There’s more to LEGO sets than ornate modular buildings – there’s a whole world of playsets. While they are intended for children, they offer a great deal of fun, inspiration and useful parts for adult fans.
Modular buildings offer rich detail, clever parts usage, and a striking display presence. What LEGO city would be complete without them? But whether it’s official sets, Rebrickable models, or original creations, these can be parts- and time-intensive, space-hungry, and expensive. One alternative is to stay true to LEGO’s more universal, if less premium format – the playset. What advantages does this pared-back build style offer?
Time is precious
Playsets are a great introduction to the LEGO System – easy to grasp build schemes, a decent range of parts and perhaps a couple of minifigures for storytelling. Best of all, playsets can offer a build that can be completed in a single sitting. So even if you need to prioritise walking dogs or soothing teething babies, you can have the sense of accomplishment a finished model provides without having to book a day off.
Value for money
Friends and City offer starter builds for pocket money prices, providing some of the earliest ‘aha’ moments, where slopes, hinges and brackets seem to slot together like magic. Having a finished model in-hand lets you see how the designers went about evoking real-world shapes and colour blocking. And while LEGO sets aren’t supposed to be homework, the more you build, the more you’ll learn – ready to apply it all to your own creations.
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Build, destroy, rebuild
The more sets you build, the more space they’ll need. And while this can be a fine way to fill a shelf, it can be an even better reason to break sets up, repurposing parts for new creations or modifying existing ones. With more premium sets, this might cause some anxiety, but it’s easier to be ruthless with a £30 playset than a £90 Creator 3-in-1. By treating sets as both parts packs and canvas, to reskin in different colours or repurpose with different details, builders can maximise their creativity while saving both money and space.
This is the smörgåsbord
The LEGO Group operates many themes and you can’t build everything. But by embracing lower-priced sets or by incorporating creative combinations, builders can enjoy a broader LEGO hobby experience. You can trial and trash different styles, drawing on different themes, without fear. Want to see how a Star Wars diner would look next to a NINJAGO dojo? Grab your battle packs and 4+ Friends sets and get kitbashing.
Peter Partworks
2024’s Space theme uses an airlock connector system to make modularity the primary play pattern, allowing builders to turn space trains into sprawling moonbases. Spider-Man is embracing a more grounded style in 2025 with 76311 Miles Morales vs. the Spot. Connection points across the build tease both vertical and horizontal expansion. Adopting that approach with your own LEGO sets is a fun way to move from loose sets to something more like an ongoing story, told build upon build.
It’s important to remember that there is no one right way to enjoy building with LEGO bricks. Playsets can be converted into complete buildings and vice versa. You don’t have to modify your sets; just enjoy them as-is. YouTube videos of expansive cities with expensive buildings can create terrible FOMO, but also make the dream of your own LEGO world seem out of reach.
By embracing the playset mindset, you can make the most of both your budget and creativity, drawing on every theme, learning from every build, and in so doing, get the most out of your time spent with the hobby.