LEGO Ideas 21351 The Nightmare Before Christmas is a love letter to claymation

The LEGO Group is paying homage to more than just the movie in LEGO Ideas 21351 The Nightmare Before Christmas as it celebrates claymation. 

There are plenty of notable details in LEGO Ideas 21351 The Nightmare Before Christmas but a single design decision in the set might top the list. Aside from the many minifigures in 21351 The Nightmare Before Christmas, you’ll also find figures of both Zero and The Mayor. 

While Zero is a new piece, we’re focusing on The Mayor in this report. The two-faced brick-built figure features seams on his faces. This isn’t a mistake from the LEGO designers, but a reference to the claymation animation that was used in The Nightmare Before Christmas. 

Claymation is the process of using clay figures in stop-motion animation for more fluid movement and interchangeable faces. These seams are a direct reference to the latter as the animators would switch out the mouth and eyes depending on what was needed in the scene. 

In other appearances for merchandise, video games and the Disney theme parks, these seams aren’t typically visible on The Mayor as they are mostly a side effect of the animation style. Featuring them in the LEGO Ideas set not only accurately matches The Nightmare Before Christmas, but pays homage to a distinct style of animation in a clever way that some may not have noticed. 

21351 The Nightmare Before Christmas will be available for £169.99 / $199.99 / €199.99 for LEGO Insiders from September 3, before going on wider sale through LEGO.com and LEGO Stores from September 6. 

You can find out more about the model in our detailed review.

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