LEGO makes too many awesome things for our wallets to handle! One of their newest projects is a series of pop culture-themed art posters that you can build yourself. (Can you hear that in the distance? That’s me, fanboying. Loudly.)
The new LEGO Art lineup has four incredible sets, including Andy Warhol’s Marilyn Monroe, portraits of the legendary band The Beatles, different versions of the Iron Man suit, and a set of Sith portraits from Star Wars. Scroll down and have a look, dear Pandas. Just don’t give in to the Dark Side of the Force. Another cool thing is that each of these sets comes with its own unique soundtrack for you to listen to while you’re putting your poster together. Now that’s a whole new level of immersion.
Bored Panda spoke about the mosaic posters with Samuel Johnson, the design lead for the LEGO Art range. Scroll down for our full in-depth interview with him!
LEGO released its new Art range with 4 pop culture-inspired sets. They're mosaic posters that you can build yourself!
Image credits: LEGO
There are posters for fans of Iron Man, too, not just fans of Star Wars
Image credits: LEGO
And let's not forget about Andy Warhol's print of Marilyn Monroe
Image credits: LEGO
“For decades, LEGO has been experts in recreating icons of the world that we live in, in three dimensions. We have seen many adults (including some celebrities) building with LEGO bricks to relax and escape from the stress of daily life. LEGO Art embraces this mindset!” Samuel told Bored Panda.
“LEGO Art is aimed at both adults that are familiar with the LEGO universe, but also those that may never have considered purchasing a LEGO set before. The 2-Dimensional building platform is easy to master and escape in. With a new style of building instruction and included ‘soundtrack’ to engage and immerse yourself in your favorite passions. Each set includes a soundtrack and options to build alternate mosaics.”
Here's LEGO's video about Warhol's print
Image credits: LEGO_Group
If you love The Beatles, you can get mosaics of the legendary foursome and turn you home into a miniature art gallery
Image credits: LEGO
Don't they look great together?
Image credits: LEGO
Samuel explained that the 4 sets each focus on a different passion. “We chose both Star Wars and MARVEL’s Iron Man as they are familiar to LEGO and our fans. But where someone that really enjoys Iron Man (for example) may not have been interested in owning a playset-type product, this is an entirely new offering for them,” he said.
“LEGO does not have a huge foothold within the art passion, so we spent a long time deciding which art/artist would be the best fit for the launch year of LEGO Art. Andy Warhol’s Marilyn Monroe Diptych really lends itself well to the LEGO color palette and interchangeability of colors within the same design.”
Here's how Darth Maul looks like in a home environment
Image credits: LEGO
Each LEGO Art set costs around 120 dollars
Image credits: LEGO
Star Wars fans rejoice! Just be careful not to give in to the Dark Side!
Image credits: LEGO
Image credits: LEGO
Image credits: LEGO
He continued: “Lastly, our focus on music + LEGO continues to grow as we have adapted extremely recognizable photos of John, Paul, George and Ringo into unique artworks for our Beatles set that shows these influential artists in the prime of their careers inspiring future musicians the world over.”
Bored Panda wanted to know whether we can expect the LEGO Art lineup to expand with new posters in the new future. Samuel told us that they’ve already got a lot of ideas on the table for new sets. “Stay tuned,” he said.
Image credits: LEGO
Each set comes with its own unique 90-minute-long soundtrack that you can listen to while building your poster
Image credits: LEGO
Image credits: LEGO
Image credits: LEGO
Image credits: LEGO
Image credits: LEGO
Image credits: LEGO
Building instructions for each poster have a QR code that lets you access the soundtrack. Each one is around 90-minutes-long.
If you just can’t wait for the LEGO Art sets, you’ll need to be patient a while longer. They’re launching on August 1 for international retailers and September 1 in the United States. Of course, you can always preorder them if you want to call ‘dibs’ on ‘em.
Each one of the sets costs around 120 dollars, so it’s a more serious investment than getting a paper poster for your room. On the other hand, it’ll last longer and you’re likely to pay that much (and possibly more) for high-quality posters made by well-known artists.
If you’re a Harry Potter fan, sadly, there aren’t any LEGO Art sets out for you (yet) but you can always get John Lennon’s poster and squint a bit (“You’re a Yellow Submarine, Harry!”).
Building each poster might take you a while. Each LEGO Art set has around 3.5k pieces (and the vast majority of them are studs). So be careful not to vacuum any up while you’re tidying up your home in the middle of your creative process.
Let us know which of these posters you love the most, dear Pandas. Meanwhile, I’ll be waiting for my next paycheck and building tiny versions of the posters with the LEGO pieces I have at home.
People loved the idea of LEGO posters that you can build brick by brick and stud by stud
While some people were a bit more skeptical
Samuel then went into more detail about each set:
- “Andy Warhol’s Marilyn Monroe is a 4-in-1 set that gives you the option to build one of four designs. Just imagine having 4 of the set and being able to display them all like a gallery. Stunning! One portrait can be built at a time, but all pieces are included to build any one of them.”
- “The Beatles is a 4-in-1 set that gives you the option to build one of four designs. Choose to build your favorite of the ‘Fab Four’ or why not take it apart and try a different one. One portrait can be built at a time, but all pieces are included to build any one of them.”
- “MARVEL’s Iron Man is a 3-in-1 set that gives you the option to build one of three designs. Choose the legendary armor that Tony Star used to battle Thanos or the powerful “Hulkbuster” suit, or why not go back to the beginning of the story with the Mark III armor?! One portrait can be built at a time, but all pieces are included to build any one of them. As an added bonus, with the purchase of 3 of this particular set, it is possible to build an ultimate-sized mosaic depicting Iron Man in his iconic repulsor blast pose.”
- “Join us with the Star Wars: The Sith set as we explore the legendary stories of Darth Maul, Kylo Ren, and the timeless Dark Lord of the Sith: Darth Vader! LEGO really IS the pat to the dark side! One portrait can be built at a time, but all pieces are included to build any one of them. As an added bonus, with the purchase of 3 of this particular set, it is possible to build an ultimate-sized mosaic depicting Lord Vader himself wielding his powerful lightsaber.”
Samuel added: “Each set includes 9 brand new canvas’ elements that you can use to build the mosaic, all of the dots you need to create your chosen image, a picture frame built from LEGO bricks, and 2 wall hanging elements that allow you to easily hang it on the wall. (All you need is a screw in the wall—not supplied).”
He continued: “Additionally, each set has its own exclusive soundtrack, and these soundtracks provide fascinating anecdotes from those closest to the stories of Andy Warhol, the Beatles or the creators of Iron Man, and Star Wars. The soundtrack dives deep into the inspiration behind each design to help adults fully immerse themselves in the building experience and unwind while they explore their love of music, art, or film in a new way. Build your model, enjoy the soundtrack, admire your work and it’s ready to hang!”