LEGO Speed Champions is an auto racing-inspired LEGO Theme established in 2015, and the toyline features licensed buildable car models from various iconic brands such as Aston Martin, Bugatti, Ferrari, Ford, Mclaren, Mercedes-AMG, Nissan, Porsche and more.
The primary goal of the toyline is to re-create real-life car models with Lego parts at a smaller scale, and as of early 2022, the toyline has released 55 sets (Including polybag sets). The sets aim for accuracy in Minifigure scale whenever possible, and the sets are known to use various building techniques and stickers to produce fine details and re-create the look of the real cars that the sets were meant to represent as much as possible.
This theme is probably best known for being the basis of the second map expansion of the video game Forza Horizon 4 (2018), officially named Forza Horizon 4: LEGO Speed Champions (2019).
LEGO Speed Champions features the following tropes:
- Art Evolution: Most of the cars featured in the sets began shifting from the original format of 6 stud-wide to the larger and wider 8 stud-wide format since 2020 and boosts higher parts-count, larger sizing, and greater real-world accuracy compared to the earlier 6-stud wide sets as a result.
- Cool Car: The entire point of the theme, was to re-create licensed real-life supercars and racecars in LEGO Minifigure scale.
- Early-Installment Weirdness: Due to the more limited palette of parts available to allow for finer detailing of that time, some of the earlier Speed Champion sets were quite blocky and only have the bare minimum of shaping to invoke the real-life cars the sets were meant to recreate.
- Palette Swap:
- The 1974 Porsche 911 Turbo 3.0 car from the 75888: Porsche 911 RSR and 911 Turbo 3.0 set get a white-colored standalone release in 2019.
- Both of the Porsche 911 race-cars featured in the 75912: Porsche 911 GT Finish Line set are mostly identical builds, with different color schemes and sticker patterns.
- Product Placement: Given, since many of the sets are based on real world cars. Some of the sets feature decals that re-create the various sponsors on the real world vehicles, such as Castrol motor oil, Chopard watches, Santander Banks, and more.
- Your Size May Vary: The stated goal of the line was to try and match every vehicle to a relative Minifigure scale, but due to the bulkier proportions of a Lego Minifigure and the need to integrate Minifigure compatible interior there's always been a disconnect scale-wise between the completed vehicle builds and the Minifigures they were meant to complement; With some of the cars depicted as either too big, too narrow or too small in relative scale to a Minifigure when compared to how the real-life vehicles the sets were meant to represent scaled side-by-side with a real human.
