The Aston Martin brand will forever be associated to the James Bond movie franchise. Any fan of movie cars should consider the vehicle with a few caveats. I'm happy that the DB5 was made available once again, this time for a wider audience. Kids growing up with cars will enjoy building and playing with this set, and James Bond fans of all ages will surely be happy about this product.

First, the rounded shapes and major details such as the battering rams and rims do capture what the Goldfinger's DB5 had. Second, the unique roof piece for this set is nice. Third, the inclusion of THAT James Bond figure is a nice gift that wasn't necessary. I'm even surprised that it wasn't included in the original Creator (Icons) line. Fourth, the inclusion of the licensing plates associated to the DB5 for almost 60 years can be swapped and this is a nice element for all James Bond fans. However, the set has some major issues. First, the stickers are great for the license plates but the grey color does not match the one for the bricks. Second, the roof piece is indeed a little darker compared to, again, the grey that is used for the overall build. Third, the James Bond minifigure is certainly looking a little... depressed? Maybe it is because of the actor who definitely aged since he played this character for 5 movies across 15 years.

Building the set was a fantastic experience... if you substract the experience with the stickers since they're on the smallest pieces and any mistake as you place them may result in a bad-looking set to play and display. If a kid builds this set, I wouldn't be surprised if a parent is helping since there are some techniques that may appear more complicated than usual and the instructions are not exactly clear most of the time. The overall shape for the build is certainly great and I do respect what the designer was going for. I also wanna point that the invoice' sticker for the address, if I were to return the set, did stick on the box of the set, slightly damaging the back of it which is unfortunate. I also am not a fan of a recent decision that turned instruction booklets of some sets into something a little more generic. Speaking of instructions, I think Speed Champions should include a small description or history for each vehicle in the future. Considering the legacy of the Aston Martin cars featured in the James Bond movies, it could have been an excellent opportunity for kids to learn more about them and for adults to reexplore the history of the franchise.

Although the price in Canada is a little hard to accept, this is a nice set. I myself am not a James Bond expert but I enjoy legendary movie cars. The DB5 is one of them and this is a flawed yet nice attempt at a classic.

I'll start with the good as this is objectively a great set:

-A number of interesting build techniques were used for certain angles/details which made this a very satisfying build

-It's a gorgeous car which would look great on display on it's own/with other Speed Champions cars/for 007 fans

Now the reasons that I ultimately regret spending my VIP points on this instead of any usual scale vehicles:
-The scale is way off all City cars to the extent it looks silly and it even dominates the front of buildings due to it's size so I don't really want to display it in the limited space I have for my little street scene

-It is also far from minifig scale so a figure placed alongside it looks comical too

-Considering it's size and piece count, I'd have liked some kind of 007 play feature.. stud shooters/dropping tacks/I dunno randomly turns into a boat or something, anything to make it stand out as a spy car

Ultimately I've no interest in this set when not considered for my street scene so it now just lives in the corner of a shelf and has no value to me, thus I regret buying it.
I would not recommend it to someone who thinks they may be bothered by how different it's scale is to other vehicles they may own.
I would recommend it to Speed Champions/007/car fans.

I love this set. I am a huge James Bond fan and the available 007 sets are very few and far between. It's a great piece to put on the shelf, to both fill space but also just display for those that recognize the DB5. I just wish the cabin was just slightly smaller to keep with a coupe design. At the time of writing this, the set is discontinued but still available from some retailers. I intend to still buy this set for my nephew for his 007 introduction.

I never thought we'd get a James Bond minifigure, and I remember seeing the larger set and being annoyed that it wasn't minifigure-scale and didn't even have a minifigure.

So to have this is quite extraordinary and it doesn't disappoint. The Aston was fun to build and looks really good, and I'm glad we have Bond in his tuxedo. I also love the set's workaround for giving Bond his gun.

As for negatives, some of the stickers don't look great and I wish the Bond minifigure wasn't based on Craig. I know he's the most recent actor, but he's also the one who looks the least like the character and I think basing it off Connery instead would've been a much better option, as he both looks a lot like how Bond was always described in the novels and was the first of all the actors.

It's not a huge problem as I could easily (and have) swapped the head and hair out for something that does look like the character, but I thought I'd mention it anyway.

I really hope this set means we can get more sets based on the Bond movies. The age ratings for them mean that it wouldn't be pushing LEGO's child-friendly approach too much and there are tons of scenes in them that would make for terrific sets.