LEGO 40865 Buddy the Elf revealed!
Posted by CapnRex101,
In a complete surprise to me, 40865 Buddy the Elf has been revealed, based on the beloved Christmas movie Elf!
The set contains 713 pieces and will be released on October 1st, costing £34.99, $39.99 or €39.99. Among the details included on Buddy's base are a bottle of maple syrup and Arctic Puffin, one of Buddy's friends from the North Pole.
I am not sure about the character's face, but such things are very difficult at this scale.
View more images below...
What do you think of the model? Let us know in the comments.
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69 comments on this article
"Not now, Arctic Puffin!" Easily the best part of the set.
Not sure what... that... is, though...
Those rounded tiles at the front of his face make him look half dog
They can't all be Wallace and Gromit quality I suppose...
"Wow, this Wallace and Gromit set is spot-on! I can't believe they nailed the look so well!"
The other shoe:
I thought this was an April Fools joke until I realized it’s August. Oh no, did Caesar Augustus decide he wanted his own prank day, too?
Does anyone have space to prioritize things like this anymore? It feels like we are way too far down the list of random items on a shelf.
oh.
I don't like the movie (I've never even been able to get through it all the way, it's just so awful), and ditto goes for this set. People think The Polar Express has an uncanny valley effect going on... this set may just beat that by a country mile.
Buddy’s head got shrunk
They should have done just a generic elf. Or Elf On The Shelf
I think it's the mouth. If that was either a bit bigger or brick built instead of printed (or both), it would help a lot.
It's almost like one person designed the head from the nose up, and another designed the rest - but gave up and said "we'll just fill in the gap with a printed tile"...
The new feather element on his cap seems neat!
Everything about this is hideous except for the penguin
Never understood "displayslop" until now
@SolidState said:
"They can't all be Wallace and Gromit quality I suppose..."
Evidently Claymation figures translate better into brickbuilt plastic…
Pretty terrible.
We've strayed too far from God's light...
This is pure nightmare fuel
More slop! Consume, piggies!
Wow, that looks absolutely awful. It doesn't even look like a human face.
No minifig?
WTH
There have been quite a few Elf builds on Ideas, not one was this thing.
We want Elf minifigs!!!!!!
The face isn't great, but to be fair, it's *also* an Enterprise-D situation where the angle the licensor probably demanded because it matches the poster is its worst angle.
This just shows you the state of the national elf service....
Worst set of 2026???
Genuinely awful. Why do they keep making stuff like this instead of sets with minifigs???
Buddy, looking at this comment section: "This place reminds me of Santa's Workshop! Except it smells like mushrooms and everyone looks like they want to hurt me." XD
Cool set, but the face, at first glance? Not too great, no.
@Andrusi said:
"The face isn't great, but to be fair, it's *also* an Enterprise-D situation where the angle the licensor probably demanded because it matches the poster is its worst angle."
This angle?
https://images.brickset.com/news/134346_40865_Feature3_h6r6OYkFf0Qj.jpg
Son of a nutcracker, what is that?!?
Noce one
I can't say I blame them for sneaking this out while everyone's talking about Wallace and Gromit. It's hideous.
Someone in marketing should lose their job for releasing this on the same day as Wallace and Gromit...
Canadian Maple syrup. Nice touch.
@dhaas06 said:
"Does anyone have space to prioritize things like this anymore? It feels like we are way too far down the list of random items on a shelf."
Wait, you mean like, Elf, on a shelf?? Sorry I couldn’t help it! Totally agree though….
The biggest insult here is the price. Even their in house sets aren’t priced like this. Minifigs can add that much to the cost….
I’m on the fence with the is guy though. I like it…but I don’t. It’ll definitely be a pass considering everything else I need.
I don't love it, but I have to give Lego credit for making a licensed set that's not absurdly overpriced.
That's a hard no for me. Will Ferrell is cinema what diarrhea is to fine dinning, an unwelcome experience for all involved. He's best in small doses, normally SNL sized, where you don't have to put up with his obnoxiousness most of the time.
