Early preview and hands on of the LEGO 10331 Kingfisher Bird set with designer Sven Franic

January 12, 2024 | 2

When I was in Denmark for RLFM Days 2023 in September last year, we were given a very early look at the LEGO Kingfisher, which is set to be released on 1 February 2024.

We had a quick 5-minute presentation by set designer Sven Franic (he designed 10300 Back to the Future Time Machine and last year’s 10323 PAC-MAN Arcade) unveiling the LEGO Kingfisher, and talking briefly about some of the design considerations.

Here are some more photos to give you a better look at the LEGO Kingfisher ahead of its 1 February 2024 release, and some insights into the design process by Sven Franic!

Note: some of the text has been edited and simplified for readability.

According to Sven Franic, the impetus for the LEGO Kingfisher was that “we wanted to try first with a smaller bird. And there was this iconic pose that we wanted to recreate, so we landed on a Kingfisher.

Relative to the real bird, it’s slightly bigger but not too much.

Asked on whether this set was inspired or a collaboration with LEGO Ideas following the release of  21342 The Insect Collection, Sven Franic said that “LEGO Ideas does work closely with us (LEGO Icons team) but our main inspiration was actually the Botanicals. We were looking at how we could expand organic shapes and nature at a lower price point, without doing just flowers.”

On the choice of colour, Sven gave us a bit more insights into the colour selection:

“Colour was a big discussion. Of course, this bird is famous for its iridescence, so it looks different from every angle and then there’s differences between juvenile and adult birds as well as males and females.

We tried a lot of things – at the back, we went with Medium Azure, and the wings are actually a darker shade of blue. We chose dark blue, ideally if we had something in the middle, that would be perfect, but this shade does make it a good fit for male Kingfishers.”

Asked about what he enjoyed most about designing the LEGO Kingfisher, Sven remarked that he really enjoyed working on a smaller model.

“I could really take my time and do something that wasn’t a re-creation of something else. Well it is in a way, but it’s not like a re-creation of an object. For me that was really fun!”

10331 Kingfisher Bird will be available from 1 February 2024 onwards from LEGO.com

To get the latest LEGO news and LEGO Reviews straight in your inbox, subscribe via email, or you can also follow on Google News, or socials on Facebook, Instagram (@jayong28), Twitter or subscribe to the Jay’s Brick Blog Youtube channel.