LEGO Ideas 21338 A-Frame Cabin offers clue for the future of minifigures

LEGO Ideas 21338 A-Frame Cabin could offer insight into the LEGO Group’s plans for minifigures in future sets.

We all know the standard set-up for minifigures in sets: in larger sets like 21338 A-Frame Cabin, there’s usually one minifigure per bag and the instructions suggest what head, legs, and torso combination to build. While there’s always been the freedom to combine these elements as you please, 21338 and other recent sets suggest that the LEGO Group is moving toward a customisable future for minifigures.

Another recent LEGO Ideas release, 21337 Table Football, includes fully customisable minfigures, with 44 different heads and 43 different hairpieces to make up the 22 minifigures. This may have at first seemed to be a localised feature, but the box images of 21338 A-Frame Cabin suggests a more widespread shift.

The eagle-eyed among you will notice that the same faces, such as the one with green-rimmed glasses, feature in multiple box images, but are matched with different torsos and hairpieces. Similarly, the moustachioed head is paired with both the short brown hair and the longer, lighter hair. What’s more, in the description of the set on LEGO.com, the minifigures are described as ‘customisable’.

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This suggests that the LEGO Group is actively encouraging builders to use the minifigure elements to create characters of their choosing. Coming just a few months after the reveal of the LEGO Friends rebrand, seeking to ‘break gender stereotypes’, having more versatility around minifigures means LEGO fans will be encouraged to build minifigures that suit their own preferences, rather than prescribed patterns. It’s something we’ve always been able to do, but it’s exciting to see the LEGO Group make that more clear in its set descriptions and packaging.

21338 A-Frame Cabin launches on February 1 for VIP members, and February 4 for everyone else, for £159.99 / $179.99 / €179.99.

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Rachael Davies
Rachael Davies
I write about all the very best fandoms – and that means LEGO, of course. Spending so much time looking at and talking about LEGO sets is dangerous for my bank balance, but the LEGO shelves are thriving. You win some, you lose some.

Rachael Davies

I write about all the very best fandoms – and that means LEGO, of course. Spending so much time looking at and talking about LEGO sets is dangerous for my bank balance, but the LEGO shelves are thriving. You win some, you lose some.

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