Stuff picks Lego

STUFF PICKS

JURASSIC SPARK The gate features jungle leaves and flame elements, as part of an accessory list that also includes John Hammond’s hat and cane.

JURASSIC BARK The dino stands at 22cm; so although she has snapping jaws plus a posable head, arms, legs and tail, you won’t need a litter tray the size of a swimming pool.

STUFF PICKS

Breaking the boredom with a big-ass Lego kit could actually boost your cognitive development… or it could keep you up until 3am attempting to assemble Hogwarts like David Beckham

Jurassic Park: T.Rex Rampage

R4 500 / 3120 pieces

This girl has got teeth. You’ll recognise her as the T.Rex from Jurassic Park – and in case you’ve got a Zoom quiz or two coming up, a bit of trivia for you: her real name is Roberta. Not so ferocious now, eh? That said, we’d still think twice about giving a real-life Roberta flak.

The set includes not only he beast herself, but also the conic entrance gates to the original ill-fated attempt at a wildlife park of de-extinct dinosaurs, from way before oe Exotic proposed bringing back the sabre-toothed tiger. The trigger-activated gate is framed by a wall incorporating seven detailed scenes inspired by the film, such as John Hammond’s dining room, Ray Arnold’s control room and a bunker for Ian Malcolm.

You also get minifigures of six characters: Hammond, Malcolm (complete with Jeff Goldblum’s black shirt and hairy chest combo), Arnold, Ellie Sattler, Alan Grant and Dennis Nedry, plus a baby dinosaur. But mostly it’s just an excuse to build a massive T-Rex.

ALTERNATIVELY… BEYOND LEGO

The Upside Down

This set from Stranger Things is a flippable model set in two worlds. Bundled in the box are eight minifigures including Eleven, Chief Jim Hopper and a Demogorgon that’s not to be confused with Joyce Byers on the warpath. R3 600 (2287 pieces)

Teenage Engineering Rick And Morty PO-137

For a break from assembling brick kits, why not assemble some sequenced beats? This Teenage special edition lets you mash up voice samples from Rick and Morty themselves. R1 520 / teenage. engineering

STUFF PICKS

NEILLY THERE The detailed interior includes room for two astronauts (shafted again, Michael Collins), who are included as minifigures in NASA spacesuits.

NASA Apollo 11 Lunar Lander

R1 600 / 1087 pieces

If you think Houston had a problem with a crippled space module, wait until you misplace one of the bricks in this replica of the Eagle, the craft that safely landed Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin on the Moon/a TV studio in 1969.

Yes, alright space geeks, we know the ‘Houston’ line is from Apollo 13 and not entirely accurate anyway, so here’s some Apollo 11 trivia for you: nobody knows where the Eagle is now, so forget buying the original on eBay. This giant leap for Lego-kind (finally, a proper Apollo 11 reference!) is the closest you’re going to get to the real thing.

Commemorating last year’s 50th anniversary of the landings, the set comes from Lego’s Creator series and was developed in partnership with NASA to ensure authenticity. So as well as detachable stages, gold-coloured landing pads and the famous ladder, there’s a depiction of the Moon’s surface complete with crater, footprints and a non-flapping flag.

ALTERNATIVELY… BEYOND LEGO

Liebherr R 9800 Excavator

This Technic kit is a monster. With seven motors, you get control over a range of functions, and can spend hours clearing up the pile of Lego rocks supplied — or any old bricks you’ve left strewn over the floor. R8 000 (4108 pieces)

Meccano MAX

Couldn’t feature a Lego Technic set without mentioning Meccano, could we? From the wonderfully titled Erector series, the MAX combines AI with coding and can be controlled using voice commands: “Erector, stand to attention!” R3 900 / manicaa.com

CKS

HIP

the ship n’s cabin, bedroom ly there’s uty-free de for s.

Pirates of Barracuda Bay

R3 300 / 2545 pieces

Everything changed for Lego in 1978 when the minifigure rocked up. Sets were suddenly built to house them, rather than merely echo real-world buildings. And with larger sets come more ambitious locations. This one recalls the classic Lego Pirates theme, but with a two-build set – an intact ship, plus an island and shipwreck – that would have had any 1990s Lego collector’s eyes out on stalks.

