LEGO designer says timing of new Friends set is ‘purely coincidence’
The designer of the newly-revealed LEGO Friends 41714 Andrea’s Theater School says the timing of its release – alongside 71033 The Muppets – is ‘purely coincidence’.
When images of this summer’s flagship Friends set first landed online, the LEGO community’s reaction was largely homogenous: what a perfect setting for the newly-released 71033 The Muppets Collectible Minifigures. So perfect, in fact, that it must have been planned by the individual LEGO teams working on both those products.
After all, in a company as huge as the LEGO Group, harmonising its launches is surely not only a priority, but also relatively straightforward – especially for in-house themes like Friends, which presumably face fewer restrictions from external factors than licensed sets and minifigures. But as it turns out, the synergy between these two products was just another happy accident.
“For this set I wanted to cram in as many props and accessories as possible for people to put on the play of their dreams,” 41714 Andrea’s Theater School designer James May tweeted. “And no, I had no idea about the Muppets CMF line, that was purely coincidence.”
It’s not the first time the LEGO Group has debuted sets that play very nicely together seemingly by chance: this year’s LEGO Star Wars Diorama Collection and 76956 T. rex Breakout both feature display models on black bases with quotes from their respective movies, but according to the Star Wars design team, that was also just ‘a coincidence’.
Regardless of any prior intentions, there’s no denying that 41714 Andrea’s Theater School is the perfect starting point for a 71033 The Muppets display. The latest series of Collectible Minifigures is already available, so you can get ready for 41714 Andrea’s Theater School’s release on June 1 by picking up all 12 blind-bagged characters now.
In the meantime, check out our review of 71033 The Muppets by clicking here.
Support the work that Brick Fanatics does by purchasing your LEGO using our affiliate links.
Author Profile
- I like to think of myself as a journalist first, LEGO fan second, but we all know that’s not really the case. Journalism does run through my veins, though, like some kind of weird literary blood – the sort that will no doubt one day lead to a stress-induced heart malfunction. It’s like smoking, only worse. Thankfully, I get to write about LEGO until then.
Latest entries
Best Deal17/04/2024Score a double discount on LEGO Technic Kawasaki with this code- May 2024 sets17/04/2024LEGO 40689 Firework Celebrations rumoured for May 2024
- May the 4th17/04/2024LEGO Star Wars May the 4th poster artist all but confirms unreleased minifigure
- Best Deal16/04/2024Save even more on LEGO Ideas Polaroid Camera with limited-time code
I had the exact same thought! Just need to convert the left balcony to the backstage office, work in some more maroon, and of course the opening scene arches, and viola!