LEGO had released several football-themed sets under its new Editions range and sent them my way, including models based on Kylian Mbappe<\/b>, Vini Jr.<\/b>, Cristiano Ronaldo<\/b> and Lionel Messi<\/b>, as well as a near life-sized Football and the FIFA World Cup Official Trophy. Rather than build them during the qualifying rounds, I wanted to complete each one while the relevant player or country was still involved from the quarter-finals onwards.<\/p>\n
It was a bit of a gamble, of course. I started with the Kylian Mbappe \u2013 Football Highlights<\/b> set while France played Spain in the semi-final, before moving on to the Football<\/b>, Lionel Messi \u2013 Football Legend<\/b> sets and, finally, the World Cup Trophy<\/b>. The idea was to build the Messi and trophy sets while Argentina was playing in the final (Ed\u2019s notes: No surprise which team I was rooting for, eh?), although there was obviously no guarantee Argentina would make it that far when I started. It was a bit of a gamble, but thankfully that worked out. Well, almost. France lost to Spain in the semi-final, while Argentina reached the final only to suffer the same fate a few days later.<\/p>\n Photo: HWZ<\/p>\n<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n The range features the game\u2019s football GOATS Cristiano Ronaldo, Kylian Mbapp\u00e9, Lionel Messi and Vini\u00a0Jr, alongside\u00a0universally recognisable builds such as the FIFA World Cup\u2122 Official Trophy and FIFA World Cup Official Emblem, football and more, inviting everyone to celebrate the world\u2019s game through play, creativity and connection inspired by the LEGO Editions sets.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n Nina Patricia\u202fDa\u202fCosta – General Manager, Singapore, Malaysia, Travel Retail APAC, the LEGO Group<\/p>\n Photo: HWZ<\/p>\n<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n LEGO\u2019s Kylian Mbappe \u2013 Football Highlights set was the first and shortest of the four builds. At 490 pieces<\/b> and part of a four set that also includes Christiano Ronaldo, Vini Jr. and Lionel Messi, it is considerably smaller than the others, but it still manages to include several references to the French captain. Its base forms the letter \u201cM\u201d , while the number 10, French colours and a plaque displaying Mbappe\u2019s signature celebrate his career. There is also an exclusive Mbappe minifigure.<\/p>\n Photo: HWZ<\/p>\n<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n Photo: HWZ<\/p>\n<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n It was also a manageable set to build while following France\u2019s semi-final against Spain. There was enough variety to keep the process interesting without requiring me to stare at the instructions for long periods and miss what was happening on the pitch. The timing ultimately gave the finished model a slightly bittersweet quality. I had started it hoping France would reach the final, only to see Spain end that prospect.<\/p>\n Photo: HWZ<\/p>\n<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n Of the four sets, the LEGO Editions Football was my favourite to construct. A football appears to be a relatively simple object, but recreating a fully rounded shape from predominantly angular LEGO elements presents an interesting engineering challenge. The 1,498-piece<\/b> model is nearly the same size as a regulation size-five football, measuring about 22cm tall, and its internal LEGO Technic structure is what allows the exterior panels to form a convincing sphere.<\/p>\n Photo: HWZ<\/p>\n<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n Photo: HWZ<\/p>\n<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n The internal construction was the most intriguing part. Instead of stacking bricks upwards in the conventional way, I gradually assembled a framework designed to support the curved outer shell. Seeing how the different Technic elements connected and pulled the structure together was satisfying, especially because it was not immediately obvious how the collection of beams, pins and panels would eventually become a football.<\/p>\n Photo: HWZ<\/p>\n<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n There is also more inside than the completed exterior suggests. The ball opens to reveal a miniature stadium celebration, complete with players and screens (albeit in sticker form), a small trophy and a mechanism that makes the players celebrate while fireworks rise behind them. It gives the model an interesting \u201cplay\u201d element after the main build is finished, although the Football is still better treated as a display piece than something anyone should attempt to kick around the room.<\/p>\n It is really rare to encounter a LEGO set that achieves such a convincing sphere, which is why this Football set stood out for me even among the larger character and trophy models from this LEGO Edition series.