Set Review ➟ 21317 Steamboat Willie
“A black and white set with so many colors and fun packed in it”—this was my first thought after building the 24th LEGO Ideas set, the Steamboat Willie. Let’s see why.
Box and instruction manual
The box is already a special part of the set. It’s around 28.5cm wide, 26cm tall, and 9.5cm deep, it features some functionalities of the set, and it’s also 90% grayscale—the LEGO® and “Disney Mickey Mouse” logos are colored, and the LEGO® Ideas logo, as well as some parts of Mickey Mouse and Steamboat Willie illustrations are reflective “silver”, which gives a premium feel to this set when you hold it in your hands.
On the first couple of pages of the instruction manual, we can read interesting facts about Steamboat Willie, Disney, the fan designer, and the LEGO® designers who made this set. Disney’s 1928 cartoon Steamboat Willie was a groundbreaking achievement in the world of motion pictures. It was the first movie with fully synchronized soundtrack and the first film ever being storyboarded, and most importantly, the first appearance of the world’s most beloved mouse was also in it. 90 years later, The Walt Disney Company is still one of the best animation companies.
After a brief intro, we can also read about the fan designer, Máté Szabó, who had originally submitted this model to LEGO® Ideas, LEGO® Designer John Ho, who translated Máté’s idea into a fantastic LEGO® set, and LEGO® Graphic Designer Crystal Bam Fontan, who designed the decorations for Steamboat Willie, Mickey, and Minnie.
Building the model
The model is divided into 3 main steps, and there are also three set of bags (numbered from 1 to 3, of course). First of all, we build Mickey, a small black and white sign, with Mickey’s head and the date “1928” on it, and we also make the “heart” of Willie.
This part of the build is really colorful, but I believe it’s because the designers wanted to make the building experience as good as possible. They color coded the different parts of the build, and, of course, they used strange colors in order to reduce the production costs. It’s alright, because we won’t see this part of the boat, and in my opinion it just makes the building easier for us.
We use three different type of gears and four wheels here, which will give us really nice features at the end. I would also like to mention the way the designers connected the front and back part of the boat to its center part. They actually used a SNOT (studs not on top) building technique in order to reach the nice, curved shape of the boat, then connected the 3 main parts of it using 1x2 plates with balls on them. Really creative!
In the second building phase, we can finally see white and gray parts too, and we also build the mechanism, which makes the big smoke stacks move!
In the third phase, we can finally build Minnie, and it’s all about adding details to the boat: we’re building the moving paddles, adding printed tiles, building the cabin, building the small crane in the back of the boat, and finalizing the smoke stacks.
After about 3 hours, the model is finished, and we can finally start playing with it! Thanks to the wheels and gears that we added in the first few building steps, when we push the model, the paddles and smoke stacks are moving, and of course we can also play with the crane!
When I saw the review results on LEGO® Ideas a few weeks ago, and realized that this model will be produced, I couldn’t imagine in what size will the LEGO® designers build it, and if it will be actually playable or not. After building the model, I must say that I’m amazed, and I can only recommend it to every LEGO® fan, builder, and collector. It’s a nice display piece, the kids can play with it, and the building experience is also amazing and hard enough for adult fans of LEGO®!
We wish to thank LEGO for providing this set for review. The opinions in this review are not supported or endorsed by LEGO.
Below is the official press release for this set:
Set: 21317 Steamboat Willie
Ages: 10+
Pieces: 751
US $89.99 • CA $119.99 • DE 89.99€ • UK £79.99 • FR 89.99€ • DK 749DKK • AU $129.99
*Euro pricing varies by country. Please visit shop.LEGO.com for regional pricing.
All aboard Steamboat Willie to celebrate Mickey Mouse’s birthday!
Disney Mickey Mouse fans will love this LEGO® Ideas 21317 Steamboat Willie building toy marking the 90th anniversary of the most famous cartoon character ever. Mickey Mouse made his screen debut in a 1928 black-and-white animated short film called ‘Steamboat Willie’, which was also the first Disney film to have synchronized sound. This LEGO brick version of the S.S. Willie features steam pipes that move up and down and paddle wheels that rotate when the boat is pushed along. The boat’s bridge has room for a minifigure and play-inspiring nautical details such as the ship’s wheel, life buoy and buildable bell. On deck there is a working crane to lift the ‘potato bin’ cargo aboard and this unique toy building set comes with new-for-April-2019 Mickey Mouse and Minnie Mouse minifigures, each with special silver-colored decoration, plus a parrot figure. An ideal LEGO set for kids and adults to recreate scenes from the original Mickey Mouse cartoon or simply build and display this striking monochrome model.
- Build and display this collectible LEGO® set or recreate your favorite scenes from the classic Disney Mickey Mouse cartoon, ‘Steamboat Willie’.
- This unique toy building set includes 2 new-for-April-2019 minifigures: Mickey Mouse and Minnie Mouse, each with silver-colored decoration, plus Mickey Mouse’s parrot figure.
- The iconic Steamboat Willie boat features a black-and-white color scheme, hidden wheels, moving steam pipes, rotating paddle wheels, adjustable crane and assorted elements including the ‘S.S. Willie’ boat name sign, ‘1928’ year sign and a ‘potato bin’.
- The boat’s bridge has space for a minifigure, a brick-built bell and assorted elements including the ship’s wheel and life buoy.
- The 2 steam pipes move up and down and the 2 paddle wheels rotate when the boat is pushed along.
- Accessory elements include Minnie Mouse’s guitar and music sheet.
- This LEGO® Ideas creative toy building set comes with a booklet with building instructions, fun facts about the historic 1928 animated Disney short film ‘Steamboat Willie’, and information about this awesome retro set’s fan creator and LEGO designers.
- Steamboat Willie toy boat measures over 5" (15cm) high, 10" (26cm) long and 5" (14cm) wide.
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