Minecraft

The Devourer Showdown

A grotesque, gadget-packed boss fight that plays better than it photographs

Brick Rated Score

3.8/5

Set 21257 · 2024

Pieces420

Minifigs4

Year2024

Set number21257

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The verdict

I went into this one expecting a generic monster kit and came out genuinely charmed by how much personality is packed into The Devourer.

He is scabby, oozing, and built to actually do something, not just stand there looking tough. This is a playset first and a display piece a distant second, so temper your expectations for shelf appeal and let your kid mash the firing buttons instead. If you or your builder are deep into Minecraft Legends and want the boss encounter recreated in brick form, it delivers exactly that experience.

Best for: Minecraft Legends fans who want a hands-on boss fight to act out, not a static display build

The full review

What it is

The first time I got a good look at The Devourer up close, I laughed, in a good way. He is covered in scabs, sores, and fungal growths, and LEGO leaned all the way into making him look properly disgusting rather than cute. That commitment to character is what sold me. This is one of those Minecraft sets that clearly started with the game's boss design and worked backward into bricks, rather than the other way around, and you can feel that intention in every panel of his lumpy, colorful body.

The catch

I will be straight with you about the price, though. Forty five dollars for 420 pieces is a rough ratio, and a chunk of that piece count goes toward small connector and joint pieces that do not photograph well or add much visual density. The build itself moves fast, there is no clever engineering trick here that will make an experienced builder sit up, and the posing on The Devourer is limited to simple ball joints at the shoulder and hip. If you are buying this purely to admire on a shelf, it will feel thin for the money.

Who it's for

Where it earns its keep is in play. My instinct watching kids handle this one is that the firing mechanisms, the mucus rocket from the backpack and the vomit splat from the mouth, are exactly the kind of interactive nonsense that keeps a set in rotation instead of on a shelf. Pair that with four minifigures that are exclusive to this box and you have a genuinely fun boss battle playset for a Minecraft Legends fan. If your kid does not care about the game specifically, I would look at a different Minecraft set with more building substance for the same money.

What works

The Devourer has real functions, a shoulder-mounted mucus rocket launcher and a mouth that spits a vomit splat, so kids actually play with it after the build
Four exclusive minifigures (Ranger Hero on Big Beak, Friendly Skeleton, Blaze Runt, and a cobblestone golem-style build) come with new printing you will not find in any other set
The set includes the first Minecraft Lute piece, molded in warm gold with pearl gold detailing, a nice touch for anyone collecting the game's instrument props

Worth knowing

At $44.99 for 420 pieces, the price per piece runs high even by LEGO Minecraft standards
The build itself is quick and light on engineering, so it will not hold an experienced builder's attention for long
The Devourer's articulation is limited to single ball joints at the shoulders and hips, so posing options are pretty basic

Sold? Grab it.

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The parts story

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

Putting this one together does not take long, and that is by design. You are not solving structural puzzles so much as assembling a big, lumpy, huggable-looking creature panel by panel, then snapping the internal mechanism together that connects the push buttons to the firing parts. It is satisfying in a different way than a technical build, more like watching a costume come together than engineering a bridge.

The real value here is in the exclusive elements. All three humanoid minifigures, Ranger Hero, Blaze Runt, and the Friendly Skeleton, carry new printing not used anywhere else, and the Ranger's head mold is a dual-molded piece with face and hair up front and a small hair protrusion at the back, a nice bit of sculpting for a boxed set at this price point. The set also introduces the first Minecraft Lute piece, done in warm gold with pearl gold accents, which instrument-prop collectors will want to track down on its own. None of it screams rare grail piece, but it is all exclusive to 21257, which matters once this one is gone.

Fun facts

01The Devourer's push-button functions fire two different projectiles, a mucus rocket from the shoulder pack and a vomit splat from the mouth, both powered by simple Technic axle and arm mechanisms hidden inside the torso.
02This set introduced LEGO's first ever Minecraft Lute piece, molded in warm gold with pearl gold detailing.
03LEGO flagged 21257 as retiring soon on its US site on September 19, 2024, less than a year after its January 2024 release, and it has since fully retired.
04All four minifigures in the set, including the Ranger Hero riding the Big Beak bird, are exclusive to this box and do not appear in any other LEGO Minecraft set.