LEGO 43008 Nike Dunk review
The LEGO Group has kicked off the brick-built part of its Nike partnership with 43008 Nike Dunk, so is it a slam dunk or foul play?
Brick-built trainers make their return in 43008 Nike Dunk, which is made up of over 1,000 pieces, features an exclusive super fan B’Ball Head and sports its own miniature pair of the Dunk shoes. The set depicts the Dunk logo, complete with a brick-built basketball and the shoe itself, in a white and blue colourway. Let’s dig into how all the elements come together in our in-depth review of 43008 Nike Dunk.
43008 Nike Dunk
Release: Jul 1, 2025
Retiring: Dec 31, 2027
Price: £89.99 / $99.99 / €99.99
Pieces: 1,180
Minifigures: 1
43008 Nike Dunk brings a lot of elements together, which can also be built separately with different instruction booklets for a collaborative experience. Once you bring them all together, it creates a seamless display model that doesn’t feel like a collection of different brick-built objects, but rather one unified build.
It’s hard not to draw parallels between 43008 Nike Dunk and the two licensed LEGO logo sets, 76313 MARVEL Logo and 75407 Brick-Built Star Wars Logo, especially as the LEGO Nike set comes in at a similar price point as the LEGO Marvel one. Where the first two focus on blocky versions of the logos, 43008 Nike Dunk shows off what a LEGO set can do with a logo if you widen the scope beyond the basics.
The shoe itself is naturally the centrepiece, with the option to customise it just like the real-life shoe. There’s a clear focus on clean display, with the extra ‘laces’ able to slot into the toe of the shoe, and a space in the heel of the shoe to hide the exclusive minifigure. That keeps everything neat and tidy when you slot it on to a shelf, without needing to awkwardly store spare parts elsewhere.
The way the shoe attaches to the set means it can be slid on and off, with a hole in the base of the shoe that can slide on to an attachment. However, the shoe doesn’t click or lock into place like the basketball and the logo itself does, which leaves it a little shaky and unstable. It doesn’t matter too much when you’ve got it in place to display, but some improved stability there wouldn’t have gone amiss.
The Dunk characteristics on the shoe itself are well rendered, down to the wavy details on the sides of the shoe and the dynamic Nike tick, which stands out from the rest of the shoe. The simply blue colourway is a classic, but we can only imagine that Nike fans will be able to pretty easily switch out different colourways in custom builds.
Comparing the LEGO shoe to a real-life Dunk, you can see the impressively accurate features pulled through to the LEGO format. The wrap-around panels around the ankle and silhouette of the shoe have been faithfully recreated, so as to hopefully please even diehard sneakerheads.
The basketball’s black details are very forgiving, helping to give the illusion of curves out of square bricks. The Nike logo is also on the front of the ball, tying together each element of the set with the brand.
Coming on to the third and final section in the letters, the build is fairly straightforward, lending itself well to first-time builders. This is clearly the intention of the set, designed to appeal to Nike fans who want something to add to their shelf of shoes, perhaps. Each element of the set is simple to build and doesn’t debut any tricky techniques – which also means it’s not the most engaging build for LEGO fans who may have built a few sets in their time.
It’s the perfect size and shape to blend well with shoes, and you can even swap out the brick-built shoe with a real one, like we did below (with some nifty balancing). Being just 14cm deep, it can fit on most shelves that you might be displaying shoes on, adding a unique bit of décor to a shoe collection.
43008 Nike Dunk knows who it’s for and it caters to that sneaker fan demographic well. While it’s hard to see what would appeal to a LEGO builder who isn’t a Nike fan, it’s proof that logo sets can be more dynamic than simple blocks and recreating something as simple as a brand logo doesn’t need to be boring.
Our honest opinion: A logo set that actually makes a statement, 43008 Nike Dunk will appeal to fans of the brand – but it’s hard to see what would draw in a typical LEGO fan.
This LEGO set was provided by the LEGO Group for review purposes.
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