Review: 31165 Wild Animals - Panda Family
Posted by benbacardi,This year, the cohort of 3-in-1 Creator sets released included a number of animal builds, such as 31154 Forest Animals: Red Fox and 31150 Wild Safari Animals, which built excellently detailed models of a variety of different creatures.
LEGO is continuing this next year, the largest of which is 31165 Wild Animals: Panda Family, a delightful set providing options to build three very different parent-and-baby pairs of animals; pandas, penguins, and orcas.
Summary
31165 Panda Family, 626 pieces.
£34.99 / $39.99 / €39.99 | 5.6p/6.4c/6.4c per piece.
Buy at LEGO.com »
Three truly fantastic parent-and-child animal models, it's hard to decide which of them to build!
- Three excellent animal family designs
- Each still has a pop of colour despite the black and white theme
- Decent range of articulation on all three
- None!
The set was provided for review by LEGO. All opinions expressed are those of the author.
Panda Family
The titular model is the panda family, and the build begins with the baby panda and a small patch of bamboo. The set also includes the brand-new 2x2 bowed 1/4 circle element, used here for the top of the baby's belly. This piece was apparently sponsored by the Creator 3-in-1 team, and appears 16 times in this set!
The baby panda is a very simple build, but absolutely adorable. I particularly love the back paws, with the flesh tones a strong contrast agains the black and white body. In one hand it holds a small stalk of bamboo. The arms can hinge up and down, and the head is attached via a ball joint and has a wide range of movement.
The body is a little more blocky from the rear, and the panda's elbows are a little pointy despite the use of curved plates. The bamboo on the small patch of ground looks excellent, and along with the pink flowers provides some much-needed colour to the set!
The remaining bags in the set construct the baby's mother (we can assume, as male pandas are not involved in the care of panda cubs). She is sat in a similar position to her baby, a pose pandas are often seen when eating bamboo, which they do for up to 16 hours a day! I think the designers have done an excellent job of capturing the creature's rotund appearance, including tufts of fur on her arms and sides replicated with the use of "rock plates", which were also used heavily in 31154 Forest Animals: Red Fox for the fur of the fox and squirrel, and feathers of the owl.
Like her cub, she is grasping a shoot of bamboo in one hand, and her head is attached with another ball joint allowing a good range of movement. Her mouth is hinged and can be opened, and her arms are articulated, though only at the shoulders—the elbows are locked in this position. 1x1 round tiles in sand yellow, and new 2x2 half-round tiles, make up the pads on her rear paws, and add significantly to her charm!
From the rear, the body is nicely rounded, but the back of the panda's head has a rather unsightly gap where the ball joint is. The bamboo is attached to her hand with a pair of red axles, and can easily be removed if desired.
Warning: the image below may be distressing to some, as I have torn open the panda's chest to reveal her innards in all their multi-coloured glory! As is often the case, the hidden interior of the model uses far more colourful parts than the exterior, both to help with the build and break up the monotony. Her central core is a strong solid unit with a variety of SNOT techniques to attach the sides, front, and rear. You can also see the small ball joints the arms are attached by, and the different ways in which they can be posed. Her front paws also swivel about their wrist.
Below, I've removed the top part of the body to show the way in which the legs are attached. They each rotate about a pair of 2x2 round jumper plates, sliding smoothly over tiles, allowing them to be angled further in or out as desired.
Together, the two pandas look great. The baby is slightly more blocky than the mother, but that is to be expected because of the scale difference. I think they make an excellent pair to have out on display, and as my daughter's favourite animals, I suspect they will outlast the other two available builds in the set!
Penguin Family
Moving from the mountain ranges of Asia to the icy wastes of the Antarctic coast, the second family we can build from the set is a parent and child Emperor penguin. In this case, the adult is most likely to be the male, as they can look after the chick for more than two months until their mate returns.
The baby chick has articulated wings, and the head is attached to a single stud and can therefore rotate from side to side, but not angle upwards. The adult penguin's wings are also articulated, with clips rather than ball joints, and the neck and head can rotate up and down on an axle in the shoulders. Some of the panda's bright interior has been repurposed for the vibrant yellow and orange hue of the Emperor penguin's neck and beak.
From the rear, the male penguin has a rather upright and stiff posture, not unlike that of the real creature, but I do think the shape of the back and tail could be improved. As a secondary model, though, an excellent job has been done with the parts available. A small ice floe is provided for the baby penguin to perch on.
