Icons

Friends - The Apartments

The whole gang, two flats, and about a hundred episode references packed in.

Set 10292 · 2021

Pieces2,048

Minifigs7

Year2021

Set number10292

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The verdict

If you or someone you love grew up quoting Friends, this one's an easy yes, because it's basically a physical trivia game full of Easter eggs.

If you're coming to it purely as a LEGO® fan chasing a great build, temper your expectations, since the construction is pretty flat. It's a fan piece first and a building challenge a distant second. And now that it's retired, you're paying collector prices, so buy it because you love the show, not as a quick flip.

Best for: Die-hard Friends fans who want the show on a shelf

The full review

What it is

Let me tell you what you're actually getting here, because it matters. This is a 2,048 piece LEGO® set that recreates two of the most famous living rooms on television: Monica and Rachel's purple palace, and Joey and Chandler's messy bachelor pad across the hall, joined by that little stretch of corridor and stairwell. It's minifigure scale, it's open backed for display and play, and it comes absolutely stuffed with references. If you spent a decade of your life with this show on in the background, walking through this set is like flipping through a highlight reel. The turkey Monica danced with, Joey's reclining chairs, the tiny chick and duck, Phoebe's dollhouse, the cheesecake on the floor, the Original Buffay painting nobody wanted to lose. It's a love letter to the series, and on that level it lands beautifully.

The catch

Now for the honest part, because that's what mates are for. As a pure building experience, this set is a bit of a letdown. Multiple reviewers, Jay's Brick Blog included, found the build genuinely boring, with very few clever techniques and almost no challenge for a set this size and price. You're placing a lot of similar wall and furniture sections, and the two apartments end up looking more alike than you'd hope, so it never gets the variety that made 21319 Central Perk such a joy. And then there's the money. It launched at 179.99 dollars, retired in December 2023, and now trades on the secondary market for well north of 300 dollars. That's a steep ask for a set that's more display trophy than engineering showcase.

Who it's for

So here's my take. If you're a proper Friends fan, or you're shopping for one, grab it without much hand wringing, because the joy here is spotting every reference and standing the whole cast in their apartments, and no other set does that. If you're a LEGO builder who wants a rewarding, technique heavy afternoon, this probably isn't your set and your money goes further elsewhere in the Icons range. Know which camp you're in before you check the price, and you'll be happy either way.

The parts story

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

The build splits neatly into three chunks with their own instruction booklets: Monica and Rachel's apartment, Joey and Chandler's, and the hallway between them. You spend most of your time laying floors, raising those famous purple walls, and kitting out rooms with furniture, so it's a comfortable, low stress build rather than a puzzle. The one genuinely interesting bit of engineering is the corridor, which is the only section not built on the standard grid. It uses an A-shaped wedge plate to throw in a single angle, and a simple tab and slot connection lets the apartments slide on and off so you can rearrange or shrink the display. The rugs also pop out as little standalone mini builds, which is a cute touch.

On parts, the real value is the printing and the minifigs rather than exotic new molds. You get seven figures, the six main cast plus Janice, all in episode specific outfits, which is a lot of exclusive character printing in one box. There's a pile of useful printed tiles, furniture elements, and homey details (frames, food, the balcony bits) that friends of the domestic MOC crowd will happily raid. At 2,048 pieces for 179.99 dollars at launch, the per piece value sat around 9 cents, which was fair rather than generous for the era, and the bulk of what you're paying for is the licensing and those seven figures, not rare bricks.

Fun facts

01The set packs in dozens of episode Easter eggs, from Monica's Thanksgiving turkey and Joey wearing it on his head, to the chick and the duck, the Original Buffay painting, and the stolen cheesecake eaten off the hallway floor.
02Joey's minifigure wears every piece of Chandler's wardrobe at once, a nod to the season 3 episode where he shouts 'could I be wearing any more clothes?'
03The whole model stretches about 25 inches (64 cm) wide but only around 4 inches (10 cm) tall, and the two apartments plus hallway detach from each other for different display setups.
04It arrived as a follow up to the hugely popular 21319 Central Perk LEGO Ideas set, and most reviewers agree the coffee house build is still the stronger of the two.