It's not the cheapest entry-level set around, but there’s apparently a lot to love in LEGO Avatar
The first reviews of the LEGO Group’s first wave of Avatar sets – based on a movie that’s now 13 years old, in celebration of the imminent sequel, Avatar: The Way of Water – are starting to land online, giving us an initial glimpse at what to expect come October 1. The minifigure-scale entry point to that five-strong line-up is
That’s a not-insignificant price point to jump on board the LEGO Avatar range, so should you be setting aside some of your LEGO budget for this showdown set next month? We’ve collated reviews from across the LEGO community to unearth the major talking points around
– Set details –
Theme: LEGO Avatar Set name:
Price: £39.99 / $49.99 / €44.99 Pieces: 560 Minifigures: 2
LEGO:
It’s a display set as much as a play set
We’ve seen the LEGO Group start thinking about display value in its smaller sets in a big way recently, from the display stand in 76832 XL-15 Spaceship to the info plaque in 76188 Batman Classic TV Series Batmobile. That same ethos carries through to
“The animal remains really mobile with its six legs, and it can be fixed on a plant in the décor to simulate the attack on the Quaritch mech,” Hoth Bricks explains. “The result is a small, dynamic diorama… that fans will eventually be able to exhibit.”
The Na'vi minifigures are… divisive
Surprise: the LEGO Group has resurrected its longer leg pieces to communicate the height difference in Avatar’s Na'vi characters, which tower over their human counterparts in James Cameron’s 2009 movie. That hasn’t gone down well with everyone, though: Jay’s Brick Blog, for example, criticises the new alien minifigures for looking ‘pretty alien’.
“It took me a while to get used to these new Avatar minifigures, as they look quite odd, and I’m not sure if I’ll fully get used to them,” Jay writes. “You can tell they share some DNA with LEGO minifigures, but their height, and new moulded heads, which has a chin, longer face and ears sticking out do look pretty alien.”
Beyond the Brick, on the other hand, accepts that while they’re ‘a bit weird’, they’re also a ‘good solution’ for establishing the height difference between
You might draw the short straw to build Pandora
The LEGO Group is leaning heavily into its shared building approach with its Avatar range, which here means three separate instruction manuals for
“The first Avatar movie graced cinemas way back in 2009, so it’s safe to say that many young adults or teenagers who were enthralled by James Cameron’s Avatar may now have kids (or older kids) ready to play, so this is a nice way to relive some Avatar nostalgia and share it with your kids, if you do have any,” Jay says. There you have it: don’t fancy building the plants? Pass them to your kids.
You shouldn’t necessarily overlook that slice of Pandora, though, because while it’s limited in scope here, it’s a great starting point for a wider world. “There are good ideas on the side of vegetation, especially thanks to the presence of a few phosphorescent parts,” Hoth Bricks says, adding that it would have been nice to have ‘a little more’, while Beyond the Brick agrees that the parts usage ‘conveys the look that Cameron envisioned for the world of Pandora’.
There’s ‘unprecedented value’ in the box
While the LEGO Avatar sets do all command relatively high prices at retail, that doesn’t mean you’re not getting anything in return. On the contrary, Jay commends the value proposition offered by
“At $44.99, there’s unprecedented value here as you get a neat brick-built Thanator, a small but plucky AMP Suit Mech, AND a large slice of Pandora rainforest,” he explains. “With licensed sets from the likes of Marvel, it can sometimes feel like the builds are almost secondary to the minifigures, but that’s not the case here as the Thanator, AMP Suit and Pandora builds are extremely enjoyable.”
Not everything in Avatar was suitable for LEGO
Presumably with one eye on that ‘9+’ age rating on the box, the LEGO Group has seemingly toned down the aggression in
“Those who remember the scene know that the mech is actually equipped with a machine gun and not a simple giant chainsaw,” Hoth Bricks says. “However, we cannot conclude that [the LEGO Group] was only entitled to a few very preliminary artworks, the film having been released in 2009, and it is therefore a deliberate choice to ignore a frankly lethal weapon.”
A chainsaw being famously less lethal than a machine gun, of course.
– Summary –
How does
Support the work that Brick Fanatics does by purchasing your LEGO using our affiliate links.
Comments
Be the first to comment!