LEGO Ideas 21336 The Office – Home of the World’s best boss [REVIEW]

The LEGO Ideas theme has led to many popular shows finding new life in plastic bricks, from The Big Bang Theory, Seinfeld, Friends, and more. The sets let fans recreate their favorite moments and scenes, and actors of major blockbuster movies like Star Wars, Jurrasic Park, and the Marvel franchise are not the only celebrities who get to collect minifig versions of themselves. Well, fans of the hit American show based on the hit British show The Office can finally join in the fun with LEGO Ideas 21336: The Office, which includes 1,164 pieces and will be available on Oct 1, 2022 for US $119.99 | CAN $144.99 | UK £104.99

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, instructions, and sticker sheets

The set comes in a large thumb-punch box with a strip of various LEGO elements along the bottom. The front of the box features the completed model along with all 15 minifigs arranged throughout the scene. On the back of the box, the model is shown from another angle, and there are several small pictures featuring close-up scenes, many of which reference well-known scenes from the show.

Along the top of the box, the line-up of 15 minifigs are shown holding many of the props that are commonly associated with their on-screen characters, like Daryl with a take-out menu, Phyllis with her knitting, Angela with a kitten, and of course, Michael sporting his World’s Best Boss mug.

Both sides also show vignettes of the minifigs in the scene to represent key moments from the show. Some of the scenes include Jim and Pam exchanging glances across the office, Dwight reacting to having his office supplies encased in jello, Kevin knocking over the trash can attempting parkour, and scenes from the cramped conference room.

Inside the box are 10 numbered bags (1 for each number), an instruction booklet and 2 sticker sheets. One larger sheet on white sticker-stock and another smaller one with transparent stickers for the windows, phones, and a few other elements.

Similar to other LEGO Ideas sets, the booklet includes several 2-page spreads providing an overview of the set inspired by the hit TV series with quotes from Michael and Pam, a great intro to the fan designer who had submitted several LEGO Ideas projects for The Office, each of which reached the 10,000 supporters mark. Finally, there is an introduction to the LEGO set designers staging a photo in a very similar office setting.


The build

The build starts out with the detachable mini-model of Michael Scott’s office, where we get our first easter egg in the form of a suspicious and stinky pile on the carpet. Michael’s desk sports his favorite mug, along with a Dundee trophy. The set officially comes with just one Dundee, but I was able to make a second one… keep a lookout to see who wins it.

As we finish up Michael’s office, we get a nice collection of office furniture, from plants to lamps to Michael’s desk. One thing I noticed right away was that every desk (there are 7 in total, including Pam’s reception desk) are arranged in different ways, with the printed black keyboard tile, mouse, monitor, desk lamp, phone, and other personal touches just like any office would be. It is a nice touch, and shows the great attention to details the LEGO designers put into the set.

On to the rest of the office. The main office space is a pretty uneventful build, with white walls scattered with sideways-facing studs for the many stickered wall hangings. The reception desk corner is full of extras, like the fax machine, lamp, coat rack and file cabinets topped with additional folders. Next to the fax machine is one of the many pranks aimed to confuse Dwight, this one being a message from his future self to not drink the coffee. There are two chairs, one wide and one narrow, and above the smaller chair is a picture of the Scranton branch seen from the parking lot. The front area of the office ends with a great copy machine with a hinged cover that is really one of the best pieces of furniture in the set, in my opinion.

The next section includes two desks for Dwight and Jim and a seating area that hides a sword belonging to Dwight. If anyone knows what the small trophy figure on Dwight’s desk is a reference to, leave a comment below. Another really neat detail to point out is that every computer screen includes a specific reference to that character (more on the computer screens later). For Dwight, that is a sticker showing the website for Shrute’s Farm.

The middle section finishes with a plant and a short bookcase. On the top of the bookcase, Dwight’s stapler is encased in jello.

Next we skip ahead to build the conference room in the back, which is pretty basic. Included in the room is a pad of paper with 2 sticker options, and a TV and VCR stand which has a printed VHS tape tile and 3 screen options. Fans of the show will recognize the DVD logo, which led to an office obsession, watching the animated screensaver as it moves towards the corner, but usually missed, leading to groans and cheers that Michael often mistook for enthusiasm over whatever speech he was making at the time.

The last section of the office features 3 more desks for Oscar, Phyllis, and Stanley, another bookcase, and a small set of drawers with files and a stapler. There is also a tall white pillar to match the one at the front of the office, with a couple of certificates mounted on it, and another No Smoking sign to match the one behind Pam’s desk. Don’t miss the flaming garbage can in the corner, from the time Dwight set the bin on fire to make a point about the office’s criminal lack of a fire escape plan.

Before I break down all of the office furniture, I want to go back to the small set of drawers next to the conference room and show off that stapler – made from just 2 parts… genius!

