LEGO X-Men: The X-Mansion Review: Building the Dream

Few places are more iconic in the Marvel Universe than Charles Xavier’s School for Gifted Youngsters for X-Men fans. Sure, the X-Men have had other bases ranging from abandoned towns in the Australian Outback to the living mutant island nation of Krakoa. Still, their original home remains the definitive standard, solidified by its presence in X-Men: The Animated Series and the X-Men movies. Since The Lego Group started rolling out Lego sets based on other iconic headquarters like Avengers Tower and Doctor Strange’s Sanctum Sanctorum, X-Men fans have held out hope that the X-Men’s training grounds would get the same treatment. That hope has come to fruition with the release of Lego’s X-Men: The X-Mansion set.

Built out of 3093 pieces with 10 minifigures of X-Men characters included, X-Men: The X-Mansion is an eye-catching set and a satisfying, deceptively simple build. It’s also modular, which means fans can pull the left and right sides away from the center of the structure to glimpse the interior rooms, including the Danger Room where mutant skills are honed, Professor X’s laboratory with a mini-Cerebro, and a classroom with an attached library. A few qualms aside, the X-Mansion set is a fun work of buildable fan service.

Welcome to the X-Men

The mansion is packed with Easter eggs from the comics, cartoons, and films that X-Men fans have pored over for years. The rear of the building includes posters for Nightcrawler and Dazzler performances and another that replicates the wanted poster from the iconic cover of Uncanny X-Men #141, the first chapter of “Days of Future Past.” Inside, there’s a mention of Alkali Lake, which may ring a bell for anyone who has seen X2: X-Men United, and a photo of Cyclops and Jean placed on Wolverine’s bed, a reference to the meme spawned by the X-Men: The Animated Series episode “Captive Hearts.”

[RELATED: Here Are The Best LEGO Sets Launching On November 1st, 2024]

Each room in the X-Mansion has its charms, but my favorite is the Danger Room. It’s the only room that spans both floors of the building, and it’s packed with spinning blades, lasers, and other traps that have appeared in many training montages front the X-Men comics over the years. Adjacent to the Danger Room on the second floor is a control room with a transparent viewport that reminds me of X-Men: Pryde of the X-Men, the failed pilot for an X-Men cartoon pre-dating the eventual debut of X-Men: The Animated Series, which served as the basis for the beloved X-Men arcade game.

There’s plenty for longtime X-Men fans to discover in the X-Mansion set, and those who enjoy posing their collectibles will have plenty of options for building scenes on the mansion grounds with its minifigures. Meanwhile, the set is interactive enough that younger builders can roleplay through any X-Men story they can imagine.

Hope You Survive the Experience

Some criticisms can be levied against the X-Mansion set, chiefly that the building’s exterior isn’t as striking as other, similar Marvel Lego structures. This isn’t entirely Lego’s fault. They’ve based the facade on the X-Mansion as it appears in X-Men: The Animated Series, likely the best-known iteration of the building, but it’s still a mundane, if large, mansion. Adding a battle-damaged area to represent the many times the Mansion has been assaulted, plus all the Easter eggs in the back —including a dumpster with Nightcrawler’s cutlass and some other items — helps. Yet, the building itself may underwhelm slightly when connected with the Avengers Tower, Daily Bugle, and even Sanctum Sanctorum sets (as it is intended to be). The array of options for building action scenes with the Sentinel and the minifigures makes up for this. However, builders should be aware that the chaos ensuing on the lawn rather than the building itself will most likely be what draws attention to the set once it’s on display.

The building’s modular interior is packed with items and Easter eggs, but including them all means the rooms can be difficult to access and a bit cramped. The Danger Room, though I love it, is particularly challenging because of its depth, and the individual rooms can fit roughly two minifigures at a time. It’s still fun to poke around in there but it’s something to keep in mind for those fond of creating indoor scenes with their sets.

To me, my X-Men Minifigures!

