Review: LEGO Marvel Brickheadz Series 1 (41589, 41590, 41591, 41592)

April 11, 2017 | 24

Brickheadz is one of LEGO’s more exciting new themes this year. So far, we have had 10 sets that saw a general release under the banner of Series 1, with 4 Marvel Brickheadz, 4 LEGO Batman Movie ones, and 4 that are tied to major Disney movies this year – Beauty & the Beast & Pirates of the Caribbean Dead Man Tells No Tales.

Each Brickheadz will set you back AU$15.99/US$9.99/£9.99 and are self-contained sets which contain about 100 pieces (give or take a few) to assemble a small, stylised statuette based on pop culture characters.

It’s fairly obvious that LEGO is looking to capitalise on the boom of collectible bobblehead-like toys popularised by Pop Vinyls, but Brickheadz has its own unique charm given that it’s still LEGO at its core and with LEGO, you’re treated to near-unlimited creativity.

I’ve been getting into Brickheadz, and despite being slightly apprehensive about the theme, they’ve started to grow on me. For my first Brickheadz review, I’ve opted to go with the Marvel ones!

Here’s a look at the contents of each box – you typically get an instruction manual, two polybags of parts and a 4 x 6 plate that acts as the Brickheadz’s stand.

The first thing you’ll notice when you tip the contents out of the box is that there are no stickers! Music to any LEGO fan’s ears and a great decision that I’m very happy that LEGO made.

It does make sense that there would be no stickers as this is a product that isn’t primarily aimed at LEGO fans – the entire Brickheadz theme is designed to mostly appeal to non-LEGO fans, especially those that collect Pop Vinyls. Think of it as a gateway product that LEGO is trying to use to snare unsuspecting people into the hobby.

Yes, I know I’m incapable of arranging things in a straight line. This is my best (actually not my best) attempt at knolling out the parts of the Iron Man Brickheadz to give you a visual idea of the kinds of parts that you can typically expect to get in a Brickheadz. Most of the time, it’s actually a really good spread of parts.

Each Brickheadz also comes with a printed tile which has the Brickheadz logo – a plain white Brickheadz face who is named “Nonnie” and is the face of the entire theme.

The number one in the speech bubble indicates that this is Series 1 in the Brickheadz theme, and tells us that LEGO have high hopes that this will turn into their next big hit, spawning dozens of editions.

All Brickheadz have nearly the same structure – what I found really interesting in this photo were the “innards”. I kinda liked the pink 2 x 2 brick which I’m guessing is meant to be the Brickheadz brainz.

Nearly all Brickheadz have clips for arms and also ears in addition to their signature printed eye tiles. 

To assemble the head together, most of the details are achieved by sticking on tiles around the Brickheadz’s grey “skull”.

Now that the general stuff is out of the way, let’s take a look at the individual Marvel Brickheadz from Series 1, starting with Captain America!

Name: Captain America
Set Number: 41589
Pieces: 79
Price: AU$15.99 | US$9.99 | £9.99 (Buy from LEGO.com [AUS] [USA] [UK])
Exclusive to: Dreamworld LEGO Store, Legoland Discovery Centre Melbourne (for now – general release will be in June 2016)
Minifigs: N/A
Theme: Brickheadz
Year of Release: 2017

This is the Captain America Brickheadz. He’s one of the blockiest Brickheadz of the lot, but I think it adds to the charm of the Brickheadz aesthetic.

Cap comes with a bevy of printed tiles such as the Big A on his forehead, chest and lower torso piece. While the printed elements are great, you are quite limited when it comes to the actual utility as the designs are fairly specific to the corresponding characters.

That said, the tile on his lower torso, with the white and maroon pattern would make for a pretty good wallpaper if you had enough of them!

Captain America also comes with his trademark shield – the same minifigure accessory in case you were wondering. He has an outstretched (sorta) arm, instead of the usual Brickheadz pose where the hands face downwards.

There’s something really cute about Captain America that simply translates well to this form factor. The combination of the boxy angles and his beady little eyes that jut out slightly work especially well in this case.

Oh and my favourite thing about the Cap Brickheadz is that there’s a small clip on his back where you can hang his shield when not in use. Genius!

Not that I would disassemble him and harvest him for parts (since he’s so damn cute!), but I also really appreciate all the dark blue elements included. Dark blue is my favourite LEGO colour of all time so I get excited every time I build sets which contains plenty of the colour.

And here’s a comparison with the actual Captain America minifigure. For those of you that love displaying your LEGO sets, or decorating your workspaces or desks, displaying the both of them together works rather well.

You could easily swap out the base plate for a slightly larger one for space to accommodate a matching minifigure.

Lasty, here’s a shot of Captain America in the great outdoors.

Thoughts: I love the Captain America Brickheadz. They translated his look almost perfectly to the Brickheadz form factor and the addition of the shield and back clip gives it that little bit of zing when it comes to displaying him.

