Review: LEGO Polybags (First-Half of 2023)
February 21, 2023
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I was at the Melbourne Legoland Discovery Centre over the weekend and stumbled upon a whole heap of new first half of 2023 LEGO Polybags on sale.
I wasted no time picking most of them up, as I really enjoy polybags as impulse purchases and builds, and with the skyrocketing price of LEGO, I figured that it’s a nice reminder that it doesn’t have to cost an exorbitant amount to enjoy LEGO.
Here’s a full gallery of new polybags that were available. I picked up all of them except for 30637 Animal Tray and Bag Tag, 30647 The Dripstone Cavern, and 30655 Technic Forklift, and I’ve compiled some short reviews of each polybag to show them off!
- 30633 Skate Ramp
- 30634 Friendship Flowers
- 30638 Police Bicycle Training
- 30639 Dog Park and Scooter
- 30641 Panda Bear
- 30642 Creator Birthday Train
- 30644 Vintage Car
- 30646 Moana’s Dolphin Cove
- 30649 Ice Dragon Creature
- 30654 X-Wing Starfighter
- 30656 Monkey King Marketplace
Click on the above links to jump straight to a specific polybag.
Each polybag was priced at AU$5.99, and if you’re not in Melbourne, you can pop by your local LEGO Store to see if they have them in stock. If you prefer shopping online, the Dreamworld Online LEGO Store also has them in stock with nationwide delivery.
Polybag availability is really random globally. In some countries you can find them at your local LEGO Stores, or some of these might pop up as minor LEGO GWPs (gift with purchase) in promotions throughout the year.
If there’s any specific polybag here, you can also usually find them from a reseller on Bricklink if you really want a specific one.
30633 Skate Ramp
Here’s a look at 30633 Skate Ramp, which focuses on Liann, the artistic and sometimes mischievous new LEGO Friends main character. Her interests include skating, and in this polybag, we get a small half-pipe, and some obstacles to grind and perform tricks on.
Liann is also passionate about art, and there’s a small table with spray paint and a paintbrush for her to customise the wheels on her pink skateboard.
The set also comes with Popcorn – Liann’s pet Salamander, which is a very clever recolour of a mould previously used for Bruni, the ice lizard from Frozen 2.
For a polybag, there’s a LOT of value in the set, and it really works well as a small standalone build, or as a companion to the larger 41751 Skate Park.
30634 Friendship Flowers
LEGO Icons doesn’t have the monopoly on LEGO Botanical Flowers, as brick-built Flowers have long been a part of the LEGO Friends theme.
Think of 30634 Friendship Flowers as a mini version of 10313 Wildflower Bouquet, with a small teal vase as well.
Despite the small size and the fact that it’s a polybag, it feels quite substantial both as a build, but also as a small display piece.
The colours are vibrant, and the flower builds are interesting and make great use of colours despite its diminutive size.
A really great polybag, especially if you’re looking to expand your LEGO Flower collection, and want to add an inexpensive new addition to the Botanical Collection that’s also compact and easy to display.
Think of this as a great gateway to LEGO Flowers, especially for younger fans.
30638 Police Bicycle Training
Moving to LEGO City, we have 30638 Police Bicycle Training, which follows the City’s new direction for Police sets, where they’re back in training.
This polybag includes a police cadet minifigure and a dark blue mountain bike, along with a series of obstacles like cones, wooden logs, and a see-saw like ramp.
This polybag packs plenty of play value, and will be a fun pickup for younger LEGO City fans, and I do like the inclusion of the printed police brick, and a new police cadet minifigure.
30639 Dog Park and Scooter
The other LEGO City polybag is 30639 Dog Park and Scooter, a rather simple and bare-bones set compared to most of the others on the list.
You get a female minifigure, with a pink scooter, a husky dog, and a small tree and patch of grass, and that’s really it.
There’s not too much to get excited about here but the dark pink kick scooter is a fairly new element, so this is the most affordable way to get it.
The minifigure’s new helmet and fused hair headpiece is also neat, but this feels like it could’ve used maybe a more fleshed out park section to give it more substantial presence.
30641 Panda Bear
Creator 3-in-1 polybags are the absolute pinnacle of value and fun. Keeping the classic 3-in-1 formula to a low-piece count polybah is always a fun challenge, but the talented designers always somehow manage to deliver.
For the first half of 2023, we get a 3-in-1 Panda Bear, in which the primary build is an adorable Panda, which isn’t quite a bear. For an 83-piece set, it works really well, plus there’s plenty of articulation on its arms and legs.
The Panda sits on its legs, and can kinda rock backwards and forwards at certain angles, and it also comes with some shoots of bamboo to munch on. I love how expressive its face is, and how posable it is.
