What is your favourite set costing below $40 of 2021?

Wow, super tough choice between 31111 and 40516! I'm gonna have to go with the former because of its special significance to me as a fan of 4508 (and the fact that I got my first copy of 31111 on my birthday this year, and the fact that I got three more copies later, and I just became aware of my new streak of getting 31111 on my 29th birthday and 21331 on my 30th).

I love that there are several solid options meaning I have to think about which one is arbitrarily better than other great ones ??

I nominated Santas Sleigh but when it comes down to voting I've had to go with cyber drone, I thought that was such a cool little set, great parts and fig, and easily one of the best "pocket money" sets I've ever seen

I have a few 3 in 1 sets, but 31117 Space Shuttle Adventure is the one of which I want to have all three builds side by side.

I was able to Bricklink the parts needed with one print and one colour compromise. Have not had time to build the other two builds, but that's something to look forward to next year. ;-)

@Goujon:
I believe it’s a reincarnation of Ed, from The Lion King.

@Mr_Orange:
I was tempted to vote for that, but what kind of toy company releases a toy that you need three copies of to make complete, and then slaps “Limit 2” on it? They should offer one free reindeer (plus two umbrella stands and four lightsaber hilts, so you can expand the traces) with any purchase of two copies. Besides, then I noticed a lone Batman set down at the bottom of the list, so Tumbler it is!

@mr_Fikou:
Dark-Purple. Also, Batman.

The army builder in me had to vote for the Marauder, but New Asgard was a close second.

Jungle Dragon!! alright

The only one of those I bought was 60287 Tractor. It looks like one of the best tractors LEGO have done, but I've yet to find the time to build it. Voting for it as I always want to show support for well designed Farm sets, a theme that deserves a full range again.

A nice selection of really good non-licensed sets here. The 31117 Space Shuttle has a very impressive secondary build in the lunar lander, which could easily be a set on its own. 40516 makes for an incredible parts pack. And 40469 Tuk Tuk is such a vibrant display piece, though I'd personally prefer a minifig scale model.

Lots of great choices here! I voted Mini Disney Castle, but Tumblr, Jungle Dragon, Everyone is Awesome are all excellent too

Lots of cool sets I could vote for but in the end picked Santa’s Sleigh.

31117 - great small space set. As already mentioned, it’s quite overpriced in Europe, but fortunately managed to get it nicely discounted on Amazon

I voted for 31117. I owe 9 of the 14 sets and to me, this is by far the set that offers the most for the money. If someone asked me what’s the best set to get to someone who gets into the hubby or for a kid, that would be it because it’s a great play set that offers a lot.

That said, I do personally like some of the other sets better.

@vizzitor said:
"This is the hardest poll to choose just one from. ... If only I could rank the top 3 and it wasn't a first past the post vote!"

I think polls like these (choosing the "best" from a large pool of candidates), would work much better if everyone got to vote for, say, three sets each. They wouldn't even need to be ordered; just whichever set appeared on the most top-3 lists would win.

(I believe Lego did this earlier this year when they had people vote for best theme; you got to choose three.)

@Huw, is that possible? Does Brickset's admin system allow polls with a voting limit of more than 1?

The batmobile or either Ninjago option would get my vote any other year, but 40516 just encapsulates the possibilities of LEGO for me. Plus it looks great on display.

Weird that I have... None of these, since this is normally the size of set I go for. But I'll go ahead and drop a vote for the Imperial Marauder. Grey Star Wars blobs for the win.

Easy, Santa's Sleigh

Though also appreciate Everyone Is Awesome and Bro Thor

So many good choices! My top 2 are Santa's Sleigh and Everyone is Awesome. It was hard to choose, I'm a sucker for monochromatic figures plus various hair pieces in new colors, all good stuff. In the end the reindeer pack made it for me, I love Lego animals even more and four large animals in one set you don't see every day!

Im really surprised that the fish tank didnt make it to the finals. That was my choice for under 40, by a mile

Strong list. I personally have 6 of these {multiples in some cases) and some still on the wish list.
I voted 31117 because it has so much going for it: good build, nice features, good to play with or indeed display and strong alternate builds, too. The minifig is nice, as a bonus. My daughter was quite happy to get her own version of Daddy's big shuttle.

This was super close between Bro Thor’s New Asgard and the Imperial Armored Marauder. I own both, and both are pretty much perfect. I ultimately chose Bro Thor’s New Asgard because it was more innovative than the Marauder; Marvel doesn’t have vignettes.

I must point out the insane number of minifigures the Marauder can hold. I love the interior space in such a *relatively* small vehicle.

@Huw said:
" @BJNemeth said:
" @Huw, is that possible? Does Brickset's admin system allow polls with a voting limit of more than 1?"

