Review: 40595 Tribute to Galileo Galilei
Posted by CapnRex101,Several sets have been produced in celebration of important historical figures recently, perhaps influencing the style of 40595 Tribute to Galileo Galilei. This homage to the eminent astronomer won the Ready, Set, Go STEM! competition run on LEGO Ideas last year.
I think this model looks impressive and captures the aesthetic of the Renaissance period, also including various references to Galileo's work. Moreover, the set will be available with purchases of over £115, $130 or €130 on LEGO.com, starting in November, which seems like a reasonable threshold.
Summary
40595 Tribute to Galileo Galilei, 307 pieces.
Despite the underwhelming minifigure, Galileo's study is remarkably detailed
- Attractive model for display
- Good level of detail
- Enjoyable function
- Fun references to Galileo's work
- Galileo minifigure is disappointing
The set was provided for review by LEGO. All opinions expressed are those of the author.
Minifigure
Minifigures depicting historical figures have often been a point of contention, re-using parts to approximate their subjects, with mixed success. Galileo Galilei certainly suffers as a result of this treatment, mainly because of the modern torso from 10292 The Friends Apartments, which is obviously inappropriate for the Renaissance astronomer.
Fortunately, a bushy beard partly covers Galileo's torso and strongly resembles his appearance in Justus Sustermans' 1636 portrait. I like the hair element too, while the determined face with grey eyebrows also works nicely, following several previous uses. However, I cannot overlook the poor torso choice, particularly given the possible versatility of a Renaissance-period design.
The Completed Model
Galileo's vignette is stylistically similar to 40579 Eiffel's Apartment, recreating a section of the scientist's study. The angled walls are attractive and I like the predominant colours of medium nougat, reddish brown and dark bluish grey. While muted, these earthy shades feel authentic to a seventeenth century setting and certain more colourful features stand out brilliantly.
The base is constructed with black bricks and a layer of dark bluish grey tiles, contrasting with the walls and furnishings of the room above. This design is basic, but nevertheless effective. A stickered plaque identifying Galileo is attached to the base and looks great, although the ink on my sticker has seemingly run slightly. Hopefully, that is an isolated issue.
While a number of updates have been made between the submission designed by Firecracker_ and the official set, the cabinet against the wall is almost unchanged. The colourful books look superb and I like the drawers, especially with one slightly askew. In addition, a pair of spheres are shown here, perhaps in reference to Galileo's thought experiment, in which two spheres of varying mass are dropped from the Leaning Tower of Pisa and fall at an equal rate.
The tower is illustrated in a painting on the wall, represented by a sticker on a 4x4 tile. Three stickers are provided in total and another is found on Galileo's desk, which depicts one of the astronomer's drawings of the Moon. An inkwell and a sextant are included on the desk as well, flanking an eye-catching Heliocentric model of the Sun and the Earth.
As mentioned earlier, these brightly-coloured parts stand out against the surrounding shades of brown and grey, so the model looks lovely. The blue bar with ball joint representing the Earth is interesting, making its debut in this colour. The model rotates using a basic geared mechanism beneath and works perfectly, although I find the desk itself somewhat lacking in detail.
Galileo's workspace would not be complete without a telescope, so one stands by the window. The use of reddish brown and pearl gold pieces is excellent and the telescope is adjustable as well, so can be angled for the minifigure to peer through the lens. A 2x2 jumper plate is suitably positioned for that purpose, alongside a decorated globe, which finishes off the interior.
The back of the model is relatively bland, as expected. The back of the wall panel and the light bluish grey pieces look awkward, but this side is obviously not intended for display. Additionally, a medium azure 2x2 splat gear is situated in the base and rotating this gear, which meshes with two others beneath the floor of the study, turns the Heliocentric model on Galileo's desk.
Whereas two of the external walls are undecorated, the third is covered with leaves and vines, which are necessary because these are visible from inside the study. The green vine elements have appeared only twice before and look nice, in combination with the stone balustrade behind them.
Overall
Galileo Galilei is definitely deserving of commemoration and 40595 Tribute to Galileo Galilei is an appealing summary of his works. The model looks excellent on display and I like the details alluding to the scientist's many observations, with a particular focus on the working Heliocentric model on his desk!
