The Women’s World Cup kicks off today and to coincide with the 2023 tournament, here’s a look at the recently released LEGO® Icons of Play set. The football-themed set celebrates the women’s game and some of the icons who play it, including Asisat Oshoala, Yūki Nagasato, Sam Kerr and Megan Rapinoe. The set also forms the centrepiece of the LEGO Play Unstoppable campaign, which highlights how girls should feel free to explore play wherever it takes them. So as the Women’s World Cup begins in Australia and New Zealand, here’s a brief look at the Icons of Play set.
Product Details
Set Name: Icons of Play | Set Number: 40634 | Pieces: 899 | Theme: Iconic
RRP: £89.99/$99.99/99.99€ | Number of Bags: Bags x 6 + loose elements | Instructions: Paper booklets x 1 + Builder App | Stickers: Sheet x 1 | Minifigures: Asisat Oshoala, Yūki Nagasato, Sam Kerr and Megan Rapinoe + 11 minifigures
Availability: LEGO Stores, LEGO Online & General Retail
The LEGO Group has been dabbling with the world of sports for a few years. In the early 2000’s there were themes dedicated to both football and basketball. More recently the London Olympics were marked with a unique series of minifigures and the German National Football Team also got the minifigure treatment to mark the European Championships. LEGO Ideas also transformed a foosball table into a playable set. Beyond the brick, the LEGO Group was a major sponsor of the UK-held Women’s European Championship last year. Despite this set being released alongside the Women’s World Cup, it has no links to the tournament.
The main part of the set is part of the pitch. This is built across four 16×16 base plates, which are mostly covered in a series of different-sized green-coloured flat tiles. The pitch features a very basic goal and the surround of the pitch, which lacks any advertisement detail. Behind the lone goal is a TV camera and a TV screen for the referee to review in-game incidents. The flat surface becomes a play area for the player minifigures to slide across similar to the classic table-top football Subbuteo. Each of the named players are mounted on a 2×2 base. The goal also features a rod that is mounted into the surround of the pitch, a minifigure can be added to it to recreate the function of a goalkeeper. These play features are very basic and not a fun as the LEGO football sets released many years ago.
The highlight of the set is the small spectator’s stand. This features the set’s only working play function. Within the base of the stand is a rod with a series of oval gear plates. These cause four loose sections to move up and down then the handle is turned. With the minifigures connected to those loose sections, the motions make them appear to jump up and down in excitement. The stand also has a number of large stickers attached to them. Unfortunately, the sticker sheet in my set was badly crumbled so applying these larger stickers was difficult.
Along with the pitch and excellent supporter’s stand, the set features three additional buildable sections. These include a dugout, which has a few seats and provides a place for the manager to stand. There’s also a trophy presentation podium, complete with a couple of sponsorship panels. Finally, the smallest section is a plate featuring some training equipment. None of these pieces can be directly connected to the pitch area but add to the overall play experience of the set.
Although the set doesn’t feature any direct links to the Women’s World Cup it does include four named players. These are all included in the first bags. But I found it a little tricky to match the pieces up as some players have the same skin tones and oddly the instructions also include different hairstyles for some of the players. The named players should have been split across bags to make it easy to create them. But they aren’t the other minifigures in the set. There are another 11 minifigures including a goalkeeper, a referee, a manager and the rest are fans. These offer an interesting mix of minifigure elements including a couple of unique torsos and new hairpieces. Plus they feature some great heads including a couple of very angry faces. In regards to the manager minifigure, she has a passing resemblance to Women’s England Team manager Sarina Wiegman, although this is not expressly promoted as such in the set.
Overall
The timing of the set’s release is perfect but it feels like a missed opportunity to not have it directly tied to the Women’s World Cup in a similar way as the London Olympic and German Football Team LEGO Minifigure series were. The choice of players is also a little odd, those chosen all represent some big names from the women’s game but there’s no one from the title-winning England team. This moment had a big impact on raising the profile of women’s football across the world. It also feels like it would be better suited to being connected to the rumoured LEGO football-themed game coming from 2K. Finally, my biggest grip is less about the set than how it’s packaged. The instruction booklets are loose in the box and have taken quite the battering. The same goes for the sticker sheet, this was really crumpled and affected how well the stickers were applied. The set is currently include in the LEGO Sale.
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