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Lego City Advent 2025
Game Reviews

The LEGO City Advent Calendar 2025 Sees a Third Price Cut, Now at Its Lowest Ever on Amazon

by admin October 6, 2025


Advent calendars have become essential for building holiday excitement with kids, but finding one that offers genuine value beyond cheap chocolates or throwaway trinkets is harder than you’d think. LEGO’s approach solves this problem by delivering 24 actual building surprises that kids can play with long after December ends.

Amazon initially offered a modest discount when the LEGO City Advent Calendar 2025 launched in September, followed by another price drop last week. Now, for Prime Big Deal Day, the retailer has slashed the price even further to $20, down from $34. This 40% discount represents a record low that you won’t see again before the holidays.

See at Amazon

Twenty-Four Days of Building Joy

The LEGO City Advent Calendar turns the countdown to Christmas itself into a daily building challenge. Behind each of the 24 doors is a surprise for kids aged five and older, from minifigures to mini builds and holiday accessories. There’s even Santa and Mrs. Claus minifigures, perennial crowd-pleasers, and costumed characters in irreverent dress such as polar bear, reindeer, and holiday tree.

Each surprise includes building instructions printed right in the calendar window itself so there is never any need for instructional booklets or digital apps separately. This considerate touch makes it ideal for little builders who are just beginning their LEGO adventures or for hectic mornings when you do not wish to go searching for instructions. Children can pull their door, read right off just what they must build and finish their surprise of the day all on their own before schooltime.

The included playmat opens up to provide a holiday-themed backdrop for all the builds. This turns the calendar from its constituent part list into an integrated play scene in which children may host holiday parties and concoct seasonal stories. The playmat puts the builds in context and invites creative storytelling in addition to building the parts. Your child may position the minifigures, place the mini builds, and develop stories that change over the month as more elements arrive in the scene.

Each of the 186 elements in this set is designed to serve the purpose of facilitating imaginative storytelling. Mini builds could consist of holiday ornaments, wintery accessories or seasonal buildings that populate the LEGO City landscape. Together, these pieces accumulate to form an entire wintertime celebration scene once Christmas is near. Its real value, however, is that all of these elements all remain part of the LEGO City sets once December is finished. Children at that point may use these minifigures and accessories in their own LEGO inventory, beyond just the advent calendar itself.

For just $20 in this Prime Big Deal Day deal, you’re getting 186 LEGO pieces and 24 days of fun for just under a dollar each surprise. These all-time-low prices won’t linger once demand climbs closer to the holidays and inventory is gone.

See at Amazon



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October 6, 2025 0 comments
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Harry Potter Hogwarts Caste Lego Set
Game Updates

Harry Potter’s Heirs Would Hate This, LEGO Is Selling the Hogwarts Castle Set for Pennies on the Dollar

by admin October 4, 2025


Harry Potter is one of LEGO’s most beloved franchises, and the Hogwarts Castle and Grounds set has earned a stellar 4.8 out of 5-star rating on Amazon with over 1,800 reviews backing it up. LEGO’s official website shows zero discounts on this flagship model and maintains the strict pricing the company is known for. But Amazon isn’t playing by those rules.

Right now, this 2,660-piece castle has dropped from $169 to just $135, marking an all-time low for the best-selling Harry Potter LEGO set. This deal is accessible to everyone, including non-Prime members, which makes it even more appealing.

See at Amazon

A Complete Miniature Replica of the Wizarding School

It is the first LEGO brick model that includes the entire Hogwarts Castle and its grounds in a single build. Earlier sets focused on a solitary tower, classroom, or section, but this 2,660-piece model presents the entire campus to you in one continuous display. The construction includes the Main Tower with its signature pointed roof, the Astronomy Tower where the students study the stars, the Great Hall where banquets and ceremonies take place, as well as several courtyards and cross-bridges that lead to various sections of the castle.

The scale allows the LEGO designers to include recognisable details without overwhelming builders with tens of thousands of pieces. You will construct the Chamber of Secrets hidden beneath the school, the Winged Key room of Harry’s first-year nightmare, the Potions Classroom where Snape taught in the dungeons, and the large Chessboard Chamber from the Philosopher’s Stone challenges. The grounds surrounding consist of the Boathouse where students arrive by boat, the Black Lake in front, the greenhouses for Herbology class lessons and the Whomping Willow that attacks anything getting too close.

Other features recreate scenes from around the film series: The Durmstrang Ship comes out of the lake just as it did when Durmstrang participants arrived during the Triwizard Tournament in Goblet of Fire. The powder-blue Beauxbatons Carriage is present on the grounds, representing the arrival of the French school of magic. The crashed Ford Anglia is a part of the Forbidden Forest trees after the failed flight by Ron and Harry in Chamber of Secrets.

