Several questions popped into my head when I saw this set announced, so when LEGO generously offered to send one over for review I considered it a great opportunity to explore some of these questions, such as “What?” “Why?” and “How?”

This set has left me confused. I cannot recall having been confused by a LEGO set before, so that is worth something. I am confused because it seems this set does not know what it wants to be. Initially the set feels like the designers wanted to create something that very strongly feels like “LEGO” in a basic way, but then suddenly you get hit with a curve(d)ball that does the exact opposite!

“43008 Nike Dunk x LEGO® Set“ is the first LEGO set released as part of LEGO and Nike’s partnership. This set was never intended to be a play-set, but rather an expression of fandom for Nike or sneakers or both. It contains 1180 parts and is available from the 1st of July for AU$149.99/£89.99/$99.99/€99.99.

This set consists of four parts; a sneaker, a minifigure, a basketball and a stand with the brick-built word ‘DUNK’. All these parts feel a little disconnected from each other, as if they do not belong together. Let the confusion commence!

Please join me while I explain my confusion about this set, while simultaneously exploring the change of LEGO as a toy company to… well… what it is now.

What?

It’s not the first time LEGO has released a model of a realistic sneaker; a similar thing happened with the partnership between Adidas and LEGO in 2021. But this doesn’t quite cover ‘what’ this is; the sneaker in this set is not the most dominant or impressive part; there is a sizable stand and an impressive ball included. So the question ‘what’ is quite appropriate.

You may have heard that “Star Wars saved LEGO“, which is selling short the amazing turnaround of the LEGO company under the leadership of Jørgen Vig Knudstorp, but that moment certainly did signify a turnaround in what ‘LEGO’ meant. LEGO would expand from being a children’s toy brand into a much broader medium that allows users to express their connection to whatever they hold dear, even if it has nothing to do with LEGO bricks. This is something that really accelerated after The LEGO Group’s turnaround; where last century was dominated by play sets (toys) this century has expanded their portfolio far beyond that.

If we split LEGO sets into two categories, display-models and play-sets, a significant number of sets would qualify as display-models. These are designs that look good on a shelf, but are not particularly suited to play with, much like a lot of pop culture paraphernalia you can easily find nowadays.
For example, 43249 Stitch, is an adorable display piece and quite an entertaining build. However, once it is built there really isn’t too much you can play with, as opposed to 43268 Lilo and Stitch beach house which may be less exciting on display but containing many scenes and play features.

Display sets are typically designed to look good, using advanced build techniques – often resulting in displays that are not easily recognized as LEGO bricks. That is what I expected for 43008 Nike Dunk x LEGO® Set, but it doesn’t quite deliver. See below under ‘How’ what I mean.

Why?

This question popped into my head when the first (Adidas) sneaker came out, but the answer is actually quite apparent. Some people like sneakers and there are quite a few people who collect sneakers and they are typically not cheap. They are willing to spend money for their collections and are willing to express their support for their favourite brands (by wearing sneakers), so they are a great target audience to convince to spend some money on something adjacent to their collection. This is where this product comes in.

In other words; there is significant overlap in the Venn-diagram between ‘Sneaker collector’, ‘disposable income’ and ‘fan’. It seems reasonable that LEGO wants to connect to any sneaker fans out there, in particular fans that may not be very aware of LEGO (yet).

How?

The set comes in three parts; the sneaker, the basketball and the stand, with the minifigure thrown in with the sneaker. My version came in a flat pack box with plastic bags and an envelope with 3 booklets, matching the three parts of the set. It is worth noting that only the sneaker requires stickers.

Construction of the sneaker is covered with the first three bags and there is nothing particularly unusual about the build; it is very straightforward bricks on top of bricks, with nice of use studs to the side with brackets and curved and sloped pieces to add some shape. The most notable part of this build are the large printed pieces, for the nose, the heel, the tongue and the lid (yes lid).

Building the sneaker was quite satisfying without any surprises. Just walls of bricks and neatly slotted in plates and tiles to create a solid robust shape.

The Nike logo is the the first ‘advanced’ manoeuvre where a plate is connected off-grid across two pins. This is followed by a similar trick for the top eyelets. It’s a bit finicky because it is off-grid and you cannot see the where the pins slot in.

The shoelaces are an odd one; each part requires a sticker. I would have thought that so many identical parts would have made it an ideal candidate to print the pattern rather than using stickers; especially since this pattern could find other uses easily, unlike the large ‘Nike’ branded parts.
There is a set of blue and a set of lime green shoelaces provided; and with the LEGO set you can combine them in ways that would be challenging with real laces. I admit no shame, I stand by my choice here.

The minifigure is surprisingly cool. All the parts are printed with Nike logos. The dual moulded legs are printed front and side, clearly wearing Nike sneakers. The basketball head is new (and includes the Nike logo on the glasses). The torso matches the pattern on the pants well. I think the 72 refers to 1972 as the year Nike was founded, and 32 to the Air Jordan 32, one of their most iconic sneakers. It would be a bit confusing for a sport commentator having a player with two different numbers of their shirt, but here we are.

The minifigure comes with a ‘hairpiece’ hole that allow some customisation if you would like some more airtime or elegance (parts not included).

