At first glance, Lego Ideas sets can be cool in design but lack in playability or details. Not with The International Space Station (Set 21321). This addition to Lego Ideas series follows in the footsteps of sets like Creator NASA Apollo 11 (Sets 10266) and Ideas NASA Saturn V Rocket (Set 92176) with it’s attention to detail, technical build features and realism.
Right out of the box you know this is going to be fun to build. With 864 total pieces there are a variety of small bricks and Technic additions in the six included bags.
Each bag offered a diverse option of bricks for you My Own Creation (MOC) if that’s what you like to do with your bricks. In this case, the Space Station was to nice to pass up building and keeping as a complete. Immediately, we noticed this cool microfigure astronauts, not your usual minifigures. Which makes the intention of this set to be to scale. We also noticed the space shuttle which is uniquely similar to the one in the Women of NASA (Set 21312). While that didn’t bother us much we were a little disappointed Lego didn’t take the opportunity to create a different approach to the shuttle.
What really impressed us, was the use of Technic applications along the spine of the space station. This method allowed to create a sturdy base and structure to attach the remainder of the body. Even more impressive was the use of print on bricks for the solar panels rather than the traditional stickers Lego would offer. Since they are print on, they can be easily be moved from MOC to MOC to show some “green” use to your builds. The arms of the solar panels offer good movement with an easy rotation feature allowing them to collect as much sun as possible.
Space wise the set is whopping 20 inches wide, 13 inches tall and almost a foot deep, meaning it will take up a good amount of space on any shelf or place you decide to put this beauty on display. This is definitely one to keep somewhere for all to see and is a fantastic addition to any collection.
Since this is an Ideas set, we wouldn’t recommend younger kids build this one on their own. That’s where the small downsides come in, and I mean small. With the Technic features on the spine, there are loads of small pieces, which offer unique connection points, but can be a headache to put together taking more time than you’d like. All in, this took us about 45 minutes from box open to set complete, which isn’t bad at all considering the near 900 total pieces. This would’ve gone a lot quicker if not for the volume of small connection points.
Is this set worth the normal retail price of $69.99, absolutely. Here’s why. If you like the Ideas series you’re usually willing to purchase sets with this level of detail. You’re a NASA nut and love anything space or exploration related. With almost 900 pieces, this is a good price to piece value. Can you sit down and really play with this set? Kind of, if you combine it with the other NASA sets or some cool Lego City sets. This one gets an 8/10 on the NiceBrixx total package scale, a 6/10 on playability, and a 9/10 on the build and features. If you enjoy space exploration, good scale, and details, we recommend you buy this at normal retail prices. Sales are hard to find here and this set will retire soon. Happy Building!