*LEGO Black Friday ❯* bit.ly/3GeU0hC The Endurance will be up for grabs and a bunch of offers and discounts will be available! Check the page for all of the details!
My absolute personal favorite set this year was 100% the Lego Dungeons and Dragons: Red Dragons Tale. Being a Lego and DND fan it really was a joy to put together with all the references and details. Especially the fact that it is a playable one shot campaign as well it has been one of the first time I’ve actually PLAYED with a Lego set since I was a kid. Getting to DM it with my friends has made it really my favorite of the year by far and the build looks amazing to display too
That’s an amazing story. I think that’s the cool thing about LEGO, there’s always a particular set that speaks to any of us individually in ways other people won’t be able to experience it. Cool stuff!!
@@TiagoCatarino exactly! Lego is such an incredible system that allows for anyone to find something to love about it! Great to see the perspective of a former Lego designer with everything too! (Was definitely a dream job as a kid to design sets) thanks for all the great reviews and commentary!
That's a great pick. I got that set too, but haven't had a chance to put it together yet since I'm in the middle of moving. I'm super excited to put it together and run a one-shot on it with some buddies! I hope they do some more sets, or at least some more of those super cool mini figures!
It's definitely a contender for the set of the year. It is very well made, looks amazing, and has great play- (and D&D playing-) features built in. Though I still haven't tried the campaign yet.
I built it once with the intention of dming the one shot having never done it before. I looked at it and realized how much more work it was and took it apart. Still a beautiful set. Top 30 for me for sure. I had some friends coming into town a month or two later and built it again and learned the campaign this time and I had SO much fun playing that it is now not even close! My number 1 favorite set. I want to get the books and learn to DM proper. I always really cherish anything that fosters togetherness and this DnD LEGO did that so well. I now want every castle set to hang on to that friendship feeling.
I am surprised the Creator 3-in-1 line was not referenced more in the video. The whole theme was great this year with at least 4 that standouts. The Retro Camera, Forrest Animals: Red Fox, the Wild Safari Animals, and the Space Astronaut were all amazing.
I’m not surprised. Tiago has been criticizing that theme for a while now for its lack of play value. I do agree that some of them deserved a nomination for the best display set category though.
People need to have more respect for the Titan Dragon mech from this year. Not only the biggest Lego mech of all time, but it also has so much articulation thanks to the insane building techniques... Oh who am I kidding, most Lego fans will just see it as "another Ninjago set"...
I love this video, waiting for it every year. But I was missing a bit two categories: best €300+ set, and best €50- sets (or other threshold, just zxpensive and cheap category, or the other way around: more than X pieces, and less than Y pieces). And I liked what you did a few years ago, with us voting before for each category, it's nice to see the community opinion! Thanks again for your overall quality work! You're awarded for my fav chanel of the year 😉
Love your videos, Tiago. No padding, just straight to the point while still being super informative and expanding where necessary. So easy to watch. Thanks and all the best!
That cat is actually so charming. It has a quality to it that no other Lego set has. I don’t know why it’s left such an impression on me but I absolutely love it.
After it was released, I went to my local store with the intention to pick up that set. But when I looked at the display model they had, I somehow felt that it didn't look quite right.
The Ornithopter looks so nice if you swap out the red parts for black, it looks sick for display and is packed with features, as a lego model should be.
Absolutely, I wanted to post this too. It inherits the best titan knees from Zane's legacy titan mech, has an awesome weapon, and the shoulder and head are pretty customizable if you want to add/remove embellishments. Also, Cole is the least popular ninja so it is such a treat when he gets a set this cool.
It's clear from your picks that you actually care about the building experience and creativity involved. I’m sure most lists (including mine!) will have all the big popular IP sets, but it's always nice to see your perspective on Lego :)
This year marked the first time I've ever gotten a set more than $100, and it was the Great Deku Tree. I have been thoroughly satisfied with it, and the nostalgia, building experience, and display value of it for me have been totally worth it. I knew when it was revealed I was going to save up for it, and I was not disappointed.
The retro radio also takes the award of “only owned by LAN members”. Always enjoy these yearly videos thanks. 2024 was also the year of when you open a bag all you get is spares and 2*1 bricks…. Or the exact opposite.
I know it got a lot of hate (rightfully) for its outrageous price, but the Zelda Deku Tree really is fantastic imo. It was a ton of fun to build and it's just so full of cute and fun little details.
It's good to see a best of 2024 set without any of the biggest and most expensive sets. Beauty and building pleasure can be found in smaller more affordable sets. Unfortunately, none of these sets are in my collection...
Couldn't agree more! Over the years I’ve seen myself appreciate more and more the smaller ones which is great! I really start lacking the space to display it all
My absolute favorite was the Lego spaceship city interstellar, awesome looking ship. Simple and effective building techniques, with a very neat boosting feature with the purple battery. All for $20?? I could not stop playing with it. So sharp, so clean, so cheap, so swooshable!
The polaroid camera was my fave lego set of this year, building it with my fiancée and trying to guess how the mechanisms come together was a lovely time :)
I always appreciate that Tiago has his own opinions and tastes and isn't too shy about calling a spade a spade. I might not always agree with how he weighs different aspects but the consistency is really valuable when I want to figure out if I'm personally going to enjoy a product.
For me it's the Guardians of the Galaxy Milano. It's got the full team of minifigs with our first accurate Drax since 2017, and fixed my only problem with the 2021 Benetar, finally giving us a spacious interior. It also just looks stunning and was really fun to build. Not only the best set of 2024 but also the best Marvel or DC superhero set imo.
My favorite set of 2024 is the big buildable Simba. Some nice parts and building techniques and its based on the one of the best animated movies ever made. And its definitely a fun build for sure.
Couldn't agree more with your final choice - the radio was without a doubt one of my favourite ever builds. I was constantly stopping in awe to show my wife progress during construction.
