The fan designer behind 21372 La Catrina has responded to seeing his 10K submission transformed into an upcoming LEGO Ideas set.
LEGO Ideas will be welcoming yet another fan-designed creation to its ranks next month, thanks to the imminent arrival of 21372 La Catrina. The 1,212-piece posable figure is based on a successful 10K submission from yop1172 (aka José Miguel Medina Pérez) and celebrates Día de los Muertos, the Mexican Day of the Dead.
Just how 21372 La Catrina came to be has been discussed in more detail by José in a recent LEGO Ideas blog, where the fan designer talked about the set’s origins emerging from a trip with his parents to Capula in Michoacán, Mexico, where he was inspired by the many clay Catrina sculptures at the location.
“At that moment, I asked myself how I could represent something so detailed using LEGO bricks,” said José. “From that structure, I decided to develop the full skeleton. At first, I wanted to make a full skeleton focused only on the anatomical side. Then, I remembered those Catrina sculptures, imagined the challenge of building the dress and thought about the cultural impact it could have.
“I tried placing pieces with simple SNOT techniques, but the result looked too blocky. In the end, I used small ball-joint pieces, which let me place the pieces in a more compact way. This helped me cover the inside of the model and, at the same time, create an effect similar to fabric folds.”
That attention to detail appears to have been successfully replicated by the LEGO Ideas team in the finished model, with 21372 La Catrina featuring brick-built marigolds and monarch butterflies, as well as printed sugar skull decorations on the figure’s hat and dress.
The result is a LEGO Ideas set that has received the seal of approval from José himself, even taking into account the build’s reduction in size and some significant changes having been made to the original model.
“I think all of the changes were necessary,” said José. “The LEGO team did a great job keeping the elements that made the model stand out. They even kept the monarch butterfly details and added LEGO marigold flowers!
"This project means a lot to me because it represents an icon of my culture. I also hope it can inspire other fans to keep building."
21372 La Catrina is due to launch on August 1, 2026 priced at £109.99 in the UK, $139.99 in the US and €119.99 in Europe, and the LEGO Ideas set can be pre-ordered right now.
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