The Thing's Apartment set is one part doll house and one part doll trunk. At 828 pieces it's a fairly sizable set that packs a ton of details into one convenient little package. Unlike some of the other LEGO sets I've put together, there wasn't any point in this build that didn't feel unique and fun. The engineering that has gone into being able to put together what is basically a haunted Polly Pocket makes for a surprisingly entertaining set that can be displayed or played with in the end.
The first thing you build in this set is Thing himself. It's his apartment after all, and if you're going to put it together, he should be there to see it happen. Assembling a tiny brick hand is just as fun as it sounds and the end result is a five-fingered little friend that you can easily place anywhere. Thing's presence at every point in this build really brings the set to life. As an honorary LEGO minifigure, he's my new favorite.
Once Thing has been put together, you start on some floating accessories next. To my surprise, Thing is apparently a gamer and you'll find yourself building what is basically a little blue Game Boy, complete with a Tetris sticker. So if you're wondering what Thing is doing whenever he's off screen, now you know – he's gaming up a storm. The fact that LEGO also released an official Game Boy set at the same time as this one seems like a weird coincidence, but it was a little Easter egg I was definitely happy got included here.
Alongside Thing's gaming handheld, you also build a little nail polish bottle and an Enid minidoll. Each of these accessories were fun to build on their own, but the Enid figure definitely felt out of place among everything else. She is just a fraction of the size of Thing himself and doesn't really seem to belong anywhere. As much as I liked the character on the show, I moved the LEGO version of her to the side pretty much immediately after putting it together. The bottle of nail polish has a removable brush, but it's still only just for show. You do get an extra set of black finger nails you can put on Thing's hand, however, which comes in a smaller chest.
Once all of the accessories and figures are out of the way, you get started on the actual trunk base. There are a lot of pieces that go into this, and it is arguably the most boring part of the build overall. But there's something incredibly satisfying about snapping those final big brown pieces into place. And once you have your foundation set up, the rest of the build can really get going.
I definitely went into this build thinking that the inside of the trunk seemed way too busy. I didn't realize how much I was actually going to enjoy building out tiny furniture for this tiny apartment until I finished and placed a completed bed into the corner of the room. And being able to place Thing in the shot for my pictures of each step really made the process all the more fun. Suffice to say, as a sort of dollhouse I think this set is very successful. After completing the full first floor of this set I found myself just enjoying figuring out how to adjust Thing's fingers so that he would sit comfortably in various places in his new environment.
Completing the first floor is less than half of the build, but I found it was a good place to take a break and come back the next day. This is certainly a build that I could have knocked out in one afternoon, but I never felt a strong urge to rush to complete it. Each little detail you add ends up feeling like a miniature set in itself and placing them on the larger structure is immensely satisfying. I think splitting up the first and second floors of the apartment across two separate days is a great way to extend that enjoyment beyond just a single session.
The construction of the second floor was my favorite part of this whole build. You get to build out a tub, a sink, and a little table, but I was most excited to learn how this whole thing was eventually going to fold up into a trunk. I thought it was clever how the designers chose to create accessorized walls on the second floor. These are flaps on either side that include flowers, pictures, and even a clock. Being able to pack all of those details into a functional piece of the build was really cool to see. Though admittedly I struggled getting the stickers centered, much to my own frustration.
Once the two floors are built, there's not that much nuance left to this build. At this point the entire interior of the apartment has been assembled and you just need to work on the exterior. This is the part of the build I thought I would enjoy the most, but I found myself still moving Thing around within his apartment while I worked on finishing the final touches of the outside. With that being said, there are some really cool things that go into the outer shell of the trunk. It's not just snapping flat pieces into place, you need to piece together handles for each side and make sure structures are in place for the trunk to open and close. The engineering side of me thoroughly enjoyed these aspects while the little kid in me couldn't stop wanting to play house with Thing.
When I finally finished the top of the trunk and snapped it in place, I didn't get the sense that my time with this set was completely finished. The trunk itself is something I plan on displaying on a shelf somewhere, which is why I wanted it in the first place, but the fun I had opening it up and playing with it is the true magic of this set. I'm a full-grown adult, but I still had fun playing with the dollhouse of severed sentient hand. The completed product is a great combination of playset for kids and display set for adults that I'm excited to share with my niece when she visits this October.
All-in-all, I think this LEGO Wednesday set does a really good job of striking a balance between being meant for kids and being an attractive build for adults. LEGO's line of Wednesday-themed sets have mostly been targeted at kids so far and this one seems like it could easily go either way. The age rating on the set is 10+, but having the end result being a compact and cool-looking trunk is definitely appealing to those who aren't going to primarily use it as a toy. I can see this build being something an adult builds and displays that kids will occasionally play with (which is how I plan on using it).
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