Filipino Creative Designs Gremlins-Inspired Lego Set

by Jim Bea Sampaga

Designed by Filipino creative Ivan Guerrero, the first Gremlins Lego set is up for voting on the Lego Ideas website to have the chance to be manufactured, distributed, and sold by the toy company Lego.

Lego Ideas is a community-based website that gives designers a platform to showcase their designs and have a chance to be made into an actual Lego set.

Community members can vote on the Gremlins-inspired set and once it reaches 10,000 votes, Lego will review the design for production. If given the approval, Guerrero will be working closely with Lego to make this dream set come true.

Based on the 1984 horror-comedy classic, Gremlins is about Billy’s mysterious pet that his father gave him as a Christmas present. There are three strict rules that Billy should follow to take care of the pet and if these rules are not followed, the pet will release a horde of monsters.

As a huge Gremlins fan, Guerrero chose the movie as his inspiration for the Lego set idea because of the movie’s influence on pop culture.

“There is something about those old Amblin movies, like E.T., Back To The Future and Gremlins that tickled the imagination of a generation of children around the world,” he said.

“In the Philippines, we even joke that “Baka dumami ka” (you might multiply) if you get wet in the rain. That humorous expression came about because of Gremlins.”

He also shared that took him several weeks to complete his design of the Lego set.

“While I was building, I had two Gremlins movies playing on a continuous loop, so that I could capture the same irreverent humor of the films in my set,” he said.

Guerrero, who is also a filmmaker, designed the first-ever Sesame Street Lego set. He submitted his first design in 2017 to Lego Ideas and his set hit the shelves on November 2020. His second set design, the USS Cardboard, has been approved for production in April this year. Lego has yet to announce the release date for the USS Cardboard.

As a true pop culture fan, he makes sure to put little key details in his designs to connect with the show’s fans in the most authentic way possible.

“Whenever I build a set, I spend a considerable amount of time researching a film or TV show and the stories behind the scenes. I try to put in as many easter eggs and hidden references in the set as I can so that it becomes a very fulfilling project,” Guerrero explained.

With last month’s Halloween celebration and the upcoming Christmas season, Gremlins is a classic pop culture film that encompasses both holidays.

Guerrero shared that he felt the holiday magic when he showed Gremlins to his entire Filipino family during one Christmas Eve.

“Not a single one could take their eyes off the film. That’s part of the holiday magic of Gremlins that I wanted to capture in my Lego set,” he said. “I wanted to create a set that would contrast the cheerful holidays with the dark humor of the little monsters.”

The Gremlins set design currently has 7,440 supporters on the Lego Ideas website. Guerrero is humbly asking the Filipino American community to support and vote for his design on the community website.

“Filipinos have a natural creativity and talent that is really well-suited to building with LEGO bricks. In fact, there are a couple of us Filipino designers who have already had successful projects on Lego Ideas,” he shared.

“I’d like to invite fellow Filipinos to try out building with Lego and vote for other Filipino-made projects, like my Gremlins set on the Lego Ideas website.”

For those who would like to vote for the Gremlins Lego set on Lego Ideas, visit ideas.lego.com/projects/7de7fc40-4d3e-43e9-b137-7c276866f6dd.