E.T. is a unique-looking alien, so the LEGO designers behind 21370 E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial had to make use of new elements and deal with some tricky designs when bringing the cinema icon to the brick.
There’s a lot that goes into designing a LEGO Ideas set — and half the process occurs before there’s even any guarantee of the concept ever hitting shelves. Before Richard Lemeiter’s E.T. model could be considered by the LEGO Ideas team, it had to reach 10,000 fan supporters on the site.
And following its selection, it underwent a rigorous redesign process to ensure the official set is up to the LEGO Group’s standards. The whole process is no small undertaking — for Richard or for LEGO designers — but it was made worth it by the immense passion everyone involved has for the source material.
“When I watched E.T., I was 10 years old. Just like Elliot in the movie,” Richard shares. “I felt like I had part of the movie inside me. Then when I watched it with my kids, I discovered new meanings from it. And the last time I watched it with my daughter is when I decided to make it into a LEGO model.”
Richard’s design eventually made its way into the hands of Model Designer David Guedes and Design Manager Jordan Scott, who hold fond memories of the film as well.
“I first saw it when I was about five,” says David. “I cried because I was absolutely terrified of this movie as a kid. When the hazmat suit guys come and everything… yeah. I still have memories of fear surrounding that.”
“I was similar when I watched it as a kid,” Jordan says. “I was kind of terrified more of E.T., actually. Now if I watch it, seeing E.T. desaturated and dehydrated gets to me.”
E.T.’s colour actually ended up being one of the challenges in designing the set. The colour choice itself was simple — nougat captures the alien’s look quite well — but not all of the pieces David needed were available in that colour.
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“There’s about eight different elements that were recoloured,” David says. “They’re all nougat. A number of other recolours weren’t out when I was designing the set, but they’re all out now. There’s 22 of those.”
One recolour proved to be truly invaluable — a quarter circle element that is used all over the model.
“It’s a relatively new element and I don’t think I paid for the colour change, but it didn’t exist when I was designing the model,” David says. “I couldn’t have achieved the chest, tummy or butt without it.”
Conveniently using recolours from other sets is always a plus for LEGO designers, who have to work within certain budgets for how many new elements and new recolours they can use. And it meant that when David had to figure out how to build E.T.’s long arms, he could use the solution he needed.
“With the elbow, we have another angle of macaroni element to reposition the arms. That’s the only fully new element in the set.”
With a new element and a seemingly infinite amount of nougat recolours all over the model, it may seem odd that the wrist is made of light bluish grey ball joints rather than the more accurate nougat. But there’s a good reason as to why.
“It’s not because we don’t want to,” Jordan explains. “There’s a specific material issue with changing the colours of ball joints. Different pigments have different friction levels, down to the microplastic level. That’s why we don’t just make them in every single colour.”
“At one point, I did try it with clips,” adds David. “But I couldn’t do multiple angles. The wrist could only move in one dimension. And given the size of the arm, the ball joint was the only real alternative.”
Another area of the model that proved a bit of a challenge to get right was the neck. The original fan design had a feature that let the neck extend as it does in the movie, but structural concerns dashed that dream for the final model.
“The neck was a funny one,” David says. “I had a dozen different options. It was just about getting the length right since there is a Technic axle inside with ball joints on either end of it, and it was really about finding the elements that have the right dimensions to marry System and Technic. The barrel being open on top gives some flexibility.
“And there were absolutely thoughts to implement the extending neck. I spent far too much time trying to design that in. At one point, I had a trigger in the shoulder that would lift the neck up and down. But the shoulder section is very complex already with a lot of moving function, and there’s not a lot of space in there. I probably spent a month trying to make the neck work. But there just was not any space.”
Beyond the neck and shoulders, the rest of E.T. proved a fairly straightforward construction, especially for fans picking up the set.
“The intention was always to have a core that you build first and then essentially slap on the front, back and sides. I’m glad it’s not too challenging of a build. It’ll be really good for a lot of people out there who haven’t built a LEGO set before. I think it’s going to be really attractive to them to see what we were able to do.”
And a big part of what David was able to do with E.T. is make sure that the build looks like a LEGO set — something that’s not always easy when a model demands lots of curves and smooth edges.
“The studs on the side of E.T. are there for LEGO DNA, but also to add texture,” David says. “We couldn’t add as many wrinkles on the side because they ended up poking out too far, so we added the studs to give it extra texture. There’s also some on the head and feet, as well as half studs on the lower belly. I had been trying to hide them, but then we decided to leave them in as some more texture.”
To learn more about the design process of 21370 E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial and capturing E.T.’s unique look, head here.
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