I’ve always liked LEGO, but I didn’t have a massive collection growing up. It was just one of those things I enjoyed whenever I got the chance.
Then I had kids.
We started buying sets for them, I eventually decided to pick one up for myself again, and somewhere along the way LEGO became one of my favorite ways to completely shut my brain off for a while.
If I need a hard reset or just want to get away from work, stress, and everything else going on, I can start a LEGO set and completely lose track of time. I hyperfocus on the build and, for however many hours it takes, pretty much nothing else exists.
But I think my favorite part actually comes after the build is finished.
Almost every LEGO set on the shelf behind me has a memory attached to it. Either my kids gave it to me, they built it, or we built it together. Sometimes we’re watching the movie, show, or sport that the set came from while we’re building it.
So when I look at the finished sets, I don’t just see LEGO.
I remember building them.
That’s also why this isn’t going to be a ranking. I’m not giving these sets scores based on price-per-piece or trying to figure out which one is objectively the “best.”
These are just my favorite LEGO sets I’ve actually built and the reasons I still love having them on the shelf.
Some links in this article may be affiliate links, meaning I may earn a commission at no additional cost to you!
LEGO Ideas The Office
The Office set has to be on this list because it was the first LEGO set I ever built alone with our oldest.
I grew up watching The Office like crazy. She hadn’t really watched much of it yet, so we watched the show together while we worked on the set.
That alone makes this one pretty hard to beat.
It was also one of the first sets I had built that involved making a ton of little furniture and everyday objects instead of a car, helmet, or something similar.
- Desks
- Chairs
- Computers
- Office equipment
It was just different from anything I had done before, and I loved it.
The little references are what really make this set, though.
- Jim has the ring for Pam.
- Angela has a cat.
- Kevin has his spilled pot of chili.
- Dwight has his weapons.
- There’s even a turd in Michael’s office.
It feels like every time you finish another little section, you find something that makes you remember an episode.
And despite being a pretty long build, it never felt overly repetitive. That matters a lot to me. I don’t mind spending hours on a set; I actually prefer it, but I don’t want to feel like I’m building the same thing over and over again.
This one was long, easy to follow, full of tiny details, and attached to a memory with my daughter that I’ll always have.
That’s pretty much everything I want from a LEGO set.
Find it here – Check The Office LEGO Set price on Amazon
LEGO Going Merry
The Going Merry is another one where my connection to what I’m building makes the whole experience better.
I watch One Piece with the boys, so naturally we had to build the Going Merry.
I liked this one enough that I eventually wrote a full LEGO Going Merry Review, where I went much deeper into the build.
We actually started this one together before I quickly realized that this particular build was probably going to be easier if I took over.
It requires a little more focus than your average LEGO set, which ended up being one of the reasons I liked it so much. I like builds where I actually have to pay attention and can’t just mindlessly throw the same pieces together repeatedly.
And once it’s finished, there are some genuinely awesome features.
- The cannon at the front actually shoots
- Different parts of the ship come apart so you can see the hidden areas underneath.
- The wanted posters are another tiny detail I love because, again, they immediately connect the LEGO set back to moments and characters from the show.
That’s becoming a theme with my favorite sets.
If I’m already attached to the thing I’m building, all those tiny references make the actual building process even better.
Get it here – Check Going Merry LEGO Set price on Amazon
LEGO Technic McLaren Formula 1 Car
This might be the LEGO set responsible for this entire problem.
My family got me the big McLaren F1 car for my birthday, and I think this was the point where LEGO went from being something I remembered liking as a kid to something I genuinely loved doing again as an adult.
At the time, we watched F1 together all the time as a family. We watched the races, the documentaries, all of it.
I think the kids basically saw a giant LEGO F1 car and thought, “Channler would think this is awesome.”
They were correct.
What got me was how intricate the build was and how long it took.
This wasn’t something I was going to knock out in 30 minutes and toss on a shelf. There was a lot going on internally, and watching this giant F1 car slowly come together was incredibly satisfying.
And that’s when I realized something about myself:
I actually want the LEGO set to take a long time.
The longer I’m sitting there focused on the build, the longer I’m not thinking about anything else.
There are definitely easier ways to acquire a model F1 car. But buying a finished model wouldn’t give me the memory of actually building the thing.
That’s the part I care about.
Find it here – Check Technic McLaren LEGO Set price on Amazon
LEGO Editions Soccer Ball
The soccer ball is probably the best example of why it would be impossible for me to actually rank these sets.
Soccer has been part of my life forever.
- I grew up playing.
- Played in college
- Now all of our kids play.
We built this one during the World Cup.
The kids worked on the ball while we watched the World Cup together, and now that’s permanently what I associate with it.
The set itself is also just cool. It’s a 1,498-piece LEGO recreation of a size 5 soccer ball, and it opens up to reveal a miniature stadium celebration scene hidden inside.
But again, that’s not really why it’s one of my favorites.
Years from now, I’m probably not going to look at that ball and think about how many pieces it had.
I’m going to remember sitting there with the kids building LEGO and watching the World Cup.
That’s why it’s staying on the shelf.
Get it here – Check Soccer Ball LEGO Set price on Amazon
LEGO Spider-Man Mask
Spider-Man is my favorite superhero, so this one already had a pretty unfair advantage.
But it also introduced me to an entirely different type of LEGO set.
This was the first display head/mask-style build I did, and apparently that was all it took. I loved it enough that it sent me down another LEGO rabbit hole, eventually buying the Darth Maul one and now constantly looking for whatever head or helmet I should build next.
There’s also something about matching what you’re watching to what you’re building.
Watching Spider-Man while building a Spider-Man LEGO set?
That’s a vibe that’s pretty hard to beat.
It’s the same reason I loved watching The Office while building Dunder Mifflin or watching the World Cup while building the soccer ball. The build becomes part of the whole experience rather than just something I’m doing with my hands.
And then Spider-Man gets to live on the shelf behind me afterward.
Win-win.
Find it here – Check Spider-Man Mask LEGO Set price on Amazon
What Makes a LEGO Set Worth It to Me?
Looking at these five, I realized my favorite LEGO sets actually have a lot in common.
I don’t necessarily care about having the biggest set or the one with the most pieces. I definitely don’t need every LEGO set that comes out.
I want something I already have some kind of connection to.
- F1
- Soccer
- Spider-Man
- The Office
- One Piece
Then I want the actual build to keep me interested.
Repetition is probably the fastest way for a LEGO set to lose me.
I love:
- Little details
- Interesting sections
- Hidden references
- & Builds where I can spend hours working without feeling like I’ve assembled the exact same thing 14 times.
But most importantly, I want the memory that comes with it.
Our collection behind me keeps growing because every time the kids finish something, they want it somewhere you can see it on camera. At the rate we’re going, eventually I’m going to have to figure out where the hell all of these things are supposed to go.
Check out my list of 10 LEGO Gifts Adults Will Actually Display
The LEGO Set I Still Really Want
The giant Millennium Falcon.
Obviously.
The LEGO Star Wars UCS Millennium Falcon is the dream set. It’s enormous, has more than 7,500 pieces, and would create an immediate problem because I have absolutely no idea where we’d put the thing once we finished it.
None.
That has done absolutely nothing to stop me from wanting it.
One day.
For now, I’ll keep adding slightly more reasonably sized sets to the shelf, building them with the kids, and inevitably finding another one I suddenly “need.”