'It's an onion!' I shouted, as I built the Lego Shrek, Donkey & Puss in Boots set

Ogres are like onions, if onions were built out of bricks and (not to give away too many spoilers) it's those root vegetables that had me rushing across the room in glee and exclaiming 'onions!' on a rainy Wednesday night this week. The Lego Shrek, Donkey & Puss in Boots set is filled with more than a glancing nod to the celebrated first film, from the exclusive printed signpost pieces to a simple blue flower with red thorns.

The 1,403-piece set took me a couple of evenings to devour, but I'll confess I wasn't coming into this set 100% objectively. Character sets rarely get my heart pumping. There's something about the cold, plastic eyes of my favorites when locked into Lego's harder edges that gives me the creeps. I'm happy to report, though, Lego Shrek neatly sidesteps this curse and I'm impressed by just how well the green giant comes across here.

Is it going to replace any of the best Lego sets for scale, mastery, or creativity? It's unlikely. But if you're a Shrek fan this is an excellent shelf piece.

Features

Lego Shrek, Donkey & Puss in Boots stands at 8.5-inches wide and 6-inches deep when fully built, comprised of 1,403 pieces. That's a pretty dense equation, but a lot of these bricks are smaller nubbins that go a long way to creating a sense of texture in these details.

That means the $129.99 / £109.99 price tag has an easier time justifying itself - judging by recent releases this is the going rate for a 1,400 piece set.

The value of those pieces holds quite firm, though. There are seven printed blocks here, developed specifically for Shrek and Donkey's faces and that 'Beware Ogre' signpost at the front, as well as a Puss in Boots minifigure, complete with hat, sword, cape, and wee little printed boots.

Lego Shrek, Donkey & Puss in Boots build

This is a pretty straightforward build process that doesn't jump around the diorama too much, we go from the base to Donkey, sprinkle in a few environmental extras, and then move onto the big man himself. Bags 5-10 are dedicated to Shrek's figure, while 1-4 will have you working on that swamp and ass.

As is to be expected from our rotund pal and his furry donkey friend, a lot of this work deals with covering corners and joins. That means heavy use of slopes and larger curved round corners, rounding out those boxy bases.

For the most part, instructions are clear and easy to follow. I'd recommend a brighter building environment, particularly when working through bag 6 as the darker brown of Shrek's garb can be incredibly difficult to parse from the instructions without the big light on. Where left and right sides need to be considered, Lego splits internal pieces into red and green camps for a better visual understanding of direction and to avoid mistakes.

Creating Shrek's legs was the only hurdle I encountered. There are a lot of similar shapes at play here, all converging on one base with a lot of rotations within the directions. Working on top and underneath the base with very similar brick concoctions is a little trickier than the rest of the build. I'm grown enough to admit I had to break down my first leg entirely after noticing a mistake.

It's a satisfying build process overall, though, with that classic 'oh this is what I've been building for the last hour' recognition moment as each bag comes to an end. Using black mechanical claws with horizontal bar plates for the strings around Shrek's tunic is particularly ingenious move.

Lego Shrek, Donkey & Puss in Boots design

I was surprised by how well Shrek came to life at the end of this process. Characters, especially particularly round ones, don't always fare well against those straight-edge bricks and I was worried about his face in particular coming across a little uncanny.

However, with the extra scope in the price tag to include far more curves and smaller pieces, everyone's favorite Ogre looks fantastic on the base.

Donkey looks a little less rounded, coming across slightly slimmer than I'd have expected - next to Shrek he looks a bit one dimensional. There's still a nice level of detail here, with jagged pieces creating an impressive sense of texture underneath his front white stripe and down his mane. It's the 1x2 Rock Claw pieces doing the heavy lifting here, both across Donkey and in Shrek's tunic, allowing for a finer level of ruffle than typically afforded by your standard studs.

Shrek's a big guy, though, so keeping him sturdy on that swamp base is a lot of work. Held in place by two ball joints under his feet, and secured to Donkey's side by studs, this larger chap stands pretty securely in place. Those rotations under his boots give him a little wobble, which can be unnerving when moving the diorama, but he's sturdy when stuck in place. Donkey himself is built straight into the (nice) boulder he's perched on.

All that anchoring does mean there's very little articulation in these joins. The only posing power we have here is Donkey's mouth and ears and Shrek's left arm.

Lego thrives on its smaller details in sets like this, though, and there's no shortage of surprises in this display. From smaller hints like a blue flower with red thorns and a small onion tucked away at the back of the base to larger icons like that signpost, there's plenty of storytelling in Shrek and Donkey's environment.

Unfortunately, Puss feels like an afterthought. He's only here in minifigure form and, while his theming stands out well, he's just a little too luminous for my liking.

Shrek's green plates are vibrant, yes, but against the browns of his tunic, Puss's almost luminous toning feels a little off. Being a minifigure, this kitty's scaling is also out of whack - his head and much of his torso being about the same size as Shrek's eye and brow.

Should you buy Lego Shrek, Donkey & Puss in Boots?

The Lego Shrek, Donkey & Puss in Boots set can feel a little overpriced considering the lack of posability and the disappointing Puss minifigure, but there are some nice exclusive printed pieces here, not a sticker in sight, and the extra detail afforded by the additional brick count helps both Shrek and Donkey avoid the Lego figure curse.

Movie fans are going to find joy in both the smaller and larger aspects of this build and the finished product will look fantastic in any swamp. Clever piece usage, surprisingly convincing texture effects, and just the right level of reliance on curves makes this well worth investigating.

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How we tested Lego Shrek, Donkey & Puss in Boots

I spent two evenings putting the Lego Shrek, Donkey & Puss in Boots set together, totaling between four and five hours of build time split across two sessions. Stumbling blocks, fixes, and frustrations were logged as they appeared during the build process, and the final sculpture was fully examined for durability and stability. For more information on how we make our recommendations, check out the full GamesRadar+ Hardware Policy.

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