With the recent leaks of two massive buildable figures, E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial (21370) and Boba Fett (75455), it is officially time for LEGO to go all-in on this premium display format. While the community can be tough on large-scale character builds, a definitive consensus has emerged after just a few days of these images circulating: both figures look absolutely spectacular.
In the case of Boba Fett, the real selling points are the sleek, layered armor geometry, the perfectly weathered fabric cape, and the dense, brick-built blaster. Meanwhile, E.T. achieves a different kind of triumph, completely nailing the organic, signature “ugliness” of the alien’s face alongside his thick, distinct stomach shape, which even leaves a bit of interior space for people to customize as they please.
Getting away from the blocky feel
Before these two sets dropped, almost all of LEGO’s highly accurate and detailed large-scale figures avoided organic human shapes entirely. Instead, the design team consistently stayed in a safe zone populated by Star Wars droids and Transformers. We’ve seen this strategy yield incredible, best-selling models like C-3PO (75398), R2-D2 (75308), and BD-1 (75335), alongside massive robotic crossover icons like Optimus Prime (10302) and Bumblebee (10338).
Mechanically, these models are inherently easier for designers to construct out of LEGO. Droids and alien robots are supposed to be blocky and mechanical. Humanoid figures, on the other hand, usually struggle in LEGO form. If you look at the Reddit comment sections under the new leaks, a portion of the community openly admitted they traditionally disliked humanoid sets because they often looked fragile, awkward, or fell straight into the uncanny valley.
The infamous Jyn Erso buildable figure (75119) comes to mind straight away as the ultimate poster child for this design era. A set so notoriously awkward that it became a legendary peg-warmer, with leftover stock famously lingering on some European store shelves for years after its release. Bear in mind, however, that most of these older humanoid attempts were severely held back by lower budgets and highly limited piece counts, making the premium scale of the new leaks a completely different ballgame.
The new E.T. and Boba Fett builds completely shatter that old standard. They prove that by stepping up to a larger, high-density piece count, LEGO can replicate complex muscular proportions, fabric clothing, and organic curves. The only real downside to this evolution is the price tag. Premium, display-grade humanoid builds require complex internal frameworks, meaning fans will have to get used to steeper, collector-tier prices.
Lord of The Rings next
Since LEGO now has the verified engineering capability to make premium humanoid figures work, they should immediately lean into Lord of the Rings.
The Middle-earth theme is currently firing on all cylinders, and the community has proven time and again that they are fully willing to drop major money on massive premium sets like Barad-dûr. This creates the absolute perfect market opportunity to introduce high-end, 16-inch display figures of Sauron and The Witch-king of Angmar.
High-end sculpture companies like Prime 1 Studio have already demonstrated just how visually striking and popular these specific villains are as museum-quality centerpieces. Fortunately for LEGO, both characters would actually be much easier to execute than a standard human trooper.
Just like the new Boba Fett, Sauron and the Witch-king don’t require face prints or organic skin tones. They are entirely defined by heavy armor, sharp angles, and flowing drapery. In fact, LEGO has already done half the design work for the Dark Lord. With the recent release of Sauron’s Helmet (11373), the structural geometry and spiky tooth-and-wedge layout for his look are completely perfected. To bring a full-scale Sauron display figure to life, the design team would simply need to scale down that existing helmet blueprint and then attach it to a dense gunmetal-grey armored body.
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