After what’s felt like years of ready, hoping, and speculating, earlier this yr, Lego finally confirmed it will be boldly going ahead with a Star Trek set that has turn into the centerpiece of the brick-maker’s annual Thanksgiving celebrations. Can it reside up to the hype?
Fortunately, the reply is a convincing sure. Lego’s first foray into Star Trek, the Enterprise-D from The Subsequent Technology, is an interesting tribute to the legendary sequence whereas additionally being a particularly compelling construct expertise for diehard Lego followers, full of enjoyable methods to preserve Star Trek‘s famously smooth-lined starship design in the world of Lego. io9 just lately obtained a evaluate copy of the Enterprise from Lego, so we’re right here to take you inside and see what makes it so good—and why we hope it means it’s the first of many.
How lengthy does it take to construct Lego’s Star Trek Enterprise-D set?
Clocking in at 3,600 items, the Lego Enterprise-D is a reasonably sizeable mannequin, leading to a duplicate of the Galaxy-class starship and a sturdy show stand to pose it mid-flight on that measures round 23.5″ from fore to aft and 10.5″ tall (aided by the truth the ship is held at an upwards angle on its stand). Whereas it is a serious endeavor, the construct is damaged into three distinct sections: the secondary hull and the Enterprise‘s nacelles, the stand itself, after which half of the 30 luggage in the set are devoted to the primary saucer.
Given the nature of the Enterprise-D’s design, when you get going, there are numerous comparable methods repeated over and over, so if you happen to’re a well-recognized builder, you may go fairly rapidly and even duplicate some steps to velocity up the course of. General, although, if you happen to’re taking issues leisurely, you may be achieved in 9-10 hours… or round 12 episodes of Deep House 9, if you happen to’re like me and like to put one thing on when you’re constructing (sorry TNG followers, however I’d just lately simply restarted a rewatch and determined to proceed that reasonably than put on a extra thematically applicable little bit of background noise!).
What number of minifigures are in Lego’s Star Trek Enterprise-D set?
Although the focus of the set is the ship duplicate reasonably than a playset surroundings, it will be a criminal offense if Lego’s first Trek set didn’t go all in on minifigures. Fortunately, the Enterprise-D comes with 9 minifigures to faithfully recreate the bridge crew you realize and love: Picard, Riker, Troi, Worf, La Forge, Information, Dr. Crusher, and Wesley Crusher in his well-known jumper. Becoming a member of them to spherical out the set is a welcome however barely oddball alternative in Guinan, hostess of the Enterprise lounge Ten Ahead, however she, like Wesley, breaks up the sea of comparable Starfleet uniforms with some pretty distinctive parts to recreate her modern wardrobe.
Every minifigure comes with an adjunct, some extra distinctive than others, even when they’re all applicable. Wesley will get a really distinctive accent in the type of a mini duplicate of the moveable tractor beam generator from “The Bare Now,” as does Riker together with his beloved trombone. Picard naturally comes with a teacup, Guinan has a inexperienced bottle of one thing from Ten Ahead (it’s by no means explicitly famous what it is, but it surely looks like a nod to the Aldebaran whiskey Information affords Scotty in “Relics”), Information will get Spot the cat, and Geordi comes with an engineering equipment. Maybe the least attention-grabbing ones are satirically the most usually Star Trek: Worf will get a handheld phaser, which is cleverly constructed with a wedge piece and a deal with, no less than, whereas Deanna and Beverly get a PADD and medical tricorder… each of which are simply printed 1×2 tiles. Which are fantastic and possibly the finest Lego might do at minifigure scale, however simply form of boring.
What is good is that, in a uncommon transfer, the Enterprise-D comes with a little bit separate stand to put the minifigures on in a row, full with a cute little Subsequent Technology title card (albeit as a sticker, reasonably than a printed piece). It’s a pleasant acquiescence to the undeniable fact that the construct is extra about the show mannequin than the minifigures themselves, but it surely was nonetheless good that Lego constructed one thing extra structured to show them on, as a substitute of simply leaving them as-is.
