LEGO Creator 3-in-1 31150 Wild Safari Animals review

31150 Wild Safari Animals ushers in a new era of LEGO Creator 3-in-1 sets that will have you struggling with some tough decisions.

Or two tough decisions, to be precise, those being: which of these models do you build first, and which do you keep on display? It’s not a question you’ll have found yourself asking of very many Creator 3-in-1 sets before, as this theme has historically offered strong A-models complemented by a mixed range of B-models and C-models: sometimes they’re pretty good, but rarely (if ever) are all three builds on even footing.

Not so for 31150 Wild Safari Animals, which demands regular disassembly and reassembly to enjoy all it has to offer. Welcome to the new age of Creator 3-in-1…

— LEGO Creator 3-in-1 31150 Wild Safari Animals set details —

Theme: LEGO Creator 3-in-1 Set name: 31150 Wild Safari Animals Release date: January 1, 2024

Price: £59.99 / $64.99 / €64.99 Pieces: 780 Minifigures: 0

LEGO: Order now

— Where to buy LEGO Creator 3-in-1 31150 Wild Safari Animals —

LEGO Creator 3-in-1 31150 Wild Safari Animals is available to buy now from LEGO.com, in LEGO Stores and through select third-party retailers.

— LEGO Creator 3-in-1 31150 Wild Safari Animals build —

The easy answer to ‘which animal should I build first?’ is the giraffe, because – as the A-model – the bags are numbered specifically for the towering animal and its accompanying tree and flamingo. This build uses every last one of the set’s 780 pieces, and in ways that feel fresh throughout: the add-ons here were a shrewd move, keeping not only the colour palette varied but the build too, so things never get stale even while you’re assembling the giraffe’s mirrored body and legs.

The giraffe has a mostly solid range of articulation, and importantly the bits you really want to move – the legs and neck – can indeed be manipulated, even if in limited fashion. There are no knees, but the click joints that connect the legs to the body mean the legs can at least be splayed out for a little more variety. The flamingo is entirely static by comparison, but a cute little model, and the tree is… well, a tree. There are a million ways to build a LEGO tree, and this one isn’t especially interesting, but then it isn’t the star of the show.

That honour goes to the giraffe, and this one definitely has some real shelf presence. It’s an imposing thing with its neck propped up, reaching over 30cm tall, and some really careful use of colour – and a clever mix of tiles – sells the aesthetic instantly. LEGO animals desperately need to resemble their inspiration at even a passing glance to succeed, fooling your brain into thinking you’re looking at more than a pile of bricks (without losing that LEGO DNA), and 31150 Wild Safari Animals’ A-model ticks all those boxes and more.

That’s high praise and rightly so, and for most Creator 3-in-1 models that would be enough to justify the purchase, those alternate builds being simply the cherry on top (sometimes a ripe cherry, and occasionally one that’s just a little bit too sour). But here – as with many LEGO Creator 3-in-1 sets in 2024 – the B-model and C-model feel fundamental to the appeal of 31150 Wild Safari Animals, because they are both just as good as the giraffe. In fact, one of them is arguably even better.

Neither the pair of gazelles nor the lion and butterfly use every last one of the 780 pieces, so they are smaller and more fleeting builds by comparison. The gazelles also feel like the giraffe in miniature simply for being relatively similar in stature, so while they’re perhaps not the most interesting thing to assemble – at least if you’re coming straight off the back of the giraffe, and chances are most people won’t be trying out all three of these back-to-back, so it’s kind of a moot point – the results are still impressive. 

The adult gazelle boasts a surprising amount of articulation at this scale, although the calf is a little more restricted (and easier to accidentally dismember) by contrast. But then: surprise! Here’s some foliage that, while obviously drawing from the same parts palette as the tree in the A-model, feels like a genuinely unique approach to a bush. It’s not what anyone’s here for, but it’s nice to have.

