After officially revealing its next LEGO Ideas set, LEGO has released a designer video for the LEGO Ideas International Space Station (21321), giving us a glimpse at the creative process behind this set. This brick-built version of the ISS was brought to life by LEGO Designer Corvin Stichert and LEGO Ideas Design Manager Sam Johnson. In this designer video, both of them talked about their passion for space exploration and the challenges that they hurdled in designing this set.
Watch this.
The brainchild of LEGO fan designer Christoph Ruge (aka XCLD over at LEGO Ideas), this set is actually a scaled-down version of his initial product idea that was submitted in the LEGO Ideas platform. Eventually, the LEGO ISS was approved to be a microscale model, while maintaining all the significant details of the original space station. To ensure that the set is a faithful rendition of the original, the design team of Sam and Corvin even consulted NASA engineers and scientists. They even managed to create a sort of modular system in building the LEGO Ideas ISS, with its removable solar panels. Speaking of panels, these portions of the build are pretty impressive. Their size, despite being made up of mostly printed tile pieces (which is very welcomed), and held together by plates and Technic axle pieces, adds a certain dimension that makes the LEGO Ideas ISS stand out as a grand display set. Needless to say, it will look great especially if besides the even more imposing LEGO Ideas NASA Apollo Saturn V (21309).
The LEGO Ideas International Space Station (21321) is slated to be released beginning February, with an exclusive ISS Patch for LEGO VIPs who will purchase the set. It comes in at 864 pieces and will retail for $69.99.