The finished model measures 13.5 inches wide, 10 inches in depth, and 8.5 inches in height, large enough to be seen on a shelf or desk but not big enough to require special furniture. The build is supported on a highly detailed baseplate that is sculpted as the grounds of the castle with textured areas representing grass, pathways, and water. There is a gold mini-figure statue representing the Hogwarts architect which you can put near the nameplate “Hogwarts Castle” or in the corner of the baseplate to give it an extra visual touch.

For $135 for 2,660 pieces, you are paying around 5 cents per brick which is excellent value in the price system of LEGO.

See at Amazon



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October 4, 2025 0 comments
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Star Wars R2d2 Lego
Game Reviews

LEGO Is Going All In, Its 4.9-Rated Star Wars R2-D2 Set Is Selling for Pennies

by admin October 4, 2025


Star Wars remains LEGO’s most coveted license with countless sets from the franchise earning exceptional ratings from builders worldwide. The adorable R2-D2 droid exemplifies this success perfectly and boasts a 4.9 out of 5 stars across thousands of reviews. By fortunate timing, this set has just dropped to an all-time low on Amazon, and it’s flying off the shelves: At $79 down from its usual $99 price, this 1,050-piece building experience delivers both a satisfying construction project and a display piece that captures one of cinema’s most iconic characters in brick form.

See at Amazon

No introduction is needed to any Star Wars aficionado for R2-D2. The clever astromech droid has appeared in every but the most insignificant Star Wars films and TV shows and saves the heroes with technological magic and unflinching perseverance time and again. This LEGO set remains true to R2’s charm with meticulous care for detail and playful interactive features. The completed model stands over 9 inches high, 6 inches wide, and 4 inches deep, which makes a grand impression without taking up too much of your shelf real estate.

Interactive Details That Bring R2-D2 to Life

R2-D2’s dome head will rotate 360 degrees so that you can pose him like he’s scanning his surroundings or reacting to droids and minifigures across from him. This rotating system uses LEGO Technic parts hidden in the build to create smooth motion without loosening after extended periods. The third leg that is removable also flexes and folds, emulating R2’s movement from the films in which he transitions from his stable three-legged form to his faster two-wheeled wheel mode. An attachable periscope replica’s the sensor that sticks out of R2’s dome during recon missions and other attachable tools wink to the many various gadgets he’s dispatched throughout the saga, from arc welders to drink service trays.

The set includes a bonus 25th Anniversary Darth Malak minifigure and celebrates LEGO Star Wars’ quarter century milestone. Darth Malak is from the well-loved Knights of the Old Republic video game and belongs to the wider Star Wars universe beyond the films. Including him not only provides collectibility but also provides you with an option for a display other than R2-D2 himself.

The building experience uses 1,050 pieces and offers a number of hours of enjoyable constructing that is appropriate for 10 years and up. LEGO instruction guides guide you through the construction with numbered bags that organize pieces by build phase, precluding the overwhelming feeling of pouring all pieces into one heap.

For $79, you’re getting excellent value for an officially licensed LEGO set of this size and sophistication. Star Wars fans, here is your opportunity.

See at Amazon



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October 4, 2025 0 comments
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06 Lego Game Boy (2)
Game Reviews

The Lego Game Boy Is A Masterpiece

by admin October 3, 2025


I’ve rather given it away with the headline there, but I couldn’t help myself. Lego’s recently launched Game Boy is the most extraordinarily satisfying build, with results that feel uncannily realistic. It looks and feels perfect, complete with a just-too-murky screen to thoroughly emulate the real thing.

Announced back in July and immediately up for pre-order (which I did as soon as I’d written the article), the Lego Game Boy was clearly a labor of love, and in some ways a compromise for Lego given the number of bespoke pieces made just for this set. From the curved and grilled panel to the fuchsia caps for the A and B buttons, a few plastic liberties have been taken to make this such a stunning replication of the 1989 handheld. And wow, it nails every element, from the bizarrely realistic-feeling d-pad (despite being so ostentatiously a Lego cross) to the spongy A and B buttons, all made complete with the epic and satisfying “CLICK!” of the on-off switch.

By my count, there are at least 12 pieces unique to this set, and wonderfully this includes a large number of pre-printed pieces with distinctive Game Boy designs and fonts. Where these would usually be stickers, Lego has saved people like me who live in fear of such operations, and I’m so very grateful. Placing stickers, especially long, thin ones, requires the steady hands of a surgeon, and not the shaky incompetent flippers on the end of my arms. Still, for those who enjoy the adrenaline rush of the completely irredeemable moments, both the game cartridges you build require a large sticker be placed.