<\/p>\n Photo: HWZ<\/p>\n<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n The 958-piece<\/b> Lionel Messi \u2013 Football Legend set was appropriately saved for Argentina\u2019s final match. Unlike the smaller Mbappe set, this is a pretty substantial brick-built figure placed against a display featuring Messi\u2019s name and number 10. LEGO also provides two possible configurations: his familiar celebration pose, pointing towards the sky, or a running pose showing him dribbling a football. That choice gives the model more flexibility than a completely fixed display set, although I naturally leaned towards his celebration pose. It is the version that I\u2019m sure best communicates who the figure represents, even when viewed from across a room.<\/p>\n Building it while Argentina was playing one of its worst performances at this World Cup, and in the final no less, was\u2026intense, to say the least. At that point, the set could have become a celebration of another World Cup victory or a reminder of Messi\u2019s final defeat on football\u2019s largest stage. Unfortunately for Argentina and Messi, it became the latter.<\/p>\n Photo: HWZ<\/p>\n<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n The FIFA World Cup Official Trophy was comfortably the longest and most challenging project. It contains 2,842 pieces<\/b> and stands more than 36cm tall, closely matching the scale of the actual trophy. Its size is not the only reason it takes time: much of the surface is constructed from small gold elements, which have to be placed carefully to reproduce the two figures, globe and uneven contours of the original design.<\/p>\n Photo: HWZ<\/p>\n<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n Photo: HWZ<\/p>\n<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n Like the Football set, parts of the trophy build became repetitive. The difference was that the trophy required more concentration, particularly as the form narrowed, curved and twisted towards the globe. Its mixture of gold shades also helps the finished model catch the light, preventing such a large mass of similarly coloured bricks from looking flat. A panel at the base provides a nice easter egg \u2013 a record of previous World Cup winners. The globe also opens to reveal a small 2026 scene with a minifigure and miniature trophy.<\/p>\n Photo: HWZ<\/p>\n<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n The timing of my final pieces could hardly have been more appropriate \u2013 or more painful. Spain defeated Argentina 1-0 after Ferran Torres scored in the 106th minute of extra time, and my heart sank as I put the finishing touches on the trophy. Spain were about to lift the real one while the LEGO version sat completed in front of me. It was not the ending I wanted, but it gave the build a match-night memory that would have been impossible to recreate later.<\/p>\n Overall, I\u2019d say that all four sets have their appeal, but the Football and Official Trophy are the ones I would recommend first. Both are very impressive display pieces, while their hidden features and unusual construction methods will no doubt be conversation starters with guests.<\/p>\n Now, how should I build the Cristiano Ronaldo \u2013 Football Legend (#43016)<\/b> and Vini Jr. \u2013 Football Highlights (#43027) <\/b>sets?<\/p>\n The LEGO Editions FIFA World Cup Official Trophy, Kylian Mbappe \u2013 Football Highlights, Lionel Messi \u2013 Football Legend and Football are now available. <\/i>Click here to buy<\/i>.<\/i><\/p>\n<\/div>\n LEGO had released several football-themed sets under its new Editions range and sent them my way, including models based on Kylian Mbappe, Vini Jr., Cristiano…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":71111,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"fifu_image_url":"","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[32],"tags":[3219,2028,774,27052,8881,1025,526],"class_list":["post-71110","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-tech-gadgets-reviews","tag-build","tag-cup","tag-lego","tag-spains","tag-trophy","tag-win","tag-world","wpcat-32-id"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/71110","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=71110"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/71110\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/71111"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=71110"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=71110"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=71110"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}<\/div>\n
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FIFA World Cup Official Trophy (#43020) – $259.90<\/h2>\n
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