Disney’s live-actionification of its classic animated feature films shows no signs of slowing down with the new The Little Mermaid, starring Halle Bailey as Ariel, and Melissa McCarthy as Ursula, arriving in theatres on May 26. Ahead of its release, LEGO revealed three new The Little Mermaid sets this past weekend, including an impressively large build targeted at adult collectors.
Although when the original animated The Little Mermaid first hit theatres back in 1989 LEGO wasn’t really doing licensed sets, over the years the company has released a handful of sets featuring the mermaid who longs to be human, but mostly targeted at younger builders. With the new live-action version of the film, LEGO still has a couple of playsets for kids, but the Royal Clamshell is clearly being marketed to those who grew up with both the original film and the building toy, and are happy to make room on a shelf for a set that combines both those fandoms. Check it out!
LEGO Disney The Little Mermaid Royal Clamshell
We were pleasantly surprised to discover that one of the sets in LEGO’s new The Little Mermaid collection was actually a behemoth weighing in at 1,808-pieces and, as it says on the box, designed for builders aged 18+. It’s a recreation of the Royal Clamshell, where King Triton sits on his throne and rules his watery kingdom, but the set also includes recreations of Ariel’s secret stash of sunken human treasures, and Ursula’s cave.
LEGO Disney The Little Mermaid Royal Clamshell
LEGO says the Royal Clamshell features “surprises from both animated and live-action The Little Mermaid films” and inside Ariel’s cave of treasures are random gadgets, gizmos, whosits, whatsits, and thingamabobs. We especially like the use of clear LEGO rods to make fish and a small collection of minifigures appear to float, which include Ariel, Ursula, King Triton, Princesses Karina and Indira, and Flounder and Sebastien.
LEGO Disney The Little Mermaid Royal Clamshell
Most of LEGO’s larger sets, including the 6,000+ piece The Lord of the Rings Rivendell, feature play elements on both the front and back, but as the keen-eyed folks at Brick Fanatics spotted, spin the Royal Clamshell around and all you’ll find is exposed structural elements designed to keep the lid of the shell supported vertically. No, the clamshell doesn’t actually close, so you’ll probably want to keep this set displayed up against a wall.
LEGO Disney The Little Mermaid Royal Clamshell
The LEGO Disney The Little Mermaid Royal Clamshell set will ship starting on May 4, but it’s available for pre-order starting today through LEGO’s website for $AU249.99.
LEGO Disney The Little Mermaid Ariel’s Treasure Chest
Disney seems content to not only look the other way when it comes to Ariel’s very obvious hoarding problem, but to enable it, pass it off as simply an childish fascination with the human world, and even encourage real kids to follow suit with this The Little Mermaid Ariel’s Treasure Chest set.
LEGO Disney The Little Mermaid Ariel’s Treasure Chest
We’ll leave it up to you to decide what’s sunken trash and what’s actually treasure that’s worthy of being collected and stored in this 370-piece set that features an opening lid, two secret compartments located on either side, an Ariel mini-doll figure with a buildable diamond dress, Flounder and Sebastien, and a wearable LEGO Dots bracelet that can be decorated with an included assortment of LEGO tiles.
LEGO Disney The Little Mermaid Ariel’s Treasure Chest
The LEGO Disney The Little Mermaid Ariel’s Treasure Chest will be available starting on June 1 from LEGO’s website and its brick-and-mortar stores for $AU79.99, but isn’t available for pre-order at the time of writing.