© Kotaku

Another aspect that makes this build so special is that—and I realize how pretentious this sounds, but it’s definitely true—the instructions are put together with wit and timing. The first thing you’re asked to build is one of the two cartridges, along with a display stand for it that contains a slot for storing the spare lenticular cards. But rather than going straight onto the second, you instead are launched into the Game Boy itself, building it from the inside out. This means that you’re constructing its green network board first, then adding the base below, before putting in the mechanisms for the buttons and the buttons themselves, and only after that’s all in place putting together its complete shell. It’s so delightful that it’s constructed just as a Game Boy would have been, and those button mechanisms are just so smart. The d-pad uses a concealed rubber tire to provide the push-back when you press it in any of its four directions, while the A and B buttons get their exact sponginess from a cunningly placed rubber band pegged around three c-arm clips. The results feel so realistic, making these super-smart tricks feel all the more remarkable.

Further, it’s only after you’ve finished the main Game Boy that you realize you were unwittingly adding amazing details like a realistic-looking DC inlet at the bottom, a headphone jack on the left side, and the scrolling contrast and volume wheels. Oh, and the unexpectedly hefty click of the on-off button is still making me happy.

The smart nature of the instructions is completed by ending on the second cartridge, which you then slide into the back of the Game Boy, where even here it slots in with a satisfying clunk. It’s an incredibly rewarding way to finish, and you don’t have that moment of ending with the boring fiddly bits that so often marks the finish of a Lego build. There’s no putting the side-character together, or wedging flowers on all the plant stems here; that other cartridge and both display stands are already completed, and inserting that cartridge is your final moment.

© Kotaku

Now, the one criticism I have here is the last thing I thought I’d be saying, but there are a couple of flaky moments in the instructions. One piece type in particular is always shown such that you can’t see that it has an L-bend, and there are three or four odd moments where it obfuscates where a piece should be placed underneath what you’ve already built. Nothing disastrous, nothing I couldn’t quickly figure out, but unusual for Lego. But that’s it.

OK so, I swear this is true: As I was writing this review my ten-year-old son came into my study and saw the Lego Game Boy on its Lego stand next to me on my desk. “Oh, a new device!” he said. I handed it to him, and he muttered, “Game Boy.” He’s never held a real one. “Look more closely,” I told him, and he read bits of the writing, pressed some of the buttons, and said, “What?” So I took it from him, flipped it over, removed the back panel and took out the Zelda cartridge, revealing some of the Lego innards. “OH, IT’S LEGO!” he declared. I switched the lenticular out and put it back together, and he exclaimed, “This is SO COOL!” So there you go, a second opinion.

© Kotaku

It’s worth noting that the lenticulars are splendid. There’s the main loading screen one, which has the word “Nintendo” scroll up and down just like it should. Then there’s one for Zelda and one for Super Mario Land, to match the two carts. The Zelda one is perhaps the more disappointing, given the only movement is Zelda turning to look at Link while some V-like birds move about in the sky. Mario‘s is far better, showing Mario jump up to hit a ? block and reveal a star, with a couple of Goombas moving below. Both only have two images, but the Mario version feels a lot more dynamic. Meanwhile, the Nintendo logo screen has seven panels, such that you get a weirdly smooth scroll. And as I mentioned up top, once they’re in the Game Boy behind the plastic screen (it’s a Lego window frame with the plastic glass inserted, repurposed), it really gives that authentic dullness that’s dramatically improved by holding it in direct light.

I realize I’ve just totally nerded out here, and I’m good with that. I wasn’t even a proper Game Boy kid, my primary experience being a splendid summer vacation when a school friend lent me hers for a full six weeks and I just obsessed over it. But even that established a lifetime’s nostalgia for me, that’s duly met and respected by this perfect Lego recreation.

For the quality here, and the real pleasure gained from both the build and the finished result, $60 feels like a fantastic price. I usually find Lego’s prices egregious, often offensive, but the company could have been a lot more greedy here and wasn’t. Yes, you could also spend $60 on a handheld device that’ll emulate every Game Boy game and more beside, but honestly, this Lego brick (pun so very much intended) just feels very special.



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October 3, 2025 0 comments
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Lego Brick-Built Star Wars Logo Gets First Price Cut Before Prime Big Deal Days
Game Updates

Lego Brick-Built Star Wars Logo Gets First Price Cut Before Prime Big Deal Days

by admin October 3, 2025



A large selection of Star Wars Lego sets are on sale ahead of next week’s Prime Big Deal Days sale. Amazon’s deals include a bunch of new Star Wars building sets released over the past few months. Arguably the most notable recent model on sale is the Brick-Built Star Wars Logo. The 700-piece replica display model was already a budget-friendly option at its $60 MSRP, but now it’s on sale for only $50. The Brick-Built Logo is one of several Star Wars Day 2025 Lego sets up for grabs for below MSRP.

$50 (was $60)

The Brick-Built Star Wars Logo accurately depicts the legendary design that dates back to Star Wars: A New Hope’s 1977 theatrical release. Exposed studs between the letters add depth and make it clear that this is a Lego set. The rounded edges of the logo are cleverly recreated with a variety of yellow pieces. There’s an Easter Egg hidden inside the letter T that pays homage to Episode IV.

