If you haven’t worked it out by now, we love all things LEGO. We also love Stranger things, so you can imagine our gleeful delight, in amongst the real gut punch of a year that has been 2020, when we discovered that the Danish wizards at LEGO have blended the two worlds together with The Upside Down set. It’ll cost you about $349 big ones, but trust us, this is no preschool plaything, and words cannot do it justice, so take a quick look below.
There are instantly a few notable takeaways here. First is the immense attention to detail throughout the entire scene once you’ve sunk plenty of hours into construction. Not only are key elements from the show well accounted for – like the infamous alphabet wall (that lights up!) – but even the smaller touches like Hopper’s coffee cup and Dustin’s walkie-talkie that prove there has been some real love put into the overall design. Come on, there’s even a minifig Demogorgon which is both adorable and terrifying. We’re still not sure whether to place it on our bedside table or lock it away in the freezer.
Build-wise, while The Upside Down set totes a similar age bracket (16+) to something slightly more complex than say the Lamborghini Sian FKP Technic set, its arguably a much more satisfying build. That’s largely due to the fact that because there is so much going on, there’s plenty to build – creating more achievable goals.
Instead of spending 15 hours building one single model, it only took us maybe 30 minutes to whip up Hopper’s police car. These smaller bite-sized chunks help make you feel like you’re actually making some progress and also give you a good reason to pause for a bit before jumping onto the next task. Either way it’s a great reason to throw on a good podcast and enjoy the Christmas break.
You can pick it up from most major retailers or the LEGO store, just in case you can convince somebody to toss one into your Chrissy stocking.
