Do you know the feeling of having too much cake with icing and a soft drink? Perhaps you’ve seen the effect such a combination at a children’s party? That is the feeling I got from this set.

The highlight of this set would obviously be the unicorn. As it turns out, this singular unicorn shares its habitat with two pegasi! Although, is this really a habitat? Or something else? I felt confused when building this set, and perhaps that is a good thing.

The ‘due-to-license-issues-officially-not-my-little-pony‘ set, 31175 Unicorn Castle is retailing for AU$59.99/£34.99/$44.99/€39.99 and contains 390 parts and three tiny horse-adjacent creatures. The creatures are probably the main selling point, but there’s quite a bit more in the box; perhaps a bit too much. Read on to see what this set has to offer, and find out if this is for you.

How big is a unicorn?

Clearly this set leans into a pleasant type of unicorn, associated with rainbows and bright colours; the equivalent of a visual sugar rush (for me). Historically there have been many interpretations of unicorns and some suggestions that the legends of unicorns are related to Narwhals, but the most popular notion seems to be that unicorns represent innocent happy times. This is where the link to My Little Pony comes in; looking at a cast shot from that show surely raises the similarities with this set.

This set includes two pegasi and a unicorn which messes a bit with the myths behind the (singular) creature called Pegasus (son of Poseidon). The history of unicorns is unclear but there have been depictions of horned winged creatures (such as winged bulls) throughout history, so unicorns and pegasi have been mixed for ages. A relatively recent example is the logo of the UK’s 101st airborne division from WW2 depicting a winged horse with an apparent horn.

So where does that leave us with these? Why are the pegasi and unicorns different creatures? The pegasus models do not have the ability to mount a horn, and neither does the unicorn have a set of colour matching wings! Why is this species separation?

You could suggest that perhaps the pegasus is a juvenile form of unicorn that hasn’t grown a horn yet, and that it loses the wings when it does, but they are all the same size. And in legends both creatures are large enough to carry a human, so how do these compare to a minifigures; the LEGO equivalent of a human?

As it turns out, not well. Let’s be clear, these ponies are adorable and little, and if you buy them you can say they are they are ‘my little ponies’, but they are NOT big. Interestingly there is a larger unicorn appearing in 42611 Constume Party with Unicorn & Fairy. The photos show that these pegasus/unicorn are about the size of a dog, or a small Friends pony, but they would struggle to carry a minifigure.

Interestingly enough this is the first creator (3-in-1) set to contain moulded animals! Within creator sets typically even small animals such as birds or rodents are brick-built, but not so in this set! I’m not entirely sure how I feel about this; I hope this is an exception and the creator series remains true to the DNA of LEGO.

What is it?

Is it a house?

Being a 3-in1 set, we will start, in arbitrary order with one of the variant builds, which is a…

… let’s just say it’s a colourful thing. While building this there are hardy two sections connecting that have the same colour. There are bright and subtle variants of yellow, pink, green and blue, but forgive me if I mislabelled them a bit; my camera and my eyeballs struggled to get a grip on the chromatic overload in this display.

I think the final build is something of a house, or perhaps stables for the ponies, Whatever it is, it’s bright and makes a bit of a statement along the lines of “THIS IS NOT STAR WARS!”

Is it a boat?

With the next build it is a bit clearer what I’m building; it’s a boat. The colour scheme is decidedly more controlled but it still has the high-sugar aesthetic of the previous build.

Is it a castle?

The main model of the set is, as you would expect, a castle in the clouds (are we just ignoring how one of these animals doesn’t have wings?)

The clouds make nice use of the various curved piece variants that have appeared over the last few years. We’ve seen clouds done before in the past and this highlights how the parts palette has developed. Dare I say; this dates this set firmly in the mid 2020s.

Section by section some new colour is added and within each section the colour scheme is coordinated. This results in a construction that is far more pleasant on the eyes than the first building. I can almost go so far as to say that it’s quite a nice looking castle.

What else? The parts!

The parts collection for this set is as rainbox coloured as you’d expect, with quite a strong representation of the milder pastel variants of blue yellow green and purple. Apologies; I am currently not able to provide more nuanced colour names as my retinas are still recovering from the colour onslaught. For hardcore parts collectors the large variation of colours might make it slightly less useful than a more monochromatic parts pack.

The highlights of the set are the little ponies off course (see how quickly you can spot them in the above image). Still I think the overall wide range of colourful pieces, with a lot of potential for building small details should excite a lot of children.

So how about it?

I kind of like this set, but not more than that. This is an expensive set for what it is and I can only consider it as NOT a creator 3-in-1 set because of the moulded ponies. While building these models I kept hearing the story and song of Charlie the Unicorn on his way to Candy mountain in my head (not really kid friendly) and that song sums up my impression of this set. It’s upbeat and positive, but it’s a bit too much for me. I give this set an arbitrary 3 out of 5 praise units because it is just too expensive for what it offers.

Creator 3in1 set 31175 Unicorn Castle is available now through LEGO branded retail outlets, although you can probably find it for a better price through other retailers. The retail price is $AUD59.99 / USD45.99 / €39.99 /£34.99 Astonishingly, on comparative exchange rates, Australians have the second lowest RRP ( Canadians pay $CAD49.99 approx 54.19AUD this week.) Is this the price of Candy coloured horse elements? This is perhaps where we recognise the value brick built animals in the majority of Creator 3in1 sets.

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Until Next Time,

Play Well!

If you have enjoyed this post, please feel free to share it with your friends, families and communities. You can also keep up to date with us by following The Rambling Brick on our socials: Facebook, Threads, Bluesky, Tumblr (or just sign up for our mailing list) and find some extra content on Instagram and TikTok.

We really value your feedback: please let us know what you think about the sets we review, and the articles we post. And if you wish to support the Rambling Brick, consider clicking on our affiliate links before going shopping at LEGO.com. The Rambling Brick receives a small commission, and it costs you nothing extra.

Until Next Time,

Play Well!