Not currently but maybe it's something I can look into."

Ranked choice voting (RCV) would be ideal. I always worry that in polls with many options that two similar sets might split the vote. For example, if two Classic Space sets were in a poll against one Castle set, the Castle would likely win...but all the Classic Space fans might pick either of the Space sets over the Castle set and therefore RCV would correctly reflect that Classic Space is best.

I voted Tumbler, but now I think maybe I should have voted for a different one. It's funny, I only own a few of the sets on the list, but my second choice set I don't own.

Although I voted the Armoured Marauder, my choice was Everyone is Awesome as it is a really unique build and has a good message.

Since Ninjago's debut dragons have been quite consistent, perhaps repetitive for others, but the jungle one have to be the most unique thanks to the tongue. A small detail can sometimes be memorable...

@Brendan_H said:
" @Mr_Orange said:
"Hands down Santa's Sleigh: 40499!"

Ditto. Great to have a reindeer battle pack :-)"

Easily

@PDelahanty said:
" @Huw said:
" @BJNemeth said:
" @Huw , is that possible? Does Brickset's admin system allow polls with a voting limit of more than 1?"

Not currently but maybe it's something I can look into."

Ranked choice voting (RCV) would be ideal. I always worry that in polls with many options that two similar sets might split the vote. For example, if two Classic Space sets were in a poll against one Castle set, the Castle would likely win...but all the Classic Space fans might pick either of the Space sets over the Castle set and therefore RCV would correctly reflect that Classic Space is best."

I think you're possibly taking this a bit too seriously!

@MisterBrickster said:
" @PDelahanty said:
" @Huw said:
" @BJNemeth said:
" @Huw , is that possible? Does Brickset's admin system allow polls with a voting limit of more than 1?"

Not currently but maybe it's something I can look into."

Ranked choice voting (RCV) would be ideal. I always worry that in polls with many options that two similar sets might split the vote. For example, if two Classic Space sets were in a poll against one Castle set, the Castle would likely win...but all the Classic Space fans might pick either of the Space sets over the Castle set and therefore RCV would correctly reflect that Classic Space is best."

I think you're possibly taking this a bit too seriously!"

Just call me 2000414 because I'm Serious Play! ;)

JUNGLE DRAGON

I’d love to have voted for the sleigh but I can’t vote for something i had zero chance to buy, both online and in store for my weekly visits.

@PDelahanty said:
" @MisterBrickster said:
" @PDelahanty said:
" @Huw said:
" @BJNemeth said:
" @Huw , is that possible? Does Brickset's admin system allow polls with a voting limit of more than 1?"

Not currently but maybe it's something I can look into."

Ranked choice voting (RCV) would be ideal. I always worry that in polls with many options that two similar sets might split the vote. For example, if two Classic Space sets were in a poll against one Castle set, the Castle would likely win...but all the Classic Space fans might pick either of the Space sets over the Castle set and therefore RCV would correctly reflect that Classic Space is best."

I think you're possibly taking this a bit too seriously!"

Just call me 2000414 because I'm Serious Play! ;)"

Thank you for that deep cut! The heady days of chrome gold ingots...

@MudkipDoom:
What, you’re not impressed by 10944? Personally, I think 70923 got it best.

@CapnRex101:
Maybe they expect to sell more in the US than the rest of the world combined.

@yellowcastle:
First, you can (usually) submit a notification request for sets that are out of stock online, and the next time your shopping region gets a stock refresh, you’ll get a one-time notification to let you know the clock is ticking. Second, ask your local LEGO Store what days they get deliveries on, and call them early in the morning to check if they got any in. If they did, and it’s not day-of-launch for that set (in which case they’re not allowed to), ask them to hold a copy for you, and make sure you get there before close the following day (if you don’t, they put it back on the shelf). I forgot to check for the sleigh when it should have launched (more focused on Home Alone), so a notification request enabled me to place an order over the phone from work when they restocked. Then the day after my Limit 2 copies arrived, the local store got a small shipment, and I was able to grab a third so I could get a full team of nine in front of Santa’s sleigh on our display at Henry Ford Museum about a week before Christmas.

My vote goes to 40516 Everyone is Awesome. I built it the day it arrived, immediately dismantled it and then rebuilt it with the minifigures arranged in a chevron (rather than a diagonal). Oh, and because it has eleven (11) unique minifigures!

Like many have said, tough choice! Tuk tuk just barely edged out Everyone Is Awesome for me.

