Review: LEGO 21356 River Steamboat
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21356 River Steamboat receives the honour of becoming the biggest LEGO Ideas set of all time, weighing in at 4,090-piece, making this impressive model a true heavyweight of a LEGO set.
This model is a love letter to historic American steamboats that used to ply their trade up and down rivers like the Mississippi, and is a marvel of LEGO design, blending impressive technical functions with a well-appointed design that makes this a remarkable LEGO ship to display.
Ahead of its release for LEGO Insiders (free to register if you aren’t one!) on 7 April 2025 where it will be available exclusively from LEGO.com or your local LEGO Store. You’ll also receive a 5009157 Amelia Ticket Booth GWP with purchase of this set while stocks last. Let’s embark on a quick review of 21356 River Steamboat!
See below for regional pricing and product pages:
- 21356 River Steamboat [US] – US$329.99
- 21356 River Steamboat [AUS] – AU$499.99
- 21356 River Steamboat [UK] – £289.99
- 21356 River Steamboat [EU] – €329.99
- 21356 River Steamboat [CA] – CAD$429.99
Special thanks to LEGO for sending this set over for review. If you’re planning on purchasing or pre-ordering this set, please consider using the affiliate links in this post. I may earn a small commission with each purchase that helps support the work I do on the blog!
21356 River Steamboat Set Details
21356 River Steamboat
21356
River Steamboat
N/A
4,090
US$329.99 / AU$499.99 / £289.99 / €329.99 / CAD$429.99
7 April 2025
Marina Stampoli
A small sticker sheet is included in the set, used for some really fun Easter Eggs and decorative elements which aren’t necessarily crucial to the overall aesthetics, but add a lot of value to the build experience, and as most of these stickers are located internally, it’s nice to know that these exist on the inside.
Here’s a look at the instructions. There’s only one hefty booklet for the model, and it contains the usual trappings such as a lovely introduction to the fan designer CTDPower (check out his original Western River Steamboat project), a great spread featuring a photograph of a contemporary River Steamboat, plus some details on the interiors of the model.
Unfortunately, there isn’t a profile on the set designer (Marina Stampoli) which is slowly becoming the norm with 18+ LEGO sets, where we no longer get credits of the design team in the manual, or even a photo of them/the team with the model, which I’m not a fan of. I think of 18+ LEGO sets mostly as works of art, and know firsthand how much work, effort and creativity goes into them, and I usually like to know the creative or person responsible for my models, so one can hope that they bring the designer profiles back.
That said, I can understand designers might not be keen to be named/featured, as they might not appreciate the attention and publicity, or when LEGO fans get nasty if they don’t like the set or aspects of the model that are out of the hands of designers (price, minifigures etc), it does help shield them from trolls/bullies on the internet.
At 4,090 pieces, 21356 River Steamboat is a massive undertaking, and I have to thank my wife for building the entire model for me as I was busy building other models. I observed her building it over the course of two days, and it’s a massive project that will require not only plenty of time, but lots of space as the final model is huge, measuring 69cm (27.1 in.) long, 15cm (5.5 inches) deep and 40cm (15.7 inc.) tall.
If you like building huge LEGO ships like 10335 The Endurance or 10294 Titanic, LEGO definitely had you in mind when they greenlit this LEGO Ideas set as you’ll really enjoy the entire experience.
The build flow is really done well too, as you start with the hull, and the technic functions that are buried inside it, and slowly start building upwards where the build transition shifts from technical into architectural as you lay brick after brick in traditional LEGO building style.
The River Steamboat is a fantastic exploration of Victorian-era Steamboats that meander up and down the Mississippi River in the US, and a wonderful blend of form and function. Each section can be removed to offer a better view and access internally, unearthing all sorts of great secrets of these 19th century marvels.
Let’s take a look at the interiors starting from the engine room! According to set designer Marina Stampoli, while this looks like a traditional River Steamboat, it’s based on a modern version with modern technology to power it, so the engine room isn’t wholly required to power the vessel, and has now been converted to a museum dedicated to the steam engine.
There is this incredible model of a James Watt Steam Engine, one of the most important pieces of technology that enabled the Industrial Revolution. I love the use of the hot dog bread here, as well as the tan wheel cap for the flywheel.
Around the corner, we have an Aeolipile, an ancient Greek invention that’s considered to be the very first steam engine. Alongside it, to demonstrate just how far we’ve come, we have a modern piston, which is not something you see very often in a non-Technic set!
There’s also a schematic of a piston next to it, which is a very cool touch.
Next to it, we have the River Steamboat’s actual engine, which actually works and is linked to the paddle wheel so if you push it around, or spin the wheel, you can see the bar move up and down, which is really neat.
There’s also a blueprint of the River Steamboat, which is a double Easter Egg, as it’s a nod to the fan designer Aaron Hall who studied architecture, but also set designer Marina Stampoli, who is a trained Civil Architect!
And across the engine museum, we have this tiny kitchen. It’s pretty basic as kitchen goes, although the utensils does hint that the model is minifigure scale, even though it technically isn’t. We’ll see a lot more of this in the upper decks.
Moving up a level, we get to the passenger deck where you’ll find a restaurant. There are some novel build techniques here, such as the tables being upside down plates, and also the use of the Dragonborn Paladin’s mace head for the lamps!
