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I think it’s probably fair to say that Lego is the most iconic toy of all time. In it’s 91 year history the company has collaborated with a wealth of brands, from Nestlé to ferrari. So it was inevitable that this multi billion business would cross paths with Netflix, one of the biggest streaming services. The Netflix original, ‘Stranger Things’, has been wildly successful and has a massive devoted fandom, so of all the Netflix shows, I’d say it’s the best to adapt to a Lego format. Today we are going to take a look into the Stranger Things LEGO set, the Upside Down.
Minifigures
The set includes a total of 8 minifigs. There is a massive range in quality between them, with some being contenders for the best figures of all time.
Lucas
The Lucas figure features a torso print depicting his iconic outfit from the early seasons, it captures the key details of the character, and the likeness to Caleb McLaughlin is acceptable. The slingshot is a nice inclusion and rounds out Lucas nicely. He features mid-legs, as do all the kids. My major gripe with this minifig has to be the choice of hair, to complete the character the designers chose to give him his bandana, but, for whatever reason, they decided to use a pre-existing piece designed for hairless heads, leaving Lucas’s hair without texture.
Dustin
Onto my favourite figure, Dustin is wearing his iconic blue jacket and his hat. The jacket is exceptionally well detailed and that’s not where the likeness ends, the face perfectly captures Dustin through the designers’ choices of expressions for him, specifically that smile. The piece for the hat was introduced in this set – and remained exclusive until 2023- it has an exclusive print to accurately recreate the cap so often associated with the character.
Eleven
Continuing to the next figure, Eleven features the outfit from the middle of the first season which is designed as a reference to E.T. the opacity of the pink dress remains strong despite being printed on the blue base of the denim jacket, she also gets a fabric skirt to add to the figure. The head features a generic scowl – I maybe would’ve liked her to have a bloody nose print (but that doesn’t exactly align with Lego’s – admittedly inconsistent – guidelines), but the single sided face is reasonable as it allows Eleven to be displayed without the included blonde wig. She also includes a new waffle print for her eggo
Mike
Mike is one of the slightly weaker figures of the set, his torso print is a fine representation of the show costume, however the neck print needed at least two more layers. The face is also fine, maybe it looks a little too young, and I don’t dislike the hair as much as most people, however the new Jedi Luke hair in black would Look better.
Will
The last of the included kids is Will Byres. He features an incredibly accurate recreation of the multi coloured puffer jacket worn in the show coupled with a new face print designed to capture the constant levels of terror the Duffer brothers seem obsessed with putting him under. The new hair piece captures the haircut better than any pre-existing piece. Overall, a well rounded figure.
Hopper
Now, for my least favourite figure, Hopper. This minifig just seems so lazy, the lack of leg printing, the hairless head (which the hat fails to cover), the lacklustre torso, they all add up to create something which just feels rushed and without care.
Joyce
Continuing our analysis, we get to the other adult in the set, Joyce Byres. The unprinted legs are a little disappointing, however, the rest of the figure is pretty great, both expressions perfectly capture the likeness and expressions of Joyce, the hair is a perfect reuse of Hermione’s, and the torso printing is high quality.
Demogorgon
Lastly, we get to the Demogorgon. This figure comes in at a close second favourite, it expertly captures the titular monster introduce back in season 1 episode 1. The torso printing captures the perfect amount of detail to feel high quality, while still feeling like a Lego figure, the included claws add extra accuracy to it. There was only one choice for the legs; the monster legs introduced in Lego dimensions, they properly recreate the Demogorgon’s stance and add extra detail to the overall figure. The best part of this figure is the head, the piece itself portrays the folded up face, but after attaching an included head-cover, you get the iconic open mouth Demogorgon from the show, this is an ingenious strategy to cram as much detail in as possible.
Overall, the minifig selection is solid, capturing a good chunk of the main cast in (mostly) great detail, however, there is a lack of four key characters, namely: Nancy, Steve and Jonathan. What makes this especially disappointing is that you get the bear trap and axe from when they trap the Demogorgon. This not withstanding, it’s still a great set.
