Why are Disney LEGO faces so creepy?

A brand new LEGO Disney set is about to hit shelves, and it once again raises the age-old question: why are Disney LEGO faces so creepy?

43242 Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs’ Cottage is the biggest LEGO Disney set dropping on March 1 (exclusively for LEGO Insiders, ahead of a wide March 4 release), and it packs in 10 different characters. Among those are all seven of the eponymous dwarfs, complete with new beards and face prints for Happy, Dopey, Sneezy and the rest of the gang.

And those face prints are definitely… a choice. Transforming any hyper-stylised character into a LEGO minifigure is no small feat, and the LEGO Group typically swings one way or the other: a mega-simplified take that hews closely to traditional LEGO DNA, or dedicated moulds that more accurately capture the character but lose a little of the LEGO charm.

The dwarfs in 43242 fall somewhere in the middle, and the results involve a trip down to a little place called the uncanny valley. We’ve explored the potential reasons for this approach – and the specifics of what it takes to translate a character into a LEGO minifigure, with context from a couple of artists along the way – in our latest YouTube video.

We also explain exactly why the particular face prints for these minifigures is so problematic within the wider context of 43242 Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs’ Cottage, so make sure to stick around to the end for that. Just don’t blame us if you can never look at these characters the same way again.

43242 Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs’ Cottage is available from March 1 (for LEGO Insiders) for £189.99 / $219.99 / €219.99. Check out our detailed review of the LEGO Disney set here.

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