Designer insight: Robert Heim
Posted by Huwbot,
Many LEGO set designers use our BrickLists feature to maintain a list of the sets they've worked on and often provide interesting insights about their involvement.
Once a week we publish an entry from one of their lists on the home page to increase awareness of this information and to encourage more designers to create them.
Robert Heim wrote this about their work on 21148 Minecraft Steve BigFig with Parrot:
I was pushing for a separate Minecraft line with big, buildable Minecraft characters for quite some time. The perfect mix of a display piece and an action figure, that could appeal to those, that are not into the Minifigure-based playsets. And finally they are here! When we got the go I was really happy. But then I got moved to City so I didn't had the chance to finish them. But my dear colleague Max took over and finished Steve, Alex and the Skeleton. He also added the smaller side characters and finished the element designs for the weapons/tool, that I started. Max is also responsible for the awesome new "T-plate"-element, that allows the BigFigs to be connectable to every LEGO plate.
- View all sets Robert Heim has worked on
- View all designer BrickLists.
If you're a LEGO designer and you'd like to create a list of sets you've worked on but don't know where to start, get in touch!
If you're a LEGO designer and you've already created a list you can opt in to having your notes included in this series of articles by editing the list and giving consent.
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11 comments on this article
Nice feature, but might be better named 'Set Insight', rather than 'Designer Insight'.
I'm sure that, judging by the comments, most people use it as a prompt for a fascinating look through a designer's entire BrickList rather than just 1 set. So it tends to be a bit of a disappointment when the same designer is featured 3 times, especially when there are around 90 different Designer BrickLists available.
Maybe the list of eligible picks could only re-open once all entries had had a go?
I did like this subtheme, though I only got a couple- the skeleton and the pig, I believe.
But yeah, they were a good size, big enough to feel like an action figure, but not too big and correspondingly inexpensive.
So that's where that part was designed for. Interesting.
It's day ten bazillion of them needing to produce those Mixels ball joints in more colours!
I know they like to keep them separate for ease of distinction but could they at least make the light bley ones in black?
@sjr60 said:
"Nice feature, but might be better named 'Set Insight', rather than 'Designer Insight'.
I'm sure that, judging by the comments, most people use it as a prompt for a fascinating look through a designer's entire BrickList rather than just 1 set. So it tends to be a bit of a disappointment when the same designer is featured 3 times, especially when there are around 90 different Designer BrickLists available.
Maybe the list of eligible picks could only re-open once all entries had had a go? "
The designers have to opt-in to be picked, that's why not many different ones have been picked.
@Murdoch17 said:
"The designers have to opt-in to be picked, that's why not many different ones have been picked."
Yes, I know... there are 90 that are viewable though. I presumed that those who didn't want to be highlighted would keep their BrickLists private and wouldn't be listed on the front page of a Designer Insight article? Dunno?
@FlyerBeast said:
"It's day ten bazillion of them needing to produce those Mixels ball joints in more colours!
I know they like to keep them separate for ease of distinction but could they at least make the light bley ones in black?"
And yellow, and red, and blue, and white, and black (all the original Lego colours - i.e. Legoland Flag). And for good measure, also in green. (apparently that would need a new mould for each of these colours - that's apparently why we don't see them).
Of all the bigfig sets, this is the one I don’t have. The Creeper one is amazing…so quiet before he falls off the shelf and…BOOM!
I'm still upset they never made a Zombie one of these to recreate the unused Giant enemy from the game files. It wouldn't be hard to combined parts from Steve and Baby Zombie to MoC one, but it's the principle that counts.
@FlyerBeast said:
"It's day ten bazillion of them needing to produce those Mixels ball joints in more colours!
I know they like to keep them separate for ease of distinction but could they at least make the light bley ones in black?"
Even as someone who also wants more colors, take it from a BIONICLE fan, sometimes it's not worth the risk. There are barely any lime green socket joints from '07 that haven't cracked or shattered. LEGO found colors that they know will remain stable for the Mixel joints and they're gonna keep using them, as disappointing as that is...
Heim is well regarded for a unique building technique found in a number of sets that hardcore followers call the ‘Heimlich Maneuver”
@sjr60 said:
" @Murdoch17 said:
"The designers have to opt-in to be picked, that's why not many different ones have been picked."
Yes, I know... there are 90 that are viewable though. I presumed that those who didn't want to be highlighted would keep their BrickLists private and wouldn't be listed on the front page of a Designer Insight article? Dunno?
"
I think part of the issue is that designers' Bricklists vary widely in terms of "completion". A few feature extensive notes about almost every set the designers have been involved in, but many of them feature just brief design credits (unsuited to a full article) and even many of the ones that do include writeups struggle to keep "up to date" with writeups on their latest sets (which is not meant as a dig at those designers, since this is very much something they have to do in their free time and not one of the actual responsibilities of their job).
I would presume that the designers who have opted in are some of those few who both include detailed notes and manage to add them to their lists fairly promptly.