The X-Mansion includes 10 minifigures. Up until now, the available selection of official Lego minifigures of X-Men characters has been pretty limited, consisting primarily of various iterations of Magneto and Wolverine. The X-Mansion offers all of those familiar faces yet again (Rogue, Magneto, Cyclops, Storm, and Wolverine) as well as five brand-new additions to the X-Men’s minifigure roster in Gambit, Iceman, Bishop, Professor X, and Jean Grey, most of whom are decked out in their 1990s costumes, which makes them instantly recognizable to fans of X-Men: The Animated Series or X-Men ’97.

The X-Mansion set is packed with clear pieces to help pose the minifigures as if amid a battle with the very cool Sentinel (the first thing built out of the box) or Magneto, who can be placed atop the mansion’s domed roof. That roof can be broken apart by pulling the lever on the back of the building, one of a handful of interactive features in the set. Elsewhere, Storm can appear as if riding the wind above the mansion, other flying characters can seem to hover above the ground, and any character can appear caught in midair by the Sentinel’s mechanical tentacle. Wolverine’s motorcycle can be posed as if sliding across the sidewalk, and the Sentinel even includes a notch on its back so one of the heroes can attack it from the sky — the perfect way to recreate Gambit’s “remember it” moment from X-Men ’97.

The set includes fewer total minifigures than its Marvel peers, although it does have a comparable number of new figures. If I had to guess, I’d wager that making so many variations of Magneto and Wolverine left Lego with few other past minifigures to repackage into the X-Mansion set. In my estimation, the set’s inclusion of a buildable Sentinel makes up for the smaller number of minifigures (though be careful while posing it as the toe pieces come off easily if too much pressure is applied), but others may disagree.

The choice of minifigures is another potential sticking point. Longtime Lego collectors may roll their eyes at getting another Wolverine and Magneto but it’d be hard to justify making an X-Mansion set without them. All of the other minifigures, with one exception, are mainstays from the X-Men: The Animated Series and X-Men ’97 and are accurately portrayed, no argument there. The inclusion of Iceman is puzzling as he hasn’t been a major presence in the X-Men shows. It’s especially odd given that the X-Mansion has half a bedroom seemingly designed around Jubilee, X-Men: The Animated Series‘ fan-favorite point-of-view character, who is absent from the set. 

While the minifigure designs are mostly great, there are two that one could nitpick. If Iceman is to be included in the set, coloring him snowy white seems wrong as it evokes his appearance from the Silver Age more than how he looked in the 1990s and beyond, which is the overriding aesthetic for the rest of the set. Cyclops’ minifigure looks great and comes with a long piece of transparent, red plastic to hold in front of his face, recreating moments where he pushes the side of his visor to unleash an optic blast. However, the connecting piece that Cyclops holds in his hand is opaque and bright red, making it look like he’s putting a rubber toy in front of his face. In both cases, using more of the same transparent plastic employed for the effects of mutant powers would have solved the problems, though there are likely practical reasons Lego chose to go another way.

Building the Dream

As a casual Lego collector but a diehard X-Men fan, I’ve longed for Lego to create a definitive X-Men building experience. I’m satisfied with how X-Men: The X-Mansion delivers on that promise. The set is accurate and goes the extra mile with iconic characters, Easter eggs, a buildable Sentinel, and interactive touches. I’m still in awe of how much fun it is to fiddle with the minifigures and find new ways to pose them in front of the mansion, and I may not stop playing with the set until I’ve put it through every possible configuration

Sure, certain aspects could have, arguably, been tweaked for the better — I’m as disappointed at the inclusion of Iceman over Jubilee or Nightcrawler as much as anyone (sorry, Bobby) —  but I’m hoping this opens the floodgates for more X-Men minifigures to enroll in Xavier’s School for Gifted Youngers in the future. And ultimately, these are minor flaws that hardly ruin an overall excellent experience — or is that x-cellent x-perience?

The LEGO Marvel X-Men: The X-Mansion set is available to the general public starting today, November 4th online here at LEGO priced at $329.99. Unfortunately, the LEGO Marvel Cerebro (5009015) set that was offered as a gift with purchase to LEGO Insiders sold out quickly. LEGO supplied the set for this review.