LEGO Ideas 21358 Minifigure Vending Machine is of course all about the minifigures stashed inside. But who are the sixteen colourful characters in the set? Are the Classic Space Astronauts as cool as the new knights? And who’s the guy in the sweater? Creative Lead Jordan Scott and Graphic Designer Nathan Davis reveal all.
21358 Minifigure Vending Machine is the new fan-inspired LEGO Ideas set, priced at £149.99 / $179.99 / €169.99. The fan concept that Rob Vangansewinkel came up with includes retro LEGO characters, but many of those old school minifigures were not available to the professional designers who had to adapt the idea into an official release set.
When faced with the challenge of stocking 21358 Minifigure Vending Machine with the right mix of characters, Creative Lead Jordan Scott and Graphic Designer Nathan Davis knew that they had the perfect opportunity to make characters who would delight LEGO fans young and old. So no basic police officers or construction workers would be included — the set would be a treasure trove of easter eggs and references to LEGO themes gone by.
Following a fan vote on LEGO Ideas and much debate among the design team, a cast of 16 minifigures was decided upon. There’s a beautiful mix of new takes on classic designs, references to old themes and some more modern easter eggs. Each special minifigure comes in pairs, with a male and female variant, for healthy diversity of themes and characters. So join Blocks, the monthly LEGO magazine, on a tour to meet the many minifigures of 21358 Minifigure Vending Machine…
Old styles, new ideas
Very early on in the process, the designers knew that the ever-popular LEGO Space and LEGO Castle themes should be represented. So a fan vote was held on LEGO Ideas to determine new colours for Classic Space astronauts and new factions for a modern take on LEGO Castle.
For LEGO Space, the teal and gold astronauts won the day. Teal was the grand prize winner — technically the only one supposed to make it into the set. But the designers had other plans.
“We talked, and we were like, ‘should we just do two Classic Space colours?’” shared Creative Lead Jordan Scott. “People seem to like them. I think the gold is also a nice exclusive colour to have in a prize machine like this. Like a limited edition.”
LEGO Castle also had its first and second place finishers feature in the set—the Krakens and the Griffins. According to Jordan, the Krakens were the undisputed winner of the fan vote. “They actually had more votes than all the other three combined,” he laughs. “But then the Griffins looked like they provided a nice opportunity to do more generic Castle torsos and legs, so that they could be from any faction.”
Upgrade your LEGO hobby! If you take out a subscription to Blocks, the monthly LEGO magazine, you’ll get each issue first and at a discount, plus other perks including a free digital subscription and the chance to win LEGO prizes every month.
And these two new factions already have a healthy bit of lore surrounding them, albeit unofficially. “They’re rival factions,” Jordan says. “Krakens are off in the sea and coastal areas, and then the Griffins live on the cliffsides, and they’re at war with each other.”
Where Castle and Space got completely new takes on their classic designs, LEGO Pirates saw a pair of figures in line with characters from 21322 Pirates of Barracuda Bay. But while the designs aren’t anything revolutionary, the characters are references to old LEGO Pirates lore.
“We did a redesign of some of the old Pirates characters. Bosun Will was in the pirate comic way back when. He’s now gone through some promotions. And Camilla was the Admiral’s daughter in the lore. Now she grew up to be an admiral herself,” Jordan says.
Celebrating retro LEGO themes
Fabuland and Paradisa’s respective pairs of minifigures aren’t so much modern takes on classic characters, rather representations of fans of the classic themes – though the Paradisa characters could certainly fit in at a beach party with their fun branded crop tops and sunglasses.
“I went through a few versions,” shares Graphic Designer Nathan Davis. “We had the shirt tied at the front at some point, but it was getting in the way.” And in addition the explicit mention of the theme on the front of the figures, there’s also a little easter egg on the back — the number 92 is printed as a reference to the year Paradisa launched.
The Paradisa figures might fit right in with their classic counterparts, but the two Fabuland characters would certainly look out of place next to the characters in the original theme. The choice to make these two figures proper minifigures instead of more accurate Fabuland characters was largely due to spatial limitations of what would fit in the pods. While a full Fabuland build would’ve been fun, the choice did lead to a fantastic new torso print.
“We did look at just doing the torsos without any decoration,” Jordan says. “Just like blue and grey like they are in actual Fabuland. But wouldn’t it be cool if you got a Fabuland-branded hoodie?”
“I spent ages trying to incorporate some sort of split in the pockets on the front so that it gave a hint of the very high pants that Fabuland figures have,” says Nathan.
Modern references
The final two minifigures in 21358 Minifigure Vending Machine might not look like much at first glance, especially not next to Fabuland-branded hoodies and new Castle factions, but the figures still have significance behind them. One wears a fairly plain black shirt that bears the LEGO Ideas logo — a perfect fit for a LEGO Ideas set that’s all about the minifigures.
“We considered doing an employee shirt from the LEGO Stores, but those have been done before,” explains Jordan. “So we talked about if we could make a LEGO Ideas torso. Nathan then came up with the one you see in the set.”
And the final character is no character at all — the fan designer, Rob Vangansewinkel makes an appearance in his own set as a tribute from the LEGO Ideas design team.
“They showed me the first time we had a video call and I immediately liked it,” Rob smiles. “Then my students, because I’m a teacher, they saw the figure in class, and they said, ‘you’re greyer in real life.’ I said, ‘this keeps me young.’”
If you’re itching to get your hands on 21358 Minifigure Vending Machine and see all of the exclusive characters for yourself, consider purchasing the set via our affiliate links to help support the work we do at Blocks, the monthly LEGO magazine for fans.