The completed 700-piece model measures 5 x 11.5 x 1 inches. If you’re looking for a Star Wars model to serve as a centerpiece for your display shelf, it probably doesn’t get any more ideal than the series logo constructed from Lego.

The Brick-Built Star Wars Logo launched a few months after the 913-piece Lego Marvel Logo set. That one has yet to be discounted from its $100 price, and it comes with five Marvel minifigures that pop out by pressing buttons on the model.

Amazon & Walmart Deals: New Lego Star Wars Sets

Lego Star Wars: Rebel U-Wing Starfighter | Jango Fett’s Starship

Other Star Wars Day 2025 sets with discounts include the Rebel U-Wing Starfighter and Jango Fett’s Starship for $60 (was $70) each. Jango Fett’s Helmet, another Star Wars Day release, is $65 (was $70). Two Walmart-exclusive Star Wars Day sets, Kylo Ren’s Helmet and his Command Shuttle, are available in a bundle together for $98 (was $140). Walmart also has the Darth Maul Mech bundled with the Sith Infiltrator for $62 (was $88). The Darth Maul Mech launched in June. Both of those are makeshift bundles, but Walmart also has an official Lego Star Wars 3-in-1 Gift Set Bundle for $45.

Amazon also has a few sets that launched over the summer for below MSRP. The Battle Droid with STAP 1,088-piece model is $130 (was $140). Meanwhile, The Clone Wars V-19 Torrent Starfighter, which launched in August, is down to $52 (was $65). And if you haven’t picked up your 2025 holiday calendar, the new Lego Star Wars Advent Calendar is on sale for $38 (was $45).

Lego is retiring a bunch of Star Wars Lego sets soon, including ultra-popular display models like Darth Vader’s Helmet. Check out our roundup collecting all of the deals on Lego Star Wars sets that won’t be around for much longer.

Sign up for GameSpot’s Weekly Deals Newsletter:



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October 3, 2025 0 comments
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Call of Duty Black Ops 7, Borderlands 4, and Ghost of Yotei
Esports

Modder turns Lego Game Boy into real working handheld

by admin October 2, 2025



The Lego Game Boy set was officially released on October 1, 2025, but one modder has already gone further than Lego and Nintendo. Australian creator Natalie the Nerd has turned the brick-built handheld into a functioning console.

Lego first announced the 421-piece Game Boy replica at San Diego Comic-Con in July, with preorders opening the same month.

The set, priced at $59.99, includes swappable cartridges styled after Super Mario Land and The Legend of Zelda: Link’s Awakening, along with lenticular screens that simulate motion. While the buttons press and the cartridges slot in, Lego confirmed the model was never intended to play games.

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Now, one modder has managed to turn the sought-after Lego set into a playable device straight out of the ’90s.

Modder makes Lego Game Boy play actual games

Instead of using an emulator or Raspberry Pi, she designed and built a custom circuit board with genuine Game Boy chips, small enough to fit inside the Lego shell.

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The biggest change is that the screen is backlit, making it a lot easier to see while playing a game on it.

The build plays real cartridges, supports working buttons, and charges via USB-C with a rechargeable battery. She told The Verge she had to remove a few bricks to fit in the smallest available display kit, and is currently working on mounting the buttons to a 3D-printed Lego-compatible piece.

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The project is still in progress, but Natalie confirmed she plans to release the design once it’s finalized. Already known in the modding scene for aftermarket Game Boy components, she said the Lego version will eventually join her shared circuit board projects.



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October 2, 2025 0 comments
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LEGO Just Released the 2025 City Advent Calendar, Selling for Pennies on Amazon at Launch
Game Reviews

LEGO City Advent Calendar Is Hard to Spot on Amazon, but It’s Selling for Just Pennies Until Midnight

by admin October 2, 2025


December feels forever away but here’s the thing: LEGO drops its Advent calendars in September for a reason. And if you’ve ever waited until November, you already know the truth: by then, the deals are gone, the stock’s low and you’re stuck paying full price. But right now, the LEGO City Advent Calendar 2025 (the most loved one in the lineup) is hiding on Amazon at an all-time low of just $25, down from $34.99, and it’s available for everyone, Prime or not, until tomorrow night.

See LEGO City Advent Calendar 2025 at Amazon

A Holiday Countdown That Feels Like Magic

This isn’t just a calendar: It’s 24 bursts of joy, one door per day. Your kid (or you?) gets to open a fresh surprise every morning—mini builds, fun accessories, and adorable mini-figures—all the way through to Christmas. And what about the mini-figs: Santa and Mrs. Claus are on the job, along with laugh-out-loud hilarious characters of Santa in a reindeer costume, Mrs. Claus as a polar bear, and even Mrs. Claus as a walking Christmas tree.

