Review: 31212 The Milky Way Galaxy
Posted by Huw,
The Art theme has come a long way since the first 'dots by numbers' sets, with every new one introducing novel techniques to recreate artwork and illustrations in LEGO form.
Given that space-themed sets have dominated the product assortment this year, it should come as no surprise that the latest Art set is space-related, depicting our spiral galaxy from a viewpoint light years away.
Summary
31212 The Milky Way Galaxy, 3,091 pieces.
£169.99 / $199.99 / €199.99 | 5.5p/6.5c/6.5c per piece.
Buy at LEGO.com »
A spectacular picture that looks fantastic from near and afar
- Rewards closer inspection
- Greebling galore
- Eye-catching
- Likely to get dusty over time when hung on the wall
The set was provided for review by LEGO. All opinions expressed are those of the author.
Reference
The image is based on an illustration entitled Spiral Galaxy by Aleandr Mitiuc which can be viewed at stock photo library Dreamstime.
Construction
Assembly begins with the frame, which is approximately 65x40cm, and three-and-two-thirds bricks deep.
The picture itself is built upon 15 of the 16x16 bricks that are used in most of the Art sets, arranged in five strips of three. The instructions are split across five manuals, thus facilitating concurrent construction of each strip should you wish to share building duties with friends or family members.
Constructing the squares is far more intricate and interesting than building the 'Dots for adults' early Art sets, not least because of the sheer variety of pieces that have been used to give them a wonderful texture. It is a bit fiddly, though, requiring a high level of concentration. Each square takes around 15-20 minutes to complete, so overall the set provides a good four or so hours of construction.
Completed sections are connected first using the colour-coded plates on the sides (red for horizontal joints, lime green for vertical), then with similarly coloured Technic pins underneath to ensure stability.
The sections are positioned in the frame, locked in place with Technic axles, then connected to neighbouring strips with pins, which results in a very sturdy assembly. In fact, it's so sturdy that dismantling it would require the frame to be removed piece-by-piece.
Two hanging pieces are provided, above the white squares you can see in the picture below, which have helpfully been added to prevent the picture being hung from the wrong orifices.
It can be a nuisance hanging pictures that need two hooks or screws: you have to get them level and the correct distance apart, but in this instance they are needed because it's slightly heavier on the right-hand side, so won't hang level if only one is used.
The completed model
From a distance it looks spectacular, wonderfully colourful and clearly full of detail, which invites and rewards closer inspection.
The colours closely replicate those of the original illustration, and the picture has been given a 3D appearance with the use of bricks of various heights in different sections of it: the swirls at the top and left are shallower than those on the right and bottom, which in places are four bricks tall.
A printed 'You are here' tile, with superfluous full-stop, pinpoints to our solar system, represented by a white-glow 'splash' piece. Several nearby celestial objects can also be found if you look closely:
- Trappist-1 (magenta ice cream cone)
- The Pleiades (trans-blue crystal)
- Crab Nebula (orange crab)
- Pillars of Creation (trans-pink feather plume)
These are pointed out in the instructions: you probably wouldn't guess what they were supposed to be otherwise!
Located on the left-hand edge of the picture is the GAIA space telescope, launched by the ESA in 2013. It's now 1.5 million km away from Earth so, given that the Milky Way is said to be around 100,000 light years across, its position relative to our Solar System is not accurate, but at least it can be seen easily in a less-dense part of the picture.
Its intricate details demand closer inspection, and you'll have fun spotting crowns, flags, flowers, whisks, hairbrushes, stalks, helmets, leaves, hearts, peaches, binoculars, forks and so on amongst all the greebling. There's even a green alien (round 1x1 printed lime green brick) hiding in the galaxy somewhere!
Verdict
This is a spectacular and eye-catching Art set, unlike others that have gone before. Its vibrant colour, depth and details encourage you to stare at it. Unlike the 'Dots Art' sets, it looks just as good at a close distance as it does from afar.
It's perhaps a little fiddly to build, and not something you'd want to tackle in one session, but it is satisfying seeing the picture come together as you complete each square.
The only negative thing I can say about it is that, with all the protruding pieces, it's likely to be a bit of a dust-catcher over time that will need careful cleaning with a feather duster.
Price-wise, at £169.99 / $199.99 / €199.99, it's certainly not cheap, but it seems reasonable for its size and piece count.
It looks great hanging on the wall of my office at Brickset Towers and is likely to do so in your LEGO room too.
182 likes
54 comments on this article
100% going to get this on day one!!
When are they doing one like this for a galaxy far far away? Said the star trek fan...
This is such a unique take on the art sets! Many say greebling would get tiring, but I have to disagree. I'd much rather greeble than place 8,000 1x1 round tiles O.O
@emartinez said:
"When are they doing one like this for a galaxy far far away? Said the star trek fan... "
or the Andromeda Galaxy? That way we can smash the Milky Way and Andromeda sets together just like what will eventually happen in the real world in a few billion years!
