The designer secrets lurking behind the LEGO® Ideas Disney Tim Burton’s The Nightmare Before Christmas set

The LEGO® Ideas Disney Tim Burton’s The Nightmare Before Christmas set (21351) brings the delightfully dark world of the Pumpkin King to life. But how do you transform a spindly, dark, crooked aesthetic into a display-worthy LEGO construction? We caught up with the Creative Design team behind this masterpiece to find out exactly how…

Creative challenges

With intricate detail and complex layers, each part of this set makes unique architectural references to the movie – something that was important for our designers to encapsulate.

“We’ve stayed as faithful as possible to Simon Scott’s original LEGO® Ideas design by focusing on three key scenes from the film; the Town Hall, Jack’s house and Spiral Hill,” says Model Designer Laura Perron.

Complete with a haunting graveyard, pumpkins and a glowing moon, the set’s Spiral Hill takes LEGO building to a new level in an 81-step process from the framework to the black brick outer shell. And the Town Hall doesn’t shy away from clever details, either. From the ridged front bricks, spindly pillars and oozing fountain of green studs to Jack’s crooked house, complete with twisted chimney.

“The film famously doesn’t show any 90-degree angles, so capturing the aesthetic in a way that worked with the LEGO grid system was a challenge!” says Laura. “With Spiral Hill, for example, we needed it to look accurate, but also be stable and fun to build.”

Captivating color

Besides architectural design, our creators had a big decision regarding the color scheme; “We wanted to keep the gray and black from the original submission while adding some pops of color. From the burnt-orange tree and pumpkin-scattered graveyard to the yellow glow from Jack’s window and colorful Christmas decorations, the colors really bring the set to life,” says Model Designer César Carvalhosa Soares.

Clever characters

The set features eight creepy characters, including Jack Skellington, Sally and The Mayor (with interchangeable faces).

“We had a high standard set by previous Jack and Sally minifigures. With Lock, Shock and Barrel, we wanted to keep them as close to the movie as possible, without making them too scary for kids,” says Chris.

“We researched the characters’ expressions – like surprised, grumpy and sneaky – settling on a mischievous main face and surprised secondary face.

“Our lead Graphic Designer, Djordje Djordjevic, came up with the idea of adding candy graphics to Santa’s torso – a fun detail only revealed by removing his big white beard!”

When it came to designing The Mayor, the team observed that his shape matched up nicely with many LEGO elements already in existence. “We gave it a go, brick-building him from elements we already had, then adding cool prints to bring him to life,” says César.

But one character took minifigure design above and beyond: “Zero is very ethereal in the movie – he’s a sheet in the wind – so figuring out how to ‘brickify’ him was tricky,” says Element Designer Ruth Kelly.

“I needed to pause him in a way that made him look like he was in motion, but could still attach to a LEGO stud.

“It took me several attempts to get to the final version, starting with a very rough prototype that no one usually gets to see!”

“I gradually refined Zero’s shape, checking that colleagues were happy with his position and scale, and if he was even going to be possible to produce! I also took in feedback from Disney, such as a request to position Zero’s ears a little higher, so they appeared to be caught in the wind. Finally, we added the graphics.

“Fun little fact for you – his nose started out as a little ball, but we pushed for it to be a pumpkin instead, which feels much more apt!”

Crafty clues

“We included lots of little ‘story bites’ that reference the movie,” says Laura. “Such as labels for Sally’s potent plants, like deadly nightshade and witch hazel. A tiny Christmas tree, cookie, magnifying glass and the little care basket Sally sends Jack.”

“There’s also a bowl, spoon and green bottle – a nod to Sally’s poisonous cuisine, plus a bunch of presents that Jack shows in his Town Hall meeting,” adds César.

“There’s even a tribute to our fan designer, Simon Scott, in the letters ‘S.I.’, scribbled on the schematic diagram sticker,” adds Chris.

Well, this ‘Christmas’ sounds fun. We can’t wait to get our claws on this set!