One of the yearly LEGO® highlights continues to be low-cost polybag sets. These little tasters of various themes appear everywhere, from promotions run in LEGO stores or online, at LEGOLAND stores, supermarkets and even magazines. Admittedly, they aren’t always the easiest to track down. However, availability is improving, and some polybags released this year are available from online retailer Brick-a-brac. I’ve split them into two groups, original LEGO themes and licensed/entertainment brands. For the first 2024 LEGO Polybags hands-on round-up, here’s a look at the new Star Wars, Minecraft, Disney, Sonic, Technic x NASA and NINJAGO minisets. These polybags are still packaged in plastic bags, but future sets are expected to switch the paper-based packets.
30680: AAT
This year marks the 25 anniversary of the release of Star Wars Episode I: The Phantom Menace. One of the first sets to celebrate this milestone is this mini Armoured Assault Tank. There have been a couple of similar-sized sets by this is by far the best version yet. It uses many more curved elements to capture the vehicle’s appearance. Star Wars vehicles don’t always fare well when reduced to this sort of scale, but this is one of the best ones I’ve built. Pieces: 75
30672: Steve and Baby Panda
LEGO Minecraft is still going strong and continues to inspire various LEGO sets, including this new miniset. But nature, the Minecraft sets are fairly simplistic this is especially the case when they inhabit a polybag. This set features the standard Steve minifigure, which has appeared in numerous other Minecraft sets. He’s joined by a cubic panda, which has also appeared in a couple of other sets. In terms of building, there’s a small section of land with a piece of bamboo on it. You may notice, that Steve is holding an odd square thing, which I believe is a cake. Supposedly, Minecraft Panda’s love cake. It’s an OK set but just by the nature of the theme, it’s rather simplistic. Pieces: 35
30661: Asha’s Welcome Booth
Disney’s Wish sets launched late last year, oddly the first polybag to be inspired by the Disney film is only just making an appearance. It features a simple market stall which is dubbed a Welcome Booth and matches the aesthetics of the previously released playsets. The Asha mini-doll appears in other sets, but the appeal of the set is the Wishing Star character. Although this also appears in every one of the Wish playsets, this is a great way to get hold of this unique little element. Pieces: 46
30671: Aurora’s Forest Playground
The Princess-style Disney sets have a unique style mostly down to the use of mini-dolls and although there are some interesting sets, they don’t appeal to me. But I admit, I love this set. It consists of a small tree, which doubles as a mini fairground ride for the forest critters. This can be rotated by a disc on the rear of the tree. Beyond the working element of the tree, it also features two of the new leaf elements. This features a group of leaf elements similar to the single three-pointed leaf elements. The Aurora mini-doll is technically unique as the hairpiece used for her has been recoloured to a brighter yellow. This is a fun little set. Pieces: 60
30676: Kiki’s Coconut Attack
For the first polybag inspired by the new Sonic the Hedgehog theme, we are treated to another one of Eggman’s Badnik bots. Kiki is a monkey-like robot which was first introduced in the Dreamcast title, Sonic Adventure. This LEGO version certainly takes a little artistic licence when recreating the character. You can, at least, tell it’s a monkey. For those who have played the Sonic games, many of the Badniks are used to enclose small animals. This has been partly recreated by having a small gap on Kiki’s back to place a blue Flicky bird. Pieces: 42
30682: NASA Mars Rover Perseverance
Technic polybags are always interesting as they try extremely hard to replicate the functional aspect of the larger sets. This particular polybag offers an extremely simplified version of the NASA Mars Rover set released last year. It has a basic gear system which moves the rover’s drill arm. Considering the size of the set and the much lower piece count, it looks like the rover. Pieces: 83
30674: NINJAGO Zane’s Dragon Power Vehicles
Although NINJAGO and Technic are not licensed themes, including them with the other sets here, split them up nicely. As with previous NINJAGO polybags, this recreates one of the larger playsets. Zane’s Dragon Power Car was released last Summer and the main build offers a smaller version of that set. Unlike the larger set, this polybag version can be rebuilt into a small jet, which uses the same elements as the car. The instructions for the alternate build are not included in the set, but you can access them here. Pieces: 55
Look out for these and other LEGO polybag sets in supermarkets, LEGOLAND stores and various online retailers such as The Minifigure Store and Brick-a-brac, where many of the new polybags are currently 3 for £10.
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