Multicolored spacemen abound in 70841 Benny’s Space Squad from The LEGO Movie 2 [Review]

It’s just a little over a month until the première of The Lego Movie 2: The Second Part. Is there a better way to get ready for the new adventures other than to treat yourself with one (or maybe two, or three, or nineteen) of the nineteen new themed sets? It seems like anyone will be able to find a set that suits their taste, but there is only one that got a lot more attention than the others — 70841 Benny’s Space Squad. The set can be described as a “Classic Space battle pack”; sounds like an adult LEGO fan’s dream, doesn’t it? Let’s get the set assembled and take a closer look at the new minifigures…

The box and its contents

The box is actually smaller than one might expect it to be. It’s only when you open the set that you realise the minifigures and the accessories make up almost half of all the pieces in the box.

The building process

There are only 68 pieces in this set, so, of course, it’s not about the complexity of the builds or any extravagant building solutions. This section of the review could have been easily omitted if it wasn’t for the set’s outstanding concept and incredible vibes. Yours truly is just a 25-year-old AFOL, who never got any of the LEGO Classic Space sets from the late 70’s into the 80’s. And once I opened the bags, I realised these are the very same pieces and minifigures I’ve seen for so many years in other people’s creations! And now I have not just one, not two, but four amazing minifigures (even a pink one!) as well as a bunch of pieces to create my own spaceships and rovers.

The minifigures and pieces

70841 Benny’s Space Squad is not just a LEGO set, but rather a set of minifigures. The squad consists of four Classic Space minifigures. We already know Benny from the first LEGO Movie back in 2014, but Kenny (in yellow), Lenny (in pink) and Jenny (in white) are just joining the adventures.

And as a side note, this crew of colorful characters just goes to show that anybody can be a “spaceman” — we’re just using the term as a nod to the retro days of the 70’s.

The original LEGO Classic Space sets included spacemen in 5 colors — red, yellow, blue, white and black. The spacesuit color helps to indicate the spaceman’s specialisation. Wearing blue, Benny is a soldier, Kenny is supposed to be a scientist, while Jenny’s white suit is the uniform of explorers. None of the original minifigures was dressed in pink, so we still have to find out what Lenny’s occupation is… Maybe a mechanic?

The spacemen are built of the same pieces in different colors. Obviously, this is the first time we’re getting a pink spacesuit, as well as air tanks in pink. Additionally, all the new, old-style helmets are new molds that look exactly like Benny’s but without a crack.


Benny is the only one of the squad capable of multiple emotions. His second face looks pretty shocked, but his mates’ classic smiles always stay unreadable. Tough guys.

One more piece of interest is a 4×2 slope with the Classic Space logo printed on it. The piece only appeared in 70816 Benny’s Spaceship, Spaceship, SPACESHIP! in 2014, so its return in one of the cheapest sets will be very welcomed by many fans.

The finished set

Once assembled the set becomes a stunning collection of Classic Space figures and accessories. It feels like someone who spent his or her childhood playing with LEGO Classic Space sets is sharing their favourite bits with kids of today.

The main build of the set is, of course, the spaceship. Not the spaceship, spaceship, SPACESHIP!, but a tiny one. It is almost a copy of a model like 885 Space Scooter or 6803 Space Patrol, but revived with new elements.


You’ll need a spaceship to travel between planets. But on a planet’s surface a spaceman needs a reliable rover — just like this one.

It is so small, it could be an advent calendar mini-build. And, again, rovers can be found in many original sets; for instance, the iconic 886 Space Buggy from 1979. Although, the new version has no spare studs for air tanks, it can fit two minifigures and even a couple of tools in the back.

Finally comes the spaceman’s best friend, a robot. Its design is also borrowed from the original sets; see Classic Space Droid for reference.

Functions and playability

Before we speak about the possibilities of the set, please keep in mind that it has absolutely no special parts like shooters, gears, springs or even hinges. It is just four minifigures, two vehicles and a robot. And yet, I didn’t expect this many play scenarios from this set. You can explore, you can rescue, you can fly around or drive back and forth; the set easily proves one of LEGO’s main fundamental rules — just give children bricks and let them create their own adventures.

The format of the review we use here on The Brothers Brick doesn’t involve more than 40 pictures for a small set like this one, but I could hardly stop taking pictures of these lovely spacemen. I tend to think it’s the models’ simple designs that make your imagination work to add emotions, sounds and many more details to these simple toys in your hands.

Among the countless licensed LEGO themes, which bring dozens and dozens unique pre-determined pieces, this tiny, simple set feels like a breath of fresh air — although, it’s almost literally a set from the 1980’s.

Final thoughts

LEGO Movie 2 70841 Benny’s Space Squad feels like a set that we don’t deserve. Everything about it — its price, number of minifigures, its concept and designs — looks and sounds like something that cannot exist among modern LEGO themes and series. The set is what LEGO looked like 40 years ago — and it still works perfectly fine today. And, no doubt, the set will be praised by many toy photographers who are in love with not only LEGO minifigures, but also LEGO Classic Space characters. This tiny set has so many things to love about it that it simply leaves absolutely no space for any criticism.


