The Best Lego Sets We Got in 2019

The Best Lego Sets We Got in 2019

There’s been a lot of amazing Lego this year, so much so that we had to add extra spots to our end-of-year list. This certainly isn’t the kind of stuff you want if you want to save money, but if you weren’t paying attention you might have let a few of these slip you by.

Let us remind you about all the great sets that arrived this year, because these are all worthy of a place on your shelves. Or being put together and falling apart while you or your kids play with them.

UCS Imperial Star Destroyer, $1099.99

Joint first as the most expensive Lego set, and the largest in terms of taking up space, we couldn’t not include the Lego Star Destroyer. At £650, it measures over a metre long and comes with 4,784 pieces that will take you a few days to build if you only stop to sleep and use the toilet. The minifigure selection is pretty poor, but that doesn’t make it any less impressive.

It even has a to-scale Tantive IV that flies alongside it. [Buy it here]

Newbury Side Haunted High School, $199.99

Newbury Side is a really cool idea, using real Lego sets to tie into a smartphone app and letting people play around with augmented reality games. There are a lot to choose from, but if we had to choose the best it would be the High School. Sure it’s the most expensive, but it’s also incredibly intricate with all the extra details that fold out when the school becomes ‘possessed’ . The app is free too, which is nice. [Buy it here]

Welcome to Apocalypseburg, $499.99

The big one from The Lego Movie 2 range, featuring the Statue of Liberty-inspired city of Apocalypseburg from the film. It’s a fiddly build, but it comes with a massive range of minifigures and miniature locations to play with. Unless you want it as a display-only model, in which case it’ll look great on one of your shelves. [Buy it here]

Apollo 11 Lunar Lander, $159.99

It was the 50th anniversary of the Apollo 11 moon landing back in July, and to celebrate Lego released an updated version of the lunar lander sets that have been released over the years. The astronauts themselves could have been better, but it’s a nice little recreation of the ’69 landing that looks great. [Buy it here]

Friends: Central Perk, $89.99

It’s been 25 years since Friends first hit TV screens, and it was perfect timing that the recreation of Central Perk managed to get through Lego Ideas just in time. It’s a great little recreation of the series’ iconic coffee shop, complete with all six friends, various accessories, and Gunther. Because it’s not Central Perk if Gunther isn’t staring at Rachel all the time. [Buy it here]

Steamboat Willie, $129.99

Disney seems on the path towards world domination, so we might as well mark that fact with Mickey Mouse’s first outing remade with Lego. It comes with old-school Mickey and Minnie Mouse, plus a smoke stack that moves up and down as you push the boat around. It’s incredible how great something can look when you only use two different colours. [Buy it here]

1989 Batmobile, $399.99

So this one isn’t out for a couple of weeks, but it’s still worth adding to our ‘best of’ list. Not only is it a faithful recreation of Tim Burton’s Batmobile, it also comes with a rotating stand so you can display is in whatever way you like. Pretty sure that’s not been done before, and I hope it sticks around.

Oh and it has pop-up machine guns, and three minifigures to display (Batman, Joker, and Vicki Vale), so it’s a must for any fan. Lego, Batman, or otherwise. [Buy it here]

Dinosaur Fossils, $99.99

The perfect set if you also have a Ross Gellar minifig from Central Perk, but also if you like dinosaurs and can’t afford the Jurassic Park T-Rex Rampage. It’s a bit fragile for playing with, and the single-colour build makes it extra challenging, but if you’re big on displaying your Lego this is a must-have. [Buy it here]

Jurassic Park: T. rex Rampage, $399.99

Those gates are one of the most iconic things about the first Jurassic Park, and now you can own them for yourself. But far from just creating the gates, the set builds scenes from the film into its insides. Jeff Goldblum lying on that sofa? Bingo. Samuel L Jackson’s severed arm? That’s there too. There’s even a toilet that’s suspiciously missing the ill-fated lawyer.

Oh right this comes with a big T-Rex too, which is cool I guess. [Buy it here]

Stranger Things: The Upside Down, $349.99

A tedious build, since it requires two almost-identical versions of the house to be built, but it’s worth the effort to have a gravity-defying set like this. Complete with eight minifigures, Hopper’s car, and plenty of Easter eggs for fans of the show, it’s something you can’t miss out on. Especially since you can flip it around it you ever get bored. [Buy it here]

Tantive IV, $329.99

It’s much much bigger than the one that comes with the Star Destroyer, but that’s not a bad thing. Princess Leia’s blockade runner has been remade several times over the years, but never quite as detailed as this. Sure it doesn’t have a stand, but it does open up to show off the interior of the ship ” and even comes with a never-before-seen minifigure of Leia’s father Bail Organa. [Buy it here]

Tree House, $279.99

It’s fitting that the largest number of sustainable plant-based Lego pieces make up are available in such large quantities here. After all, this treehouse shows off a domicile that’s incredibly close to nature, even if there wouldn’t be any room for a big screen TV in those tiny huts.

The best part, though, is that you can swap the leaves round to move between summer and autumn variants. It takes some work, but it’s perfect for mixing up your displays or opening new ways to play. [Buy it here]

Empire State Building, $149.99

I’m not going to lie, the exterior of this set looks like it’s tedious as hell. But like The Upside Down, it’s obvious that the final result is well worth all that pain. It’s not the first version of the Empire State Building to be released, but it’s definitely the biggest and prettiest. If you have to pick one Architecture set to display, this is definitely the one to go for. [Buy it here]

Liebherr R 9800, $749.99

This one is expensive, complicated, and pretty monstrous-looking, but it’s not one that can be ignored. It’s really impressive-looking for starters, but the fact it has app controls means you can have a lot of fun playing with it ” showing off or putting it to good use by digging up your back garden. [Buy it here]

Creator Expert Corner Garage, $299.99

The very first big set of 2019 was another entry in the modular buildings range. It’s a corner building, funnily enough, for those of you who have enough modular sets to put together their own Lego city. Complete with six minifigures, three floors, and a tow-truck, it’s an ideal addition to your modular collection. Especially since it gives you somewhere for all the other vehicles to go. [Buy it here]


This post originally appeared on Gizmodo UK, which is gobbling up the news in a different timezone.


The Cheapest NBN 50 Plans

It’s the most popular NBN speed in Australia for a reason. Here are the cheapest plans available.

At Gizmodo, we independently select and write about stuff we love and think you'll like too. We have affiliate and advertising partnerships, which means we may collect a share of sales or other compensation from the links on this page. BTW – prices are accurate and items in stock at the time of posting.