LEGO Ideas 21336 The Office: five references you might have missed

LEGO Ideas 21336 The Office is packed with dozens of references, many of which are obvious in official images – but there are at least a few niche nods to the show you might have missed.

21336 The Office is the most densely-packed LEGO sitcom set to date, not only in terms of minifigures – there are a whopping 15 in the box – but references, too. In fact, the 1,164-piece set boasts more than 100 references to specific scenes, characters and even background décor from Dunder Mifflin Paper Company, with highlights including the stapler entombed in gelatine and Kevin’s pot of chilli.

Beyond those obvious references standing front and centre, though, there are a handful of hidden references scattered throughout 21336 The Office – including some that are so subtle you might not even clock them while putting the set together…

5 – Olympic medals

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Stacked and squirrelled away at the bottom of a shelving unit next to Dwight’s desk are three 1×1 plates in blue, silver and gold. Diehard The Office fans will recognise them as the medals used in Season 2’s Office Olympics, which Pam fashioned from yoghurt lids for the ‘Games of the 1st Dunder Mifflin Olympiad’.

4 – Ryan’s burnt pitta

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In another blink-and-you’ll-miss-it reference – but confirmed by the design team to Ashnflash – 21336 The Office includes a black quarter-circle tile, which is intended to represent Ryan’s burnt pitta from Season 2’s The Fire. You’ll probably remember it for being the catalyst behind Dwight’s rousing rendition of ‘Ryan Started the Fire’.

3 – The radon test kit

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Toby’s concern for the quality of Dunder Mifflin’s air is a running joke throughout The Office, but comes to a head in the Season 6 episode The Chump, in which Michael rounds up and throws away Toby’s radon test kits. A single 1×1 round plate atop the closet in Michael’s office depicts the radon test kit, ready to detect the colourless, odourless and tasteless radioactive chemical. Or just to be thrown away.

2 – Meaningful initials

Plenty of LEGO Ideas sets sneak in sly references to their fan designers, and 21336 The Office is no different. A 2×2 tile featuring a ‘Certificate of Authenticity’ includes the initials of three people central to bringing the latest LEGO Ideas set to shelves: fan designer Jaijai Lewis, plus the people behind two social media pages who were apparently instrumental in helping the submission to reach 10,000 votes.

1 – Todd Packer’s surprise

Is it a hate crime? An act of terrorism? Or just a big poo on the floor? The Season 2 episode The Carpet never explicitly reveals the surprise Todd Packer left in Michael’s office – prompting Michael to take over Jim’s desk for a day – but a quick cut implies it’s faeces of some kind. 21336 The Office’s set designers have rolled with that assumption, concealing a conspicuous brown element underneath Michael’s desk.

You’ll find all these references (and many more) in 21336 The Office. It’s available to purchase from LEGO.com and in LEGO Stores from October 1 for £104.99 / $119.99 / €119.99.

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