Review: LEGO House Exclusive – The Wooden Duck

Have you been thinking about befriending a Dane, but for some reason never got around to it? Now is probably the time to do it.

In June LEGO announced the first set in a new range of LEGO House exclusives. The range will only be available to purchase in person at LEGO House in Billund. I am sure you can appreciate that this makes the set incredibly hard to get – particularly with international travel being little more than a fantasy at the moment.

The team at LEGO House offered to send me one of these sets to review and it was an opportunity that I just couldn’t pass up. Let’s see if this set is good enough to get LEGO House added to your 2021 (hopefully) travel plans.

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The Wooden Duck is not a huge set and you should be able to get it assembled in one session, if you are able to set aside a couple of hours.

Even though it’s not a huge build I was quite impressed by the techniques that are used throughout. While at first glance this appears to be a pretty simple build, hidden behind the wings are quite a few technic elements.

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There is also a lot of SNOT building to get the curves to match that iconic wooden version.

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I really love the finished model. With the included display stand it makes a great display piece. While not every body who sees this on display in your house is going to understand the history, it’s still a great conversation starter.

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Just like the original, this duck features a quacking play feature – pull it along by the included string and as wheels turn the beak will open and close. The mechanism works really well but the only issue I had was that the wheels don’t have a lot of grip so if you pull this along a hard surface it may just slide rather than spin the wheels.

As great as this set is I kind of hate that it’s an exclusive. Far too many of these sets are going to end up stuck in a cupboard, hidden away as a collectors item. To me that is the antithesis of what the wooden duck represents. The wooden duck was created because kids deserve great toys. They are meant to be played with. If you somehow manage to get your hands on one of these sets I hope that you will open it, build it and play with it. Let a kid pull it around your floor so it can quack as it rolls along.

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3 thoughts on “Review: LEGO House Exclusive – The Wooden Duck

  1. Andrew Reply

    I love this set, and I’m thrilled you were able to get one. Every die-hard fan is going to covet this. Sadly I don’t see myself ever getting to Denmark, and I don’t know any Danes who might be able to pop one in the post ;).

    I do have the Tree of Creativity which a very kind friend on a European holiday carted around the world for me. It has absolute pride of place.

    TL;DR I’d love a duck, but how to get one…

    • Tim Reply

      Apart from the printed piece you can get everything on Bricks and Pieces or BrickLink and it is not too expensive.

      • Andrew Reply

        Thanks, Tim, I’ll look into that. Have never ventured into buying from Bricklink, perhaps this is the catalyst.

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