Review: 21376 Orange Cat
Posted by Huw,
21349 Tuxedo Cat was launched two years ago to great acclaim among cat lovers, so it's perhaps not surprising that a recoloured version, 21376 Orange Cat or, as we'd call it in the UK, a ginger and white cat, is to be released next month.
Although it's essentially just a recoloured version of the black and white cat, some design improvements have been made.
Summary
21376 Orange Cat, 1,755 pieces.
£89.99 / $99.99 / €99.99 | 5.1p / 5.7c / 5.7c per piece.
Buy at LEGO.com »
Another purr-fect, almost life-sized, model of a moggy
- The perfect feline friend for your tuxedo
- Coat markings not as life-like as those on the tuxedo
- Arguably just a lazy recolour of the tuxedo
The set was provided for review by LEGO. All opinions expressed are those of the author.
Reference
Photo by Orange Ocean
The completed model
You may recall from my review of the black and white cat that I changed the facial markings and made the tip of the tail black to match my cat Tammy who sadly passed away just before the set was released, so the b/w model shown in the pictures below is not exactly as it's built out-of-the-box.
Nevertheless, you can see that the most obvious differences between the b/w one and the new set are that the black parts are now medium nougat and the tail is wrapped around the left-hand-side of the body.
Its facial markings are asymmetrical this time, but otherwise the patterns on its coat are the same. Ginger and white cats generally have more patches of white, and the ginger areas are often tabby, so the colouring does not look as realistic as on the b/w one, and while medium nougat was undoubtedly a better choice of colour than regular orange, it doesn't look quite right.
A few tweaks have been made here and there, including the use of pagoda roof corners on the side of the head, and its front and hind legs, to mimic fluffy tufts of fur.
As before, two different sets of eyes are included, green and orange this time, and they are of course interchangable with those in the b/w version.
The chin has been redesigned, the area behind the ears is slightly different, and the neck can't be rotated 360 degrees, but otherwise the head is much the same as the b/w one, and that's no bad thing because it's pretty much perfect anyway.
I think they look great together, and I'm sure they'll be the best of friends and won't fight!
Thankfully, the price of $99.99 / £89.99 / €99.99, remains the same as that of the tuxedo's, despite having a few more pieces and being released two years later, so no complaints there.
Overall, another lovely set for ailurophiles everywhere!
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31 comments on this article
The color looks a lot better than on the box, which is gonna cost them some sales, I'm sure.
Hey, wait a minute.
Nevermind whether or not the new cat is orange; the other one isn't even really wearing a tuxedo. What the hell, LEGO?
Next up: Schrodinger's Cat; when you buy the set, 50% chance that there's no cat inside!!!
Out of curiosity, the original designer gets a cut of the sales for their Ideas set. Do they still get a cut of the profits for this release or just from the Tuxedo Cat?
it's $20 bucks cheaper than the tuxedo cat and has more pieces, listed in Australia which is unusual but good to see
@burra said:
" it's $20 bucks cheaper than the tuxedo cat and has more pieces, listed in Australia which is unusual but good to see "
It'll probably change before it's released :-)
It reminds me of the Cinnamon flavor Pop Tarts, a watered down chocolate color :)
It looks similar to my cat so its now a set I want.
"Arguably just a lazy recolor of the tuxedo"—though to be fair, that applies to all recolored sets from the past few years. I don’t mind Lego doing this as long as the set’s quality remains the same. As a big cat lover, I’m really looking forward to getting this set.
@Kalhiki said:
"Out of curiosity, the original designer gets a cut of the sales for their Ideas set. Do they still get a cut of the profits for this release or just from the Tuxedo Cat? "
Huw reported on the press release comments that yes, the designer does.
Unpopular Opinion: I like this one better than the Tuxedo.
With the Tuxedo (I swear it was released last year... how!?) And recently the golden retriever being compared to it, this feels like some sort of punchline.
No tongue storage in it's back? How will it clean itself?
@ohrmazd said:
" @Kalhiki said:
"Out of curiosity, the original designer gets a cut of the sales for their Ideas set. Do they still get a cut of the profits for this release or just from the Tuxedo Cat? "
Huw reported on the press release comments that yes, the designer does."
Ah, thank you! I must've missed that, but it's good to hear the designer is being compensated.
I like this although it doesn't look like any of our 'real' cats - Tuxedo cat in place already and a Bricklinked recolour to make our smoky grey one; we just need Lego to make a Ragdoll version...
As we only seem to want Lego cats which match our real pets, I can see my partner wanting to get a real ginger cat first...
I don't understand how LEGO can just name it "orange cat" when it's obviously not orange at all.
Can we have a calico version next please LEGO?
Any version of a cat that doesn't puke, crap and leave hair everywhere is fine by me. That said I don't want either set.
Complete agree with the 'lazy recolour' assessment. They really should have tried to make it stripey.
Price is great considering inflation and lots more recolored parts.
It's a weird choice for a color. It doesn't really match what an actual orange cat looks like.
Hi @Huw now you have to create your Tiggy out of LEGO pieces
Once again Lego make something that is quite revolting look really cut... Worked well with 40788!
@OscarWRG said:
"Hi @Huw now you have to create your Tiggy out of LEGO pieces"
Yes, I've already been tasked with that :-)
While it would be nice to have multiple colours used to create a more tabby look, I reckon it would look terrible as it would show the shapes of the parts if done in the same style. It would need large numbers of small parts to approximate patterns in the fur.
I think there's nothing wrong with giving people another option, and they've actually made improvements - specifically the mouth.
My only complaint is that the orange makes the "unibrow" construction more pronounced than the black cat.
As a cat owner I’m not impressed by either. LEGO rejected two better versions in prior review stages but unfortunately release two of this inferior model.
I miss stripes and dots
Not the best reference image as there are definetly orange cats more like the one in the model. Not sure there'll be other recolours that aren't just solid colours as cat colouring/markings are always more unique than a dogs. Lego will have an easier time with a 'puppy' line going forward (and thats from a tux owning cat fan)
Not a bad set, but I'd have liked more white over the rest of the body, like in the reference photo, maybe rings around the tail. (Something about beggars and choosers, if wishes were fishes...)
@StudMuffin24 said:
"Next up: Schrodinger's Cat; when you buy the set, 50% chance that there's no cat inside!!!"
Reminds me recent reports of boxes containing pasta instead of Lego.
I'll be picking up one of these when I can. It can have a staring contest with my Tuxedo cat!