Themes
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While the LEGO Group had worked with Disney on occasional themes before, such as Pirates of the Caribbean and Toy Story 3, in 2014 the ongoing Disney Princess theme launched. While it was later rebranded as simply ‘Disney’, it has always focused on the Disney Princess brand while also touching on those ‘princess-adjacent’ characters such as Moana.
The sets found a balance between representing movie moments and including all of the requisite princess tropes. It followed Friends as the second theme to build the environments around mini-dolls rather than minifigures, packing the sets with details and hidden little sections. Two of the highlights in that first year were 41054 Rapunzel's Creativity Tower and 41055 Cinderella's Romantic Castle.
One of the exciting things about the theme is the opportunity to collect Disney characters as mini-dolls as well as the moulded elements that provide the animal characters – with highlights including Flounder, Sebastian, Pascal, Rajah, Harris, Hamish and Hubert.
Palace Pets was a strange little subtheme in 2016 that saw the LEGO Group tying into a new bit of branding from Disney, which saw pampered pets in luxurious little animal homes.
In 2016 the theme really kicked into high gear for adult fans, with 71040 The Disney Castle. The impressive set recreated the centrepiece structure from Walt Disney World with more than 4,000 pieces, accurately representing the exterior by borrowing the theme park’s forced perspective technique. The interior features nods to classic Disney films from over the years.
The release of 71040 The Disney Castle coincided with the first series of Disney Collectible Minifigures, offering fans the opportunity to get characters beyond the princesses – and as minifigures rather than mini-dolls. Classic such as Mickey Mouse and Donald Duck feature in the minifigure line-up as well as beloved icons such as Stitch and the Genie.
71044 Disney Train and Station followed up 71040 The Disney Castle in 2019, recreating the Main Street Station whilst also including the C.K. Holliday, both of which are found at Disneyland. It marks the first time that Goofy has been included as a minifigure.
The Disney theme also focuses on the newest films, with an entire wave of Frozen II sets covering that animated sequel’s magical locations. Thanks to LEGO Ideas, fans can also build a piece of Disney history – 21317 Steamboat Willie builds a black-and-white recreation of the classic 1928 animation that introduced Mickey and Minnie Mouse to the world.