Well, that was fast. The LEGO Ideas submission based on NBC sitcom Friends, featuring the iconic cafe The Central Perk Coffee that was approved in February, is now a production set. Official words were put out by LEGO earlier today. As expected, there are quite a few tweaks to the original submission my Aymeric Fievet, including the naming, which is now officially called LEGO Ideas 21319 Central Perk.
This being an official LEGO set now, it is obviously way more refined the original proposed design. Most notable design tweaks are the brick walls and the inclusion of pillars within the room and trusses with filming spotlights. The original LEGO Ideas submission of 1,719 pieces has been streamlined to 1,070 pieces.
Speaking of number of pieces, LEGO decided to go generous with minifigures on this set by including all seven originally proposed minifigures. I said ‘generous’ because, at $59.99, this isn’t a pricey set for a 1,000+ pieces set and yet, it has 7 new-for-September-2019 LEGO minifigs. Here are the official description:
• This LEGO® Ideas set includes 7 new-for-September-2019 minifigures: Ross Geller, Rachel Green, Chandler Bing, Monica Geller, Joey Tribbiani, Phoebe Buffay and Gunther.
• The CENTRAL PERK café construction toy features the iconic main seating area including a sofa, armchair, 2 chairs and a table; service area with a brick-built coffee machine, service counter, cash register, cookie jar with 2 cookie elements, menu board element and other authentic items; a stage for musical performances with a sofa; extra seats and tables; 3 pillar elements in a new-for-September-2019 green color; umbrella stand with 2 umbrella elements; window with ‘CENTRAL PERK’ logo decoration; entrance doors; and 2 brick-built TV studio light rigs with translucent light-style elements.
• The seating area for the show’s star characters is removable for easy play.
• The minifigures each have their own items inspired by the TV series, including Ross’s brick-built keyboard and the following accessory elements: Rachel’s tray and coffee cup, Monica’s muffin, Joey’s pizza box, pizza slice and ‘man bag’, Chandler’s laptop, Phoebe’s guitar and Gunther’s broom.
• Other accessory elements in this café playset include a newspaper, 15 coffee cups and a ‘Reserved’ sign, plus 3 vases and buildable flowers.
• This Friends memorabilia LEGO® building toy includes 1,079 pieces.
• This LEGO® Ideas set comes with a booklet with building instructions and information about this awesome set’s fan creator and LEGO designer.
• Build and display this Friends collectible construction toy or recreate your favorite scenes from the classic American sitcom.
• This Friends-themed gift toy measures over 4” (11cm) high, 11” (29cm) wide and 8” (22cm) deep and will make an eye-catching centerpiece in any room.
Not going to lie. I am kind of digging the LEGO Ideas 21319 Central Perk. But my feel is, it won’t become a cult collector set like some Star Wars sets and even vintage LEGO City sets. If anything, my bet is on The Upside Down set to mature into a sought after collector’s set decades later. Anywho, that’s just my two cents.
LEGO Ideas 21319 Central Perk will be available starting September 1, 2019, from shop.LEGO.com and LEGO Stores, for the aforementioned $59.99.
All images courtesy of LEGO Group.