The best LEGO creator of the year is you. Your reviews came out of nowhere within the past year or two and seemed to immediately be top quality, definitely helped by being a former designer. Thanks for all you do and keep going. We love your insight!
I’m excited for this! I just got it yesterday as a birthday gift from my girlfriend and built the Guardians Ship and Quinjet this month. I’ve heard the Milano is somehow better!!!
It doesn't seem like most people agree with these nominations, but your tastes really align with mine. I just got into Lego this year, and the radio was the set that really made me feel like it was more than just an idle hobby and I could really make things I enjoyed a ton.
I don’t have a lot of the sets mentioned, but my top sets this year have been The Plum Blossom, I think the botanical sets have all been brilliant, and Notre Dame. I loved the history lesson that went alongside the build and that made the building experience really good for me.
Best display set is the new Christmas Wreath, and you can't change my mind. Best building experience was the new Sith Infiltrator for this year. It was a great balance of new pieces and techniques, and moments where I felt like I was just building classically with classic pieces. Most underwhelming set - the new Technic Supercar, the McLaren. Big old snooze right there. Runner up is the new TIE Interceptor - it has to be one of the more fragile sets I've seen in a long time- pieces would break off soooo easily, even sometimes with just the slightest touch. Best Technic Set: the Garbage Truck. Finally something that they don't do to death, and only very slightly trying to copy a real thing!
The Tuxedo Cat is a 100% must buy for me, because we used to have a cat that looks exactly like that. Sadly she passed away early this year, so I'm getting the Tuxedo Cat and placing it next to her urn.
I just don't get the love for the radio set, maybe the build experience is great, but I don't think it looks that good and you could buy a retro radio for the same amount of money that would look a lot nicer and be an actual real radio too!
Great selection but for me its still the Milano! Love the build itself and the display value is amazing, all guardians included and for me who owned the original Milano as a kid hits my sweet spot!
Great video, I love hearing your takes on these because you've built so many! I don't agree with all of the choices but a lot of it comes down to preference, especially the display value one. For me, Barad Dur is one of my favourite sets of the year because it looks amazing, but I love the source material it's based on and it's quite accurate to that. So many amazing sets came out that it feels like so many were missed! Good list though!
Wholly agree on all your love for the retro radio set. After watching your review, I ended up purchasing it at a brand new lego store opening in my city. Some of my favorite sets released this year include the construction excavator, delivery truck, interstellar spaceship, bowser's muscle car, and family reunion celebration.
I bought so many 100, 200 and $300+ sets this year. and yet, the one that stood out the most to me in how impressive it was. has to be the Source Dragon from Ninjago. 2nd place would be the D&D castle and 3rd place . . . well too many contenders for 3rd place.
dune ornithopter was my favourite set of they year, not only because i love dune but the build was far more complex and unique than expected. Great to see you value the building experience with your picks here.
my personal favorite is the star wars clone troopers & battle droids battlepack, it's great for army building, and have a great amount of minifigs for just $30
....you and I want very different things out of our LEGO 😆not throwing shade, happy for your preferences to vary from mine. But with the exception of the Jaws set, I don't really want any of the sets you have mentioned in this video.
@@TiagoCatarino while definitely a plus, it's not my top priority. I prefer sets that immerse me in a location or story. For instance, one of my top LEGO experiences was building the Lion Knights Castle while watching Shakespeare movies with my wife. While I'm sure I would appreciate the ingenuity of the retro radio, it would do little to take me on an imaginative journey. And then also from a purely pragmatic perspective....I like a set that would be useful or fun to animate. On that front, retro radio ranks a solid 0.
I feel like this year these categories weren't faithful to the variety of sets that Lego produced in 2024. For example, since we are talking about toys at it's core, one category should be "Best play features". Inside this topic, you could have like "Best Building" and "Best Vehicle". I understand that you are not a fan of very expensive sets, but I think that another category should be something like "Best Big Set" or "Best Details" to award the big and highly detail sets like the Barad'Ur, Gotham City, D&D Castle and Ninjago Temple ones (that for me were amongst the best of the year). Two other topic I thought about were "Best Adult Set" (probably similar to ones I just talked about) and "Best Minifigure". For last, I think it would be fun for you to try to award a "Best Technic" set. Or, if not, invite someone to help you with that one (I'm available by the way 👀 ). I hope you find this comment helpful in any way and once again thank you for another great video!
Surprised the Family Reunion celebration wasn't mentioned at all. Display-piece type sets crowd a lot of the best lego sets list but I think that set deserves a lot of credit for just being a really fun and detailed minifig-scale building
Personally for me, the best set of this year is a crafting table from Minecraft, it looks very good and I just really love micro scale in Lego, also you can take every part of this set like the village or ice spikes, so it’s my winner🏆
Great video! Glad to see the solar system getting some love. I think it would be cool if you replaced the value category with a budget category for sets under $40.
The best thing about these award videos is the similar selection preferences we share. I love real life big objects reproduced in LEGO, and most of your picks were in this same segment. Not something that everyone understands.
Just ordered the Zelda set on double VIP! Cant wait to build it. Still loved the build experience for Peely. His brain looks pretty unsettling though 🤣
Didn't realize the retro radio had so many cool features and good building techniques, thanks for pointing it out - It made it interesting for me again. (Based only on the looks, it was still good but not enough for me to buy it.)
for me this year it is a a lot harder to pick one winner than last year, but i think overall (value, build, functions looks) the best is the "VTOL Heavy Cargo Spaceship LT81" Technic set from the Space series. really big build with great functions for a relatively small price, and it is still one hand swooshable. Ornithopter and Midnight Raven have to share the runner up place, since i love them both but they are very different
While I have gotten a lot of sets this year, and we still have a month to go, my favorites as of now are (in order I got the set) - Shadow's Escape - Dune Atreides Royal Ornithopter - Dragon Stone Shrine - Forest Animals: Red Fox - Wolf Mask Shadow Dojo - Bumblebee - Source Dragon of Motion - Wild Safari Animals - Lord of the Rings: Barad-dur - Imperial Star Destroyer
By functionality alone, Royal Ornithopter becomes the overall No.1 LEGO set of 2024 for me. The top picks in other categories could easily be rivaled or superseded with new products next year, but Ornithopter is just a whole new level that is unlikely to see its peers anytime soon.