Across the restaurant, is a little music room, with a stage, and 2 tables for guests looking to partake in some jazz music.
Speaking of jazz, out in the hallway is a menu, and also a poster of The Breckin Band, featuring a stylised image of an Ideas set, 21344 Jazz Quartet!
In the other hallway is another lovely sticker featuring yet another excellent LEGO Ideas set, 21338 A-Frame Cabin!
Next we head to the upper deck or Texas deck. There’s quite a lot to see here, and what’s really notable during the build is the rigging which is one really long string looped all across the deck.
Here’s a look at the Crew Quarters and the Wheelhouse perched above it. The massive Smoke Stacks look great here, and I love how the black just contrasts against all the other neutral tones on the River Steamboat, and I also like the detail on the crowns.
The Crew Quarters are pretty tight, especially the bedroom, which features bunk beds, but strangely, the bathroom and toilet is huge relative to the quarters!
And here’s another look at the wheelhouse. There’s a brown knob that you can turn to move the rudder, which is really impressive as the axles stretch across several levels of the River Steamboat!
Other functions include the boarding stages at the bow of the ship that can be lowered and raised thanks to a pulley system.
The star feature is none other than the paddle wheel, which is bright red and strikes a lovely contrast against the rest of the vessel.
You can manually spin the paddle wheel if you’d like.
Or if you’d really like to showcase the impressive engineering that has gone into this model, you can also just push the River Steamboat along, and the rubber wheel below also activates the gears and internal functions, to slowly spin the Paddle Wheel which is quite fun!
Of course, don’t forget to remove the River Steamboat from its display stand before nudging it along…
But for me, where the River Steamboat truly shines is its aesthetics. Because of the size and scale of the model, details, shape and colours have so much room to breath, and the model greatly benefits from the visual points of interest that is afforded a set of this size.
Tiny details littered across the River Steamboat, like these stairs, white leaves and croissants used as ornaments, as well as the many repeated lines and patterns like the balustrades make this a treat for the eyes.
And last but not least, one of the sweetest references and Easter Eggs in an Ideas set. The printed tile with Amelia on it, a nod to the fan designer’s daughter! What an honour to have such a majestic ship named after her!
What I liked:
- A really rewarding and pleasant build that will take you ages to complete, in the best of ways.
- Impressive display presence
- Technical features and functions are intentional and don’t feel like gimmicks
- Great blend of form and function
What I didn’t like:
- No minifigures and this isn’t technically minifigure-scale
- Interiors can be hard to access/view after the build
Final Thoughts
21356 River Steamboat is a very good LEGO Ideas set, and one certainly telegraphs its ambitions by its sheer size, and the fact that at 4,090-pieces, becomes the biggest LEGO Ideas set yet.
But its greatest strengths might also be its biggest weakness, as in spite of all the great things going for it, and the seamless integration of form and function, the set’s huge pricetag of US$329.99 / AU$499.99 / £289.99 does put it out of reach for the average, casual LEGO fan.
That said, sets like these aren’t typically aimed at your casual LEGO fan, so in many ways, I’m glad that LEGO Ideas does what LEGO Ideas does best, and take big swings like this that no other LEGO theme would dare do.
The River Steamboat has a wonderful and charming blend of history, engineering and architecture all blended into one. The build flow was fascinating, and it gets better once you free yourself from the highly technical sections, and lock into LEGO building and brick stacking that is all too familiar and comforting.
The finished model is satisfyingly big, and thus looks great on display, especially if you have a growing modern LEGO Icons ship collection that includes the likes of the Titanic and The Endurance. That said, I would’ve liked the ship to be even bigger, to make it a proper minifigure-scale set, but looking at what we already have, I do think it would be a big ask to make the set even bigger and more expensive.
Adding minifigures would definitely liven up the set, and inject some much-needed storytelling, and also historical context to properly date the model to whatever era or function that you desire. It’s not quite minifigure scale, but it’s very close, so if you squint your eyes, I think the River Steamboat absolutely passes the minifigure-scale test.
Unfortunately for me, I found it quite challenging to be emotionally attached to this model, as I’m not American, and don’t quite have a strong cultural or intellectual inquisitiveness about River Steamboats! I do really like the model, and think that this is a utterly impressive LEGO Ideas set, but I wouldn’t call myself a diehard fan of the subject matter, which I’m guessing not a lot of you do.
Oh, and I do have to mention this. In my review copy (as did other LEGO Fan Media who received the set early for review), there was a damaged and warped element (black Technic Gearbox) included in Bag 3, so if you’re in Europe and buy the set early, there may be a risk of this happening to your set, to be sure to have this element handy just in case. It was quite a shock to see such a badly damaged crucial element in a set, and the fact that so many others encountered the same issue definitely raised concerns about what exactly is going on with LEGO’s quality control.
Anyway, I think 21356 River Steamboat is a superb and very enjoyable set, if historic River Steamboats are an area of interest to you, or if you simply enjoy building large LEGO ships.
Final Score
Audience rating
21356 River Steamboat will be released on 7 April 2025 for , and will be available from LEGO.com or your local LEGO Store. ou’ll also receive a 5009157 Amelia Ticket Booth GWP with purchase of this set while stocks last
What do you think of the LEGO Ideas River Steamboat? Is this on your to-buy list?
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