The back of the head is missing a part in these photos, unfortunately—it was knocked off as I moved the model around to photograph and I failed to notice.
Shown below, the adult penguin can lower its head towards its young, although the baby cannot reciprocate the gesture. The 1x1 round tiles printed with the penguins' eyes were previously buried deep inside the panda's body!
Orca Family
Finally, from the Antarctic coast to the oceans, where our final monochromatic family awaits: an orca and her young. The baby "killer whale" uses only a handful of pieces, most of them black, with a white underbelly. The single tile on the tail is very fragile, and easily knocked off. She is suspended above a small section of the sea bed featuring some bright coral, and a small yellow fish has been used as a clever way to join the two transparent rods.
The adult orca looks fantastic. Built in hinged sections, including the tail, it can be angled dynamically to give the impression of the way the majestic creatures swim through the seas, with a large dorsal fin standing upright on its back and poseable pectoral fins on either side.
Like its young, it swims above a small patch of coral reef with colourful plants, held aloft not by a transparent rods but a length of the panda's bamboo, which blends in perfectly to the seaweed below. An identical yellow fish to the one that joined the baby swims alongside.
The shape of the orca's body is excellent, and reflects the actual creature very realistically. Further bright plants can be seen round the other side of the seabed structure.
If it were up to me, this is likely how the set would be built on display, but as my daughter adores pandas, I don't think I will get much say in the matter! The pop of colour provided by the vibrant coral on the sea bed contrasts well with the blacks and whites of the orcas, and their poses are so dynamic.
Conclusion
The designer, Aaron Newman, has done a truly excellent job with all three models in this set; not least because he's managed to include both an adult and child for each of the families. The black and white nature of a panda meant that the choices for the other animals were limited, but the penguin and orca families were fantastic options.
I can see why the panda was chosen as the main model, but all three are animals that haven't been represented much in LEGO form before, and they have all been executed almost flawlessly. A must buy, in my opinion, and my daughter definitely agrees!
31165 Wild Animals: Panda Family will be available at LEGO.com from January 1st for £34.99 / $39.99 / €39.99.
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36 comments on this article
The 3-in-1 Creator sets never fail at impressing
Why ON EARTH did I not notice how awesome this is earlier????
Not a fan of unneccessary use of weird colors on the inside, but in a case like this where they are put to good use in the alternate builds, I don't have a problem with it. Creator is all about slipping in pieces for those alternate builds.
This in stark contrast with last years 31147 which had a great primary build despite some weird colors, but not only were the alternate builds rather underwhelming, the weird colors here full on display only made them even worse.
But back to the Panda's, pretty cool! And I think both alternate builds could have been primary builds in their own right. Pretty much perfect set.
And so, in the dying days of 2024, rises Gigaflipper. As the year ends, so does all of human history. Good night, sweet princes and princesses - which is all of you, regardless of Disney's definition.
It's been an absolute nightmare.
Aaron is quickly becoming the GOAT when it comes to brick-built animals. All of his Creator sets from this year and the upcoming year have been stellar, both in terms of the main models and the alt builds. It used to be that you could typically expect that the alt builds of a creator set would be noticeably weaker than the main model, but that's no longer always the case—this set is a good example where all three models feel detailed and substantial on display.
3 sets for me.
Really awesome design for all 3 models which is rare in CREATOR 3-in-1! Aaron is on a winning streak here with the fox, giraffe and the upcoming dragon sets all coming from his mind.
Wow, Aaron is truly an amazing designer. All of his sets, especially the Creator 3-in-1 stuff, are absolutely stellar.
The adult penguin almost looks too good to be a B-model. It's remarkable what a talented designer can make with the same set of parts.
Pleased to see that the 2025 3in1s are getting some attention. Here and elsewhere, there have been no in-hand reviews that I could find. I was starting to think that LEGO had embargoed their coverage.
I’m particularly looking forwards to the review of the 3in1 dragon and the set itself. Hoping Argos has it early in the new year.
An excellent 3-in-1 crying out for multiple buys, as does their other release of 31161 Medieval Dragon!
Mama bear’s shaping, figure work are excellent!
Beautiful work.
The pandas are too white, can you replace some of the white parts with black, please? :-)
@Huw said:
"The pandas are too white, can you replace some of the white parts with black, please? :-)"
lol? looks correct to me,. just googled panda pics
@missedoutagain said:
" @Huw said:
"The pandas are too white, can you replace some of the white parts with black, please? :-)"
lol? looks correct to me,. just googled panda pics"
He’s referencing his sick revamp of the Blacktron renegade from yesterday’s review!
