Dragon Ball joins LEGO with a 1,764-piece Shenron and Goku set

The LEGO Group has signed its first licence with Toei Animation, and the first thing the two companies are building together is a dragon. The LEGO Icons Dragon Ball Shenron & Goku set (11390) was unveiled on 28 September and puts 1,764 pieces into the moment Shenron rises from the seven Dragon Balls, with Kid Goku circling above on his Kintoun.

What the set actually builds

This is a display piece rather than a play set, and its centre of gravity is Shenron's long, looping body. The design team studied animation frames from the original Dragon Ball series to get the silhouette and the scale right, then worked out how to hold that shape in bricks. Kid Goku sits on his Kintoun at the centre of the scene and can be lifted out and repositioned for anyone who wants to restage the summon.

Seven 2x2 bricks stand in for the Dragon Balls at the base of the model, which is a neat way of putting the franchise's central ritual into the build. LEGO says the set is assembled with the LEGO Builder app, which offers 3D instructions that can be zoomed, rotated and tracked.

When you can buy it

LEGO Insiders get Early Access from 1 November 2026, and the set goes on general sale on 4 November 2026 through LEGO Stores and LEGO.com/DragonBall. The company has not published UK pricing. More Dragon Ball sets are promised for 2027 and beyond, which makes this the opening product of a range rather than a one-off.

Why the Toei Animation deal is the interesting part

Toei Animation is the studio behind the Dragon Ball anime, and this is the first time it has worked with the LEGO Group. The licence is a notable one because Dragon Ball is a franchise about characters, and LEGO's most successful adult-facing licences have been about objects: architecture, vehicles, and dioramas of places. LEGO has been widening that catalogue for a while, launching a One Piece line alongside the Netflix special and steadily expanding a Pokemon range, and Dragon Ball is the largest Japanese property it had left untouched.

Federico Begher, senior vice president for product, marketing and development at the LEGO Group, said the company was thrilled to bring the universe into the LEGO portfolio and that the partnership was a chance to celebrate the characters and stories that have made Dragon Ball endure.

Our opinion

LEGO has made the sensible choice and started with the ritual rather than the roster. Shenron is the one Dragon Ball image that works as a display model, because an undulating creature has a silhouette worth building, and centring the set on him rather than on a minifigure of Goku says the design team understood where the licence is strongest. The seven-second teaser that started this, a video of seven balls on a dark table on 22 September, has now paid off with something that looks like a collector's piece rather than a toy. What it does not solve is the demand underneath: the fandom wants Goku, Vegeta and a Great Ape, and those are figures, not dioramas. If the 2027 wave answers that with large character builds, the range could stall precisely where it becomes most valuable. If it answers with more scenes, this Shenron set will look like the high-water mark. Either way, opening with the summoning was the right move.