Disney

Inside Out 2 Mood Cubes

Two little display cubes that pack more feelings into 394 pieces than a set this size has any right to.

Brick Rated Score

3.7/5

Set 43248 · 2024

Pieces394

Minifigs4

Year2024

Set number43248

Check price on Amazon

Affiliate link. We may earn a commission at no extra cost to you.As an Amazon Associate we earn from qualifying purchases.

The verdict

I opened this one expecting a quick throwaway build and ended up genuinely charmed by it.

The two cubes with their swappable mood plates are a clever bit of design, and Joy next to Anxiety, LEGO's brand new emotion, is the reason I'd point a Pixar fan toward this over almost anything else on the shelf. It is a small, snack sized build though, and if you are chasing serious piece count or an engineering challenge this will feel over in a blink. Buy it for the characters and the display gimmick, not for the build time.

Best for: Inside Out fans and Pixar collectors who want a quick, characterful desk display more than a long build

The full review

What it is

I'll be honest, I almost skipped this one thinking it was just a cute box filler. Then I got to the two mind worker figures, Foreman and Margie, tucked in alongside Joy and the new character Anxiety, and I understood what LEGO was going for. This is less a spaceship or a building and more a little emotional diorama you build twice, once for each cube, and then keep rearranging. The mood plates are the real hook. Nine of them, each with a different Dots style portrait of the film's characters, snap onto the cubes so you can change the display whenever you want. That is a smart way to squeeze replay value out of what is otherwise a fairly quick build.

The catch

Where it comes up short is scale for the money. At 394 pieces and a licensed price tag, you are paying partly for the film tie in and partly for Anxiety's brand new head mold, not for hours of building. A few builders on Brickset and in video reviews mentioned the plate mechanism took some fiddling to get seated properly, and there is no way around the fact that this skips Sadness, Fear, and Disgust entirely. If you were hoping for the full emotional cast, you will be disappointed.

Who it's for

I would grab this for a Pixar fan who wants something to display rather than something to spend a Saturday on, or for a parent building alongside a kid who loved the movie. If you need heft or a real building challenge, this small cube set is not it, and I would look elsewhere in the Disney theme for that.

The parts story

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

The build itself moves quickly. You are essentially snapping together two cube frames and then working through a stack of mood plates, so there is not much tension or complexity, it is more assembly than construction. The mini doll figures go together in a few steps each, and the little accessory pieces, the memory balls Joy and Anxiety hold, are a nice touchable detail for a set this size.

The standout piece is Anxiety's head, a genuinely new mold made for this set since she is a new character introduced in the sequel. The mood plates themselves use a printed tile technique reminiscent of LEGO Dots, giving each one a distinct little portrait, which is a fun crossover of building styles you do not see often in a licensed Disney set. For 394 pieces you are getting two novel minifigs and a handful of printed elements you will not find in other sets, which is where the real value sits rather than in sheer part count.

Fun facts

01Anxiety marked the first time LEGO produced a brand new mini doll head mold specifically for a character introduced in Inside Out 2 rather than reusing an existing emotion figure.
02The set includes Foreman and Margie, background 'mind worker' characters from the film, alongside the more recognizable Joy.
03The nine swappable mood plates use a printed tile style similar to LEGO Dots, letting builders redecorate the cubes without rebuilding them.
0443248 launched on May 1, 2024 at 34.99 USD/EUR and 29.99 GBP, and was retired by LEGO in late 2025 after about an 18 month run.