Set Review ➟ 75810 Stranger Things
This review is spoiler free.
LEGO has come up with a big surprise for this month with the unexpected release of a set based on Stranger Things—the fantasy series you can see on Netflix and that so far has 2 seasons.
For those who haven’t seen the series here’s a copy-and-paste synopsis Wikipedia:
Stranger Things is set in the fictional rural town of Hawkins, Indiana, during the early 1980s. The nearby Hawkins National Laboratory ostensibly performs scientific research for the United States Department of Energy, but secretly does experiments into the paranormal and supernatural, including those that involve human test subjects. Inadvertently, they have created a portal to an alternate dimension called "the Upside Down". The influence of the Upside Down starts to affect the unknowing residents of Hawkins in calamitous ways.
This Upside Down concept is what defines this set. In other words, it is a “mirror” set in which the top part is in the real world while the bottom part of the set shows the same scene corresponding to the parallel reality.
The minifigures
The set contains eight minifigures corresponding to the main characters in the show:
William “Will” Byers. He disappears after an encounter with a monster (Demogorgon) that escaped through a crack in “upside-down”—an alternate dimension. This minifigure has two expressions on its face and a new hair element that makes him very similar to the character in the series.
Eleven or Jane, a girl with psychokinetic abilities and a very limited vocabulary. The set contains the character as shown in series 1 in which she wears a wig to infiltrate the school dance.
Jim Hopper, the Chief of Police in Hawkins. He is your typical American small town police officer and wears a ranger style hat.
Joyce Byers, mother of Will. She is another one of the main characters. She carries a drawing. It’s the drawing Will uses when he plays the game Dungeons and Dragons. It is a new part in this set.
Michael “Mike” Wheeler, a friend of Dustin, Lucas, Will, Eleven, and Max.
Lucas Sinclair. Another member of the group of friends that include Mike, Dustin, Will, Once and Max.
Dustin Henderson. This member of the group of friends is the most recognisable one in my opinion. The reason is that, aside from his peculiar face he has a hair piece with a cap which he carries exactly like in th series.
The Demogorgon is the creature that escaped from the “upside-down”. It has legs that were used in the collectible minifigure series and that fit nicely. The head shows a closed mouth and there is an accessory for the head that shows the open mouth.
The set also includes a small stand for 4 of the minifigures and a sign with the name of the series.
Instructions
The set comes with 2 instruction booklets. The first book serves to build the police patrol car and the real life side of the house. In the second book you build the house on the “upside-down” and the trees that hold both sides together.
The cover of each book doesn’t show a picture of the set but rather has a drawing of a folder with confidential information. For each book the colour of the background is different.
The set
The first thing you build i the police vehicle. In the 80s cars were very blocky and this vehicle is perfectly in line with the era. Although the basis of this vehicle is a standard LEGO design, the build includes a number of construction techniques that are different from standard building techniques to arrive at the final look of the model. The final result is a large, strong, classic vehicle.
As mentioned at the beginning, the set represents both sides and yo can put it upside down.
Both sides are built in the same way. First you build the base, that is, the floor of the house. The two sides are of course symmetrical. since you need to turn one of them 180º to make it match the other.
The interior of the house is quite detailed. It includes a dining room, a small living room and a bedroom. The most interesting part, aside from the similarity to the "real" house" are the building techniques and details that make up the set.
In the bedroom, the bed has sheets, a pillow and the headboard. There is desk with a lamp and radio-cassette player (this is the 80s), a lamp and some pictures on the walls.
The living room has a large sofa, a table with a magazine, two pictures the phone and the Christmas lights. In the series there is a light that illuminates the sofa.
The living room is separated from the dining room by a couple of pillars with wooden bookcases. It includes a sofa (with the same design as in “Welcome to Apocalypseburg”), a pot with a plant an another magazine.
The outside is also full of details. There is a swing on on side, a sofa and a table in the centre and and a chair and small table on the other side. Some of the windows are covered over with papers. This has been achieved using printed windows with a specific print for this set. The front of the house is built with bricks with stud on one side which are the covered with tiles to create the look of a wooden house. The effect is fantastic.
The roof is another fantastic design an includes several different building techniques. It looks like an old and much mended roof with lots of boards. I think it is excellent.
The difference between both worlds is in the colour and the sinister decoration on the “upside-down”. The real world side uses brown beige and green tones. The “upside-down” uses grey, dark blue and olive green. There are a few black elements that represent plants on the “upside-down” and that twist around the columns of the house.
At the end you build two tree-like which are half in the real world and half in the “upside-down” The colours of each part of the structure corresponds to the world it is in and together they serve as a stand that allows you to place the house one side up or the other side up.
Conclusions
Although I am not a big fan of the series I have seen it and the set has reminded me of a number of episodes. The minifigures are really well done, especially those that have new hair elements. I also like the fact that the boys use the new articulated short legs.
The vehicle looks really good and is faithful to what you see on screen. its construction includes a number of unconventional building techniques that give it more realism.
The house reproduces the main elements in the series. It has a good level of detail and you can see a lot of care has gone into it to make sure every detail reminds you of the series.
The only drawback I see is that the set is somewhat fragile. It is almost impossible to turn it over without some parts coming loose. t is obviously not a play set but it is somewhat hard to handle.
We wish to thank LEGO System A/S for providing a review set. The opinion in this article is the reviewers alone and is not endorsed by LEGO.
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