VIDIYO

The Boombox

A gorgeous printed brick of a set from LEGO's boldest flop.

Brick Rated Score

3.2/5

Set 43115 · 2021

Pieces982

Minifigs4

Year2021

Set number43115

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The verdict

The Boombox is the strange, lovely high point of a theme that lasted barely ten months, and I have real affection for it.

As an object it is fantastic: a chunky retro boombox with a handle, four brilliant little characters, and not one sticker in the whole box because LEGO printed everything. The catch is that the actual build is thin and the app it was built to feed is long gone. Get this if you love the parts and the look, not if you want a satisfying afternoon of engineering.

Best for: printed-tile hoarders and collectors who want a piece of LEGO history

The full review

What it is

The Boombox is the biggest set VIDIYO ever produced, and honestly it is the one I would rescue from the whole line if I could only keep one. It looks exactly like the boombox a kid in an eighties film would hoist onto a shoulder, right down to the twin speakers, the chunky dials, and a carrying handle moulded into the top. What got me is that there is not a single sticker anywhere. Every dial face, every readout, that bright yellow music note dead in the centre, all of it is printed. In a theme people love to knock, LEGO clearly poured love into how this thing actually looks, and it shows.

The catch

I have to be straight with you about the rest, though. For a set pushing a thousand pieces, the building is light. There is a lot of stacking and cladding and not much in the way of clever technique, so an experienced builder can breeze through it and come out feeling a little underfed. Then there is the elephant in the room: this was designed to work hand in hand with the VIDIYO app, scanning BeatBits to make augmented-reality music videos. The theme was pulled at the end of 2021 and the app was switched off for good in January 2024. So the entire digital half of what you were paying 99.99 for no longer exists. As a pure physical model it is charming, but you are buying a display piece now, not the experience LEGO sold.

Who it's for

This one is easy to sort out. If you love printed parts, if you collect oddball discontinued themes, or if the retro boombox shape just makes you happy, you will adore it and it displays beautifully. It is also a lovely, low-stress build for a younger fan who just wants a cool music box and four fun characters. If you build for the challenge, or you are chasing the app play that put this on shelves in the first place, skip it without a second thought. The magic here is entirely in the object, and thankfully the object is a good one.

The parts story

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

Building the Boombox is a relaxed, breezy job rather than a puzzle. You are mostly assembling a sturdy rectangular shell, cladding it in coloured tiles, and clicking the speaker faces and dials into place, so it comes together fast and stays rock solid once closed. The handle built into the top is the nicest structural touch, letting the finished thing actually be picked up and carried like the real deal. It is the kind of set where the satisfaction is in the finished silhouette, not in the techniques getting you there.

The parts are the whole reason to be here. This is a printed-tile treasure chest: dial faces, gauge readouts, and that hero yellow music note are all printed rather than stickered, which is rare and lovely at this price. The round 2x4 circle tile shows up here in a printed form that would only later get a plain mould in bright bluish green, so parts hunters have a genuine reason to dig in. Add the four expressive minifigs and the pile of special-effect BeatBit tiles and the per-piece value looks strong on paper, even if the assembly does not stretch you.

Fun facts

01VIDIYO was a collaboration between LEGO and Universal Music Group, and lasted only about ten months from launch to its discontinuation announcement.
02The Boombox was the largest set in the entire VIDIYO range at 982 pieces, and it left shelves when the theme was pulled at the end of 2021.
03The set includes 18 special-effect BeatBits, printed tiles you scanned into the app to add effects to your music videos.
04LEGO kept the VIDIYO app running for two years after ending the physical sets, finally shutting it down on January 25, 2024.