Set Review: 40856 The Mandalorian and Grogu: Allies & Villains
In the year marking its tenth anniversary, the BrickHeadz theme is going strong without any hints of slowing down. Indeed, among the sets appearing in 2026 there is a "quintuple" Star Wars BrickHeadz, the 40856: The Mandalorian and Grogu: Allies & Villains, which arrived on my desk.
For those without, or with just elementary interest in the Star Wars franchise, it is worth mentioning that the five figurines from this set represent the main characters from the namesake series that spun off the core Star Wars franchise, recognized as officially canon and which followed-up on The Mandalorian from 2019. More specifically, here we have Din Djarin (The Mandalorian), Grogu, Ward, an Imperial Remnant Snowtrooper, and an Anzellan.
The medium-sized box contains eight paper bags of parts, plus an additional one for five instruction booklets—obviously, one for each included character. A welcome measure against the thin booklets getting all wrinkled up by the other content.
As is typically the case for such multi-figurine BrickHeadz sets, thanks to them being clearly separated into individual bags and booklets, building these can be easily parallelized across several builders. Therefore, keep this set in mind as an interesting gift for Star Wars-loving couples or families.
Building these BrickHeadz roughly follows a pattern which anyone who has already built a few will be quite familiar with. Their construction revolves around a mechanically strong core, surrounded by many brackets, bricks with side studs, and similar parts that allow sturdy SNOT techniques. Grogu's and the Anzellan's core is 3x3 studs in size, as opposed to the other characters' more common 4x4, so that the proportions seem more aligned when all the figurines are displayed next to each other.
The inside parts which are not supposed to be seen are, as already customary, in completely unrelated colors to the figurines themselves, which actually serves a practical purpose of easing the orientation while building.
Also, like many BrickHeadz, the building process is rather straightforward, and can mostly be entrusted to kids. A possible exception is the front of Din Djarin's helmet which involves some exotic SNOT constructions and careful positioning, but not even that would baffle even a moderately experienced builder for long. There are no steps with complex assemblies that require connecting studs in more than one plane, nor is there any skewering of loose parts that would require particular dexterity.
Same applies to patience, which isn't required in copious amounts here. The only exception may be Colonel Ward's hair which becomes somewhat fiddly with many steps involving tiny 1x1 slopes and cheeses, but in my view, even that is far from actually becoming tedious.
What about the results? Admirably, all five figurines are clearly asymmetric, giving them some liveliness. In spots where key details would have simply been difficult to represent with parts, tiles with prints save the day (no stickers!), most notably with the Snowtrooper's mask and chestplate, Grogu's logo, and Din Djarin's triangular helmet tiles. The logo of the Rebel Alliance on colonel Ward's shoulder is a nice touch too, though the fans of the series would recognize her without one as well.
In fact, if shown within context, fans of the series will undoubtedly instantly recognize all five characters, thanks to their very specific looks and sizes, as well as very iconic physiology (e.g. Grogu's ears would make him recognizable from a kilometer away). Also, one doesn't need to have deep knowledge of Star Wars to recognize the black-eyes-on-white-mask-and-helmet as the standard look of Imperial soldiers throughout the entire franchise.
A component which must have been really tough to design, and I could almost hear the designer gritting his or her teeth working on it, is The Mandalorian's, i.e. Din Djarin's helmet. A half-cylindrical hemisphere, with the T-shaped mask requiring precise proportions and ratios, as well as iconic curvature around it, is exactly one of those examples that are so difficult to recreate with LEGO, especially considering the constraints of simplicity and sturdiness. This solution is actually mostly inherited from the previous The Mandalorian BrickHead, from 2020 (No. 114), which is very similar and relies on various curved slopes and two layers of triangles to represent the particular helmet shape.
There are other interesting details too, such as Din Djarin's jetpack with moveable nozzles, Anzellan's intricate visor with a magnifying glass, and Ward's white mug. Standard 6x6 plates serving as stands are included for every figurine, although they can be easily detached to stand alone.
If you are interested in this set from the viewpoint of parts supply, it is a stronger contender than one would judge from the first sight. Not only because of the number of parts alone (661 is not small by any criterion), but because of the parts selection. As mentioned before, among them is a large share of brackets, headlightoids, slopes and curves—much larger than in a random System set. And as such, this is a potential saucerful of treasures for builders who like advanced building techniques, or have to reconstruct some very specific subtle curvy shapes.
They are mostly in monochrome and shades of tan to brown, which is somewhat understandable given the typical aesthetic and palette of Star Wars, but these are actually very useful colors as such. I've myself been thinking about some kind of Escher-like LEGO construction, and the supply of such parts will definitely simplify things a lot. Of course, there is more than enough raw material should you want to design a BrickHead on your own, of course.
Therefore, it would be wrong to consider 40856 as a BrickHeadz set only. Star Wars fans, or BrickHeadz collectors, and especially both, will of course be drawn to it immediately. But its size, its building techniques, and its selection of parts make it an interesting set for builders outside these circles, too.
We thank LEGO for sending us this set. However, the opinions stated above are solely HispaBrick's.
Number of figurines: 5
Total number of parts: 661
BrickHeadz ID's: 305-309
Age: 10+
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