Godzilla has spent 70 years destroying cities. Now you can spend several days building him.
LEGO has unveiled its first official Godzilla set: a 5,363-piece, 70-centimeter-tall recreation of Legendary’s Monsterverse version of the King of the Monsters. It is also the largest LEGO Ideas model the company has ever released.
But the best part of the story is who designed it first.
More Than Two Years To Reach 10,000 Votes
The original Godzilla came from New York-based fan designer Matthew Esposito, known as MattE720 on LEGO Ideas.
Esposito submitted his creation through LEGO’s crowdsourcing platform and spent more than two years gathering the 10,000 supporters required to get it in front of the LEGO Ideas Review Board. Once approved, LEGO’s design team took the concept and developed it into the finished commercial set.
The final version is considerably more ambitious than the original proposal.
Godzilla has articulated shoulders, elbows, wrists, fingers, legs, head and tail, along with textured skin and enormous translucent dorsal fins. Builders can also swap the tongue for a huge Heat Ray element, recreating the familiar upward blast pose.
A normal LEGO minifigure barely reaches his ankle. Which feels correct.
LEGO Ideas Is Basically Fan-Powered Product Development
The Godzilla set is another reminder of what makes LEGO Ideas such an interesting platform.
LEGO does not just ask fans which existing product they want next. It lets them design the product, prove there is demand for it and build the community around it before LEGO ever commits to production.
We have seen the same model create official sets for Snoopy, Sonic and countless other cultural properties. Godzilla simply takes the system to a new scale.
The set launches November 27 for $449.99, available on LEGO.com, timed around Godzilla Day, Black Friday and the release of Godzilla Minus Zero. LEGO is also putting Esposito directly into the launch, alongside the designers who helped turn his original model into the finished product.
That feels important.
Because LEGO could easily take the idea, polish it and let the corporate product replace the fan who started it.
Instead, the origin story becomes part of the value.
A fan built the Godzilla he wanted.
10,000 other fans said they wanted it too.
LEGO just made it enormous.
Also Read:
