It’s time again for LEGO’s yearly holiday ad, and 2026’s doesn’t disappoint. This year’s director, The Greatest Showman’s Michael Gracey, brought together a unique and star-studded cast of characters for the ad. The seventy-four second commercial is set to Daft Punk’s hit song from 2000, “One More Time”. Which I find apt, given I’ve said that to myself about buying LEGO sets before. Daft Punk appears in their LEGO figure forms at the end, complete with their iconic LEGO pyramid. This is another set LEGO sourced from LEGO ideas, based off of Daft Punk’s stage design from their 2007 “Alive” tour.
There’s lots of other familiar faces to go around. We can see glimpses of more than a few Marvel characters, primarily Thor, Dr. Doom, and Mystique, though there’s plenty hiding around in the background or various blink-and-you’ll-miss-it moments. You can catch Falcon and Magneto, for instance. It makes sense that Marvel characters are showing up in force, given how many LEGO sets they’ve been a part of over the years. There’s of course a slew of new sets from this year, with Doomsday just around the corner and this phase of the MCU heating up.
Rounding up some of the other properties, we see multiple front-and-center appearances of Derpy Tiger from the smash-hit movie KPop Demon Hunters. We also get a cameo of E.T. the Extraterrestrial from the film of the same name. Which is another smash-hit movie, albeit one older than most of our readership. My personal favorite moment is when you can briefly spot the adorable Tony Tony Chopper from One Piece. LEGO is definitely leaning hard into the partnerships they’ve made across the entertainment industry, from anime to live-action movies. It’s a new era of LEGO, and given we’re a bunch of big old nerds over here at Nerdist, we’re not too mad about it.
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