It wasn't what I expected - In-depth review of the Lakeside Lodge by FunWhole

[@HighTeaToys]

Don’t forget you can get 10% off with my discount code: Highteatoys10 Funwhole Store: www.funwhole.com/?ref=L9QsWHWf

[@hazbinhotel5488]

Hey there Dream Bee. I have an idea for a brief video...if you choose to accept it...because...it will be great...and people will like it...I know I certainly will...and that matters a whole lot...to me!...selfish olde me! Anyway my idea is a side by side color comparison of these bricks next to Lego. (just hold up Lego bricks to the build so you dont have to disassemble) To me it looks like the tan wall panel bricks are more muted in color than the Lego bricks which for me makes them much more useful. I am also curious about any discoloration between these colored pieces themselves, is there any? Or is this company in that regard doing better than Lego. I guess I kinda have a lot to say...if only you got credit for the length of comments and not just the number on them...I guess that just goes to show you that meritocracy is more of just an idea than something that is practiced. But hey, as My Chemical Romance used to say: we'll carry on"!!!!

[@micabryant4513]

This company is built on IP theft, competition is healthy but this is plagiarism basically!

[@CardmakerNr1]

Excellent review, love how you point out the good and difficult sides of the build. I agree, the interiors look fantastic. The end 👌🏼😂

[@syedalihasan8923]

amazing review Johanna! i hope you and Ben had a nice Christmas! ♥

[@HighTeaToys]

It was lovely thank you. Hope yours was too.

[@syedalihasan8923]

@@HighTeaToys thank you! 😊

[@hobbyjournal]

Very comprehensive review. Thanks for your time and effort putting it together.

[@HighTeaToys]

Thank you so much :) I am glad it was appriciated

[@jasonh8470]

Fantastic review. I’ve been waiting for this video before I made the purchase. Can’t wait to get mine. Keep up with the great vlogs.

[@HighTeaToys]

Thank you so much! Glad you found it useful 😊

[@BrittnyShrub]

Great review. Very well balanced. The interior is the selling point for sure. So cozy!

[@Silverx50]

great review, this was a video I was really looking forward to. thanks for the honest opinions. and love how your experience changed during the build of this.

[@Etienne.6329]

That's a genuinely excellent and thorough review. Congratulations

[@Dreamer5211]

Thank you ! This was an excellent review . I truly enjoyed this detailed look at this cabin . I hope you and your family have an amazing New Year , looking forward to more great content. Take care , Dreamer 

[@juleslorraine9885]

Congratulations that was a very well balanced review. Your thorough review prepares prospective buyers for the challenges they may face but also the rewards of the build. Great job again, that is why we follow you!

[@brick_askew]

Fantastic review. Comprehensive, informative and really helpful. And thank you for your last point of the video 😂

[@HighTeaToys]

*bows graciously* 🤣

[@natemr4482]

Great review Johanna nice set have a great rest of your week happy New year ❤️

[@addictedtobricks1590]

Awesome in depth review once again!! You always breakdown your thoughts so well!! Totally agree with the bad choice of brand name…love that you ended the video with that 😂! Hope you had a fab Christmas, can’t wait to see what you do in 2023 🎉

[@broncsddt]

Thanks for the review! If only this was LEGO quality, but appreciate your thoughts and insights on it!!

[@SO-ym3zs]

Their newer sets are, if anything, better than Lego. It's amazing how good they've gotten. And still way cheaper than Lego.

[@vintagegaminggirl]

Thank you so much for your honest review. I wondered about this set and company because I've also had my eye on it. Unfortunately, this set is currently sold out on the Amazon US but the FUNWHOLE Wood-Cabin Building Set is available with a 14% discount ($98.99 USD) and it looks amazing too so for now I've decided to purchase this one. I can't wait to put it together. Wishing you a very happy New Year and good health to all! 🥰

[@donald2818]

Wow lovely interiors. Wow. I noticed some of the fitment challenges where the second floor meets the first floor. Great review though and love the set overall.

[@nsbd90now]

I really appreciate hearing a review of a Lego competitor as I am seriously considering trying some of them because I like the designs. And of course, they are way less expensive and so many come with lights, it seems. Also, your talking about light kits, and I've watched your others on those. Thanks!

