Apologies that May’s Power Rankings are a little late – I got swept up in the great 2HY release news blizzard when we had daily reveals, announcements and all sorts of accidental peeks at the new second half of 2021 sets, culminating in the full reveal of the Japanese/Taiwanese 2HY 2021 LEGO Catalogue.
May was an absolutely monstrous month for LEGO news and Reviews, and I broke all sorts of traffic records on the site – I had been planning for way more traffic in 2021, and invested heavily into the backend server infrastructure, and I’m pleased that the blog has held up incredibly well, with zero downtime!
In case you missed any big LEGO headlines in May 2021, here’s a handy recap of all the news, reviews from this blog, and the broader LEGO Fan Media Community.
If you want to catch up on previous Power Rankings, check out April, March, February and January 2021 Power Rankings to get up to speed on highlights from the first 4 months of 2021.
May 2021 LEGO Power Rankings
Without further ado, here are the new Power Rankings for May 2021!
Top 10 LEGO sets of May 2021
- 21326 Winnie the Pooh [Review] [Rating: 5/5 ★★★★★]
- 10281 Bonsai Tree
- 80107 Spring Lantern Festival [Review] [Rating: 5/5 ★★★★★]
- 21325 Medieval Blacksmith
- 76178 Daily Bugle *NEW*
- 10283 NASA Space Shuttle Discovery ⬇️
- 75308 R2-D2 [Review] [Rating: 4/5 ★★★★★] *NEW*
- 10278 Modular Police Station ⬇️ [Review] [Rating: 4/5 ★★★★✰] ⬇️
- 71741 Ninjago City Gardens ⬇️
- 10280 Flower Bouquet ⬇️
May 2021 had two heavyweight releases – with 75308 R2-D2 on 1 May 2021, and the surprise reveal and drop of 76178 Daily Bugle on the 26th of May.
These were 2 excellent models, and have number 7 and 5 on the Power Rankings respectfully, but so far, the Top 4 has held on against all odds against the Daily Bugle.
Of course, as we’re now in June and faced with an even larger deluge of sets, leading with Everyone is Awesome, I fully expect this list to be thrown into disarray this month with so many news sets out.
What are Power Rankings?
Essentially, they’re commonly used in sports leagues like the NBA to track and compare the best/worst performing teams, often changing weekly based on results and how teams play.
I often get asked via email or on social media what the best sets of the (insert current) year/month are, and I usually rattle off what I personally like, so to start 2021, I’ve decided to start a regular series where I track and rank what the best 10 LEGO sets are at the end of each month.
This isn’t meant to be scientific or data-driven (some of these I haven’t personally built/own yet) – just my personal opinion of what I think are the best LEGO sets of 2021!
Of course, for a more comprehensive evaluation of LEGO sets, you can read my LEGO reviews for more detailed opinions. For sets that I’ve reviewed, I’ll also include the scores next to the power rankings, but it’s quite unlikely that I’ll get to review every amazing set of 2021 – I sometimes build and miss out reviewing due to time/scheduling issues.
New LEGO Podcast Episodes
If you’d like to get to know a bit more about my story, how I got into LEGO, and what my approach to blogging and content creation is, check out my interview with Greg from For The Love of Brick.
S01E03 Extra Pieces: May the Fourth Be With you
S01E04: Bird of Paradise, Creator Castle, June/August release overview
May saw 2 new Extra Pieces podcast episode – a May the 4th episode, and one discussing new June/August releases – rapidfire style!
To listen to the Extra Pieces podcast, you can find us wherever you get your podcasts from:
For everyone that has subscribed and been listening, thank you so much! If I could ask you for a huge favour – if you’ve been enjoying the podcasts, do consider leaving us a 5-star review on Apple Podcasts! That would be super helpful to help improve our discoverability!
Notable LEGO headlines – May 2021
- LEGO 2HY 2021 Catalogue reveals Marvel and The Mandalorian Advent Calendars, new Technic and more!
- Closer Look At Lego 75316 Mandalorian Starfighter And 75310 Duel On Mandalore
- Answered: Can LEGO Sell Star Wars Minifigures On Their Own? (RLFM Days 2021 – Star Wars Interview)
- Guide to all the new Summer 2021 LEGO releases on 1 June!
- LEGO Marvel What If…? set revealed! 76194 Tony Stark’s Sakaarian Iron Man
- First Look: New 2021 LEGO Jurassic World Camp Cretaceous sets
- 2021 LEGO Harry Potter Advent Calendar revealed! (spoilers beware!)
- Introducing LEGO CON, a livestream event packed with live builds, product reveals and more!
- LEGO Star Wars 75296 Darth Vader Meditation Chamber helps you practice Dark Side mindfulness
- Introducing the new record-breaking 11,695 piece LEGO World Map – most pieces ever!
- Everyone is Awesome! LEGO to celebrate Pride Month and LGBTQ+ inclusivity with commemorative monofigure set
- LEGO Daily Bugle (2021) Q&A with Mark Stafford, Senior LEGO Designer
- LEGO VIP Gold Coin release date revealed, plus old coins to be restocked!
- Official reveal of LEGO 10292 F.R.I.E.N.D.S Apartments
- LEGO 10289 Bird of Paradise joins the Botanical Collection
May 2021 LEGO Reviews
- Retro LEGO Review: 7121 Naboo Swamp – 4 May
- Review: LEGO 40479 Dalmatian Brickheadz – 7 May
- Review: LEGO DuckTales (40477) and Daisy Duck (40476) Brickheadz – 13 May
- Review: LEGO 31120 Medieval Castle – 15 May
- Review: LEGO 10292 The Friends Apartments (2021) – 19 May
- Review: LEGO 40516 Everyone is Awesome (Pride Month LEGO set) – 20 May
- Review: LEGO 31122 Fish Tank – 23 May
- Review: LEGO 31203 World Map (Part 1) – 28 May
Interesting LEGO articles and videos from across the web you should check out
- Lego® City Interview: The New Road Plates– New Elementary
- Analysis of LEGO Disney Princess – Part 2 – Women’s Brick Initiative
- Is LEGO a toy with good value? – Jangbricks
- LEGO Speed Champions Reviews – RacingBrick
- LEGO SNOT: Advanced Techniques and Implementations – Bricknerd
- These Scientists Are Rebuilding Singapore’s Coral Reefs – With Lego – Vice
Read May 2021 LEGO reviews
It’s been a busy month for reviews! In case you missed anything, check out all sets I’ve reviewed in May 2021 below!
Thanks again to everyone who has participated in the conversation, on the blog, Facebook, Instagram and my Youtube channel.
Surprised NCG isn’t higher than Bonsai tree!
Surprised Daily Bugle didn’t make it higher up! 🤷♀️
But keen to see where World Map ranks, that’s for sure. (Oh, apparently I didn’t drop enough hints… 😆)