LEGO Ideas and CUUSOO

Gremlins: Gizmo

The cutest Mogwai in the catalogue, built from a thousand nougat curves.

Brick Rated Score

4.2/5

Set 21361 · 2025

Pieces1,125

Minifigsn/a

Year2025

Set number21361

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The verdict

This one won me over the second his face clicked together and started making expressions.

It's a single brick-built character, no minifigs, just Gizmo and a tiny pair of 3D glasses, and the likeness is genuinely lovely. If you grew up with the 1984 film or you just melt for big-eyed cute things, you'll adore having him on a shelf. If you want minifigs, playsets, or a puzzle that fights back, this isn't your build.

Best for: Gremlins fans who want an expressive display character, not a playset

The full review

What it is

Some LEGO® sets are engineering puzzles and some are portraits, and Gizmo is firmly a portrait. This is set number 69 in the LEGO Ideas line, a single brick-built character standing about 20 cm tall and 27 cm wide, and the whole job is capturing one very specific face. If you know Gremlins, you know that face. The huge dark eyes, the soft round body, the ears that flop with his mood. Getting all of that out of stacked plastic bricks sounds impossible, and the fact that it works this well is the reason I kept grinning the whole way through. He's charming in a way photos undersell. You really have to see him assembled to get why people stop and coo at him.

The catch

He isn't flawless, though, and a few things are worth flagging. There are no minifigures here, so if you were picturing a little Gizmo minifig or Stripe to fight him, that's not the box. The only accessory is a brick-built pair of 3D glasses, and they're a clever little build, but there's no proper clip to hold them on his face. You end up perching them on his head or leaning them against a hand, which feels like a missed trick on such a thoughtful set. He can be built standing or sitting and both poses look great, but converting from one to the other after you're done means pulling apart the hips and legs, roughly a fifteen minute job, so pick your pose and mostly commit. And the price sits at 89.99 pounds or 109.99 dollars for 1,125 pieces. That lands reasonably for a licensed Ideas display model, but it's not a bargain, and a couple of reviewers called him slightly overpriced. I think he earns it on personality, but your wallet gets a vote too.

Who it's for

So here's where I land. If you love Gremlins, or you just have a soft spot for big-eyed cute creatures, grab him without much hand-wringing, because the likeness and the expressiveness are the best I've seen on a character build like this. He's a proper conversation piece on a shelf and the build itself is a genuine joy, not a chore. If you're after minifigs, playability, or a technically twisty build that keeps you guessing, this gentle two-hour portrait isn't going to scratch that itch, and that's completely fair. Me, I'd keep him right at eye level where those eyes can follow you around the room. Just remember the golden rule. Don't get him wet.

The parts story

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

The build runs a little under two hours and it moves through him section by section, which keeps it satisfying. You start with an internal frame and an angled torso structure that uses curved slopes to make an egg-shaped body, and it's smarter than it looks from the outside. The real eureka moment is the face. There's an eye tilting mechanism built into the frame, and once it clicks you start playing with his expressions before he even has a full head of fur. It's the kind of thing that makes you call someone over. The ears run on ball joints so you can set his mood, the arms swivel, the fingers move, and the head turns. It sits in a lovely middle ground, engaging for veterans but never punishing, so a newer builder can absolutely handle it.

For parts people, this box is a quiet gift. There's a brand new Slope Curved 3 x 1 x 2/3 in light nougat that fills a real gap in the catalogue, plus beveled curved slopes that had only shown up in the Porsche before, all in light nougat to build his soft flesh tones. You get a dozen 1x1 domes in light nougat for his toe and finger tips, tiny round jumpers forming his nostrils, and mudguard elements doing the heavy lifting on the face shape. His eyes are two white printed round bowed shields, a more detailed print than the ones used on Groot. There's even a reddish brown Wedge Curved 4 x 4 that last appeared back in 2012. At 1,125 pieces the value is fair, and if you build in light nougat you'll be raiding this set for recolors for years.

Fun facts

01Gizmo is LEGO Ideas set number 69, and it grew out of a fan design by a user named terauma that won the 'If We Could Turn Back Time' building competition.
02The set is licensed through Warner Bros. and Amblin Entertainment, drawing on the original 1984 film Gremlins.
03His eyes are printed round bowed shield elements, the same part family used for Groot's eyes, but with a more detailed print here.
04He can be built in a standing or a sitting pose using swappable pieces, a trick borrowed from the posable figures in the LEGO DREAMZzz sets.