Among the half a billion (that’s slight hyperbole) sets that LEGO is bringing out in 2015, there’s a few new and returning themes mixed in. One of these things is the new-for-2015 LEGO Elves theme, which turned out to be something very different from what most folks had initially been expecting when they heard the word “Elves”. While we got our first glimpses at most of the 2015 LEGO Elves sets many weeks ago, this weekend we got our initial look at the final two sets in the first wave, as well as the unique packaging for the LEGO Elves sets…

While I was pretty thrown what I discovered exactly what LEGO had envisioned with the LEGO Elves 2015 theme, I warmed up to the idea of the sets once I saw all of the bright and bold colored interesting pieces that make up the sets. So while I’ll never be totally in love with most of the LEGO Elves sets themselves, I do have a solid appreciation for the parts included with each set.

The 41074 LEGO Azari and the Magical Bakery set isn’t the most compelling LEGO building I’ve ever seen on the surface, but it is pretty cool to get so many magenta and orange parts in a mass release LEGO set (not to mention more pink CHI crystals and purple trees!).

LEGO 41074 will include to mini-dolls: an Azari mini doll and an unknown male mini doll, as well as a brown fox/dog/raccoon looking animal. My wife’s Master’s degree is in Wildlife Biology, but even she couldn’t tell me exactly what this cute little creature is supposed to be. My money is on some sort of enchanted and/or mutant fox, but I guess we’ll find out when LEGO posts the official description write-up for the set.

The packaging for the LEGO Elves sets made its first appearance this weekend as well, and I have ambivalent feelings about it. While the purple color scheme of the LEGO Elves boxes is pretty different and eye-grabbing, the fantasy-style illustrations of the characters make me really disappointed when I see the actual LEGO Mini Doll figures included with the sets. It’s nice packaging, but I might have gone with a different style for the artwork myself.

The retail price on this set is €32,99 (those are Euros, for those who are wondering)–about $40.54 US. Seeing as how this set only contains 327 pieces, I would definitely like to think that LEGO will make sure that it retails for closer to $32.99 in the United States, as that would get the set to almost dead-on the “sweet spot” price of 10 cents per piece. I don’t know if that will happen, mind you, as LEGO oftentimes prices the sets with LEGO Mini-Dolls higher than regular sets, but it’s what I’d like to see nonetheless.

The LEGO Elves Azari and The Magical Bakery 41074 set is part of the Winter 2015 LEGO Elves wave, which is scheduled to be released in Winter 2015. The sets are being held over until March 2015 in Europe, but I believe we’ll see them show up in stores earlier in the United States (though it’s very unlikely they’ll arrive before Christmas).

Now that you’ve had a few weeks to ponder the LEGO Elves sets, what do you think of them, LEGO fans? Will you be picking up the 41074 Azari and the Magical Bakery set or any of the other sets in this theme, or have you decided that Elves just are not your thing?