[@ronniek4478]

Thanks for posting an honest and thorough detail review of this set. Yes, if Lego would come out with more non IP sets like this (even without the lights) it would be exciting. But they don't so when I saw this it was intriguing. And since this company appears to only produce their own originally designed sets it opens the door for me to purchase one. I'm tempted to get this now. Would look great paired with the Lego Treehouse! (I think you could even connect the two streams together.) Happy New Year!

[@HighTeaToys]

That is a great idea actually that would look lovely I recon.

[@ronniek4478]

@@HighTeaToys P.S. Amazon and Funwhole US are out of this set so hopefully they will get more in.

[@pg4246]

You made my day with your comment about the brand name 😅 I totally agree, it’s terrible! I had a similar experience with the woodland cabin - the first bag was soul destroying but it got better. However I found the woodland cabin roof a bit repetitive with lots of tiny tiles which were really not necessary for the overall look and made it very fiddly and not relaxing. Also the windows in the roof were just not stable and I ended up scrapping and putting in a simpler alternative. Great review. I just bought the steampunk train so we’ll see how that goes 😊

[@simonmoss101]

As always a very detailed review, you are one of the best in the business. It does look a very nice set and will be interesting to see how the upcoming Lego Ideas A-frame cabin compares.

[@oldcitybricks9153]

Excellent review! I just built the Train Station it was excellent.

[@danjal87nl]

I got back into LEGO earlier this year, having had quite an extensive collection as a kid (which sadly was gotten rid of by my dad after a basement flooding 😡). And I was actually quite surprised how much LEGO had changed their part distribution into much more bite-sized numbered steps. Even now looking at some of the more recent sets versus sets that are getting taken out of production there are huge differences. While I can definitely understand your criticism on it impacting the experience if you're expecting that newer LEGO experience. I'd say that it isn't a very big point against alternate-brand brick builds. Particularly when paired with the price-per-piece ratio, the fact that its not an inflated piececount with mostly small plates and the lighting kit (which pretty much every FunWhole set comes with). On the other hand, when you look at a bunch of reviews and videos on these sets. The lower standard of care resulting in missing pieces feels to me a bigger issue. --- I think FunWhole should add a loose thicker paper piece for the color chart with each set instead of a page in front of the booklet. (In fact, I'd say LEGO should adopt that.)

[@MrPolleyr]

Young lady….you did a most amazing job on this review. Well done, bravo! I do have a few questions. Will these bricks and pieces connect (compatible) with Lego bricks? Does the set open up, or did you take the interior pictures before you finished it? Also, I think the leftover 1x4 brownish tile, is to cap the railing at the top of the stairs going to the second floor. T have been considering this set for awhile, I think you have convinced me. The maker should hire you, you would be an asset to any company. Cheers from Canada.👍🇨🇦🎉

[@HighTeaToys]

Great questions. yes it is compatible. though the clutch issues would persist. And it is modular so the roof lifts off so you can look inside though the back is always open as you can see in the video. :)

[@jimm244]

Love the epilogue! 😂😂😂

[@michellee7465]

I’ve been waiting for your opinion on this brand. I think I’d rather challenges than none, but a finger and hand workout isn’t fun! 😳 I have read quite a few reviews of the sets and quite a few people found them challenging. I’d still purchase as they look fabulous! 😁 I use a metal artwork pallet knife or a small thin craft knife to prise pieces apart. I do it slowly so they don’t damage the brick. 🤗

[@stephenwabaxter]

If the supplied Lego tool fails to prise pieces apart then I use my Swiss Army knife.

[@ApacheTheCat]

I just bought their latest build "newsstand" thanks to the video Brick Artisan did - looks amazing

[@HighTeaToys]

I’ve been tempted by that one actually. It solves a lot of the small problems I had with FO sets ( mostly that I don’t want stand alone sets) good to hear you liked it

[@froggerabc]

I brought the newstand a few weeks back. That was a good build.

[@bertbergers9171]

Hahaha, that end :P Yes, they really should have done a bit more research on that brand name (OR they are from the kind who believe in all publicity is good publicity, because it is publicity). Held der Steine did a video on their steampunk trainstation (which includes a light set aswell) and even the Germans went rampageing on the name in the comments "whoops" Thank you for your sincere positive and negative thoughts and a balanced endview to this review. Maybe they should add to the instruction some text: it will get better or door de zure appel heen bijten (don't know an english proverb with the same meaning of of my head right now). You have done another happy newyear wish video maybe in the mean while, but it is new years eve, so "goeie roetsj en een gelukkig 2023" I am glad i got a hint to your channel, i like your style and videos.

