LEGO Set 31173-1 – Wild Animals: Tropical Toucan — Alternate Build Possibilities

When a Creator 3-in-1 set lands with a bright, characterful bird as its headline model, you just know the community will start tinkering. LEGO Set 31173-1, Wild Animals: Tropical Toucan, is built for exactly that kind of playful experimentation. Small and affordable with a lively palette and plenty of hinged elements, it invites you to rebuild, remix and squeeze out personality from every brick. Because parts are compact and repeatable, you can explore animal shaping (noses, beaks, flippers and tails), expressive eyes and micro-motion with simple hinge tricks—perfect territory for quick evening builds, weekend challenges, or teaching kids how to “read” parts for curves and feathers.

What makes 31173 shine as an alternate-build platform is its balance of color and connector variety. You get just enough brackets and slopes to sculpt smooth profiles, but also a generous helping of plates and clips that let you lock those shapes in place at sturdy angles—ideal for creature silhouettes that need to perch, flap or waddle without collapsing. Even better, the parts budget encourages clever economy: one inverted slope becomes a beak tip, a leftover tile becomes a flipper highlight, and suddenly you’ve got a whole new animal personality staring back at you. Below you’ll find hand-picked community alternates created using only the parts from 31173. Each one demonstrates a different way to wrangle the set’s pieces into fresh forms—great inspiration whether you’re trying your first alternate build or hunting for a new desk buddy to sit beside your toucan.

Community Alternate Builds 

31173 Penguin

Designer: Dafeld
Get the instructions: link to the model

Tou-Fal-Can

Designer: BambiOmega
Get the instructions: link to the model