Five things you didn't know about the LEGO Ideas Willy Wonka set

LEGO Ideas 21360 Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory launches tomorrow, and here are five last-minute details you didn't know about the set.

The release of LEGO Ideas 21360 Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory is just around the corner, launching tomorrow for LEGO Insiders. From the iconic nature of this model to the minifigures and exclusive element featured within, there are a lot of reasons to be interested in the 2,025-piece build.

With excitement building for the latest LEGO Ideas release, we've gathered up five things you almost certainly didn't know about the set from the LEGO Fan Media roundtable interview with LEGO Ideas Creative Lead Jordan Scott, Graphic Designer Crisy Dyment, and Product Designer Laura Perron.

Grandpa Joe was an important addition

The original project for 21360 Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory did not include Grandpa Joe, but the team determined that the character was too crucial to Charlie's story to be left out of the model.

"Grandpa Joe is integral to Charlie's story," explained Jordan. "He's the one who encourages him to spend the money and get the chocolate bar, which gives him the ticket. When the other parents go off with their kids, Grandpa Joe stays with Charlie in the factory until the very end. I think he's quite integral to Charlie's story, and it was a nice additional character to be able to include."

Grandpa Joe's minifigure doesn't use many rare pieces, making him an easy minifigure to include and allowing him to play an important role in the latest LEGO Ideas model.

A last-minute chair change

LEGO Ideas 21360 Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory faced a last-minute change that saw a single piece removed from the model. You might have noticed that the 360-degree view video of the set on LEGO.com has a different model for the half-chair in Wonka's office. The designer behind the set explained in the interview why this small build had to change so close to release that the video was not amended.

"I'll admit, we had a different chair design for a long time until the end," Laura shared. "But because Wonka's hat is a new element, we didn't do the build-through with that new element. When we put Wonka in the chair, we thought it looked fine without the new piece, and it wasn't until very late in the process that we realised he doesn't fit on the chair. We had to quickly change the chair, kind of last-minute. I'll admit that that was funny, not at the time, but it works out now."

The removal of this singular element allows Wonka to sit down with his hat and hair on his head. The missing piece isn't hard to find, at least, featured in the affordable 43235 Ariel's Music Stage and costing only £0.16 on Pick a Brick.

The minifigures couldn't be too specific

The minifigures in LEGO Ideas 21360 Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory feature some specific and funny expressions, but the design team had to take care not to be too specific.

"Sometimes we try to make sure that the characters don't limit you to necessarily just one scene, if we can avoid it," Crisy said. "There are some cases, like where Gloop just has to be depicted eating the chocolate as it happens in one scene. Other times, we try to make sure that we give as much flexibility as possible, that if you want to set it up a certain way or play out a certain scene, you're not limited by faces that are too specific.

"One of the faces for the Gene Wilder Wonka minifigure, I will fully admit that it was just tickling my funny bone, and I thought it'd be hilarious to try to pay homage to the meme, but it was also generic enough that it could be used anywhere else in the scene. It's all about finding that balance between character recognition and living within the LEGO universe."

While there are some specific expressions in the set, the designers have been careful to ensure that they can be used in a few scenes on display, and Wonka's alternate face is just the latest in a long line of meme-centric models.

One play feature that 'just didn't work'

The new LEGO Ideas set is light on functions. The star of the play features is the working chocolate waterfall, but beyond that, the set only has display value and the usual ability to move minifigures around the build. At least one more was trialled during the development of 21360 Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory, but it had to be removed for the final design.

"Speaking of Augustus, in the very first sketch model, I immediately made a big tube launch feature where you could just launch Augustus out of the tube," Laura detailed. "It was funny, but the scale just didn't work; at least it exists in our memories."

While the ability to shoot Gloop across the build would have been entertaining, a huge pipe on the left side of the scene would have stood out too much compared to the smaller pipes directly behind it.

The Oompa Loompas are doubly accurate

The minifigures in 21360 Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory include two Oompa Loompas, and similar to many other LEGO sets, including the Dungeons & Dragons series, there's a male and female option. This isn't just for representation, though; it's an additional detail that improves the overall accuracy of the set.

"We have a male and female Oompa Loompa minifigure, typically what you would expect," Crisy shared. "One has eyelashes and one doesn't because, in researching the film, they were played by both male and female actors. So we wanted to make sure we were authentic to that."

LEGO Ideas 21360 Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory will be available to buy from September 15 for LEGO Insiders and from September 18 for everyone else, costing £199.99 in the UK, $219.99 in the US, and €219.99 in Europe.

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