⌘ K
"With a BrickScore of 72.9 across three reviews, The Wooden Duck earns a cautious recommendation — it's a beautifully conceived heritage display piece with an ingenious beak mechanism and exclusive printed parts, but colour inconsistency issues and strict LEGO House exclusivity hold it back from being the slam-dunk collector's item it could have been."
Reviewers broadly agree that 40501 The Wooden Duck is a charming, historically significant display piece — a faithful 1:1 brick-built recreation of Ole Kirk Christiansen's iconic 1930s wooden pull-toy, with a satisfying layered build and a clever functional beak mechanism. Two of three reviewers recommend buying, praising the design fidelity, printed exclusive parts, and its worth as a LEGO House souvenir. The one dissenting voice (Hoth Bricks) tempers enthusiasm with a pointed critique of visible colour inconsistencies in the dark red and green bricks — a quality control issue LEGO reportedly declined to acknowledge. Exclusivity to LEGO House in Billund is a consistent talking point: a feature for some, a frustration for many.
Where they split: The sharpest split is on overall value and quality: Brick Fanatics and Brickset both recommend buying and score it 85 and 78 respectively, treating colour variation as a minor or unmentioned concern. Hoth Bricks scores it only 55 and recommends skipping, placing the colour inconsistency — three distinct shades of dark red and dark green visible simultaneously — at the centre of its verdict, and explicitly criticising LEGO's refusal to acknowledge the flaw. There is also mild disagreement on playability: Brick Fanatics rates it reasonably playable (80), while Brickset openly states it is not suitable for extended play (50).
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"Given the long history of the wooden duck and the familiarity fans have with it as a LEGO icon, the set has to be right. Fans would not forgive something that is a little bit off, as this is likely the only time it will …"
Brick Fanatics
"It would not be a faithful reproduction of a wooden duck without a moving beak. The mechanism here works perfectly and will delight anyone who sees it, young or old."
Brickset Reviews
"In terms of the fidelity of reproduction of the duck on wheels, it is successful, it would be bad faith to say the opposite. All the markers of the toy from the 30s are there and on this point the set achieves its goal."
Hoth Bricks"Given the long history of the wooden duck and the familiarity fans have with it as a LEGO icon, the set has to be right. Fans would not forgive something that is a little bit off, as this is likely the only time it will be released as a 1:1 scale set."
"It would not be a faithful reproduction of a wooden duck without a moving beak. The mechanism here works perfectly and will delight anyone who sees it, young or old."
"In terms of the fidelity of reproduction of the duck on wheels, it is successful, it would be bad faith to say the opposite. All the markers of the toy from the 30s are there and on this point the set achieves its goal."
