LEGO Disney Mini Steamboat Willie is a neat set that’s worth the minimum spend

Early reviews from around the world state that LEGO Disney 40659 Mini Steamboat Willie is worth its minimum spend, no matter where you are.

Available from today on LEGO.com, 40659 Mini Steamboat Willie is a smaller version of 2019’s LEGO Ideas 21317 Steamboat Willie, automatically included as a free gift in any orders of LEGO Disney, Star Wars, and Marvel over £95 / $100 / €100. Although that’s a slightly restrictive minimum spend, being limited to three themes all related to Disney, early reviews from The Brick Fan, Brickset, and Hoth Bricks are all unanimous: it’s worth the minimum spend.

Minifigure Mickey could have some more flair

40659 Mini Steamboat Willie comes with just one minifigure, a classic Mickey Mouse in matching monochrome colours to the rest of the build. He’s nothing new if you’ve got the similar minifigure from 71025 Disney Collectible Minifigures. Indeed, as The Brick Fan points out, it’s actually a more simplified minifigure than the Collectible Minifigures version.

“Unlike the previous versions of the minifigure, the legs are not dual moulded but a flat grey. The hat has also been released before from the Series 2 Disney Collectible Minifigures (71024),” writes The Brick Fan.

The build itself is surprisingly substantial

The true star, then, is the brick-built boat itself. It packs plenty of detail into 424 pieces, without losing too many features to the smaller size when compared to LEGO Ideas 21317 Steamboat Willie.

“For such a low threshold it’s a substantial set, and not that much smaller than the LEGO Ideas set 21317 Steamboat Willie that was released four years ago,” notes Brickset.

“This product seems to me to be a nice homage [to Disney], neither too bulky nor too pretentious, which will easily find a place in my collection,” agrees Hoth Bricks.

Smaller gripes don’t detract from the overall effect

While all three reviewers agree the final effect is impressive, Brickset writes that, despite having an internal Technic mechanism that raises and lowers the funnels as the boat ‘moves’, “the range of movement is negligible, and it seems to get stuck often, so it is not very impressive”.

However, The Brick Fan describes it as a “simple but nice play feature for the Steamboat” and none of the reviewers seem to see the relative lack of movement as a big drawback for the LEGO DIsney GWP.

Overall, 40659 Mini Steamboat Willie is well worth the minimum spend

Even with minor complaints about the minifigure and interactive feature, the overwhelming consensus is that 40659 Mini Steamboat Willie is an impressive GWP, especially for its price bracket.

“On completion, the boat is impressive given the chosen scale, and the finish is sufficiently polished that you won’t regret spending the money to get it. Don’t put it in the bath, this boat doesn’t float,” writes Hoth Bricks.

This opinion is shared across the board, with both The Brick Fan commenting that he “wouldn’t be too surprised to see it sell out quickly” and Brickset agreeing that it’s a “low GWP threshold for such a large model”.

With Hoth Bricks in France, The Brick Fan in the US, and Brickset in the UK, we’ve got a full array of minimum spends (£95 / $100 / €100). If all three rate 40659 Mini Steamboat Willie as worth the purchase threshold, it clearly isn’t affected by the relative differences in cost across different marks.

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