Review: LEGO 40549 Demogorgon (156) & Eleven (157) Brickheadz

January 25, 2022 | 0

The 2022 Brickheadz-palooza continues with today’s early review – 40549 Demogorgon and Eleven from Netflix’s hit original series Stranger Things!

Following on from yesterday’s Looney Tunes Brickheadz review, we head into the world of sci-fi with another brand new entrant to the Brickheadz thing with Stranger Things.

40549 Demogorgon and Eleven will be available on LEGO.com on 1 February 2022 and will retail for US$19.99 / AU$29.99

It’s great to see LEGO keeping their Netflix partnership alive, despite the recent retirement of the Stranger Things Upside Down set (it recently restocked in the US, but is unavailable nearly everywhere else).

Let’s jump straight into this quick review – I’m not the biggest Stranger Things fan, and only watched Season 1, so this isn’t something I’m super familiar with, so apologies in advance for any innacuracies!

Special thanks to the LEGO Group for providing this set for review

40549 Demogorgon & Eleven Set Details

Name: Demogorgon & Eleven
Set Number: 40559
Pieces: 192
Price: AU$29.99 | US$19.99 | £17.99 – Buy from LEGO.com [US] [AUS] [UK]
Exclusive to: LEGO.com, LEGO Brand Retail Stores
Theme: Brickheadz / Stranger Things
Release Date: 1 February 2022

First thing’s first – a look at the printed elements! You get 5 of these Nexo Shields printed with the Demogorgon’s teeth, and a printed 2 x 6 brick with Eleven’s blouse frills. Always nice to see new printed elements introduced, and I imagine these Nexo Shields will be very popular amongst horror-MOC builders.

Here’s a look at Brickheadz #157, Eleven, the young protagonist of Stranger Things who has psychokinetic abilities. This version of Eleven is based on her Season 1 appearance, and she’s attired in a blue jacket, and pink blouse, with large round collars, captured splendidly with the printed brick.

Here’s the reference photo.

As a human character, Eleven was a fairly straightforward Brickheadz build – so if you’re a seasoned Brickheadz builder or collector, there’s nothing too surprising and it felt quite vanilla in many ways.

I did notice that the insides of her chest have these dark red round bricks which were interesting.

The end result is quite plain – as Eleven rocks a buzzcut in Season 1, her hair is fairly unremarkable, with a mix of plates and tiles to complete the look, although I do like her prominent ears on the side of her head.

Her face is quite lacking, with the classic Brickheadz look, but I think it would’ve been really nice if she had a bit of a bloody nose (which happens when she uses her powers), but I guess noses are against the rules with Brickheadz.

The bloody nose is a fairly iconic look for Eleven, so it’s a bummer it wasn’t adapted here.

Oh, and a really fun touch is that she’s seen clutching a waffle tile – Eleven is obsessed with Eggo waffles, so this is a nod fans of the series will enjoy.

Her green and white socks are also a nice touch, but apart from that, there’s nothing that stands out too much with Eleven.

Where things get interesting is with Brickheadz #156, the Demogorgon which is really the star of the set. The designer nailed the Demogorgon’s horrific features, with plenty of attention drawn to its large flower petal-like jaws filled with rows of teeth.

Here’s a closer look at its grotesque “face” of the Demogorgon – the printed Nexo shields are used to gear effect here, and I love the dark red elements.

The Demogorgon has some other attractive features, such as the “grills” at the front, to represented the folds on its body, as well the “double hands” which make up his claws.

The Demogorgon doesn’t know what’s coming, and this is what happens before it gets completely disintegrated by Eleven.

What I liked:

• Love seeing more LEGO Stranger Things, and a new license in Brickheadz
• Printed elements are aplenty, and the Nexo Shield teeth are great
• Demogorgon looks fantastically horrific

What I didn’t like: 

• Eleven is a little plain
• Eleven could do with a bloody nose

FINAL THOUGHTS:

It’s great to see LEGO continue to expand their growing Brickheadz theme with new properties, and with Season 4 of Stranger Things coming soon, it makes sense for them to give Eleven and the Demogorgon the Brickheadz treatment.

This is a fairly mixed bag, with Eleven being just recognisable enough through her colours, outfit and buzzcut hairstyle, but the real drawcard here is the Demogorgon with its alien otherwordly horror appearance.

The construction was quite interesting, but what really brings the Demogorgon to life is the 5 printed Nexo Shields full of teeth, which are quite attractive.

That said, 40549 Demogorgon and Eleven is ultimately aimed squarely at fans of the Stranger Things Netflix series (of which there are many), so unless you’re a fan of the show, you could probably give this a miss.

It’s not got widespread appeal as Disney, or even Looney Tunes properties as the show is fairly new, but it does have a large fanbase, so fans of all things Stranger Things will definitely be drawn to the set as a collectible.

As a Brickheadz set, it’s just okay, with the Demogorgon keeping it from seeming quite stale, but as I’m not a huge fan of the show, I really struggled to connect with this set.

Rating and score: 2/5 ★★✰✰✰

Build [2] – The Demogorgon was interesting to put together, but Eleven was very straight forward
Real Value [3] – You get quite a few great printed elements, although a larger 2×4 waffle tile would’ve been nice.
Innovation [2] – Not much new here introduced to the Brickheadz formula
Coolness [2] – If you like Stranger Things, you’ll love it, but for most people, they’ll struggle to connect with the characters
Keepability [3] – If LEGO support Stranger Things with more sets, I can see these holding some value, but that remains to be seen.

Thanks so much for reading and I hope you enjoyed this review the Stranger Things Brickheadz! We’re not done yet, as we have more Brickheadz reviews coming tomorrow, so keep an eye out on the blog!

40549 Demogorgon and Eleven will be available on LEGO.com on 1 February 2022 (assuming no delays) and will retail for US$19.99 / AU$29.99

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Special thanks to the LEGO Group for providing this set for review.