Its a fine piece of LEGO engineering and design – spheres are traditionally difficult shapes to get out of LEGO, but through a clever mix of Technic and plates, LEGO have pulled it off.

The globe does spin if you give it a shove, providing as much of a play feature as you could ask for in a set like this. (I’m sure some clever soul will figure out how to motorize it.) Here’s a closeup at all the major continents, which are marked on it via Printed Tiles. There’s plenty of dark blue ocean, lush green landmasses, arid deserts, and bits of ice on both the North and South Pole. I was left really impressed by the build. You first begin constructing the Globe’s stand, which cradles the Globe – it’s quite sturdy, and has little rubber wheels underneath the base for extra stability and grip, to ensure the stand doesn’t wobble, or slide as you spin it around. There is a bit of interesting construction on the underside – a number of 1×1 round plates are surrounded by rubber tires. This is the same “grip technique” that LEGO has used in the past on some of their larger builds like the 71720 Ninjago Fire Stone Mech. This design allows the weight of the model to combine with tread of the rubber to help keep the completed set from sliding around.

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You then move on to the exterior – the Globe is completely hollow, so the majority of the build involves building the shell, or Earth’s crust – and you start with the equator – this ring of 6 x 6 plates that form the circumference of the LEGO Globe. On Antarctica, you’ll also find the fan designer’s initials – GR for Guillaume Roussel and the year 2022 in Roman Numerals. Billund, Denmark, 18 January, 2022: Explorers, get set for adventure! The LEGO Group has revealed the LEGO® Ideas The Globe, sure to spark fans’ imaginations of traveling around the world, exploring new places and building new memories. Asia is a mixed bag for me – continental Asia is well done, as is India, and the Japanese isles, but South East Asia, with its archipelago of Islands is quite hit and miss.

As the world is mostly covered by ocean, dark blue plates are used as the “base” of the Globe, and any landmasses and continents are applied built over these plates. You get a taste of this as you fill out the equator, and the Technic core, which stretches from end to end goes in next.I cannot overstate how fun spinning it around is – it feels so effortless, and satisfying, and I find myself constantly reaching over to it and giving it a twirl for the fun of it.