It was only five days into the new year that LEGO revealed this year’s Easter set, 40523 Easter Rabbits Display, and let me tell you, it is adorable. It contains 288 pieces and will be available on February 1st for US $12.99 | CAN $16.99 | UK £11.99. Read on for our review of the building process and finished model.
The LEGO Group provided The Brothers Brick with an early copy of this set for review. Providing TBB with products for review guarantees neither coverage nor positive reviews.
Unboxing the parts and instructions
The set comes in a thumb-punch box identical in size to LEGO 40522 Valentine Lovebirds. Also like the Valentine’s set, it has an age rating of 8+, but younger children could easily build this set with a little patience. The front of the box shows the bunnies as the instructions pose them, and the back gives an alternate arrangement and a clear view of the five colorful eggs. There’s also a reminder that there’s a whole series of holiday sets to collect, with an image of the Valentine Lovebirds.
Inside the box are seven numbered bags and two small instruction booklets with a loose 6×8 bright green plate. There are no stickers, which is common for these seasonal sets but still welcome. When I saw the two instruction booklets, I immediately thought there would be one for each bunny to make it easy to build them together, as some sets now explicitly advertise. Instead, book one builds both bunnies – the brown is bag 1, and bags 2-3 make up the white. Book 2 with bags 4-7 build the very substantial base, the eggs and three flowers. Since at least as many parts go into the base and decorative elements as the bunnies, it’s understandable that the instructions are split this way, but it was still a bit of a disappointment that the bunnies aren’t easily able to be built in parallel.
The Bunnies
I’m not going to be coy with my opinion: these bunnies are amazingly cute, and fully justify a Bun Alert. They are somewhat similar to a BrickHeadz “companion” build, with a simple core and lots of SNOT for details and paws.
The completed brown bunny, with an attractive mix of reddish brown and medium nougat fur, with three tiny touches of pink for a boopable nose and the inside of soft ears, looks great. And that little stub of a tail!
The white bunny is on all fours rather than back on its haunches, with a few touches of tan on the very pettable tummy and the tops of the delicate paws. The same touches of pink work just as well. On both bunnies, the “tooth” 1×1 tiles give a perfect impression of softness on the paws.
The base and accessories
The display stand looks great and is very solid and substantial. The flip side of that, of course, is that a lot of parts go into it. The build is very straightforward, mostly stacked plates and a few bricks, with the majority being finished with tiles or curved slopes.
The eggs are colorful and lovely. One of them is topped with a pink opalescent dome that was new in 2021 and has only been in five sets previously. My youngest aptly described it as “whoa, that’s a cosmos piece”. The flowers are simple, with “tooth” petals, and very short stems. The proportions look a little odd, but a longer stem would have been very fragile without extra parts for reinforcement, so the decision is understandable.
The finished model
The bunnies in this set are absolute spot-on winners. The base is also attractive and solid. All together, though, it’s a bit busy. There really isn’t space to fit both bunnies and all of the accessories on the base at the same time, so you can mix-and-match which eggs and flowers you like best, but then you’re left with the question of what to do with the others. They will stand up on their own, but fall over (and roll!) extremely easily.
The bunnies look great from any angle (again, those tails!), but the back of the base is a touch untidy in a way that probably could have been avoided.
Conclusion and recommendation
It won’t surprise anyone who’s read this far that I recommend this set on the basis of the bunnies alone. The price is great for the colorful and useful collection of 288 parts. However, the set as a whole doesn’t live up to the standard of the adorable bunnies. I like the choice to use the brick-built eggs; it adds a ton of color compared to using the smaller molded egg piece. The flowers I could take or leave, and so many parts go into the base that I wonder if a third bunny could have been included. Ultimately, this is a set that shouldn’t be over-thought. If you like cute, brick-built animals at all, this set certainly delivers, and I think you’ll love it.
LEGO 40523 Easter Rabbits Display will be available at LEGO.com starting February 1st for US $12.99 | CAN $16.99 | UK £11.99. It may also be available from third-party sellers on Amazon and eBay.
The LEGO Group sent The Brothers Brick an early copy of this set for review. Providing TBB with products for review guarantees neither coverage nor positive reviews.