LEGO Avatar 75576 Skimwing Adventure review

LEGO Avatar 75576 Skimwing Adventure brings to life another vibrant, colourful and captivating creature from the world of James Cameron’s Avatar: The Way of Water. 

Nobody was expecting (or perhaps even asked for) a sequel to James Cameron’s ground-breaking 2009 film Avatar, but we have one. Avatar: The Way of Water is out now and sees the Na’vi being forced to leave their treetop homes and find shelter with the aquatic tribe known as the Metkayina. It’s a bright, vibrant, colourful film (if not a bum-numbing one, with a runtime well over three and a half hours) that introduces fans to a whole host of new and intriguing alien creatures and settings. 

75576 Skimwing Adventure features the titular Skimwing (a large fish/bird hybrid creature) that inhabits Pandora’s tropical habitats. It’s similar both in design and content to the cheaper and smaller 75575 Ilu Discovery, so will the extra pieces and higher price point found within this set be justified?

— LEGO Avatar 75576 Skimwing Adventure set details —

Theme: LEGO Avatar Set name: 75576 Skimwing Adventure Release: January 1, 2023

Price: £29.99 / $34.99 / €34.99 Pieces: 259 Minifigures: 2

LEGO: Available now

— Where to buy LEGO Avatar 75576 Skimwing Adventure —

LEGO Avatar 75576 Skimwing Adventure was released with the full wave of Avatar: The Way of Water sets on January 1, 2023. It’s available worldwide in LEGO Stores, from LEGO.com and other third-party retailers.

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— LEGO Avatar 75576 Skimwing Adventure build —

259 pieces are spread across three bags, numbered one and two. The set also includes two minifigures, Jake Sully in his Na’vi form form and Metkayina clan leader Tonowari. The main focus of the set is the aforementioned Skimwing creative, a strange hybrid that resembles a cross between a snake, dragonfly and Pterosaur. It’s a large brick-built creature with multiple joints allowing for some decent articulation.

75576 Skimwing Adventure also includes two small Pandoran coral reef side builds that accompany the main set. They are fairly small and don’t feel like particularly smart designs, lacking a little in interest and vibrancy. However, there are still nice pockets of detail with a swimming fish (clipped to a modified 1×2 plate with clip), a coral piece and two purple tendrils.

There is also a Technic axle built into the smaller reef that connects to the Skimwing, adding a really nice level of displayability to the set. The smaller reef has a clear minifigure stand that allows one of the minifigures to be displayed alongside it too.

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It’s not the most exciting of starts, but the main focus of the set is the eponymous Skimwing. These are large, subaquatic creatures that can survive both above and under the water, making them perfect mounts for the most proficient of Metkayinan hunters. In fact, only the most skilled can ride them, which is why it’s a surprise – but also a show of his strength – that Jake Sully manages to tame one after moving his family to live with the Metkayina.

Built from three connecting sections, and a connecting head piece, the Skimwing is constructed using a series of 2×2 and 1×2 brackets that make up the inner core of each body section. To this curved tiles and slopes are added, creating a curved and realistic-looking body. 1×1 slopes are used on top to replicate the creature’s spine.

The rear section focuses on the tail, which the Skimwing keeps in the water to help it balance when skimming the surface. It’s recreated using recoloured plane wings and rotor blades. The middle section is the main body and the front section features four moveable fins. Each section is slightly different from each other, preventing any repetition in the build, and each offers a distinctive look, which is enjoyable to put together.

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The head is made from two exclusive moulded pieces that feature excellent printing throughout. The colours tie in well with the rest of the brick-built elements of the creature, and feel very authentic when compared to the on-screen counterpart.

The Skimwing is a fairly thin build, but it’s given a lot of width and bulk thanks to its four wings. The front two are incredibly sizeable compared to the rest of the creature – in the film the creature’s wings help it to both glide through the water and sail through the air with ease. The wings, made from plastic sheeting, are very vibrant and detailed, adding a massive splash of colour to the entire set and giving the Skimwing a fairly imposing wingspan and presence.

In similar fashion to 75575 Ilu Discovery, the set works really well for both play and display. Both sets really complement each other well too, and look great side by side on a shelf.

75576 Skimwing Adventure isn’t the most complicated of sets to put together, but then the suggested age range would already tell most fans what to expect in terms of the build level. However, it’s still an entertaining model to construct and does look very eye-catching thanks to the large wings and coral reef side builds.

— LEGO Avatar 75576 Skimwing Adventure characters —

The jury is still out on whether or not the new Avatar minifigures, with their elongated legs and overly detailed facial prints, are excellent or just a bit weird. Regardless of how you feel about these, it cannot be denied that the printing is absolutely superb – and that’s right across the entire theme. 

Their face prints perfectly capture their on-screen counterparts, and the level of detail that extends from the torso all the way down to the legs is stunning. The hair pieces are also unique and equally well designed.

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This set contains two minifigures who are also two of the film’s key characters: Jake Sully, an exclusive to this set, who now fully embraces his Na’vi form, and Metkayina clan leader, Tonowari (who also appears in 75578 Metkayina Reef Home). 

Both feature that same exquisite level of printed detail and the longer legs that were introduced in the first Avatar wave. We’ll let you make up your own mind as to whether you like them or not, but they are at least effective in communicating the size difference between the Pandorans and their human equivalents.

— LEGO Avatar 75576 Skimwing Adventure price —

75576 Skimwing Adventure is very similar to the cheaper 75575 Ilu Discovery, making it hard not to draw comparisons between the two. While the Skimwing model is considerably larger, it has less movement and doesn’t quite look as sleek as the Ilu model. The side builds contained within 75576 are also not as interesting and are probably the worst in the entire wave. 

That said, 75576 Skimwing Adventure isn’t massively more expensive than 75575 Ilu Discovery, and the price point does feel fair for what you get inside the box. But the cheaper Ilu Discovery is probably better value, offering the same experience and display piece for around £10 / $10 / €10 less. 

— LEGO Avatar 75576 Skimwing Adventure pictures —

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— LEGO Avatar 75576 Skimwing Adventure pros and cons —

75576 Skimwing Adventure is a decent set. The Skimwing has a good presence to it and its wings create a really vibrant and bright model to display. The two exclusive minifigures are important characters to the film so will no doubt be desirable to fans of the franchise, and it’s priced fairly reasonably. 

The only problem is that apart from the slightly disappointing side builds, 75575 Ilu Discovery offers up the same build experience, with a similar model that’s arguably a sleeker design, for less money. Whether or not this is one to add to the collection will come down to how much of a fan of the film you are and how much you want a LEGO Skimwing in your collection. Casual fans would be better suited looking to the cheaper 75575 Ilu Discovery for their Avatar fix.

75576 Skimwing Adventure pros	75576 Skimwing Adventure cons
A fairly large final model	Not as sleek a design as 75575 Ilu Discovery
Looks good on display	Smaller, less interesting reef side builds
Good representations of key characters from The Way of Water

This set was provided for review by the LEGO Group.

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— LEGO Avatar 75576 Skimwing Adventure FAQs —