Brickheadz

FC Barcelona Go Brick Me

A build-yourself Barca fan with a bag of spare heads and haircuts.

Brick Rated Score

3.7/5

Set 40542 · 2022

Pieces530

Minifigsn/a

Year2022

Set number40542

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The verdict

This is the rare BrickHeadz that hands you the design choices instead of making them for you.

You get parts for three skin tones, four hair colours, and a whole spread of hairstyles, so the little Blaugrana supporter you finish with is meant to look like you (or whoever you had in mind). It is charming and cheap, but it is really one figure plus a generous leftovers pile, so if you are not into Barca or the customising angle, it will feel thin. Great value as a parts pack, modest as a display piece.

Best for: FC Barcelona fans and BrickHeadz collectors who love a customisable, parts-heavy little build

The full review

What it is

The thing that got me about this one is that LEGO actually let go of the wheel. Most BrickHeadz are a fixed face you assemble exactly as pictured, but the Go Brick Me idea flips that. This is the second set to try it, after the original 41597 back in 2018, and here it is dressed in FC Barcelona colours. You open the box to parts for three skin tones, four hair colours, and a pile of hairstyles (spikes, a ponytail, a mohawk, shaved, take your pick), and the whole point is to build a little Blaugrana supporter who looks like you or someone you love. The shirt carries the club crest, there is a small goal on the side, and it all stands a bit over three inches tall when you are done.

The catch

I do want to be straight about what you are actually getting, though. For 530 pieces this is one figure and a stand, plus a genuinely large bag of alternate heads, hair, and torso bits you will not use in a single build. That is the honest tension: as a display object it is small and reads as one chunky BrickHeadz, so the piece count can feel misleading if you were picturing something with more presence. The squad number for the back of the shirt is applied with stickers rather than printed, which is the usual small annoyance, and the appeal narrows fast if you are not a football person. The build itself is quick, an hour or two at most, and not especially clever once you have done the mirror-image head structure that every BrickHeadz uses.

Who it's for

So who should grab it. If you are an FC Barcelona fan, this is an easy, affordable bit of shelf joy, and the customising angle makes it feel personal in a way most licensed BrickHeadz do not. Parts hunters should also perk up, because at the 19.99 dollar launch price the sheer variety of heads, hair, and useful small elements made it one of the better value cracks in the theme. Who should skip it: anyone chasing an engineering fix or a big display centrepiece, and anyone with no connection to the club or the make-it-yourself gimmick. It retired at the end of 2023 and now trades a bit above retail, so it is no longer the bargain it was, but it is still a warm little set for the right person.

The parts story

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

Building it is classic BrickHeadz, which means a lot of studs-up bricking to form that cube-ish head and body, with the fun twist that you keep pausing to choose. Do I want the mohawk or the ponytail. This skin tone or that one. It turns a normally paint-by-numbers assembly into a few genuine decisions, and that makes the hour go by nicely even though the core technique is nothing new. The little goal on the side is a quick sub-build that gives your finished fan something to pose next to.

The real treasure here is the leftovers. Because it ships parts for three skin tones and four hair colours plus multiple styles, you finish with a bag of spare heads, hairpieces, and flesh-toned elements that are gold for custom figure makers. The printed FC Barcelona crest tile is the standout single part, and the broad palette of usable small pieces is why the BrickLink part-out value sits around 43 dollars against a 19.99 dollar sticker. As a cheap way to stock up on hair and head variety, it punches well above its size.

Fun facts

01It is only the second Go Brick Me set LEGO has ever made, following 41597 from 2018, and the first to wrap the customise-yourself idea around a licensed football club.
02It launched on 1 August 2022 at 19.99 dollars and retired around December 2023, and new sealed copies now typically sell above the original price.
03The back-of-shirt squad number is left up to you via a sticker sheet, so no two builders' Barca fans have to wear the same number.
04Despite the 530-piece count, the set builds a single BrickHeadz figure, with a large share of those parts being alternate heads and hairstyles you choose between rather than use all at once.