Planet Earth and Moon in Orbit LEGO Review

The LEGO Group continues to impress me with their adult focused LEGO set releases, and the Planet Earth and Moon in Orbit set is no exception. This somewhat complicated build was incredibly satisfying from the first page of the instructions, and with very little repetition in the build, it was a joy to work on for a few hours. Ultimately, in a crowded LEGO space, is this one worth the investment? Let’s take a look!

First and foremost, there are a lot of unique pieces included with this set. Most notably, of course, is going to be the two-piece earth globe which is a wonderfully printed piece featuring all the world’s continents in decent detail. A few of the other pieces within the set are fairly unique as well, and whether or not you ultimately keep this set together, custom LEGO building fans are going to find a lot of really great pieces to add to their collection for future builds.

Technic sets can be frustrating for some to put together, and that is true for me as well. Overall, I would say I enjoyed the few hours I spent putting this set together, but that doesn’t mean there weren’t some frustrations along the way. With regular LEGO sets, it’s very easy to follow the instructions and I very rarely put a piece in the wrong spot. I did that a few times with this set, and had to take more than a few double-takes of the instruction manual to make sure I was doing a specific step correctly. This isn’t really a problem with this specific set, however, as I find this to be true of almost every complicated Technic set I have ever built.

What I really enjoy about this LEGO set is just how impressive it looks when it’s finished. It’s a great display piece for any fan of space, and is the perfect size for putting on display alongside books or models related to space. The mechanics of the set are impressive as well.

Each part of the set – the sun, moon, and earth – are on their own set of gears that makes them spin, but since it is a fairly accurate diorama they all need to spin in unison, at different speeds to depict the earth moving around the sun and the moon moving around the earth. For the few hours I spent building it, I spent probably an equal amount marveling at the LEGO design, something I don’t often do with LEGO sets. This one hits differently, however.

I often overlook the design of LEGO sets and that’s a bit of a shame since so much work goes into making each and every LEGO set feel and look unique. But I couldn’t pass up the chance to look at each and every component of this set once it was together – it was marvelous. When I think about sets that are for true LEGO fans, this one will forever come to mind because of how detailed it is, how well it works, and how beautiful it looks.

I’ve talked lately about my favorite sets I’ve ever built – I still maintain that the LEGO Grand Piano is still my favorite build of all time, but this set has supplanted everything else to be my second favorite ever. I think it looks great, the build is incredibly satisfying, and for the collector or the custom builder, there are a ton of unique pieces here that will be useful in the future. If you are looking for an excellent evening of LEGO building, and would love to have something that looks great to display, the Planet Earth and Moon in Orbit set from The LEGO Group is a fantastic value.