I didn’t like it in the press release, but like most ART sets it looks better in its natural environment. The vibrancy is indeed super eye-catching, and it would pop in just about any room.
(Not me doing a 180 on this set just because my partner saw it and liked it. ;) Now I would just have to convince her to put the $200 in our shared “home improvement” budget and not my own discretionary spending…)
Does anyone have a side-by-side size comparison with the Great Wave? (Including the recommended mounting bracket set up)
I liked this the 1st time I saw it. The more times I've seen it, the more I've like it. Now it's a must have as soon as there's a nice GWP. (Maybe not Day 1 as the start of May seems to be blocked by some other event!)
I almost wish I hadn't spent so much time removing all my picture rails!
Why include Gaia if your gonna get the position wrong? at least put Voyager!!!!
Our disk of spinning gas rendered in plastic looks truly stunning. Amazing set, definitely going to try to get it someday.
it comes out on my birthday :)
It’s very striking, but the inevitable dust accretion makes this a no-go for me. On the other hand, having it covered in dust would make it the most accurate LEGO Art set to its source material.
Definitely getting this, just won't be able to afford it on May 1st. Another for my very expensive Christmas list.
Looks like the satellite dish and you are here sign can be taken off without losing anything from the design so I might do that as they're a bit garish.
So, it's big. There's always a way to blow these things up.
Not sure I have wall space for this. It's fun, though. I'll look for it towards the end of its cycle.
15-20 minutes/ 16x16 plate?
That is 256 pieces in 1200 seconds, 5-6 seconds/part!
That is fast!
It’s cool but I don’t love the color scheme
I like it but "images" of the milky way irk me. We do not know what it really looks like. Sure we can measure the number of stars along with their distances to get a good approximation. However, we cannot see the opposite side of the galaxy because the amount of dust and stars in between us and the other side.
It’s like a micro city landscape.
Very interesting build.
Think I’ll get but yeah, dust over time can ruin the look.
Definitely needs to be in a display case.
And if you don’t want to build or display it, what a parts pack!
Day 1 purchase and build for me, looks brilliant. Has anyone tried hanging the other similar sets (e.g. the world map or the Van Gogh one) with 3M Command Picture Hanging Strips?
@Huw does it glow in the dark? If yes, could you make a photo?
I was not planning to get this for the exact reason of the eventual dust problem. In my basement's entertainment room, I have a desk/buffet with launchpad complex 5 (Mercury/Redstone), launchpad complex 14 (Mercury/Atlas), launchpad complex 19 (Gemini/Titan) and launchpad complex 39a (Apollo/Saturn V) and soon: launch complex 39a (SLS/Artemis) + 42179 orrery. I suppose I could hang this on top and it would be fitting with the theme. As @StyleCounselor mentioned, I will revisit this towards the end of its cycle.
This reminds me, I could go for a Jamba Juice today.
LEGO missed a trick with the reverse. By careful choice of colours of some of those plates (change to black), they could have made the reverse look like Space Invaders. The side by side corner plates look a little like the guns, the tan could have been lower as bases, the lime the bullets/laser pulses. Then a few upper rows of plate built invaders.
After the first reverse picture, I thought that's what they might be doing.
@Huw said:
"It looks great hanging on the wall of my office"
And because it's office decoration, you can write it off as a business expense! Hooray!!
@JanJ said:
"Does anyone have a side-by-side size comparison with the Great Wave? (Including the recommended mounting bracket set up)"
The great wave is 2x3 of those 16x16 blocks so quite smaller "print" but frame is way bigger so it's 50x66 studs while this one is 50x82
@picopirate said:
"I like it but "images" of the milky way irk me. We do not know what it really looks like. Sure we can measure the number of stars along with their distances to get a good approximation. However, we cannot see the opposite side of the galaxy because the amount of dust and stars in between us and the other side."
you seem fun
@yellowcastle said:
"This reminds me, I could go for a Jamba Juice today."
Stop it. Now, I'm seeing that again.
It seems I'm in the minority here, but I don't like it. I will admit that the style of construction is neat and the model is eye-catching on display, but I dislike that they used some artist's depiction of the Milky Way, and not a very good one at that. Many of the features that distinguish the Milky Way from all the other spiral galaxies (which we can actually see and get accurate images of) are lost to the artistic flourish. I would've preferred the designers use a scientifically-accurate diagram of the Milky Way and tilted that to create the depiction. Then including accurate features like the Pillars of Creation makes more sense.
Also, I see that I did correctly guess the parts depicting the famous objects in the set announcement article, except Gaia. It's so obvious now, and it makes perfect sense given that telescope's mission.
@Huw Do you have the hermit crab section attached incorrectly? In the promo images it shows the light blue flower attached to the crab's legs, not between the crab and the 1x1 round brick beneath.
@picopirate That's mostly true, but they could have added all the globular clusters we can see opposite the galactic core, especially since they went for a 3D-type model. Also, the purpose of Gaia is to map the whole Milky Way, not just our side of it, and so far we have a good idea of what it looks like. The artist's rendition Huw linked to is not accurate, however, or even realistic for most spiral galaxies, which is the biggest problem (potentially the only problem, besides the dust) for this set.