I only have Everyone is Awesome, while the reason for the set wins all of my respect it’s not the best-designed one IMO, even if it is well-designed nonetheless. While companies making gay pride merchandise in June is just Tuesday nowadays, the fact that they used the progressive flag instead of just the classic one and the overall quality of the Monofigures makes it the most special set of the year for me and one of the most as a whole.
Edit: Okay I completely forgot that the Tumbler is $40 set, I gotta get that sometime soon. It’ll make a great addition to my Batmobile collection, alongside the Battinson one and the Knightcrawler (the latter of which I value more after the Snyder Cut, they don’t really improve it but that was a solid movie).

I own six of these, though the set I nominated (Friends Park set) didn't make the list. The sub $40 list is of better value than the sets on the overall best list.

I'm voting for the set that was second on my list - 60287 Tractor

I would say jungle dragon. I expect santa sleigh to win though, especially since it was christmas recently

My nomination - 76174 Spider-Man's Monster Truck vs. Mysterio - didn’t make the cut, so as much as I like Bro Thor's New Asgard, I had to vote for Jungle Dragon because it’s more action than display. Four cool minifigs, a windsurfing board, and that cool dragon? Yeah, that was an easy choice.

I pick Mini Disney Castle.

Can I make a query to the database that selects a year and then a price range like sets between $40 and $80? I didn’t see an option beyond a single value (greater than, less than, etc). But maybe I missed something obvious.

@Brendan_H said:
" @Mr_Orange said:
"Hands down Santa's Sleigh: 40499!"

Ditto. Great to have a reindeer battle pack :-)"

I would have voted the same if I haven't actually built this set. I find the sleigh's harness assembly to be disappointingly flimsy, so I can't get behind it as the best small set this year... sigh. Though I do really love the reindeer!!

Another tough pick! Santa Sleigh comes first, and then Everyone is awesome and the mini Disney Castle (bought all three on day one of course)

@cabbie:
You think it’s flimsy with four? Try expanding it to nine. And than raise it up into the air, so it looks like it’s flying.

I suspect it was made more as a decor piece than as something to be played with. Build it, put it on a shelf where everyone can look at it for a month, and pack it away for next year. In that use, it doesn’t really matter how sturdy the traces are, since you’re probably only going to handle it twice per year, which might include connecting them when you set it up, and disconnecting them when you pack it up. Right now I’ve got the sleigh packed in one bag, the set of reindeer that came with the sleigh in a second bag, a second quartet of reindeer in a third bag, and a ninth reindeer that’s not packed up yet because I have to send him off to a plastic surgeon to get a nose job for next year. I still have to figure out how I want to pack things long-term, but even separated into three sections, the reindeer tend to pop off the traces very easily, the runners on the sleigh need some more structure, and I used parts from my second copy to add a platform to raise up the wrapped presents so the back looks full without needing to fill it with tons of loose items that would take extra time to set up. Then I used 35 flight sticks (five under each row of reindeer, plus ten under the sleigh) to make stable stands that could raise the entire team several inches in the air, and I’m still debating if that’s enough or if I should increase that to 42 to increase the size of the base.

@PurpleDave said:
" @cabbie:
You think it’s flimsy with four? Try expanding it to nine. And than raise it up into the air, so it looks like it’s flying.

I suspect it was made more as a decor piece than as something to be played with. Build it, put it on a shelf where everyone can look at it for a month, and pack it away for next year. In that use, it doesn’t really matter how sturdy the traces are, since you’re probably only going to handle it twice per year, which might include connecting them when you set it up, and disconnecting them when you pack it up. Right now I’ve got the sleigh packed in one bag, the set of reindeer that came with the sleigh in a second bag, a second quartet of reindeer in a third bag, and a ninth reindeer that’s not packed up yet because I have to send him off to a plastic surgeon to get a nose job for next year. I still have to figure out how I want to pack things long-term, but even separated into three sections, the reindeer tend to pop off the traces very easily, the runners on the sleigh need some more structure, and I used parts from my second copy to add a platform to raise up the wrapped presents so the back looks full without needing to fill it with tons of loose items that would take extra time to set up. Then I used 35 flight sticks (five under each row of reindeer, plus ten under the sleigh) to make stable stands that could raise the entire team several inches in the air, and I’m still debating if that’s enough or if I should increase that to 42 to increase the size of the base."

That's a cool idea... I've also strung 8 reindeer together (forgoing Rudolph), and added lights. The lights hold the traces together better than they hold themselves together. The sleigh from Santa's workshop had stiff, single tube traces that could support the reindeer suspended in midair, and I've been thinking of converting to something like that, although 8 reindeer is a long line. If it was built with elevation above a base as you describe, that could stabilize the whole thing. :-)

@CapnRex101 said:
" @B_Space_Man said:
"Can I make a query to the database that selects a year and then a price range like sets between $40 and $80? I didn’t see an option beyond a single value (greater than, less than, etc). But maybe I missed something obvious. "

Yes you can, by including both >$40 and <$80 as separate query terms. Here is the relevant list of 2021 sets: https://brickset.com/sets/query-8585"

Thank you! I promise I tried this but it complained about the syntax for the 3rd item. Either way I was hitting a bug or user error, most likely the latter.

