at least an 85. Some parts connect hard, some come out easily, but in general it’s one of the best alternative brands I’ve ever built.
Minifigures
If you’re one of those people who dislike anything except the classic minifigure (even mini-dolls), you won’t like them. Personally, I fell in love with them even before I received the set, because they have the one feature LEGO minifigures don’t: They’re chubby! I think they create great variety when you put them next to minifigures and mini-dolls.
The torso and leg pieces are different, but the head and hair pieces are fully compatible with LEGO minifigures. This provides a chance of customization. There are a few downsides, though. They can’t sit on a studded surface, like mini-dolls. It’s hard to make them sit on a smooth surface, too, at least without any supports. The arms and legs move, but it’s hard to pose them walking. When I put the three of them next to each other, I realized, once again, that the LEGO Group achieved perfection with minifigures.
Since their arms and hands aren’t like what we’re used to, it’s hard for them to drive vehicles designed for minifigures and mini-dolls. There’s a bicycle and scooter that comes with the Funwhole Newsstand. Even though the minifigure’s (Mr. Albert) purpose isn’t riding them, he’d have difficulty doing so if he wanted to. I put a regular minifigure on the bicycle and a mini-doll on the scooter instead. Also, because of the angle of the arm, sometimes it looks weird when they’re holding an accessory. I mean, I wouldn’t let him hold the telephone at all, but the coffee cup looks acceptable.
It took me a really long time to get used to mini-dolls (10 years!). However, during this time, not only I came to accept and like them, but also developed a different point of view. Yes, LEGO figures have more and more diversity every day. Still, when you look at the body types, there are only two, minifigures and mini-dolls. Funwhole minifigures bring a new body type to the family – and yes, they deserve to be part of the family. We’re used to LEGO, they have been doing this for a looooong time, so it’s not easy to fill their shoes. In my opinion, there’s no need to. If we’re looking for diversity and inclusivity, I think Funwhole figures can be part of our cities as well.
Parts and Compatibility
Most of the pieces that come with the Funwhole Newsstand are what we know from our previous encounters with LEGO sets. There were a few new ones that caught my attention, but I’m no expert on parts so I can’t say 100% that they are new. But whether they’re new or not, they are all compatible with LEGO and similar building blocks. That makes it easy to integrate them into your city, if you have one, and make modifications on the model if you want to.
Everything that can be found in a newsstand is printed; newspapers, magazines, maps, postcards etc. Is the print quality same as LEGO parts? No, it’s not. But if you have purchased custom printed parts or minifigures before, you’ll know they aren’t the same quality either. The print quality of Funwhole is the same as any high-quality custom printed part.
Lighting
Like I mentioned before, all Funwhole sets come with lighting kits. This was my first time integrating a lighting kit, so it was a bit hard to place the tiny cables. It would probably be much easier with a pair of tweezers.
When the model is all built, there are three small cables that are left out, which are located in the back of the set, so it’s not visually disturbing. There’s a hidden compartment for the lighting switch, covered by the roof. You can easily take the roof off to turn on or off the lights. I’m very fond of the picture I took in the dark. If I didn’t know it was a newsstand, I would’ve used it as a haunted house during Halloween :)
Even if you don’t have the batteries, or don’t want to use them , there’s also the option of powering up using a USB connection.
Thoughts?
If you count my time with DUPLO, too, I’ve been in the LEGO world for almost 40 years. I opened my eyes with the best of the best, and developed an unneeded perfectionism throughout the years, so it’s really hard for me to like something. Like I said, it took me 10 years to get used to mini-dolls. Even with these, Funwhole Newsstand got flying colors from me. Yes, it was hard to connect some of the parts. Yes, the minifigure isn’t what we’re used to. Yes, some things look like they’re copied. That’s not the point. There have been other companies who attempted to copy, and failed epicly – there still are. The point is to create something similar to the best, with a similar quality as the best. Funwhole achieves that.
There’s a quote by T.S. Eliot: “Immature poets imitate; mature poets steal; bad poets deface what they take, and good poets make it into something better, or at least something different.”
My advice to you is to give Funwhole a chance, I doubt you’ll regret it. Not ony they managed to break down all my prejudiced thoughts, they made such a high quality product I decided to publish it on my blog.
I’d like to thank Funwhole Official for sending me the Newsstand set. I really look forward to working with them again.
See you in the next one!
Some girls play with Barbie dolls, while others create small worlds with LEGO minifigures and continue to do so when they grow up. You can probably guess which group I belong to :)
