LEGO 'Minions: The Rise of Gru' Review (75549 & 75551)

Brick-built Minions and the Unstoppable Bike

The Minions movies have been a longtime favorite. Fun character development, enjoyable storytelling and a unique perspective on the “Evil Villain” character. For years my phone ringtone has been the Minion Carl’s recognizable siren—”Bee-Do Bee-Do Bee-Do.”

These sets are the first LEGO brick-built (or brickheadz) kits I’ve worked with. They’re a bit outside of my normal build interest and I do look forward to seeing where they show up in future photos. I’m sure the minifigures will be present on future outings and I expect some other fun ideas to percolate, perhaps with a giant Minion tearing through Fredbricksburg.

When the opportunity came up to do a review of these two new sets from Minions: The Rise of Gru,—Unstoppable Bike Chase (75549) and Brick-built Minions and their Lair (75551)—I jumped in. So let’s get on with it.

Three bags, one small sticker sheet and instruction manual

Unstoppable Bike Chase (75549)

Lego Minion with Banana — Banana? The Minion minifigures are my favorite part of this small set.

Kevin and Bob Minions Helping — Kevin and Bob “Helping” with the build.

Gru supervising the Lego Minions. — Supervision is required.

Lego sticker application — I use an X-ACTO knife to place stickers and make sure my fingers and work surface are clean.

Lego Gru Minifigure on Unstoppable Bike — Minor gripe: I wish he could sit AND grab the handlebar.

Gru and Minions on the Unstoppable Bike — Kevin: “Let’s ride!” Gru: “Wheeee!” Bob: “BANAANANAAAA!”

This was a fast and easy build. You can’t go wrong with the minifig Minions! Now onto the big boys…

Brick-built Minions and their Lair (75551)

As I said, I haven’t assembled any of the brick-built (or brickheadz) sets, so there was a nice discovery process along the way. It’s important to note that you can’t build Stuart, Kevin and Bob all at the same time. The box explains this, but I imagine there were a number of folks who didn’t read the details. Speaking of details, there are plenty of surprises inside…

Lego parts laid out in a grid — Parts from step-one bags knolled out. I wanted to do this shot until I was about halfway through it, then it was just a matter of slogging along…

Lego Minifig minion building his Lair — Time to build!

Lego Minions amongst the Lego bricks. — Pick a brick? You pick a brick…

Plenty of stickers to apply and my trustworthy X-ACTO knife for placement.

Kevin

All of the Minion Lair builds have “playable” eyes. That was a fun surprise.

Stuart

All the brick-built Minions open up and close with room for their Minion minifigure counterpart inside.

Bob – the undoing of Kevin

Unfortunately for Kevin, he must be destroyed in order for Bob to exist. After building both of them I’ll be ordering the needed parts to keep all three of the brick-built Minions assembled.

Kevin has to be taken apart down to his base to build Bob with the included little orange thingamajig of doom.

Minor color issue

The yellow on some of the hinge pieces was off. In the big picture, this is a minor issue but the first time I’ve experienced such a notable difference in a new kit. The issue was consistent across all of the same side hinge components.

Gallery

Three brick-built minions — With a little Photoshop trickery, here are all three possible brick-built Minions together.

Recap

The brick-built Minions (75551) were a fun build with nice surprises along the way, especially with their playable eye movement. The interior details are interesting and playful. Their hands are well articulated and add an especially expressive component to the build. For fans of the Minion movies I think they’re a crowdpleaser. The Unstoppable Bike Chase (75549) is a fun kit even if only for the Minions. Much of my toy photography is minifigure oriented, so I do expect all of these little fellows to have a role in future photos. As for their larger brick-built “Lair” versions, I expect they will crash through my LEGO Creator town at some point.

Check out all of our reviews here.

LEGO ‘Minions: The Rise of Gru’ Review (75549 & 75551)

Unstoppable Bike Chase (75549)