In terms of major toy companies with incredible crossover appeal, it’s hard to think of a more perfect example than LEGO. For nearly 75 years, LEGO has been one of the premier toy brands worldwide, and the continuing mainstream success of the brand has led to some incredible collaborations throughout the years as more and more former childhood fans become adult creators and builders — the self-described AFOL, or Adult Fans of LEGO. The LEGO brand is arguably the strongest it’s been in history, and the recent success of the Super Mario Bros.-themed LEGO sets raises the question of why The Legend of Zelda hasn’t received the same treatment.
Regardless of LEGO not announcing or revealing a crossover with The Legend of Zelda, it hasn’t stopped the company from partnering with Nintendo for other crossover sets, recently announcing an Animal Crossing collaboration set to arrive in 2024. At the same time, fan creators and crowd-sourcing have been a great source of potential sets combining the LEGO brand with Nintendo’s flagship action-adventure franchise, and the LEGO Ideas program continues to be a wellspring of potentially great sets that may one day release. Still, none of these sets have made it past the arduous approval process of the LEGO Ideas program, meaning fans of both LEGO and Zelda will continue to wait for the day when the two brands merge.
What is LEGO Ideas?
The LEGO Ideas program is a way for fan designers and creators to display their custom LEGO creations in hopes of making it through the approval process to become a retail building set. Since its launch, the LEGO Ideas program has been responsible for some incredible fan-favorite sets, and it’s also been a place where otherwise inaccessible IP have found their way into collaboration with the LEGO brand. Friends, The Office, Seinfeld, Sonic the Hedgehog, and more have all been successful LEGO Ideas sets receiving approval for production, and looking at the website reveals that’s just scratching the surface.
A potential LEGO Ideas set must first pass the crowd support stage before it becomes eligible for committee review and voting. During the crowd support stage, anyone can visit the LEGO Ideas page and register to be able to vote and show support for a product, and Ideas campaigns that cross 10,000 crowd votes enter the next phase of consideration. Eventually, the LEGO Ideas committee whittles down the successful campaigns to a selection of sets that they vote on, with usually only one or two making it to production throughout the year. Once a LEGO Ideas set makes it through the approval process, it enters mass production and becomes available in brick-and-mortar LEGO stores and retailers as well as online.
The History of LEGO Ideas Campaigns Featuring Zelda
As one might expect, The Legend of Zelda franchise is no stranger to the LEGO Ideas campaign process. Since the program’s beginnings back in 2008, hundreds of creators have submitted campaigns for sets with Legend of Zelda designs, and several of these have even been successful in crossing the 10,000 votes of support and making it to the final voting process involving the LEGO Ideas approval committee. The sets themselves range the entire run of the Zelda franchise, but the success of Breath of the Wild definitely helped contribute to a windfall of LEGO Ideas campaigns using the Switch launch title and best-selling Zelda game as the basis for their design.
Hyrule Castle, the Stables from Breath of the Wild, and figurines of Link or Zelda; each have had LEGO Ideas campaigns of varying success throughout the years. That said, the amount of these sets that have successfully made it to the final voting process is few and far between, with the majority of these campaigns failing to secure the necessary 10,000 votes to move to the next phase of consideration. And, unfortunately, not a single Legend of Zelda LEGO Ideas campaign has been successful in receiving committee support and entering production.
Why No Zelda LEGO Sets Have Been Approved
The easiest answer as to why The Legend of Zelda continues to elude having a successful LEGO Ideas campaign that enters actual production is that the IP is too expensive. Conversely, it could also be because Nintendo is notoriously protective of The Legend of Zelda IP whereas it’s traditionally been more open to product placements and collaborations involving Super Mario Bros. With the recent news that The Legend of Zelda will receive a live-action movie, as well as the success of the LEGO Super Mario Bros. collaboration, it may be that the LEGO Ideas campaigns continue to be unsuccessful because LEGO already has something official in the works.
Current Legend of Zelda LEGO Ideas Campaigns
There are currently four active LEGO Ideas campaigns featuring The Legend of Zelda, with all except one having more than 100 days left in their crowd support phase. Some of these are proving to be very popular among the LEGO Ideas community, with one of them already having almost 4000 votes of support. Whether or not any of these make it to the next phase of committee voting and then progress even further to final approval is unknown, but any fan of both LEGO and The Legend of Zelda can likely find something appealing in each of these potential sets.
LEGO Legend of Zelda (1986 – NES) Adventure Kit
The most successful current campaign on the LEGO Ideas site that involves The Legend of Zelda is a set taking inspiration from the original NES game, and it’s practically a dream come true for a longtime fan of the franchise. In addition to showcasing some of The Legend of Zelda‘s iconic map at a scale similar to the LEGO Architecture sets, the campaign also features a plethora of minifigures based on the enemies and NPCs throughout the 8-bit version of Hyrule. Additionally, the set includes a mock-up of the inventory screen, complete with a full Triforce gauge and all Heart Containers. With nearly 4000 votes and more than 100 days to go in its crowd support phase, fans might actually get to see this set become a reality.
The Legend of Zelda 3D Display
Going from the most successful LEGO Ideas Zelda set to the least successful, this set has just 13 days left in its crowd support phase and only 415 supporters, which is a shame given how appealing the idea is. LEGO has had several other bust-style sets do very well, and in terms of iconic 8-bit images that are a perfect fit for being built from LEGO its hard to think of a more perfect one than Link lifting the Triforce in victory. Thankfully, creators can continually resubmit ideas and try to get crowd sourcing for them multiple times, and it’s posisble that the 3D bust of Link might have another shot at being a successful LEGO Ideas campaign.
The Stone Talus (From The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild)
After several Breath of the Wild ideas failing to receive approval from the LEGO Ideas committe, it makes sense that fewer of them are currently in consideration. Still, one of the more successful current Ideas campaigns featuring The Legend of Zelda is the Stone Talus enemy from Breath of the Wild, one of the most iconic and memorable encounters from the game’s incredible tutorial section. This particular campaign is still very new, with 165 days left and almost 1500 votes of support.
The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time – The Great Deku Tree
Another newer campaign is that of one of the most iconic NPCs from across the Zelda franchise, the Great Deku Tree. This particular LEGO Ideas set bases his appearance off of Ocarina of Time‘s version of the tree, and the likeness is uncanny. Similar to the Stone Talus, the Great Deku Tree has more than 100 days left in its campaign and already has an impressive 1800 votes of support from the community.