We Build LEGO Marvel X-Men: The X-Mansion, A Refuge For 'Gifted Youngsters'

The real world parallels are evident. And because of them, many comic book fans have a vested, emotional attachment to the X-Men. Perhaps that's why the new LEGO X-Mansion, available exclusively at the LEGO Store, has been one of the most anticipated Marvel sets in recent memory. Weeks before the set's announcement, leaked images made their way onto social media, where fans speculated on which mutant minifigures would make the final cut.

Now, the X-Mansion is finally here – all 3000+ pieces of it. Does it live up to its hype? I'm happy to affirm that yes, it does. And I'd actually go one step further: this set is better in person than it appears in its promotional photos. Because its appeal does not lie solely in how it looks. It lies in how you play with it.

The LEGO X-Mansion is a modular building, divided into three independent sub-buildings that attach to one another via rods. Each of those sub-buildings is further divided by floor, which allows the builder to stage scenarios in each space. The instructions to build the X-Mansion are also modular. Each sub-building gets a separate instruction booklet, which means that three people can build simultaneously, if you are so inclined.

The building's visuals are deliberately contradictory. On the outside, it's traditional architecture colored brown and dark blue, with white columns that frame the entranceway and a rotunda on the center top floor. It is a mansion, but its appearance is aggressively conservative, hiding its true purpose in plain sight.

The interior, on the other hand, overlfows with with modern technology. This set is loaded with numerous fun accessories. Doors slide to the side rather than swing on a hinge. Xavier's lab houses Cerebro and an MRI. A scan of Wolverine's adamantium skeleton lies on the floor. And there's the infamous Danger Room, a two-floor training facility that's armed to the teeth with lasers, missiles, flamethrowers, and spikes. There's also an adjoining control room, where a teacher can monitor the action and trigger the different traps.

The only two conventional rooms in the X-Mansion are on its right side. One is Wolverine's bedroom, which comes with a picture of Jean Grey and Cyclops, so that Wolverine can reenact the Sad Wolverine meme. On the bedroom's floor is a LEGO-ized homage to the first Uncanny X-Men comic released in September 1963. There's a calendar on the wall, where Wolverine has scheduled a time to visit Alkali Lake, the remote location where, in the movies, Wolverine became Weapon X. There's a pack of bubble gum on his desk – a possible reference to Jubilee, although she's not included in the set.

On the ground floor underneath the bedroom is a small classroom, where Beast is teaching remotely; you can see him live streaming on one of the monitors, although like Jubilee he is also not included in the set. There's more than a few of these indirect references scattered throughout the build; perhaps they're an indication of minifigures to come? If so, Beast, Jubilee, Cable, Toad, Pyro, and Pixie would be welcome additions.

The X-Mansion set rewards scrupulousness; there's lots of Easter Eggs if you take a closer look at the rooms, which allude to canonical events and famous storylines. There are serial numbers in the Danger Room that correspond to the multiverse. There's a dumpster out back (near the basketball hoop) filled with obscure character references. In the foyer near the entrance are two portraits: one of the 1st generation X-Men team (Cyclops, Beast, Angel, Jean Grey, and Iceman), and another of Xavier and Magneto in better days, when the two of them co-founded the school and Charles could still walk.

There's a stack of newspapers on the floor that references the Mutant Registration Act. There's a TV news report covering the Sentinels. And outside, there's a cardboard box that's labeled Trask Industries, the corporation responsible for inventing and manufacturing the Sentinels.

Speaking of the Sentinels, the X-Mansion comes with a massive one that stands two floors tall. It has fully articulable joints, which makes it perfect for posing battle scenes. The X-Mansion also comes with 10 X-Men minifigures, and they are some of the most colorful, most detailed work I've seen this year.

Most of these minifigures have small accessories to highlight their mutant powers or eccentricities. Storm has lightning bolts. Wolverine has claws. Bishop has a massive gun. Cyclops has a thin, translucent red rod to simulate his optic blast. Magneto and Jean both have translucent hand attachments that visually represent their magnetic and psychic powers, respectively. Professor X has his yellow levitating wheelchair. And Gambit has one of the most visually impressive accessories: three playing cards with kinetic energy trailing behind them.

These minifigures also comes with several straight and curved clear rods. There are numerous anchor points for those clear pieces, either on the sidewalk outside the mansion, or on the mansion itself. This allows for elaborate staging on the mansion grounds, allowing mutants like Storm and Rogue to hover midair.

Do you want to depict Wolverine drifting on a motorcycle in front of a massive Sentinel? How about Gambit attacking from above, delivering an explosion of kinetic energy? How about Magneto descending from the mansions's roof, levitating and hurling a lamp post at an adversary?

There are three areas of the mansion set that are perfect for staging action scenes. The first is on the leftmost building, where part of the wall has been destroyed. The second is near the rightmost building, where a fire hydrant has exploded, shooting water in the air. Lastly, pushing a lever will cause the rotunda to break and explode outwards – a perfect climax to any storyline you come up with.

It's fitting that LEGO designed the X-Mansion to be partially destroyed. Between the comics, the movies, and the cartoons, villains have laid siege to and destroyed the X-Mansion more times than one can count. But thankfully, the X-Men always rebuild it. To them and to millions of comic book fans, it is more than just a headquarters.

For anyone who didn't fit in or felt different – who never had anyone tell them they were special or destined for great things – the X-Mansion was escapist fantasy. Here, at Xavier's Institute for Gifted Youngsters, caring adults could nurture, celebrate, and educate these outcasts, and teach them to apply their unique gifts towards the betterment of the world. The new X-Mansion LEGO set is a lovely homage to that fantasy, and by extension, to the humanist principles that underlie it.

Just know that this is not a display piece in the manner of, say, the LEGO Avengers Tower or some of our other favorite Marvel LEGO sets. Why? Because Tony Stark designed Avengers Tower; its ostentatiousness is literally the point. But the X-Mansion is supposed to be a seamless part of its surroundings – an old-money mansion in a wealthy part of town. And like its inspiration, this LEGO set looks fairly conventional at first glance. But it hides numerous, exciting secrets within its walls. You just have to play with it to fully enjoy it.

LEGO X-Men: The X-Mansion, Set #76294, retails for $329.99, and it is composed of 3,093 pieces. It is available exclusively at the LEGO Store.

Kevin Wong is a contributing freelancer for IGN, specializing in LEGO. He's also been published in Complex, Engadget, Gamespot, Kotaku, and more. Follow him on Twitter at @kevinjameswong.