The great part? It’s made for kids 5 and up and each little build has simple instructions tucked just behind the door. No frustration, no confusing instructions – just the happy “aha!” moment when they click the pieces into place. And the pièce de résistance: the calendar flips open into a big playmat. One minute it’s a countdown, the next it’s a winter wonderland holiday party scene where all the figures come to life. Kids can mix and match their other LEGO City sets, build wacky scenarios and play for hours.

Parents, pay attention: how many times can you receive a gift that provides something new each day? That keeps the anticipation going, promotes patience and sparks creativity without the use of a screen? This calendar does all of the above – and it’s only $25 today at Amazon. That’s close to a ten-dollar discount, and it doesn’t often go this low except for Prime Day or Black Friday.

See LEGO City Advent Calendar 2025 at Amazon



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October 2, 2025 0 comments
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Lego Nintendo Game Boy review: a brick masterpiece just shy of perfection
Product Reviews

Lego Nintendo Game Boy review: a brick masterpiece just shy of perfection

by admin October 1, 2025


Is there a word that describes the feeling of “I want something to be just a bit better because it’s already so good it only needs one last kick in the pants”?

Because that’s how I feel about the $60 Lego Nintendo Game Boy. It’s better than the fan-made Lego Game Boy that I asked Nintendo to make. It’s even better than I hoped when Lego officially revealed the set. This isn’t just a statue that looks like my original 1989 Game Boy; it’s a joy to build and feels fantastic in the hands. You can press every button, spin every dial, roll the D-pad, and throw a satisfyingly snappy power switch.

Though it doesn’t light up one bit, its lenticular moving images were enough to momentarily surprise friends and family into asking: “Does it actually play games?” The set even has a few hidden Easter eggs.

And yet, I can’t help wanting more.

Let’s do something different for this review: Let’s make it a show and tell. If you’re a video person, start by tapping on my Instagram embed above, or TikTok, or YouTube, or Facebook, or perhaps my Bluesky. If you prefer photos and words, scroll down and I’ll tell you all about it!

Here it is, the photograph I’ve wanted to stage for months: the Lego Nintendo Game Boy next to the pristine 1989 original you might have seen in many a Verge photo before. It was my wife’s childhood Game Boy, though I had one just like it — and Lego designer Carl Merriam absolutely nails the size, shape, and look. It does overcompensate slightly with the Off-On switch and headphone jack labels that are gray instead of molded, three of the four corners of the gray screen bezel are square instead of slightly rounded, and the A and B buttons seem almost pink rather than purple.

It’s also clearly made of a mosaic of Lego tiles rather than a single smooth surface, but that’s part of the charm: it’s a wonder to realize the Game Boy can be re-created 1:1 out of Lego bricks!

Here, I have both displaying the exact same cutscene from The Legend of Zelda: Link’s Awakening. If you’ve never played the original, you may not realize just how specific a moment this is — a bittersweet, heartstring-tugging scene you can only watch once per playthrough, so I had to save my game before a certain quest to get this photo.

Lenticular tech is still rad.

The Lego Game Boy comes with three of these little lenticular panels to make it look like the screen’s turned on and give it a sense of motion. If you tilt the handheld up and down, you can watch Mario jump, see the Nintendo logo fall, or watch the waves and seagulls fly above the Link’s Awakening beach.

But the one thing I don’t understand is printing on a gray background rather than a green one, so the Lego Game Boy’s screen doesn’t look green like the original’s. It feels like a bizarre miss to me.

A closer look at gray versus green:

I threw in an Easter egg of my own.

It’s not the only nit I could pick with the Lego Game Boy’s screen, which is recessed quite a bit more than the original, which in turn makes it even harder to light up than the original (and, like the original, you need an external light source to do that since it didn’t have a light of its own!).

But I don’t blame Lego for that — it’s because Lego’s using a regular Lego window frame and windowpane for the screen instead of creating new custom parts, which make it feel more authentically Lego. I just wish Lego would start protecting its big windowpanes better so they don’t come scratched right out of the box.

You need a lot of light to see the “screen” well.

Comparing the Lego Game Boy to the original from every angle, you can see lots of places where there are slight gaps between the tiles, sure. But you can also see that almost every complex curve and label is represented, and while it weighs a few ounces less than the original, it’s almost the exact same size.

Image slider: volume and contrast wheels, external connector port (though there’s no port underneath Lego’s cover) and the AC adapter jack. No AC adapter label on the Lego version.

That power switch may seem placed too high, but it’s worth it for the satisfying snap of its Technic peg action.

Headphone jack.

You shouldn’t take that for granted, because it’s not easy even for skilled Lego creators to build a dense real-life object to scale with moving parts. As an example, see how much thicker and blockier Lego Masters Australia finalist Nick Lever’s creation is below?

