Producer Pharrell Williams has unveiled the Over the Moon Lego set, including a gold-hued spacecraft and Lego's widest range of customisable minifigure skin tones.
Scheduled to be released on 20 September, Over the Moon is a set of three space-themed toys designed by Williams and Danish toymaker Lego, finished in the brand's trademark plastic bricks. The set includes a streamlined black space shuttle with a drum-lacquered gold windscreen canopy.
"It was very important to Pharrell that the spaceship was grounded in reality as he said there was nothing cooler than the fact that humankind had actually made it to the moon," Lego model designer George Gilliatt told Dezeen.
"So the aesthetic of the shuttle is based on a lot of real spacecraft, but with some twists, such as the colour scheme," he added.
The second component is a detachable jet stream made of a cluster of multicoloured bricks, which can be mounted onto the back of the shuttle to help players imagine a dramatic takeoff for their toys.
"The jet stream's four coloured stripes are made from fairly standard Lego elements, so I'm very excited to see builders create new versions – swapping out just one of the colours can create a distinctly new look for it!" said Gilliatt.
The set's third component is a pair of Lego minifigures dressed as astronauts with two space helmets, designed to represent Williams and his wife, fashion designer Helen Lasichanh.
Over the Moon offers 51 customisable minifigure heads – 30 of which were specifically designed for the set – in seven different skin tones; Lego's widest range to date.
"What became very apparent within the ideation stages of design between our team and Pharrell was the importance of representation, and ensuring that there was a unique customisable experience for builders when playing with this particular Lego set," reflected Gilliatt.
"Growing up, I was obsessed with space and the infinite possibilities it represents," said Williams, who was appointed as creative director of menswear at Louis Vuitton last year.
"With my Over the Moon set, I want everyone to feel seen and empowered to imagine their own stories. The spaceship is blasting off, and you're in the pilot seat," he added.
Gilliatt described working with Williams as "a truly unique experience".
"There are lots of aspects that made this project very different to anything we've ever done before," said the model designer.
"If we were designing a typical Lego set of a spaceship, we would usually put all of the bricks included into making just the spaceship, whereas in this set only around a third of the bricks were used for that, while the rest were used to construct the jet stream," he continued.
"I think having this part of the set really makes it stand out from any other Lego product that has existed before!"
The announcement of Over the Moon follows news of director Morgan Neville's upcoming film Piece by Piece. The movie is a biopic of Williams's life told by the animation of Lego bricks, which will be released in the United States on 11 October.
The European Space Agency recently created its own version of a Lego brick, 3D-printed from meteorite dust, as part of the organisation's exploration into how to construct buildings in space.
Previously, the toymaker added five diverse characters to its collection of Lego Friends figures, with a range of skin tones, physical disabilities and neurodiverse psychological conditions.
The photography is courtesy of The Lego Group.
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