Five LEGO Ideas 21349 Tuxedo Cat secrets we learned from the designers 

The LEGO Ideas designers behind 21349 Tuxedo Cat have revealed five secrets about the creation of the upcoming moggy model.

The LEGO Group recently revealed 21349 Tuxedo Cat, a 1,710 piece set that’s due to be released on June 1 priced at £89.99 / $99.99 / €99.99. The near life-size model is based on a submission by fan designer Damian Andres that received backing from 10,000 supporters, with the final LEGO Ideas build standing over 32cm tall.

Brick Fanatics had the opportunity to talk with the LEGO Ideas design team as part of a roundtable interview, during which we discovered how Damian’s original concept underwent a colour swap and how their own pets provided plenty of inspiration. In addition, five surprising secrets about 21349 Tuxedo Cat were revealed, offering a unique insight into the creation of the LEGO Ideas set.

5 – 21349 Tuxedo Cat almost had whiskers

During the development of 21349 Tuxedo Cat, the LEGO Ideas team played around with various possibilities, one of which included adding whiskers to the build. “Whiskers were something that I explored after one of our multi model quality meetings,” said LEGO Ideas Design Manager Jordan David Scott. “Ultimately, what we wanted here was a high level of realism and it was something that was kind of undermined if we started to put bars or even antennas in place where the whiskers would be.”

“So you ended up with a large, very chunky detail,” said Jordan. “That didn’t feel like it matched the rest of the aesthetic. Damian’s original submission didn’t have whiskers either. When you see whiskers on an actual cat, they’re incredibly thin, almost transparent in a way. So it just didn’t look right when we tried them on the cat and I don’t think the model loses too much from not having them.”

4 – Over 300 eye concepts were explored

21349 Tuxedo Cat includes two different sets of interchangeable eyes, allowing builders to customise the look of the completed set. However, at one point, the LEGO Ideas team considered even more eyes when creating the model. “We had a printout of about 300 different eyes (that we experimented) with,” Jordan explained.

“We put a lot of focus into that (area) and Nathan (Davis – LEGO Ideas’ graphic designer) did a great job with them. We wanted to provide (builders) with two different colours just for customisation. But then you can also (give your pet a) heterochromia (appearance), which is pretty common in cats, where they have an orange or yellow and blue eye. So that was really cool we were able to add to that too. “

3 – Creating one part of 21349 Tuxedo Cat was the trickiest

In creating a near life-size version of a real feline, the LEGO Ideas team discovered that one area of the build was a particular hurdle to overcome. “It was the tail,” said Jordan. “Making a tail or designing a tail for this model that matched the aesthetic of the rest of the cat was a challenge.”

“I went through quite a lot of permutations before I arrived at the final (design). We tried various versions and ended up with segments that had a lot of gaps. I went away from Damian’s general design and tried a lot of different things, but in the end, I circled back to that same basic shape and the way that it wrapped around the cat.”

2 – The LEGO Ideas set makes a purring sound… sort of

Although the LEGO Ideas team confirmed that a sound brick was never going to be included in 21349 Tuxedo Cat, the completed model does in fact make some kind of noise. “When you turn the cat’s head, there’s a subtle clicking noise that sounds a bit like a purr,” said Jordan. “We didn’t really consider adding a sound brick element though, as that would have added extra complexity and cost. We wanted to just keep it as clean a build as possible.”

1 – 21349 Tuxedo Cat’s head leads to some interesting mash-ups

As the head of 21349 Tuxedo Cat is removable, the LEGO Ideas team suggested swapping it out with sections of other models and trying it with sets that the head could potentially work well with. “I’m pretty sure it would fit well on (10333 The Lord of The Rings: Barad-dûr),” laughed Jordan, “although I think (76429 Talking Sorting Hat) would be a little too big!”

Jay’s Brick Blog has already run with that fun concept, revealing what the upcoming LEGO The Lord of the Rings build would look like with 21349 Tuxedo Cat’s head in place of the Eye of Sauron and 40649 Up-Scaled LEGO Minifigure’s head on top of the LEGO Ideas model.

21349 Tuxedo Cat is available to pre-order right now and will launch on June 1, 2024 for £89.99 / $99.99 / €99.99. To find out everything you need to know about the upcoming LEGO Ideas set, check out our full review right here.

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