LEGO Art 31212 The Milky Way Galaxy redefines an iconic, familiar image thanks to a unique and wholly LEGO approach.
Recreating the well-known and oft-studied image of our galaxy in LEGO form for an official LEGO Art set could have gone any number of ways, particularly (and excitingly) with consideration to the experimentation that the theme has enjoyed in recent months.
The only sure thing is that heading into the reveal for this set none of us would have been sure what to expect, and so it is little surprise to see that 31212 The Milky Way Galaxy absolutely surprises, continuing in the theme’s recent creative direction and finding yet another opportunity to offer up a very clever and quite unexpected way to build this latest masterpiece.
Release: May 15, 2024 Price: £169.99 / $199.99 / €199.99 Pieces: 3,091 Minifigures: 0 LEGO:
Starry-eyed
31212 The Milky Way Galaxy could have played things simple and been a large, flat mosaic piece, similar to the first LEGO Art sets from a few years back, using 1x1 rounded tiles and plates to capture the subject matter, and we would have all accepted that and possibly been happy too. Instead, the LEGO Art team have embraced the collage approach, using a mixture of different colours and seemingly randomised parts to piece together the galaxy in a completely unique way, delivering a LEGO experience as unexpected as it is creative.
As a build process this is immediately far more fascinating than a simple mosaic, with each 16x16 plate feeling like a proper LEGO build with pieces placed in positions that don’t immediately make sense, but continue to pique the curiosity as to what the whole thing will look like when complete. The parts used, too, feel as random in selection as placement, with hats, hairbrushes, plant pieces, flags, carrots, teeth, stems, window frames, cones, and so many more different types of elements recoloured and used across the canvas.
They all come together for a segmented 3D build that works across the canvas left to right. Your eyes struggle to accept what you are putting together in each separate 16x16 square as anything other than random LEGO building, but they very effectively come together for the most beautiful version of the Milky Way you could ever hope to see built out of LEGO. The galaxy is a chaotic place filled with the most wondrous sights and this is perfectly echoed between the way in which you build 31212 The Milky Way Galaxy and the colourful, eye-catching end result.
Far out
The fact that 31212 The Milky Way Galaxy doesn’t immediately come together in a recognisable way and that its build is three-dimensional means that for the big impact that the completed set has on you, the experience of building it is far more enjoyable and engrossing than the earliest LEGO Art sets – and a real testament to the theme’s continued push to offer new and unique LEGO experiences within each set.
The end result is clever in design beyond the final image that it recreates too. Consider how the swirl of the Milky Way is brought out of the image by the increasing depth to which the parts protrude from the canvas: the effect is far more powerful in person compared to what we can show you through the camera and adds a literal depth to the artwork that gives every colour and every piece built into it extra dimension from every angle.
This 3D effect, which becomes more pronounced as you travel from the top left of the canvas to the bottom right – combined with the scattered selection of various parts and the brilliant colours that they are provided in – means that for a LEGO set based on an image you’ll already recognise and be familiar with, you can’t help but be continually drawn into it every time you look at it, and each time for a different detail in a different colour.
We are all made of stars LEGO bricks
Engrossing build and fun details aside, 31212 The Milky Way Galaxy is primarily a display piece designed to sit on a shelf or (for far greater stability and visual impact) hung on a wall. And as a display piece this set absolutely dominates thanks to those vibrant colours worked into the image, from the deep purple and different hues of blue through pinks, magenta, coral and bright white, to the flecks of iridescent pieces dotted around in between.
The brightness of the lighter colours is perfectly balanced out by the darker purple and trans-purple that, alongside the 3D collage effect, add real depth and weight to the set – and for an image that is just 80 studs wide and 48 studs tall, really do go some way to conveying the scale of the galaxy far better than you’d otherwise expect. There are 100 to 400 billion stars in this galaxy and the same number of planets too, and translating even just the concept of such vastness into a LEGO set like this is a concentrated effort that unexpectedly this one, humble LEGO set begins to achieve.
All of which takes us back to the start of this review – whatever your expectations when you first heard that the LEGO Art theme was producing a set based on the Milky Way, 31212 The Milky Way Galaxy utterly exceeds them. This is fun to build and magnificent to take in once complete and even at a relatively higher price offers the sort of LEGO experience that will stay with you and a finished model that you will keep coming back to.
Our honest opinion: A fascinating build experience leads to one of the most beautiful sets to come out of the LEGO Art theme so far, as 31212 The Milky Way Galaxy offers fresh perspective on a familiar image.
This set was provided for review by the LEGO Group.
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For more on 31212 The Milky Way Galaxy, discover how it's emblematic of how far LEGO Art has come as a theme since 2020.
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