LEGO Wicked brings the glitz and glam to Emerald City with a charming and detailed set that's well-suited to social building.
A treat for those who enjoy the LEGO Friends style of set design and play, LEGO Wicked 75684 Welcome to Emerald City builds on the success of previous mini-doll sets across various themes to deliver something that does justice to its source material while also providing plenty of opportunities for play. A liberal use of trans-green and pearl gold elements ensures that the set lives up to the Emerald City’s reputation.
Release: 1 October, 2024 Price: £89.99 / $99.99 / €99.99 Pieces: 945 Mini-dolls: 5 LEGO:
Why can’t we be Friends?
One of two new mini-doll licensed themes debuting in October 2024, LEGO Wicked 75684 Welcome to Emerald City is a set that’s been long-awaited among fans of the form factor that debuted with LEGO Friends well over a decade ago.
The decision to go with mini-dolls for this theme rather than minifigures may irk those who are looking to add to the Wizard of Oz characters that have appeared in Collectible Minifigures and LEGO Dimensions of times past, but given the obvious and deliberate attempts from filmmakers to style the upcoming Wicked film adaptations after the traditional Disney Princess mould, there’s no denying that the slender mini-dolls and brightly coloured sets suit their source material.
For anyone who adores the Friends and Disney Princess themes, LEGO Wicked 75684 Welcome to Emerald City will fit right in. This is a perfect continuation of what has already been established with mini-doll sets, and it’s exciting to see the LEGO Group try new themes within this ecosystem.
All that glitters is gold
As well as giving off distinct LEGO Friends vibes, LEGO Wicked 75684 Welcome to Emerald City also feels tremendously reminiscent of another, far older licensed mini-doll set. The structure of the Emerald City’s tall tower and wider base calls to mind the DC Superhero Girls set 41232 Super Hero High School.
The Emerald City is an absolute joy to build and the finished set looks literally brilliant. There’s a joyfully liberal use of trans-green elements to create the city’s many spires, with a pearl gold trim dotted around to add an extra shine. This is a colour scheme that really pops in LEGO form.
There are plenty of details for Wicked fans to enjoy here – an orchard, Madame Morrible’s tea room, a mobile bicycle-powered ‘Ozpresso’ stand, and a detailed miniature model of Oz, complete with a Yellow Brick Road.
The only real letdown is that the included animatronic Wizard puppet – a technological highlight of the Wicked stage play – feels a little less than awe-inspiring. It’s thankfully offset somewhat by the pretty (if unfortunately stickered) green stained-glass window that shows the Wizard in all his glory.
Defying gravity
As it happens, mini-dolls feels like the perfect format to recreate most (but not all) of the characters that appear in the box here. Glinda, played by Ariana Grande in the film, will sit perfectly alongside any Disney Princess mini-doll without feeling out of place, as will Madame Morrible and Fiyero.
The star of the show in this particular set, though, is Elphaba. The previous version of the Wicked Witch of the West in LEGO form, who came in LEGO Dimensions alongside a brick-built flying monkey, always felt a little basic, with the standard pointy hat mould that’s been used for most witch and wizard characters across multiple themes for several decades at this point.
Mini-doll Elphaba, in contrast, gets a gorgeous uniquely-moulded hat and wig piece that not only shows off her uniquely contoured ‘ugly’ hat, but also includes the lengthy braids worn by Cynthia Erivo in the Wicked film. The only real downside to this amazing element is that it’s so specialised that it can’t really be used in other themes, such as Harry Potter.
Elphaba also features a spectacular cape, a unique piece of fabric, which billows out behind her perfectly. While it’s going to get in the way a little when posing the character on the ground, this mini-doll is absolutely not supposed to be bound by gravity, as she comes with a broomstick and a long transparent stick to fix her to the top of the Emerald City’s spire, where her cloak looks perfect.
The only mini-doll that fails to hit the mark is the Wizard of Oz himself, who by all rights should look an awful lot more like Jeff Goldblum than he does in this form. Unlike the Witched Witch of the West, who felt a little basic in her minifigure incarnation, Goldblum has already had some pitch-perfect minifigures in Jurassic Park. Here by comparison, in spite of a truly delightful top hat, the mini-doll Wizard feels lacking. What’s more, the decision to put him in a skirt piece – possibly an attempt to portray his costume’s long jacket in the film – highlights how there are some limitations to what kinds of clothes the current mini-doll catalogue can replicate.
This set was provided for review by the LEGO Group.
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Our honest opinion: A fantastic set and a real treat for fans of mini-dolls, packed with interesting details and shining, sparkling elements that make the model really pop.
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