The latest fan-conceived set has been announced for LEGO Ideas, as 21366 Floating Sea Otters presents a fully grown otter cuddling her pup.
Fans can see the final design for 21366 Floating Sea Otters, a set inspired by Maximilian Lambrecht’s creation and submission to the LEGO Ideas platform.
The set uses 1,234 elements, is priced at £99.99 / $119.99 / €109.99 and launches on March 1. It may be available to preorder at LEGO.com ahead of time.
It is a big day for LEGO set reveals – Art has presented 31220 Claude Monet – Bridge over a Pond of Water Lilies and Icons has revealed 11376 Ford Model T.
Maximilian’s original concept presented the large otter in the water-based display base, but Senior Model Designer Chris McVeigh has added a pup to the model. The mother otter’s head, mouth, flippers and claws are all posable. Rather than having the baby on the belly, you can give the otter a buildable clam. To make things even cuter, if you get two copies of the set you can make the two large otters hold hands.
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“We really wanted to make sure that we have articulation in the arms so that the arms can be positioned at the side of the otter,” Chris explains.
During the presentation at LEGO Fan Media Days 2025, Blocks, the monthly LEGO magazine for fans, asks about the addition of the pup to the model.
“When we got Max’s original submission, it was obviously very cute,” says LEGO Ideas Creative Lead Jordan Scott. “Everyone responded really well to it and how he captured that really cuteness of these animals. But we felt it was very flat. You know, they’re kind of in the sea.
“Chris and I talked about how much of it can you actually build off the water without it looking weird. But then it still felt very flat. So we were like, well, everyone responds really well when you see them hugging and kind of cleaning their pups…
“So we said, ‘could we build a pup?’ So that was the challenge for Chris. You’ve already got the head for the mom otter and things. Can you scale that down and make this really adorable looking pup that you can add on as well? And yes, you can.”
That didn’t mean many changes to the larger otter, but Chris did make some tweaks to incorporate the smaller otter. “It more impacted just how the arms and the legs work so that they can move out of the way to accommodate the other pup.”
Initially, he built the pup in a different way to the parent, but was not satisfied. “The first version I had of the otter pup, I was not happy with. Part of the reason was because it didn’t carry forward enough of the design language that we have in the mother’s head design. So I redesigned it to make it look like they are part of the same family. I tried a different take for the otter pup at first… and I’m glad I revisited it.”
An interesting part of his design process is not just that he does the research you would imagine, but that he then sketches the subject based on the reference he finds. “I take some time to draw the creature so that I get a sense of its shape. You can look at pictures, they can give you a lot of information, but sometimes when you draw something, it helps you understand subtle curves and variations in the skin and the overall shape of the arms and whatnot.”
Ideas has much more on the way – Chris recently unveiled his other new set, 21376 Orange Cat, then a huge slate of fan-designed sets have been announced for the next two years, including Mighty Morphin’ Power Rangers, Downton Abbey, Ramen, Vintage Sewing Machine, E.T. The Extra-terrestrial, Smurf Village and La Catrina. Another 75 product ideas are currently under consideration.
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