@benbacardi has brickset received the new city spaceship set? I haven’t seen any reviews on it yet and i was wondering if I’d have to wait till January 1st for them to start appearing.
I love the penguin builds!!??
Biggest highlight of the set for me!!
What a great set. Loving the penguins and the orcas.
Can orcas be swooshed? Quite possibly I would think....
On a more serious matter (in which comment 67 just isn't gonna cut it so I will probably cut and paste this a few times in different reviews - spaceships or not!), I would like to get a conversation started about including a:
SWOOSHABILITY SCORE
- I think it is time.
- It should be entirely subjective, entirely the reviewers opinion. The audience can make of it what they will.
- I think it should be out of 10 - enough scope to differentiate between for example ..... a Y-Wing (Flying Shed) and a Sopwith Camel :o), or on the other hand.... the Milano and a Naboo Starfighter.
- It will of course give us a whole new subject to ........... comment about.
- Should helicopters be included?
There will be questions. Such as does a big, slow cargo ship even qualify? Can slow but graceful arcs even be described as 'swooshing'? Is it physically possible to swoosh the UCS Millennium Falcon? And if it is, structural integrity withstanding, would that be the best SWOOSH ever? Imagine the videos of people doing this outdoors - and not feeling remotely silly. For day-to-day swooshing I prefer the living room. Plenty of stuff to narrowly avoid and also some good spontaneous landing spots.
I bet most of us swoosh - especially when it's freshly built. Where's the harm in adding some fun to life.
What do you say Brickset Gang?
As a childhood penguin-lover, I know which build I'm here for! The pandas are fantastic too, of course, and bring back to mind seeing them in Atlanta Zoo with my girlfriend early last year - especially one who plonked themself down in the corner of their enclosure in a very similar posture to this! - but...
Penguins, though. Their builds here are just delightful... although could maybe have benefitted from a little more articulation. Don't know that I'd get the set in the end, but if I did I might see if I could add a couple more ball-joints into the wings for the adult and the necks for both of them.
These are wonderful! Thanks for sharing!
@beatnik said:
"What a great set. Loving the penguins and the orcas.
Can orcas be swooshed? Quite possibly I would think....
On a more serious matter (in which comment 67 just isn't gonna cut it so I will probably cut and paste this a few times in different reviews - spaceships or not!), I would like to get a conversation started about including a:
SWOOSHABILITY SCORE
- I think it is time.
- It should be entirely subjective, entirely the reviewers opinion. The audience can make of it what they will.
- I think it should be out of 10 - enough scope to differentiate between for example ..... a Y-Wing (Flying Shed) and a Sopwith Camel :o), or on the other hand.... the Milano and a Naboo Starfighter.
- It will of course give us a whole new subject to ........... comment about.
- Should helicopters be included?
There will be questions. Such as does a big, slow cargo ship even qualify? Can slow but graceful arcs even be described as 'swooshing'? Is it physically possible to swoosh the UCS Millennium Falcon? And if it is, structural integrity withstanding, would that be the best SWOOSH ever? Imagine the videos of people doing this outdoors - and not feeling remotely silly. For day-to-day swooshing I prefer the living room. Plenty of stuff to narrowly avoid and also some good spontaneous landing spots.
I bet most of us swoosh - especially when it's freshly built. Where's the harm in adding some fun to life.
What do you say Brickset Gang?"
I'd vote for a Swoosh Score for sure!
@beatnik said:
"What a great set. Loving the penguins and the orcas.
Can orcas be swooshed? Quite possibly I would think....
On a more serious matter (in which comment 67 just isn't gonna cut it so I will probably cut and paste this a few times in different reviews - spaceships or not!), I would like to get a conversation started about including a:
SWOOSHABILITY SCORE
- I think it is time.
- It should be entirely subjective, entirely the reviewers opinion. The audience can make of it what they will.
- I think it should be out of 10 - enough scope to differentiate between for example ..... a Y-Wing (Flying Shed) and a Sopwith Camel :o), or on the other hand.... the Milano and a Naboo Starfighter.
- It will of course give us a whole new subject to ........... comment about.
- Should helicopters be included?