The Building Experience
Building experience, not only in the Upside Down set, is an essential component of a Lego set, as it often factors in heavily to your overall enjoyment of the set once it’s complete. For what theoretically should be a boring and repetitive build, I found the experience of building this set highly enjoyable. The instructions and order of operations are structured in such a way that you get fully immersed in building the Byres’ home, with pieces of information highlighting the key Easter Eggs (more on that later). The minifigs are scattered throughout the bags so to balance the build process. At the halfway point, there are images from the show that link in with what you’ve been building, after that, the thing you’ve been dreading the most: building basically the exact same thing you’ve just built. However, due to size of the set, there has been enough time since you built each section of the house, that it doesn’t feel you are just building what you’ve built just a moment previous. Also, the knowledge that comes from building the right way round (that’s needs a better name) house, means that you have a greater appreciation for the work the designers put in to represent the overgrowth and disrepair often associated with the house. The final segment of the instructions, which is assembling all the built components, is a bit fiddly, but overall the instructions carefully detail how to assemble the final model.
Overview
The Upside Down set is amazing, it is instantly recognisable and depicts the two key worlds in a unique and interesting format. There is no set like it in the sense of awe you get from using its main feature: the entire set can be rotated 180° and balance on the trees, with nothing falling off or being unstable. The model can look a bit cramped with all the figures on it, fortunately there is an (unfortunately stickered) display plaque for 4 minifigures.
Accuracy
Whist you can’t say the model is a perfect recreation of the house, it’s pretty close, the points of inaccuracy mostly occur with the arrangement of the interior – this was done to capture not important rooms of the house, which include: Will’s room, and the main living room. All the key details in Will’s room have been captured effectively, despite the confined space.
There is a also a ton of cool building techniques and references. The upside down rendition also seems passably accurate, however, in the show there is more overgrowth. The layout of the living room, while not being accurate to the show, allows for the most space to recreate the room as best as possible. The attention to detail is on point, featuring core components of the room, such as the phone, sofa and armchair.
However, the Christmas lights are a sticker, which for such an iconic part of the home, is disappointing, while I understand it is in service of a light feature (which doesn’t work very well), I would’ve much preferred brick built lights and stickered lettering on a panel – as a side note, there is a general reliance on stickers to capture important details in this set, there are very few printed bricks, three of which (Eggos, newspaper windows and a drawing) were new for this set.
Building Techniques
In the Upside Down set, it incorporates a range of intricate Lego techniques in order to ensure strength and accuracy, highlights include: the simple lamp and furniture builds, the attachment of the sides of hoppers car, but the best is the simple build used to keep Hopper’s car in place, no matter the builds orientation.
Easter Eggs
Now, for some fun.
- Will’s room: Shark (Jaws) poster, hole in the wall (more for the exterior), lava lamp, Johnathon’s boombox
- Attic: Bob’s video camera, Will’s mind flayer drawings, Will the wise’s hat (the only season 3 reference as this set released before it)
- Main room: D&D rulebook, bear trap (more on that later), the titular phone, Will missing poster, an axe, an Xmas lights box, Christmas lights and painted letters.
- Hopper’s truck: pumpkin in the back
- Exterior: previously mentioned hole in the wall, Will’s bike, Barb missing Posters on the trees, Will the wise drawing.
The upside down features mostly the same references, all are in a worse state, the biggest exception is the replacement to the bear trap. There is instead black tiles to represent the Demogorgon’s blood from stepping in the bear trap – my favourite hidden Easter egg.
The model is loaded with Easter eggs and they make for a fun treat for builders during the construction. If I’ve missed anything, let me know
Final Thoughts
This Upside Down set is truly phenomenal, it is one of the best Lego sets of the decade, and given the fact it is the only minifigure set based off the show (not including the SDDC exclusive barb or release exclusive Byre’s fort), makes it an absolute no brainer for show obsessed fans who missed it. I honestly couldn’t write a review long enough to praise this set enough, despite all its drawbacks and shortcomings.
