Eight great LEGO sets that are just no fun to build

The unveiling of 21065 Sagrada Família has got us thinking about LEGO sets that look brilliant but – for one reason or another – are just no fun to build. Here are eight that spring to mind…

For no reason at all, 21065 Sagrada Família’s mass of 12,060 pieces (the majority of which are an inviting shade of tan, as you’d expect) has us wondering aloud – or at least in writing – about other LEGO sets that look absolutely incredible on display but are no great shakes to put together.

Sometimes that’s thanks to a single egregious building step; at other times it’s simply unavoidable repetition. Whatever the cause, these eight otherwise great LEGO sets represent a real test of patience to get to the finished article…

75330 Dagobah Jedi Training Diorama

We’ll kick off with one that is for the most part pretty entertaining to put together, but famously includes one step that will test the endurance of any builder: placing down all those trans-green 1x1 tiles for the swampy floor of Yoda’s home in 75330 Dagobah Jedi Training Diorama. It’s the sort of thing the LEGO Star Wars team could only get away with in an 18+ set, and even then it will have seen the fun grind to a halt for many of us.

10281 Bonsai Tree

This one might be a little bit more controversial given how widely beloved (and wildly successful) 10281 Bonsai Tree has proven since launching in 2021, but whether you choose the green leaves or pink frogs, assembling all those branches stretches the concept of a zen building experience into something laborious. See also: 21365 Love Birds’ leaves, and basically any other highly detailed tree at this scale.

10276 Colosseum

As with many of the sets on this list, there’s literally no getting around the repetitive building experience of 10276 Colosseum. But if you dropped the cash for this one back in 2020, you’ll have known what you were getting yourself in for at least: an exercise in patience and, perhaps, training your eyes to untangle that knot of endless tan bricks. This was once the biggest set of all time, so it’s fitting that a similarly beige building will take that crown from November.

21332 The Globe

A LEGO globe is a great idea on paper. It’s also a great thing to look at and spin around when all’s said and done. But connecting those two realities – concept and execution – is one of the most mind-numbing building experiences in recent memory. Building out 21332 The Globe’s stand and internal skeleton is fine if not thrilling, but constructing all those plates for its outer shell will have you gritting your teeth.

10307 Eiffel Tower

The first non-mosaic LEGO set to break past the 10,000-piece barrier, 10307 Eiffel Tower is undeniably a feat of real LEGO engineering. But the question has to be asked… did it need to be this big? It’s perhaps the question that will be foremost on the minds of anyone who’s built it, because piecing together those thousands of grey elements for a set that’s probably nearly as tall as you feels… excessive. At least it looks cool, eh?

10323 PAC-MAN Arcade

Seasoned LEGO builders who dread repetition will know the feeling of seeing a ‘2x’, ‘4x’ or even ‘8x’ marker in an instruction manual. But 10323 PAC-MAN Arcade is one of a handful of sets that goes to even further extremes: page 198 of the manual includes a four-piece assembly that needs to be repeated 64 times. It’s only a small moment in an otherwise engaging build, but it’s excruciating enough to warrant a place on this list.

10272 Old Trafford – Manchester United

You could realistically sub in any of the three supersized football stadiums for this entry, but we’ve gone with the first, 2020’s 10272 Old Trafford – Manchester United. These sets are impressive recreations of their subject matter, no doubt, but you’d be hard-pressed to call them much fun to build. The bar connections on the roof of this one are particularly taxing.

10189 Taj Mahal

10189 Taj Mahal was (at the time of release) the largest LEGO set yet, and while that’s a commendable accolade, it’s a little bit unfortunate that the LEGO Group picked this particular architectural icon for a nearly-6,000-piece set. Mughal design is famously symmetrical, leading to a building experience that’s repetitive to the point of banality – and might just be the least enjoyable set this writer has ever put together. So it goes.

21065 Sagrada Família launches November 1 and is available to pre-order now for £649.99 / $799.99 / €749.99. The jury’s out on whether it’ll one day earn a spot on this list, but fingers crossed there’s enough variety to the building experience that it – like fellow beige religious building 21061 Notre-Dame de Paris – remains engaging throughout.

Got any other sets you'd add to this list, or are there any here you disagree with? Sound off in the comments.

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