Lego Dune Atreides Royal Ornithopter review

Walking across the deserts of Arrakis is bad for your health, but fortunately, your minifigures can avoid getting eaten by sandworms with the Lego Dune Atreides Royal Ornithopter.

While it has a modest piece count of 1369, the completed build is still rather large, measuring 22 inches in length. That size skyrockets when you unveil the Ornithopter's party piece too — the wings can be extended outwards, giving this massive mechanical dragonfly a 31-inch wingspan. It also comes with a whopping eight minifigures, including all the major characters from Dune Part One.

But is this one of the best Lego space sets and worthy of the Lisan al Gaib, or should it have been left in the sands? We don't have any members of the Bene Gesserit on staff, so we can't predict the future — we will have to build this thing and find out for ourselves.

Lego Dune Atreides Royal Ornithopter: Build

• 1,369 pieces
• 3-4 hours build time
• Varied and interesting build

The Lego Dune Atreides Royal Ornithopter set contains 1,369 pieces spread across ten numbered bags, along with the large wings, which come in their own packaging. It's a medium-sized Lego set that took me between 3-4 hours to assemble over a couple of evenings.

Unlike most standard Lego sets, the Ornithopter has a lot of Technic pieces and construction techniques to enable the moving wings and entrance ramp. While this is an awesome addition to the set and adds a ton of variety to the build process, it's worth noting that Technic pieces take a heavier toll on your fingers and thumbs, as you'll spend a lot of time pushing tight-fitting pegs into holes.

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Early stages of building the Lego Ornithopter.

One of the Technic mechanisms inside the Lego Ornithopter.

The fuselage of the Lego Ornithopter (and the Gurney Halleck minifigure).

The fuselage of the Lego Ornithopter, showing the wing assembly attachment points.

The body of the Lego Ornithopter, just prior to attaching the wings.

You begin building the aircraft's fuselage, which is mostly constructed from regular Lego pieces. Now and then, the build switches to Technic pieces as you assemble the internal mechanisms for the landing ramp and wings. The first eight bags also contain one of the minifigures, acting as a nice little palette cleanser between sections. Once the main body is assembled, the final task is to add the blade-like wings to complete the build.

Overall, there's an impressive degree of variety to the build process; I never found myself getting bored or doing repetitive tasks, and as an extra cherry on top, there aren't any stickers!

Lego Dune Atreides Royal Ornithopter: Design

• Folding wings and a landing ramp, but floppy wings are a disappointment.
• Clear cockpit with room for minifigures.
• Loads of minifigures — Baron Harkonnen is amazing.

Once it's assembled, the Lego Ornithopter is a thing of beauty, especially with the wings extended outwards to give the model maximum impact (and a huge footprint thanks to the 31-inch wingspan).

The wing folding mechanism is controlled via a switch on the top of the model, which requires a decent amount of force to move — this makes sense given that it's a single lever attached to all eight wings. In addition to the folding, there is also a cleverly disguised button on top of the aircraft that can be pressed to make the wings flap, which is another cool touch to help bring the dragonfly-esque craft from the movies to life.

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The Lego Ornithopter with the wings fully extended.

The transparent cockpit of the Lego Ornithopter.

The boarding ramp at the back of the Lego Ornithopter.

The wing mechanism on the Lego Ornithopter.

There are a couple of issues with the wings. While it's probably an isolated issue because something in my construction didn't line up perfectly, whenever I extend the wings out, one of the gray side panels pops off — it's getting caught by the wing mechanism as it moves past. Annoying, but not a huge deal.

What is a huge deal is the wings themselves. When I first assembled this model about a month ago, there was no issue, but over time, I've noticed the wings on one side of the aircraft have started to droop. It only happened on one side, so I'm assuming that the wings are just more susceptible to bending in one direction, causing the disparity between the two sides.

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The Lego Ornithopter with the wings folded back, shown on the left side.

The Lego Ornithopter with the wings folded back, shown on the right side and showcasing the sagging issue.

All the minifigures included with the the Lego Ornithopter.

Aside from this slight flaccidity issue, the Lego Dune Atreides Royal Ornithopter is a beautiful display model, packed with details. The cockpit lifts, the healthy roster of minifigures is a huge win too, including Paul Atreides, Lady Jessica, Gurney Halleck, Chani, Leto Atreides, Liet Kynes, Duncan Idaho, and Baron Harkonnen (my favorite, look at his hilariously long robe).

Should you buy the Lego Dune Atreides Royal Ornithopter?

Despite a few minor issues, the Lego Dune Atreides Royal Ornithopter is still easy to recommend to fans of the franchise and space Lego fans in general. The Ornithopter is such a unique concept and after seeing it brought to life in Denis Villeneuve's excellent Dune Part One and Two, it's such a treat to have a physical model to admire up close.

The droopy wings on one side are a bit of a downer, but it's only noticeable when they're folded up and you can just display it with the other side at the front. The impressive wingspan and flapping wings help set this kit apart from other Lego sets, and the huge roster of minifigures is a very welcome bonus.

Other Lego sets to consider

The Ornithopter might be the only Dune set out there at the moment, but sci-fi fans are spoiled for choice in the Lego range. One of the coolest sets out there has to be the Guardians of the Galaxy: The Milano, which you can pick up for $179.99 / £159.99.

You can also roll out with the Lego Optimus Prime set for $179.99 / £159.99. We thought it looked stunning in our Lego Optimus Prime review, and we especially loved that it can transform between robot and truck like the man himself. It's a bit pricey for its size, but we've regularly seen it on sale.