Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 is in cinemas this week. What better way to get excited than building – and, of course, playing with – the all-new GOTG Lego sets? That’s what we’ve been doing anyway. Here are our five favourite things about them.
Cool mini-figures
Let’s be honest, the mini-figures have become the big draw for movie-based Lego sets. And there are some grown-ups (ahem) who are willing to shell out a fat wedge of cash on big sets just to get their hands on an accompanying inch-high Kylo Ren or Green Goblin. These figures don’t disappoint – another step in Lego’s ever-innovative range. Especially good are Mantis (whoever she is) with her mini antennae, Rocket, Star Lord’s trademark mask thing, and the shiny little Mohican on Yondu. Sweet do, man.
They’re bloody colourful
That might not seem much to make a mix tape over, but when you’ve got a crippling addiction to Star Wars Lego – and even some of the other Marvel sets – you get sick to bleedin’ death of grey, grey, and grey. Look at the bricks here: blue, orange, pink. It’s a veritable rainbow of Lego loveliness.
Great Ship Designs
I guess this comes down to the comic book and movie designers as much as those good folks at Lego, but they’re no less fun. The Ravager Attack is perhaps the least interesting of them – a pretty standard-looking space-plane thingy – but Yondu’s Laser Drill, which comes as part the Ayesha’s Revenge set is particularly cool, a kind of space submarine with opening wings. Unsurprisingly, Star Lord’s very Milano is the pick of the bunch. Its three-pronged wings are a tad fiddly, and will come apart if being played with (by kids or grown-ups – it’s all the same) but the distinctive-looking deep triangular nose is sturdy and strangely satisfying to build. It also has a nice bomb-dropping action from the wings, which is a nice change from the usual poke-your-eye-out laser guns that comes with most Lego movie sets.
They’re easy to build
In the grand scheme of 2,000-brick structures, these sets are relatively small-time. And that’s not a bad thing. Each one comes in at well under an hour’s building time, without being too repetitive. We all love a giant Lego set of course, but hours of the same brick-work over and over gets a bit labourious (that means you, AT-AT and Millennium Falcon).
No spoilers!
Lego has been guilty of revealing some epic spoilers with past movie sets (the most giant of which was… well, Giant Man) but these don’t give away anything that you can’t already see in the trailer. (Though that could also be that I know bugger all about Guardians of the Galaxy comics, so couldn’t spot a big reveal if it leapt through a dimensional portal and bit me on the arse). Purists might argue that including the Abilisk monster in the Milano set flies dangerously close, but no real surprises or narrative twists have been revealed. Plus, the Doctor Strange Lego set included a monster that never even showed up the movie. And no, we’re still not over it.
Find out more at Lego.com