I also wanted to show the vast collection of easter eggs and references included in the sticker sheet and Minifig accessories. A $340 check for “Science”, a Shrute buck, an engagement ring for Pam, a Dundee, a pretzel, a ball of yarn and knitting needles (chopsticks), a gray kitten, a bat, Stanley’s crossword puzzle, a golden ticket, a megaphone for Dwight, and of course, the stapler in jello.

That’s it for the office scene, and since the set does not include restrooms, you will have to find another place to set up Dwight’s desk as a prank, like the conference room, although I am sure someone will expand on the scene with a break room and restrooms.

The six office desks are very well detailed. The monitors for Jim and Pam show them exchanging messages, Michael has a sad songs playlist, Phyllis is looking up Vance Refrigerations, Dwight is looking at Sofort Buchen on the Shrute Farms B7B website, and Oscar is looking at the Dunder Mifflin website.

The reception desk and copy machine, along with the fax machine and another machine that looks like a scanner are all simple but very effective designs. The couch and chair are designed to fit Minifigs and the green and tan seat looks exactly like the low seating found in many modern office spaces. The drawer units, both in Michael’s office and elsewhere are simple but look great and are small enough to feel just right compared to Minifigs.

The two bookcases are filled with colorful parts to represent a number of general knick-knacks. The TV cart looks great, and definitely gave me flashbacks to my high school AV club. The file cabinet and white drawers covered with binders and file folders perfectly capture the office place clutter. Finally, a number of different designs for table and floor lamps and potted plants help to fill in the corners with visual interest.


The minifigures

While the set includes many of the main characters from the show (15 in total) there is at least one character who did not make it into the set. As far as I can tell from the hair and facial features, Andy Bernard is not included in the set. I have to admit I have not watched the show since season 3, when I ditched cable in favor of streaming services, but I did my best to identify all of the included Minifigs using the website Dunderpedia for reference.

Michael Scott, Dwight Shrute, Jim Halpert, and Pam Beesly

Michael comes with 2 expressions, a very cheerful one and a concerned, pouty one. Dwight has a smug standard expression and another more judgemental one (or maybe that is his standard look).

Jim has a very casual, almost smirking facial expression which fits his character very well, he also has a more thoughtful look. Pam has a smiling expression and a worried one.

Ryan Howard, Angela Martin, Kelly Kapoor, and Toby Flenderson

Ryan only has one facial expression, but he does have two versions, a normal clean-cut look and a stubbly beard look. Angela has a smiling expression and one that looks a little stern, or thoughtful.

Kelly’s expressions are more positive, with a happy face, and a smirking face. Toby has a smiling expression and a concerned or indifferent one.

Meredith Palmer, Oscar Martinez, Phyllis Vance, and Stanley Hudson

Meredith has a smiling expression and one that looks like she has just seen a bat swooping towards her hair. Oscar has a smiling confident look, and a slightly worried look.

Phyllis has a happy expression, and an even happier one, while Stanley has, quite appropriately, two almost identical facial expressions rife with scorn and judgment, with one subtle difference being that one eyebrow is raised.

Creed Bratton, Darryl Philbin, Kevine Malone

Creed, Darryl, and Kevine each have only one expression. Creed looks happy (though it may be forced), Darryl is smiling broadly, and Kevin is, well, Kevin, smiling vaguely.


The finished model

While there really is not that much in the way of play features, this set is a very nicely detailed scene. The furniture and minifigs are very accurate to the source material. The removable mini-model of Michael’s office is a bit of a head-scratcher, but it is nice to be able to pull it out if you want to display it alone on a smaller shelf. The set is full of amazing details that really show how much effort the design team put into bringing this fan model to life.

Here’s Michael’s office on its own. It works well as a standalone vignette.


Conclusions and recommendations

Even though I am not as much of a fan of The Office as I am of Seinfeld, I think this is a great tribute to the show and would make a good addition to any collection. The minifigs alone are quite excellent, and many of them wearing business casual attire are well-suited (see what I did there?) for any city or superhero scene. The furniture designs are also very re-usable and can easily be adapted to create a variety of items.

LEGO Ideas 21336 The Office includes 1164 pieces and will be available on Oct 1, 2022 for US $119.99 | CAN $144.99 | UK £104.99

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.


5 comments on “LEGO Ideas 21336 The Office – Home of the World’s best boss [REVIEW]

  1. Luke Nutkins

    I believe the microfigure on Dwight’s desk is meant to represent the bobblehead of himself that Angela gets him for Valentine’s Day in Season 2.

    You also mention Kevin knocking over the bin attempting parkour – that vignette is actually a reference to the episode where Kevin brings in a big vat of home cooked chilli, and spills it all over the office floor.

  2. Chris

    Kevin isn’t leaping over a trash can, he’s lamenting his spilled chili. And Erin Hannon is the other “missing” main cast figure besides Andy Bernard, but the set is only including characters who appeared in the first season.

  3. Spleenzorio

    I wonder if there will be a second set with the annex that comes with Andy, Erin and Gabe. Maybe Pete and Clark too.

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