Original Xbox Returns as a Building Set With Halo, Morrowind and Psychonauts

For the price of a modern console, you can now buy an Xbox that won’t run a single game. Instead, you’ll have to assemble it from 3,509 pieces, open the case, and discover a miniature museum dedicated to one of the most important eras in Microsoft’s gaming history.

To celebrate the 25th anniversary of Xbox, Mattel has created an unusual collector’s set for its Brick Shop lineup. Rather than simply recreating the familiar black-and-green box, the company went much further: the original 2001 Xbox has been reproduced at 1:1 scale, complete with the legendary Duke controller and hidden scenes inspired by three cult-classic games.

The result feels less like a conventional building set and more like an interactive tribute to the first generation of Xbox.

What’s Included in the 3,509-Piece Mattel Xbox Building Set

From the outside, the model is deliberately designed to resemble the real original Xbox. Once assembled, this isn’t a miniature console that disappears among other collectibles on a shelf — it’s a full-scale replica.

The set also includes a buildable Duke controller, one of the most recognizable accessories from the original Xbox era. Mattel didn’t make it purely decorative, either: its buttons are connected to several interactive features built into the set.

Here are the main specifications of the Mattel Brick Shop Xbox:

The 17+ age recommendation makes sense considering the target audience. Mattel is clearly aiming this set primarily at collectors who remember the beginning of the Xbox era or became interested in the console’s history later.

Halo, Morrowind, and Psychonauts Are Hidden Inside the Xbox

The most interesting part of the set appears when you open the console.

Inside are three removable miniature dioramas based on Halo: Combat Evolved, The Elder Scrolls III: Morrowind, and Psychonauts. The set also comes with 12 small NanoWorld figures. The dioramas can remain inside the Xbox or be removed and displayed separately.

The choice of these three games says a lot about the version of original Xbox history that Mattel wants to preserve.

Halo: Combat Evolved hardly needs an explanation. It became one of the defining games of the Xbox launch and eventually grew into Microsoft’s biggest gaming franchises.

Morrowind represents a very different side of the console. Bethesda’s enormous RPG helped demonstrate that complex Western role-playing games — previously associated primarily with PC gaming — could also work on Xbox.

Then there’s Psychonauts, a less obvious but arguably more interesting choice. Double Fine’s game never reached Halo-level popularity, but it developed a cult following over time and became closely associated with the more experimental side of gaming in that era.

That’s why the set doesn’t feel like an Xbox with three random popular games thrown inside. Instead, the dioramas represent three very different memories of the console: a landmark shooter, a massive RPG, and an unconventional platformer.

The Duke Controller Controls Lights and Music Inside the Xbox

The interactive features don’t end with the console’s physical resemblance to the original hardware.

Opening the case triggers the iconic original Xbox startup sequence. The buildable Duke controller can then be used to activate effects inside the game scenes, with its buttons connected to lighting sequences and music inspired by the featured titles. There are four interactive modes in total.

Mattel has even included a small Easter egg for players willing to experiment: entering a particular button combination activates an additional lighting sequence.

That means the model doesn’t simply become a static black box once the building process is finished. Owners can open it, trigger different effects, and remove the individual game dioramas to display them as separate collectibles.

Why Does the Mattel Brick Shop Xbox Cost Around $330?

This is where nostalgia gets expensive.

The set carries a recommended price of $329.99, while some retailers list it at $324.99. That becomes especially amusing when compared with the history of the console itself: the original Xbox launched in the United States in 2001 for $299.

In other words, 25 years later, the brick-built version can cost more than the actual console did at launch.

That comparison isn’t entirely fair, however. The new Xbox Brick Shop set isn’t intended as a mass-market gaming product. It’s aimed squarely at adult collectors, and several elements contribute to the price:

• 3,509 pieces and a full-scale console body;
• a buildable Duke controller;
• three removable video game dioramas;
• 12 NanoWorld figures;
• interactive lighting and sound features;
• licensed elements from several major gaming franchises.

For that reason, the set makes more sense when compared with premium collector models rather than ordinary children’s building sets.

Is the Mattel Brick Shop Xbox Worth Buying?

If all you want is an original Xbox model to put on a shelf, $330 is a tough price to swallow. Depending on the market, collectors could instead spend that money hunting down a real original Xbox along with games and accessories from the era.

But Mattel’s set is trying to offer something different. It’s an opportunity to physically build several symbols of early-2000s Xbox history while also getting officially licensed miniature scenes based on games that rarely appear together in a single collector’s product.

Morrowind is particularly interesting in that regard. Halo has received plenty of figures, models, and other merchandise over the years, while official collectibles based specifically on Morrowind are considerably less common.

That’s ultimately where Mattel’s approach works. The Xbox building set isn’t simply an attempt to sell an old console again — it’s a physical time capsule of the 2001–2005 Xbox era. Halo represents why many players bought the console in the first place, Morrowind recalls how surprisingly well huge RPGs could work on it, and Psychonauts represents the more experimental side of its library.

The price will almost certainly remain the biggest obstacle. But if Mattel’s goal was to create a set capable of bringing back memories of the green Xbox startup animation, the enormous Duke controller, and the games that defined Microsoft’s first console, then this was never really about building a black box out of bricks.