Unfortunately, the minifigure depicting Galileo himself is poorly executed. I think a unique torso was essential because this dark bluish grey shirt bears no resemblance to portraits of the man. Despite this flaw, I remain pleased with the set and the spend threshold of £115, $130 or €130 seems fair, considering the size of the vignette.
40595 Tribute to Galileo Galilei will be available from 1st November to 16th November, or while stocks last.
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36 comments on this article
I love these GWPs! They are a great incentive to purchase Lego and get a neat reward. Well done Lego!
Nice GWP, will definitely have to explore purchase options for this one.
Did they even have globes when Galileo was alive? They still thought the sun went around the Earth.
@twodoors said:
"I love these GWPs! They are a great incentive to purchase Lego and get a neat reward. Well done Lego!"
GWP are not a "reward" they are an incentive to get you to buy direct from Lego at RRP, instead of buying at Amazon et al who discount.
That little working astronomy model is so cute.
@johleth said:
"Did they even have globes when Galileo was alive? They still thought the sun went around the Earth."
The oldest known globe was made more than 2,100 years ago by Crates of Mallus, a Greek philosopher and geographer who lived in what is today Turkey. The oldest globe that survives to this day was made by the German geographer Martin Behaim in 1492—just before Christopher Columbus sailed to the New World. This globe is more accurate than Crates', but still leaves out North America, South America, Australia, and Antarctica.
@johleth said:
"Did they even have globes when Galileo was alive? They still thought the sun went around the Earth."
They might not have been quite as widespread, but since he was an ardent defender of heliocentrism and had made multiple observations about other planetary bodies in the solar system, it wouldn't have been so surprising for him to have something similar to globes.
Good review, appropriate criticism. On the whole, an appropriate inducement to financial redistribution.
Love that little globe!
Seen from the back the beard is looking weird!
(Pun intended!)
While I think the set looks great and I'm looking forward to getting it, I'm very disappointed that there is zero reference to Jupiter or it's moons.
@UProbeck said:
"Seen from the back the beard is looking weird!
(Pun intended!)"
I don’t get it?
I don't think a unique torso is essential... but surely there are existing ones that would be better!
piece count?
@johleth said:
"Did they even have globes when Galileo was alive? They still thought the sun went around the Earth."
Thinking the Sun goes around the Earth is not relevant to ideas about the shape of the Earth! The shape had been accepted as a globe for a long, long time before Galileo.
Galileo's great observation was of the moons of Jupiter - now known as the Galilean Moons - and showing how they clearly went around Jupiter: the first things in the sky that could not be explained away by any complicated set of epicycles (which were needed to explain the kooky backwards motion of Mars (and also Jupiter, Saturn, but Mars is the kookiest). Once people accepted that something, anything, might be revolving around something other than the Earth, it became easier to accept that Copernicus (as the biggest name in Heliocentricity) was correct.
Not having even a representation of Jupiter is a great hole in any representation of Galileo. What a shame.
@KyloBen1012 said:
"piece count?
"
307 - checked myself on lego shop as not included as part of review
@KyloBen1012 said:
" @KyloBen1012 said:
"piece count?
"
307 - checked myself on lego shop as not included as part of review
"
and now included hahaha
It almost looks like the beard is preventing the hair from fully sitting down on the head. Perhaps the slight gap is acceptable and less noticeable in person.
@KyloBen1012 said:
" @KyloBen1012 said:
" @KyloBen1012 said:
"piece count?
"
307 - checked myself on lego shop as not included as part of review"
and now included hahaha"
The piece count is always displayed in the summary box and has been there since the review was published.
Hello darkness my old friend
Another Tempting GWP I don't have room for
Father Christmas has been hitting the 'Just for Men'.
Another excellent reward... Feels like it's getting close to Concorde time!
Only negative is that I made a big order not so long ago.
@johleth said:
"Did they even have globes when Galileo was alive? They still thought the sun went around the Earth."
Sure, but they didn't know the detailed accurate shapes of the continents, especially Australia, back then.
@sgllama said:
" @johleth said:
"Did they even have globes when Galileo was alive? They still thought the sun went around the Earth."
Thinking the Sun goes around the Earth is not relevant to ideas about the shape of the Earth! The shape had been accepted as a globe for a long, long time before Galileo."
