The LEGO Captain America's Shield, available now at Amazon and LEGO Store, is as large as it is self-evident. The LEGO designers promised a shield, and a shield is what they delivered—a massive replica with an 18.5-inch diameter and a near 5-foot circumference. Your decision to purchase this set and build it will depend entirely on how big of a Marvel fan you are, and how much room you have in your living room to display the final result.
Captain America's signature "weapon" isn't really a weapon at all. It is a near-indestructible shield made of pure vibranium that Cap uses to defend rather than attack. It fits his character perfectly—be it the comics or the Marvel Cinematic Universe—that he uses force largely as a defensive measure, in the hopes of preventing further violence. It is durable, able to withstand both a punch by the Hulk and a strike from Thor's hammer Mjolnir, because (according to comic book physics), vibranium absorbs all kinetic energy.
Of course, the LEGO Captain America's Shield is nowhere as durable. It is strictly for display only; if you were to throw it, you would be picking tiny pieces up off your floor for the next week. To create the signature curve of the shield, which arcs towards the center on all sides, the designers used 36 thin, hinged plates that fasten all around the edge and bind in the center. It's a fragile setup, but the cumulative symmetrical effect conjures an illusion of cohesion and strength.
After you build the shield, you build a small, black stand out of LEGO Technic, which allows you to display the shield upright. The stand comes with a placard that identifies the shield and ties it to the Marvel Cinematic Universe's Infinity Saga.
Lastly, the shield comes with a single LEGO Minifigure of Captain Steve Rogers himself. He has a reversible head with two expressions. One is a smile, and the other is a determined scowl. You can also swap his head gear—he can either wear his natural hair or Cap's signature helmet. The Minifigure comes with two accessories: Mjolnir, which Captain America was deemed "worthy" of wielding, and a tiny facsimile of the signature shield. You attach this minifigure to the base of the build near the placard; angled properly, it gives the impression that Cap is soaring through the air—hammer in one hand and shield in the other—to kick Thanos' ass.
The build itself is repetitive. But we are, after all, building a circular disc with a symmetrical pattern. There is no way to make this process more varied than it is. Think of the shield as a pie with 36 slices. Each slice must be an exact duplicate of the one next to it to create the signature color scheme, and each slice must be equidistant from each of the others to form a perfect circle.
You lay down one brick 18 times in an alternating circular pattern. Then you lay down a different brick 18 more times, in an alternating circular pattern opposite the prior brick. And then you lay down another brick 36 times, 360 degrees around the shield's center.
Much of the build requires this sort of methodical repetition, and it is best done slowly to minimize the monotony, or with a partner so you have someone to converse with to pass the time. I built the shield with my eight-year-old son, and he loved the experience because the build was long but simple; we could focus on our conversation, because our hands were occupied, but our minds were not.
While doing research on LEGO therapy three years ago, I learned about a social theory of triangulated interaction—that many people do not socialize by sharing feelings and experiences directly, even though that's widely seen as the ideal. Instead, they collaborate on a common project—be it a LEGO project or a video game—and that allows for a gradual trickle and sharing of information over time.
The LEGO Captain's America's Shield is ideal for this sort of triangulated interaction, providing an accessible, neutral ground for anyone to partake in building, regardless of his or her skill or experience with LEGO. Even repetitive, simple tasks can be fun when there's good company to perform them with. And besides, if you're buying a set like this, you're probably more concerned about the end result, rather than the journey to get there. And in this case, the end result is quite worthy—display-worthy, that is.
The LEGO Captain America's Shield, Set #76262, retails for $199.99, and it is composed of 3128 pieces. It is available now.
For more, check out our picks for the best LEGO Marvel sets, as well as the best LEGO Nintendo sets and best LEGO Harry Potter sets. Also check out the new LEGO sets for August 2023.