From left to right: Lego’s Game Boy, Nintendo’s Game Boy, and my attempt at Nick Lever’s fan creation.

I still love the Mario hat buttons, though.

BTW, both of the Lego Game Boys can technically squeeze in a real cart, but it stretches the build uncomfortably.

But as the Lego Group showed and told me in 2023, the thing that truly separates a great official Lego set from a fan creation is the incredible amount of thought that goes into making the set playable and fun to build, not just fun once you’re through.

You can get a better sense in my video, but after a certain point the whole set is built out of modular parts. You create a set of springy face buttons that slide into place, a D-pad that drops in, a screen that needs attaching. It contributes to the illusion you’re building electronics instead of just piling bricks together. And there are details you’ll only appreciate if you’ve seen inside — like how the springy Start and Select buttons are actually Lego car tires.

The rubber nub brick under the D-pad makes for a surprisingly good action.

Or how the springy “membrane” under the D-pad and A and B buttons are colored similarly to their real-life counterparts, even though you’ll never see them once it’s closed:

One rubber band makes both buttons springy.

Image: iFixit

Or how there’s a brick-built “speaker” underneath the Lego speaker grille, complete with yellow “wires,” at the lower right-corner of the build:

Image: iFixit

Or how Lego’s Link’s Awakening cartridge even features a “battery backup” for its save games, like the original, while the Mario cartridge appropriately does not.

Button battery!

Not a perfect apples-to-apples comparison, since my real cart is the Player’s Choice reprint from 1996.

The Lego cart can technically fit in an original Game Boy cartridge case if you remove the top tile.

It all takes such passion and attention to detail that I have to wonder: why stop short of doing everything you can when you’ve already come this far?

Here’s the back of the Lego Game Boy, and the real Game Boy, showing off one final Easter egg: the “serial number” that’s actually the date the original Game Boy first came out on April 21st, 1989. That part’s great. But it also contains two completely blank spots where the original Game Boy had an info panel with model numbers and regulatory markings, and the US version had a service sticker.

At $60 — I got mine early for $50 at Costco — I can understand why the Lego Nintendo Game Boy doesn’t have light or sound or actually play games just yet. (Fans will make it do all those things before long.) But the top panel is already a printed piece, and the set already comes with a small sticker sheet.

Just like my real copy of Link’s Awakening fixes bugs that Nintendo originally accidentally shipped, might I suggest Lego ship future copies of the Game Boy with greener screens and a few more lines of text?

Photography by Sean Hollister / The Verge

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October 1, 2025 0 comments
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Lego Is Retiring One Of The Most Popular Star Wars Sets
Game Updates

Lego Is Retiring One Of The Most Popular Star Wars Sets

by admin September 30, 2025



Not many Lego sets have the type of run the Darth Vader Helmet has enjoyed. Released way back in March 2021, the 834-piece display model of the classic Sith Lord from the Original Trilogy has outlived many Star Wars Lego sets released after it. The Darth Vader Helmet is practically ancient in Lego years, but it remains one of the best-selling Star Wars sets at major retailers to this day. Just in the last month, Amazon says it has sold over 2,000 Darth Vader Helmets, which is a higher total than a bunch of recently launched sets. But Dark Lord Vader’s life-support system can’t keep him alive in the Lego Star Wars universe forever. Lego has marked the Darth Vader Helmet as “retiring soon,” which means it’ll likely be sold out at major retailers before the end of the year.

If you want to add the set to your personal collection or are looking for an always-popular gift for a Star Wars fan this holiday season, the Lego Darth Vader Helmet is on sale for $62 (was $80) at Amazon and Walmart ahead of Prime Big Deal Days. This isn’t the all-time lowest price, but it’s one of the better discounts offered this year. We wouldn’t be surprised if both retailers sold out, and there’s no guarantee it would be restocked again. For context, the Lego Store is selling the set for full price, but it’s on backorder and won’t ship for two months.

You can pair the Darth Vader Helmet with deals on other Lego Star Wars Helmets, including The Mandalorian and Captain Rex, which are likely next in line for retirement. Walmart also has a stellar bundle deal featuring Kylo Ren’s Helmet and Command Shuttle that saves you over $40.

Lego Star Wars Helmet Models

Check out all five of the active Lego Star Wars Helmet sets as well as one retired model that has randomly popped back up on Amazon below.

After checking out the Star Wars Helmets, take a look at some of the other deals on soon-to-be-retired Lego Star Wars sets at the end of this story.

$62 (was $80) | Retiring soon

The Darth Vader Helmet is an 834-piece build measuring 8 x 5.5 x 5.5 inches. Designed for experienced builders, this model utilizes more advanced building techniques than some of the other smaller character helmets in the lineup. Along with the detailed exterior plating, the build includes Vader’s life-support system. The brick-built display stand includes a detachable nameplate with the Lego Star Wars logo.

