LEGO Ideas 21356 River Steamboat review

21356 River Steamboat may not be the greatest LEGO Ideas set of all time, but it is the theme's biggest and deserves that title – even with some flaws.

LEGO Ideas 21356 River Steamboat sails on to shelves as the theme's biggest set so far (by piece count), ousting previous title holder 21330 Home Alone, and serves a niche audience that the LEGO Group has been all too eager to please lately. But it has a lofty challenge ahead of it: to stand out in one of the most diverse LEGO themes, while proving why it's worthy of its 4,090 pieces and high price tag.

Release: April 7, 2025 Price: £289.99 / $329.99 / €329.99 Pieces: 4,090 Minifigures: 0 LEGO: Order now

Way down on the river

Based on the 19th-century designs of steamboats seen across pop culture and history alike, the classic features of 21356 River Steamboat ring true with the iconic aspects of the vehicles, sticking closely to the original design from CTDpower. In fact, it's one of the most faithful LEGO Ideas models to date – aside from the colour scheme, you can hardly tell the difference between this and the fan design upon first impression, which is testament to the original build. That said, model boats are a niche and dedicated hobby that is already sufficiently filled beyond the world of LEGO.

21356 River Steamboat is likely to be more appealing to boat enthusiasts and ship model builders, though they're almost certainly going to be put off by the price tag unless they're familiar with LEGO costs. Considering that a similarly-sized non-LEGO steamboat model can currently be picked up for fewer than £250, less avid LEGO enthusiasts probably won't spend the extra money. There's no doubt that this set is targeted at LEGO fans, but there's similarly no doubt that this expensive build has a river's worth of competition in this price range, including 10335 The Endurance.

It begs the question of precisely who this set is for, aside from the 10,000 fans who voted it into reality and the fan designer. Even then significant changes have been made to the design (as we'll come to see) despite an initially favourable comparison with the fan project. What hasn't changed though is the width of the build. While its length is impressive, it's best viewed from the side thanks to its narrow form. The narrow nature is especially evident when compared to the images of real steamboats provided in the instruction manual. This narrow shape also limits the space inside the boat, where designers have had to use every stud possible.

To be fair to the LEGO Ideas team, this shape and size is exactly what CTDpower proposed. This can't be labelled a flaw of the design since it's precisely what the fans voted for, but LEGO Ideas models have been changed more drastically before – one recent example being 21353 The Botanical Garden – and a wider ship would have worked wonders. The narrow shape consequently means that the side profile of the model is more appealing than the front or back, which does make it a touch easier to display. This difficult decision is one that greatly affects the interior.

A taste of luxury

The process of building 21356 River Steamboat is serene but inevitably repetitive. Even putting some relevant media on in the background (The Princess and the Frog for instance) doesn't do much to help with the unfortunately inevitable task of placing dozens of the same piece in a single step. Thankfully, the effort is worthwhile as the model continues to grow bag by bag, eventually creating a stunning ship complete with a display stand practically begging for a spot in your home.

The original project proposed a series of suites for minifigures to stay in while sailing, which has instead been switched to an upscale dining establishment with room for just four customers. Notably, the furnishings are securely attached to the floors, limiting interactivity while increasing the sturdiness. There are a few references to admire including Easter eggs to an especially relevant LEGO Ideas model. Getting your hands inside the space is unfortunately challenging and it's best to enjoy everything as you place it in, rather than looking in on the restaurant from above when everything is said and done.

The part usage throughout the set is mostly common but effective. There are a few pieces that deserve the spotlight though, including the second appearance of 71047 Dungeons & Dragons' Dragonborn Paladin's iridescent mace head. A few of these form lights and add an elegant touch of class to an otherwise dull restaurant.

The band room towards the back of the second floor has some decent builds to admire too and as a wider space, it's somewhat easier to peek into the room from above. The same absolutely cannot be said for anything on the bottom floor.

The restaurant space can be removed to allow limited access to the museum and kitchen. Because the railings and arches on the second level are permanently attached to the steamboat's structure, you can only view these spaces from directly above. Forget about reaching in there to place minifigures; once everything is assembled there are two storeys of structure to work through before you can touch the bottom floor.