Bulding the ornithopter made me really happy, beyond the joy of clever mechanisms and novel techniques, and it took me a little while to realize why: This set triggered "Technic nostalgia" in me - with modern Technic sets having diverged substantially from good, old stud-based building, this set brought me right back to my childhood Technic sets when the Technic elements were *additions* to the building experience, with much of the set still being "brick-built". Adding that to the clever (and compact!) mechanisms, as well as Model Team/Creator Expert/Icons-like detailed looks and a sturdyness rivalled by few other sets the ornithopter is easily among my all-time favourites. PS: Building the Perseverance Rover later, I found it a bit boring - thinking it could have been much better if done like the ornithopter, i.e. largely brick-built, with Technic elements where needed. Building a mostly empty box out of Technic panels was pretty uninspiring, and for me the clever steering mechanism didn't make up for it...
Yes, but it being a full technic set i understand Tiago not being to fond of the idea of building it. I must say i did like the functions and look, but the build was so many stickers and so many side to side mirrored steps that i really want Lego to learn to make a sign to show experienced builders they can comfortably build the mirror along the current steps.
Glad Zelda got nominated in at least one category. I absolutely love that set. It's gotten me so excited about LEGO again. Hoping to get the Jaws set soon!
For me it’s Jabba’s Sail Barge, it was genuinely fun to build. Lots of cool ways to watch the ship come together. I’m biased towards Star Wars and Harry Potter so that’s fine lol. I think the new Ninjago dragon someone mentioned earlier has potential to take that spot. In the middle of building it now, the end product looks amazing though 👌
Interstellar Spaceship and Cole's Titan Mech are sorely lacking here. I understand the love for expensive icons and 18+ sets but the play stuff surpassed a lot of it this year. Creator 3-in-1 also had a standout year.
My favorite set of the year was 40716 Alien Planet Habitat, a cheap, almost throwaway product currenty on sale for clearance. No no, hear me out: At the start of the year, I got the whole new City Space series. It was awesome, I had a new job, and cash to start healing my inner child. So I got the whole series. Later on I got the Galaxy Painting which I had a great time with (my index finger didn't), and some other huge sets like the D&D official set with its awesome dragon build and even the mountain snow fortress from bricklink. But it wasn't until I got a pair of those Habitats on clearance last month, and put them next to my City Space sets, that the whole thing just... *clicked*. The scale of City Space instantly made sense, it created much-needed contrast with the sterile white-and-orange colour scheme of the base playsets, and it reinvigorated my love for the building of dioramas and the desire to build a whole desert planet for display. It was the capstone to a series I felt was missing something, and I love 40716 Alien Planet Habitat for that *so much*.
I’m surprised you didn’t mention the Lord of the rings set either. I had so much fun building it. I watched all the movies. I loved some of the techniques they used to build it so it shocked it didn’t even get some frame time in the video
I haven't really thought about picking a favorite set of the year yet, but I think you're picks are really good (though I personally definitely wouldn't have chosen the radio) I love that even a Technic set made it into the nominations😁Excited to see what sets 2025 holds, keep up the amazing work Tiago!
I really enjoy all your videos. Thank you for all the great content this year. I haven’t bought any Lego this year, but can live vicariously through these videos. Cheers to one of my favorite UA-camrs!
The radio is great, but not my style of decor. I respect your take on the Tuxedo Cat but having two cats, neither of which is a tuxedo, stops me from getting it. Great, maybe, but too niche, IMO.
Why? I will have the roses on display on my entrance hall for months to come, years maybe, the Endurance would never fit, even with the bookshelves I have on the background of my videos doesn’t fit without removing shelves to make space for the masts. Display value for me is measured on the looks and how easy to display it anywhere.
thank you for your reviews! I like choosing sets that will be fun for me to build, display, take apart, and rebuild. The functional details on the radio are so unexpected, I'm glad you highlight this as well!
I haven't put together nearly as many sets as you did, however my favourite one was Lego Technic VTOL Heavy Cargo Spaceship. I'm actually surprised it didn't make your list for one with most functions - landing gear, cargo transport, spinning engines, and all of that controlled with one hand.oh and 1365 Lego pieces for £89.99
Love this wrap up video- I’m hope you keep doing them! I’ve restricted myself to just Harry Potter sets (to protect my bank account as much as possible), but I love seeing the functions/building techniques of other sets! I’m still torn about getting Rivendell (last year’s top set)…
A very adult oriented list, great picks!❤ But definitely not appealing to everyone especially kids or people who don’t want to spend as much money. Value is something to consider but we can’t forget about budget.😂 Perhaps we could get a budget category and a kids choice category next year.😮
I have a Lego Cybermaster set and there was a tracked model that could have different modules on the front. The gripper seems to have a very similar building technique as the landing gear on the ornithopter
I must say your review earlier and now this highlighting of the positives has grown me a little bit on the Radio set, but i still don´t like the look that much, that i rather spend my money elsewhere in the range (Endurance next week, and jaws and Snow-white are on the agenda soon). For my own builds this year i liked the Dreamz raven a lot for it's semi real-life look after finishing, it was unexpected. The Harry Potter arrival at hogwarth's set with the ship and wagon was nice. Monkey kid team hide out was an excellent build as well. (More nice builds where the 100 year disney camera, but that was from 2023, and the D&D playset). Thank you for sharing your thoughts!
