I thought the Lego smart brick was the worst idea ever — but I just built my first set with it and now I’m in love | Tech Radar

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I thought the Lego smart brick was the worst idea ever — but I just built my first set with it and now I’m in love

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When leaks first teased the LEGO smart brick, I hated it. The appeal of the iconic building block system to me has always been its low-tech nature — so a digital brick with flashing lights, sensors, and a speaker just felt wrong.

Then, when the smart brick made its CES 2026 debut, my opinion flipped.

The fact that it works (mostly) without an app — you just need it to update the block on occasion — and that it fits inside your normal builds just like any other standard 2x 4 brick is impressive. But the key realization I had was that the smart brick isn’t for me, it’s for kids.

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Now having built the Darth Vader's TIE Fighter smart brick set, I’m even more sold on the clever block’s toy appeal, I just wish it wasn’t so pricey.

Forgetting the smart brick for a second, this build excels in that kid-friendly play-first mentality I’ve touched on.

With just 473 pieces, this thing shouldn’t take too long to build (it took two of us around 45 minutes, though that was filled with plenty of distracting discussion and banter), and once fully assembled you don’t just have Darth Vader and his spaceship you have a simple rebel base to complete with a canon and a rebel fighter — so you can start making up action-packed Star Wars stories with just this one set.

Darth Vader’s TIE Fighter hits a good balance of detail while still being an accessible weight and size for a child to swoosh it around, and if any accidents do happen, clever color coordination between parts of the ship will ensure you can reassemble a broken TIE Fighter with ease.

The lack of detail, however, and the open backside (so the smart brick can be added and removed when needed) mean this is very much not a Lego set to sit on your shelf. It’s one designed to be played with — to fly, to break, to put back together, and have a blast with the whole time.

The smart brick elevates this identity without distracting from the core Lego appeal.

It works by detecting NFC elements in special plates and minifigures, which configure it to make specific noises and flash its lights based on what it detects. So when placed into the right spot on Darth Vader’s TIE Fighter, it will pick up that it’s in the Sith Lord’s craft, play a snippet of the Imperial March, and make TIE fighter sounds when you pick up and fly the ship around.

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The brick will also tune its color-detecting side sensor to make laser sounds when it sees the in-built red panels flash past, refueling noises for the blue fuel pump, and clanking repair sounds when it detects the green hammer.

The audio quality isn’t perfect, but it does a fantastic job of creating the spirit of the Star Wars ship while leaving room for you to add your own effects and imagination. For example, Darth Vader can make a few noises, but you’ll need to speak for him, and the rebel elements have no smart brick integration.

Because these pieces are all standard Lego bricks too, that means if you want to redesign Vader’s ship or combine it with other pieces in your collection, you absolutely can and still use the smart elements.

One last note, I also love the accessibility of the smart brick charger. The large yellow pad will be easy to find in a pinch, and when the charging pad is plugged in, it will refuel the brick wirelessly — you just have to place it in the large charging tray area.

As you can see in our video, Josie Watson and I had a blast building this set. It was so much fun, and if I were a kid, this would be one of my favorite toys.

I’m excited to see how the smart brick evolves with new integrations — during our shoot, I kept imagining the smart brick in Lego City sets — and I do wonder if Lego might one day offer customizations using programmable NFC elements.

Licensed Lego sets, such as those in its Star Wars line, already come at a slight premium, and the smart brick adds another cost layer, which means you’re getting a relatively low piece-count for the price. For Darth Vader's TIE Fighter, that's

But besides the higher cost, the smart brick is a fantastic addition to the Lego ecosystem.

Sure, if you’re a builder who prefers larger sets with better detail and accuracy, these smart brick builds simply aren’t for you. But parents looking to buy their kids a new toy may find this is exactly what they want.

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Hamish is a Senior Staff Writer for Tech Radar and you’ll see his name appearing on articles across nearly every topic on the site from smart home deals to speaker reviews to graphics card news and everything in between. He uses his broad range of knowledge to help explain the latest gadgets and if they’re a must-buy or a fad fueled by hype. Though his specialty is writing about everything going on in the world of virtual reality and augmented reality.

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• I thought the Lego smart brick was the worst idea ever — but I just built my first set with it and now I’m in love