LEGO Horizon Aloy and Varl vs Sawtooth (77037) - Machine Hunt

🌅 Introduction - The Machine Hunt, Now on Your Rug

🌅 This review is part of our LEGO Horizon Hub - every set from Aloy’s world we have built and graded, in one place.

The Horizon games are built on one unforgettable loop: a lone hunter stalking, studying, and bringing down enormous robotic machines in a post-apocalyptic wilderness. The towering Tallneck got the display treatment - a single magnificent machine to admire on a shelf - but Aloy and Varl vs. Shell-Walker and Sawtooth (77037) goes after the other half of the experience entirely. This is the action set, the playset that turns the series’ core machine hunt into a battle scene you can actually stage: Aloy and Varl on one side, a poseable Shell-Walker and a poseable Sawtooth on the other, and the tension of a Horizon fight baked right into the bricks.

We built this one with my gaming-mad kid, who knew exactly what a Sawtooth was before we had opened the box and was already narrating the ambush by the time the first machine took shape. That is the reaction this set is engineered to get. It is not a static showpiece you are afraid to touch - it is a play-first battle scene built to be posed, knocked around, and reset for the next hunt. As the play counterpart to the Tallneck, it is the half of the Horizon shelf that actually moves, and for a fan of the games, that machine-versus-hunter face-off is the whole appeal of the series rendered in brick.

Ad

LEGO Horizon Adventures Aloy and Varl vs. Shell-Walker and Sawtooth (77037) (opens in a new tab)

A machine-versus-hunter battle playset from the Horizon games - poseable Shell-Walker and Sawtooth machines plus Aloy and Varl. The play counterpart to the Tallneck, for fans 9+.

---

🧱 The Build - Machines With Real Engineering

The build is genuinely satisfying for the target age, and the standout is the machine construction. Building the Shell-Walker and the Sawtooth is the heart of the set, and LEGO leans into the mechanical, articulated design of the games’ robots - these are not blocky lumps but properly poseable creatures with joints and stances that let them actually look like they are stalking or striking. There is a real sense of building a machine rather than a model, which is exactly the right energy for a Horizon set.

The pacing keeps a nine-year-old engaged the whole way through. Each machine comes together in clean, recognizable stages, so the builder gets the payoff of seeing a hostile robot take shape rather than grinding through a long featureless stretch. A couple of the articulation points reward a careful read of the instructions - getting the legs and posture to hold cleanly is what sells the machines as menacing - but it is never adult-leaning trickery. It is honest, well-paced construction with just enough cleverness to make finishing it feel earned.

For most nine-year-olds this is a satisfying build they can largely own solo, with a parent on standby for the trickier poseable sections. That confidence payoff matters, and the machines reward the effort - the moment the Sawtooth stands on its own legs in a low, predatory crouch, the kid knows they built something with real presence. It is a build that delivers a proper sense of accomplishment, not just a finished box.

---

🤖 The Machines - The Stars of the Show

The poseable machines are why this set exists and why it earns its rating. The Sawtooth is the headline - a sleek, aggressive predator machine that is one of the most recognizable threats in the early Horizon games, and rendering it as a poseable model captures exactly what makes it frightening: the low stance, the coiled-spring posture, the sense that it is about to pounce. The Shell-Walker brings a different flavor - a heavier, hauling machine that gives the scene a second distinct threat rather than just a reskin of the first.

What makes them work is the posability. A static machine is a diorama prop; a poseable one is a toy. Being able to set the Sawtooth into a crouch, swing the Shell-Walker into a defensive stance, and rearrange the whole confrontation turns the set into an active battle scene rather than a frozen tableau. That articulation is the single biggest reason this set has play legs - kids can stage the hunt the way they imagine it, then reset and do it differently, which is the best engagement an action set can generate.

It is the right call for this license. Horizon is, fundamentally, about the machines - studying them, finding their weak points, taking them down - and a set that makes those machines the centerpiece, poseable and ready for action, gets to the heart of what the games are about. The figures matter, but the machines are the stars, exactly as they should be.