Walmart was offering two different bundles with the Darth Vader Helmet earlier this month–one with the new UCS AT-ST and one with the Kylo Ren Helmet–but both are currently sold out.

$70 | Bundle with Kylo Ren’s Command Shuttle for $98 (was $140)

Speaking of the Kylo Ren Helmet, the 529-piece model of the helmet worn by Lord Vader’s grandson is still available in a bundle deal at Walmart. You can pair it with Kylo Ren’s Command Shuttle, a 386-piece model of the villain’s stealthy starship, for $98 (was $140). You’re essentially getting both Kylo Ren $70 sets for only $49 each.

Outside of the bundle deals, Kylo Ren’s Helmet hasn’t received any discounts since launching in May for Star Wars Day. The 529-piece build is exclusive to Walmart and the Lego Store. The completed model measures 7 x 4.5 x 5 inches.

$56 (was $70)

The Mandalorian Helmet released back in early 2022 and probably won’t be sticking around for much longer either. The 584-piece build recreates Mando’s Beskar plate armor. When connected to the stand, The Mandalorian Helmet measures 7 x 4 x 4.5 inches.

The Mandalorian Helmet is on sale for $56 (was $70) at Amazon and Walmart.

$56 (was $70)

The replica of the popular 501st Legion Clone Commander’s Helmet actually has the highest piece count of the Star Wars Lego Helmets actively being produced today. The 854-piece Captain Rex Helmet measures 8 x 5 x 5 inches and does a stellar job recreating the unique armor plating from The Clone Wars film and follow-up TV series.

You can get the Captain Rex Helmet for $56 (was $70) at Amazon.

$65 (was $70)

The 616-piece Jango Fett Helmet released alongside the Kylo Ren Helmet for Star Wars Day, so it’s not surprising that discounts on this one are small so far. The completed model measures 8.5 x 4.5 x 4 inches and has an adjustable rangefinder antenna.

Jango Fett has received a lot of attention from Lego this year. The bounty hunter’s starship from Attack of the Clones joined the UCS lineup for Star Wars Day, and a smaller playset version of the Firespray-Class Starship launched in August.

$70 | Retired / In stock at Amazon

Lego discontinued the Clone Commander Cody Helmet in February 2025. Since then, the helmet has disappeared from most major retailers, but Amazon recently restocked the 766-piece set for its original $70 MSRP. Clone Wars and Bad Batch fans should check it out while they can. The completed model with display stand is 8 x 5 x 5.5 inches.

Lego Star Wars: Droideka & Mos Espa Podrace Diorama

Walmart has one other in-stock Lego Star Wars bundle deal featuring a set that’s retiring soon, too. Darth Maul’s Sith Infiltrator is normally $70 on its own, but you can pair it with the Darth Maul Mech for only $62 (was $88). Another notable Star Wars set on its way out is the popular 583-piece Droideka Destroyer Droid for $52 (was $65). Two Ultimate Collector Series Star Wars Lego sets are being discontinued: Luke Skywalker’s X-Wing Starfighter and massive Razor Crest Starship from The Mandalorian. The latter is on sale for a slight discount at Amazon.

There are currently 23 Lego Star Wars sets on the brink of retirement. Outside of the UCS builds, the list below focuses on the ones you can save money on right now. Multiple dioramas recreating scenes from the movies are discounted, including the Mos Espa Podrace from The Phantom Menace for $57 (was $80) and Boarding the Tantive IV from A New Hope for $44 (was $55). You can also get the 654-piece Tantive IV Starship display model for $64 (was $80). Those three sets and numerous others in the list below were part of the Lego Star Wars commemorative 25th anniversary series.

Heads up: The price of Lego Star Wars Mechs tends to jump considerably after retirement. So while the Luke Skywalker X-Wing Mech is selling for its full $16 MSRP, you won’t want to wait to long to snag one. Plus, look how cool this buildable action figure is:

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You Can Get The $60 Lego Game Boy Early From Amazon
Game Updates

You Can Get The $60 Lego Game Boy Early From Amazon

by admin September 29, 2025



The Lego Game Boy officially launches this Wednesday, October 1, but Amazon started shipping preorders on September 26. At the time of writing on September 28, Amazon still has the 421-piece Game Boy in stock with overnight delivery for Prime members. Amazon is the only online retailer delivering the Lego Game Boy before October 1, but if it sells out, preorders are back in stock at Walmart, Target, and Best Buy. The Lego Game Boy remains sold out at the Lego Store and GameStop.

The brick-built Game Boy is almost exactly the same size as the handheld that quickly became a worldwide sensation when it hit store shelves in Japan and North America in 1989. This looks like an awesome display piece, and retro Nintendo fans are sure to appreciate the nostalgic interactive elements.

