LEGO Animal Crossing sets bring Animal Crossing: New Horizons to life in plastic brick form, with minifigures of some of the series’ most beloved characters at home and on their island.
The first wave of kits launched in March 2024, with Julian’s birthday party between them. This is the cheapest set in the range (at launch) and will therefore be an attractive option for Animal Crossing fans looking to dip their toes into this Lego stake without shelling out $180 to buy the set.
But does this small set do enough to satisfy your Lego Animal Crossing cravings without buying one or more of the larger sets? Let’s find out if Julian alone is enough to get the party started…
What’s in the box?
Julian’s Birthday Party consists of four small plastic bags, a small green stand, a white bunting rope element and instructions, natch. It’s a small set, although it comes with a surprising number of (tiny, tiny) pieces.
Building Julian’s birthday party
Jumping into bag one, you first assemble the host with the most – the most tiny pieces of Lego, that is. Certainly not guests.
Now, we have nothing against him, but does Julian have a die-h ard following among Animal Crossing fans? It’s very possible, but one of the dangers of having so many villagers in the series is that there will inevitably be some you’re just not familiar with — even after playing the games for decades. We never had Julian as a neighbor, and if we did have
It’s obvious that fans of Julian will love his minifig form, and the cocky unicorn looks great. He also has full-sized legs — the only minifigure in the range to do so.
The appeal of this set depends almost entirely on how much you like this particular villager. Because, despite all the gifts and decorations and merriment, he’s the only one at this party.
In the first bag, along with Julian himself, there are several gifts with cute details — we especially liked how the heart pieces were used as a pink bow on the orange box. By the end of the bag, we already had 13 pieces left for our ‘Miscellaneous’ pot. (Actually, let’s make it a dozen; we felt sorry for old Juli-no-mates and decided to give him another bell.) By the time we finished the whole build, we had over 30 pieces left. A good indication of how ‘tiny’ this build is.
Next, it’s time to set up the birthday spread. Julian prepared some cookies to go with his candle cake. Not much else to report here — some pink mugs and a bottle of what we imagine to be a very fine vintage help to distract Julian from the fact that no one can stand him and that’s why he’s blowing out the candle himself. Probably.
Bag three brings a radio and pink tree, a nice alternative to the other sets, although a peach or pear tree would be nice to accompany the apples, cherries and oranges from the other sets. Still, a lot of potential for the future.
The last bag contains a street lamp (the same one found outside Rosie’s house), some balloons and bunting. What’s a party without a pumpkin, huh!? It connects to the back of the street lamp and the tree.
As with the other sets, each of the modules can be rearranged as you see fit, although here you’ll need to keep the tree and street lamp at the right distance for the bunting to hang nicely.
It’s all very pleasant and we’re sure Julian’s fans will love the neat little details at his #cute #cupcake #party, but for all the hashtags on this photo-friendly evening, this is easily the least interesting of the initial Lego Animal Crossing sets. From a game perspective, Julian has a skateboard and a bunch of gifts, but otherwise there’s not much to do – there’s no one to start the party with.
Julian’s birthday party expenses
And now about this gathering that saves. Julian’s Birthday Party is the cheapest Animal Crossing Lego set on offer, retailing for $14.99 / £12.99 / $14.99.
The set includes 170 pieces, so in pure price per piece terms, it represents excellent value for a licensed set. However, as we described at the beginning, most of the parts involved are very small. Don’t get us wrong — it has a lot of cute details, but it’s awkward and not a particularly cost-effective build.
Overall, Julian’s Birthday Party feels like exactly what it is: an extra set. We wonder if another minifigure and, if necessary, a fiver to the price might have changed things for the better. The opportunity to play and pose would have made this a lot more attractive if someone else had come to poor Julian’s party.
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