Horizon Adventures

Aloy & Varl vs. Shell-Walker & Sawtooth

Two of the best minifigures LEGO has made, bolted to two robot dinosaurs that fight back.

Brick Rated Score

3.8/5

Set 77037 · 2025

Pieces768

Minifigs2

Year2025

Set number77037

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The verdict

The Sawtooth is what got me.

It has opening jaws, a swiveling torso and a neck that actually poses, and it looks properly dangerous crouched over the campfire. Aloy and Varl are among the most detailed minifigures LEGO has ever printed, and Varl finally showing up in brick form with his own hair mold and fabric cape is a lovely touch. This is a play set first and a display piece second, and if you go in wanting both machines to menace each other on a shelf you will love it. If you want a screen-accurate showpiece, the simplified proportions might nag at you.

Best for: Horizon players who want the machines and characters on the shelf without spending Tallneck money

The full review

What it is

This is the second wave of LEGO's Horizon Adventures line, and it drops you straight into the best part of that world: a hunter and her ally squaring off against two robot animals that are trying to kill them. You get Aloy and Varl, a campfire, some tall reeds and a treasure chest, and then the two machines that make the whole thing sing. The Shell-Walker is the crab-like hauler with pincer claws and a glowing shield, and the Sawtooth is the big cat-shaped predator. For 768 pieces at forty-five dollars, it packs a lot of story into a small footprint, and the finished scene genuinely looks like a moment from the game.

The catch

I want to be honest about where it sits, though. The machines have been shrunk and simplified compared to their in-game versions, and the compromise shows more on the Sawtooth than the Shell-Walker. In the game the Sawtooth is a lean, terrifying thing, and here it reads a bit squat and chunky, more house cat than apex hunter. The Shell-Walker got the kinder redesign and holds up better. A few owners have also mentioned that with all that posability comes some looseness, with joints and smaller elements popping off when kids really play hard with it. And at this price you are paying a licensed premium, so the piece count feels fair rather than generous.

Who it's for

Get this if you played Horizon and want Aloy, Varl and a couple of machines you can pose mid-fight on a shelf, or if you want an accessible entry into the theme without committing to the much bigger, pricier Tallneck. It is a fantastic play set and the minifigures alone almost justify it. Skip it if you are chasing a screen-accurate display model, because the simplified proportions will bother you, and skip it if you have no attachment to the game, because outside that context it is just a nicely made robot animal and a robot crab.

The parts story

What the build is actually like, and the pieces worth knowing about.

The build is friendly and quick, and LEGO split the instructions into two booklets so two people can build the halves side by side, which is a genuinely nice touch for a parent and kid session. You start with the minifigures and the little diorama, then move into the two machines, and the articulation work is the fun part: rigging up the Sawtooth's posable neck and legs and the Shell-Walker's claws feels satisfying rather than fiddly. It never gets taxing, so experienced builders will breeze through it in an evening.

For parts hunters there is real interest here. The 3x1 rounded plate on the Shell-Walker's claws is new in orange, and the long horn element used for the grass reeds is also new in that orange. The shield generator is the clever bit: it uses the big snowflake element fitted with six trans-light-blue 60-degree triangular road signs, the first time that road sign has appeared in any transparent color, and it does a lovely job faking a holographic energy shield. There is also a mold cast in pearl gold and in black to attach the generator. Add in Aloy's new upgradeable bow and Varl's fresh hair mold, and the recolor and new-mold haul punches above what you expect from a set this size.

Fun facts

01This set marks Varl's very first appearance as a physical LEGO minifigure, complete with a bespoke hair mold and a uniquely cut fabric cape.
02The Shell-Walker's holographic shield is built from the large snowflake piece studded with six trans-light-blue triangular road signs, the first time that road sign element has ever been produced in a transparent color.
03Aloy's newly molded bow has pin holes on both its upper and lower limbs so you can clip on fire, shock or chill arrow elements, directly mimicking the weapon upgrade system from the Horizon games.
04The set ships with two separate instruction booklets specifically so two people can build the machines at the same time.