There are 2 alternate models for the 30641 Panda Bear polybag, which you’ll need to download from LEGO’s instructions portal, the first of which is this cute little Penguin model.
Like the Panda, it’s also quite posable and can waddle, flap its wings and even swivel its head up and down.
Next we also have an Orca build, which is the smallest of the 3 but still pretty effective. The construction of the tail, dorsal fins and the pink tiles for its tongues make for a pretty good model.
Out of the 3, I think I like the Penguin best as it’s the least cartoony and goofy-looking with excellent proportions!
30642 Creator Birthday Train
The next 2023 Creator Polybag isn’t a 3-in-1 but it’s another polybag train set – which is a whole mini sub-theme of its own. Last year, we received 30584 Winter Holiday Train.
30642 Creator Birthday Train is a bright colourful birthday train, complete with a birthday candle and a giant present on the back carriage.
The colours are nice and vibrant, and I’m not sure if this is just me, but the present looks like a nod to the Danish flag.
A fun addition for those that collect Train polybags, and at the same time great for kids or parents who want an inexpensive LEGO Train.
30644 Vintage Car
This is probably my favourite polybag in the first half of 2023 release – the 30644 Vintage Car, an incredibly classy nod to automobiles from around the 1930s.
It’s a 4-wide car, which is also a neat little nod to LEGO Town vehicles, and comes in an eye-catching red and black colour scheme, with pops of pearl gold for some extra flash.
To really emphasise the opulence, there’s a small space for a briefcase behind the car, with a printed coin on the inside.
This was such a great polybag to build, and despite its small size, is also a fun one to display.
30646 Moana’s Dolphin Cove
For fans of LEGO’s Disney Princess theme, there’s also 30646 Moana’s Dolphin Cove which is a relatively affordable way to get your hands on the new 2023 Moana minidoll, which is identical as the one 43210 Moana’s Wayfinding Boat.
That said, it’s also really good value as you get a Moana minidoll, her pig Pua, and a baby dolphin.
Getting Pua the Pig is a really nice inclusion as it’s super adorable. There’s even a small slice of beach with a palm tree and some grapes for Pua to enjoy.
The Dolphin Cove also doubles as a slide, and you also get a sparkly windscreen as well, which really bumps up the overall value of the polybag.
30649 Ice Dragon Creature
Ninjago fans can look forward to 30649 Ice Dragon Creature which is a miniature version of 71786 Zane’s Ice Dragon Creature. It’s really remarkable just how well Zane’s Ice Dragon Creature was captured in this mini form, and it’s a banger of a polybag build.
The colours are excellent, and I especially love the pearl gold accents on the wings, head and tail.
If the Ice Dragon Creature wasn’t impressive enough, there also alternate instructions available (online) which allows you to also build the upright Dragon Warrior configuration, which is pretty much a dragon-esque mech build.
Like the Ice Dragon mode, it’s really posable, fun and most importantly, looks hella cool.
30654 X-Wing Starfighter
LEGO Star Wars fans should also be on the lookout for 30654 X-Wing Starfighter, a sensational polybag where you build a pretty neatly-sized X-Wing Starfighter.
It’s much larger and more substantial than an Advent Calendar X-Wing, but at this size, still maintains the X-Wing’s iconic silhouette and features at a compact scale.
I really love this scale, as it works so well as a display piece that doesn’t take up a lot of space, and really feels like a toy X-Wing display model that you can easily pop on your desk for fun. Oh and swoosh it around every now and then of course.
Oh, and there’s this neat Return of the Jedi 40th Anniversary stamp on the polybag as well.
The design is really ingenious, and the S-foils also open and close very satisfyingly. I was incredibly impressed to discover that you could open the S-Foils and place it in “attack mode” and it would still balance perfectly, making this a sensational display model.
It’s been a while since we’ve had a really good LEGO Star Wars polybag, and I can see this one gaining wider availability as a GWP for May the 4th.
This is such a good polybag and scale that I’d really love more Starfighters, and ships at this size and price-point.
30656 Monkey King Marketplace
And last but not least is 30656 Monkey King Marketplace featuring a Monkey King minifigure, and a small quaint marketplace scene.
It’s not really a market – more of one stall with some dumplings, veggies and interestingly, 2 new printed tile which has Pigsy and some noodles on it, which debuted this year in 80044 Monkie Kid’s Team Hideout.
Here’s a look at the Monkie Kid minifigure which has a dual-sided face, printed legs and back printing.
It was pretty cool to see his tail piece being used to carry his staff, which has some baggage attached and balanced at both ends.
And that’s it! Hope you enjoyed this detailed look at all the new first-half of 2023 LEGO polybags available so far!
Let me know in the comments if there are any here that catch your attention!
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