LEGO designer explains Floating Sea Otters' biggest changes

LEGO Ideas 21366 Floating Sea Otters has gone through various changes since it first gained popularity on the community platform.

We've already broken down all the major changes that 21366 Floating Sea Otters has gone through since it was first seen as Maximilian Lambrecht's fan design, but now we've got insights from LEGO Senior Model Designer Chris McVeigh. He took the set from Max's proposal to the polished final product that's hitting shelves on March 1 and talked LEGO Fan Media through every change he made during a recent media roundtable.

Face to face

The change you'll likely notice first is the change to the adult otter's face (as well as the addition of the adorable otter pup, of course), becoming much more realistic in 21366 Floating Sea Otters. The eyes are smaller, the nose pointier, and the overall effect is much closer to what sea otters look like in real life.

"When we took on this model, we loved how creative and expressive it was," said Chris. "We wanted to capture that, but we also felt that, in LEGO Ideas, we were doing less cartoony models, with 21349 Tuxedo Cat and 21362 Gizmo being more realistic. We thought that there might be a little overlap between Max's brilliant expression, and what you see coming out of Creator, so that led the decision [to change the style]."

Evolving from top to bottom

The base itself has also been adapted throughout the design process, leaning more into organic shapes, with overflowing sections of brick-built water trickling over the black edge. The size of the base has also changed, with less blue space around the otter when viewed from above, but more depth in the base itself – and that presented new challenges to Chris and the team.

"When we increased the size of the base, it started to look like the otter was in a tub," said Chris. "We wanted to make sure that the set felt like it was out in the wild, that it was out in the sea. Little contextual things, like the rocky outcropping and the seaweed, were really important.

"When we rounded the corners to give it a more organic shape, we found that it still felt like she's just in an ornate tub, so we looked for ways to break the frame, to make it feel more like it was a scene."

That's achieved with the overflowing sections of water, spilling over the curved edge of the base, rather than remaining contained inside the boundary

Scenery

Speaking of the scenery and natural additions, lots of careful thought went into what should surround the otter. Chris spent time researching the natural habitat of the animals, debating what would work well as an extra accessory to have in place for the otter.

"The shell was an early addition to the set," commented Chris. "We also talked about having a rock or because otters often have a favourite rock or pebble, but we wanted something that was a little bit more decodable in LEGO bricks, so we chose the shell. I did also consider things like a sea urchin, but the shell was one of the most obvious expressions to go with."

A helping hand

As noted above, Chris made changes to the size of the otter itself, which had knock-on effects throughout the design of 21366 Floating Sea Otters. One area that forced a change was in the style of the paws, while also incorporating features from the real-life animals as well.

"Out of the gate, we knew that we had to increase the size of the feet," explained Chris. "As part of my research, I looked at a lot of sea otters' feet, just to decide on the expression.

"Everything we do is an abstraction. We like to get as close as possible to accurate shaping and accurate colours but, at some point, we do have to abstract. There were conversations to be had about how we were going to extract the colours in the feet versus the actual fur on the otter itself. It was a natural process of enlarging the feet using a similar approach that Max did, and then very deliberately choosing how we would abstract the colours."

LEGO Ideas 21366 Floating Sea Otters is available to pre-order now ahead of its launch on March 1, retailing at £99.99 in the UK, $119.99 in the US, and €109.99 in Europe.

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