The Brickset 2016 Holiday Gift Guide, part 3
Posted by Huw,
In the third part of our series of gift guides we turn our attention to sets in the $50-100 price range, of which there were 53 sets released this year. For that money you can buy a top-of-the-range set from one of the regular LEGO themes, or one of the smaller direct-to-consumer exclusives.
So, whether you looking for a main present for a child or something for your AFOL other-half, read on to find out what we recommend.
DrDaveWatford
31052 Vacation Getaways (£49.99 / $69.99 / 59.99€)
No where is the breadth of quality sets released this year more evident than in the $50-$100 price bracket, which contains a number of my personal favourites from 2016. The likes of 10252 Volkswagen Beetle, 76057 Spider-Man: Web Warriors Ultimate Bridge Battle and 21305 Maze all deservedly attracted many plaudits at the time of their release, and they all get a big thumbs up from me.
That having been said, my vote is actually going to a set which has received considerably less attention than any of those, 31052 Vacation Getaways from the Creator theme. This set features a sizeable RV complete with a detailed interior, a trailer and a boat, plus a number of small accessory builds including a cute brown bear.
It is overflowing with play value, and that is even before you consider that there are two further builds - a summer home and a yacht - to occupy you when you are done with the primary model. Honestly, I think this set provides the perfect riposte to those critics who complain that LEGO is all licensed themes and highly specialised elements these days, and with almost 800-pieces in the box it provides decent value for money to boot. A hidden gem.
Read our review of the set here.
CapnRex101
76057 Spider-Man: Web Warriors Ultimate Bridge Battle (£89.99 / $99.99 / 99.99€)
This bracket offers a particularly simple selection for me, although there are a number of outstanding options from which to choose. 76057 Spider-Man: Web Warriors Ultimate Bridge Battle is among the best Super Heroes released to date and might even be my favourite set of the 819 released this year.
It includes a tremendous selection of minifigures along with an abundance of imaginative play functions. Furthermore, the bridge is highly detailed and contains a huge number of references to characters and events in Marvel Comics, many of which are delightfully obscure! I highly recommend the set to both children and adults.
76057 Spider-Man: Web Warriors Ultimate Bridge Battle dominates this category in my opinion but there are some other sets worthy of high praise as well. 41180 Ragana's Magic Shadow Castle is a tremendous model which incorporates a range of innovative building techniques while the Star Wars theme offers 75140 Resistance Troop Transporter and 75155 Rebel U-wing Fighter, both of which present exceptional play and display value.
Read our review of the set here.
TheBrickPal
75139 Battle on Takodana (£49.99 / $59.99 / 59.99€)
LEGO has had tons of sets in this bracket released this year and worthy of praise. 76057 Spider-Man: Web Warriors Ultimate Bridge Battle, 70595 Ultra Stealth Raider, 21306 The Beatles Yellow Submarine, 70322 Axl's Tower Carrier, 75828 Ecto-1 & 2, 76051 Super Hero Airport Battle and more come to mind...
However, there is one set that has the best playability, most displayability and biggest iconicity of all. That is 75139 Battle on Takodana! The set is absolutely rife with nice details, hidden features like Luke's lightsaber and opening doors, as well as fun decaying walls and exploding shrapnel. A fantastic minifigure selection rounds out the set, including a great new character from The Force Awakens: Maz Kanata! Finn and Kylo Ren are also included, allowing this to be the cheapest way to acquire them both. If that were not enough, two Stormtroopers add on to your hopefully-already-existing First Order army.
Put it all together and you have a winner. The only contention I would see with purchasing this set is the price. $60 is not cheap, and at 14.7c per piece you can tell this set does not have the greatest price-per-piece ratio. However, it is impressive enough and the minifigure selection is large enough to easily justify the cost. The Star Wars range cannot get much better at this price, anyway!
Read our review of the set here.
Rock99rock
10252 Volkswagen Beetle (£69.99 / $99.99 / 89.99€)
The Volkswagen Beetle (version 1) is a timeless vehicle that has been sold across the globe starting in the late 1930's, until the early 2000's. Over 21 million were sold throughout that time-line. Its LEGO form is a work of beauty, and the color choice really pops. There are many unique building techniques and pieces in this set. Any adult would be proud to sit this on their shelf at home, or admire it in their office.
If you are buying for kids, wait a few days then pick up a 70909 Batcave Break-In It has everything to keep the kids entertained for hours. It is a rather large set at over 1000-pieces, and contains two vehicles, a jail cell, a suit rack, and a massive underground lair! The 9 minifigures really push the value of this set over the top.
Read our review of the set here.
MeganL
31052 Vacation Getaways (£49.99 / $69.99 / 59.99€)
This was the most difficult category for me to choose. For the AFOL on your list 10252 Volkswagen Beetle is a great choice. 41130 Amusement Park Roller Coaster and 41180 Ragana's Magic Shadow Castle are also very good options.
Last year I chose a set that was not at the higher end of the price range and I am doing the same this year. 31052 Vacation Getaways is a fantastic set. There is so much play value in the primary build and it is packed with details and terrific building techniques. The RV with the boat, trailer and picnic set up is great.
The secondary builds are just as good, especially the yacht, which I think could stand on its own as a set. The diversity of the three builds is great, which is a credit to the designer and also ably illustrates the versatility of LEGO.
Read our review of the set here.
Huw
21030 United States Capitol Building (£79.99 / $99.99 / 99.99€)
Both 10252 Volkswagen Beetle and 31052 Vacation Getaways are high on my list of favourites in this price range, but in the interests of variety I have chosen another set that I enjoyed building very much, that makes the ideal gift for an adult, particularly an American.