The nose and heel of the sneaker are both removable. The heel to provide space for the mini-fig and the nose to store the spare shoelaces.

The sneaker is ‘nice’ but it confuses me. The build is good, but not particularly exciting, as if the intention was to show what can be done with fairly basic build techniques. It feels like the target audience of the sneaker are expected to be new to LEGO, but some parts are a bit clunky as a result. For example the Nike log on the side of the sneaker. The Nike logo is one of the most iconic symbols used by a brand so why is the LEGO implementation so jagged? Even I can come up with some alternatives that capture some of the round shapes of the logo, why were these jagged angles chosen?

Moving on from the shoe brings us to the ‘DUNK’ stand. Again nothing exciting here but just clicking bricks on top of each other in neat rows is quite satisfying. Look at the photos, can you imagine a more straightforward way of creating a triangular base? I have seen more elegant solutions to build a base, and on top of this base regular wedge plates are used, so why not just stick to plates to begin with?

The most technical part of the stand is a rotating axle at the back that will support the ball once it is finished. It allows you to rotate the ball by twisting the knob at the back; I cannot really imagine who is going to be impressed by this.

At this point I am confused again, borderline irked! There are several questionable design choices but the most glaring is : Why are all these angles so jagged? This is typical when you just stack LEGO slopes, and it is not common to see this in a display set. Compare the angle of the letters to the angles in the Keith Haring figures. Again, it feels like the set is intentionally designed to feel blocky/simple, to radiate the LEGO DNA, and I get it, but then comes the ball!

I was expecting a standard LEGO ball to complete the educational journey of this set like: “Well, you’ve seen what you can do with LEGO so far, now let’s wrap up your lessons by combining it all into a ball”. But no. Skip a few levels, enter stage: a caltrop.

This is where the unusual build techniques appear. A very elegant compact Technic cross forms the basis for 6 sides of the ball to be connected. This is certainly not your stock-standard ball building technique and I was delighted seeing this technique used to connect 6 sides to a ball. On top of the connection to the centre, each of the layers of the ball uses curved plates and slopes to add even more roundness to the ball. The result in an apparently very round basketball with matching black lines, that is a bit ‘squishy’, because none of the sides are directly connected to their neighbours. This adds to the impression of a ball. Finally, because it is hollow, the ball is quite light to rotate on its mount on the base.

For me, this ball is worth the time. If you have not used this technique before (like me) then this is a beautiful example of what can be done with LEGO.

If I have one criticism of the ball, it is with the print of the Nike x LEGO® logo used in its construction: In the photo you can see that the left one looks like it has a fingerprint on it, but it is printed this way. And although it may not be very apparent, it’s disappointing because I am finding there are competitors who just do this better.

So, yet again, I find myself confused. What IS this set? It is not entirely a showcase of what you can do with LEGO, it is not entirely a beautiful display piece that hides that it was built with LEGO, and it is also not entirely an introduction to LEGO. So what does this set want to be?

What was the design brief?

I cannot believe that the design of this set was an accident; the choices are too odd and too striking for them not to have been noticed during the design review process. Which makes me wonder; what was the brief for this set? Is this a combination of different ideas that were put together at a last moment, or was it always intended as a journey through LEGO? What does Nike think about this? Did they want a ‘simple LEGO feel’ to this set, or were they just unaware of what was possible? Who is the target audience for this set? While our editor in chief likes to answer this question with ‘anyone with a pulse’, I suspect LEGO and Nike might have had a more narrow focus in mind [Ed: to be fair – I would suggest that the company are aiming to sell product to ‘anyone with a pulse’, but I agree with Branko’s assessment here: Sneaker Fans who might care about LEGO, or who like the idea of a licensed construction toy.].
I have to apologise, these are questions I cannot answer. If you do have an answer you are able to share with use, please let us know!

Should you get this set?

Lord Rambling Brick has taught me; “If I like ever set LEGO makes; they’re doing it wrong“. In that light, this set may not appeal to me, but it will certainly appeal to someone. I have already noticed some excitement from friends who are far more knowledgeable about sneakers than me.

I am not a sneaker collector. I admit I wear sneakers regularly, and I have a few LEGO Adidas sneakers, but I would not be able to tell you the name of one model from another. This is probably why I barely noticed the announcement of 43008 Nike Dunk x LEGO® Set. I admit the wearable shoes announced in the LEGO x Nike partnership got a bit more of my attention (hoping for a colour other than yellow!).

I have enjoyed being confused by this set and exploring what it has to offer. I would not recommend anyone to buy this set if they are after ‘a good LEGO set’ because, for this price, you can get a several sets that provide a better build experience and make for a more appealing display. The set is somewhat saved by the minifigure and the ball, both of which surprised me.

But, if you are into sneakers, if you are a fan of Nike, then this display could be a great addition to your collection, as a way of showing something different and maybe storing some spare laces in the shoe. (who can put a rating on being a fan?)

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Until Next Time,

Play Well!

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Appendix A – the parts

Some of you may be interested in the parts in this set, to see if it’s a good parts pack. There are quite a few dark azure (light blue) and lime green parts that have not appeared previously, but the majority of the parts in orange, black white and blue are not particularly rare or unusual.