Five notable features of the LEGO Lightyear sets

Following the official reveal of the LEGO Lightyear sets, we’ve noticed a number of notable design choices across the range.

Lightyear is an upcoming movie from Pixar, telling the origin story of Buzz Lightyear himself. Within this movie, Lightyear is apparently an actual person who embarked on adventures across the universe. The trailers for the film reveal both new characters and familiar elements, like Buzz’s spacesuit and the evil Emperor Zurg.

Three sets have been announced as tie-ins for this movie. While strong overall, there are a few things in particular (for better or worse) that stand out.

5 – No socks on SOX

SOX – Buzz’s robotic cat companion – might be a breakout star of the Lightyear movie. He appears in both 76831 Zurg Battle and 76832 XL-15 Spaceship, making his acquisition very easy. However, he’s lacking any kind of white printing on his paws – presumably, the socks to which his name refers.

While it’s not exactly a dealbreaker, it’s still a disappointment this aspect of the character is missing. Still, if we can get back printing on R2-D2, maybe we can get a SOX with socks at some point as well.

4 – Dual-printed bricks

On the other hand, we may be getting a more sophisticated print on other pieces in this set. The McGuffin of the Lightyear movie appears to be a blue crystal which fuels Buzz’s ship. This also appears in 76831 Zurg Battle and 76832 XL-15 Spaceship, suspended in a rectangular container.

Early product images suggest this crystal is printed on two sides of a transparent brick, which opens up intriguing possibilities for sets going forwards. Bricks like these have been printed before (in sets like 30364 Popcorn Cart) but only on one side. It’s possible the crystal is just a sticker placed very, very carefully, but if it isn’t this is quite an exciting development.

3 – New wing elements

Instead of his usual purple wings, Buzz sports a pair of brown wings in 76381 Zurg Battle. Their unpainted nature suggests Buzz’s suit is some kind of prototype or older model – an interesting twist in what’s shaping up to be a clear origin story.

Prior Buzz Lightyear minifigures used a pair of bespoke wing elements that plugged into sockets on Buzz’s neck piece. These brown wings appear to be similar but not identical, and attach to a stud on Buzz’s armour. As such, it might be easier to add these to our own creations than the original wings.

2 – No spaceship armaments

For many LEGO fans, 76832 XL-15 Spaceship will literally be the flagship product. This set seems to balance both play and display functions, coming with its very own display stand and information plaque. It also comes with a great minifigure selection, including new characters Darby Steel and Mo Morrison.

What doesn’t seem to be included is any kind of stud shooters or spring-loaded shooters on the ship itself; they aren’t referenced in box art, and if they’re included they’re very well-concealed. This is an interesting choice, especially given the LEGO Group hasn’t shied away from adding extraneous stud shooters to sets in the past. Still, attachment points on the wings should make adding stud shooters fairly straightforward.

1 – An attractive 4+ set

4+ sets aren’t generally of interest to the older LEGO fan, for obvious reasons. They tend to feature very simple designs and blocky, prefabricated elements of limited use. However, 76380 Zyclops Chase might prove an exception.

The Zyclops is a large yellow robot of uncertain origin, but it’s possibly a minion of Emperor Zurg. In any case, it wouldn’t look out of place alongside the other Lightyear sets; there’s just the right amount of complexity on the torso, and the new limb pieces make for good-looking arms. The legs are clearly one piece, but they work well with the broader robot design.

In the past, older LEGO fans might have justified buying 4+ sets for the minifigures alone. However – while the minifigures are rather nice – this is one 4+ we feel comfortable buying on its own merits.

All three Lightyear sets will be released on April 24. The movie itself will be released on June 17.

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