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The 10 Best Lego Sets for Adults To Live Out Their Childhood Fantasies

Jahla Seppanen
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If you want to spend the colder months of the year reliving your childhood memories or reducing your screen time, consider picking up a Lego set. That’s right, Legos. There are hundreds of adult-targeted sets available in the market to live out our wildest fantasies in brick form, be it building a boat or a Star Wars ship. They help stimulate our creativity and relieve stress — just what we need to temporarily forget the never-ending hustle of adulthood.

Take a deep breath, sit down, and build one of these best Lego sets for adults in 2022, intricate and grown-up enough to hone our stagnating Lego-building skills. Dedicate a block of time for building these sets because piecing them through completion is a rewarding experience. Should you want to kill more time at home, you may also check out the best Nerf guns for adults.

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Lego Star Wars Imperial Star Destroyer

A completed Lego Imperial Star Destroyer and Star Wars mini figures.
Image used with permission by copyright holder

In essence, it’s a Star Wars ship. In detail, it’s the Imperial Navy’s most powerful intergalactic destroyer and the heart of the Emperor’s fleet. Packed with heavy armory, turbo blasters, and tractor beam projectors, the Lego Imperial Star Destroyer is a massive 3,104 piece-set and rocks a removable top and crazily detailed interior, including rotating chairs for the Imperial crew, weapons racks, a control panel, and bridge. Duh, you can fire the spring-loaded shooters and aim the eight synchronized cannons. Go ahead, call us dorks. We DGAF.

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Lego Creator Expert Taj Mahal Model

A completed replica of the Taj Mahal model from Lego.
Image used with permission by copyright holder

Discontinued by Lego (like the Imperial Star Destroyer), you can still get your hands on the insanely intricate Taj Mahal model that will set you back over a grand. As one of the largest Lego sets, 5,923 pieces make up the replica marble mausoleum on the south bank of India’s Yamuna river. Get your friends in on this Lego build, because you’re going to need plenty of help.

Lego Harry Potter Hogwarts Castle

A completed replica of the "Harry Potter" Hogwarts Castle.
Image used with permission by copyright holder

Let your Muggle flag fly and dive into this Lego replica of Harry Potter’s Hogwarts Castle, with is highly detailed at 6,020 pieces. This Lego set gets five out of five bricks, but no magic wand will help you put together the towers, turrets, chambers, classrooms, creatures, Whomping Willow, or Hagrid’s hut.

Yes, there’s a Great Hall with buildable stained glass windows, moving staircases, a Potions classroom with racks of ingredients, a Defense Against the Dark Arts classroom — honestly, it seems like nearly every single room from the books is in this massive Lego set, plus 27 micro-figures, buildable boats, etc. You literally have to download a PDF for the building instructions, which would have Dementor-ed the life out of our 12-year-old selves. We’re braver now.

Lego Technic 9398 Rock Crawler

A completed model of the Lego Technic 9398 Rock Crawler.
Image used with permission by copyright holder

The majority of our adult Lego favorites belong to the Lego Technic category, which is basically the brand’s equivalent to a cool car manufacturer. This burley 4X4 Crawler is made of 1,327 pieces that, once assembled, can be taken outside to romp over sand dunes and rocks thanks to the high-performance suspension and operating remote controller. Of course, the doors open and there’s four-wheel drive.

Lego Indiana Jones Fighter Plane Attack

Two Indiana Jones mini figures and completed fighter plane models.
Image used with permission by copyright holder

What’s so immature about pretending you’re Indiana Jones escaping a zeppelin in a stolen biplane? Enjoy a Lego build without going full-fledged 6,000-plus piece master-build with this 384-piece set of two planes, as well as Professor Jones and Jones Sr. figures. Since you’re in the air, don’t worry — there are no snakes.

Lego Architecture Trevi Fountain

A completed model of the Lego Architecture Trevi Fountain.
Image used with permission by copyright holder

Classical music-listening adults can still enjoy Lego. Case in point: a detailed brick model of the Trevi Fountain. The real Fontana di Trevi in Rome took 30 years to build and was completed by the original builder’s friend 11 years after his death. But at only 731 pieces, you can call your Trevi done before happy hour. That includes the façade of the Palazzo Poli; the statues of Ocean, Abundance, and Health; plus translucent blue water-effect bricks.

Lego Creator Expert James Bond Aston Martin DB 5

A faithful Lego replica of the Aston Martin DB5.
Image used with permission by copyright holder

Enough said. This is a faithful replica of the Aston Martin DB5. Included in this sophisticated set are ejector seats, stick shift-activated machine guns, tire scythes, and other badass gadgetry to let you recreate the most exhilarating scenes in the James Bond series. Whether you’re a movie buff or a fan of the series, be sure to add the Lego Aston Martin DB5 to your growing Lego collection.

Lego Technic Air Race Jet

A completed model of the Lego Technic Air Race Jet.
Image used with permission by copyright holder

If you don’t like jets, maybe you should just leave because we’re stoked to assemble the 1,151-brick supersonic aerodynamic Lego Technic Air Race Jet that includes motorized functions. A jet nozzle is adjustable for both vertical and horizontal takeoff with hatch access to a spinning fan, retractable undercarriage, and adjustable flaps. Sorry, it doesn’t really fly on its own, but the manual functions are front-steering, an opening cockpit, and movable tail rudders. It’s designed to be a build-and-play experience, but we think it also looks handsome left alone.

Lego Cuusoo Ghostbusters Ecto-1

A completed replica of the Lego Ghostbuster Ecto-1.
Image used with permission by copyright holder

Dibs on playing Dr. Peter Venkman! Lego released the Ghostbuster Ecto-1 to commemorate 30 years of ghost-busting and modeled this set off the iconic car from the 1980s movies. In Lego fashion, the company loaded it up with paranormal detection equipment like proton packs and a removable roof and tracking computer. The instruction packet also includes secret, behind-the-scenes details about the OG film. At 508 pieces, you’ll be able to watch and quote the movie while constructing the Cadillac Miller-Meteor ambulance limo.

Lego Pirates of the Caribbean Silent Mary Ship

A completed model of the Silent Mary Ship from the movie "Pirates of the Caribbean."
Image used with permission by copyright holder

Venture to eBay and outbid all the scallywags to get this Pirates of the Caribbean Silent Mary 1) because pirates are cool and 2) because of all the rum you can drink figuring out where 2,294 parts go. Highly detailed with an opening skeleton hull, movable rudder, collapsible masts, rowboats, and a cornucopia of weaponry — you need to drink top-shelf rums to even build this. Trust us.

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Jahla Seppanen
Jahla Seppanen
Former Digital Trends Contributor
Born and raised off-the-grid in New Mexico, Jahla Seppanen is currently a sports, fitness, spirits, and culture writer in…
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