Announcing LEGO 21317 Steamboat Willie – a celebration of Mickey Mouse!

March 19, 2019 | 4

Today, LEGO have unveiled a pretty special set – 21317 Steamboat Willie, the very next LEGO Ideas set that you’ll be drooling over.

It’s also one of the trippiest LEGO sets that I’ve ever laid my eyes on, and I’m still sure the photos are playing tricks on my eyes.

This black and white beauty contains 751 pieces, and has a release date of 1 April 2019, with a US retail price of US$89.99. It will be available on LEGO.com, and at all LEGO Brand Retail Stores

See below for regional pricing:

• 21317 Steamboat Willie [US] – US$89.99
• 21317 Steamboat Willie [AU] – AU$129.99
• 21317 Steamboat Willie [UK] – £79.99
• 21317 Steamboat Willie [EU] – €89.99 (regional EU pricing applies)
• 21317 Steamboat Willie [CA] – CAD$119.99

It was only a month ago that LEGO announced that Steamboat Willie was one of the two LEGO Ideas projects that would be making the cut, and here we are, less than 2 weeks away from its retail release.

This pretty much suggests that LEGO have known for a long time that it would be greenlit, and due to their close relationship with Disney, they were able to quickly get this set into production.

It’s a little unorthodox for LEGO Ideas, but I really like the short lead time from announcement to set availability.

LEGO 21317 Steamboat Willie is an homage to the most popular and important cartoon character ever – Mickey Mouse, and his partner Minnie Mouse.

A mouse so important that it spawned an entertainment juggernaut that owns ESPN, Star Wars and Marvel among other things.

This set celebrates Mickey’s humble beginnings as a steamboat driver, when he made his debut in 1928 in the black and white animated short – Steamboat Willie.

This film was momentous, not only for giving us Mickey and Minnie Mouse, but for also being the first Disney film to have synchronized sound.

The monochromatic model is a stunning and accurate rendition of Mickey and Minnie’s black & white origins, and features steam pipes that move up and down and paddle wheels that rotate when the boat is pushed along.

The boat’s bridge has room for a minifigure and play-inspiring nautical details such as the ship’s wheel, life buoy and buildable bell.

On deck there is a working crane to lift the ‘potato bin’ cargo aboard and this unique toy building set comes with new-for-April-2019 Mickey Mouse and Minnie Mouse minifigures, each with special silver-colored decoration, plus a parrot figure.

I’m actually really into this set the more I see it, and I think this will be one of the more memorable sets of 2019.

The historic nature of this set, and its unique ground-breaking monochromatic colour scheme makes this a winner in my books and I’ll definitely be adding this to my purchase list.

I kinda regret turning down a review opportunity, but I’ve been a little busy outside of the blog moving house and getting all that sorted, so I knew I wouldn’t do an earlier review justice anyway, but I’ll definitely be picking this up when it becomes available on 1 April.

The pricing is a little dear, but that’s to be expected with The Mouse – how else are they going to pay for their acquisitions like Star Wars and Marvel?

LEGO 21317 Steamboat Willie will be available from LEGO.com from 1 April 2019.

What do you think of this set? It’s definitely going to be a big hit amongst Disney and Mickey Mouse fans, as well as adult LEGO fans who are after something unique that can’t be offered by any other sets.

Let me know what your thoughts are in the comments!