LEGO Ideas designers worked around Nintendo parts for Fabuland minifigures

Four of the 16 minifigures in LEGO Ideas 21358 Vending Machine benefited from or had to work around certain elements featured in Nintendo sets.

The 16 new minifigures in 21358 Minifigure Vending Machine have understandably taken the LEGO community by storm this week, referencing the fan designer and several classic themes, including LEGO Castle and Fabuland. You might have noticed a familiar, but previously exclusive piece in the male and female Griffin Knight minifigures.

77092 Great Deku Tree 2-in-1's Hylian shield piece with that signature points reappears in the LEGO Ideas set next month, and during a roundtable interview with Brick Fanatics and other LEGO fan media, the team behind the set have explained why this piece is back after its Nintendo-specific debut.

"It's an agreement with the IP partner, and what's different with the Hylian shield is that the shape isn't exclusive to that specific shield; that shape exists in shields from medieval times," explained LEGO Ideas Design Lead Jordan David Scott.

"It's the decoration that makes it the Hylian shield, so the shape is more generic. We wanted to make sure that we could use it, of course. So we talked with the Nintendo team, and they said it was fine, but to make sure it doesn't look like the Hylian shield, which it will never do, because it's a completely different faction."

LEGO Ideas 21358 Minifigure Vending Machine isn't the only new home of the Hylian shield piece this summer, as it also appears in the new LEGO Creator 31168 Medieval Horse Knight Castle. This further proves that the pointed shield piece isn't exclusive to Nintendo sets, unless it's ever printed with the Triforce.

"There are nuances sometimes, like Darth Vader's helmet will only ever be used for Darth Vader's helmet, but a very generic space helmet that could be used for Iron Man or Ultron, could also be used for Monkie Kid, with a different decoration," continues Jordan. "There are different levels of nuance, wigs are a very good example. Some wigs are specific to a character, whereas some are more generic and can be used for other things."

While this initially Nintendo-specific element has been able to bolster part of 21358 Minifigure Vending Machine's minifigures, the partnership with Nintendo unfortunately limited another part of the new LEGO Ideas model.

"We know that Fabuland is popular, and that's kind of why we did the twist with the costume characters, because we couldn't make new head elements," shared Graphic Designer Nathan Davis. "I know people have mentioned the Animal Crossing heads, but because that's a licensed theme, they're not usable."

Because the various animal head elements throughout LEGO Animal Crossing are so specifically shaped, they can only be used for that particular theme under the agreement with the IP partner, or likely elsewhere as long as the partner agrees. Because the pointed shield is just generic enough in shape to align with real equipment, it doesn't fall under these same limitations.

While it's disappointing to hear the reason behind the lack of Fabuland characters in 21358 Minifigure Vending Machine, the LEGO Ideas team did manage to work a clever reference to the original Fabuland figures in.

"We did look at just doing the Fabuland torsos without any decoration, just like blue and grey or blue and red, like they are, in actual Fabuland sets, but wouldn't it be cool if you got a Fabuland-branded hoodie?" posited Nathan. " I spent ages trying to incorporate some sort of split in the pockets on the front so that it gave a hint of like those very high pants at the front that Fabuland figures have.

The Nintendo partnership may have stopped us from getting anything other than Fabuland cosplayers, but it did at least open the door for this thoughtful reference.

Based on these comments, we can likely expect Wario's new nose and moustache element to stay entirely exclusive to LEGO Super Mario, and the Master Sword to be only part of LEGO The Legend of Zelda. The likes of Mario's nose might not be under the same restriction due to its more generic shape, but we shall have to wait and see.

21358 Minifigure Vending Machine launches June 1 for LEGO Insiders for £149.99 / $179.99 / €169.99. It will then launch widely on June 4.

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