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The tallest LEGO sets of all time – November 2022

15/11/202215/11/2022 Chris Wharfe 5291 Views 0 Comments 10181 Eiffel Tower, 10237 Tower of Orthanc, 10303 Loop Coaster, 10307 Eiffel Tower, 21309 NASA Apollo Saturn V, 71040 The Disney Castle, 71741 Ninjago City Gardens, 76178 Daily Bugle, 92176 NASA Apollo Saturn V, Creator Expert, Disney, Ideas, LEGO, LEGO Creator Expert, LEGO Disney, LEGO Icons, LEGO Ideas, LEGO Marvel, LEGO NINJAGO, LEGO The Lord of the Rings, Marvel, Ninjago, The LEGO Group, The Lord of the Rings

Move over, 10181 Eiffel Tower: there’s a new tallest LEGO set of all time in town, and it’s… erm… well, this is awkward.

When the LEGO Group isn’t busy bursting past previously-held records for piece counts, price or – if we’re getting esoteric – the number of drum-lacquered gold elements in a single set, it’s making its products increasingly massive in a single direction. Last year, that brought us the longest LEGO set of all time in 10294 Titanic. This year’s LEGO Icons landmark, meanwhile, smashes a vertical rather than horizontal boundary.

So, yes, it’s no secret that the newly-revealed 10307 Eiffel Tower is the tallest LEGO set ever. But which – if any – sets come close, and does it have any genuine competition from 90 years of LEGO sets before it?

8 – 71741 NINJAGO City Gardens

Theme: NINJAGO Price: £299.99 / $349.99 / €349.99 Pieces: 5,685 Height: 73cm Available: Now

Just edging past its predecessor 70620 NINJAGO City, 2021’s 71741 NINJAGO City Gardens tops out at 73cm tall. The aerial protruding from its radio tower is doing a lot of heavy lifting, though. Like wearing a stovepipe hat and pretending that’s how tall your head is. Sort of.

7 – 10237 Tower of Orthanc

Theme: The Lord of the Rings Price: £169.99 / $199.99 / €199.99 Pieces: 2,359 Height: 73cm Available: Retired

Standing at equal height to 71741 NINJAGO City Gardens is 10237 Tower of Orthanc, the biggest LEGO The Lord of the Rings set to date. It’s a perfectly reasonable height for the imposing tower to reach, too. You certainly wouldn’t want one half of the Two Towers to be any smaller. Now all we need is Barad-Dûr to match.

6 – 71040 The Disney Castle

Theme: Disney Price: £309.99 / $349.99 / €349.99 Pieces: 4,080 Height: 74cm Available: Now

Still available for now but retiring by the end of this year, 71040 The Disney Castle ekes past the previous two entries in this list by a single centimetre. It’s a bit more demanding in width and depth, too, thanks to a base that outstrips both 71741 NINJAGO City Gardens and 10237 Tower of Orthanc.

5 – 76178 Daily Bugle

Theme: Marvel Price: £299.99 / $349.99 / €349.99 Pieces: 3,776 Height: 82cm Available: Now

Another tall LEGO set that attributes its loftiest proportions to just a handful of pieces, 76178 Daily Bugle’s radio mast sees it soar to a staggering 82cm tall. Normal shelves need not apply: this is a superhero set you’re going to want to put some serious power into showing off properly.

4 – 10303 Loop Coaster

Theme: Icons Price: £344.99 / $399.99 / €399.99 Pieces: 3,756 Height: 92cm Available: Now

A significant drop is required to achieve the momentum necessary to get 10303 Loop Coaster’s cars around both its loops, and that means a bewildering climb of 92cm at the Icons set’s tallest point. Ignore the physics for a moment – those minifigures aren’t getting off that ride alive – and this is peak LEGO fairground ambition.

3 – 92176 NASA Apollo Saturn V

Theme: Ideas Price: £104.99 / $119.99 / €119.99 Pieces: 1,969 Height: 100cm Available: Now

Displayable either vertically or horizontally, 92176 NASA Apollo Saturn V – originally released under the Ideas banner as 21309, then relaunched in 2020 – stands a full metre tall when placed upright. Fun fact: that means you’d need 385 million copies stacked tip to tail to reach the Moon. Good luck.

2 – 10181 Eiffel Tower

Theme: Creator Expert Price: £149.99 / $199.99 Pieces: 3,428 Height: 108cm Available: Retired

Once the tallest LEGO set of all time, 10181 Eiffel Tower clung to its vertical crown for 14 long years – but has now been surpassed by (spoiler alert) its successor. Still, the original Creator Expert set managed more than two-thirds of the new model’s height with only a third of the pieces (and at nearly a quarter of the price), and nobody can take that away from it.

1 – 10307 Eiffel Tower

Theme: Icons Price: £554.99 / $679.99 / €629.99 Pieces: 10,001 Height: 149cm Available: November 25

Standing nearly five feet tall comes 10307 Eiffel Tower, boasting a full 41cm on its predecessor 10181. This is as ultimate as any big, grey LEGO tower is going to get (okay, maybe ask us again in 15 years) and uses an eye-watering 10,001 pieces to reach that apex. If only 31203 World Map hadn’t already pipped it to the piece count post, too.