One of the most interesting LEGO themes that was released this year is LEGO Elves. We have talked about the LEGO Elves sets extensively (see links at the end of this post), so you probably know already that LEGO Elves is based on the story of a human girl (Emily Jones) being transported to the land of the Elves via an amulet she inherited from her grandmother. She makes friends with four Elves who try to help her get back home. While we got several teaser-videos previously to introduce us to the story, now the full 1st episode of LEGO Elves is available. This episode is titled LEGO Elves – Episode 1: Unite the Magic, and you can watch it in full below. 🙂
In LEGO Elves – Episode 1: Unite the Magic, you will be introduced to Emily Jones, and follow her on her trip to the land of the Elves. While there, she will meet the four elves we were introduced previously through the teaser-trailers: Naida, the Water Elf, Farran the Earth Elf, Azari the Fire Elf, and Aira the Wind Elf. The five of them together start on an adventure to try to get Emily back home. The full episode below is 24 minutes long, so grab your popcorn and enjoy the show!
There are a couple of very interesting things about this LEGO Elves episode. First of all, notice that it is titled Episode 1, but it includes the entire story that the currently and summer LEGO Elves sets feature. Does this mean that LEGO Elves will continue with further adventures? And more LEGO sets? I would think so! This is really excellent news because so far LEGO Elves have been received very enthusiastically, with every review I have read or seen raving about the sets. The LEGO Elves sets have everything; beautiful designs, lots of interesting new parts, cute characters, and a non-violent fantasy adventure that can appeal to both children and adults. You can find all the currently available LEGO Elves sets at the Online LEGO Shop.
The other interesting feature of the LEGO Elves episode is that it is done in a very different style than the LEGO Ninjago and LEGO Legends of Chima TV shows – both of which look very LEGO-ish, with characters that are obviously LEGO minifigures. The vehicles, animals and other creatures also appear to be built of LEGO, while the background usually have a simple cartoonish style that fits well with the general look and feel of LEGO. In contrast, LEGO Elves went into a different direction with characters that don’t look like LEGO minifigs (or even mini-dolls) at all, nor are any of the settings resemble LEGO. It just look like a standard animated cartoon.
Some people complain about this and miss the LEGO look. While others consider it an opportunity to open up creativity and free-building. I would say that both views have a point. The fun of LEGO cartoons is seeing your LEGO minifigs animated. The films give voice and personality to your favorite LEGO minifigures – they basically come alive right in front of your eyes. Also LEGO cartoons often incorporate the unique nature of LEGO; like vehicles falling to pieces then getting reassembled into something else. LEGO Elves is the opposite. It is the film that sets up the look of the characters and the setting of the story, and the LEGO Elves sets simply mimic them – kind of like what you would see with licensed LEGO sets that are based on a film. This can inspire LEGO fans to recreate larger scenes from the film itself. LEGO Elves especially has a very nice scenery that just wants you to build colorful forests and hidden coves out of your LEGO bricks!
What do you think? How did you like the first episode of LEGO Elves? Did you like the animation, the story, the characters? Do you have any of the LEGO Elves sets already? Have you considered expanding them to build bigger scenes of magic and fantasy? Feel free to share your thoughts in the comment section below! 😉
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Wow, did someone summon the spirit of Thomas Kindade, because some of that art work looks very much like his.
Yeah, that’s what I thought too; totally Thomas Kinkade style! 😛
I really liked this episode! I was impressed with the art style, the music, the characterization, the humor, the voice acting, and the story. The pacing was a bit rushed towards the very beginning but I felt like once all the characters were introduced it found its groove. There were also some surprisingly heavy themes introduced right from the very beginning,
There were some things that bothered me, though, namely that some of the locations felt less integrated and more mundane than they did in the actual sets. For example, the Crystal Hollow in the set shows a crystal formation and a tree growing out of one another, a very powerful image. However, in the episode, the setting is shown as a large hill with a small tree growing on top and a crystal formation growing underneath. Likewise, in the Magical Bakery set, the bakery is placed directly adjacent to a lava floe, with the oven right underneath it and powered by the radiant heat of the lava. But in the episode, the bakery is separated from the lava floe, and uses an ordinary oven, making their closeness seem almost coincidental. Even the spa feels a little bit more ordinary than in the set, with the map’s secret compartment simply behind a wall rather than behind a waterfall.
Overall, though, I am very excited for future episodes!
Aanchir, that’s a really good observation about the locations. I also think that the sets appear more megicla and enchanting, but they look good in the film too – just different. I also felt that the story was a bit rushed. I think they could have done the whole thing in 2 episodes, or even three.
huh very interesting..
That was pretty good. Lego has certainly done some short storylines in support of a year’s worth of sets before, with the Hero Factory specials and the Bionicle movies, so they’re not all going to be as fully developed as Ninjago or Chima (though Ninjago’s first outing was short too compared to later on, only four episodes). Even so, the pacing did feel a little rushed at times. You could call that expediency in storytelling, or trying to cram everything in to a half hour time slot. (I wonder if they can talk on of the kid-targeted cable networks into airing this or if they are going to have to settle for the web release.) It does what it set out to do though, and you can’t ask much more than that. Too bad nearly the whole thing was spoiled by the trailers and the smartphone/tablet game.
I still love that they went with a traditional animation style, mimicking the feel of a licensed property rather than toy-accurate CG. It suits the style of this much better. (It turns out that Lego’s Youtube account DOES have a short CG-based video for each set too.) Although yes, the distillation of the locations into the sets was varied and slightly disappointing at times. The crystal hollow is forgivable since that was designed as a smaller, cheaper set. The map’s hiding place seemed anticlimactic compared to the spa toy, though. The lava powered bakery practically sold me on the entire series, changing that was a shame.
Three voice actors for the entire thing. I haven’t seen such a small voice cast for so many characters since GI Joe Resolute. More proof that Lego went small with this to test the waters. “Episode 2 coming soon” it claims. Hard to know what “soon” means. They can’t possibly do anything based on next year’s sets until they are close to release, and it would be remarkable if they did more animation without any direct links to toy sets or a clear commitment from a TV network.
Ray, thanks for sharing your thoughts. You bring up lots of good points. If the theme is successful (and by all feedback I have seen so far it is), LEGO could release a third wave of sets and second episode in the fall/winter. Also, I have heard that the first episode did air on Cartoon Network back in March, although I haven’t seen it personally, thus can’t verify. Somewhat related, I have also heard rumors that a fantasy based LEGO Castle theme will be released later this year or maybe next year, but this is just a rumor so take it with a grain of salt.