What is your favourite set of 2023, costing less than $40?

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While the larger sets tend to dominate attention, LEGO has also produced some excellent smaller sets in 2023. We chose $40 as the threshold for this category, yielding 271 sets in total.

Following your nominations, nine sets have been forwarded to this poll and you can vote for your favourite below...

What is your favourite set of 2023, costing less than $40?

31136 Exotic Parrot
31143 Birdhouse
40650 Land Rover Classic Defender
60386 Recycling Truck
75345 501st Clone Troopers Battle Pack
76918 McLaren Solus GT & McLaren F1 LM
76958 Dilophosaurus Ambush
77012 Fighter Plane Chase
77013 Escape from the Lost Tomb


You can participate in our other 2023 polls here:

Which set received your vote? Let us know in the comments and look out for the results in the New Year.

33 comments on this article

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By in United Kingdom,

Feel like the winner might end up not being the best set because the two creator bird sets will complete with each other and the two Indiana Jones sets will complete with each other.

On the other hand the Indiana Jones sets stand out because thats all we got, unlike the Jurassic Park set where we got a good few 30th anniversary sets.

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By in United Kingdom,

If the battle pack wins...

I very rarely vote for a licensed set in these, because they're naturally a bit more niche. But I had to go with one of the Indiana Jones ones for their historical elements and amazing value for money.

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By in United States,

I went with Fighter Plane Chase. I still need to build two of those planes to go with my 2008 trucks and color-swapped Jungle Cutter. I don't know what I would do with the two cars, though. (I don't really do 8-wide anything.)

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By in Hungary,

Easy. 77013 Escape from the Lost Tomb is one of the few sets l bought this year - and l had seen the movie (watched it after). Set looks impressive

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By in Germany,

At first, I didn't want to vote because I'm saddened _none_ of the those other sets suggested by members ended up on the shortlist. Unfortunately, in my humble opinion, this selection is such a bore. 77013 has at least a nice color scheme and a good PPP ratio so I went with that one.

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By in United States,

76918 McLaren Solus GT & McLaren F1 LM stands out because it's two cars for $35 instead of one for $20 or $25. It's a contender for its comparative value, while if it were priced like most Speed Champions it wouldn't (and couldn't) be here.

However, my vote (and nomination) was for 31136 Exotic Parrot... and for under $40 total you can get 31144 Exotic Pink Parrot, too!

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By in United Kingdom,

Had to go for the Landy, a great set, but constantly needs fixing :)

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By in Netherlands,

How did the Adorable Dogs not make the cut? It was so extremely.....adorable!

From these, my pick would be the Birdhouse, which I think is slightly better than the Parrot. Had they sold the McLaren F1 as a separate set that would sure have been my winner, but unfortunately they bundle it with that Solus I just don't care one bit for. All other sets are decent, but no standouts for me.

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By in Norway,

How did the otters not make it?!

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By in United States,

I got both exotic birds and really like them but find their wings are very finicky and hard to keep on. Birdhouse was wonderful. But bang for buck and build experience still has to be speed champions. Add in the orange color which has been neglected by that range and it was the perfect set of the year.

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By in United Kingdom,

1st Indiana Jones 77013 Escape from the lost tomb
2nd Indiana Jones 77012 Fighter Plane Chase
3rd star wars 75345 501st Clone Troopers Battle Pack

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By in United Kingdom,

Garbage Truck. Some of the small City sets were packing a lot of play value and this has to be the best. Great functions, nice selection of minifigures and accessories. My daughter loves it.

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By in United States,

The Batman and Dr. Strange poly bags are completely underrated.

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By in United States,

The Speed Champs McLaren double pack easily takes the cake. The Solus GT is seriously one of the best builds Lego has ever released. Absolutely unhinged levels of creative piece usage. Everyone should experience it, even if you don't care about cars whatsoever.

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By in Canada,

RECYCLING TRUCK SWEEP

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By in United States,

The recycling truck is one of the best city sets ever made and it plays like an absolutely perfect toy. It's the best set here. The Speed Champions 2 pack and Indie plane set are good models, but nowhere near as fun.

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By in United States,

Easiest pick ever. McLarens, without a doubt. The value, the build experience, the techniques used, the parts, and the quality of the finished models are all absolutely incredible, and it's one of the best Speed Champs sets ever made even before you factor in what a great PPP it has. Easy winner in this price bracket, and pretty high up my overall top 10 of the year.

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By in United States,

Dilophosaurus Ambush, no contest.

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By in Netherlands,

None of these IMHO

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By in New Zealand,

This one was tough for me, it was between 77012 and 77013 (i have both of them as well) but i chose 77012 because i like it better.

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By in Netherlands,

I nominated the Dream Village, but since it didn't make the list I voted for the parrot.

I expected a larger selection, but I trust everything was counted properly.

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By in United States,

I was going to vote for 40650 (partially because how often do we get licensed Creator sets? and partially because it's just a good model), but then saw 77012 further down the list, and being th WWII aviation buff I am, my mind was very much changed.

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By in United States,

@Maxbricks14 said:
"This one was tough for me, it was between 77012 and 77013 (i have both of them as well) but i chose 77012 because i like it better."

I feel like 77012 was good, but not such an improvement on the original ( 7198 which had both planes although no car, which I thought was better for play-value), so I chose 77013 which was a big improvement on 7621 . it's also an excellent piece to price and overall great display or play set.
I also wanted to choose 76918

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By in Australia,

I originally nominated the Land Rover, and I still love that set, but I think Fighter Plane Chase was a better set overall.

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By in United States,

I love Exotic Parrot, plus the frog alternative build is pretty excellent too.
Birdhouse is close behind it ;)

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By in Australia,

@WizardOfOss said:
"How did the Adorable Dogs not make the cut? It was so extremely.....adorable!

From these, my pick would be the Birdhouse, which I think is slightly better than the Parrot. Had they sold the McLaren F1 as a separate set that would sure have been my winner, but unfortunately they bundle it with that Solus I just don't care one bit for. All other sets are decent, but no standouts for me."


Adorable Dogs was my answer to the original nomination request.

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By in United Kingdom,

Vote for the Land Rover a nice licenced set at a fairly cheap price. More like this Lego!

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By in United States,

Voted for the recycle truck, the only one that kind of interested me.

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By in Australia,

I am surprised the Paul Walker Speed Champion Nissan Skyline set didn't make it given how popular it was on release and sold out everywhere.

Voted for the fighter plan set as that was a joy to build and display. Wish they released more Indiana Jones sets.

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By in United States,

The birdhouse is a special one for me, being an amateur bird watcher and feeder. Loved it and loved making more little birds in scale with it.

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By in United States,

Very tempted to vote for 77013 (not least because it just barely qualified on price) but in the end chose 31136 Exotic Parrot, which also seemed to be incredible value for money. 77012 and the Birdhouse (sorry, can't remember its number) were also excellent, and I agree with @Wizard of Oss and @Buku that Adorable Dogs should have been included.

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By in Ukraine,

77013 Escape from the Lost Tomb! This is just an amazing set, I'm glad lego re-released it.

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