LEGO Ideas 21357 Luxo Jr. review
LEGO Ideas 21357 Luxo Jr. captures the movement and character of an iconic Disney Pixar mascot as only a LEGO set can.
We’ve got logos for LEGO Marvel and LEGO Star Wars, but how about a mascot for LEGO Disney, or more specifically the Pixar division? LEGO Ideas 21357 Luxo Jr. takes on the challenge of recreating one of Pixar’s most familiar and long-lasting icons that has introduced every one of the company’s movies since 1995 and very much delivers.
21357 Luxo Jr.
Release: June 1, 2025
Retiring: TBC
Price: £59.99 / $69.99 / €69.99
Pieces: 613
Minifigures: 0
Luxo Jr. first debuted in a 1986 short created by John Lasseter, and for the past 30 years has been seen flattening the ‘I’ in Pixar ahead of every movie released by the animation studio. Disney has the mouse, Pixar has the playful little lamp, and after a good few Mickey Mouse-based LEGO sets, 21357 Luxo Jr. feels perfectly timed – and perfectly primed to be a hit with everyone.
This is a set that has the task of not only recreating what we see and know a Luxo lamp to be, but also building in the particular craft of character that Lasseter so brilliantly captured in his Luxo Jr. short of 1986 that saw the little lamp playfully interacting with a bouncy ball. As expected from the LEGO Ideas team, 21357 is a LEGO set that does exactly all that, and more, starting with references.
When you build a LEGO Disney – sorry, LEGO Ideas – set based on Pixar’s long-lasting mascot for the past 30 years, expect references. And with 21357 Luxo Jr., the number of references to Disney Pixar characters and films from over the years far exceeds anyone’s expectations, particularly for how the final model so cleverly hides each and every colourful one in an otherwise all-white final model.
Most appear in the first stages of the build, from inside the ball to dotted through the base of the lamp, whilst there is one final one even built into the light bulb, and they are generally squashed into every corner possible. They are clever and fun details that have you picturing the films and characters as you go, and as much as anything else, they ensure that this all-white LEGO set is as colourful as any other LEGO Disney set.
Those details are then very much hidden away as you smooth out the base with a mix of simple and unique techniques – what may look simple in the final model is quite complex and intelligent in design in places.
From the base you move into the framework that makes up the body and head of Luxo Jr. It is slightly intricate to put together, it is primarily all the one colour, but it’s not a build that drags on for too long or feels boring to go through, thanks in part to the novelty of what is being built, new uses of a fairly new parts, and for how, relatively speaking, the entire set is pretty quick to put together.
How the frame comes together is smart in both the sturdiness that it offers the model, but also how well hidden a lot of the techniques are, so as not to distract from the final, all-round aesthetic of the LEGO set. As a build, it demonstrates a fine understanding of the mathematical dimensions of various pieces and how they can come together so tightly.
All that aside, though, with a LEGO set like this, most important is the proportionality and emotive aspects of the character are caught across the design, and 21357 Luxo Jr. very much delivers. From all angles, this is a convincing recreation of the adorable little lamp that we first saw in the 1986 animated short Luxo Jr. and which we’ve since seen introduce countless Pixar movies.
In addition, all the little details and ways in which John Lasseter first brought him to life 39 years ago are also at play, thanks to that realistic nature of the design, and the movement that has been built into the model, allowing LEGO Luxo Jr. to straighten and bend his body (albeit not in fixed poses as he is designed to spring back to upright position), and pivot his head up, down and all around as he plays with the ball (thanks to a ball joint at the neck connection).
Everything that makes Luxo Jr. cute and alive on screen is found in 21357 Luxo Jr., from the details that accurately depict his appearance down to the movement that Lasseter animated into his body that gave him character.
Our honest opinion: 21357 Luxo Jr. delivers a sweet and charming LEGO build for a sweet and charming character.
This LEGO set was provided by the LEGO Group for review purposes.
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