Once Upon A Brick There Was A LEGO Disney Snow White & the Seven Dwarfs Cottage 43242

The tale of Snow White was first published in 1812 by the Brothers Grimm and was called Sneewittchen in their native German tongue. Fast forward to 1937 and skipping past other adaptations, we arrive at Walt Disney’s first-ever animated feature film, which was to become the highest grossing movie of 1937 and the highest grossing animated movie for 55 years.

As a tribute to the original (and with the live-action movie now expected next year) on 1st March 2024 LEGO released the Disney Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs Cottage 43242. This 2,228 piece set has tons of features and includes 10 classic minifigures - keep reading to learn more about the build.

HI HO HI HO IT’S OFF TO BUILD WE GO:

First off we shall take a look at the 10 LEGO Minifigures that reside in this set. There are of course the seven dwarfs, Doc, Grumpy, Sneezy, Happy, Dopey, Bashful and Sleepy. As expected they all have mini legs and a tool with which to aid them in their daily task of mining. Each of these figures has a dual printed face, but they are lacking noses which as those of you who have watched the original movie will know, they have quite large proboscises. LEGO has created a minifigure in the past with a protruding nose, Pinocchio from the LEGO Disney 100 CMF series, so it's not something out of their wheelhouse. That aside, the facial expressions are quite cute and representative of their names. The Snow White figure is not an exclusive as it is the same figure that came with the LEGO Disney Castle in 2023 but it’s nice to appreciate her cloth collar and printed red hairbow again. Snow White’s beloved Prince Florian also came with the aforementioned castle and that just leaves us with the Evil Queen. Unfortunately, she is also not an exclusive LEGO Minifigure as she was present with the LEGO Disney Villian Icons 43227 set that was released in September 2023.

Moving onto the smaller side builds, we have the well from the iconic opening scene where Snow White and Prince Florian first met surrounded by the adorable forest animals. In this set, we receive a couple of squirrels, a rabbit, some white birds and a bluebird to help recreate this famous scene. The well has some nice foliage adorning it and a wheel that should pull a bucket up and dow,n but there is no string provided to allow this.

Next up is the glass coffin where the dwarfs place Snow White after the Evil Queen has tried to kill her for the third time and on this occasion she is dressed as a farmer’s wife with some lovely tasty red apples. The LEGO Minifigure of the Evil Queen is complete with her basket and red, poisonous apple. The details of the glass coffin are quite superb, the inner cushions are sloped, to accommodate the curve of Snow White’s dress. There is a 1x4 printed tile with Snow White’s name on it that attaches to the side of the coffin, but it is largely covered up by the leaves and flowers around the edges which is a shame. It’s worth noting as well that one of the trees here features relatively new leaf pieces in two different colours.

That just leaves us with the main build to examine, the cottage. The most striking thing about this is the very bright yellow pieces used to recreate the thatched roof and the brown tiles to simulate a half-timbered house. With regards to the construction of the roof, it is safe to say that this was the least enjoyable part of this entire build as it was rather repetitive and the use of three pieces that look extremely similar was irksome. In a new approach from LEGO, the instruction manual used images of Dopey and Happy to suggest that separating these three pieces was a recommended way to proceed. There is one section of the roof that can be easily removed so that the bedroom can be accessed but the other sections are all firmly attached. There is a grey stone chimney to the right hand side, as well as a white trunked tree that features an adorable little birdhouse. To the left, we can find a mining station where Doc can examine the gems with his magnifying glass. The 1x1 tiles featuring an owl design are all printed and the little window shutters are also printed tiles. The front door of the cottage is brick built using a variety of brown tiles and features two new black pieces to signify the black metal hinges (and is a very effective look).

Moving on to the back of the LEGO Disney Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs Cottage, you will see that is an open-backed build, similar to LEGO Santa’s Visit 10293. By opting to do this, LEGO manage to keep the price down a little but it does mean that display options can be limited. The first thing we notice is the table and chairs set out with seven places and two baguettes and one of the place settings is missing a drinking receptacle - where can it be? The table and chairs are easy to remove, so that they can be played with outside of the build. Looking at the left hand side we can see there is a beautiful fireplace adorned with one sock, a candle and there is a pot warming over the glowing hearth. The glow is created with a light brick, not 100% necessary but a nice touch nonetheless. Peeking into the kitchen as that’s all we can do due to the limited amount of viewing space, we can see there is a kitchen sink, cupboards, utensils and a table by the window consisting of a 2x2 round printed tile that symbolises the pie that Snow White and the forest animals made for Grumpy in the 1937 movie. Glancing to the right there is a replica of a cuckoo clock that is clever in its formation as it only uses four pieces. In view, there is also Grumpy’s organ, which is quite pretty to look at as there is a myriad of gold and coloured 1x1 studs on top to make up the pipes and a fair few stickers providing details.

Looking at the upstairs section (there are no stairs or ladders for the dwarfs to traverse to bed), we can see an attic type space filled with chests and boxes that are overflowing with the spoils of the Dwarf's mining exploits. Creeping around there is also a spider and the missing sock from the fireplace can be seen! That just leaves the bedroom and of course, there are seven beds within this room. The issue with these lovingly designed beds is that each one has a sticker with the character's name at the foot of it, but due to the placement of the furniture, we are unable to view the names once the set is fully built. Another major complaint is that the beds, whilst looking great with their different cover designs are too small for the dwarf figures to lay upon. Even with the removal of the roof section, it is still virtually impossible to see the bed stickers.

IN CONCLUSION:

Aesthetically, LEGO Disney Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs Cottage is magical and would not look out of place alongside some of the LEGO Castle builds and the more recent LEGO Medieval Town Square 10332. The side builds are all relevant to the iconic imagery associated with Walt Disney’s foray into animated movies and the amazing amount of details within the cottage are outstanding. The issue is that most of the details can’t be seen and the cottage is not very playable as even with small hands it will be a struggle to manoeuvre figures let alone see what they are doing. Plus the tedium building of the roof tiles didn’t help matters. For the same amount of money, but with a higher brick count, one could purchase the LEGO Medieval Town Square which has infinitely more playability and display options. This is essentially going to just sit and look pretty on the side, so why not protect it from the inevitable layer of dust with a display case.

We give this set: 7/10

Let us know if you have built this and how you found the build and what you like and/or dislike.