Listen, Lego has always been cool, but the big success of The Lego Movie has only reminded us all that the brick-building line is more than just a toy -- it’s a way of life! The bottom line is we at IGN love Lego -- always have, probably always will. And while there are so many awesome Lego sets out there, past and present, the following 10 are the Lego sets that truly rocked our world. Imperial Flagship While Lego has been doing pirates since the 1980s -- as well as Pirates (the Johnny Depp kind) more recently -- this beauty is surely the, ahem, flagship of the theme. Like most of the items on this list, the Imperial Flagship makes for a great display piece (assuming you’ve gotten past the whole “I’m too old to play with Lego publicly” thing). It’s also a nice reminder that not all Lego collections need to be based on franchises. 9 Ultimate Collector's Millennium Falcon Look, there are a lot of excellent Star Wars Lego sets, and there are a lot of excellent Star Wars spaceship Lego sets.
Some would say the Star Destroyer should be on this list, or the Super Star Destroyer, or the Imperial Shuttle (sorry Peer!). But in the end, you gotta go with the fastest hunk of junk in the galaxy, Han Solo’s Millennium Falcon! There have actually been about seven different Lego takes on the Corellian freighter, but the Ultimate Collector's set from 2007 and its 5100-plus pieces takes the prize. It also cost $500 at that time, which makes it the most expensive Lego set (in retail) ever. 8 The Batcave Lego has given us some really nice superhero sets over the years, with the company creating both Marvel and DC collections. But this Batcave set from 2006 is one of the finest examples of this partnership. Also called The Batcave: The Penguin and Mr. Freeze's Invasion, the set features over a thousand pieces, a chamber for Bruce Wayne to magically switch into his bat-costume, a bat-computer station, a vehicle repair bay, and of course several minifigures (good guys and bad). A different Batcave set was released in 2012, though this one remains a favorite if only because it was a nice preview of what the Lego Batman video game would be like two years later.
7 Technic Grand Prix Racer As part of the Technic Lego theme, the Grand Prix Racer -- which came out just last year -- isn’t simply a building set, but also features moving parts and “realistic functions” like independent all-wheel suspension, moving pistons, and steering capabilities. You can also power it up by adding a motor set (sold separately!) to this two-foot long baby, or convert it into a race truck. As for where you can play with this thing, you might need the Technic Mobile Crane to build some roads… 6 Galaxy Explorer Spaceship! While Benny “the 1980-something space guy” from The Lego Movie finally did get to build his ultimate spaceship during that film’s climax, for those of us who were around way back when, the original version of that vehicle still holds fond memories. The Galaxy Explorer, first released in 1979, was a jewel in Lego’s Space line of the era, though it must be noted that Benny was apparently not a part of that ship’s original crew, who were red and white spacemen.
But for those completists who need the movie version too, Benny’s Spaceship, Spaceship, SPACESHIP! set is coming this June. Read on for more Lego goodness...In order to compile a list of the biggest and most challenging Lego sets, it was necessary to narrow down the criteria. First, the sets have to be mass produced by LEGO. In other words, we’re not considering any giant custom sets like the 6-meter Death Star Trench or insane 150,000 piece recreation of Helm’s Deep from Lord of the Rings. Second, we excluded expandable sets such as the Modular Building series that you can keep adding on to like the Town Hall (10224), Green Grocer (10185), and the newly released Palace Cinema (10232) that can be combined together to lay out enormous Lego city scenes. Furthermore, to define what we mean by “biggest” the list considers those Lego sets with the largest amounts of pieces and/or final completed size of the set. As far as “challenging,” most of the sets listed below are suggested for builders aged 16 or older, although I’ve personally seen kids half that age cranking out 1,000+ piece sets with hardly any difficulty.
Some of the sets listed below are still available at Lego stores worldwide, while some are out of production. But you may find retired sets listed for outrageous prices on Amazon or eBay, though, those ones are arguable the best LEGO sets. Once Lego stops selling an item, or if produced in limited quantities, third parties grab those products and jack up the price depending on demand. You’ll find Lego sets a purchase limit per customer on certain items. Last week we created a list of must-have movie-themed Lego sets. Now, here’s a list of the most challenging and biggest lego sets, ordered somewhat subjectively but with consideration of total number of pieces combined with level of difficulty. By the way, the number in the parenthesis represents the Item Number in case you decide to go on a hunt for one of these Lego sets. It’d be hard to argue against Lego’s Star Wars Collector’s Millennium Falcon as being one of the most challenging and largest Lego sets (it also probably ranks as our #1 LEGOs for adults).
The $499 Millennium Falcon is suggested for ages 16-years and older but younger kids can probably get through it with some supervision. The highly detailed scale model is made up of a whopping 5,195 pieces but only 5 mini-figures including Luke, Princess Leia, Han, Chewbacca, and a stormtrooper. Why the set doesn’t include C-3PO and R2-D2 mini-figures is sort of a mystery (weren’t they on the Falcon during the mission to rescue Leia?), but nevertheless the ship itself is more than enough to focus on. The Collector’s Millennium Falcon was released in 2007 and retired in 2010, but remains the most-expensive mass-produced Lego set to date. If you need a little break from science fiction-based Star Wars sets you can jump into an architectural project building the Taj Mahal. The $299 set gives you more bang for your buck than the Collector’s Millennium Falcon, boxing a total of 5,922 pieces (about 700 more than the Falcon). What also makes this set a bit more of a challenge for builders is that all the pieces are all generally the same color.