LEGO BrickHeadz Toy Story Set Review

(Written by William)

I’ve always been a fan of LEGO BrickHeadz. While they have a simple-looking design, they are often distinctly different in their construction methods. The whole collection is more or less a Zen building experience for builders. So when I saw the #40860 LEGO BrickHeadz Toy Story lineup, I immediately wanted to try it out.

Something that’s a little odd is that LEGO already released the #40552 LEGO BrickHeadz Buzz Lightyear and the #40553 LEGO BrickHeadz Woody and Bo Peep in 2022. If you already have those sets, you might still be interested in the new one, as the designs are slightly different. Or if you’re just starting your BrickHeadz collection, this set is a good introduction to the collection with all the different characters. It is also reasonable to think that LEGO might not have had confidence that Jessie and two Pizza Planet Aliens would sell well without some of the main characters. Whatever the case may be, getting five BrickHeadz for $39.99 is a pretty good price. So, let’s see what each character offers.

LEGO BRICKHEADZ WOODY

Compared to the first LEGO BrickHeadz Woody, there are some obvious differences. The original did have a bit more in the way of accessories and printing. This version focused more on a true brick-built experience. This means fans who are more into the building experience might have a slightly better time with this Toy Story pack rather than trying to hunt down the older version. For those who like detail work, the first version with Bo Peep would probably be more to your taste.

As for Woody in this set, he got a brick-built shirt and a more involved hat. This version of the hat has a tilt to one side rather than being tilted straight back. Plus, there is a bit more shaping to the hat as well. However, you will have to give up having a lasso and holstered gun at the hip.

Both versions feature a ring on the back to simulate his pull string. And this might be the case for both, but I can state that the version in this set has sundae ice cream tops in white to simulate the inner stuffing of the character.

LEGO BRICKHEADZ BUZZ LIGHTYEAR

Like Woody, this version of Buzz seems a bit simpler and more focused on basic brick building. The original version might also have more details, since it was based on the Lightyear movie. This means the version found in this set is considered to be a bit more of a toy; however, both versions do feature batteries built inside their cores.

The major change is that the backpack of this Buzz has no wings. This makes it a much easier model to display but also less dynamic. Granted, you could use both models to play, treating this one as Buzz’s normal walking around form and the other as falling with style.

LEGO BRICKHEADZ JESSIE

Now we get to a new character. Jessie is Woody’s sidekick. As such, she has a similar color-scheme and building style as Woody’s. Her western shirt is white with a touch of yellow at the shoulders. This yellow matches Woody’s shirt. And she has the cow pattern front chaps in front of her legs. This matches Woody’s cow-printed vest.

Continuing the comparisons, Jessie also has a tilt to her hat. However, her hat tilts back. This is more of a copy of Woody’s original BrickHeadz version. Just like Woody, she has a ring on the back under her braid and simulated stuffing on the inside of her core. Ultimately, she acts as a bit of a bridge from one Woody to the other and can be the perfect sidekick for either version.

LEGO BRICKHEADZ PIZZA PLANET ALIENS

These two little guys are built exactly the same. This means in the instructions, you have to remember to double everything. As far as BrickHeadz go, these are built on the 3×3 plate scale rather than the normal 4×4 plate style. Though it was noticeable that their leg/feet are only one plate high, making them one of the shortest characters I’ve ever built in this form.

Being the simplest figures in the set, it was neat to see some of the more interesting parts used to create the aliens. The front of their torsos features a logo that is printed on the side of a 1×3 brick. The ears are triangle tiles in lime-green, which is not a common color for that part. Additionally, the bar with ball-joint that makes up the antenna for their head is also in lime-green, which is a color I’ve never seen that part in. Overall, I think if Jessie and these guys were in a set by themselves, I probably would have picked them up anyway.

LEGO BRICKHEADZ FINAL THOUGHTS

The $39.99 price tag is decent for the number of characters you get. I am a bit sad that two of the characters are revised versions of characters we’ve already gotten. I would have preferred maybe Rex, Mr. Potato Head, or Slinky Dog, but I think the general appeal is to have some main characters in sets like this.

This makes it a little tough to recommend. Half the price you are paying for are for something you might already have in your collection. It is true that the designs of the models are different, but they still remain remarkably similar. And it is at times like these where I see a lot of the same thing on my shelves, and I start thinking, am I buying too much?

With that concern aside, if you did miss the original BrickHeadz and want Toy Story characters, this is a great set to pick up. I actually really like the concept of extending what should be a four-person pack into a five-pack, even if two of the characters are exactly the same. The joy of the Pizza Planet Aliens was simply just how many there were of them. It is one of the few sets that haven’t been affected by inflation like so many others. So, if you are okay with possibly having copies of characters, this is a set you can easily enjoy and then say with confidence, “There’s a brick in my boots!”

In the video below, I will discuss the set in a bit more detail, and if you want to check it out, it’s available at the LEGO BrickHeadz section of the Online LEGO Shop.

What do you think? How do you like the LEGO BrickHeadz Toy Story sets so far? Do you have any of them already? Feel free to share your thoughts and own reviews in the comment section below!

And you might also like to check out the following related posts:

• LEGO BrickHeadz Transformers & More!
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