LEGO Minecraft 21254 The Turtle Beach House review

LEGO Minecraft 21254 The Turtle Beach House is an interesting package that includes a lot of turtle house, but not enough beach.

The LEGO Minecraft mob buildings usually depict an upscaled LEGO Minecraft creature surrounded by more familiar Minecraft elements. The 2024 entries into this collection are opting for less landscaping in favour of focusing on the mob building.

That's sometimes for better, and sometimes for worse, but 21254 The Turtle Beach House neatly sidesteps potential problems with that strategy by delivering something that could technically be considered more than just a house – if you're happy to use your imagination.

— LEGO Minecraft 21254 The Turtle Beach House set details —

Theme: LEGO Minecraft Set name: 21254 The Turtle Beach House Release date: January 1, 2024 

Price: £20.99 / $26.99 / €26.99 Pieces: 234 Minifigures: 1

LEGO: Order now

— Where to buy LEGO Minecraft 21254 The Turtle Beach House —

The LEGO Minecraft 2024 sets launch on January 1, 2024, including 21254 The Turtle Beach House for £20.99 / $26.99 / €26.99. That's except for 21252 The Armory and 21253 The Animal Sanctuary in the US, as they're available a month early.

— LEGO Minecraft 21254 The Turtle Beach House build —

As the name suggests, a turtle-shaped beachfront house is the focus of 21254 The Turtle Beach House. While the build isn't the biggest, at this price point it's unfair to expect anything much larger. The house is designed to look like a turtle from Minecraft, though this particular mob building can't be recreated exactly in the game as some of the proportions – while accurate to turtles – are a bit too tight around the head. You can get fairly close as long as you don't mind scaling it up though.

Its interior makes good use of the available space but this is certainly a one-person living arrangement. The use of thin transparent glass panes at the back and sides lets in some light and allows the minifigure to lie comfortably in the bed. The instructions suggest displaying the flower outside, but there's just about enough room for it inside too.

The set's only play feature is the house's opening door and it's far from exciting, even for LEGO Minecraft. The rest of the piece count goes towards an extremely small beach and a boat. Boats aren't uncommon in LEGO Minecraft's 2024 sets but this is a great way to recreate them, as annoying as the shovels are to store when not in use.

Compared to the house and especially compared to previous Minecraft mob houses, the beach is tiny with not much to appreciate. The inclusion of a turtle egg is a great choice to represent the life cycle of these creatures though. You can attach it all around the house, but it's still not an overtly interesting part of the model and you can't open the door when you place the beach on the corresponding side either.

Thankfully, this lacklustre beach doesn't drag the set down much. The enlarged turtle model is otherwise so impressive that it could be mistaken for a giant Minecraft turtle in an entirely different kind of set. 21254 The Turtle Beach House already includes baby turtles and an adult turtle, so this upscaled build could be considered an even bigger turtle figure. You don't need to get particularly creative with this concept as the model is convincing as both its own character and a house.

— LEGO Minecraft 21254 The Turtle Beach House characters —

The character selection in 21254 The Turtle Beach House isn't quite as impressive as other LEGO Minecraft 2024 sets but it has a few notable inclusions for the theme's enthusiasts.

Two minifigures are included with a Drowned holding a trident and the exclusive Turtle Skin Warrior. The Drowned is common in LEGO Minecraft now but with how easy it is to find them in-game, more of them in our LEGO Minecraft worlds are always welcome.

The Turtle Skin Warrior continues the turtle theme of the set with what's hopefully an artificial skin. (Just saying.) You can create turtle shell helmets in-game, as this minifigure is wearing, but the design underneath the helmet is harder to identify as a turtle. That said, the fact that it could be used for a custom frog minifigure too is by no means a bad thing.

The minifigures have the character selection in 21254 The Turtle Beach House off to a strong start. That trend continues with the third appearance of a Minecraft turtle in five years. Debuting in 2019's 21152 The Pirate Ship Adventure, the creature is included in a 2022 polybag too. As polybags can be harder to find, this is likely going to be the first turtle for a lot of LEGO Minecraft collectors.

A small seaweed accessory is included for it to snack on and this design remains unchanged from the 2019 set. It didn't need any kind of makeover thankfully and it's easily recognisable as a Minecraft turtle. The rounded portion in the middle of its head is a bit unsightly, but not enough to detract from the set overall.

Three baby turtles are included too and the two pieces used to make them demonstrate the extreme versatility of LEGO bricks: a printed one-stud wide tile is used for a shell while a roller-skate represents the body, head and four legs. It's a genius idea that works incredibly well and only serves to complement the rest of 21254 The Turtle Beach House. Pro tip: the set's spare pieces allow you to make a fourth baby turtle too.

— LEGO Minecraft 21254 The Turtle Beach House price —

Considering the size of the house and the set's contents, £20.99 / $26.99 / €26.99 is generous for 21254 The Turtle Beach House and while more land would have been good, it's by no means needed and the house is easily able to stand on its own.

Next to the rest of the LEGO Minecraft January 2024 sets, 21254 The Turtle Beach House is one to consider with plenty of potential firsts even for those familiar with the theme. It won't exactly break the bank either.

— LEGO Minecraft 21254 The Turtle Beach House pictures —

— LEGO Minecraft 21254 The Turtle Beach House pros and cons —

21254 The Turtle Beach House is one of the most surprising entries in the early 2024 LEGO Minecraft wave. Its character selection is notable and turtle-centric. While that posits a similar premise to 21256 The Frog House, the turtle being complete means that it can be used in ways other than a house easily.

The mob buildings will hopefully return to including more land in the future but in the meantime, 21254 The Turtle Beach House is a great addition to the range that is pleasantly playable given its limited functionality. As with most of the LEGO Minecraft 2024 range, this model is worth picking up and it's a good thing that the best sets just so happen to be the most affordable.

This set was provided for review by the LEGO Group.

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— Alternatives to LEGO Minecraft 21254 The Turtle Beach House —

For similarly-priced LEGO Minecraft mob buildings, your best alternative for 21254 The Turtle Beach House is going to be either 21178 The Fox Lodge or 21247 The Axolotl House, both of which so happen to include a Drowned.

The latter is the strangest mob building of the collection as it only depicts the axolotl's head, but it's nonetheless a good pick at this price point.

— LEGO Minecraft 21254 The Turtle Beach House FAQs —