I’ve never written a Lego review before. I’ve written plenty of book, magazine, TV and film reviews, but never Lego.

But then again, Lego have never made an Enid Blyton set! And they still haven’t, but so far this cockatoo is about as close as you can get.

This set is officially retired as of this year, though it does seem to be available at some retailers still.

White Rabbit 31133

No, we haven’t veered off into Alice In Wonderland territory. The Lego cockatoo is actually part of a 3-in-1 set, where you can build three different animals (but not all at once).

The “main” build of a rabbit, the cockatoo and a seal (or a dog with only two legs, as Brodie described it).

The rabbit is billed as the main star as I assume it uses the most of the 258 pieces the set has. Having built the cockatoo there were quite a lot of pieces left-over (which Brodie immediately claimed so he could build with them), and the seal looks smaller still.

Kiki

The text of the books describe Kiki as a red and grey parrot, and she is likely to be an African Gray which are well-known for their talking abilities. However, they do not have moveable crests.

Cockatoos do have movable crests and can talk too, and so that is how Stuart Tresilian has always depicted Kiki. It’s more obvious on the covers as they are in colour.

Apparently Blyton was delighted with Tresilian’s drawings and said he has made the book twice as good with his interpretation of the characters, especially the parrot. This was in correspondence between Blyton and Macmillan, and was quoted in the deluxe hardback edition of The Island of Adventure. So Blyton obviously approved of her cockatoo-look.

The build

This was a fairly easy build – although, being not the main build, required emptying all the bags out at once instead of the more usual one at a time in numbered order.

I have divided jigsaw trays which I use for both jigsaws and sorting Lego for builds so they came in handy here.

Apart from that, the build was straightforward.

The finished build has some poseability, the head turns side to side, the tail can be positioned as can that all-important crest. Brodie was a bit disappointed in the wings, as they are fixed folded in at her sides. The tips can be tucked in or angled out a bit, but that’s all. It would have been nice it the wings could have come out from the body a bit more, using ball joints like some of the other joints have. The crest could have made use of a couple more feathers, too.

The fact the set’s pieces have to function in up to three separate builds does mean these compromises were made. Saying that, though, it was only £17.99. A more complicated wing attachment and more feathers could have pushed the price up.

It is easy to stand up, as the legs are sturdy and the tail helps with balance.

Overall I think it’s a really nice build which looks good on the shelf.

Mini Kiki

One Lego Kiki obviously wasn’t enough as I then found myself hunting through the series 27 minifigures at Smyths the other weekend. I was looking for the Pirate Quartermaster as she comes with a tiny cockatoo.

The boxes are supposed to be blind boxes, but there are apps out there which can scan the barcode and tell you what’s inside. It’s just as well I didn’t just chance it and buy a few hoping to get the pirate as I think she was about the tenth box I scanned, and although there are some other cute figures I only really wanted the pirate. Or, well, really, I only wanted her parrot.

Brodie got the steampunk inventor that day, then the Pterodactyl Costume Fan and the Bogeyman another day. The Wolfpack Beastmaster eluded us though, as he is the one everyone seems to want.

So now I have two Kikis, and I am wondering if I can build an Adventure Series scene using the mini one. But what to build? I’m thinking the children having a picnic at the top of the castle tower in The Castle of Adventure would be the easiest, as we already have a castle!