The Brickset 2016 Holiday Gift Guide, part 2
Posted by Huw,
Today we turn our attention to mid-priced sets between £20/$25 and £40/$50 of which there were some 84 sets released this year, so there is plenty to choose from whether you are buying for children or for adults.
Read on to find out what the Brickset team recommends. Have we overlooked your favourites?
CapnRex101
70604 Tiger Widow Island (£39.99 / $49.99 / 49.99€)
I think the NINJAGO range has been exceptionally impressive in 2016 and there have been several excellent sets released within this price bracket alone. 70603 Raid Zeppelin and 70593 The Green NRG Dragon are both brilliant sets but I have chosen 70604 Tiger Widow Island.
It encompasses every aspect of the ideal play set, containing a brilliant selection of figures, lots of play features and a highly detailed model for a very reasonable price. Furthermore, it includes the first NINJAGO 'bigfig' and there are some ingenious building techniques to be discovered.
42048 Race Kart, 75152 Imperial Assault Hovertank and 76048 Iron Skull Sub Attack are also splendid sets and I would recommend any of those as well.
TheBrickPal
70314 Beast Master's Chaos Chariot (£24.99 / $29.99 / 32.99€)
This price range has yielded some impressive sets over the past year. I can definitely recommend 60134 Fun in the Park - 71245 Adventure Time Level Pack is also great but not quite fair in value, and I have soft spots for both 75824 Pig City Teardown and 76047 Black Panther Pursuit.
However, it is 70314 Beast Master's Chaos Chariot that has impressed me the most. Nexo Knights had a strong start in January and this set is definitely the highlight of wave one for me, with two fantastic minifigures (including female knight Macy - girl power!). However, the models are even better: a clever little hover horse build and a big lava monster vehicle give great value for money in parts, playability and hidden features. I highly recommend it!
Why shouldn't you put it under the tree for a beloved LEGO fan this December?
DrDaveWatford
21029 Buckingham Palace (£39.99 / $49.99 / 49.99€)
I am going for 21029 Buckingham Palace in the $25-$50 category. Despite not being a particular fan of the Architecture theme I was mightily impressed with this set when I reviewed it for Brickset earlier this year.
As well as offering a surprisingly faithful representation of the real building it is also unusual among the Architecture sets in providing some context for the subject in the form of the fountain out front and even a teeny London bus and taxi.
It is also an interesting build, employing some clever building techniques, and comprising 780 elements, it is even reasonable value for money.
It therefore gets my vote, although if you are buying for younger builders then I would recommend 70593 The Green NRG Dragon or 76060 Doctor Strange's Sanctum Sanctorum, both of which are worthy alternatives at this price point.
FlagsNZ
31053 Treehouse Adventures (£24.99 / $34.99 / 29.99€)
This is a fantastic Creator set that builds three wonderful outdoor forts.
Like all Creator sets, it contains a great selection of useful generic pieces, rather than specialised parts that are a struggle to use in your own creations.
This 387-piece set represents great value for money.
MeganL
41178 The Dragon Sanctuary (£34.99 / $49.99 / 49.99€)
Again, the Friends theme has a great option in 41135 Livi's Pop Star House and if the Elves theme had not come along, that would be my recommendation.
However I think the Elves theme has had a particularly strong showing this year and they have hardly put a foot wrong. 41175 Fire Dragon's Lava Cave is a brilliant set, but my favourite for this category is 41178 The Dragon Sanctuary.
This set has yet another brilliant dragon, this time the wind dragon in purple with two sets of wings. Her colour scheme is particularly striking with the purple and the pale blue.
There is also a baby water dragon, and a spot for each dragon egg in the set. Additionally, the building is terrific with three floors and several moving features as we have come to expect in Elves sets, allowing for so many options for play and imagination.
Huw
60134 Fun in the Park - City People Pack (£34.99 / $49.99 / 49.99€)
This is the set that caused such a stir when it was unveiled at the Toy Fairs in January because it introduced the first wheelchair-using minifigure in a non-hospital environment (see our history of LEGO wheelchairs article for more information).