What seals the deal is his thoughtful beady little eyes and vacant expression, as well as all the nice printed elements. Super cute and is a must-buy for any Marvel fan.

Rating: 4/5

Name: The Hulk
Set Number: 41592
Pieces: 93
Price: AU$15.99 | US$9.99 | £9.99 (Buy from LEGO.com [AUS] [USA] [UK])
Exclusive to: Dreamworld LEGO Store, Legoland Discovery Centre Melbourne (for now – general release will be in June 2016)
Minifigs: N/A
Theme: Brickheadz
Year of Release: 2017

Can I make a comment about The Hulk’s box? I really dislike it that it’s the only red one and it stands out a bit too much from the other Marvel boxes which are blue in colour. I get that he’s all about being angry and stuff, but the inconsistency just bothers me.

The Hulk Brickheadz… is very green. Well he is the Incredible Hulk, who is known for being as green as he is angry. What I’m saying is that he stands out a lot.

I do like his purple pants, which are very accurate and the only pants colour that The Hulk should 0wn.

I really like The Hulk as a superhero, but his look doesn’t translate particularly well as a Brickheadz. He does have some really nice features, such as his oversized brow and his thoughtful eyes but that’s all I like about him.

His body is made out of printed tiles but the pattern seems a little too simplistic, and lacking in detail. I get the cartoony vibe they’re going for but it’s a little too plain for my tastes.

What I dislike most about The Hulk? His weird stumpy non-Brickheadz hands. 

His hair is decent. Again, I get the look they were going for, the tousled hairstyle that’s achieved by a plethora of black cheese slopes but it doesn’t come across as visually appealing.

Here’s The Hulk with his minifigure counterpart which ironically, has a much more detailed torso.

Ultimately, I think what’s missing is the anger, rage and raw power that you typically associate with The Incredible Hulk. It’s really an easy fix – if they had included a mouth printed on the 1 x 4 tile with some teeth baring or an angry expression, it would be a lot closer at capturing The Hulk’s personality.

Here’s a shot of The Hulk outside. He looks a little too cute and innocent for his own good.

Thoughts: The Hulk is okay – not bad at all, but a little boring. Despite his very striking green and purple colour scheme, The Hulk Brickheadz ultimately fails to capture its character’s personality in a meaningful way.

Also, those hands are so ugly. I don’t know why they didn’t just opt for regular Brickheadz clip hands.

Rating: 2/5

Name: Black Widow
Set Number: 41591
Pieces: 143
Price: AU$15.99 | US$9.99 | £9.99 (Buy from LEGO.com [AUS] [USA] [UK])
Exclusive to: Dreamworld LEGO Store, Legoland Discovery Centre Melbourne (for now – general release will be in June 2016)
Minifigs: N/A
Theme: Brickheadz
Year of Release: 2017

Black Widow absolutely kills it in the “cute & chibi af” department. She also has an amazing hairdo, which I have to commend the designers on pulling off. More on that later.

For a pretty plain and boring character in the movies, the Black Widow Brickheadz is actually one of my favourites in Series 1. Despite her not being the most popular or interesting characters, the designers did a superb job porting her look over to Brickheadz, which is no mean feat. 

Her blank expression works very well in this case and her face is well-framed by her hair.She has a small number of printed tiles, namely the decorative piece for the middle of her torso, and two 1×2 tiles for her zappy bracelets.

She also carries two batons, which I thought was pretty cute. I love that she’s equipped to deliver an ass-whoopin’.

Despite there being not a lot of room for complex design, the combination of colours of her torso, her belt piece and sleek grey and black colour scheme makes for quite an attractive body. It’s really cool that her design isn’t completely reliant on printed elements.

Black Widow’s hair is gorgeous and completes her entire look. The clever mix of pieces that went into giving it an authentic and organic wavy look is very satisfying and I especially like her fringe.

Here you can also get a better view of her zappy bracelets. 

What made me slightly uncomfortable about Black Widow is her “butt” – a 1 x 4 tile that slightly protrudes out her bottom. Now this was totally unnecessary in my opinion and doesn’t add anything at all to the design, except for a very lame way of sexualising the design.

No other Brickheadz have such prominent butts, so I really question why this was here. Yes, Scar Jo’s butt in her skintight costume is featured quite prominently in Avengers marketing material but this addition just felt a little sleazy to me. Again, really unnecessary.

Edit: A reader has meailed me to point out that this could be her belt. Now that I see it, it kinda makes sense, but it still looks like a butt to me.

Here’s Black Widow with her minfigure counterpart. Now that you can see both of them together, it would’ve been nice if Black Widow’s torso had those electric blue lines to give it a bit of a flourish.

Here’s Black Widow shot outdoors.

Thoughts: Really love Black Widow. Her beautiful orange hair makes her stand out in all the right ways and she has just the right amount of details. The addition of batons is also a nice touch, and strangely, for a character that doesn’t have the most recognizable visual identity or look, the Brickheadz version actually did a very fine job of nailing her look.

If only the butt wasn’t there.

