LEGO 40486 Adidas Originals Superstar GWP review – perfect accessory, puzzling threshold

The LEGO Group brings a smaller buildable shoe to shelves in 40486 Adidas Originals Superstar – but you’ll still need to spend big to pick up this gift-with-purchase.

Available with qualifying purchases of any combination of LEGO products above £95 / $85 / €95 at LEGO.com and in LEGO Stores from July 1 to July 20 (or while stocks last), this miniature take on the bigger 10282 Adidas Originals Superstar – also launching July 1 – offers a way to display your love for the fashion brand without spending £79.99 / $79.99 / €89.99 on a single set.

You will still technically need to spend more than that to acquire it, though, which makes 40486 Adidas Originals Superstar a less tempting proposition if you weren’t already planning on ordering £95 / $85 / €95 worth of product in July.

As a companion piece to 10282 Adidas Originals Superstar, that threshold also feels peculiar – buying the 18+ set alone won’t qualify for the accompanying freebie, so you’ll need to add something extra to your basket. But doing so will net you one of the more interesting gifts-with-purchase in recent months, and a minifigure that really should have been included in the larger set all along.

That minifigure takes the template of the brick suit characters from the Collectible Minifigures series and adds a stickered 2x3 tile, along with a boombox, microphone and cap (clearly this guy is supposed to be an Adidas hype man). As we noted in our review of 10282 Adidas Originals Superstar, it’s a minifigure that would have served the full-sized set nicely, so seeing it branched off to this GWP is slightly disappointing.

The shoe itself inverts the colours of its bigger brother – at least beyond that distinctive shell toe, which remains white across both models – by leading with black, split up by three white stripes. It’s enough to make it stand out all on its own, but you’ll also find enjoyment in the solutions used to render a shoe at this much smaller scale.

For instance, the T-bars slotted into the 2x6 plate with holes to create the impression of laces feels much more attuned to the LEGO system than the actual shoelace that comes in 10282 Adidas Originals Superstar, while the printed tiles used for the iconic triple stripe will no doubt come in handy elsewhere (even if they do suffer from the usual washed-out white-on-black print).

If you’re grabbing 10282 Adidas Originals Superstar as soon as possible, you’d do well to add just another small set – or a few keychains, or bags of 71030 Looney Tunes Collectible Minifigures, et al – to your basket to nab 40486 Adidas Originals Superstar. With a box that also mimics the style of its older brother’s unique packaging in a more traditional LEGO format, it comes in as the perfect accoutrement to the latest 18+ (or LEGO for Adults) set.

You’ll be able to pick it up from July 1 at LEGO.com and in LEGO Stores with any order of at least £95 / $85 / €95, until July 20 (or while stocks last, which – given recent trends – probably won't be for the entire promotional period).

This product was provided for review by the LEGO Group.

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