One all-new element was created in order to allow LEGO Icons 21370 E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial’s long arms to be placed in multiple poses.
Fans of ’80s nostalgia can already put in their pre-orders for 21370 E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial, a 1,226-piece LEGO Icons set landing on Earth next month. The model represents a buildable version of Steven Spielberg’s beloved alien, one that can be placed in multiple display poses, mostly thanks to a single new element included in the release.
Due to E.T.’s unique shape and his long, thin arms, the LEGO Icons team had to construct the shoulder section of the model in a specific way so that to it would have enough strength to hold the creature’s limbs, as well as adding the specially-created new piece for stability and flexibility.
“The arms also posed a challenge,” notes 21370 E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial’s instruction manual. “His long, slender arms needed to be posable, and none of our existing LEGO joint elements fit with the pieces that fit the size and shape of the shoulders.
“We realised we needed a new element – et voilà – we came up with the piece you see on the shoulder now. Combine the new element with some creative construction inside the shoulders, and the entire weight of E.T.’s long arms can be supported in a wide range of motion.”
That piece in question is a 2x2 90 dergree macaroni part in medium nougat that connects the shoulders to the top of the arms and stops the limbs sagging under their own weight. What the instruction manual doesn’t explain is that swapping the shoulder and elbow pieces arounds opens up even more display poses, allowing the set to fully convey all the magic of Spielberg’s creation.
“E.T. really isn’t that flexible. He’s kind of a potato with arms, right?” said LEGO Icons designer David Guedes in a recent roundtable interview with LEGO fan media. “The nice thing you can do here is there are different angles for his shoulders and elbows, and you could switch them to out to have more dynamic arm poses.
“So you could make him like this, if he wants to dance, or if he has his hands up, whatever it is, you could change his arms, although he’d have to be rebuilt a little bit for that.”
“We wanted to scale [E.T.] down to kind of make it a little bit more feasible in terms of posing,” added LEGO Icons design manager Jordan David Scott, “because those arms would be really heavy.
“We simply don’t have joints that would support the length of his arms. We can support some things, but his arms are almost the full length of his body. So they become very heavy and I think this smaller scale lets you put a lot of focus onto the details. You get that really nice sense of sculpture, like Gizmo and some of the other brick-built creatures we’ve done.”
21370 E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial will be released on August 1 priced at £119.99 in the UK, $139.99 in the US and €129.99 in Europe, and you can find out all about the LEGO Icons build in our full review here.
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