Not only that, it also introduced the first minifig-scale baby.
The asking price buys you 15 minifigures and a handful of pieces so it is not particularly good value for money, but for those looking to populate their LEGO City with a variety of inhabitants it represents a good choice of gift.
It is interesting that we have not chosen any licensed sets, although there are plenty to choose from in the 84 sets within this price bracket. I guess they tend to be perceived as poor value for money compared to a lot of the other sets, and gifting them runs the risk that the recipient does not always care for the IP they are based on.
Would you have chosen differently? Let us know in the comments.
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14 comments on this article
I remember the surprising controversy in the comments for the Fun in the Park set... and my joy at heads that neatly fit on pegs :P Staying more on topic, my personal pick in this price range would be Infernox Captures the Queen. The brick-built Infernox is a lovely looking model, and you get Queen Halbert to save and Aaron to do it.
No Star Wars again?
Tiger Widow island is awesome!
Got to agree with Tiger Widow Island. It's such an interesting set to look at and I imagine a child would find it really entertaining to play with.
If you haven't got it yet, then get it! If you can get it for nearer £20 too, the even better!
Agree on Fun In The Park, Dr. Strange's Sanctum Sanctorum and Iron Skull Sub Attack. Fun in the Park has really expanded the possibilities for my Town set-up, and the other two sets were fun to build and look great on display. The tentacled horror in the Dr. Strange set is awesome.
Of the sets here that I'm unfamiliar with, I definitely wouldn't complain if someone got me Tiger Widow Island for Christmas; it looks great! I wouldn't say no to Treehouse Adventures either; it looks like it has everything I enjoy about Creator sets.
My own recommendation for this price range is Jestro's Evil-Mobile at £39.99, though it's often priced lower. It has oodles of play features and possibilities, and cemented my love for the Nexo Knights theme. I'd second the person above who mentioned Infernox Captures The Queen - while I'm not a fan of damsel-in-distress set-ups, the Queen has an angry alternate face that suggests she's not going to take it lying down and will probably save herself if Aaron doesn't get a move on! Infernox himself is my favourite of the brick-built figures in the range that I've encountered; he poses really well and it's fun to pit him against mechs etc. from the theme - we had a lot of fun posing him in fights with the King's Mech...
Good call on the Tanker Truck Takedown, @Matt89190. Four minifigs and a versatile build in a licensed set is a pretty good bang for your buck. My runner ups for this bracket would be the AT-ST Walker, and the Airport VIP Service.
I think Star Wars Rogue One sets like the hover tank are good for gifts.
I suggest the 76031 Hulk Buster set for Marvel fans. Great minifigs, a Hulk bigfig and a cool poseable mech suit.
^That set came out over a year and a half ago... it might not actually be available anymore. It would make a great gift, though.
That Dragon Sanctuary is great value for money, I don't usually pay much attention to the Elves sets but it's a great example of just how good the female-targeted themes can be! I'd probably also rather recommend the AT-ST than the Hovertank - although a little oversized it's probably the best designed version, and unlike the AT-DP its legs do actually move.
Hulk Buster was still available on the UK Lego shop at the beginning of the month. I don't think it's good value at 30 quid, though. I was far more impressed with Infernox.
No not at RRP but there are plenty of retailers selling the Hulkbuster for around £22. Tesco, Argos and Smyths to name a few.
I was really impressed by the nrg dragon, it is definitely better than master wu's dragon which was already pretty impressive.
Buckingham palace is pretty great. My girlfriend is from England, so I picked it up for her for her birthday when it was $36 on Amazon. They mailed it to me with the shipping label right on the box, so I complained to them and got another 20% off, bringing the set down to around $29! I was even able to get the shipping stickers off fairly easy with a blow dryer. In the end it worked out pretty well. You won't hear me complaining about getting Buckingham palace for less than $30!
I'm going to echo Matt89190 though and say Race Kart is a top pick for the year in this price range. Absolutely fantastic set and impressive to behold! Pretty dang good for a $30 set. It's large enough to be a decent sized gift, but small enough to avoid punching a hole in someone's budget.