LEGO Avatar Floating Mountains: Site 26 and RDA Sampson (75573) – Review By Brick Shed

I’m Michael, a.k.a Brick Shed, big fan of LEGO and a father of two boys. Please join me on my adventures sharing my love of LEGO via Instagram and my reviews here on The Brick Post. I love building and you’ll often find me buried in bricks getting stuck into a set or two.

I hope you enjoy my review of LEGO Avatar Floating Mountains: Site 26 and RDA Sampson (75573)!

The set retails for £89.99 and includes 887 pieces. There are 5 minifigures in total, split between three humans and two Na’vi. The humans are Jake Sully, Grace and as we get a Samson 16 we have to include Trudy. All the humans have reversible heads. The Na’vi are Jake and Norm. We also get a fantastic Direhorse.

The Build:

I built this with my eldest son and we really enjoyed ourselves. There are six bags in total but it is split into three separate builds; The Research Station, The Floating Mountains and Samson. There are three separate instruction books, which means you can build the different sections independently as a group.

The sticker sheet has eight stickers, with six applied to the Samson and two to the Research Station.

Bags 1-3 cover the Site 26 mobile station, Bag 4 is the floating mountains and Bags 5-6 are the Samson. We built it in reversal order and I don’t think it made much difference to the build experience.

The instructions include images from the films, which is a great touch and hopefully we’ll see that more often across other themes.

The Set:

The main draw to this set will be the excellent Samson build. Lego have done a great job in recreating the Samson into brick-built form. The canopy piece is printed so thankfully you don’t have to apply stickers to it. The stickers are applied to the top and sides. The only slight criticism I have is that in order to fit Trudy in to pilot it, you have to bend her back slightly back to fit her in.

My boys had a lot of fun playing with the Samson and it is pretty sturdy and even survived the hands of a toddler. The only bit that broke off easily was the tail section. I am surprised that considering how militaristic the Samson looks that it has been made into Lego form. It does include two stud shooters on the side. Although there are no baddies included in the set to shoot at!

The mobile station has been shrunk down from the movie but does include a workstation and Link Unit. There is a detachable side so that you can see inside and allows playability. The door chosen allows Jake Sully to fit through with his wheelchair.

The Floating Mountains looks a little lack lustre and don’t really portray Pandora but they do allow you to attach the Samson to give it the effect of flying.

The Minifigures:

The five minifigures included in the set are all currently exclusive to it. This is currently the only set to include human Jake Sully. Across the Avatar theme there are three versions of Jake in Na’vi form and we get one of those in this set.

In order to make the Na’vi taller than the humans, they have extended the legs and arms but the torso remain the same which does mean that they look a little odd. However, overall Lego have done a good job in creating the Na’vi.

Grace and Trudy look fantastic, and very much like onscreen portrayals. Grace and Jake have the breathing masks as their reversable side and Trudy has her war paint from the final battle.

Grace is my favourite minifigure and has dual printed legs with a belt, socks and boots. Her torso has a rumpled shirt and necklace.

Compared to Grace and Trudy, Jake looks a little lackluster. I think Lego could have personalized him by adding a tattoo to his arms. One thing to note is that Jake has a new wheelchair piece.

The Direhorse looks fantastic and has a piece that connects to the back of the Na’vi to create the bond.

The Cost:

The biggest issue with the set is the cost at £89.99, which feels expensive. This is definitely one set that you’ll want to pick up when it’s on offer.

Final Thoughts:

I really enjoyed this set and will be looking to pick up other Avatar sets, especially the AMP Suit. Hopefully if the theme does well, it will open the possibility of larger D2C style sets such as the Dragon Assault Ship. I am seeing the second movie soon, and will be looking forward to seeing the January wave of sets that tie in with the second movie.