Lego Disney Lightyear XL-15 Spaceship review

Last year’s Lightyear movie might not have been the big hit that Disney Pixar hoped for, but it did at least net us a range of all-new Lego sets. Alongside a couple of mechs and a Duplo set, the stand-out release in the range is undoubtedly the Lego Disney Lightyear XL-15 Spaceship set.

With a surprisingly reasonable price tag of $50/£45, this 10-inch long spaceship manages to comfortably straddle the line between play and display. The ship sports moving parts and has a great deal of what Lego affectionately called “swooshability” for younger builders. 

For adult Lego collectors, the included stand and Ultimate Collector Series (UCS)-style information plate means this makes an excellent display piece, bolstered by the great amount of detail in the set. It's definitely one of the best Lego space sets out there.

In other words, it’s the ideal Lego spaceship somehow managing to appeal to a vast audience in one fell swoop. It just leaves us with one question: when will Lego release Star Wars ships at this scale and price point?

Lego Disney Lightyear XL-15 Spaceship: Build

With a recommended age rating of 8+, you can correctly assume that the build process for the Lego Disney Lightyear XL-15 Spaceship will be rather simple. Its 497 pieces are split over five small bags, with the delightfully printed instruction booklet guiding you through the process in a logical manner.

Bags one and two are concerned with building the main structure of the spaceship. By the time you’re done with the second bag, you’ll have the key shape of the XL-15 in place, including its iconic pointed nose. There are some nice layering techniques used here to give the ship both some depth and some stability: it feels very solid – exactly what you need for a playset that’s likely to get whooshed through the air.

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The third bag sees the wings go into place. They’re fairly short, stout wings fixed into place at an angle by being pinned underneath. Again, the result is a good amount of stability, so there’s little risk of the wings being snapped off even with the most rigorous play.

Finally, bags four and five are concerned with finishing off the back of the ship – the chunkiest part – and constructing the simple but effective display stand. The stand is all-black, modestly constructed from a small number of pieces and slots into the underside of the ship offering a perfectly stable perch for it.

As for the back of the ship, there’s a chunky amount of detail above the wings, including a set of protruding tails. The very back has two jet engines as well as a storage compartment, accessed by two flaps that lift up and down. It’s a neat touch, but it’s a shame that the area is too small to fit much in.

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The Lego XL-15 Spaceship does come with a number of accessories. Along with the three minifigures (Darby Steel, Mo Morrison, and Buzz Lightyear) and their helmets, there are some large weapons, Sox the robot cat, a laptop, and a fuel cell. The cockpit realistically only has room for one of the minifigures, and the storage compartment of the ship will fit in the fuel cell and the laptop (and maybe the cat, if you don’t mind shoving it away in the hold!).

It means you’re left with two minifigures and their bulky weapons with nowhere for them to go. If you’re planning to display the set, it might be an idea to slightly modify the base with a longer Lego plate, providing a place for them to stand. We’re not exactly fans of having random loose pieces alongside a set as they’re prone to get lost.

Lego Disney Lightyear XL-15 Spaceship: Design

From its color to its shape and dimensions, Lego has done a great job of recreating the XL-15 spaceship based on its appearance from the Lightyear movie. Looking at other toys based on the ship, the Lego Disney Lightyear XL-15 Spaceship is amongst the most accurate, managing to get in almost every detail in a reasonably small space.

Some of those details - such as the decals on the wings and rear of the plane - are, admittedly, applied by stickers. Stickers are always a little disappointing, but for a set at this price point it’s not surprising. And as long as you take care in applying them (some are a little fiddly, especially the ‘warning’ stripes on both wings) the end result does look effective.

Again, we need to praise the inclusion of a display stand here - it's something we wish we’d see in more sets. Its source material and age rating of 8+ squarely puts this set in ‘playset’ territory, but it’s clear the amount of detail that has gone into the ship would lead it to appeal to adults too. Lego has anticipated this by including the stand - a simple but highly effective way of widening its mass appeal. The stand is made of no more than 30 pieces and it’s purely functional rather than offering its own aesthetic appeal, but that’s all it needs to be. Those 30 black Lego pieces really do elevate the XL-15 Spaceship to the next level.

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Should you buy Lego Disney Lightyear XL-15 Spaceship?

If you’ve seen Disney Pixar’s Lightyear and enjoyed it, the XL-15 Spaceship will undoubtedly appeal more to you than anyone else. But even if you haven’t seen it, there’s a lot to appreciate with this set. It packs in a great amount of detail and offers up a simple but fun building process. Better yet, it’s solidly constructed, looks fantastic when finished, and works well as a playset or a display piece.

It’s a very easy set to admire, and its price tag makes this a very appealing prospect indeed. So, yes, in our opinion you should by Lego Disney Lightyear XL-15 Spaceship: we don’t think you’ll be disappointed.

Other Lego sets to consider

There are other cool Lego Lightyear sets available if you want to bolster your collection: there’s the Zurg Battle (which comes with a large Zurg mech) and the smaller Zyclops Chase set.

For younger Lightyear fans, there’s the Duplo Buzz Lightyear’s Planetary Mission. For $29.99/£29.99, this adorable set features its own rendition of the XL-15 starship as well as a super cute Buzz Lightyear figure and little Sox the robot cat .

If it’s more of the best Lego space sets you’re in the market for, how about the realistic model of the International Space Station? Or the wonderful Lego Icons Galaxy Explorer, which brings back to life a classic Lego model from the 1970s?