LEGO The X-Files Set Review: A Fantastic Snapshot of the Hit Show
The latest ideas set and winner of the “Build Your Nostalgia – 90s Throwback” contest is finally here, a set inspired by one of the greatest and most influential TV shows of all time, The X-Files. The X-Files is a tricky concept to make a set based off of, with very few recurring creatures, characters, or locations because of its travelling “monster of the week” format, but this set manages it by blending 3 concepts to fully capture the show. Designed by Brent Waller, it started as a personal project, eventually growing into a LEGO IDEAS submission, a site where fans vote on fan-submitted content to become real sets. This set won a specific sub-contest within IDEAS to celebrate the 90s, and I can truly think of no franchise more deserving.
Before diving into the main set, I want to cover the GWP (gift with purchase). I’m not a huge fan of the concept of GWPs, although the trend towards smaller builds instead of unique figures is preferable. In my opinion an ideal GWP should have nothing unique except the box, something extra for those lucky enough to get it early, but not locking anyone out. The recent Stranger Things set is a good example, containing two “unique” characters made up of generic reused parts, with a small build easy to get on Bricklink or B&P. This set nearly gets there with a great print-free build, except for the Scully figure with a unique head and torso. The build itself is great, like I said The X-Files has few recurring locations, but this is a great one that pops up often enough to be recognisable and match the main set well. The build style matches well, full of elaborate shelving and counter top builds, it’s a great representation of a frequently visited location. Although I don’t spot any specific easter eggs in this one, I’m sure there’s a few. While I complained about it existing, the Scully figure is fantastic and a great alternative for her, going as far as including a new head is a great extra touch.
On to the main set, it doesn’t represent any moment or scene in The X-Files so much as captures the general feel of the show. It’s split into 3 parts, Mulder’s FBI office, a forest scene, and a UFO, which can either be stacked as one unit, or separated out. Mulder’s office is probably the most reoccurring location in the show, so it makes sense as the centre of the set, and the dense forest diorama really captures the average episode of Mulder and Scully traipsing through a forest in search of the aliens, cryptids, or the knife alien. The UFO is based on a specific episode, the very second one, “Deep Throat”, a phrase I don’t see LEGO ever saying out loud.
The highlight of the episode is the office itself, packed full of more Easter Eggs than I could possibly count or be knowledgeable enough on the show to recognise, although I could definitely pick out a few. This part is definitely the most fun to build too, it’s all so dense and there’s some incredible techniques to make it all come together. Despite the size of the set the sticker sheet is relatively small, and there’s a single new printed brick as well for one of the posters. The set makes use of a bunch of weird maps, coins, and notes from other sets to really add to the dense, obscure clutter of the office, and is overall a fantastic representation. It’s framed by rocks to make it look underground and sell the whole set as a coherent block, which wastes minimal pieces thankfully. The central floor of the office detaches and can be removed, almost as if it’s meant to be swappable, but I don’t quite understand why. Maybe easy access? Although with the forest level being removable, it seems a little pointless. On the base is a printed plaque with the show’s tagline “THE TRUTH IS OUT THERE”, a nice extra element to add to the display value.
There’s not much to say about the forest level, a beautifully detailed and fairly sturdy base covered with well attached trees. Trees are always a little tedious to build in lego form, and these are no exception, but they look great. The UFO is a pretty flawless recreation of the second episode as mentioned, and I love that they attached it to the base in a way that evokes a “beam” effect. I definitely look forward to seeing someone do some sort of light brick modification to it to properly light it up, it would’ve been nice to see that in the set itself but that’s not the biggest complaint. One small issue I have with the construction of the set is the lack of additional information in the instructions. A lot of sets in this style will devote even a few lines in the bottom of the page, if not a full page, elaborating on the details and Easter Eggs included, providing context to what they have referenced. This feels oddly missing in these instructions, which is disappointing.
On to the figures, we have a strong selection of 8 here capturing some of the main characters from the show. I’m not 100% sure on what prints are new, but I believe every torso is new, and every face except Mulder, with plain legs all around, a new alien head mould, and a new Scully hairpiece. The plain legs are no issue at all, they’re all pretty much people in suits so no print is needed. Skinner, Mr. X (Deep Throat 2), and the Smoking Man all have great likenesses to the show, the Smoking Man especially. One of the more iconic “monsters of the week”, the Flukeman is another great addition. Compared to the concept art, it’s a little disappointing they didn’t include other iconic creatures originally included, like a bigfoot hiding out in the forest or Eugene Victor Tooms crawling around the vents. The actual characters included make up for it though.
Alex Krycek is an odd figure, a great new torso but his face is a reused design (most notably used for Shang-Chi or Happy Hogan), except modified to have the blacked out eyes from his possession in S3 E15, an episode I was coincidentally watching while building this set. While the face isn’t a bad fit at all, I don’t understand modifying an existing head instead of making a new one. The alien is a great representation of the average alien we see glimpses of in the show, with a whole new head despite an existing LEGO alien head existing. The new one has a pin at the top so you can give him a lil hat, which isn’t necessary but I’m not going to say no. On to our protagonists, Scully is perfect, the new hair piece is great and her likeness is captured well. The issue is Mulder. With all these new pieces in the set, the decision to use the most generic white boy face they have for Mulder is baffling. It’s the only real major problem I have with the set in terms of pieces, it doesn’t look anything like him and istands out so much to anyone with a substantial collection who is sick of seeing this face.
Coming in at 1478 pieces and £179.99/$199.99, the main problem with this set is the price. While not insanely overpriced, it’s a good £/$20-30 higher than it probably should be with that piece count, especially with it being made up of a lot of small pieces for details. Once it’s actually built it feels largely worth the cost, especially for those lucky enough to have Scully’s lab beside it. The set itself is fantastic, a really fun build and a great adaptation of the original contest winner with plenty of clear improvements. It’s a must have for any fan of The X-Files and a great build that will hopefully push some new fans to give it a go too.
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