Not by Kyrie Irving and his ilk.
Flat Earthers hate this one simple set.
Okay, it's kind of expensive for a GWP, but then again - the previous Galileo-minifig only came in a set with Juno and Zeus, and that set is currently estimated at a worth of $2,090,000,000.95 (so that's over two billion-with-a-b).
https://www.minifigpriceguide.com/detailPages/OTHER_nsa001.html
I've done the math, and it turns out that this GWP is probably a better deal, although I cannot guarantee that the resale-value will be enough to destabilise the economy. But let's give it a try anyway, okay? I believe in us.
@Ridgeheart said:
"Okay, it's kind of expensive for a GWP, but then again - the previous Galileo-minifig only came in a set with Juno and Zeus, and that set is currently estimated at a worth of $2,090,000,000.95 (so that's over two billion-with-a-b).
https://www.minifigpriceguide.com/detailPages/OTHER_nsa001.html
I've done the math, and it turns out that this GWP is probably a better deal, although I cannot guarantee that the resale-value will be enough to destabilise the economy. But let's give it a try anyway, okay? I believe in us."
Did they ever reuse those lightning bolts of Zeus?
@Emmafofemma said:
"Flat Earthers hate this one simple set."
Kyrie has started this season like he's playing on a flat Earth. He must really believe.
Really nice GWP. I would love to have it, but I don't really make purchases in that price range from lego.com at all. I mean, I am looking into getting the 10497 galaxy explorer before it goes EOL, but I will probably rather take the 10€ Discount from Smyth's toys. I could theoreticaly buy it from LEGO together with the 76911 Aston Martin I will gift my Dad (big Bond fan) for Christmas, but that thing gets sold around €20 with Discounts. add in a polybag to meet the treshold, and the Galileo Set would cost me just over €15 in lost savings. Thinking now, that's actually not a bad Deal, probably less than what It will go for on eBay and such, so maybe I'll consider it...
@StyleCounselor said:
" @sgllama said:
" @johleth said:
"Did they even have globes when Galileo was alive? They still thought the sun went around the Earth."
Thinking the Sun goes around the Earth is not relevant to ideas about the shape of the Earth! The shape had been accepted as a globe for a long, long time before Galileo."
Not by Kyrie Irving and his ilk."
What I can't figure out is why Irving plays basketball instead of discus, if he doesn't believe in globes!
@watcher21 said:
"Hello darkness my old friend"
I've come to talk with you again...
(Great story by the way, of an everlasting friendship, though I digress...)
@Ridgeheart said:
"Okay, it's kind of expensive for a GWP, but then again - the previous Galileo-minifig only came in a set with Juno and Zeus, and that set is currently estimated at a worth of $2,090,000,000.95 (so that's over two billion-with-a-b).
https://www.minifigpriceguide.com/detailPages/OTHER_nsa001.html
I've done the math, and it turns out that this GWP is probably a better deal, although I cannot guarantee that the resale-value will be enough to destabilise the economy. But let's give it a try anyway, okay? I believe in us."
Ok, I’ll commit the unpardonable internet sin and admit I don’t know something. What is the backstory on the figures you have linked to?
@B_Space_Man said:
" @Ridgeheart said:
"Okay, it's kind of expensive for a GWP, but then again - the previous Galileo-minifig only came in a set with Juno and Zeus, and that set is currently estimated at a worth of $2,090,000,000.95 (so that's over two billion-with-a-b).
https://www.minifigpriceguide.com/detailPages/OTHER_nsa001.html
I've done the math, and it turns out that this GWP is probably a better deal, although I cannot guarantee that the resale-value will be enough to destabilise the economy. But let's give it a try anyway, okay? I believe in us."
Ok, I’ll commit the unpardonable internet sin and admit I don’t know something. What is the backstory on the figures you have linked to?
"
They went to Jupiter!
https://www.space.com/12546-lego-figures-jupiter-juno-spacecraft.html
My main gripe with the minifig is that he appears to be wearing modern trousers.
Going by portraits he he should look somewhat like Dumbledore.
@johleth said:
"Did they even have globes when Galileo was alive? They still thought the sun went around the Earth."
Why wouldn't they have globes? They still knew the earth was round. Globes have been around since at least the 15th century with the discovery of the new world.