LEGO discusses the future of its sets for adults in 2022 and beyond

The LEGO Group’s Head of Product Gen Cruz has revealed where the company’s 18+ sets are heading in 2022 and beyond.

For the past 18 months, the LEGO Group has made a concentrated effort to bring more adult fans into the fold by retiring its ‘Creator Expert’ brand – a tag that’s apparently more alienating than it is inviting – and replacing it with a portfolio-wide 18+ label, which has also applied to sets across Star Wars, Marvel, Ideas and more.

And in doing so, it’s genuinely expanded the remit of what might be possible with LEGO bricks, delivering buildable flowers, footwear and more across 2021. Speaking toBrick Fanatics, LEGO for Adults Head of Product Gen Cruz says that was exactly the idea behind the change of direction.

“It’s really limitless creative possibilities – that’s what the brick stands for,” Gen says. “I think just focusing on what the audience needs and what they want – [so] the diversity of passion points that adults have – has allowed us to really expand our playground, and really experiment with what could be the next fun thing.

“It’s so exciting what the future holds, because it’s my job to think about, ‘Okay, what’s next?’ And yeah, there’s so much energy and inspiration for looking to the future in terms of the many different things that we can still offer for a lot of both kids and adults.”

More specifically, Gen says we can expect a continuation of the LEGO for Adults product lines we’ve become familiar with over the past 12 to 18 months, including the Botanical Collection, football stadiums, and even through particular sets like 21329 Fender Stratocaster and 71374 Nintendo Entertainment System.

All those sets fall under the ‘passion points’ the LEGO Group’s adult team is currently focusing on, and will carry on pursuing in 2022 and beyond.

“We’re still in line with the strategy that we [implemented] last year, so we’ll still very much be looking into newer passion areas, like art and deco, gaming, music and sports,” Gen explains. “Those will still be the areas of investigation, while of course delivering on what I would call the core [areas], where we have entertainment, IPs, vehicles, and the LEGO passion points; the models that are really meant for the fans.

“We’ll continue developing those while exploring a little bit more on those other passion areas that I’ve just mentioned. So there’s quite a lot to look forward to!”

Missing from that list, of course, is the mention of any brand new passion points, which suggests the LEGO Group may feel its current line-up is pretty comprehensive. And, to be fair, ‘art and deco’ could really encompass almost anything through a LEGO lens, so it doesn’t mean that we’reonlygoing to get more of the same in 2022.

Still, if the LEGO Group does choose to stay the course, it makes predicting what we’re going to get a little easier. Click here to check out our best guesses for what the Creator Expert theme will bring us next year…

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Chris WharfeLEGO, LEGO, LEGO

I like to think of myself as a journalist first, LEGO fan second, but we all know that’s not really the case. Journalism does run through my veins, though, like some kind of weird literary blood – the sort that will no doubt one day lead to a stress-induced heart malfunction. It’s like smoking, only worse. Thankfully, I get to write about LEGO until then. You can follow me on Twitter at @brfa_chris.

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