Interview with Henrik Andersen, designer of 77904 Nebulon-B Frigate
Posted by CapnRex101,
77904 Nebulon-B Frigate has elicited notable interest so I approached its designer, Henrik Andersen, to discuss this impressive creation, which should soon be available from Amazon.
I also took this opportunity to ask about 75288 AT-AT which Henrik designed and how it differs from one of Henrik's earlier creations, 4483 AT-AT from 2003.
Brickset: How does designing products with limited distribution, such as 77904 Nebulon-B Frigate, differ from creating standard retail sets?
Henrik: In general, it does not differ from a normal product. However, the age rating is usually slightly higher than most retail products so we are able to make the model more complex. There can be limitations when it comes to new elements or colours of elements though.
Do you believe that smaller display models, like 77904 Nebulon-B Frigate, could become successful retail sets?
I think display models are becoming increasingly popular and this could be the perfect platform to release vehicles which we have not been able to create in LEGO before, for various reasons.
Did the selection of the Nebulon-B Frigate as the exclusive San Diego Comic-Con product relate to its appearance in the recent Ultimate Collector Series poll?
The first sketch model was constructed before the poll and this is a model that we have looked into many times. However, we have never had an opportunity to actually release it before.
Why do you think the Nebulon-B has not appeared in any official LEGO sets until now?
The Nebulon-B is an extremely difficult vessel to recreate as a toy, since we are working with gravity and the nature of the subject is not very gravity-friendly! The long, slim spine would be very hard to integrate with a play model. This scale works nicely though.
Did you consider constructing 77904 Nebulon-B Frigate to scale with 75252 Imperial Star Destroyer?
That was not really considered because the scale was established by the elements which were available. When we conducted the recent Ultimate Collector Series poll, we inevitably gave significant thought to how a larger model might work. Whether that will ever be produced, I cannot comment on.
The narrow fuselage beam which joins the command and propulsion modules is probably the most recognisable aspect of the Nebulon-B Frigate. Did you encounter any challenges when designing this narrow section?
Yes, a big YES! My first choice was a long Technic beam which is obviously very sturdy but I had to swap that for several layers of plates because of the proportions of the vehicle. Also, several changes were necessary to improve the flow of the building experience. The sideways construction techniques are an integral part of the structure and provide support for the slender beam.
77904 Nebulon-B Frigate includes no exclusive parts. Was this decision taken because none were required or because people might wish to gather their own parts to build the model, without actually owning the set?
The inclusion of new or exclusive elements is not always required and in this case we did not think it was necessary. The model was in a small scale and existing parts were adequate. Not requiring any new parts is always a nice bonus.
Certain photographs of the Nebulon-B Frigate filming models include colourful modules towards the prow. Did you consider including more external colours when developing this product?
When we are designing large spaceships as models, particularly at relatively small scales, it usually works better to maintain a simple colour scheme. The model can look strange with too many colours. Just like I did on the Star Destroyer, I feel that it looks more 'realistic' when most is kept in grey.
LEGO Star Wars sets sometimes contain concealed pink pieces, including 77904 Nebulon-B Frigate. Can you tell us why this is?
This is a funny one! It all started as a joke surrounding whether we could incorporate pink bricks into a Star Wars model. Subsequently, my wife Danielle, a Quality Engineer at LEGO, picked up on the idea and promised 'Pink Brick Cake' to the Star Wars project team whenever we installed a pink brick in our creations!
75288 AT-AT is another set which you designed for the 2020 range. What improvements did you introduce for 75288 AT-AT when compared with past models?
I wanted this creation to be the sturdiest LEGO AT-AT model that we could build, and I wanted to include as many functions and details as possible, hopefully improving upon earlier designs. However, the most important thing which I wanted to achieve with this rendition was accommodating two AT-AT Drivers and General Veers inside the cockpit.
You also designed 4483 AT-AT which became available during 2003. Has the design process changed between 2003 and today? If so, how has the process changed?
When I designed the original AT-AT the process around model development was very similar to the process today. However, more people are involved in the creation of each model these days, so this time I could concentrate wholly on the actual AT-AT and its functions while our graphics team developed the decorations and stickers. The original LEGO AT-AT contains the only minifigure decoration I have ever designed, the AT-AT Driver from 2003.
Do you find it easier to design something completely new which has not appeared In LEGO before or improve upon previous models?
I wouldn’t say that it is easier, but sometimes more exciting to start from scratch. When I start a new design I certainly look at what we have done before and sometimes integrate consistent design features if they were successful. I do enjoy inventing new methods of constructing existing models or functions though. An example could be how I designed 75204 Sandspeeder.
Many thanks for speaking with us!
