Review: LEGO Animal Crossing - K.K.'s Concert At The Plaza - A Pleasing But Pricey Set

The second round of LEGO Animal Crossing sets brings two key locales from your Animal Crossing: New Horizons island to life in Danish brick form. Alongside the Dodo Airlines terminal, K.K. Slider makes his Lego debut in the K.K.'s Concert at the Plaza set.

This is the priciest of the two sets, including three minifigures (including a new version of Isabelle), a facade of the Town Hall including the clock, the noticeboard, and the flagpole, K.K.'s camper van, and a small cafe serving tea and sweetmeats.

But is the K.K. Slider Lego set worth your cash? How does it compare to the existing sets with Tom Nook and the other set with Isabelle? We're here to answer those questions...

LEGO Animal Crossing - K.K.'s Concert At The Plaza (77052)

Price: $79.99 / £69.99 / €79.99
Pieces: 550
Ages: 7+
Minifig(s) included: K.K. Slider, Audie, Isabelle (pink hoodie print)

What's in the box?

The K.K. set contains six bags — plastic ones — with the first build being the cafe, the camper van split across bags two and three, and the Town Hall, its roof, and accessories found in the remaining bags.

You get one relatively chunky manual with this build, and it's recommended for ages 7+ — the same as the Nook's Cranny set — compared to the 6+ rating of the other Lego Animal Crossing sets, likely due to the many small pieces. You also get a Brick Separator thrown in, so no need to ruin your fingernails separating the blighters when you make a mistake.

Audie and the Cafe

Full disclosure: we love Audie. We first met her in New Horizons and every time we see her going about her business on our island, she brings a smile to our face. Seeing her at the very start of the manual instantly put us in a good mood, and the cute pineapple print and goggles she sports made a great first impression.

The little cafe stall is hardly an epic build, but the yellow/green striping is satisfying to assemble — the itsy bitsy cupcakes and tea set less so. Dendrophiles take note that the autumnal orange tree is exclusive to this set at the time of writing.

K.K. Slider and the RV

Next up, it's the top dog himself.

As cute as he is, K.K.'s minifig is slightly underwhelming. His tail is a printed detail, presumably so that it doesn't interfere when you sit him down to play his set, but otherwise it's a plain white body with short white legs. The head mould is great, and there's nothing really to complain about, but given his status as one of Animal Crossing's most beloved characters, we were a tad disappointed with Totakeke. We would have liked to see some way to affix his guitar to his back, perhaps, or some other extra detail.

K.K.'s stage is pretty basic, with a mic, an amp, and an album sitting on one of the two benches, but fortunately he rocks up in a sweet ride with a printed number plate and musical notes printed on the side.

The camper is modelled after the vehicles first introduced in the Welcome amiibo update in New Leaf. There's a large container on the roof box on top of the camper where you can store the performer's gear and, when the box is removed, the sides of the van can swing open for easy access to the rockin' blue/orange interior. From what we can gather, K.K. drives while seated on his bed, swigging coffee, and chowing down on a slice of Chicago deep dish. Top dog.

With its grey lollipops for wing mirrors, the camper is arguably the coolest part of the set.

The Town Hall

The Town Hall itself follows the exact same template as every other building in the range, and as with most, it feels decidedly bare-bones and 'budget' if you're used to more exotic Lego builds. Still, there are some nice details, including the rounded tops on the white windows, the contrast of the purple roof with the white over the orange stone, the pillars, and the clock- another printed piece (there are no stickers in this set).

Our favourite details were the speakers mounted either side of the door — a simple but effective use of the standard 1x2 bricks showing their underside — and the little tape deck with its twistable volume dial.

The island flag is also fun, boasting two designs you can switch between (we stored the spare in K.K.'s roof box and pretended he'd half-inched it in the early hours), although you're also encouraged to create your own design from the available pieces — a neat mirroring of the flag customisation in the game itself.

A crowbar element is included in the set to facilitate removing the tiny pieces that the Brick Separator is too cumbersome for. The pic in the manual made the crowbar's use clear, but for a moment we thought Lego was endorsing our headcanon that has K.K. as a wiley, Lock-Stock-style geezer ready to bust some heads if the going gets tough at a gig.

The noticeboard with the little yellow bird completes the Town Hall exterior for another set that (rightly, given the target demographic) prioritises play over display. After building the set and snapping the photographs for this review, our kids have spent the afternoon reconfiguring it, having afternoon tea parties with the minifigs, and burning around the garden with Audie and Isabelle riding on the camper van's roof. it might say '7+' on the box, but our five-year-old is entranced.

K.K.'s Concert at the Plaza cost

And now, the rub. K.K.'s Concert at the Plaza is the most expensive of the Animal Crossing Lego sets at $79.99 / £69.99 / €79.99, suring Nook's Cranny and Rosie's House by five of your local currency units.

For that price, you get just 15 more pieces than the Nook set, although there is another minifig here. When you sit back after finishing the build, it doesn't feel like much plastic for 80 notes, even for a licensed set.

You get three exclusive minifigures, of course, plus several printed pieces - and you won't find that orange tree in another set, either. K.K. is the big draw, but even given our love for the dog and his music, plus the brilliant Audie (and Isabelle, of course, who's rocking a sporty pink-and-red hoody here), we still came away from this build wanting something more. If any of the AC sets needed a sound brick, it was this one.

Conclusion

Given that many fans will have been patiently waiting to get their hands on K.K. Slider in Lego form, it's disappointing that this is arguably the worst-value Animal Crossing set currently available. It's not 'bad' by any means — it's actually very good, and children will love it — but given the relative simplicity of the build and poor cost-to-piece ratio here, it's hard not to feel short-changed. Fortunately, the delightful minifigs and K.K.'s RV do enough to make this a solid purchase for AC fans with kids and cash.

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