If you're a Sonic the Hedgehog fan and a Lego fan then this kit - called Lego Ideas Sonic The Hedgehog Green Hill Zone - is going to blow you mind.
It certainly did mine, when the larger-than-anticipated box appeared on my doorstep. I couldn't wait to build it over a weekend - and it took quite some time, as this 18+ rated set contains 1,125 pieces all in.
The finished set measures about 35cm long, 18cm high, and 6cm deep if you're counting the protrusions. I'm yet to decide exactly where to keep it, but because the detail is so incredible it won't be positioned out of sight.
Here's a selection of photos I captured whilst building the Lego Sonic set. Enjoy!
Lego Sonic and all the bad guys to build
Sonic is a standard minifig construct, composed of head, body and legs in three parts - the ring is optional, seeing as it's so massive I've left it out of Sonic's hand.
Building the various mecha bad guys was one of my favourite things, though, especially as their use of reference Lego pieces is so amusing. See the minifig hands and megafones used as arms and exhausts? Brilliant.
Dr Robotnik is pretty massive, but his scale throughout the video games over the years has always been perplexing. His head is composed of a special piece, as are his hands, but it doesn't detract from a very Lego look overall. He can freely stand, if you'd prefer to not have him flying around - but I rather enjoy his floating craft.
In addition to lots of classic Lego bricks, there are a batch of stickers that you'll need to carefully add on - I'm notoriously poor at this - to give that loop-da-loop full Green Hill Zone texture.
Lego Sonic: It's interactive once built
I never expected it to be a feature, but even during the build process it becomes clear there are some moving parts: principally that big red launch pad, which hides a little tap trigger behind it, the idea being you can launch Sonic (or whatever) to 'catch' those three rings above. It doesn't work especially well, but it's entertaining nonetheless.
It's the other details that I appreciate more, especially as a life-long Sonic fan who's been playing the games since the 1990s. Those TVs with 10 rings and Fast Boots? Yeah, you can change the faces of those - the set also includes a Sonic extra life, invincibility, and a shield. Just pop the panel off and change as you please.
Even the bug-like bad guy has two face options: I left him looking sombre, but there's an angry face option instead.
And if you don't want Sonic in the actual Green Hill Zone, er, zone? There's a Chaos Crystals stand that comes as part of the set, so you can suspend him above all seven of those instead.
Even the manual is the perfect homage to the Sonic games
The manual isn't your typical from Lego - when I first saw it in the box it took me right back to the Megadrive era (read Genesis, my American friends) first game. Yes, I was playing it in 1991 - yes, I'm old.
There's some spectacular little details in the manual too. From the Sonic progress bar at the bottom, in which he sometimes gets hit by a bad guy and loses his rings, to the foreword on how this whole set came to be.
Flip the manual over and that's it: Dr Robotnik is there crushing the 'End' credits.
But I don't think this is the last we'll see of Lego Ideas' Sonic sets, not by a long shot, as the far-end of the set contains two open-ended clips that, well, will surely spell an attachment possibility for a future Marble Zone set?
I'd totally buy that (although, really, Chemical Plant Zone from Sonic 2 was always my favourite just for the music alone).