Lego Game Boy (72046)

Part of Lego’s display model series geared toward adult builders and collectors, the Game Boy building kit was teased in January and fully unveiled at San Diego Comic-Con in July. The Game Boy is tied with the Super Mario Piranha Plant as the most affordable display model in the Lego Nintendo lineup. It will be the eighth Nintendo-themed kit designed for adults since the pair kicked off their partnership with a replica of the Nintendo Entertainment System.

$60 | 421 Pieces

Lego’s Game Boy looks like an authentic homage to the Game Boy DMG, all the way down to the font of “Dot Matrix with Stereo Sound” on the screen lens and the colors of the A/B buttons, D-pad, and Start/Select buttons. The switches and dials on the top and sides of handheld are located right where you’d expect them: power switch on the top left, contrast wheel on the left side next to the battery indicator light, volume dial across from it on the right, and the 3.5mm audio jack on the bottom.

The brick-built Lego Game Boy measures 5.5 x 3.5 x 1 inches, which is very close to the dimensions of the real Game Boy DMG (5.8 x 3.5 x 1.3 inches). Lego’s Game Boy can be displayed at an upright angle by connecting it to the buildable black stand shown above.

Along with the Game Boy itself and a buildable stand, the set includes replica Game Paks (cartridges) of two timeless classics: Super Mario Land (1989) and The Legend of Zelda: Link’s Awakening (1993). The cartridges can be loaded into the Game Pak slot just like a real Game Boy. You can display the other cartridge on a second buildable stand.

The Game Boy doesn’t have any electronics, so it won’t interact with Lego Super Mario figures, but it does have a cool trick that makes it appear like a functioning Game Boy. The set comes with three swappable lenticular screens: the boot screen that greets you each time you flip the power switch, a still from World 1-1 of Super Mario Land, and the cutscene in Link’s Awakening where you sit next to Marin on a log and have a pretty strange (one-sided) conversation. Tilting the Game Boy creates the illusion of movement, so the the Nintendo logo slides down the screen just like the real boot sequence; Mario moves across the side-scrolling level; and the memorable Link’s Awakening cutscene (briefly) comes to life.

Load Super Mario Land or Link’s Awakening into the Game Pak slot.

The Lego Game Boy’s interactive features such as loading carts and displaying scenes from actual games is reminiscent of the Lego Nintendo Entertainment System. Released back in August 2020 to launch Lego’s partnership with Nintendo, the 2,646-piece set included the console with a functional top loader, a Super Mario Bros. cartridge, a wired NES controller, and a CRT TV with a stand. There’s a crank on the side of the TV that moves Mario through a side-scrolling level. Even five years later, the NES is arguably the coolest gaming-related Lego set.

Unfortunately, the Lego NES was officially retired late last year, and it’s sold out at every major retailer. A couple months back we noticed Amazon restocked the discontinued set but with an extra $60 added to the price. When Lego Game Boy preorders opened, we wrote here that we wouldn’t be surprised if Amazon sold out of the Lego NES at the inflated $330 price. And that happened within days. At the moment, the Lego NES is only available via resellers, and some of the prices make $330 look like a deal.

Lego Super Mario World: Mario & Yoshi launched last October.

Speaking of deals, Lego Super Mario World: Mario & Yoshi is on sale for a steep discount at Amazon and Walmart. Released last October, the 1,215-piece build features pixel art versions of Mario and Yoshi based on their 16-bit sprites. Yoshi walks when you turn the crank on the side, and twisting the dial on the back recreates the animation of Yoshi sticking out his tongue.

The most recent addition to the Lego Nintendo “for adults” lineup is the 1,972-piece Mario Kart set with a large buildable Mario and his famous red kart. It launched in May on the Lego Store for $170 and arrived at major retailers in July. Check out our Mario & Standard Kart review for more details on this charming display piece.

While you wait for your Lego Game Boy to arrive, you could warm-up by building the 540-piece Piranha Plant from Super Mario Bros.

Lego Retro Gaming Hardware

Lego Arcade Machine (40805)

Lego has created a few other display model sets based on retro gaming hardware. The other big one is Lego Icons: Atari 2600, a wonderful 2,532-piece build that authentically captures Atari’s legendary home console. Unfortunately, Lego discontinued the Atari 2600 last year–but Amazon restocked it this month for retail price, so grab one while you can.

The impressive 2,651-piece Pac-Man Arcade is in stock at Amazon for $260 (was $270). It has a bunch of cool interactive features that make it a stellar collectible for Pac-Man fans. But if you’re looking for a cheaper set in the vein of the Game Boy, check out the adorable 468-piece Lego Arcade Machine. As you can see in the picture above, this isn’t based on a real arcade machine, but it still looks awesome. Plus, the Lego Arcade Machine only costs $40 and includes a gamer-themed minifigure.



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September 29, 2025 0 comments
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