Creator

Wild Safari Animals

A giraffe that stands taller than you'd ever expect from a 780-piece box.

Brick Rated Score

4.0/5

Set 31150 · 2024

Pieces780

Minifigsn/a

Year2024

Set number31150

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 giraffe is what got me, standing over 30cm tall and posable right down to the hooves and tail.

What makes this one worth the money is that all three animals are genuinely display-worthy, so you're not just building the box art and shelving two afterthoughts. I'll be straight with you, the patchwork patterning on the giraffe's neck looks a little blocky up close, and the lion wears its joints on the outside. If you love animals and the idea of rebuilding, this is one of the strongest Creator 3-in-1 sets of its year.

Best for: Animal lovers who actually rebuild all three models instead of gluing the box art down forever

The full review

What it is

There is something about a giraffe that towers over your other shelf pieces, and that is exactly what you get here. The A-model reaches over 30cm tall and comes with a little tree and a flamingo for company, and the whole thing poses at the head, neck, legs, hooves and tail. It took me about an hour and a half to put together and I enjoyed every minute, mostly because the neck comes alive as you stack the plates and tiles that fake the spotted coat. Then you get to knock it all down and build a mother gazelle with her calf, or a lion with a butterfly, and neither of those feels like a consolation prize. That is the real trick of this set. Usually a Creator 3-in-1 gives you one hero and two also-rans, and here all three earn a spot on the shelf.

The catch

Now for the honest bits, because there are a couple. The patterning on the giraffe is built from layered curved plates and tiles, and while it works from a step back, up close the neck looks blocky rather than smooth, which bothered some builders more than others. The lion has a different problem: its large joints are left exposed, and on an animal you want to read as sleek and powerful, those visible hinges break the spell a little. The baby gazelle is the weakest of the bunch too, with only a rotating head and moving legs while the mother gets proper articulation. None of these are dealbreakers, but they keep this from being a flawless release, and they are the reason it lands as very good rather than an instant classic.

Who it's for

If you love animals, or you like a set you can tear down and rebuild into something completely different, this belongs in your basket. Kids nine and up will get real replay value out of three separate builds, and adults who want an unfussy, satisfying afternoon will too. The only people I would steer elsewhere are builders chasing clean, sculptural realism, because the patchwork giraffe and the lion's joints will nag at you. Everyone else, I think you'll be delighted, and with retirement projected for late 2026 this is not one to sit on forever.

The parts story

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

Building this is a relaxed, flowing experience rather than a technical puzzle. The giraffe in particular is a lesson in how LEGO fakes an organic shape, stacking curved plates and tiles in warm tans and browns until a blocky neck somehow starts to look like a real animal. There is a lot of repetition in the coat pattern, but it never tips into tedium the way a wall of identical tiles can, because the shape keeps changing under your hands. The gazelle and lion each come together in just under an hour, and having three genuinely different animals in one box makes the rebuild feel like getting three sets in a row.

The real treasure here is the color palette. You get a generous pile of pieces in useful earthtones, tans, browns, dark oranges and sandy shades, the kind of parts that are gold for anyone building their own creatures or landscapes. There is nothing exotic in the way of brand-new molds, this is a parts-and-technique set rather than a printed-piece showcase, but the sheer quantity of curved slopes and tiles in natural colors is what makes it quietly one of the better value boxes for a custom builder to raid.

Fun facts

01The finished giraffe stands over 30cm (about 14.5 inches) tall, making it one of the more imposing figures in the Creator 3-in-1 line.
02All 780 pieces go into the giraffe A-model, so the lion and gazelle builds use fewer parts and leave you with a healthy pile of spares.
03The set launched in January 2024 and is projected to retire around late 2026, giving it a fairly standard shelf life for the theme.
04The three builds each come with a small bonus companion: the giraffe gets a flamingo, the lion gets a butterfly, and the gazelle model adds a pair of bushes.