Limiting access to this space is unfortunate as there are notable features to admire down below that demonstrate the engineering that goes into these massive vehicles, which the original project did not propose. This is one of the best improvements the LEGO Ideas team have made to 21356 River Steamboat, but they've also chosen to retain CTDpower's proposed modularity, rather than improve their design with one extra removable module.

Up above, the interior spaces are just as detailed including crew quarters and a bathroom, but they're arguably even harder to look into thanks to the narrow shape of the ship. There's one other aspect of the interiors that falls short too, but thankfully it has no effect on the boat's exterior.

Nobody aboard

In a move opposite to that of 21344 The Orient Express Train, which added minifigures that the original LEGO Ideas designer Thomas Lajon did not propose, 21356 River Steamboat has decided to forego CTDpower's suggested minifigure compatibility entirely. They originally proposed that a production version of their project would have a crew of minifigures making use of the facilities on board, but that's not the case in the official design. The furnishings inside the boat are mostly out of scale compared to minifigures, too.

It's an odd choice when 21344 The Orient Express Train presents another transport-focused model that worked well with minifigures and allowed for a nostalgic LEGO reference via the return of Pippin Reed. Something similar could have been included here, maybe with another member of the Adventurers crew. That's simply not the case though as there are no minifigures in 21356 River Steamboat.

On the one hand, this is undoubtedly a display-centric set complete with a stand, but so is 21344 The Orient Express Train and that has some great minifigures that accompany it. The fact that CTDpower designed their original project to scale with minifigures, but the LEGO Ideas set makes the decision to remove them and scale the ship away from them is perplexing.

Thankfully, this design decision does not extend to the outside of the ship, where minifigures can comfortably lean against the railings and admire the river sailing by. There's enough space to stand a few side by side on each level, with the top taken up by ropework. This makes 21356 River Steamboat an effective minifigure display – at least on the outside.

Despite the beauty of this huge build, the lack of characters as was proposed is an unfortunate oversight from the LEGO Ideas team and one area of the pitch where they should have stayed true to the fan designer's idea. For nearly £300, four or five minifigures with the most basic printing (alongside the 4,090-piece build) would have sufficed, if only to add some LEGO-unique charm to what is otherwise an expensive alternative to non-LEGO steamboat models. After all, wooden steamboat models don't have smiling characters to create customisable scenes as standard. That would have given 21356 River Steamboat an edge in this hobby.

The USS (Ultimate Ship Series)

Steamboats have appeared in enough movies over the decades to give 21356 River Steamboat additional appeal, but it probably won't be enough to persuade all but the most dedicated LEGO Ideas collectors to hand over nearly £300 for what's ultimately a rather niche build. For LEGO fans, 4,090 pieces for £289.99 / $329.99 / €329.99 is a great deal, balancing smaller elements with larger, less common elements. For those who intend on picking this set up no matter what, it will display well alongside 10335 The Endurance and 10294 Titanic in an Ultimate Ship Series (we're coining that one here).

Acknowledging this, the current LEGO portfolio is filled with so many expensive models that some builds such as 21356 River Steamboat will be less of a priority, to no fault of the LEGO Ideas team. It faces stiff competition, especially in LEGO Ideas. As limited as 21356 River Steamboat's appeal may be, it is one of the most visually impressive LEGO Ideas sets to date, with a notable technique to create the paddle wheel at the back too. It relies mostly on its size to make a statement, and it's nothing if not effective.

It's not without flaws, staying true to the fan designer's original proposal in areas where improvements could have been made and eschewing suggested aspects of their design that added character to the build. But aside from the width of the ship, these flaws only concern the interior and this model is otherwise deserving of the title of the biggest LEGO Ideas set currently available, making a suitable statement on display with elegance, luxury and class.

It probably won't hold that title forever but for now, this LEGO Ideas model is the B.O.A.T (biggest of all time), even if not quite the G.O.A.T (greatest of all time).

Honest opinion: 21356 River Steamboat will delight its niche target audience and make a statement on display, but with a scale different from that of the pitch and little sense of character, its reach will be limited.

This set was provided for review by the LEGO Group.

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