Christmas Gift Guide 2018: 15 of the best Lego sets

BRICK BY BRICK

We love Lego. What could be more fun on a December afternoon than piecing together thousands of tiny pieces to make a multicolour model of epic proportions? Once you’ve finished helping the kids with their kits, though, you might well run out of blocky options. Thankfully, we’ve trawled the halls of Lego HQ to unearth some bricktastic kits to add to your Christmas collection – from skyscrapers and superheroes to big diggers and rocket science. Who says Lego’s not for adults?

PORG (£60)

Don’t tell your little ones, but those annoyingly adorable little squawkers in The Last Jedi? They were created to digitally disguise the plethora of puffins that inhabited the island where they were filming. Keep the Porg dream alive with this 19cm-high kit – complete with opening mouth, flapping wings and gawpy eyes.

LONDON BUS (£110)

Hopping aboard the 109 in London will take you from Croydon Library to Brixton Station, a riveting route which traverses one of the city’s most picturesque parts. If you’d rather go to Brickston (where you’ll presumably find all manner of brick-built buildings) you’ll need to take this No 9 Lego double-decker. Styled in trademark red, it’s packed with authentic touches, including an abandoned umbrella, a newspaper and some ruffians playing tunes on the top deck. Probably.

JAMES BOND ASTON MARTIN DB5 (£130)

From Santa with love, live and let play with this kit fit for a spy: faithful to the Goldfinger original, the brick-built DB5 packs all the tricks you’ll need to keep your miniature enemies at bay – including an ejector seat, revolving number plates, machine guns and tyre scythes. Don’t have time on the 25th? You can always try another day. Sorry.

HOGWARTS EXPRESS (£75)

Swish! One reparo spell and all 801 pieces in this Potter-inspired set will self-assemble into a suitably magical model of the Hogwarts Express, complete with luggage trolley, chocolate frogs and, err, a dementor. Unless you’re a muggle, of course, in which case you’d better stop waving that silly twig around and set to work: it’s not like those bricks will put themselves together.

AIRPORT RESCUE VEHICLE (£80)

“Activate foam cannons!” If there’s a more exhilerating phrase in the entire practice of extinguishing fires, we’re yet to hear it. Get closer to your dreams of dousing flaming planes with this Airport Rescue kit. Equipped with twin-axle steering, pair the six-wheel blaze-battler with the sold-separately Power Functions set for a motorised boom and, wait for it, flashing lights. You still need to say “nee naw nee naw”, mind.

THE HULKBUSTER: ULTRON EDITION (£120)

Someone in a huff because Santa didn’t deliver the pony they asked for? You need…the sulkbuster! Giant green mutant man smashing up your back garden? You need…the Hulkbuster! Space on your mantelpiece for a 1363-piece Marvel model with posable limbs? You need…this slightly smaller version of the Hulkbuster.

DEATH STAR (£410)

Celebrating an invention that brought death and oblivion to thousands throughout the glaxy is generally frowned upon as a recreational activity. Unless, of course, that invention is the Death Star – complete with its whopping great zapper capable of pew-pewing planets into dusty nothingness – in which case it’s perfectly appropriate to build a 42cm-wide model for your mantelpiece.

BUGATTI CHIRON (£330)

“I’ve bought myself a Bugatti,” you’ll say. “What kind?” they’ll ask. The truth is up to you, but we’d be mighty proud of this feature-packed replica of the French marque’s world-beating Chiron. With 3599 pieces to play with, it’s not a quickie to build – and, given that it’s delivered in special packaging complete with a collector’s book, this might be one to keep out of reach of small hands.

NASA APOLLO SATURN V (£110)

Using computers less powerful than your average calculator, boffins back in the ’60s managed to safely blast a foolhardy crew of spacemen off to our cheesey neighbour, strapped to the pointy end of a Saturn V rocket. And, while Mr Musk launching cars into space might make spaceflight seem a cinch nowadays, that’s an achievement worth celebrating. And, even if you think the landings were faked, the 1969 pieces (nice touch) should keep you off the internet for a while.

BIG BEN (£180)

“Big Ben is the name of the bell, not the tower!” While your granddad goes off on another festive tirade about the sorry state of common knowledge, you can get busy with this towering kit’s 4,163 pieces. True to form, the bell itself won’t actually ring. Unlike the real thing (which has been silenced until 2021 for rennovation work), that’s because Lego is made of plastic.

BUCKET WHEEL EXCAVATOR (£190)

Who doesn’t want a giant marble-munching machine made of plastic? Sure, it might not actually chew through rocks with the same consummate ease as its bigger mining brother, but it’ll scoop up layabout Lego, no sweat. Motor-driven belts and buckets put paid to back-breaking brick-shifting, whilst the boom can be raised and lowered for optimum chipping angles. Lego’s largest Technic kit to date – with more than 3900 pieces making up its monstrous, 41cm-tall frame – a dumper truck buddy is also on hand to haul the processed pieces which it churns out.

VOLTRON (£160)

A colourful giant sporting several lions? It’s not big Dave back from the England game, but ’80s TV legend Voltron in Lego form. Not familiar with the series? Much like your mate Dave, Voltron’s team of five robot lions were keen on defending against maruading foreign forces; unlike Dave, the five could combine to form a mega ‘bot to fend them off. Neither could win the cup, though.

ARCHITECTURE NEW YORK CITY (£45)

Lego’s entire Architecture series is inspired by the detail-focussed finesse that drives the Kevin McClouds among us – and that’s very much the case with this New York City kit. Distinctly not for kids – as the website will warn you – this stylishly subtle set portrays the changing shape of the Big Apple’s skyline on a single base, from the Statue of Liberty to a 26cm-high Empire State Building. It’s less about building something fun than having a scale desktop model to inspect for hours on end, but, for those of a design inclination, it’s a real doozy.

X-WING STARFIGHTER (£90)

Use the Force, you must. No, seriously: push those little pieces together too firmly and you’ll need the powers of a Jedi to get them unstuck. Then again, you probably want your X-Wing that well-assembled if you’re attempting a run on the Empire’s latest weapon of mass destruction. Flick the wings from cruise to attack mode, pop your preferred pilot in the cockpit and go get your Red on. If you’re quick, you’ll be back in time for tea on Dagobah.

VESTAS WIND TURBINE (£160)

A retro kit brought back to life, stick this mini Vestas turbine on your front lawn and, while it won’t generate clean energy, it will show your commitment to sustainability: the spruce tree piece is made from plant-based plastic. See, waste problem solved. That the model’s motor actually uses battery power to turn the blades is probably one to keep on the down-low.