LEGO Astro Bot (40899) review: The little hero that made us chase a free gift

🤖 Introduction: A must-have, and we knew it the moment we saw it

Some sets you think about. This one we didn’t. We love Astro Bot, the little PlayStation robot from Team Asobi, and our Astro Bot review gave the game a 5/5 for good reason. So when LEGO announced the LEGO PlayStation Astro Bot (40899) as a limited gift-with-purchase, there was no discussion at home. He had to come home with us.

🧱 This review is part of our LEGO for adults (18+) hub, where every grown-up shelf set we have tested is collected in one place.

Getting him took a little planning. He was a free gift with larger orders at LEGO.com, so the LEGO Marvel Avengers Tower (76269) went into our cart to clear the threshold. It sounds like an expensive way to get a free set, and it is. It was also worth it. The finished Astro Bot looks so good that he has become one of our favorite figures on the shelf, and the photos in this review are the proof. Our verdict is a 5 out of 5.

🎁 How we got him: A limited gift-with-purchase

The Astro Bot set arrived alongside the LEGO PlayStation (72306), LEGO’s brick-built PS1 console. According to Brickset, he was the gift-with-purchase at LEGO.com for orders above $150, from October 1 to October 7, 2026, while supplies lasted. PlayStation Direct also sold him on his own for $24.99 for a short time. Both ran out fast.

That is the catch with this set. Gift-with-purchase models are made in limited numbers, and once the promotion ends, the only way to get one is from a reseller. Resale listings for Astro Bot sit well above his original value. If you missed the window and love the character, it may still be worth it, but compare prices before you buy.

For us, the threshold was the easy part. The Avengers Tower had been on our wish list anyway, and pairing it with Astro Bot turned a big purchase into a double win.

🛠️ Build experience: Our six-year-old built it alone

Here is the part that surprised us most. The box says 18+. Our son is six, and he built Astro Bot completely on his own, in under two hours.

That says a lot about the build. At 276 pieces it is short, the steps are clear, and nothing in it needs a grown-up’s hands. LEGO puts its 18+ badge on sets aimed at adult collectors, and Astro Bot is clearly made for the shelf rather than for play. But a short build with clear steps works just as well for a kid who loves the character. Watching him put together a robot from one of our favorite games was a lovely moment for us as a family, and he was very proud of the result.

The design is clever for such a small figure. Brickset points out that the curved head and body use sideways and upside-down building techniques to get that round Astro Bot shape. The arms move at the shoulder and the wrist, and instead of feet he has his blue thrusters, with the lower legs shaped like their glow. The transparent cape on his back covers a printed detail sticker, and two small stickers sit on the sides of his head.

😊 Two faces: The eyes change everything

The best detail in the set is the second pair of eyes. Astro Bot comes with two expressions: happy half-moon eyes and round, wide-open eyes. Swapping them takes a few seconds, and the change is bigger than you would expect from two small pieces.

With the half-moon eyes he is the cheerful Astro Bot from the game’s victory moments, smiling at you from the shelf. With the round eyes he looks curious and alert, as if he has just spotted something in the next level. We switched between both during our photo session, and you can see the difference in the pictures here. Which one stays on the shelf is a matter of mood, and that is exactly the point.

📸 Photographing Astro Bot: Fog and blue light

Astro Bot is a dream to photograph. He is small, he stands centered on his stand, and his white body and black face catch light beautifully. For these photos we put him on our toy photography stage, set a blue light behind him and added fog.

The fog came from our handheld PMI SmokeNINJA fog machine. Every shot was taken with a Nikon Z8 and a 70-200mm lens at 120mm, at f/10, ISO 160 and 0.4 seconds. The long exposure smooths the moving fog into soft clouds, while Astro Bot himself stays perfectly sharp, because a LEGO figure never blinks. Our full toy photography studio setup explains the rest of the gear.

Our favorite effect came almost by accident. When the fog stayed low and close to the ground, the blue light turned it into a glow behind his legs, as if his thrusters had just fired. That is Astro Bot taking off, without a single digital trick.

🎬 Behind the scenes: The fog shoot on video

We filmed the shoot as well. The behind-the-scenes video shows how the fog, the blue light and the camera came together on our toy photography stage:

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LEGO Astro Bot in a Cloud of Fog | Toy Photography Behind the Scenes

The short version is the fog itself, filmed at 120 frames per second and played back in slow motion as it rolls around Astro Bot:

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Astro Bot meets a fog machine (120 fps)

More of our videos are on the Dadnology YouTube channel.

⚖️ Astro Bot next to our other gaming sets

Astro Bot joins a small but growing gaming shelf. The LEGO Horizon Forbidden West Tallneck (76989) is the tall centerpiece, and the LEGO Game Boy (72046) is pure nostalgia. Astro Bot is the smallest of the three, and the quickest to build.

If you only know Astro Bot from the box art, the game is the best way to meet him. Our Astro Bot review explains why it is one of the most joyful games on the PS5, and why a robot this small made such a big impression on us.

📋 Good to know before you buy

• He needs his stand. Astro Bot stands on a display stand, attached with a click hinge so he can lean back a little. Without it he will not stay upright, so keep the stand with him.
• Pose the legs gently. The legs can be splayed a little, but Brickset calls that joint quite fragile. Set the pose once and let him stand.
• Keep the spare eyes safe. The second pair of eyes is two small round pieces. Put them in a small bag or a spot next to the shelf, so the other face is ready when the mood changes.
• Check reseller prices. Because he was a limited gift, prices vary a lot. Compare a few listings before you pay well above his original $24.99.

👨‍👩‍👧 Family fit: Who it is for

Astro Bot is for fans of the game first. If you have played Astro Bot, seeing him in bricks will make you smile every time you walk past the shelf. It is also a great small build for a child who loves the character. The 18+ on the box describes the target audience, not the difficulty, and our six-year-old proved that. It is less for someone who wants a big, long project: 276 pieces are done in an afternoon.

Related Dadnology reviews: Astro Bot (PS5) review · LEGO Marvel Avengers Tower (76269) review · LEGO PlayStation (72306) revealed

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