There will be questions. Such as does a big, slow cargo ship even qualify? Can slow but graceful arcs even be described as 'swooshing'? Is it physically possible to swoosh the UCS Millennium Falcon? And if it is, structural integrity withstanding, would that be the best SWOOSH ever? Imagine the videos of people doing this outdoors - and not feeling remotely silly. For day-to-day swooshing I prefer the living room. Plenty of stuff to narrowly avoid and also some good spontaneous landing spots.
I bet most of us swoosh - especially when it's freshly built. Where's the harm in adding some fun to life.
What do you say Brickset Gang?"
I'm all for it, but I resent your implication that Y-Wings and Sopwith Camels are not swooshable. The former is mt favorite snubfighter and the latter is one of the most iconic fighter planes of WWI.
This 3-in-1 set may be perfect. I'm not sure what I like more the pandas or the orcas.
@Ridgeheart said:
"And so, in the dying days of 2024, rises Gigaflipper. As the year ends, so does all of human history. Good night, sweet princes and princesses - which is all of you, regardless of Disney's definition.
It's been an absolute nightmare."
Epic. :D
I do like the pandas, but obviously I'm getting this set for the Emperor Penguin.
I too will be getting this for the penguins, but the other builds look great too!
This set is my first must-buy of 2025. Creator truly is the bellcow of Lego's creativity.
Blacktron animals.
@ElephantKnight said:
"Blacktron animals."
Wrong shade of green. That's Lime, not Trans-Neon.
@benbacardi:
The orca adult may also be male, as they have very tall dorsal fins that look almost unnatural in shape. Females have more triangular dorsal fins. I don't know how early in life this dimorphism manifests, but the angle the baby's dorsal fin is shown at looks closer to female than male.
Didn't expect to see pics of a dissected panda.
Great builds. Each of these could've been a set in its own right.
@TheOtherMike said:
" @ElephantKnight said:
"Blacktron animals."
Wrong shade of green. That's Lime, not Trans-Neon."
The green in the BT2-logo is lime green, thus proving how far ahead of its time Blacktron really was.
You think you know fashion, but fashion's a stranger! You think fashion's your friend, my friend, but fashion is danger!
@Goujon said:
" @missedoutagain said:
" @Huw said:
"The pandas are too white, can you replace some of the white parts with black, please? :-)"
lol? looks correct to me,. just googled panda pics"
He’s referencing his sick revamp of the Blacktron renegade from yesterday’s review!
@benbacardi has brickset received the new city spaceship set? I haven’t seen any reviews on it yet and i was wondering if I’d have to wait till January 1st for them to start appearing.
"
that makes more sence thanks
@Ridgeheart said:
" @TheOtherMike said:
" @ElephantKnight said:
"Blacktron animals."
Wrong shade of green. That's Lime, not Trans-Neon."
The green in the BT2-logo is lime green, thus proving how far ahead of its time Blacktron really was.
You think you know fashion, but fashion's a stranger! You think fashion's your friend, my friend, but fashion is danger!"
Yeah, I'd sort of forgotten about the lime in the Blacktron uniforms, despite the fact that I had all the Series 26 CMFs (and thus, 1046-12, who has even more lime) sitting next to my computer for a while. I've disappointed the Blacktron cause. Which is fine by me, because I don't give a hoot about that cause. Ice Planet forever!
@TheOtherMike said:
" @Ridgeheart said:
" @TheOtherMike said:
" @ElephantKnight said:
"Blacktron animals."
Wrong shade of green. That's Lime, not Trans-Neon."
The green in the BT2-logo is lime green, thus proving how far ahead of its time Blacktron really was.
You think you know fashion, but fashion's a stranger! You think fashion's your friend, my friend, but fashion is danger!"
Yeah, I'd sort of forgotten about the lime in the Blacktron uniforms, despite the fact that I had all the Series 26 CMFs (and thus, 1046-12, who has even more lime) sitting next to my computer for a while. I've disappointed the Blacktron cause. Which is fine by me, because I don't give a hoot about that cause. Ice Planet forever!"
If I was a Blacktron agent, which don’t be silly I’m definitely not (don’t check on that), I would be taking notes on you and that Ridgeheart.
That Orca can easily be for anyone who havent got city one yet!
Lovely builds all around, wish the panda legs articulate though.
Whomever LEGO has working on these animal models needs a heck of an attaboy! These are great.
Those pandas look great! And there is no sign of colour pieces peek out from inside (base on your pictures).
Great photo of opened panda. xD
@Huw Maybe You could write in reviews approximately how many pieces are used on alternative models? For example Penguins 50% of all, Orcas 60%.