The Lego Ideas program is designed to give people a chance to create and submit possible set ideas, sometimes inspired by famous IP. Back in May 2020, an Animal Crossing: New Horizons Nook’s Cranny design was gathering the necessary votes to be possibly be considered as a project and entered the “in review” phase. Now, an interview with Simon Dudley, the person behind the Lego Animal Crossing set, is on the official site talking about the build.
While much of the interview went over Lego builds and the Lego Idea concept in general, a few got into how Dudley brought Nook’s Cranny to life. This is an over 1,000 brick set, which was first built in Lego Digital Designer and Stud.io. It took a month for Dudley to build the concept, which involved custom Photoshop stickers.
When asked about the build and any challenges that stemmed from bringing Timmy and Tommy’s shop to life, Dudley told the Lego Ideas Blog:
I went through a lot of changes as the game works like a [Doctor Who] TARDIS, so I had to take the most iconic parts from the insides and try to cram them into a smaller space, i think this was the hardest part really.
There have been no updates on if the Lego Animal Crossing set will be turned into an actual product people can buy. As noted on the official product page, by passing 10,000 community votes, it did get into the “in review” stage. The September 2020 Lego Review, which involves a Lego Review Board team looking at how feasible a project will be and if rights could be acquired. If it passes that phase, then it will enter Development.
In the meantime, the current Lego and Nintendo project is Lego Super Mario. In addition to the first run of sets, a second collection will appear in January 2021.
Animal Crossing: New Horizons is available for the Nintendo Switch.
