Brickheadz

Spice Girls Tribute

Five little brick versions of the girl group that ran my childhood, and yes, Geri got her Union Jack.

Brick Rated Score

3.8/5

Set 40548 · 2022

Pieces578

Minifigsn/a

Year2022

Set number40548

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The verdict

This is the set that finally put real, actual human beings into BrickHeadz form, and the Spice Girls were the ones who did it.

All five likenesses are genuinely good, with each look pulled from a specific era, and Geri's Union Jack dress is the one that got me. The builds themselves are simpler than the design work deserves, though, and fifty dollars for five little figures made a lot of people wince. If you grew up singing along to Wannabe, you will forgive all of it.

Best for: Nineties kids and Spice Girls fans who want the whole lineup on a shelf

The full review

What it is

I still remember the Spice Girls being absolutely everywhere when I was small, so seeing all five of them turned into little brick figures did something to me. This 578-piece set is a proper milestone too, because the Spice Girls were the first real, living people LEGO ever made into BrickHeadz. Before this it was cartoon characters and superheroes, and then suddenly here is Mel B in her leopard print and Geri in that Union Jack dress from the 1997 Brit Awards. Each of the five is pulled from a specific look you can actually place, which is exactly the right way to do a tribute like this. Baby Spice gets her pink dress, Sporty gets her tracksuit and headset mic, Scary gets the animal print, Posh gets the little black number, and Ginger gets the flag. The likenesses are the whole point and they nailed them.

The catch

Now for the part that stops this being a five-star love letter. The builds do not really match how good the designs look on the box. A couple of the girls, Emma and Victoria especially, are close to a single block of color with a hair piece on top, and you finish them faster than you want to. Fifty dollars for the bundle is the other sticking point, and I understand it. Split five ways that is ten dollars a figure, which is fine, but the actual brick content beyond the printed pieces is stuff most of us have crates of already. A forty dollar price would have made this an easy recommend for everyone instead of just the fans. It also retired fairly quickly, only about ten months on shelves, and prices on the secondary market have actually dropped below RRP rather than climbing, so there is no rush-to-invest story here.

Who it's for

So who is this really for. If the Spice Girls meant something to you, if you had the posters or wore out the cassette, none of my grumbling matters and you already know you want it. It looks fantastic as a row on a shelf and the nostalgia hit is real. If you build for clever engineering or you want your money to stretch into interesting new techniques, this is not the set that will thrill you, and you should look elsewhere in the BrickHeadz range. It sits in that lovely spot where the emotional pull does the heavy lifting, and for the right person that is more than enough.

The parts story

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

Building this is quick and gentle, which is either a plus or a letdown depending on what you came for. Each of the five girls lives in her own numbered bag with her own little instruction booklet, so if you have friends or family around you can each grab a Spice Girl and race through them together. Most of them follow the standard BrickHeadz recipe, a chunky body and an oversized head, but Geri is the exception and she is built more in a SNOT style (studs turned sideways) so the printed Union Jack tiles can sit flat on her front. That small structural twist is the most interesting bit of assembly in the box.

The pieces that earn their keep are the printed ones. Mel B comes with ten tan 1x2 bricks printed with leopard spots for her catsuit, which is a lovely stash of parts if you ever want to build anything wild. Geri's dress is two printed 2x4 tiles forming the flag, and Melanie C has printed leg bricks for her tracksuit. There are also two microphones and stands tucked in. Past those highlights, though, the honest truth is the rest is everyday elements in pink, black, white and tan, so do not buy this expecting a parts-pack windfall. You are paying for the prints and the likenesses, not the bulk bricks.

Fun facts

01The Spice Girls were the first real-life people LEGO ever turned into BrickHeadz, before this the range was all fictional characters.
02Geri's outfit is a direct nod to the Union Jack dress she wore at the 1997 Brit Awards, one of the most famous looks in British pop history.
03Mel B's figure includes ten tan 1x2 bricks specially printed with leopard spots to recreate her animal-print catsuit.
04The set launched on March 1, 2022 at 49.99 dollars and retired by December that year, a shelf life of only about ten months.