My winner is the Botanical Garden. Its too expensive, but I didn't have the Friends sets yet. And it's minifig scale instead of Friends scale. But it's amazing and I love the new tulip element. That way I can make my own Dutch tulip field from LEGO❤! 🌷
Owning 3 of the 4 you nominated for best of the year made that hard for me. While I don't have the radio it's definitely on my list of ones I want. And while I mostly agree with you on the cat I personally have to give it to Mario and Yoshi. It's probably my age and nostalgia playing a large part of it but the Lego Mario and Yoshi hit every note for me. The building, the mechanics of the motion and the Lego Mario playing in game music when connected were simply next level in my mind. It being my favorite Mario game ever also plays a part but once I finished it I just kept playing with it thinking that my 8 year old self would have lost his mind over this. The cat is a definite second place for me however for the reasons you said. Build experience is next level. And my sister 3d printed some extra pieces to give it some whiskers as well. My 2 pet cats reacting and freaking out upon seeing it was also a huge bonus
Also gotta say when I started watching your channel and discovering you were the designer of the Lego ship in a bottle I knew I'd found the right guy for my Lego reviews. I got the set as a surprise Christmas gift. I wasn't even aware it was a thing and it's still one of my favorite models of all time. My dad is really good at picking random Lego sets for me for Christmas no matter how old I get and this one is still a major Christmas memory highlight
Hehe, I knew that was going to be your top pick. 😁 That’s what I like about your reviews, they’re so honest that it’s clear when you really love (or don’t love) a set. Personally I’m still not interested in that set, but I do have my eye on your 2nd place pick.
You should have a category for “worst priced LEGO set of the year”. Zelda would be a strong contender, together with many SW sets, as usual. Thanks for your videos!
For the nostalgia category i was expecting the aytron senna mp4/4 set because in the review video for that set you said you remember have a poster of Senna on your bedroom wall
What about the cmf d&d minifigures as an honorble mention? I know, its not a set, but for me the best minifigures this year and perhaps on of the best series ever
First, I appreciate your videos very much. They have helped me decide on new purchases often. In regards to value, have you considered "build effort"? Not so much of how satisfying a build may be (subjective), rather how long it takes to build versus price paid. Essentially cost/hour. While Mario & Yoshi wasn't mentioned in your value section as it has a high cost/piece, it also is a simple build timewise. Everyone builds at a different pace, but for me, this build in under 3 hours makes it one of the most expensive "effort" sets I have ever experienced (R2-D2 falls into this category as well). Since a large part of all this is in the building of the set I think there should be an "effort" metric. Thanks again for the videos.
Thank you! I think it would be hard for me to do that, since I'm a very fast builder. A speed champions set will take much longer than your average 200/300 piece model because of all of the stickers, so would it be fair to measure it that way since you're not "technically" building it while applying stickers? Endurance also took a big longer when it came down to the strings and sails so while I get what you're saying it's kinda hard to do it I think.
@@TiagoCatarino Everyone builds at their own pace, so that metric is scalable to each individual. The overall number may change but the ratio should remain relatively the same regardless of the build. Stickers are a challenge - are they considered "pieces" in the set count? I built the Mercedes-AMG F1 W14 E Performance earlier this year and I think it had over 80 stickers. What an awful experience! And thank you for the reply.
*LEGO Black Friday ❯* bit.ly/3GeU0hC
The Endurance will be up for grabs and a bunch of offers and discounts will be available!
Check the page for all of the details!
Amazing video as always
The tuxedo cat is awesome! Who’s with me?
👇
The effing RaDiO????!
You didn't even mention neither Barad Dur nor Dungeons & Dragons... :O
dude is a boomer if he likes literal radio
My absolute personal favorite set this year was 100% the Lego Dungeons and Dragons: Red Dragons Tale. Being a Lego and DND fan it really was a joy to put together with all the references and details. Especially the fact that it is a playable one shot campaign as well it has been one of the first time I’ve actually PLAYED with a Lego set since I was a kid. Getting to DM it with my friends has made it really my favorite of the year by far and the build looks amazing to display too
That’s an amazing story. I think that’s the cool thing about LEGO, there’s always a particular set that speaks to any of us individually in ways other people won’t be able to experience it. Cool stuff!!
@@TiagoCatarino exactly! Lego is such an incredible system that allows for anyone to find something to love about it! Great to see the perspective of a former Lego designer with everything too! (Was definitely a dream job as a kid to design sets) thanks for all the great reviews and commentary!
That's a great pick. I got that set too, but haven't had a chance to put it together yet since I'm in the middle of moving. I'm super excited to put it together and run a one-shot on it with some buddies! I hope they do some more sets, or at least some more of those super cool mini figures!
It's definitely a contender for the set of the year. It is very well made, looks amazing, and has great play- (and D&D playing-) features built in. Though I still haven't tried the campaign yet.
I built it once with the intention of dming the one shot having never done it before. I looked at it and realized how much more work it was and took it apart. Still a beautiful set. Top 30 for me for sure. I had some friends coming into town a month or two later and built it again and learned the campaign this time and I had SO much fun playing that it is now not even close! My number 1 favorite set. I want to get the books and learn to DM proper. I always really cherish anything that fosters togetherness and this DnD LEGO did that so well. I now want every castle set to hang on to that friendship feeling.
I am surprised the Creator 3-in-1 line was not referenced more in the video. The whole theme was great this year with at least 4 that standouts. The Retro Camera, Forrest Animals: Red Fox, the Wild Safari Animals, and the Space Astronaut were all amazing.
I’m not surprised. Tiago has been criticizing that theme for a while now for its lack of play value. I do agree that some of them deserved a nomination for the best display set category though.
I argee: Safari animala is a good display about what lego is
People need to have more respect for the Titan Dragon mech from this year. Not only the biggest Lego mech of all time, but it also has so much articulation thanks to the insane building techniques...
Oh who am I kidding, most Lego fans will just see it as "another Ninjago set"...
Maybe I should give it a look!
