LEGO Icons 10331 Kingfisher Bird review

The Fauna Collection takes flight with 10331 Kingfisher Bird, but can this LEGO Icons set soar above increasingly-detailed animals in the rest of the LEGO portfolio?

The LEGO Group has decided to tackle animals in its 18+ range at a tricky time: Creator 3-in-1 is doing very interesting things with lions, tigers, giraffes and more already, so distinguishing the Fauna Collection as something geared more heavily towards adults requires a deft touch.

10331 Kingfisher Bird is the second set in this range – following LEGO Art’s 31211 Macaw Parrots – and its first three-dimensional model. And though it comes in at a similar price to the likes of 31129 Majestic Tiger and 31150 Wild Safari Animals, it does so while recreating a much smaller animal in real life. That skewed scale should unlock the potential for a more detailed and substantial take on a LEGO animal than we’ve ever seen before.

Let’s see if this bird has wings…

--- LEGO Icons 10331 Kingfisher Bird set details ---

Theme: LEGO Icons Set name: 10331 Kingfisher Bird Release date: February 1, 2024

Price: £44.99 / $49.99 / €44.99 Pieces: 834 Minifigures: 0

LEGO: Order now

--- Where to buy LEGO Icons 10331 Kingfisher Bird ---

LEGO Icons 10331 Kingfisher Bird is available from LEGO.com and LEGO Stores from February 1, 2024. You might also find it through select third-party retailers.

--- LEGO Icons 10331 Kingfisher Bird build ---

Scrutinising any LEGO build of a real-world object or creature always requires a certain suspension of disbelief. This isn’t a die-cast model or a sculpture; it’s a piece of art realised through an entirely different medium – one with an existing palette that can only be wrangled into a finite number of shapes. Therein lies the rub: which compromises born out of this medium are forgivable?

That’s the question you’ll need to ask yourself when contemplating 10331 Kingfisher Bird. Capturing this bright, bold bird at this scale and with the current library of elements has required at least one pretty big compromise, and somewhere along the way a couple of curious design choices. These all add up to a model that is not terribly interesting to put together, save perhaps for how the body of the bird is assembled around the Technic beams that anchor it to the base, but which is eye-catching and distinctive on display.

Building up that base is a strangely symmetrical task, layering down pearlescent 1x2 tiles in a more uniform way than you’d typically see for LEGO water. But the smart use of trans-clear modified ‘pagoda’ elements originally introduced in dark grey for 21060 Himeji Castle gives it some bite, while cheese slopes placed with a kind of methodical randomness maintain the ruse of a freshly-disrupted river.

The muted colour palette – chosen ostensibly to distinguish 10331 Kingfisher Bird from its brighter and more toyetic Creator 3-in-1 contemporaries – pairs dark blue and dark orange to satisfying effect, suggesting a more mature model (even if not one that leans into the rich hues of the real-life animal). And LEGO dark blue is such a deep, calming tone that you might just struggle to pick at it even if you’d have preferred a brighter bird. Everything about the colours here just works.

Element choices throughout the build are also (for the most part) successful, from the recoloured palm leaves in sand blue for the dramatically splayed wings – one of two iconic poses considered by the designers, the other being a perched bird – to the modified plate used for the two halves of its beak. Those latter pieces feel the furthest away of any from a ‘traditional’ LEGO building experience here, beyond maybe the large element used for its back, but no better solution springs to mind. That’s also true for that bigger compromise mentioned earlier, which – you guessed it – is the kingfisher’s eyes.

Pop any images of the real-life bird side by side with 10331 Kingfisher Bird, as we’ve done right here (handy), and you’ll see it straight away: this LEGO animal is just a little bit… derpy? The eye – represented by a minifigure-scale microphone nestled into a sub-assembly of slopes – sits that little bit too far high and back from the beak, creating a strange effect that’s difficult to unsee once you’ve clocked it. Is it a dealbreaker for 10331 Kingfisher Bird? That all depends on what you’re willing to forgive.

--- LEGO Icons 10331 Kingfisher Bird price ---

10331 Kingfisher Bird retails for £44.99 / $49.99 / €49.99, which places it firmly in the reeds of the Botanical Collection when it comes to affordable 18+ sets. And that shouldn’t be overlooked in an age where more and more LEGO sets targeted towards adults are climbing to what the majority might consider inaccessible price points.

So, it’s pretty cheap. But is it good value? Those are two different things. Happily, the answer is still yes. This is that rare LEGO Icons set (or maybe just rare LEGO set full stop) that you won’t have any qualms paying full price for… as long as you can look past the position of its eyes.

--- LEGO Icons 10331 Kingfisher Bird pictures ---

--- LEGO Icons 10331 Kingfisher Bird pros and cons ---

The Botanical Collection found its feet at pretty much the first time of asking – 10280 Flower Bouquet and 10281 Bonsai Tree are still on shelves three years later, which says it all – but has the Fauna Collection pulled off the same admirable feat with 10331 Kingfisher Bird? That’s a tough one.

There’s so much about this LEGO Icons set that works, and which elevates it above the Creator 3-in-1 range, from the dramatic pose to the rich colour scheme. But attempting any organic creature at this scale was always going to be a trickier task than putting together plants, and so there are inevitably parts of this build that don’t quite hold muster. See: the eyes.

For our part, those aren’t enough to write off 10331 Kingfisher Bird, which is still a sublime display piece for hardcore birders and casual animal fans alike. Look past those pupils, or come up with a better solution if you can, and this really does feel like the natural evolution of both the Botanical Collection and 2015’s LEGO Ideas 21301 Birds. And with one eye on the trajectory of the LEGO Group’s other subthemes, things are probably only going to get even better from here.

This set was provided for review by the LEGO Group.

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--- Alternatives to LEGO Icons 10331 Kingfisher Bird ---

The LEGO Group has championed 10331 Kingfisher Bird as an extension of the Botanical Collection, so you could look to the likes of 10313 Wildflower Bouquet and 10328 Bouquet of Roses for an 18+ build at a similar price point. If you’re after something a little closer in subject to the Kingfisher, though, Creator 3-in-1 is going to be your best bet.

31129 Majestic Tiger, 31150 Wild Safari Animals and 31133 White Rabbit all offer brilliant buildable animals that belie the theme’s more junior audience. If you’re firm on building feathery friends, check out 31136 Exotic Parrot, oe even 31211 Macaw Parrots for something that won’t require shelf space (only a blank wall and a couple of nails).

--- LEGO Icons 10331 Kingfisher Bird FAQs ---