You can read our review of 77904 Nebulon-B Frigate here and another interview with Henrik Andersen, focused upon 75252 Imperial Star Destroyer here.
Henrik's entire product portfolio can be viewed here.
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22 comments on this article
Thank you both for taking time for an amazing interview. It is so cool to read what the designers have to say to Lego fans.
so much information.
Great interview, thank you Henrik and CapnRex101! The pink brick cake is very funny, its great that you guys have fun with it.
Great work with the Nebulon-B Frigate and AT-ATs.
The info about the pink bricks and the cakes was really interesting!
Am I the only one who wants his shirt?
This is a very informative interview, thank you to Henrik Andersen for answering the questions and CapnRex101 for posing them and Brickset for posting them! I'm surprised to hear that set designers used to have to design minifigure decorations too. Those are such completely different skillsets that it must be a great relief to the designers with long tenure, like Henrik Anderson, not to have to worry about the graphic designs anymore. This year's AT-AT looks brilliant and has a superb feature set, with its high seating capacity, excellent access to seating, accessible storage for the speeder bike and the big blaster, and the hatch and winch for Luke ... I'm sure it's no coincidence that the two AT-ATs with the best proportions and best angles were both designed by the same person. Too bad it's one of the many high-dollar items that are a bit out of reach right now.
Interesting to hear why the Lego set lacks the colorful modular pods the filming model has, and its nice to see the film model photographed. I agree with the choice, while the pods are colorful they are so weathered and beat up on the filming model they might as well look gray unless you had near perfect lighting to illuminate the greens and oranges below the weathering coat.
Loved this interview! Thank you for sharing, and thanks to Henrik!
I love the pink bricks part! I like it when usual colors get used for what end up being hidden parts; I think it's kind of neat.
This chap designed the UCS B Wing which is probably my favourite UCS set, although it didn’t stay on sale for long.
Thanks for the insightful interview.
Would have been nice if LEGO sold the parts kit necessary for this set at the same price as the exclusive Comic Con set retails at amazon in the US. If there are no exclusive parts in this set, then it shouldn't have been any problem.
Great interview! The pink brick cakes are certainly interesting!
Here is another fun fact about Henrik which I learnt last year: he designed the 1x1 'cheese' slope! That must be among the most prolific elements which appears in sets today.
@CapnRex101 said:
"Here is another fun fact about Henrik which I learnt last year: he designed the 1x1 'cheese' slope! That must be among the most prolific elements which appears in sets today."
Blessed are the cheese slope makers.
Scrolling through his bricklist, he also designed the only two sets to feature minifigure scale elephants (barring this year's minidoll elephants), I wonder if he designed the specialty parts that went into those as well... I am constantly surprised at the clever uses people find for the trunk/tail piece!
I learned from his talk at this year's virtual BrickCon event that Henrik is a prolific designer of both elements and sets, and both of these interviews were enlightening.
Thank you for the designer interviews, they really are something special! This one was especially fun!
I wonder if in the next interview we can get a recipe for a pink brick cake. Then we could bake one whenever we assemble a Star Wars set with a pink brick in it!
With so much talk and interest in this set will it be coming to the UK now?
Shame on you for not probing into why this one and other convention exclusives were not considered for a wider release. Are you scared to lose your partnership with LEGO?
@Brikkyy13 said:
"Shame on you for not probing into why this one and other convention exclusives were not considered for a wider release. Are you scared to lose your partnership with LEGO?"
Not at all, there are two obvious reasons not to ask that question.
Firstly, decisions concerning the availability and distribution of products fall outside the purview of set designers in the vast majority of cases. I suppose I could have asked for Henrik's opinion on the availability of convention exclusives but that would seem rather self-defeating. If not for convention exclusives, this set would not exist.
However, the more important reason is that we already know that the convention exclusives could not realistically have been distributed around the world. There may be legal restrictions preventing this, not to mention the impracticality of evenly distributing something which has been produced in such limited numbers. I would estimate that there are approximately 3000 of each set, in which case each country where LEGO.com exists would probably be assigned extremely small quantities.
Of course, that may provoke questions regarding LEGO producing more when it became apparent that the conventions would be cancelled. Once again, that would be impractical because the production run is complete. There could definitely be elements available with 77904 Nebulon-B Frigate that are not in production any longer. The packaging would present a similar issue. I suppose it might be possible for LEGO to release the same model as a standard retail set in the future, but that would require additional preparation time.
It's probably more productive to let Lego know we'd love to see a re-release as an adult collector set than to cry foul play about the limited distribution.
He is also most famous for the 2000 UCS 7191 X-wing fighter and Tie inceptor 7181.