This treasure chest of a set includes a firing cannon, a full crew of eight scurvy minifigures, three crabs, two parrots, two frogs, two skeletons, and the option to row a boat in shark-infested seas – ironically, an ocean made of plastic as opposed to being full of it.

For a truly authentic experience you could try building this one while drunk on rum, draped in costume jewelry, wearing a hanky on your head and flaunting the questionable facial hair you’ve been forced to cultivate for the past two months.

Roller Coaster

The Roller Coaster brings stomachflipping larks to Lego’s fairground theme for the first time. With or without power functions, you can send your minifigs for the ride of their lives without queuing for five hours and finding a pool of vomit at the end. R4 700 (4124 pieces)

Robomaster S1 by DJI

Instead of building a tangible object, you could do your construction in a digital space using DJI’s educationfocused robot. Learn Scratch and Python while mucking around with an awesome robo-tank. Because learning sometimes is fun. R10 500 / takealot.com

STUFF PICKS

BARNEY REBEL As well as huge engine exhausts and intricate surface detailing, there’s a buildable scale version of the Rebels’ Tantive IV starship to capture. You evil bastard.

Imperial Star Destroyer

R12 000 / 4784 pieces

It’s going to set you back plenty of galactic credits (if you’ve still got time to kill after building this, look up ‘Star Wars: The Economics of the Galactic Empire’), but the Imperial Star Destroyer is a frankly ludicrous 111cm build for unleashing your inner Sith.

A giant replica of the starship as it appears in the opening scenes of A New Hope, it’s authentically designed with twin deflector shields and a tilting tractor beam antenna. If you were in any doubt as to the size and scale of this project, note it comes with just two minifigures – an Imperial Officer and Imperial Crewmember – reflecting not just how knee-deep in bricks you’ll be, but how much more Lego and Disney would like you to spend on additional character packs. You do, however, get two blaster pistol weapons and a display stand for showing off on Instagram.

If you require an even bigger challenge, mix up all the bags of grey pieces before you begin. (Don’t do that.)

ALTERNATIVELY… BEYOND LEGO

Millennium Falcon

See yourself on the light side of the Force? Get your righteous hands on the Millennium Falcon set instead. At 83cm long it too is a beast, but it comes with a generous minifigure crew including two Han Solos. R14 000 (7541 pieces)

LittleBits Droid Inventor Kit

LittleBits was part of Disney’s tech accelerator scheme before being bought by Sphero, which had already been playing with droid replicas, so this R2-D2 coding kit with wireless phone control makes sense. R1 200 / takealot.com

MUSTANG SILLY Want insane levels of detail? Open the doors or lift the roof to check out an interior with handsome seats, radio, working steering and a mid-console gearshift.

STUFF PICKS

Ford Mustang

R2 300 / 1471 pieces

Forget those tanking petrol prices: your chances of ever owning an original 1960s muscle-car are evaporating faster than water in the Karoo during a heatwave. And anyway, this Mustang replica is marginally better for the environment.

Regarded by some as the finest Lego set ever made, it can even be customised with a supercharger, ducktail spoiler and beefy exhaust. It doesn’t end there, because the officially licensed kit also features a raise-up rear axle, aggressive air-scoop and five-spoke rims with high-grip tyres that will get any Hi-Q fitter hot under the bonnet.

Hardcore Ford geeks can revel in the Mustang grille badge, GT emblems and selection of number plates, while Speed and Sound subscribers are likely to be more aroused by the front chin spoiler and nitrous oxide tank, or by lifting the lid to expose the big-block 390 V8 engine with battery, hoses and air filter detailing. Grrr, we feel manly just writing about it.

ALTERNATIVELY… BEYOND LEGO

1989 Batmobile

Taking brick-built cars in a rather more fantastical direction, this is a lush rendition of the ‘Burtonmobile’ — still, in our opinion, the best Batmobile of them all. You also get minifigs, although they’re a bit small for the 60cm-long car. R4 500 (3306 pieces)

Haynes Build Your Own V8 Engine

The great thing about building an engine while homeschooling the kids is that it’s useless technology for the modern world, and therefore has no tangible benefits. Which is just how we like our fun. R1 300 / ubuy.za.com