Never really cared for the movie itself, but this set is simply awful. It doesn't even look like him!
I love Elf but this set is... not it. It's cool that they have the license, but I would have much preferred a playset with a minifig version of Buddy to this... thing. Maybe they'll do that in the future.
Pass...
“Alright, starting at the bottom, looking good so far, nice puffin, now up to the middle, still looking fine, now finally I’ll look at the very top-aghfcackten!”
I don’t understand all the hate for this set. It’s a Holiday licensed set at a pretty amazing price per piece. I suspect fans of Elf, and there are many of them, will appreciate it as an affordable and representative, if not idyllic, ode to the movie.
It looks somewhat like an elf but ceratinly not the Will Ferrel of Elves! Terrible, terrible Set! What a waste of p!astic pieces!
"OH MY GOD! What's wrong with your faaaace?" [ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=62UzLgdb1GQ ]
TLM159 looked more like Will Ferrell than this… thing. [https://brickset.com/minifigs/tlm159/gone-golfin-president-business-the-lego-movie-2-(minifigure-only-without-stand-and-accessories)]
Talking about Will Ferrell, wouldn't it be nice to have a recreation of the News brawl from "Anchorman 2", especially to get a ghost of Stonewall Jackson minifig?
[ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a0zsvRQ8lnk ]
Not for me, and the face feels like a huge design fail. Its too narrow, and even on first look the rounded tiles by the nose look too much like a mustache to me. Heck, just change them to the hair colour.
That said, pretty sure this will sell well. I've got one friend whose watched the movie religiously every Christmas since it came out.
Who asked for this
Hopefully Lego will do Will Ferrell's best character Ashley Schaeffer next.
Well, considering LEGO is featured in the film itself, I suppose it was about time. But it’s not for me. Besides, anything is going to pale after yesterday’s cracking reveal…
I think the ‘creepiest LEGO sets of all time’ list needs an update.
@LusiferSam said:
"That's a hard no for me. Will Ferrell is cinema what diarrhea is to fine dinning, an unwelcome experience for all involved. He's best in small doses, normally SNL sized, where you don't have to put up with his obnoxiousness most of the time."
Concerned by the implications of this juxtaposition.
@yellowcastle said:
"I don’t understand all the hate for this set. It’s a Holiday licensed set at a pretty amazing price per piece. I suspect fans of Elf, and there are many of them, will appreciate it as an affordable and representative, if not idyllic, ode to the movie."
I was going to point out that it's because for once his face is actually as terrifying as people almost always say faces are on every brick-built character, but a lot of people do seem to just be mad at the base concept for some reason.
Did they rush to meet a deadline or something?
@dhaas06 said:
"Does anyone have space to prioritize things like this anymore? It feels like we are way too far down the list of random items on a shelf."
Fans of the film will love it. Like sets based on other films.
@yellowcastle said:
"I don’t understand all the hate for this set. It’s a Holiday licensed set at a pretty amazing price per piece. I suspect fans of Elf, and there are many of them, will appreciate it as an affordable and representative, if not idyllic, ode to the movie."
Same here. I think it looks pretty decent, a great price and lots of fans of the film. I imagine it will sell very well. And LEGO won't care about all the cotton-headed ninny-muggins on here.
Buddy looks like he's joined the trend of stars using GLP-1s too much. And I think it might be a crime against nature to make a Buddy the Elf set and not include Mr. Narwhal.
@yellowcastle said:
"I don’t understand all the hate for this set. It’s a Holiday licensed set at a pretty amazing price per piece. I suspect fans of Elf, and there are many of them, will appreciate it as an affordable and representative, if not idyllic, ode to the movie."
General hatred of the subject matter, especially as it pertains to the main “actor”.
That face is awful!!! Who approved this?!?!?!?!
It's not just the face. The thighs are bizarrely chunky, the collar doesn't wrap nicely around the neck and looks more like a bow tie, the fingers are straight up hooves. What a travesty
Complete defilement of a beloved character. Completely repulsive.
