[REVIEW] 75810 - The Upside Down

[jimmynick]

I watched the show recently and bought the set last week. Finished building it this morning.

I was pleasantly surprised by the shoutouts to seasons 2 and 3 - in particular the purple wizard's hat, which I thought at first was there just to fill the space in the attic. Was that hat shown in any Stranger Things material, promotional or otherwise, before season 3 was released?

[Digger of Bricks]

On 5/21/2019 at 5:41 AM, Agent Kallus said:

On 5/17/2019 at 10:40 AM, Digger of Bricks said:

Regarding what I'd hope to see if Lego were to follow-up this set, I don't think I'd be interested in a potential set of Hawkins National Laboratory, as I'm pretty sure such a build couldn't be done within a viable price range without cutting some serious corners. Rather, a set of Palace Arcade or Hopper's Cabin at the same scale and format as Lego's rendition of Joyce's House (not to mention, both of those locations could be likely done roughly at the same size as her house minus its corrupted counterpart) would be much more preferable, either one acting as well-enough for representation of Season 2 I feel. 

Depending on how the third season goes, maybe a build of the starcourt mall or it's ice cream parlour would work?  Though if lego wanted to make the lab I'm sure they know which corners to cut and It'll end up looking nice if perhaps a little shrunk compared to the size in the show.

Having now seen the Third Season in its entirety, perhaps a playset representation of the mall wrapped around a minifigure-scaled build of the Scoops Ahoy Ice Cream parlor wouldn't be that bad of an idea, perhaps paired with a few additional kiosk builds and a brick-constructed figure of this season's "big bad" so to speak. 

15 hours ago, jimmynick said:

I was pleasantly surprised by the shoutouts to seasons 2 and 3 - in particular the purple wizard's hat, which I thought at first was there just to fill the space in the attic. Was that hat shown in any Stranger Things material, promotional or otherwise, before season 3 was released?

I believe there was a Funko POP vinyl figure of Will Byers in his purple wizard cosplay released beforehand.

[Whovastron]

3 hours ago, Digger of Bricks said:

Having now seen the Third Season in its entirety, perhaps a playset representation of the mall wrapped around a minifigure-scaled build of the Scoops Ahoy Ice Cream parlor wouldn't be that bad of an idea, perhaps paired with a few additional kiosk builds and a brick-constructed figure of this season's "big bad" so to speak. 

I believe there was a Funko POP vinyl figure of Will Byers in his purple wizard cosplay released beforehand.

I doubt there will ever be anything season 3 related released. The gore and horror is ramped up in this season. I kinda feel bad for Lego risking this theme and then the very next season is very very over the line. Season 1 and 2 could get away with it..just, but there’s some intense stuff in this (amazing) season

[LegoFjotten]

I think the Upside Down set was always meant as a one-off D2C targeted mostly at AFOLs, and that a full theme with regular sets has never seriously been on the table. Personally I would love to get more official minifigs, but I'm not holding my breath.

Hopefully we will see some good mocs, there are certainly scenes in the latest season that would not pass approval at LEGO if turned into a set. :D

[Digger of Bricks]

17 hours ago, Whovastron said:

I doubt there will ever be anything season 3 related released. The gore and horror is ramped up in this season. I kinda feel bad for Lego risking this theme and then the very next season is very very over the line. Season 1 and 2 could get away with it..just, but there’s some intense stuff in this (amazing) season

17 hours ago, LegoFjotten said:

I think the Upside Down set was always meant as a one-off D2C targeted mostly at AFOLs, and that a full theme with regular sets has never seriously been on the table. Personally I would love to get more official minifigs, but I'm not holding my breath.

Ya know, I'm strangely alright with that, as the set we've gotten perfectly encapsulates the spirit of the show in it's entirety so far. While I'm still annoyed by Lego's recent practice of acquiring dead-end IPs, Stranger Things' second and third seasons just haven't offered much in the way of iconic-enough set material to be honest, at least for potential consumers outside of die-hard fans of the show; so, while I'd preferably like to see sets of the Palace Arcade and Hooper's Cabin, at least some BrickHeadz of some of the main characters would help extend the life of the IP beyond the D2C. 

[strangely]

19 hours ago, Whovastron said:

I doubt there will ever be anything season 3 related released. The gore and horror is ramped up in this season. I kinda feel bad for Lego risking this theme and then the very next season is very very over the line. Season 1 and 2 could get away with it..just, but there’s some intense stuff in this (amazing) season

I mean, it's not really a risk, Stranger Things is one of the most popular brands around right now. People love the show, so I think association with Lego is being viewed generally as favorable. At worst, there might be a few pearl clutching parents out there who are upset, but let's be real, those people probably aren't shelling out $200 for a Lego set in the first place, so who cares.

And it doesn't really seem like Lego is concerned either. They included a bloody, severed arm in the Jurassic Park Gate set, at this point it seems like they're embracing adult oriented sets.

[makoy]

On 7/6/2019 at 8:29 AM, jimmynick said:

I watched the show recently and bought the set last week. Finished building it this morning.

I was pleasantly surprised by the shoutouts to seasons 2 and 3 - in particular the purple wizard's hat, which I thought at first was there just to fill the space in the attic. Was that hat shown in any Stranger Things material, promotional or otherwise, before season 3 was released?

I did a lot of research for the toy lines for season 3 and @Digger of Bricks is correct about the Funko Pop S3 toy line (I mentioned it in my review lol)

On 7/7/2019 at 12:01 AM, Digger of Bricks said:

I believe there was a Funko POP vinyl figure of Will Byers in his purple wizard cosplay released beforehand.

It's true. There is until now. It was supposed to be a pre-order and I thought it was part of a bigger cosplay stuff going on... but I won't spoil anything here. The purple wizard scene is not even shown long enough. I felt it's really a throw-away reference but at least they have put a reference to Season 3.

 

12 hours ago, strangely said:

And it doesn't really seem like Lego is concerned either. They included a bloody, severed arm in the Jurassic Park Gate set, at this point it seems like they're embracing adult oriented sets.

LEGO has broken those tropes lately and they don't seem to mind having exceptions. I think they have finally figured out a way to use the age recommendation (16+) to target the right audience without questioning "age-appropriate" materials

[Digger of Bricks]

On 7/6/2019 at 2:29 PM, LegoFjotten said:

I think the Upside Down set was always meant as a one-off D2C targeted mostly at AFOLs, and that a full theme with regular sets has never seriously been on the table. Personally I would love to get more official minifigs, but I'm not holding my breath.

In a way, one could think of the Upside-Down D2C in the same way as they would towards a licensed Creator Expert car or a LEGO Ideas set, perhaps? 

[Whovastron]

I’ve always thought of it like that tbh, I think Lego are starting to get the idea that people like one-off sets based on popular IPs. I think this and the Jurassic Park Gates are both kinda experiments with what they can do. I really hope this set is doing well, because I’d love more things like this. A super cool display piece with a good minifigure selection and attention to detail and Easter eggs in the build, box and instructions.