Real
@@TiagoCatarinoyou most definitely should, it is the best mech ever, utilising super cool hinges and joints, having tons of posability, etc
exactly I! I was surprised he did not mention the Coles titan dragon mech or Source dragon of motion.
@@TiagoCatarinoit’s incredible. Completely changes the game for buildable characters and a must see for you
I love this video, waiting for it every year. But I was missing a bit two categories: best €300+ set, and best €50- sets (or other threshold, just zxpensive and cheap category, or the other way around: more than X pieces, and less than Y pieces).
And I liked what you did a few years ago, with us voting before for each category, it's nice to see the community opinion!
Thanks again for your overall quality work! You're awarded for my fav chanel of the year 😉
Didn’t have time for the fan vote, but I should totally go back to doing that next year!
Yeah I second this, the sub-$50 category was a lot of fun and often had some hidden gems in it.
Love your videos, Tiago. No padding, just straight to the point while still being super informative and expanding where necessary. So easy to watch. Thanks and all the best!
That cat is actually so charming. It has a quality to it that no other Lego set has. I don’t know why it’s left such an impression on me but I absolutely love it.
Rightfully so!
After it was released, I went to my local store with the intention to pick up that set. But when I looked at the display model they had, I somehow felt that it didn't look quite right.
For me, the nostalgia award is taken away by the Batman the animated series wall display, hands down.
Fr, this single set made me rewatch the series
not mentioning The Transformers Bumblebee for "Best Functions" is mad crazy, it can literally transform into a car
You built 200 sets this year??
No wonder you value building experience so much 😅
Yeah... After you build so much you end up seeing the same stuff over and over again. The ones with the cool building experience standout!
Ornithopter and Barad Dur were my personal favorites so far.
The Ornithopter looks so nice if you swap out the red parts for black, it looks sick for display and is packed with features, as a lego model should be.
And upgrade some of the figures with dual molded legs and better hairpieces. Also, more sandy capes!
Agreed, I replaced the most prominently visible red parts for black ones (had to order a few extra parts) and it made it look even better!
Coles Titan Mech definitely deserves to be on this list imo
Absolutely, I wanted to post this too. It inherits the best titan knees from Zane's legacy titan mech, has an awesome weapon, and the shoulder and head are pretty customizable if you want to add/remove embellishments. Also, Cole is the least popular ninja so it is such a treat when he gets a set this cool.
ninjago fans have no power here.
It's clear from your picks that you actually care about the building experience and creativity involved. I’m sure most lists (including mine!) will have all the big popular IP sets, but it's always nice to see your perspective on Lego :)
For sure! When building hundreds of sets per year, it gets old pretty fast. The building experience is the differentiation aspect!
This year marked the first time I've ever gotten a set more than $100, and it was the Great Deku Tree. I have been thoroughly satisfied with it, and the nostalgia, building experience, and display value of it for me have been totally worth it. I knew when it was revealed I was going to save up for it, and I was not disappointed.
The retro radio also takes the award of “only owned by LAN members”. Always enjoy these yearly videos thanks. 2024 was also the year of when you open a bag all you get is spares and 2*1 bricks…. Or the exact opposite.
I doubt you get this a lot but thanks for including AUD with the other currencies, it is certainly useful! Great video, love your content.
I know it got a lot of hate (rightfully) for its outrageous price, but the Zelda Deku Tree really is fantastic imo. It was a ton of fun to build and it's just so full of cute and fun little details.
It's good to see a best of 2024 set without any of the biggest and most expensive sets.
Beauty and building pleasure can be found in smaller more affordable sets.
Unfortunately, none of these sets are in my collection...
Couldn't agree more! Over the years I’ve seen myself appreciate more and more the smaller ones which is great! I really start lacking the space to display it all
My absolute favorite was the Lego spaceship city interstellar, awesome looking ship. Simple and effective building techniques, with a very neat boosting feature with the purple battery. All for $20?? I could not stop playing with it. So sharp, so clean, so cheap, so swooshable!
I have been waiting for this video all year.I love these yearly reviews
Love making them!
The polaroid camera was my fave lego set of this year, building it with my fiancée and trying to guess how the mechanisms come together was a lovely time :)
A very underrated social activity! Building LEGO together with someone is the best!
Happy to see some Mario & Yoshi representation! Underrated set imo.
I always appreciate that Tiago has his own opinions and tastes and isn't too shy about calling a spade a spade. I might not always agree with how he weighs different aspects but the consistency is really valuable when I want to figure out if I'm personally going to enjoy a product.
Certainly a respectable opinion and good explanation on the choices. I might not agree, but these things are very subjective as well.
For me it's the Guardians of the Galaxy Milano. It's got the full team of minifigs with our first accurate Drax since 2017, and fixed my only problem with the 2021 Benetar, finally giving us a spacious interior. It also just looks stunning and was really fun to build.
Not only the best set of 2024 but also the best Marvel or DC superhero set imo.
My favorite set of 2024 is the big buildable Simba. Some nice parts and building techniques and its based on the one of the best animated movies ever made. And its definitely a fun build for sure.
Definitely a good one!
Couldn't agree more with your final choice - the radio was without a doubt one of my favourite ever builds. I was constantly stopping in awe to show my wife progress during construction.
The best LEGO creator of the year is you. Your reviews came out of nowhere within the past year or two and seemed to immediately be top quality, definitely helped by being a former designer. Thanks for all you do and keep going. We love your insight!
I do hate your upload schedule, though. It's 5:00 a.m. lil bro
I’m surprised for the nostalgia category the City ATV 60424 wasn’t mentioned. It’s a $10 set with Johnny Thunder. Can’t beat that!
You're right! Completely missed that one 😂
I just took apart my Retro Radio for pieces.... 😅
My Barad-dur is about to be taken apart as well… 👀
The Milano set is remarkable...do it justice!
I just built the Milano yesterday. It's amazing!
Like seriously for the Marvel theme its one of the best and even surpasses other lines for the year!