31150 Wild Safari Animals’ secret weapon is not the gazelles, though: it’s the lion. While you can pretty easily see how the giraffe’s parts would work for a pair of gazelles, the line between the other two models and this one is a little fuzzier. But that’s not the only thing that will make this one stand out long after you’ve finished putting it together.

The lion’s head and mane come together in a way that really robs us of any suitable superlatives, momentarily cranking the build up to a more advanced (if not expert) level to achieve the subtle angles that give the big cat its big, lifelike silhouette. That techniques like this should be nestled away within the third model of a Creator 3-in-1 set is almost sad, because comparatively few people might ever get to experience them.

While articulation is again relatively limited for the lion, the designers have once again prioritised the important bits: you can make it look like it’s slinking its way through the long grass in search of prey, its legs just malleable enough to allow for some very cat-like poses. It’s joined by a so-so butterfly and another not very interesting tree, but the lion just might be the one you choose to keep assembled the longest here.

That’s no small feat, but also, when was the last time you could say that about a Creator 3-in-1 set?

— LEGO Creator 3-in-1 31150 Wild Safari Animals price —

LEGO Creator 3-in-1 sets sit in an entirely different ballpark to the rest of the portfolio, because you’re inherently getting triple the value from anything in this range compared to, say, a Star Wars or Harry Potter set. Where you might spend a couple of hours putting together 75352 Emperor’s Throne Room Diorama and then leave it on a shelf forever, Creator 3-in-1 models tempt you to take them down, take them apart and reassemble them into something else. And you don’t even need to be a master builder.

That temptation is all the stronger when each of the models is worthy of standing on its own two (or four) feet, so the value proposition in 31150 Wild Safari Animals is pretty much unparalleled – at least from the perspective of the building experience, which is surely what you’re here for (versus buying a ceramic ornament or something). And beyond all that, £60 for 780 pieces, and a giraffe as tall as this one, is just good business.

Perhaps the only issue is that you might actually want to build all three of these at once, and suddenly you’re £180 down…

— LEGO Creator 3-in-1 31150 Wild Safari Animals pictures —

— LEGO Creator 3-in-1 31150 Wild Safari Animals pros and cons —

31150 Wild Safari Animals sets a high benchmark for LEGO Creator 3-in-1 at the top of 2024, and one that the theme is arguably already living up to with sets like 31154 Forest Animals: Red Fox (check out our review of that one here). If the theme of this box appeals to you even just a little bit, you’ll find yourself having a great time with everything it has to offer – and a hard time trying to decide which of its animals to keep assembled…

LEGO Creator 3-in-1 31150 Wild Safari Animals pros	LEGO Creator 3-in-1 31150 Wild Safari Animals cons
Three equally appealing brick-built beasties	…so good luck choosing which one to keep assembled
A fair price for triple the building experience, as usual	Disassembling these sets to rebuild is never too much fun. Can you tell we’re grasping at straws here?
The best build is actually hiding in its C-model

This set was provided for review by the LEGO Group.

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— Alternatives to LEGO Creator 3-in-1 31150 Wild Safari Animals —

If these animals aren’t quite doing it for you, you’re not short of alternatives in the LEGO portfolio at the moment. Top of the pile should be 31154 Forest Animals: Red Fox, which offers three equally appealing brick-built creatures but with a decidedly more woodland slant, and the still-great 31129 Majestic Tiger. If you’re on a budget, there’s always 31136 Exotic Parrot; otherwise, step away from the Creator badge to indulge in 10331 Kingfisher Bird or 31211 Macaw Parrots.

Looking for a Creator 3-in-1 experience that’s not tied quite so closely to the animal kingdom? The theme has truly stepped up its game in 2024, so the world’s your oyster: consider 31152 Space Astronaut, 31156 Tropical Ukulele or 31147 Retro Camera, but you can’t go wrong with any of them.

— LEGO Creator 3-in-1 31150 Wild Safari Animals FAQs —