Everyone is awesome!! Perhaps not the most playful...but the message is important too!!

by far the tumbler and old style batmobile, altho i have yet to purchase the latter, also for me a set i want but prob wont purchase is the ninjago tournament of elaments

@cabbie:
So here’s how I did it with mine. Just to expand the team, I built the set as designed (before tweaking a few things). The traces mostly consist of long pieces of pearl-gold flex tube. It’s not nearly long enough to fit even a third reindeer on each side, but there are other parts in the same color. One thing that I immediately noticed is that there are gold parts mounted on either side of the sleigh, probably to represent a bar that you would step on to climb into the seating area. It consists of an umbrella stand for the center portion, lightsaber hilts at each end, and the cupcake tops as finials. Omit the finials, and you now have a F-F bar. Plug a flex tube into each end, and it’s long enough to fit four reindeer. You’ll have to adjust the official spacing so they’re right at the ends of the flex tube to make it look even. For Rudolph, I added the same parts to the front end and clipped him between the forward hilts. The downside is you need a clip on each side of Rudolph, so you can’t use the 2x2 wedge plates on the outside. I swapped out the 1x1 plates in the harness for red ones to get just a little bit of color back.

@RedLego76 said:
" @CaptainRed said:
" 40516 Everyone is Awesome makes a courageous statement about equality and liberty like no LEGO set ever did before. Its design is both simple and elegant, and conveys the massage brilliantly.
Way to go LEGO!"

Because that is what Lego should be about, pushing the political message."

Not sure what's worse - the fact that you think the set is remotely political or that 10 people apparently agree with you. Either way, several others in this comment section have eloquently provided counterpoints.

It definitely gets my vote, but Jungle Dragon is close behind it. That derpy fool is an all-time great dragon.

I'm tied between the Imperial Armored Marauder and the Tournament of Elements, from Star Wars and Ninjago respectively, my two favourite themes. My other favourite theme would be Monkie Kid which I am honestly disappointed to not see any sets from it in the list, I think because there aren't too many sets that are super affordable. Hopefully LEGO releases some cheaper MK sets next year to rival other small sets.

I was tempted to choose Tournament of Elements because it was like a fantasy temple which would've appealed to me even more if I were a few years younger, and also because of the fantasic selection of seven minifigures, all pretty well detailed for LEGO's standards.

I chose the Marauder though because I had lots of fun building such an accurate minifigure, and not only are the minifigures pretty good for army building, but the parts are also very versatile, especially because they are in dark bluish grey which is in high demand for a lot of Star Wars MOC builders.

This was an awfully difficult list from which to choose a favorite--over half of them are either on my wishlist or already in my collection, and most of the others I somehow never saw, but now am debating adding to my list! I finally went with Bro Thor because it seems to cram all the fun of the many Idea/Creator apartment sets into a very small footprint at half the price of the next least expensive. That's an achievement worthy of special notice !

Oh man all three of the sets I liked made it on here; the Mini Disney Castle, Ninjago Jungle Dragon, and City Tractor. My final vote will go for the Castle but this is a good showing!

Armored Marauder, my vote stays with my nomination.

Such a good set with a lot to it for its small size.

Voted for "Tournament of Elements" because even though I don't own it, I appreciate TLG adding the other elemental masters from the series (still like the 'Master of Sound's look; very 'Prince', very 'Sgt. Pepper'). Would have gone w/Santa's Sleigh, but I can't believe how...limited they put that out...swear TLG need to look at a P.O.D.-type model for that kinda' thing...Almost when with 'The Tumbler' too, but I have...two already, and this one doesn't really capture the amazement of that vehicle (a bit 'small', in my eyes...)

I nominated Fawkes, since I figured it would not get any mention. Pretty awesome set for the price. Considering Santa’s Sleigh was equally top in my opinion, this category was the easiest vote.

Where's the actual good cheap Marvel sets on this list?! Bro Thor's House sucks in comparison to the No Way Home Sanctum set!

I am a Space fan, so I voted for 31117 almost without thinking.

@MisterBrickster said:
"Good year for cheap sets!"

"Readily affordable" sets :)

all my favorites are in this list, this is very difficult. Everyone is awesome, Santa's Sleigh, the Tumbler, the Batmobile, I avoid licences, and choose Everyone is awesome.