Creator

Wild Animals: Panda Family

A panda and cub so cute I forgot they came with two other animals hiding inside the box.

Brick Rated Score

4.4/5

Set 31165 · 2025

Pieces626

Minifigsn/a

Year2025

Set number31165

Check price on Amazon

Affiliate link. We may earn a commission at no extra cost to you.As an Amazon Associate we earn from qualifying purchases.

The verdict

The panda cub is what got me.

Two tiny black microphones pushed into Technic bricks for its eyes, and suddenly this little brick creature is looking right back at you. Designer Aaron Newman built three genuinely lovely animal families out of one box, and all three actually earn their keep, which almost never happens with a 3-in-1. I'll be straight with you though: the pandas eat nearly the whole set, so the orca and penguin are more of an either-or than a build-all-three party.

Best for: Animal lovers and younger builders who want a shelf-worthy creature with real personality

The full review

What it is

This is the 2025 follow-up to that runaway-hit fox 3-in-1, and LEGO clearly knew it had something. For 626 pieces (plus a generous 20 spares) you get a panda snacking on bamboo with a cub at its side, or an orca and calf you can pose mid-swim on clear stands, or a penguin and chick standing on a patch of ice. The main panda is the star and deserves to be. It has a posable mouth, head, neck and paws, and once you get it into a pose it genuinely reads as a living, lolling panda rather than a static ornament. The cub sitting next to it, with its microphone eyes and stubby limbs, is the kind of thing that makes you grin while you build it.

The catch

Here is the honest part about the 3-in-1 math. The pandas are so good partly because they use nearly all of the bricks in the box. That means when you rebuild into the orca or the penguin, you are working with roughly half the set, and it is not cleanly the other half either. So you cannot build the panda and the orca at the same time from one purchase and stand them side by side. If you want all three on a shelf together, you are buying multiples, which is exactly what LEGO is hoping. At 39.99 US the value is fair for the panda alone, but do not expect three simultaneous display pieces. There are a couple of rough edges too: an exposed ball joint on the panda's leg that a bit more design polish could have hidden, and an orca tail tile that refuses to stay put.

Who it's for

If you love animals, or you are building alongside a kid who does, this is an easy set to recommend and one of the most charming things Creator has done in years. It is forgiving enough for a confident eight-year-old and satisfying enough that grown builders keep it on the desk. Skip it only if you came for clever engineering or a big meaty build. The techniques here are simple by design, and the joy is in the finished creatures, not the journey to get there.

The parts story

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

Building the panda is a gentle, feel-good process rather than a technical workout. You are shaping a rounded body with slopes and curved plates, hinging the legs, and posing the neck, and there is very little in the way of surprising new technique. That is the honest tradeoff: the alternate orca and penguin builds are hinged in sections so they can angle and flex convincingly, but nobody comes away from this set having learned a fancy new trick. What you get instead is the quiet satisfaction of watching a recognizable, expressive animal appear in your hands.

The parts themselves are where the small delights hide. The panda's round belly leans on newer 2x2 curved sloped pieces, and the cub's eyes are two black microphone elements plugged into Technic bricks, which is exactly the kind of clever repurposing that makes you smile. Because the models are mostly black and white, LEGO tucked the colorful bits inside where they do not show: lime green Technic connectors, plus black and white 2x2 rock tiles and the handy 2x2 curved plate with a cutout. For a parts hoarder, the black and white curved slopes and the animal-friendly joints are the real haul here.

Fun facts

01The set was designed by Aaron Newman, who managed to fit both an adult and a baby into every one of the three animal families.
02It launched on January 1st, 2025 at 39.99 US dollars and follows the popular 31162 Wild Animals: Fox Family from the year before.
03The cub's eyes are made from two black LEGO microphone pieces pushed into Technic bricks, a trick borrowed from minifigure accessories.
04The orca and its calf can be posed on transparent stands to look like they are swimming, with the adult's body built in hinged sections including the tail.