LEGO Vending Machine once vended more than just minifigures

The team behind LEGO Ideas 21358 Minifigure Vending Machine has revealed that there was discussion of the set vending more than just minifigures.

21358 Minifigure Vending Machine does exactly what it says in the name: vends minifigures. However, that wasn’t the only option that was on the table. LEGO Ideas Design Manager Jordan Scott told Brick Fanatics and other fan media in a recent roundtable that there was a lot of discussion among the team about how to translate the original idea from fan designer Rob Vangansewinkel into reality.

“It was a big discussion point,” explained Jordan. “We started brainstorming in the team about what types of minifigures we could have. Whether they should all be minifigures was also a talking point. We actually originally looked into doing small builds, unique accessories, or just keep it all minifigures? The general decision was to keep it all minifigures, because it was a lot easier to tell the story.”

Of course, deciding to do minifigures is just the beginning. There was then plenty of discussion about which classic themes to cover and how the minifigures should look. In the end, much of the set’s allotment for new parts and colour changes went to making sure the minifigures ticked as many boxes as possible.

“In terms of our ability to make colour changes and new decorations, that primarily went to the minifigures,” said Jordan. “The thinking was that they should all have a unique print as far as possible. That’s a lot of complexity, so that’s also why we duplicated some of them.

“Knowing that fans want to collect these, it also made sense to include two of the same one, but then we changed up the faces to make them male and female, because we saw that was quite popular with the Dungeons & Dragons minifigures, so it made sense to do that again.”

While those are the decisions that the LEGO Group took, there’s no rule saying that you can’t switch out what’s inside your balls once you’ve built your own copy of 21358 Minifigure Vending Machine. However, you might come up against some of the same obstacles that the LEGO Ideas team did.

“We had to make sure that everything fit in the capsules,” said Jordan. “That also was a restriction, because I’ve seen people chatting about why the Griffins have those swords and not the big ones. It’s because they fit in the capsule; the rule was that all the pieces for that minifigure had to fit inside.”

Aside from that, the world is your oyster. To build 21358 Minifigure Vending Machine for yourself and fill it with whatever you can, LEGO Insiders can pick it up from June 1, retailing for £149.99 / $179.99 / €169.99, and everyone else from June 4.

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