LEGO Marvel designers 'try to do more where they can'

A pair of LEGO Marvel designers have spoken on the topic of minifigures and budgets, and how it differs between sets made for kids and for adults.

LEGO Marvel 76354 S.H.I.E.L.D. Helicarrier features six new minifigures with plenty of fresh details to the theme, but not everything on the minifigures is printed. Coulson is lacking printing on the legs, Maria lacks printing on the legs, and the Winter Soldier's legs have a reused design.

A pair of designers who worked on the upcoming set were able to comment on the budget for 76354 S.H.I.E.L.D. Helicarrier and the process they go through in selecting where to spend the budget in an interview with MiniSuperHeroesToday.

"We do try to do more where we can," said Graphic Designer Mark Tranter. "When we do larger sets like this, or like 76300 Arkham Asylum, there's more budget where we can add more minifigures or more printing. We try where we can."

"It comes down to how many boxes we have in the packing place, honestly," Designer Mark Stafford added. "Every time we have to make a new piece, or change a colour, or print an element, we need another box off in the packing area. Those boxes are limited, like in your LEGO collection at home. You don't want to spend all your money on plastic boxes; you want to play with your toys, which is what we want to do."

The designer continued, diving deeper into the process and logistics that are taken into account behind the scenes, as well as why adult-aimed models tend to have more detailed minifigures, but sometimes fewer of them.

"If we print some legs, it might mean we don't print a torso, and that's a whole different character," Mark continued. "We could have Captain America and the Winter Soldier with torso printing in a set, or we could have just Captain America with both.

"When it comes to kids, this might be their first superhero set, so we'd rather give them more superheroes, even if they're not quite as detailed as we will try to get into the adult sets, where these adult fans probably already have all of the characters, so we'd like to give them enhanced versions of the characters where we can."

It's an interesting ethos, explaining why the likes of 76300 Arkham Asylum have more characters, but repeated prints, while sets such as 10327 Dune Atreides Royal Ornithopter have to take the opportunity to cover everything in one place for collectors.

LEGO Marvel 76354 S.H.I.E.L.D. Helicarrier and its six new minifigures will be released on June 1, 2026, for £329.99 / $399.99 / €369.99. Pre-orders are open now.

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