21030 United States Capitol Building is an intricate model that demands care and attention to detail when building it, due to all the stacking of 1x1 parts that is required. It is definitely not a model to be rushed but if your gift recipient takes the time to build it properly they will have a real sense of achievement when they have finished, which can often be lacking with simpler sets.
The completed model is a pretty accurate representation of the real building and a joy to behold, so it makes a great display piece that would not look out of place on a desk at work.
Read our review of the set here.
Next time we will take our pick from the ultimate LEGO sets, those over $100.
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16 comments on this article
Good to see several sets I've bought are in this list:- 10252 Volkswagen Beetle, 21305 Maze, 31052 Vacation Getaways, 41180 Ragana's Magic Shadow Castle, 41130 Amusement Park Roller Coaster and 21030 United States Capitol Building. I don't need to spend anymore this year.
These sets are definitely all great recommendations. My personal recommendation would be one of the sets CapnRex101 mentioned, http://brickset.com/sets/41180-1/Ragana-s-Magic-Shadow-Castle. It's one of my favorite LEGO castles of all time, since it incorporates a lot of quintessential LEGO castle features like a throne room, dungeon, traps, and a catapult, while also feeling much more livable than anything I've ever seen in the Castle theme. And it's an outstanding value at $100, the same price point as all the biggest castles from the Castle/Kingdoms themes since 2005.
Other sets I'd highly recommend in this price bracket are http://brickset.com/sets/70590-1/Airjitzu-Battle-Grounds and http://brickset.com/sets/70595-1/Ultra-Stealth-Raider from the Ninjago theme. Airjitzu Battle Grounds offers great value at the $60 price point, with a whole new style of Airjitzu launcher designed for ground battles, plus two of the traditional air launchers. Aesthetically, it's a gorgeous set and a great companion piece to the Temple of Airjitzu. And it has a great selection of minifigures including Airjitzu forms for Lloyd and Nya, the evil Master Yang, and two of Yang's ghost students.
Ultra Stealth Raider is a fantastic vehicle containing the four original Ninjago ninja, and designed to split apart into a separate vehicle for each of them (a major upgrade from http://brickset.com/sets/9449-1/Ultra-Sonic-Raider, which only split into two vehicles). The designers were thoughtful enough to include space for the remaining two ninja in the two center modules. The set includes Master Yang, plus Master Chen in his special chair (a staple of the show's "Tournament of Elements" story arc), his minion Eyezorai, and a new Anacondrai vehicle, the Chenosaurus. Like the Shadow Castle, it's a great value at the $100 price point.
Once again I agree with CapnRex101's selection. 76057 Spider-Man: Web Warriors Ultimate Bridge Battle is an amazing set and is probably my favourite set of the year. 31052 Vacation Getaways is also very well designed and I would recommend it as a lower-priced option.
Personally, my favourite set in this price bracket is the speed champions Porsche pit lane, although speed champions is by far my favourite theme
^^^ Haha, I just added in my pick and you'll be happy to know that I do end up mentioning Ultra Stealth Raider! It really is a great set.
It's really nice to see a non-licensed set such as 31052 Vacation Getaways get mentioned several times. For this price bracket, I agree with all the recommendations and other suggestions from the Brickset team.
My $50 - $100 pick is Amusement-Park-Roller-Coaster.
http://brickset.com/sets/41130-1/Amusement-Park-Roller-Coaster
This Friends theme park offers plenty of playability. There are several amusements at the park surrounded by an innovative roller-coaster.
I am expecting many Technic sets in your Ultimate bracket...
I agree that the Vacation Getaway set is a fairly good value set with lots of interest.
The Capitol Building is extremely overpriced at £80 and should have been more correctly priced at £40 RRP. Although the build is quite interesting and the model looks good on display.
All the parts fit in two large PAB cups, apart from the 6 Dark Grey 8x16 plates and the other 5 medium sized plates. I am happy I got 38% off this one, but still feel it should have been cheaper.
I love the Web Warriors Bridge, and have 6 copies ready for modding into a large 4 lane bridge.
My pick would be Ultra Stealth Raider, it has a ton of playability to it.
I'd pick THE AIRPORT BATTLE as this years top choice. :-)
http://brickset.com/sets/76051-1/Super-Hero-Airport-Battle
Finally a Star Wars set is chosen, but Takodanna?!?!?!?! Why no Rogue One???
Takodana is probably one of the best choices in Star Wars this year from a kid's perspective - you get 2 of the main characters, Maz and 2 Stormtroopers, plus the simple play features. Just because I don't personally like the set structure as an AFOL doesn't mean it isn't ideally suited to play with!
If you were buying presents for someone that liked comic characters, The Bridge Battle OR the Airport Batle would both be very well received in this price bracket. I quite liked the set with the Batwing from Batman vs Superman but the film seemed to go down like a lead balloon so maybe there's not so many fans to give that to!
Man, 31051 Lighthouse Point really, truly is the most underrated set of the year. Even the (rather crappy-looking, IMHO) treehouse got a mention in this gift guide. No love for the lighthouse, which is just a fantastic set thanks to it's modularity. So many ways you can re-arrange it and make it different. Deserves a lot more love from the community, really.
Have to say Web Warriors: Ultimate Bridge Battle is an amazing set. Real had some fun with that both building and playing with it. Not that I play much with Lego but I can only imagine the fun kids could have with it. I still love it even as a display set.
@Graysmith: you may have a point. I have 31051; just haven't had time to build it! I too love the modularity - can't wait to play with that when I get chance. And it has the brick built orca! Overall I think the 3 in 1 offerings were quite good this year.