The Best LEGO Set To Hit The Shelves In Decades…

This LEGO set will go down in history as the one that satisfied every fan’s needs.

Classic LEGO is back, and it’s better than ever! I have been a long-time advocate of many of LEGO’s newer sets, the newer pieces, themes, even some of the display sets. Anyone, pragmatic and realistic enough, understands that the Danish toymaker has only two choices: make money or go bust. Certain decisions had to be made over the years for the latter to be avoided. That’s not to say, however, that The LEGO Group has not made mistakes along the way. I have been just as harsh a critic of their gigantic sets at even higher prices. But I am a fan after all, and I’ll give credit when and where credit is due, and in 2022 LEGO managed to pull off something quite unexpected — it launched a few 90-Year Anniversary sets, among which the Galaxy Explorer, paying homage to the Classic 497 LEGO Galaxy Set from decades ago.

Fans of the “good ol’ bricks” of yesteryear tend to always harp on about one thing and one thing alone — too many custom bricks. To them, everything that Lego launched since the late 90s is basically not LEGO any more. While I would very much like to differ, there is an element of truth in their complaints, and there is no better way to understand that, than picking up set #10497 and taking it for a spin.

You have to be an absolute Grinch not to be taken back in time with the Galaxy Explorer. Such an evocative LEGO set.

As expensive many sets are these days — especially after the price hikes — this particular one is very nicely priced at just 100 euros. I know that’s not necessarily a negligible amount for many kids and parents, but for 1254 pieces, it doesn’t feel overpriced. And once you start building it, you’ll begin to see just how good value for money this set is.

Speaking of building, this is not a complicated build. I am not entirely sure why this set is marked 18+ apart from the fact that it’s marketed as a nostalgia set. However, I think it actually shouldn’t be. From where I’m standing, this is a spaceship, entirely suitable for everyone who likes LEGO bricks and is above the age of 7. Not once did I feel that following the steps was difficult. Sure, there are plenty of SNOT building techniques throughout the various stages, but nothing that would require extra patience or whatever else a 7-year-old kid might not yet have.

If your kid likes LEGO, they’ll like this too, and perhaps they’ll understand the long history behind the toy they’re such a fan of.

As uncomplicated a build it is, it is fairly large. Now, of course that is largely — pun intended — because the base of the ship is this triangle-shaped platform with three “legs” that can be extended and retracted as needed, and the rest of the space-ship is built onto that. The secondary reason for its size is actually the “classicness” of the individual pieces. This set comes with many plates and decent-sized bricks. The level of detail here is nowhere near say a Speed Champions set, yet somehow, it’s just detailed enough to remind us of the “Good ol’ LEGO” you had between the 70s and 90s.

Technically, this is also a 3-in-1 set. You only get the physical instructions for the main model, but you can get the other two digital instructions from the LEGO website. I will say this, though. I like all three versions of the Galaxy Explorer, but I can’t say that the secondary builds are all that exciting. They are really just variations on the first and main build. It almost feels like trying to tell the story of a crash-landed spaceship that now has fewer parts to rebuild itself and keep flying. I get what they were going for, I’m just not sure whether I see as much value in it as LEGO’s designers thought we all might.

That being said, this is a gorgeous set. With four classic minifigs, a robot and a small rover, all of which have ample space in the Galaxy Explorer, together with their tools, loading bay, two-person resting area with beds, countless displays made of printer tiles, and all those classic pieces, this is truly a remarkable set to relax with on a Sunday afternoon.

It’s also worth mentioning that this set has no stickers. Not even one, which is pretty rare these days. Even the Nasa Space Shuttle Discovery, I am building at the moment, has a few of them.

I for one think that LEGO truly nailed this one. The Galaxy Explorer is all the things that many of the older generation LEGO fans kept wishing back. Well, wish granted, because if this set won’t feel familiar to y’all, nothing will…

The Galaxy Explorer is a great build, can easily be played with, yet still looks spectacular on display. All for 100 bucks, I say this set practically sells itself.

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.