I’m excited for this! I just got it yesterday as a birthday gift from my girlfriend and built the Guardians Ship and Quinjet this month. I’ve heard the Milano is somehow better!!!
@RampantPuppy I bought 3 of the new Lego Space figures from Lego store build a figure section. So all 3 are in the cockpit of the Milano.
It doesn't seem like most people agree with these nominations, but your tastes really align with mine. I just got into Lego this year, and the radio was the set that really made me feel like it was more than just an idle hobby and I could really make things I enjoyed a ton.
I don’t have a lot of the sets mentioned, but my top sets this year have been The Plum Blossom, I think the botanical sets have all been brilliant, and Notre Dame. I loved the history lesson that went alongside the build and that made the building experience really good for me.
Notre Dame was my favorite set of the year.
Creator 3-1 Fox set definitely deserves an honorable mention 🦊
Best display set is the new Christmas Wreath, and you can't change my mind.
Best building experience was the new Sith Infiltrator for this year. It was a great balance of new pieces and techniques, and moments where I felt like I was just building classically with classic pieces.
Most underwhelming set - the new Technic Supercar, the McLaren. Big old snooze right there. Runner up is the new TIE Interceptor - it has to be one of the more fragile sets I've seen in a long time- pieces would break off soooo easily, even sometimes with just the slightest touch.
Best Technic Set: the Garbage Truck. Finally something that they don't do to death, and only very slightly trying to copy a real thing!
The Tuxedo Cat is a 100% must buy for me, because we used to have a cat that looks exactly like that. Sadly she passed away early this year, so I'm getting the Tuxedo Cat and placing it next to her urn.
I just don't get the love for the radio set, maybe the build experience is great, but I don't think it looks that good and you could buy a retro radio for the same amount of money that would look a lot nicer and be an actual real radio too!
Great selection but for me its still the Milano!
Love the build itself and the display value is amazing, all guardians included and for me who owned the original Milano as a kid hits my sweet spot!
Great video, I love hearing your takes on these because you've built so many! I don't agree with all of the choices but a lot of it comes down to preference, especially the display value one. For me, Barad Dur is one of my favourite sets of the year because it looks amazing, but I love the source material it's based on and it's quite accurate to that. So many amazing sets came out that it feels like so many were missed! Good list though!
Wholly agree on all your love for the retro radio set. After watching your review, I ended up purchasing it at a brand new lego store opening in my city. Some of my favorite sets released this year include the construction excavator, delivery truck, interstellar spaceship, bowser's muscle car, and family reunion celebration.
I bought so many 100, 200 and $300+ sets this year. and yet, the one that stood out the most to me in how impressive it was. has to be the Source Dragon from Ninjago. 2nd place would be the D&D castle and 3rd place . . . well too many contenders for 3rd place.
dune ornithopter was my favourite set of they year, not only because i love dune but the build was far more complex and unique than expected. Great to see you value the building experience with your picks here.
my personal favorite is the star wars clone troopers & battle droids battlepack, it's great for army building, and have a great amount of minifigs for just $30
....you and I want very different things out of our LEGO 😆not throwing shade, happy for your preferences to vary from mine. But with the exception of the Jaws set, I don't really want any of the sets you have mentioned in this video.
You clearly don’t enjoy pleasurable building experiences 👀👀
@@TiagoCatarino while definitely a plus, it's not my top priority. I prefer sets that immerse me in a location or story. For instance, one of my top LEGO experiences was building the Lion Knights Castle while watching Shakespeare movies with my wife. While I'm sure I would appreciate the ingenuity of the retro radio, it would do little to take me on an imaginative journey.
And then also from a purely pragmatic perspective....I like a set that would be useful or fun to animate. On that front, retro radio ranks a solid 0.
The natural history museum was certainly one of my favorites
I feel like this year these categories weren't faithful to the variety of sets that Lego produced in 2024.
For example, since we are talking about toys at it's core, one category should be "Best play features". Inside this topic, you could have like "Best Building" and "Best Vehicle".
I understand that you are not a fan of very expensive sets, but I think that another category should be something like "Best Big Set" or "Best Details" to award the big and highly detail sets like the Barad'Ur, Gotham City, D&D Castle and Ninjago Temple ones (that for me were amongst the best of the year).
Two other topic I thought about were "Best Adult Set" (probably similar to ones I just talked about) and "Best Minifigure".
For last, I think it would be fun for you to try to award a "Best Technic" set. Or, if not, invite someone to help you with that one (I'm available by the way 👀 ).
I hope you find this comment helpful in any way and once again thank you for another great video!
Surprised the Family Reunion celebration wasn't mentioned at all. Display-piece type sets crowd a lot of the best lego sets list but I think that set deserves a lot of credit for just being a really fun and detailed minifig-scale building
I’ve just bought the Guardians of the Galaxy Milano, it has some really fun building steps, I’m enjoying the build
I like the different categories, nice video!
Personally for me, the best set of this year is a crafting table from Minecraft, it looks very good and I just really love micro scale in Lego, also you can take every part of this set like the village or ice spikes, so it’s my winner🏆
Great video! Glad to see the solar system getting some love. I think it would be cool if you replaced the value category with a budget category for sets under $40.
"In your home or in your car. You are never really far from L-E-G-O Radio."
The best thing about these award videos is the similar selection preferences we share. I love real life big objects reproduced in LEGO, and most of your picks were in this same segment. Not something that everyone understands.
Just ordered the Zelda set on double VIP! Cant wait to build it.
Still loved the build experience for Peely. His brain looks pretty unsettling though 🤣
Right?!
Didn't realize the retro radio had so many cool features and good building techniques, thanks for pointing it out - It made it interesting for me again. (Based only on the looks, it was still good but not enough for me to buy it.)
for me this year it is a a lot harder to pick one winner than last year, but i think overall (value, build, functions looks) the best is the "VTOL Heavy Cargo Spaceship LT81" Technic set from the Space series. really big build with great functions for a relatively small price, and it is still one hand swooshable.
