I bought this set because of the colors and also the theme.

The building was straightforward. About 30 minutes and it was all done.

It's great to put on display to show everyone is awesome.

It truly is surprising that Lego made this set, but I'm not complaining.

Minifigures

All the minifigures are monochrome, each being a different colour on the Progress Pride flag (which sure, does break some rules of flag design, but that doesn't matter, and this isn't a vexillology site anyway). The only difference between the designs are the hairpieces, but man, are these hairpieces great to get. The blue one, for instance only comes in two other sets, and in two different colors, so to get it here is quite welcome. It's also great to get just monochrome heads, torsos, and legs in so many more colors.

Building

It is a repetitive build, with the cycle of laying downs 1x2 bricks, then 2x3 bricks, and on for a bit, but it's really not too bad.

Parts

It's a Pride parts pack for sure, with a great supply of pieces in the Trans and Rainbow flag colors, which is greatly helpful for anyone lacking in that department. It's not the most helpful for making a good size flag of either variety, but it's a nice step, and you could buy two or order some parts if you have money.

The price per piece is slightly less than ten, so it's not the greatest deal, but not terrible. It probably won't stop anyone from buying it.

Playing

There isn't any playability, really. You can rebuild the background into some sort of Tron reminiscent bike things, but as itself it's just a display piece, but a good one.

El Fin

Overall, it's the perfect set for anyone who wants a lot of monochrome minifigure pieces, or is gay, or wants a turquoise brick separator for cheaper. It's a really great set, and you should buy it, if you want.

This is easily the most socially important Lego set I have ever seen released. As most are aware, Everyone is Awesome was released during Pride Month to celebrate diversity and inclusivity with an explosion of color. The set is attractive, easy to put together, and relatively inexpensive, and the final result is a social statement so striking that it practically leaps off of your shelf.

The set is thematically perfect. The traditional Gay Pride rainbow flag forms the core of the set, with the addition of black and brown to the left, representing people of color, and the Transgender Pride flag colors to the right. In this way, the set clearly ties together the experiences of marginalized groups who remain especially vulnerable in the face of oppression. The set's name, Everyone is Awesome, is an obvious nod to the Lego Movie's theme of unity, cooperation, and positivity.

The set's contents are extremely straightforward. The rainbow of color is created using various bricks, plates and arches. Neutral-colored bars are hidden within the "waterfall", and span the various columns of color to give the set structural rigidity.

The build experience was a little unusual. Despite there being a clear progression as to what to build first, then next, and so on, the bags aren't numbered. This means you effectively have to dump all of them together and sift through the resulting mess of shapes and colors in order to produce the beautiful final result. Hey, wait, maybe that's part of the metaphor!

I am extremely pleased with this set. I don't buy Lego sets to cannibalize for parts, but I know Everyone is Awesome provides some unusual pieces in that regard. Even as a display model, though, I absolutely consider this to be worth the money I spent on it.

I have one minor complaint, however. It took me a while to figure this out, but every Lego piece has a tiny production defect where excess material is trimmed off. Usually this appears on the top of a stud, so it's easily hidden during the build process. In the case of smooth pieces without studs, however, these defects usually appear on the sides. Sometimes they are very obvious, and sometimes not. As this set contains a number of pieces without studs, I was extremely careful to orient the pieces such that the production defects faced towards the interior of the design, away from the edges. This process lends a pleasing uniformity to the smooth faces of the final build. In every case but one, this was very easy to do. Unfortunately, the dark pink brick with a curved top (part #6056265) has a production defect on the outside edge and cannot be reoriented to hide it. Thus, the final build seems to have a mandatory blemish on exactly one piece. Here's a picture of it so you can see what I mean. That's my only complaint. That's it. See how minor that was?

In the end, Everyone is Awesome is a fantastic set. It's beautiful, it radiates social awareness, and it's absolutely worth picking up.

Lego kept the secret of 40516 Everyone is Awesome more successfully than most, and I at least didn’t know about it until the middle of May 2021, only a few weeks before it was released. The set’s release coincided with Pride Month, and it celebrates the LGBTQIA+ community.

Ethics. Lego’s commitments to social responsibility are well-known and include eschewing representations of contemporary weapons or warfare, and developing novel plant-based plastics to reduce carbon emissions. Compared to these commitments, Lego’s homage to the LGBTQIA+ community is exceptionally colorful and high-profile. Judging by responses from the adult Lego community, both the set and the stance it represents have been enthusiastically welcomed.

Pieces. Until opening the box of 40516 I had not fully grasped that the set is an absolute riot of color. It reminded me of a Basic set because the profusion of colors and simple bricks. As Huw has commented, many of the pieces have been re-colored and are unique to the set, making it attractive even beyond its social stance. I imagine the set must have been expensive to produce given the recolors, but the price is reasonable.

The monofigs (monochromatic minifigures) are fun and appealing, and unusual in an official context. Matthew Ashton, the designer, has chosen especially distinctive, even retro, hair pieces, which give the minifigures great character despite the absence of prints. Their lack of prints prompts me to react to 40516 as almost a piece of pop art, a medium-specific display that emphasizes the iconicity of the minifigure and colorful bricks.

Representation. 40516 effectively transmutes a set of abstract concepts and symbols—the LGBTQIA+ community, the Pride flag, gender fluidity—into the realm of the literal. The minifigures are identifiable as a community, but not specific individuals. The color coordination between the display and the minifigures emphasize that these are not merely colors on a flag, but signify people. Many of the minifigures are not clearly male or female, opening a gender-fluid space and representing the people who inhabit that space.

One of the comments on Huw’s review, by nushae, noted that Lego’s old smiley face minifigures offered a similar ambiguity, but that in the current era of highly specific, gendered minifigures Lego’s strategy has shifted. Instead of the old interpretive open-endedness, they now offer minifigure representations of different groups, for instance the much-discussed wheelchair user in 60290 Skate Park. 40516 combines both strategies, and it’s nice to see Lego recognize the continuing potential of ambiguity.

I bought 40516 on the day of its release and found constructing it unexpectedly moving as a result of its physical instantiation of the LGBTQIA+ community. It’s as laudable as a social statement as it is appealing as a collection of bricks and minifigures. Five stars.

After sorting the elements, I found the build very rhythmic and meditative (and enjoyable). I did move the 1×2 plates to the ends of their columns, which I thought improved the flow of the tiles.

I'm especially happy to see this set include Mini Wig, No. 267 (element #6269081), which has only appeared in two other sets (and one CMF: “Programmer”, one of my favorites).

¡I'm looking forward to creating alternative builds! This set brightens up my home (and makes my heart super happy).