---

🎮 In the Game - Why This Battle Earns a Set

In the Horizon games, the machine hunt is the entire experience. Aloy stalks through the wilds studying enormous hostile robots, learning their patterns, and bringing them down with bow, traps, and nerve - and a Sawtooth ambush is one of the first genuine tests of that loop a player faces. It is a tense, deliberate kind of combat, where reading the machine matters as much as fighting it, and that tension is a huge part of why the series resonates.

So a set that stages exactly that confrontation - a hunter and her ally facing down a poseable machine mid-hunt - is the most on-theme object LEGO could make for this license. It is not a random location or a background prop; it is the game’s core verb turned into a toy. Kids who play understand it instantly, and that recognition is a big part of why the set lands so hard as a gift. They are not just building a scene; they are building the thing they spend their game time doing - the hunt, the standoff, the moment before a machine charges.

---

🧨 Play Value - Built to Stage the Hunt Again and Again

This is where the set proves itself. The Aloy and Varl battle scene is not precious - it is built to be played with, posed, knocked around, and reset for the next hunt. The poseable machines hold their stances under handling, the figures slot in and out for whatever scenario the kid is running, and the whole confrontation can be rearranged endlessly: ambush from the left this time, a standoff the next, a desperate retreat after that. That variability is what keeps an action set in rotation rather than gathering dust after the build is done.

The smash-and-restage durability matters more than people realize. A display set gets built once and admired; a battle playset gets posed, scattered, and reassembled a dozen times - and the good ones survive it. This one does. The machine joints are sturdy enough to take repeated repositioning, the construction shrugs off a tumble off the rug, and the modular layout is forgiving when a piece pops loose mid-battle. It is designed to be lived with and played hard, not guarded behind glass.

The pairing with the Tallneck is the bonus here. Where the Tallneck is the serene, towering machine you display, this is the violent, kinetic hunt you play - together they cover both halves of the Horizon experience on one shelf. As an action set in its own right, though, 77037 stands on its own: the poseable machines and the staged battle give it more than enough to keep a fan coming back.

Ad

LEGO Horizon Forbidden West: Tallneck (76989) (opens in a new tab)

Pair the battle set with the display-focused Tallneck for the complete Horizon shelf - the towering scout machine for show, the Sawtooth hunt for play.

---

👨‍👩‍👧 Family Fit and Value - The Set That Keeps the Hunt Going

For our house, the test for any set is simple: does it keep getting picked up after the build is finished? The Horizon battle set passes comfortably. The poseable machines invite constant restaging, the figures give every session real stakes, and the recognition factor for a gaming fan means it never sits idle for long. As a gift it hits the sweet spot - substantial enough to feel like a proper present, focused enough to get built the same day, and rich enough in action to stay in rotation for months.

On value, it is honest. You are paying for two genuinely poseable machines and a staged battle scene, and that play value stretches the per-build cost a long way. An action set that gets pulled off the shelf week after week is delivering value a static display piece never can. If you want one Horizon set that builds in a satisfying afternoon, gives a kid a real machine hunt to play out, and survives months of hard use, this is an easy recommendation - and paired with the Tallneck, it completes the Horizon shelf with the action the display set leaves out.

---

🧭 Who It’s For

• Horizon fans 9+ who want the machine hunt to play with, not just admire
• Gift-givers after a gaming present that builds well and plays even better
• Kids who play hard - the poseable machines are built to be posed and restaged
• Tallneck owners who want the action half of the Horizon shelf to go with the display half

---

📌 FAQ

What is the LEGO set number for the Horizon Aloy and Varl battle set?

The set number is 77037.

Which machines come in the Horizon 77037 set?

You get a poseable Shell-Walker and a poseable Sawtooth, the hostile machines Aloy and Varl take on in this battle scene from the Horizon games.

What age is the LEGO Horizon Aloy and Varl set for?

It is rated 9 and up. Most 9-year-olds can build it solo, and younger fans can manage it with a little help on the poseable machine sections.

How does this set compare to the LEGO Horizon Tallneck?

The Tallneck is a display-focused single machine; this set is the play counterpart - a full battle scene with poseable machines and figures built for action rather than the shelf.

Is the Horizon 77037 set a good gift for a gaming fan?

Yes. It turns the games’ core machine-hunt loop into a play-rich battle scene, the poseable machines are genuinely fun, and it stays in rotation long after the build is done.