LEGO Movie 2 70841 Benny’s Space Squad includes 4 minifigures and 68 pieces and retails for £9.99 / $9.99 / 9.99€. The set will be available at the usual retailers soon.


15 comments on “Multicolored spacemen abound in 70841 Benny’s Space Squad from The LEGO Movie 2 [Review]

  1. BGD

    My only complaint with the set is that Benny should have had a normal blue helmet for this set, not the cracked one.

  2. Purple Dave

    There is a slight…ly large possibility there may be two more sets coming down the pipe, which does not even count the four polybag sets that have been reported (some of which are already showing up in the wild). So, 25? And counting?

  3. Taylor Connell

    I’ve heard it said that Pink Lenny could be interpreted as a Classic Space Medical Officer. Let the Grey ones from the CMF a couple of years back be mechanics,

  4. Ronald

    Quality control missed one here: there should have been a trans green 1×1 on the starboard wing, not red on both sides.

  5. Purple Dave

    @Taylor:
    Grey doesn’t have a full outfit yet, so they would probably be better as cadets for now. I could have sworn one of the first three colors was Engineering, though

  6. Håkan

    @Purple Dave / Taylor

    If you’re not above mixing Old Light Gray with New Light Bluish Gray, the Grey/ Gray spaceman would have a full legal outfit…

    (And I have a bunch of both old yellow and white spacemen from my old collection and thrift store finds, already, but I’ll still probably buy a copy of this set…)

  7. Håkan

    @Purple Dave

    From a list I found on the Fandom Brickipedia wiki, this is what Jens Nygaard Knudsen mentioned:

    Red: Pilots
    White: Explorers
    Yellow: Scientists
    Blue: Soldiers/ Security Personnel
    Black: Spies

  8. Łukasz Thorson

    Sometimes Lego really nails it. Usually it is with the bigger sets. But this time they really made something born out of true and long-lasting love for the brick system that ignites imagination since the 70s. This for me is The perfect set.

  9. Purple Dave

    @Ronald:
    Design flaw, not QC. It matches what you can see on the package, and there are no trans-green elements visible in the pile of parts. Likely whoever designed/approved this set isn’t versed in navigation lights.

    @Håkan:
    I’d just recently run across that info too, but it didn’t feel like it matches what I’d read before, so I dug up the Exo-Suit interview:

    https://ideas.lego.com/blogs/a4ae09b6-0d4c-4307-9da8-3ee9f3d368d6/post/4314aa28-9ce8-445a-9ee0-72bf1e5088a4

    In this, Mark Stanford claims that white are pilots, red are soldiers/explorers, yellow are scientists, blue are commanders, and black are spies, so by that list only yellow and black are consistent (and Benny is in charge!!!!!!!). Of course he then goes on to say that none of these, including white _pilots_ qualify as mech pilots, so they decided to give that role to the new green Spacemen (I personally favor green as salvage, since there are something like half a dozen models I’d call mechs that are piloted by most, if not all, of the original five colors with nary a green in sight).

    And I distinctly remember also reading that white and red, the _original_ two colors from before the days of printed torsos, were intended to represent American astronauts and Russian cosmonauts. So there’s clearly some internal disagreement on exactly what the colors mean.

    As for pink, I think we’ll have to wait and take cues from the movie. He could end up an interior decorator, or he could be a combat instructor. Or a mixup in the laundry, like a red that got bleached or a white that got washed with a load of reds.

  10. Purple Dave

    Wait, what? When did they change the minesweeper element, and why did they omit the stud connections on the sensor head? And why didn’t anyone mention it before now?!?!?!?

    And precisely what shade is Lenny? Dark Pink?

  11. Håkan

    @Purple Dave

    2013, judging from a BrickLink search on “detector”.

    And yeah, I guess it’s BL Dark Pink/ TLG Bright Purple …

  12. Purple Dave

    @Håkan:
    Huh. I may have even been aware of that, but it looks like the last set I ever got that had the minesweeper was the Green Army Men set. And the set before that was the Green Army Men. And the set before that…well, I can’t really even remember how many copies I have for sure, but I know I built one stock, received a free copy of the updated white box which I never opened, and I used a minimum of five copies when building up my Green Army Man Army (that includes a paratrooper). But I own none of the sets with the new version that came out three years later.

    If it’s Dark Pink, that sucks, because the closest modern helmet would then be the Magenta one from the S3 Snowboarder, so the only ones pink will be able to match with are the white and yellow ones from this same set, or black/red/white if you convert them to the Space Helmet from the S1 Astronaut (which I kinda hate because it sits so high on the head that it obscures the mouth and leaves the forehead exposed).

  13. Håkan

    @Taylor

    Hmm, unfortunately it seems the Old Light Gray Helmet is quite rare and expensive on Bricklink, probably due to it being used in 375/ 6075 and other Classic Castle sets…

    The Old Light Gray airtanks are quite common, however.

  14. Håkan

    @Purple Dave

    It seems Bright Pink would work even worse, though. Then you’d have to settle for a Batman Cowl or a Pig Mask(!)…

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