LEGO® Marvel review & MOCs: 76251 Star-Lord’s Helmet

To get in the mood for reviewing LEGO® Marvel 76251 Star-Lord’s Helmet and hopefully coming up with some interesting MOCs, I grabbed my old Walkman, put in a pair of really fresh Duracell AAs, and did some quick brickdancing to a mix-tape of old skool tunes! Then I was ready to check through the new and rare parts before building the pencil-pot superhero head of the Star-Lord from Guardians of the Galaxy.

Products in this article were provided by LEGO®; the author's opinions are their own.
LEGO® Marvel 76251 Star-Lord's Helmet
US$79.99/ £69.99/ 79.99€/ AU$129.99
602 parts
1st April 2023
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The set was designed by LEGO® Masters USA contestant Aaron Newman who is now a designer with the company. Aaron posted briefly about the set from his Instagram account back in February, where he mentioned that Adam Corbally designed the decorations, and Junya Suzuki produced the sketch model that the set was based on.

At first look, this is probably going to be a bit of a Dark Bluish Gray parts pack, and those eye prints are begging to be used as engines on some kind of spacecraft.

Parts in set 76251

There are no stickers in this set... all the decoration is done with printed parts and clever construction!

So, what's new or rare in this set?

Exclusive prints

1x Plate Special 4 x 6 with Studs on 3 Edges and LEGO Logo, 'THE INFINITY SAGA' and 'STAR-LORD' Print in Black (6448893 | 104717)
1x Windscreen 8 x 6 x 2 Curved with Dark Bluish Grey Armor print in Light Bluish Grey (6404143 | 100385)
2x Tile Round 3 x 3 with Red and Bright Pink Hexagons Print in Dark Red (6404142 | 100384)

Recolour

4x Brick Round Corner, Curved 3 x 3 x 1 Quarter Circle in Dark Bluish Gray (6440667 | 76797)

This curved quarter-circle slope first appeared in 2021 and I really like it. Perhaps it's how smooth it is, or the pleasing little cat face I see on the underside, or the way it fits with existing curved slopes.

Now available in 15 lovely colours, appearing in a total of 31 sets, it is here in Dark Bluish Gray for the first time and at time of writing, remains exclusive.

Rare

1x Slope Curved 3 x 2 with Stud Notch Left in Dark Bluish Gray (6375813 | 80177) in two other sets
1x Slope Curved 3 x 2 with Stud Notch Right in Dark Bluish Gray (6375817 | 80178) in two other sets
2x Tile 2 x 2 with Groove in Metallic Gold (6347439 | 78814) in two other sets

Notable

2x Tile 3 x 3 Curved, Macaroni in Dark Bluish Gray (6393306 | 79393)
8x Plate 1X5 in Dark Bluish Gray (6413109 | 78329)
12x Plate 1X5 in Black (6350415 | 78329)

The macaroni tile still feels like a new and fairly rare part to me, but it was actually introduced in 2021 and it is available in 14 colours across 47 sets.

I have highlighted the two 1x5 plates because it seems like, when their totals are combined, there is a reasonable quantity for a set of this size. Again, this part was introduced in 2021 but still feels relatively new to me.

The build

It’s a fun set - I really enjoyed building this.

There’s lots of SNOT work involved in creating the basic, hollow cuboid structure beneath the helmet. However, in each layer that is added, some variation or feature is included that will be used later. This makes for a pretty enjoyable process because it never really gets repetitive.

Obviously, plenty of sideways studs allow for the secure connection of sub-assemblies to be added to the structure.

As each of the final sections are clipped onto the model, it’s really rewarding to see how earlier parts of the build now allow for what feels like a pretty faithful recreation of Peter Quill’s space helmet.

MOCs inspired by set 76251

First off, I wanted to try something new in my approach to making a MOC, so I deconstructed the helmet into what felt like its major sub-assemblies.

Using that as a starting point, I decided to build a spaceship.

Screaming Angel

Those eye prints were what I’d been wanting to play with the most, and so I let that be the defining characteristic of the engines.

I also wanted to avoid adding extra parts, in an effort to create an alternate model. I did end up adding one windscreen to finish it up properly, but all the other elements were from the set.

My favourite thing about it is the screaming face in that final view bottom right!

I feel the ship could belong in either the MCU or Star Wars universes.

Could more be done though? There were a few bits left - and my son made my day by making something too.

The Turkeysaurus

Apparently, it’s the missing link between raptors and turkeys!

I still wanted to see what alternate models could be built. Part of the enjoyment of a new set for me is simply the possibilities that a single set can offer.

Anti-hero

Finally, I decided to go the obvious route and use the gorgeous tile prints as compound eyes for an insect.

I know this is mixing my Marvels, but having produced this ant-like creature, who better to ride it than Scott Lang!?

Loose parts

With still more parts left over, my kids and I made a few little things.

This little Robo-Cat and Brick Sketches-eque Kitten were among the more successful... not that they are particularly special in any other way, other than being made from leftover parts.

Closing Thoughts

To be honest, despite their obvious popularity and how much I enjoyed the build, the finished head/helmet busts don't appeal to me in general; mostly because I'm not really a display kind of guy. It's always the further play value, or interesting opportunities for my own builds, that appeal to me.

So a set like Star-Lord's Helmet does actually offer some opportunity for new MOCs, especially if spaceships and robots etc. are your field of interest too. As with many other helmets, this one uses a limited palette of similar colours and lacks larger quantities of special or unusual parts. Some of the other parts not highlighted in my review make this set a pretty good parts pack. There are a healthy number of SNOT bricks, and less common parts also appear in useful numbers - like the corner-cut baby bows and corner-cut 2x2 plates.

As a beginning point for other things I'd definitely suggest putting this set on your wants list. To make buying this for parts a viable option, I think a discount of at least 15% is needed. It retails for US$79.99/ £69.99/ 79.99€/ AU$129.99, and if you're buying from LEGO.com we'd certaoinly appreciate it you would consider using our affiliate links, as we may get a commission: USA LEGO Shop | Australia LEGO Shop | UK LEGO Shop.

That said, I think that this representation of Star-Lord's mask is a pretty marvellous bit of LEGO building. If you're a fan of The Guardians, then you could do worse than to give this set some desk space. I hesitate to suggest it's worth the full price, but it's pretty close, especially if you need a nice pen pot!

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21 July 2023