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Mako Submarine

A sand green sub that doubles as one of the friendliest parts packs LEGO put out that year.

Brick Rated Score

3.8/5

Set 75577 · 2023

Pieces553

Minifigs4

Year2023

Set number75577

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The verdict

The Mako Submarine surprised me, and it was the color that did it.

Sand green is not a shade LEGO hands out often, and seeing it wrapped around a chunky little sub made me want to take the whole thing apart for the pieces alone. It is a genuinely fun build with four sharp minifigures, though the playability runs thin once it is together and the coral reefs are really just display stands. If you loved The Way of Water or you hoard uncommon recolors, this is an easy yes. If you want a set your kid will keep playing with for months, temper your expectations.

Best for: Avatar fans and parts hoarders who light up over uncommon recolors

The full review

What it is

The first thing that got me about the Mako Submarine was not the sub, it was the color. Sand green is one of those shades LEGO rations out carefully, and here it is smeared across a whole chunky underwater vehicle, curved slopes and plates and all. I found myself grinning at pieces I own in a dozen other colors, suddenly wearing this soft muted green I almost never see. As a model it is a tidy 553 piece build with two opening cockpits (one for a pilot, one for a gunner), three rotating ducted propellers at the back, and a row of harpoon torpedoes clipped along the sides. It captures the shape of the vehicle from The Way of Water well, and the sand green against the coral makes it a nice thing to have on a shelf.

The catch

I will be straight with you about where it wobbles. For 60 dollars and 553 pieces, the value is not generous, and once the sub is finished there is honestly not a lot to do with it. The torpedoes are just clipped on for looks rather than the flick-fire kind, the propellers spin and the cockpits open, and that is roughly the extent of the functions. The three coral reef builds sound exciting on the box but they are essentially display stands, pretty scenery with zero play value. If you are buying this hoping for a set that invents endless underwater adventures on its own, it does not quite deliver that. It is more of a display piece with a great parts payload than a plaything.

Who it's for

So here is how I would sort it. If you are an Avatar fan, or the kind of builder who gets a genuine thrill from cracking open a set and finding forty common parts in a color you have never owned, this one belongs in your collection. It is a fun, breezy build with four beautifully printed minifigures and a color scheme you will not find in many other boxes. If you are shopping purely for playability, or you count every cent against the piece total, you will feel the price. It landed as a very good set for the right person and a shrug for everyone else, which is exactly why the color and the minifigures carry so much of the weight here.

The parts story

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

Building it is a relaxed, pleasant couple of hours, nothing that will tie your brain in knots but never boring either. There are a few nicely involved sections shaping the hull that younger builders will slow down on, and the two cockpit assemblies give the middle of the build some structure. It flows well, and because the sand green is doing so much of the work visually, watching the sub take shape is oddly satisfying even though the techniques are fairly standard.

The real story is the parts. Reviewers kept calling this a great parts pack, and they are right, because it is stuffed with common elements in unconventional colors, sand green above all. That alone makes it a favorite for MOC builders hunting recolors. On top of that you get the four exclusive minifigures, all with excellent printing, plus an alien fish and an alien stingray figure, a bow with launchable arrows, and a Na'vi knife. For a set whose model can feel a bit static, the piece selection is where it quietly earns its keep.

Fun facts

01The set was only available during 2023 and has since retired, with new copies now trading around 66 to 75 dollars against the original 59.99 dollar retail price.
02The four minifigures are all exclusive to this set: Neteyam, Ao'nung, Spider, and the recombinant RDA Quaritch from The Way of Water.
03Sand green is a deliberately scarce LEGO color, which is a big reason builders prize this set as a parts source rather than just a model.
04Beyond the sub itself, the box builds three separate Pandoran ocean settings, including a cave and two coral reefs that act as display bases.