Ornithopter and Midnight Raven have to share the runner up place, since i love them both but they are very different
Some people still buy sets for their kids, so it could be nice to get a “most playable” or “best playable” set category.
While I have gotten a lot of sets this year, and we still have a month to go, my favorites as of now are (in order I got the set)
- Shadow's Escape
- Dune Atreides Royal Ornithopter
- Dragon Stone Shrine
- Forest Animals: Red Fox
- Wolf Mask Shadow Dojo
- Bumblebee
- Source Dragon of Motion
- Wild Safari Animals
- Lord of the Rings: Barad-dur
- Imperial Star Destroyer
Dragon stone shrine could almost be o the display value! It looks really cool. Lots of play features/functions as well
You make the best lego reviews
By functionality alone, Royal Ornithopter becomes the overall No.1 LEGO set of 2024 for me.
The top picks in other categories could easily be rivaled or superseded with new products next year, but Ornithopter is just a whole new level that is unlikely to see its peers anytime soon.
Yeah. Should fit right in with the best ones of the decade. Or ever for that matter
I agree that, and the 2nd position for the dragon stone shrine of ninjago
My proposals of 2024:
1; Royal ornithopter of Dune
2; Dragon Stone Shrine of Ninjago
3; Chateau Bed & Breakfast of Friends
Bulding the ornithopter made me really happy, beyond the joy of clever mechanisms and novel techniques, and it took me a little while to realize why: This set triggered "Technic nostalgia" in me - with modern Technic sets having diverged substantially from good, old stud-based building, this set brought me right back to my childhood Technic sets when the Technic elements were *additions* to the building experience, with much of the set still being "brick-built". Adding that to the clever (and compact!) mechanisms, as well as Model Team/Creator Expert/Icons-like detailed looks and a sturdyness rivalled by few other sets the ornithopter is easily among my all-time favourites.
PS: Building the Perseverance Rover later, I found it a bit boring - thinking it could have been much better if done like the ornithopter, i.e. largely brick-built, with Technic elements where needed. Building a mostly empty box out of Technic panels was pretty uninspiring, and for me the clever steering mechanism didn't make up for it...
I’d have added to the honorable mentions of the function category also the America’s cup boat. Deplorable foils and functional boom and jib
Yes, but it being a full technic set i understand Tiago not being to fond of the idea of building it.
I must say i did like the functions and look, but the build was so many stickers and so many side to side mirrored steps that i really want Lego to learn to make a sign to show experienced builders they can comfortably build the mirror along the current steps.
@Tiago Catarino
Definitely the Gotham City Skyline from Batman The Animated Series, very nostalgic
I feel like a below 100$ would be a nice category to add.
Glad Zelda got nominated in at least one category. I absolutely love that set. It's gotten me so excited about LEGO again. Hoping to get the Jaws set soon!
I’m glad you put peely bone on there! Peely is one of favorite gaming characters!😊
My wife and I got the retro radio on your recommendation and enjoyed every second of it, but my favorite is for sure the midi millennium falcon
For me it’s Jabba’s Sail Barge, it was genuinely fun to build. Lots of cool ways to watch the ship come together. I’m biased towards Star Wars and Harry Potter so that’s fine lol. I think the new Ninjago dragon someone mentioned earlier has potential to take that spot. In the middle of building it now, the end product looks amazing though 👌
Source Dragon defo would!
This is gonna be perfect for remembering great sets that came out this year when im making my christmas list
Interstellar Spaceship and Cole's Titan Mech are sorely lacking here. I understand the love for expensive icons and 18+ sets but the play stuff surpassed a lot of it this year. Creator 3-in-1 also had a standout year.
Honestly these videos are soooo good Tiago! Thank you very much for being so awesome!!
My favorite set of the year was 40716 Alien Planet Habitat, a cheap, almost throwaway product currenty on sale for clearance. No no, hear me out: At the start of the year, I got the whole new City Space series. It was awesome, I had a new job, and cash to start healing my inner child. So I got the whole series. Later on I got the Galaxy Painting which I had a great time with (my index finger didn't), and some other huge sets like the D&D official set with its awesome dragon build and even the mountain snow fortress from bricklink.
But it wasn't until I got a pair of those Habitats on clearance last month, and put them next to my City Space sets, that the whole thing just... *clicked*. The scale of City Space instantly made sense, it created much-needed contrast with the sterile white-and-orange colour scheme of the base playsets, and it reinvigorated my love for the building of dioramas and the desire to build a whole desert planet for display. It was the capstone to a series I felt was missing something, and I love 40716 Alien Planet Habitat for that *so much*.
“My index finger didn’t” 😂
Lego really hit it hard this year with these sets. Can’t wait to see what next year looks like!
after the first category it was already clear for me that the radio is your favorite set. Great set btw4
I’m surprised you didn’t mention the Lord of the rings set either. I had so much fun building it. I watched all the movies. I loved some of the techniques they used to build it so it shocked it didn’t even get some frame time in the video
It really didn’t excel at anything
I haven't really thought about picking a favorite set of the year yet, but I think you're picks are really good (though I personally definitely wouldn't have chosen the radio) I love that even a Technic set made it into the nominations😁Excited to see what sets 2025 holds, keep up the amazing work Tiago!
Yay, thank you!
I really enjoy all your videos. Thank you for all the great content this year. I haven’t bought any Lego this year, but can live vicariously through these videos. Cheers to one of my favorite UA-camrs!
The radio is great, but not my style of decor. I respect your take on the Tuxedo Cat but having two cats, neither of which is a tuxedo, stops me from getting it.
Great, maybe, but too niche, IMO.
The roses winning over the endurance ship is actually insane... lol
Why? I will have the roses on display on my entrance hall for months to come, years maybe, the Endurance would never fit, even with the bookshelves I have on the background of my videos doesn’t fit without removing shelves to make space for the masts.
