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Neytiri & Thanator vs. AMP Suit Quaritch

Three little builds that punch way above their box.

Brick Rated Score

4.2/5

Set 75571 · 2022

Pieces560

Minifigs2

Year2022

Set number75571

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The verdict

This was the launch set for LEGO Avatar, and it quietly turned out to be one of the best value boxes of its whole year.

You get a brick-built Thanator, a compact AMP Suit mech, and a slice of glowing Pandora rainforest, all for what used to be a very fair price. The Thanator's new molded head is the part that got me, it is genuinely characterful. The catch now is that it retired, so you are chasing it on the aftermarket rather than picking it up cheap.

Best for: Avatar fans and mech lovers who want three satisfying small builds in one box

The full review

What it is

This is the set that opened the LEGO Avatar theme, and for a launch box it does a lot right. You are not building one big model here, you are building three small ones that work as a scene: Neytiri's Thanator, Colonel Quaritch's AMP Suit, and a chunk of bioluminescent Pandora rainforest. The first thing that got me was the Thanator. It is mostly brick-built, but LEGO gave it a brand new molded head with big ears, orange eyes, and little spiky fins at the back, and it has real presence sitting on the shelf. The whole thing packs into 560 pieces, which is not many for what you get out of it.

The catch

I will be straight with you about the caveats, because they matter more now than they did on release. When this came out it was one of the best value sets going, a creature plus a mech plus a landscape for a genuinely fair price. That was the whole pitch. The problem is that the set retired, and clean sealed copies now trade for roughly double the old retail, so the value argument that made it special has softened. You are paying a collector premium today. On top of that, the rainforest base is smaller than the box art suggests once it is assembled, and the Thanator's six legs can be a touch fussy to get standing in a natural pose. None of that is a dealbreaker, but go in with eyes open.

Who it's for

If you love the Avatar films, or you are the kind of builder who collects small posable creatures and mechs, this is an easy yes even at the higher price. The two minifigures, Neytiri and Colonel Miles Quaritch, are exclusive to this set, and Neytiri uses the taller Na'vi build so the scale against the human figure actually reads correctly. If you are chasing a big centerpiece display model, this is not that, and you would be happier with one of the larger Avatar sets like the Floating Mountains or Toruk Makto. But as a compact, characterful, three-in-one box, it holds up beautifully.

The parts story

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

Building this is more fun than a set this size has any right to be. The Thanator in particular uses some advanced but never frustrating techniques to get its curved, animal shape out of standard bricks, and it comes together in satisfying stages rather than dragging. The AMP Suit is the sleeper hit of the build, a tidy compact mech that ends up feeling sturdy and detailed instead of flimsy, which is not a given at this scale. The rainforest section is the quickest part, more of a scenic base than a build in its own right.

For parts hunters, the headline is that new Thanator head mold, which has two flexible Tsaheylu neural-bond pieces attached and only appears here. The set also carries the glow-in-the-dark flora that runs through the whole Avatar line, and the glow carrot-top element is exclusive to this set in that color, so it is a nice pull if you like sorting bioluminescent recolors into your collection. Beyond those standouts most of the parts are common workhorse elements, which is part of why the design impressed reviewers so much, it wrings a lot of shape out of ordinary bricks.

Fun facts

01This was one of the four sets that launched the LEGO Avatar theme on October 1, 2022, timed ahead of the release of Avatar: The Way of Water.
02Both minifigures, Neytiri and Colonel Miles Quaritch, are exclusive to this set, and Neytiri uses the taller Na'vi leg build so she towers over the human figure just like in the films.
03The Thanator's molded head, complete with two flexible Tsaheylu neural-bond strands, was a brand new mold created just for this set.
04Since retiring, sealed copies have roughly doubled from the original 44.99 US dollar retail price on the aftermarket.