@GusG Gaia is actively mapping the Milky Way, so the idea of including it viewing the galaxy from afar makes some sense. Voyager isn't relevant to that, and so also to this set. Both Gaia and Voyager, realistically, are still inside the same stud the white crown "You are here" piece is on, so including them accurately is impossible.
@BLProductions said:
" @Huw Do you have the hermit crab section attached incorrectly?"
Yes :)
@Tuzi said:
" @Huw said:
"It looks great hanging on the wall of my office"
And because it's office decoration, you can write it off as a business expense! Hooray!!"
That would be a lot of effort for a free gift. ;o)
@Huw - Did you take the Milky Way down after the photo and put back up the Modern Art set 31210 ?
This looks fantastic built up. Those colours really pop. A display case company would do well to come up with a hanging case for it.
Some of those 1x1 bricks should have been printed milk cartons. Missed opportunity.
To be honest it looks like a pain to build.
But after a decent sale it may be a good partpack...
I think that you have to be far away to see it fine, to me it looks like a low res image of the milky way
Brickset towers?
@Maxbricks14 said:
"Brickset towers?"
Hopefully none of the towers are Fawlty...
The technique with lots of greebling is really cool, but I wonder if it would’ve worked better with a different subject matter, like a face for instance. Now it looks sort of abstract both close and far away.
Ooo, maybe start the build from "You are here." and work your way out, filling it out as you explore. Prehaps, putting a flag or other indicator of a base spiraling out exponentially farther in distance from the last point.
It’s like Technic. Looks better the further away you are from it. Or looks better flat on a table as it reminds me of a cool futuristic micro city
@Huw, you stated that hanging it by only one centered hanger would cause it to hang lopsided; can art sets with even weight distribution can be hung with one? Part of the reason I haven't hung 21226 yet is because I'm worried about something bad happening if I don't use both hangers.
"Is likely to get dusty". Bruh all my LEGO is dusty ??
Great if you want a new painting
This is the first art set I really want, it would look awesome in the corner of my room with all my NASA sets. However, I first need to get the new Rocket, and I wouldn’t mind getting this one on sale.
@Huw, could you please share the finished dimensions of this set. I need to make sure that it’ll fit on the wall I’d intend to hang it on.
@TheOtherMike said:
" @Huw, you stated that hanging it by only one centered hanger would cause it to hang lopsided; can art sets with even weight distribution can be hung with one? Part of the reason I haven't hung 21226 yet is because I'm worried about something bad happening if I don't use both hangers."
Yes, 31208: Hokusai - The Great Wave comes with two hangers but I hang it with one. Nothing bad happens.
@alfred_the_buttler said:
" @Huw, could you please share the finished dimensions of this set. I need to make sure that it’ll fit on the wall I’d intend to hang it on."
As stated in the review, 65x40cm.
I think it's a bit creepy that soon, everyone who wants it, will be able to own a display of my house, however micro-scaled that might be.
Seriously, back off, you're making this weird.
That texture creeps me out. It reminds me of some biological mass full of growths and holes and tiny organisms trying to build off each other.
*shudders
@Ridgeheart said:
"I think it's a bit creepy that soon, everyone who wants it, will be able to own a display of my house, however micro-scaled that might be.
Seriously, back off, you're making this weird."
Is it that they have a display of your house or that they know where it is that's the problem?
@Ridgeheart said:
"I think it's a bit creepy that soon, everyone who wants it, will be able to own a display of my house, however micro-scaled that might be.
Seriously, back off, you're making this weird."
Wait until you see my store selling custom 'Ridgeheart is here' tiles...
Too bad it only comes in Friends colors. A little more realistic and less pink, purple, azure would have looked much better.
@Ridgeheart said:
"I think it's a bit creepy that soon, everyone who wants it, will be able to own a display of my house, however micro-scaled that might be.
Seriously, back off, you're making this weird."
Dude, you're bringing this up now? What about the world map? What about the globe? You been ok with us looking at your house this whole time and now suddenly you're not ok with it just because space aliens have your address now?
Ok ... Maybe I can understand that.
meh
my first reaction was "meh", the long version of that might be: come on Lego, you've exploited the art theme enough now. We've all seen the Lego Master competions on television worldwide and some builders truly took Lego to another level, really creating art, using bricks in a different way.
This is just a number of random parts in a specific color put on a frame...
This has nothing to do with "art" or our galaxy for that matter...
this set is meh...
Bravo to LEGO. Their approach to designing this set, and specifically the ingenious use of greebles instead of simple tiles, means that I will likely get it, having previously had little interest in making a purchase. Looks great!
So many people complaining about dust! Just like the Great Wave (actually even more so) this should be under an acrylic frame. The only difference is the Milky Way will get the addition of some cool LEDs! This set screams for them!
Is there a hidden black hole reference in
The middle ?