PSA fish keepers: LEGO Tropical Aquarium takes some creative liberties
Those who keep real-life fish should be aware that the LEGO Tropical Aquarium takes some creative liberties with its tank setup.
Some LEGO sets are designed to be as authentic and true to their real-world inspirations as possible – while others are more creative interpretations of the source material. LEGO Icons 10366 Tropical Aquarium may have started out in the first camp, but – as explained by designer Sven Franic – quickly developed into the second.
“I don’t know anything about aquariums,” explained Sven. “When I started with this, I had to find someone in the company who did, which turned out to be César [Soars], who’s actually a bit of a fan of saltwater aquariums.
“I had to ask him questions: What do you mean you can’t put this eel and this fish together? Apparently, some species will eat each other!”
However, the LEGO design team didn’t get too bogged down in the technicalities of what fish work well together. In Sven’s mind, this was a chance to create an aquarium that wouldn’t work in real-world conditions, using the creative medium of LEGO.
“This is where we can really use the LEGO medium to create something that we can’t do in real life,” he said. “We’ve taken a lot of creative liberties and created some species that are more inspired by our imagination than real fish.”
For example, while some of the underwater creatures, like the corals and the crab, are fairly true to life, the striped brickfish is a LEGO-fied creation. After all, the impetus to create this set was not to create a lifelike tank, but rather to showcase what the LEGO Group could do with colour. To achieve that goal, Sven and the team didn’t need to stay within the bounds of reality, but could experiment as they pleased.
So if you’re looking at 10366 Tropical Aquarium and seeing flaws that wouldn’t work in a real-life tank – that’s almost intentional from the LEGO Group. In this case, the priority was given to creating a vibrant, colourful LEGO set, rather than depicting an authentically accurate aquarium.
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