@essel said:
[["OH MY GOD! What's wrong with your faaaace?" [ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=62UzLgdb1GQ ]
TLM159 looked more like Will Ferrell than this… thing. [https://brickset.com/minifigs/tlm159/gone-golfin-president-business-the-lego-movie-2-(minifigure-only-without-stand-and-accessories)]
Talking about Will Ferrell, wouldn't it be nice to have a recreation of the News brawl from "Anchorman 2", especially to get a ghost of Stonewall Jackson minifig?
[ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a0zsvRQ8lnk ]]]
Soon as I read that first line, I knew you were going to link to Mike. Love those guys.
@PurpleDave said:
" @yellowcastle said:
"I don’t understand all the hate for this set. It’s a Holiday licensed set at a pretty amazing price per piece. I suspect fans of Elf, and there are many of them, will appreciate it as an affordable and representative, if not idyllic, ode to the movie."
General hatred of the subject matter, especially as it pertains to the main “actor”."
Seriously? Do people really hate the movie that much or are you saying they hate the character in the movie? Or are you saying they hate Will Ferrell personally?
I just think the Lego model is ugly.
Never heard of the source material.
On a lighter note:
"An elf. What is it?"
"It's a hideous brick built piece of nightmare fuel, but that's not important right now."
Or
"It's an entirely different kind of elf, altogether!"
And before you ask, I AM serious, and don't call me Shirley!
Hellf
@oldtodd33 said:
" @PurpleDave said:
" @yellowcastle said:
"I don’t understand all the hate for this set. It’s a Holiday licensed set at a pretty amazing price per piece. I suspect fans of Elf, and there are many of them, will appreciate it as an affordable and representative, if not idyllic, ode to the movie."
General hatred of the subject matter, especially as it pertains to the main “actor”."
Seriously? Do people really hate the movie that much or are you saying they hate the character in the movie? Or are you saying they hate Will Ferrell personally?"
General disdain for the “if they aren’t laughing, yell it louder” brand of comedy that Ferrell, several other post-90’s SNL alumni, and Michael McDonald from Mad TV seem wholly incapable of moving away from.
Since I love the movie, I eagerly clicked on the link to this article. But that face is not good. Why didn't they build a new mold for the face like the 4530 constructable figures?!? Even a generic face mold that could be reused would be better than this, like they did with 76226.
The rest of this set is fantastic, especially the price. It's a shame the face is going to deter so many people.
@Emmafofemma said:
"Those rounded tiles at the front of his face make him look half dog "
Half man, half dog.
So basically you're saying that he's his own best friend?
Maybe his name's not Buddy after all, but Barf ;-)
@AustinPowers said:
" @Emmafofemma said:
"Those rounded tiles at the front of his face make him look half dog "
Half man, half dog.
So basically you're saying that he's his own best friend?
Maybe his name's not Buddy after all, but Barf ;-) "
You had to comb the desert for that one. :o)
I love Elf, its a Christmas tradition so this is really tempting...
@yellowcastle said:
" @AustinPowers said:
" @Emmafofemma said:
"Those rounded tiles at the front of his face make him look half dog "
Half man, half dog.
So basically you're saying that he's his own best friend?
Maybe his name's not Buddy after all, but Barf ;-) "
You had to comb the desert for that one. :o)"
Yeah, and we ain't found sh*t.
;-)
@Kre_O said:
"Hopefully Lego will do Will Ferrell's best character Ashley Schaeffer next."
I bet they never will but if.., the thing after that would be Danny McBride as Kenny fu%&ing Powers! Hopefully not, that would look realy awful in Legoform if i see this Elf.
@LusiferSam said:
"That's a hard no for me. Will Ferrell is cinema what diarrhea is to fine dinning, an unwelcome experience for all involved. He's best in small doses, normally SNL sized, where you don't have to put up with his obnoxiousness most of the time."
If you haven't seen Stranger Than Fiction, then please do so.