Rating: 3/5

Name: Iron Man
Set Number: 41590
Pieces: 96
Price: AU$15.99 | US$9.99 | £9.99 (Buy from LEGO.com [AUS] [USA] [UK])
Exclusive to: Dreamworld LEGO Store, Legoland Discovery Centre Melbourne (for now – general release will be in June 2016)
Minifigs: N/A
Theme: Brickheadz
Year of Release: 2017

Last but not least is the progenitor of the Marvel Cinematic Universe himself, the glue that holds it all together – Tony Stark, aka Iron Man.

The Iron Man Brickheadz works well on so many levels. Firstly, it achieves the blocky Brickheadz look, which is beginning to grow on me, and the colours are great. The dark red combined with dark yellow works a treat and makes for some very aesthetically pleasing colour blocking. 

Details-wise, Iron Man balances it out very well, with printed pieces for his arc reactor, abdomen and of course the top part of his mask. Great call printing the top part of his mark on a curved slope, as it gives Iron Man’s head that a very convincing helmet look that matches the source material.

The only printed element I don’t like is the 2 x 1 tile on his abdomen… which looks like a pair of eyes. I’m sorry, but I simply cannot unsee that pair of eyes.

Speaking of eyes, Iron Man doesn’t come with the standard Brickheadz eyes, but his own unique set of 1 x 1 transparent blue tiles with a white square printed on it.

Yes, I did go on a bit about Black Widow’s butt, but it appears that Iron Man has a small butt poking out too. Is this some sort of in-joke at LEGO? It just seems a little odd to be honest and I don’t know why they couldn’t have given him a flat butt, like Captain America or The Hulk.

Here’s a look at the Iron Man minifg in relation to the Iron Man Brickheadz. Would it have been awesome if we had gotten shiny/sparkly colours instead of the dark yellow? Yes. Probably a little unrealistic, but a man can dream.

Lastly, here’s a shot of Iron Man outside looking fly.

Thoughts: I like Iron Man. He’s always been one of the “cool” super heroes and the Brickheadz version certainly checks all the “cool” boxes. The blocky look combines well with the sloped head and it’s instantly recognizable as Iron Man when you display him.

This is important because you want people to remark “oh wow, is that Iron Man?” when they first see it. Which is super important if you’re the kind of collector that needs constant validation.

Rating: 4/5

Final thoughts: After building the Marvel Brickheadz, I can confidently say that I like the theme and the designs, but I’m not in love with them. 

Brickheadz are certainly quite charming, and when you line them all up like you see above, they certainly look a lot better when you have a bunch of them displayed together as opposed to solo characters displays. Something, something greater than the sum of its parts. 

LEGO are quite clear with who they’re targeting with Brickheadz – pop vinyl fans, to lure them into LEGO as well as people like me that just like to collect stuff.

It’s unexplainable, but if you tell me that there’s a Series of something to collect, or a whole set of something to complete, I’m usually quite powerless to resist.

And it works. I don’t collect Pop Vinyls but I do like the Chibi-esque look of the Brickheadz. They’re small enough that I can display them without having to stress about making space for them, and they fit in really well in most places such as near your computer, or on your work desk.

Depending on the type of collector you are, I think you’ll either like Brickheadz or won’t bother with them at all. They do have a slightly juvenile appeal to them because of the cute factor, so some serious collectors might be deterred, but if you have extra LEGO budget, I’d say it’s worth giving them a shot, especially if you’re looking for LEGO-related models to decorate your desk or display area.

At the very least, it shouldn’t hurt your wallet too much to pick up any of your favourite characters. You don’t really have to collect them all, and seeing as how LEGO is committed to future Series, I daresay that there’ll be plenty to pick and choose for your collection.

I think they’re priced just right for what you get, and I’m glad that LEGO didn’t slap the super hero tax on them.

Going back to the Marvel Brickheadz, I think they look fantastic when they’re all assembled together – mostly because of the Avengers connection. In terms of my favourite, I’d rank Captain America as the best, followed by Black Widow, Iron Man and finally The Hulk.

If you’re into The Avengers or Marvel characters, I recommend picking up some of them. Probably just Captain America and Iron Man as they’re the biggest draw, but like I said, they do look best when displayed in a large group.

I’m also really interested to see where LEGO takes this theme, and how they can expand it beyond their core licenses like Disney, Marvel and DC.

That’s it for my review of the Marvel Brickheadz, I hope you enjoyed reading it!

If you’ve delved into Brickheadz and own a few, I’d love to hear your thoughts on them, as well as if you opted to completely pass on them. Would love to hear why!

LEGO Brickheadz will be available in Australia only in the Dreamworld LEGO Store and the Legoland Discovery Centre Melbourne store in April, before being released in more stores in June.

If you’d like to purchase them, your best bet would be to buy them online.

Thanks for reading! I’ll try and find time to review the other Brickheadz that I got – maybe the Beauty and the Beast or Pirates of the Caribbean ones next! Till next time!