Black Panther

Building this one feels like sculpting a statue rather than snapping together a model. It runs across 17 numbered sections, starting at the base and working steadily upward through the chest, neck, head, and finally the mask. Most of your time goes into building a colorful inner core of bricks and then cladding it with plate sections that gradually shape T'Challa's features. There's some Technic tucked inside for structural strength, so the whole thing holds together solidly despite its height, but it never gets truly tricky. The hands are a nice change of pace, with articulated fingers that pose and detach from the main body for different display setups. It's a calm, satisfying build more than a puzzle, and clever construction keeps sticker use lower than you'd fear on a set this scale.

On the parts side, the fun is in the contrast. The interior is packed with purples, pinks, and blues that give it that Wakandan energy, even though almost none of it survives into the final look. The outer shell leans hard on black elements with silver accents and transparent purple pieces for the eyes and highlights, which is where a lot of the character comes through. For the piece-count crowd, this is where the value conversation gets thorny: 2,961 pieces sounds huge, but many are common black plates and slopes doing bulk shaping work rather than rare or exotic molds, which is part of why the price drew grumbles. You're paying for the display object and the meaning, not a treasure chest of unusual parts.