LEGO Brings Back The Nazis. Sort of…

A pseudo-column / review of the new #77012 Indiana Jones LEGO set.

Hot take, I know, right? Might even piss off a few folks over at the LEGO offices in Denmark, but I’m not the only one saying it. It’s a nazi soldier in a nazi airplane. Plain and simple. This might not land — pun intended — as intended, but we gotta talk about it, because LEGO has a very long and very famous stance on war: no war to be depicted in LEGO sets. Unless it’s the roundabout way, through entertainment. Then that stance kind of melts away, into… you guessed it… plastic bricks.

While this is absolutely a review of the new Indiana Jones set that I introduced a few articles ago, I feel like it’s also an opportunity for a short column, not so much to make the review more interesting or different, but rather because I, myself, struggle a bit with this set, and it’s not the LEGO bricks aspect of it, but what it represents, so take this entire article a public exhibition of my own efforts to understand LEGO stance on war and this set as a concept.

Who is this set really for?

Before going into the whole nazi conversation, I want to address another aspect — graphic detail, not so much in the set, but the Indiana Jones movies in general. I have not seen them in 20 years, so I decided to actually watch The Temple of Doom as I was building the set, and I was a bit shocked. While I loved the movie, of course, let’s not forget, I am 37 at the time of writing, and 20 years ago I was 17. This set is for 8-year-olds! I really don’t think that child torture, gory details and other nightmare-inducing elements from this movie should be anywhere near an 8-year-old.

And this is where my brain starts to go in overdrive, because if we don’t let 8-year-olds watch Indiana Jones movies, then why would they want to buy the set? They have zero emotional or cultural connection to the stories. What trips me up, is the undeniable disconnect between the actual target audience — those my age and older — and what’s stated on the box.

Heck, I went into the LEGO shop on the 1st of April as these launched, and guess what my favourite LEGO store sales lady told me? “We have the new Indiana Jones sets!” She knows I go every month on release day, but there were plenty other sets to point out. No. She made the connection that everyone would. A middle-aged looking guy with disposable income, give him some Indiana Jones sets. She’s right. I did not see a single kid grabbing those sets, but I saw at least four other people over the age of 30 getting them.

This is also not the first time LEGO makes odd decisions around war and violence. Don’t get me wrong, I am not saying these sets should have not been created, but the age rating is wildly off. In contrast, the Stranger Things set, now sadly retired, did not commit the same mistake. It’s a 16+ set, because the TV series itself isn’t for kids, and if you ask me, apart from the latest season, Stranger Things is actually milder than Indiana Jones, at least from my perspective — definitely more fit for a younger audience.

So, what’s up with the nazis?

Well, as many reviewers have pointed out already, some elements in this set are near-replicas of what you’d find in the Second World War, and there is no Second World War without nazis. Thank God, the actual nazi symbol has not found its way into the set, but the airplane and its pilot are pretty darn close to the originals. The soldier is wearing a nazi pilot outfit, that apparently many experts of the era, quickly recognised. The plane is a Pilatus P-2.

The Pilatus P-2 was a Swiss military training airplane used for fighter pilot training in the Nazi Luftwaffe. While capable of being flown by a single pilot, it could accommodate a second crewman as a tail-gunner. — indianajones.fandom.com

How about that? When you check out the original plane, you’ve got to have a terrible imagination not to see the similarities between it and the LEGO version. Now, The LEGO Group’s stance on war and all things military is a bit more nuanced, as Ryan Greenwood put it when asked by the CNN.

“We have a long-standing policy of not creating sets which feature real military vehicles that are currently in use,” Ryan Greenwood, a spokesman for the company, said in an email to CNN. — edition.cnn.com

The article goes further though and proves that while LEGO’s stance may be more nuanced than just no war and military stuff altogether, they do make exceptions, and this set seems to somehow fit that narrative. That being said, it is quite unfortunate that they chose to go with a nazi pilot and airplane. Because, you know, nobody likes the nazis.

Forget the nazis, is the set any good?

Riding on the coat-tails of the previous section, I think one thing is obvious. This set, while advertised for those above the age of 8, I do think that despite its low complexity of build that even a 6-year-old would probably manage, the theme of the set and elements of World War II that it “brings to life” make this set a hard sell for anyone under the age of 14.

As far as design and looks go, I think LEGO nailed it. Both the car — a Citroën I think — and the airplane, the Pilatus P-2 as revealed before, do a pretty good job copying the originals from the movie titled Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade. In fact, I think it does such a good job that in Ireland the set went out of stock within four days!

It’s worth noting that the car is the same width as the Speed Champions cars, and not too far off in terms of build complexity. Certainly, a very enjoyable little build. Proves that in reality, few people care about the nazi aspects of the set, and maybe they’re the ones better off, not overthinking it.

The airplane does an even better job, thanks to the joint pieces that allow the wings to stay at an angle and sheer off if you go into a tunnel, just like in the movie. It also features two tile guns and camouflage stickers — a rarity in LEGO sets. The little side-build indicating the way to Berlin and the aforementioned tunnel, is pretty basic, but does come with a hint of rocks and foliage to make it look somewhat realistic.

The three minifigs — Indiana Jones, Professor Henry Jones Sr, and the pilot are all excellent depictions of the original characters. That being said, except for Indie, LEGO could have put some effort into the legs too, not just the torsos.

That being said, for 35 bucks there’s not much if anything to criticise in this set. 387 pieces with some pretty unique parts and nice accessories, like an umbrella, pistol(s), luggage box, suitcase, etc. Let’s also not discount the playability aspect of this set, which is absolutely fantastic. The convertible car is very vroomable and the plane is very swooshable. Some kids will probably want it just because it’s a vintage-looking car and airplane, and parents will get it, because it’s hard to say no to all that for 35 bucks. Who Indiana Jones is and why this set is actually bringing back to life iconic characters from their parents’ teenage years, is something only my and older generations will get. But I guess that’s fine too.

All in all, I think this is the best Indiana Jones LEGO set released in 2023, and it’s worth every penny. The set is perfect, but LEGO’s decision to target kids with it, makes me wonder.

Attila Vago — Software Engineer improving the world one line of code at a time. Cool nerd since forever, writer of codes and blogs. Web accessibility advocate, LEGO fan, vinyl record collector. Loves craft beer! Read my Hello story here! Subscribe and/or become a member for more stories about LEGO, tech, coding and accessibility! For my less regular readers, I also write about random bits and writing.