Display value for me is measured on the looks and how easy to display it anywhere.
I find it incredible that you didn't even mention Barad Dur
We really need smaller Dune sets tbh I love those movies but other sets are more tempting to buy than the Ornithopter imo.
thank you for your reviews! I like choosing sets that will be fun for me to build, display, take apart, and rebuild. The functional details on the radio are so unexpected, I'm glad you highlight this as well!
Right?! I should make a list of: "Sets I would take apart to build again"
I haven't put together nearly as many sets as you did, however my favourite one was Lego Technic VTOL Heavy Cargo Spaceship.
I'm actually surprised it didn't make your list for one with most functions - landing gear, cargo transport, spinning engines, and all of that controlled with one hand.oh and 1365 Lego pieces for £89.99
I usually stay away from Technic. The Planet Earth and Moon in orbit was the only exception in like 4 years
Love this wrap up video- I’m hope you keep doing them! I’ve restricted myself to just Harry Potter sets (to protect my bank account as much as possible), but I love seeing the functions/building techniques of other sets! I’m still torn about getting Rivendell (last year’s top set)…
A very adult oriented list, great picks!❤ But definitely not appealing to everyone especially kids or people who don’t want to spend as much money. Value is something to consider but we can’t forget about budget.😂 Perhaps we could get a budget category and a kids choice category next year.😮
I have a Lego Cybermaster set and there was a tracked model that could have different modules on the front. The gripper seems to have a very similar building technique as the landing gear on the ornithopter
I must say your review earlier and now this highlighting of the positives has grown me a little bit on the Radio set, but i still don´t like the look that much, that i rather spend my money elsewhere in the range (Endurance next week, and jaws and Snow-white are on the agenda soon).
For my own builds this year i liked the Dreamz raven a lot for it's semi real-life look after finishing, it was unexpected.
The Harry Potter arrival at hogwarth's set with the ship and wagon was nice. Monkey kid team hide out was an excellent build as well. (More nice builds where the 100 year disney camera, but that was from 2023, and the D&D playset). Thank you for sharing your thoughts!
I feel like The Deku Tree didn't have a chance for 2024 awards since it didn't get reviewed 😅, looking forward to that review though!
I really like the Dragon Stone Shrine and X-Mansion this year!
My winner is the Botanical Garden. Its too expensive, but I didn't have the Friends sets yet. And it's minifig scale instead of Friends scale. But it's amazing and I love the new tulip element. That way I can make my own Dutch tulip field from LEGO❤! 🌷
Owning 3 of the 4 you nominated for best of the year made that hard for me. While I don't have the radio it's definitely on my list of ones I want. And while I mostly agree with you on the cat I personally have to give it to Mario and Yoshi. It's probably my age and nostalgia playing a large part of it but the Lego Mario and Yoshi hit every note for me. The building, the mechanics of the motion and the Lego Mario playing in game music when connected were simply next level in my mind. It being my favorite Mario game ever also plays a part but once I finished it I just kept playing with it thinking that my 8 year old self would have lost his mind over this. The cat is a definite second place for me however for the reasons you said. Build experience is next level. And my sister 3d printed some extra pieces to give it some whiskers as well. My 2 pet cats reacting and freaking out upon seeing it was also a huge bonus
Also gotta say when I started watching your channel and discovering you were the designer of the Lego ship in a bottle I knew I'd found the right guy for my Lego reviews. I got the set as a surprise Christmas gift. I wasn't even aware it was a thing and it's still one of my favorite models of all time. My dad is really good at picking random Lego sets for me for Christmas no matter how old I get and this one is still a major Christmas memory highlight
Great video Tiago especially for Christmas coming up. Thank ya 🎉
Hehe, I knew that was going to be your top pick. 😁 That’s what I like about your reviews, they’re so honest that it’s clear when you really love (or don’t love) a set.
Personally I’m still not interested in that set, but I do have my eye on your 2nd place pick.
This was a very enjoyable video - thanks! I built the orrery for my grandkids this year and they just love it.
literally searched up this title yesterday and couldnt find any videos about the best lego sets of 2024. great idea
You should have a category for “worst priced LEGO set of the year”. Zelda would be a strong contender, together with many SW sets, as usual. Thanks for your videos!
For the nostalgia category i was expecting the aytron senna mp4/4 set because in the review video for that set you said you remember have a poster of Senna on your bedroom wall
What about the cmf d&d minifigures as an honorble mention? I know, its not a set, but for me the best minifigures this year and perhaps on of the best series ever
Maybe I should include best minifigure category next year!
First, I appreciate your videos very much. They have helped me decide on new purchases often. In regards to value, have you considered "build effort"? Not so much of how satisfying a build may be (subjective), rather how long it takes to build versus price paid. Essentially cost/hour. While Mario & Yoshi wasn't mentioned in your value section as it has a high cost/piece, it also is a simple build timewise. Everyone builds at a different pace, but for me, this build in under 3 hours makes it one of the most expensive "effort" sets I have ever experienced (R2-D2 falls into this category as well). Since a large part of all this is in the building of the set I think there should be an "effort" metric. Thanks again for the videos.
Thank you! I think it would be hard for me to do that, since I'm a very fast builder. A speed champions set will take much longer than your average 200/300 piece model because of all of the stickers, so would it be fair to measure it that way since you're not "technically" building it while applying stickers?
Endurance also took a big longer when it came down to the strings and sails so while I get what you're saying it's kinda hard to do it I think.
@@TiagoCatarino Everyone builds at their own pace, so that metric is scalable to each individual. The overall number may change but the ratio should remain relatively the same regardless of the build. Stickers are a challenge - are they considered "pieces" in the set count? I built the Mercedes-AMG F1 W14 E Performance earlier this year and I think it had over 80 stickers. What an awful experience! And thank you for the reply.
I love that retro radio so much.
Hammmm Salad.