(Written by William)
When I first saw the pre-order for the #21368 LEGO Ideas Peanuts: Snoopy’s Doghouse, I instantly reserved my copy. For as long as I can remember, Snoopy has been a beloved icon for my family. And to finally have him in LEGO form was a dream.
When the Peanuts intellectual property was with a different building block company, I admit I did check it out. And I can easily report, even though I liked their small version of Snoopy, the building experience was rather dull and simplistic. The real question is whether or not this one could deliver. Let’s find out.
LEGO IDEAS SNOOPY: BUILDING & REBUILDING
I am familiar with several LEGO sets that can be transformed from one thing to another. How this might be done varies widely. One of the more parts-intensive options is to have various modules that you can swap in and out to achieve different effects. Most, though, rely on rebuilding a model. This will include just enough parts and the instructions to accomplish this. This latter option is usually the standard, so imagine my surprise when, in the case of Snopy, LEGO designers chose the former.
Not only do we get the parts for reworking Snoopy, but we also get all the parts to completely change the scene. Fortunately, the doghouse is large enough to hide the parts you aren’t actively using. The downside is that every option is just for display purposes. It would not be good for any kind of play.
So, then that leaves the question. If you don’t mean for the model to be actively played with, why did LEGO designers go with a modular approach? This type of approach is usually used to make play quicker and easier.
I think the reason comes down to the fans LEGO is hoping to attract. They figure that for many, this might be the first LEGO set as an adult. For this reason, they don’t want to overwhelm a novice builder with in-depth rebuilding instructions. So, having legs that can unclip, swap a stomach, and now you have a Snoopy that goes from standing to sitting was a choice made for these fans. Or if you want to have Snoopy lie down, detach the head, add an inverted slope module, and reattach the neck to a different part of Snoopy’s head, and you’re done.
As for the scenery, it also changes. Lift the doghouse and open up a three-panel night sky scene. Place the campfire and grab the marshmallows, and you are done. This gives an ideal amount of flexibility in how you want to display the model with very little work.
LEGO IDEAS SNOOPY: AN ARTISTIC STYLE
One thing that struck me as I was building this set was how much the model retained the art style of Peanuts. For the most part, the comics were simple drawings with the four colors found in newspapers. And all of that is found in this model.
LEGO designers went out of their way to keep the color palette both bright and extremely uniform. You won’t find crazy gradients or highlighting in this model. And shapes are also recreated in the simple style.
The art really shows through in the doghouse. They managed to create oversized tiled surfaces to recreate the basic boards that make up the little house. Even the vegetation gives the impression of simple, sketched-in, stylized portrayals of greenery. Throw in the iconic curved bodies of Snoopy and Woodstock, and you get a model that does justice to the memory of the comics.
LEGO IDEAS SNOOPY: A PINT OF FRAGILITY
As much as I love this model, I did have one major frustration. The doghouse is not the most stable of builds. The weak point is the walls of the house.
The instability starts with the front and back walls. These are connected at the top with a large element that ends up holding the roof. However, since the house is made to be pulled off and as a hidden scene, there are no real foundation elements at the base of these walls.
Normally, this would be fixed by the addition of the side walls. Unfortunately, due to the need for creating artistic walls, the end result is wall panels that have extremely weak points in their centers. The exact point you might want to press on to attach said walls to the rest of the frame. Add in the thinner elements of the front wall with the opening into the house acting as fragile legs, and you will need to prepare yourself for some parts flying off when you are trying to build it.
What you end up with, once everything is put together, is a decent dog house. But it functions best if you know exactly where to touch and grab the model. This means the builder is probably the best one to handle the model, making it a dicey proposition for letting others check out the end result.
LEGO IDEAS SNOOPY: FINAL THOUGHTS
I can easily imagine that many will be put off by the $89.99 for this model. That is probably why LEGO tried to give builders a multitude of options for display purposes. This could be a Snoopy camping scene, or a Snoopy typing scene, or a Snoopy sleeping scene, or just a Snoopy outside his doghouse scene. For an art piece, it almost feels like there are too many options.
This is further felt with all the extra parts you have to find a place for when they are not needed. Thankfully, the night sky is hidden in the doghouse when not in use, but the other elements can really add up. There’s a campfire, a typewriter, a slope for Snoopy’s head, and an extra pair of legs, which can be crammed into the house to hide them away. But if you do, then you might not want to position the model to let people see all the stuff inside.
With that said, builders might like this model as a parts pack. The colors remain fairly basic and numerous, which is great for larger creations. Fans will also like the fact that every decorated part is printed and not a sticker. So, you really do feel like you are getting a high-end model with this one. In the video below, I discuss the set in more detail.
At the end of the day, this is more of a set for Snoopy fans and less of a set for LEGO fans. A LEGO fan will have seen more interesting builds compared to this one, so they might not feel challenged enough. Additionally, they will probably view the price as being a bit high, considering the model does use a good deal of larger elements, which does raise the cost when measuring based on per piece. Meanwhile, Snoopy fans will be used to the premium they pay for a good Snoopy collectible, and this definitely is a good collectible. If you want to check it out, it’s available at the LEGO Ideas section of the Online LEGO Shop.
What do you think? How do you like the LEGO Ideas Snoopy’s Doghouse set? Feel free to share your thoughts and own reviews in the comment section below!
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It’s a very cute set, but they really should have included minifigs.