[@hazbinhotel5488]

yeah the set looks amazing. This brand makes steampunk themed sets as well. So anyone who is into steampunk...go check out the FunWhole website. Painful clutch power can be a bummer, perhaps a mini rubber hammer can fix that problem (the things people use whenever they build a large Lego sculpture. I will say this though. I got the Lego Taj Mahal for Christmas and the first 4 bags on that set are spent on building the base-plate...so I dont think you can really fault this company for having the first bag dedicated to landscaping. I want to get my hands on one of these to see whats up. personally I think the price of the set is really good, roughly half that of Lego, and if I had to chose between bricks that dont stick together vs bricks that stick together too well, I would pick the latter.

[@HighTeaToys]

Honest. I was really wishing for a mini mallet. I don’t think it’s a ‘fault’ per se with regards to the landscape build. It just left me rather bores, confused and with aching hands. But more focus on smaller areas would have helped. But the end result was lovely.

[@juevona]

I love that you mentioned the terrible name.. it was one of the only things holding me back from ordering this set! I loved that it was a product that seemed to be geared toward adults w/lighting, etc,, but with the name like that, surely it was a joke company. How could you be sure of the quality? After your review, I'll be ordering it :-)

[@cheekybricks]

Very in depth review of this alternative brand set. I like the fact it comes with a light kit (LEGO take note yo!). I'm not a LEGO loyalist, and I would totally be up for buying an alternative LEGO brand, but there is just something about this set and the other sets this company offers that is a little off for me... I can't put my foot on it...maybe something about the colors and/or design or maybe its that their brand name FUNWHOLE, makes me smirk like a libertine middle schooler ^^

[@Icarusgaming.]

Love when my KZbin Lego crush post

[@xanthicdragon6510]

I wonder what this would cost in Lego bricks? That name OMG 😱😳

[@klockibymichael4825]

nice video!

[@princeLaharl2]

Maybe it is 😃

[@max-mkl]

Im personally not a fan of buying alternativ bricks. It is and will always give me the feeling as if I would be buying a fake or knockoff. If you want to try out good alternativ brick sets check out blue bricks their "Burg Blaustein" its an insane build. price per piece is just way way better than lego these days. Especially with their lack of color accuracy.

[@countrabricksbuildcraze8916]

Hello. If looks like a lovley build. I like

[@tommy516]

Current Fun-Whole sets are better than Lego, there is no comparison.

[@8BitPasta]

Is there a Toilet?

[@Noppensteinchen]

Lego = Children Others = Adult

[@Ccorleone1609]

Yeah, i'm not going to buy something that's called a "Fun Whole"...

[@hiker1392]

Teeth? No, please.🙄

[@HighTeaToys]

I know ;) it’s the ultimate sin 😂😅

[@micabryant4513]

My main issue is the company has stolen the element designs..its theft, the companies that do this all just use established parts from the lego element portfolio... you really shouldn't promote a company built on IP theft! Hold yourself to a higher standard!

[@Twisty543]

Lego's patent for the bricks expired a long time ago. It isn't illegal at all (or, in my opinion, immoral).

[@CardmakerNr1]

It’s not illegal as the patent has inspired. Everyone with an original set design can produce bricks now and use them for it. The biggest trouble is when companies steal designs without permission. It’s like in the pharmaceutical industry. When the patent has run out other companies produce the same Pharma product which are quite a bit cheaper. So everyone can choose if they want the original for a high price or the alternative. And no I am not buying this set, I was very interested in this kind of review and stay a Lego fan but wouldn’t tell people off if they want to get it. The interiors do look fab after all.

[@micabryant4513]

Im no so sure your right, many of the elements used originated in recent years. Even if in a legal basis they can technically do it, its still scummy and creatively bankrupt to just copy another companies work.. Your entitled to have an opinion but im entitled to believe your opinion is horse shite

[@mrglide7078]

​@@micabryant4513 'Your entitled to have an opinion but im entitled to believe your opinion is horse shite' Wow, that went from 0 to 10 very quickly 😬

[@jeffc4862]

These sets have been around for a while, and I have no doubt Lego is fully aware of them - if there was a legal issue, I'm sure it would have been addressed by now. That said, Lego prices have gotten ridiculous, which is the reason why sets like this are desirable to people who love Legos, but can no longer afford their larger sets.