Classic

Ocean's Bottom

A big bright bucket of possibility with a little birthday brick tucked inside.

Brick Rated Score

4.0/5

Set 10404 · 2018

Pieces579

Minifigs2

Year2018

Set number10404

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The verdict

This is one of the five Classic sets LEGO put out for the brick's 60th birthday in 2018, and it hides its best trick in plain sight: a printed white 2x4 tile that reads 60 years in red and gold.

Underneath the ocean theme it's really a generous 579-piece creativity box with two minifigures and a pile of accessories, so you are buying open-ended play, not a display model. I have a real soft spot for it because the suggested builds (the octopus chef especially) are more charming than these boxes usually manage. Just know going in that there is no finished centerpiece here, only what you make.

Best for: parents and open-ended builders who want a big loose-brick box with a collectible anniversary tile

The full review

What it is

Ocean's Bottom is easy to underestimate, because at a glance it looks like every other tub of assorted LEGO. Then you spot the reason it exists: it is one of five Classic sets released in 2018 to mark 60 years of the LEGO brick, and every one of them carries a special printed white 2x4 tile that reads 60 years in red and gold. That little birthday brick is the thing that got me. It turns an ordinary creativity box into something with a date stamped on it, a small piece of LEGO history you can hold. The rest of the box is 579 pieces of bright, cheerful assortment built loosely around an underwater idea, with two minifigures and a fat handful of accessories to give play some direction.

The catch

I want to be straight with you about what you are actually buying, because the name can mislead. This is not a model of the ocean floor. There is no big finished centerpiece waiting in the box. What you get is loose bricks, a set of suggested builds in the instructions (an octopus chef, a trumpet, various little sea creatures), and total freedom after that. At its 29.99 launch price that was honestly a good deal, roughly ten more classic bricks than the standard medium creative box plus around 78 accessories and a couple of minifigures for the same money. The catch is the colors and the part selection lean young and playful, so if you are an adult hoping for interesting structural parts you may find yourself treating it as a donor bin rather than a build.

Who it's for

So who should actually go looking for this one. If you are a parent or you buy for a LEGO-loving kid, it is close to ideal: bright, forgiving, endlessly rebuildable, and the accessory pile (swords, wizard hats, a frying pan, flippers, a chicken leg) keeps imaginative play rolling for ages. Collectors of the 60th anniversary series will want it too, purely for that printed tile. The people I would steer away are display builders and technical types chasing clever engineering, because there is none of that here. And since the set retired at the end of 2018, you are now shopping the used and resale market, so let the price you are offered decide whether it is worth it for you.

The parts story

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

Building this is less a single sit-down build and more a series of small, quick wins. You follow the booklet to make a few charming little models, the octopus chef being the standout, then the instructions basically wave you off and let you improvise. That makes it wonderful for young or casual builders and a bit unstructured for anyone who likes a set to lead them from step one to a finished thing. Expect a lot of small elements, plenty of color, and a rummage-and-create rhythm rather than a build-to-completion one.

The single most notable piece is that printed 60th anniversary tile, a white 2x4 with 60 years in red and gold, unique to the 2018 Building Bigger Thinking sets and the reason many people keep the box. Beyond it, the value is in breadth rather than rarity: shaped and eye pieces, wheels, and a big spread of accessories (sword, wizard hat, cleaver, round shield, broom, carrot, frying pan, chicken leg, flippers, knight and space helmets, wigs, and a fish). At 579 pieces for the launch price the per-part value was excellent, and as a loose-brick top-up for an existing collection it still pulls its weight.

Fun facts

01Ocean's Bottom is one of five Classic sets in the 2018 Building Bigger Thinking range released to celebrate the 60th anniversary of the LEGO brick, alongside Rainbow Fun, Fun Future, World Fun, and Mission to Mars.
02Every set in that anniversary range includes the same special printed white 2x4 tile reading 60 years in red and gold, which is exclusive to these five boxes.
03At 579 pieces it sat in the middle of the anniversary lineup, larger than World Fun (295 parts) but smaller than the 871-piece Mission to Mars.
04It launched at 29.99 dollars, was available only through 2018, and is now retired, so it lives on through the resale market.