Since 2015, LEGO® Speed Champions has been bringing together iconic automotive brands and LEGO bricks to create an entire garage of brick-built vehicles. This year something new has been added to the mix – entertainment brands. The first two LEGO Speed Champions sets to be inspired by iconic film franchises include the James Bond 007 films along with the Fast & Furious films. Both have previously already inspired LEGO sets including the Creator Expert Aston Martin DB5 and the Dodge Charger. It’s those vehicles which have now been shrunken down in the minifigure-scale format used for all Speed Champions sets. The set I’ll be looking at for this review is the Aston Martin DB5. Will it leave you shaken and stirred? Let’s find out.
Product Details
The LEGO® Speed Champions 007 Aston Martin DB5 (76911) construction set gives kids aged 8+, car enthusiasts and James Bond™ fans of all ages the chance to collect, build and explore one of the world’s best-known sports cars. Perfect for high-speed play and display, this faithful LEGO recreation captures the elegance and timeless sophistication of the iconic 1964 British sports car.
An awesome addition to the Speed Champions collection!
This collectible Aston Martin DB5 sports car model comes with molded silver-coloured wire wheel rim inserts and 4 extra sets of license plates representing different James Bond movies, plus a No Time To Die-James Bond minifigure.
- Set Name: 007 Aston Martin
- Set Number: 76911
- Pieces: 298
- RRP: £19.99/$19.99/19.99€
- Number of Bags: Bags x 2
- Stickers: sheet x 1
- Minifigures: James Bond
- Instructions: Booklet x 1 + LEGO Building Instructions App
- Availability: LEGO Stores, LEGO Online & General Release from August 1st
British secret agent James Bond is famous for a number of things – having a license to kill, a penchant for shaken beverages and friendships with oddly named ladies. Although the famous spy has changed his face a few times over the last 60 years, one thing has always remained, Bond’s love of Aston Martins and in particular the DB5. The iconic British sports car was first released in the early 60s and became 007’s car of choice in Goldfinger. The additions of various gadgetry cemented the car’s place in cinematic history and it has appeared in a number of Bond films since including most of Daniel Craig’s Bond outings.
The Aston Martin brand was first used in 2018 for the Creator Expert James Bond Aston Martin DB5 large-scale vehicle. The first Aston Martin Speed Champions set wouldn’t arrive until earlier this year. Now all three worlds combine in this dual-branded Speed Champions version. Despite the set carrying the Bond branding, it’s essential just like any other Speed Champions set. On the surface these appear very similar in style to some of the minifigure-scale cars found in the LEGO City sets, however, the build experience is far more complex.
The DB5 uses the new 8-stud wide-scale introduced in 2020. This has allowed the vehicles to include a little more detail than the first few waves of sets. This is helped by a few unique elements and some interesting build techniques. In this set, these include curved corner bricks for the headlights, a round 2×2 plate for the rear lights and a sloped transparent canopy for the sloping back of the car. In all honesty, it kind of does a little better job of capturing the sleek shape of the DB5 better than the Creator Expert version did.
In terms of build techniques, there are a couple of unusual elements used to craft the set. In particular, the way in which both the front and rear bumpers are added to the chassis of the car along with the way the air inlet on the bonnet is created. These are hidden within the innards of the build so don’t really come across in the finished model. This isn’t something exclusive to this particular set but is unique to the Speed Champions theme. This is what makes the sets so much fun to build.
Some of the other details found on the DB5 are achieved with stickers and there are quite a few of them in this set. Annoyingly, they also include 5 pairs of number plates. If any elements needed to be printed it was these, especially as they are all 1×3 flat tiles. But it’s not all stickers, the front grill has a couple of interestingly printed pieces. Although this scale does offer a decent amount of detail, it can’t include any of the gadgets, but you will find hints are them such as the ejector seat and hubcap spikes.
Finally, the set features a minifigure and instead of a random driver, unsurprisingly the DB5 comes with a James Bond minifigure. This is based on the most recent incarnation of the character played by Daniel Craig. It’s a fairly simple minifigure, with a simple torso, representing Bond’s famous tuxedo. The face matches Craig’s miserable expression. One thing which made me chuckle is the fact that he doesn’t wield his famous Walther PPK but a spanner. He’s got a license to tighten or loosen bolts it seems. Not sure Gladys Knights would get a catchy tune out of that.
Review Round-up
It’s a crazy set in many ways, firstly it blends so many things – Speed Champions, Aston Martin and James 007. It could easily have been released under the 18+/Icons brand. But the scale and build style of the Speed Champions sets does result in a decent-looking car. The stickers do let it down a little as they the ones used on the body of the car are a little different in colour to the elements they are attached to and the number plate stickers are just annoying as there are so many to apply and get straight. Daniel Craig is a great Bond actor but doesn’t have the traditional ‘Bond’ look so his minifigure just feels odd, but it does capture his sad expression.
For
+ A long-requested scale for this vehicle
+ Hopefully, this will lead to future ‘entertainment’ vehicles
+ Interesting build techniques & elements used
+ Bond’s spanner, it just looks funny
Against
– Number plate stickers
– Better looking Bond’s to choose for the minifigures
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This set was provided to BricksFanz by the LEGO Group for purposes of review. The thoughts within this review are that of BricksFanz and do not reflect those of the LEGO Group. Providing a set for free does not guarantee a favourable opinion of the set.
24th June 2022
I was very excited when it was announced that this was actually going to be a thing. And, on the surface it looks pretty darn good.
But, as I was reading through your excellent review my tired old eyes kept being distracted by those stickers. More specifically, the very obvious colour-matching, or lack there of!
It won’t stop me from buying a couple of these but, it’s so awful. I wonder if LEGO have a licence to kill, our enthusiasm for stickers that is?
24th June 2022
Admittedly the stickers look far more prominent in the pictures under the bright light than they do in person but either way they are rather noticeable. What’s most odd is how some really awkward elements have been printed, like the edge of a plate element or curved surface for the lights.
24th June 2022
Really looking forward to this, I agree it’s much improved on its bigger brother.
I’d have liked to have seen a two sided head and alternate hair so you could almost choose your Bond
(But i’m sure most of us will do this anyway…)
24th June 2022
I’m glad they didn’t use the white tux version of Craig’s Bond. But yep I would have preferred a ‘generic’ Bond