REVIEW: 40634 Icons of Play

[Pchan1983]

Here is my review on 40634 Icons of Play:

THE GOOD:

• 4 recognisable footballer in minifigures.
• Plus lots of cool minifigures included!
• New dread locks hair piece in black.
• Mexican Wave action for the spectators stand.
• While disjointed, individual are nice on its own and the bench is pretty accurate.

THE NOT SO GOOD:

• Only half a pitch.
• Not as playable compare to the OG LEGO football sets.
• Definitely over priced.

I like it and I had fun building it but I have to admit there are lot more to be desired if I put away my bias as a football fan, since including recognised footballers is the sole reason I bought this. (plus it was on 20% off during the VIP weekend) The most fun part is the spectator stand both in terms of building and the play feature.  Having the fans jumping up and down is brilliant, although my one has a flaw as the part doesn't move aground a freely, this may be due to the alignment of the bricks when I was building it rather than actual design flaw.  On the side of the pitch, having a VAR monitor is a nice modern update.  The bench also great but I wonder if we ever going to get some clear arch pieces to give it an actual cover.  Each of the side builds are still great.  It feels like a bunch of $10-$20 dollar sets all in one with half a football pitch rather than one coherent build but this is actually the point of the set given its target age range.  Which brings to the major down side of this set, being over-priced.  You only get half a pitch and while you can place minifigures anywhere and a movable GK, it doesn't really add much play values compared to the OG football set which is a far superior set in terms of play value.  To get a full pitch and buy 2 would have even cost you more than the table football.  While there are lot of minifigures and they are excellent, it still feel $50 more expensive than it should be.  Even I'm a football fan and with the famous players minifigures, I probably wouldn't have buy without discount unless I have lots of disposable income.  But I have to say, having Rapinoe and Sam Kerr as minifigure is unbelievable and lego did well on all 4 players for their likeness.  One could only wish they do one with the men counter part featuring Messi, Mbappe ... etc. Also there is a missed opportunity to use actual team kit rather than the LEGO football kit but well if they try to get licenses for each FA it would probably be 4 times more expensive.  Anyway, no doubt this is a fun set but it's really not for everyone.  There are some cool stuff like the spectator stand which memorable but at the current price,  I can only recommend if you really have something you want from this set.  Just couldn't find much appeal for a casual fan.