Review – Mr. and Mrs. Claus

Like many LEGO fans, I have mixed opinions on the LEGO BrickHeadz line. On the one hand, I love the “nostalgic” BrickHeadz sets. The full Harry Potter series holds prime real estate on my office window sill, while Doc Brown and Marty McFly stand watch on the bookshelf near my door. Many fans agree these are among the best BrickHeadz sets that LEGO has released.

On the other hand, I really dislike the more “commercial” BrickHeadz sets. Maybe that’s because they’re often associated with some not-so-stellar movies, like “Pirates of the Caribbean: Whatever That Last Movie Was Called” and “Solo: A Star Wars Story That We Really Didn’t Need.” These BrickHeadz feel more like routine movie tie-ins than inspired LEGO sets.

If only LEGO had released Han Solo and Chewbacca as Lone Starr and Barf from Spaceballs. Now that would have been inspired.

But I digress.

I have a special fondness for the seasonal BrickHeadz. They’re the only truly original designs in the entire BrickHeadz series. No movies to promote, no feelings of childhood nostalgia to capitalize upon. Just BrickHeadz in their purest creative form.

And besides, seasonal BrickHeadz give you a great excuse to break down the set when the holiday is over, and build it again when the next year comes, while also adding the next year’s seasonal set to your existing BrickHeadz collection. That’s a bonus in my book.

The Set

I started buying up the seasonal BrickHeadz just after Christmas last year. So I’ve been waiting a long time to build Mr. and Mrs. Claus. Will they turn out as good as they look on the box? Let’s find out.

At 341 parts, Mr. and Mrs. Claus is the second largest BrickHeadz set ever released. Granted, it’s two BrickHeadz in one, but it’s still one of the biggest ever. Only The Little Mermaid’s Ariel and Ursula has more, at 361 parts. And I’m not counting the Go Brick Me set, as that served a somewhat different purpose.

Five bags are included in the box. (The larger bag 1 has a bag within the bag.) Mrs. Claus is built from bag 1 while Mr. Claus is built from bag 2. It should be no surprise that white and red are the main colors of the set, with some green mixed in, the standard grey studs-not-on-top bricks (sorry AFOLs, I just can’t bring myself to say it) to form the headz, and other assorted colors like tan and black, and of course the traditional pink 2 x 2 bricks for the brains. Overall it makes for a very colorful package.

The instructions are the standard instruction booklets for a BrickHeadz set. I will say that although the instructions were folded over in the box, they could lay flat without the pages wanting to continually flip back over. Trying to keep the instruction book open is one of my least favorite parts of building a smaller LEGO set.

Mr. Claus

Although Mr. Claus is in bag 2, we’re going to discuss him first. It’s somewhat odd that LEGO does not refer to him as Santa, but they don’t, so we’ll continue by calling him Mr. Claus.

My son completed the build for me. Mr. Claus is appropriately colorful and he looks exactly as you would expect. So the end result is good. Not great, but very good.

As far as BrickHeadz go, he has a pretty standard design. He has a standard BrickHeadz torso and a standard BrickHeadz head. His beard looks awesome, sloping outward and downard from his mouth. The coloring is great, although the white of his hair and the white rim of his hat do blend together too much. I don’t care for the angled bricks used for his head, either. Using more sloped bricks may have worked better here. A gold buckle and a bag of presents (not a turkey as my wife first thought) add a nice touch to the design.

His display stand is set outside in the snow, with a small tree on his right and a few gifts on his left. The finished design is better than the sum of the parts. He’s not breaking any new barriers in the history of BrickHeadz design, but it’s a good result in the end. The display stand, with its tree and presents, brings some needed color and variety to complete the design.

Mrs. Claus

My wife built Mrs. Claus for the family tonight. It’s the more advanced build of the two, or at least the most different from the standard BrickHeadz design, mainly due to her dress. She’s wearing a white apron over her red dress, presumably since she just made some cookies and cupcakes, and she has a red hood with white trim over her gray hair.

The variation of color and design gives Mrs. Claus the edge over Mr. Claus. Our one issue, which my wife just could not get past, is the green — thing? — on her head. We’re not quite sure what it is. My wife made the point that, being the only green item in the build, it draws your attention away from the rest of the design. I definitely agree with her. It could easily be replaced by another easy-to-obtain part, such as a red 1 x 2 tile. But we strictly go by the book when we build an official set so we’re leaving her the way she is.

Mrs. Claus’ display stand is set inside the house with a red mug (hot chocolate, we presume) on a table to her right and some kind of candy cane pole (honestly, we’re not sure again what it is) with a wreath to her left. The display stand is fine, it looks nice, but Mr. Claus gets the better of the two.

The verdict

Side by side, Mr. Claus and Mrs. Claus make a very festive pair. It’s the best matching set of BrickHeadz in our opinion, and among the best BrickHeadz of all. LEGO, as always, has adorned this set with many of their subtle but great finishing touches, including Mrs. Claus’ apron and tray of cookies and Mr. Claus beard and display stand. It makes for a colorful, inviting display piece for your holiday.

Now someone please comment and tell me what the green thing is on Mrs. Claus’ head …