Is Lego’s Star Trek Enterprise-D set tough to construct?
Constructing a Lego mannequin out of a ship like the Enterprise-D is a dangerous endeavor, given its peculiar shaping and weight distribution, on high of the undeniable fact that, nicely, it’s largely gray. However Lego places numerous attention-grabbing methods in all through the construct to not solely successfully seize the curvature and shaping of the Galaxy-class but additionally to hold your fingers busy and not have issues blur into an extended sequence of comparable patterns getting used to construct similar-looking, similar-colored items.
There are positively a couple of locations the place extra seasoned Lego builders can begin duplicating builds to velocity up the course of: the construct of the secondary hull of the Enterprise is cut up into two halves, for instance, before you construct the two nacelles that are an identical in construction. When you’ve constructed the skeleton of the primary saucer, you’re then basically repeating little plate sections of the hull to sandwich over it. Whereas the repeating is usually a bit, nicely, repetitive, there are sufficient attention-grabbing methods used for knowledgeable builders and sufficient easy patterning for Trek followers who is perhaps embarking on their first-ever Lego construct of this scale.
On high of that, although the Enterprise-D is a show set reasonably than a playset, the design workforce nonetheless snuck in a couple of enjoyable little options and Easter eggs. The aforementioned primary saucer part, for instance, is secured into place by a little bit floating shuttlecraft coming in to dock at its aft shuttle bay—which may be eliminated so you may separate the saucer from the secondary hull to replicate the Galaxy-class’ distinctive characteristic. And although you don’t get to construct its iconic bridge, the heart of the saucer does maintain a little bit duplicate of the Enterprise‘s dedication plaque! At the same time as somebody who is on the document on the D being far from my favourite Enterprise design, I couldn’t assist however be charmed at simply how nicely Lego managed to convey it faithfully to life.
How a lot is Lego’s Star Trek Enterprise-D set? Is it price the value?
Alas, this is going to be the sticking level for lots of Star Trek followers. At $400, the Enterprise-D might not be fairly so eye-watering as a few of Lego’s different current set costs, but it surely’s nonetheless a giant ask, and particularly tough contemplating it’s the first time (and probably final) the firm has tackled Star Trek. You’re positively getting one thing that feels price the value when it comes to dimension and scope, but it surely’s not exhausting to surprise if Lego ought to’ve began out at a smaller scale or with completely different concepts past ship replicas to take a look at the waters and see if Star Trek might turn into simply as enduring a Lego sequence as Star Wars has, if the various was a really dear one-off.
We don’t know what the future for Lego Star Trek holds past the Enterprise-D—this could possibly be the begin of a yearly launch schedule akin to Lego’s strategy to Lord of the Rings, a line that solely stays in the higher echelons of adult-focused, high-end (and high-cost) units. It’s plain that as a construct expertise and as a duplicate of certainly one of the sequence’ most well-known starships, the Enterprise-D is a Star Trek and Lego fan’s dream: it appears to be like nice, it’s a enjoyable, huge construct, and it’s obtained an excellent assortment of minifigures that feels full in the approach that, if this is it, no less than you bought the whole lot you’d need.
But it surely’s equally plain that numerous Star Trek followers and numerous Lego followers are going to be postpone by Lego’s choice to go huge because it did right here to justify asking such a excessive value, in an age the place the firm’s merchandise really feel like they’re solely getting pricier and pricier. There’s much more worth in the Enterprise-D in contrast to a few of 2025’s different big-ticket units, positive, however $400 is nonetheless $400.
If there was some form of indication from Lego that this wouldn’t be it and that there could be extra, smaller-scoped units, it is perhaps a better capsule to swallow, realizing Trek followers can wait and see what else the firm does in the event that they don’t need to throw down this a lot money in a single go. At the same time as nice a set because it is, it’s a tricky promote to anybody however a few of the most diehard Star Trek followers with out some Ferengi-level justification to your pockets.
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