Review: LEGO 40523 Easter Rabbits Display

January 27, 2022 | 0

It’s been a busy week on the blog with a flurry of LEGO Brickheadz reviews, and now we’re switching gears slightly to the 2022 seasonal Easter LEGO set – 40523 Easter Rabbits Display!

This year’s cycle of seasonal sets adopts a theme of a pair of brick-built seasonal animals, displayed on a small vignette bears elements of the season or occassion.

A pair of rabbits are an obvious fit for Easter, but the symbolism also works to welcome in Spring (in the Northern hemisphere) as well, and there’s a fun way to switch up the display.

These are a follow up to 40522 Valentine Lovebirds which was released earlier this month, so for those of you who like collecting these small seasonal sets, let’s take a closer look at 40523 Easter Rabbits Display!

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

40523 Easter Rabbits Display Set Details

Name: Easter Rabbits Display
Set Number: 40523
Pieces: 288
Price: AU$19.99 | US$12.99 | £11.99 – Buy from LEGO.com [US] [AUS] [UK]
Exclusive to: LEGO.com, LEGO Brand Retail Stores
Theme: Seasonal
Release Date: 1 February 2022

Like the Valentine Lovebirds, 40523 Easter Rabbits is designed to be built as a group activity – there are 2 separate manuals, one for each rabbit, which makes this a really fun experience, if you like building with your spouse, partner, kids or friends.

My 5 year old daughter helped put the set together for me, and didn’t need a lot of help. She really likes Easter (and Easter Eggs), so she was ecstatic to piece this set together.

The completed model has a brown and white rabbit perched on a grassy platform.

I liked the height difference, which gives it a sense of dynamism, and also the generous use of tiles, and curved slopes to give it a smooth, wavy look. That and the use of 3 different shades of green give the base a pleasant pop of colour.

You can place the rabbits on the singular stud, which allows for a very small degree of customisation as you can alter their position or rotate them slightly to mix up the angles, but I found that this wasn’t very effective at holding them in place, and they often popped out of place at the slightest nudge.

You have 2 options to decorate the rabbit’s surroundings – a clutch of brightly coloured Easter Eggs, or 3 tulip-like flowers, blossoming in spring.

Both options are brightly coloured, with some really fun colour combinations, and you can also mix things up and use both flowers and easter eggs in the scene.

Here’s the back view.

Both rabbits are delightful, and have distinct poses which I really like – a nice improvement over the Lovebirds which were identical to each other, except for colour variations.

The poses are also very organic and natural, especially the white rabbit who is on all fours.

The brown rabbit’s “rubbing its hands together gleefully” look is also very cute! Add in some extra details like darker fur colours on their bellies, and you have a pair of really cute, masterfully designed rabbits!

Oh, and their ears can swivel too! Here’s how they look from the back.

If you’re looking for a fun seasonal LEGO set, and also enjoy building animal shapes and forms, this is the set for you. The added customisation of the scene is also another fun bonus, and this really is a great standalone set that oozes Easter cheer.

And here’s a look at the Easter Rabbits, side by side with the Valentine Lovebirds. I wonder which seasonal holiday we’ll get next!

What I liked:

• Shared build-together option when building
• Natural poses for both rabbits
• Customisable Easter scene
• Fairly affordable

What I didn’t like: 

• Rabbits aren’t secured to the base well enough
• Some printed Easter Eggs would’ve been nice, but understand they need to keep prices accessible for these set

FINAL THOUGHTS:

40523 Easter Rabbits Display is a really well put together and designed seasonal set. LEGO have tried the solo animal build before, but introducing a companion really ups the playability, and interactivity of the model as it makes it look less like a statue or model, but a fully self-contained scene.

Both rabbits are a delight to build and display, and I really appreciate the option to swap out the decorations, and customise it to your liking, which ultimately increases the replayability and utility of the set.

The rabbit designs are so well done, at such low piece counts, which make them all the more impressive. I really like this year’s shift to more accurate animal models, instead of the exaggerated, cartoony versions we’ve had before.

40523 Easter Rabbits Display is a fantastic set for builders on a budget, or if you enjoy collecting LEGO’s annual seasonal themes, and is the front-runner for me so far. I really cannot wait to see what other animals we get this year!

Rating and score: 4/5 ★★★★✰

Build [4] – Build together is always a plus, and the rabbits are interesting models to build
Real Value [4] – For a small set, you get a lot of display presence, and playability built-in
Innovation [4] – Very strong techniques used for the rabbits, and how well the scene works
Coolness [3] – It won’t make your jaw drop, but this set makes for nice desk displays
Keepability [4] – Seasonal sets are usually quite collectable, and this year’s has that special x-factor with the animal pairs.

Thanks so much for reading and I hope you enjoyed this review of the Easter Rabbits Display!

Easter is still quite far away, but 40523 Easter Rabbits Display goes on sale on 1 February 2022, and will be available o LEGO.com, or from your local LEGO store!

In case you missed it, here are some recent reviews of upcoming February releases!

• Review: LEGO Toy Story Brickheadz (40553, 40552)
• Review: LEGO 40559 Road Runner (161) & Wile E. Coyote (162) Brickheadz
• Review: LEGO 21332 The Globe
• Review: LEGO 40549 Demogorgon (156) & Eleven (157) Brickheadz

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