Latest news about Lego animal moulds

[Accio Lego]

2 hours ago, Lyichir said:

Lego molds definitely can be stored for several years without being used, so long as they're not completely worn out from use (which is when they're typically destroyed).

That said, taking an out of production mold out of storage and putting it back into production comes with its own logistical costs in addition to the costs of production and maintaining replacement inventory. And refabricating a worn out mold has costs similar to introducing a brand-new one.

The goat's mold IIRC was a case where the original mold was damaged and could not be reused (needing to be refabricated).

Yeah, I’m not sure where people got the idea that the goat mold was originally deliberately destroyed from lack of use, but I distinctly remember reading an interview with a designer who stated that they’d gone to pull the mold from storage to use and found it damaged. 
 

Honestly, I doubt unique, out of use molds take up much space comparatively in the grand scheme of things, and I imagine the threshold for destroying them would have more to do with when they no longer maintain progressed system standards instead of some arbitrary time period. 
 

There are plenty of other reasons for animals to go a long time between appearances. The toucan, for instance, is triple molded and therefore expensive to produce and will only come back when there’s a specific need for it in a set. 

[williejm]

20 minutes ago, Accio Lego said:

There are plenty of other reasons for animals to go a long time between appearances. The toucan, for instance, is triple molded and therefore expensive to produce and will only come back when there’s a specific need for it in a set. 

That the toucan didn’t show up in any Encanto sets probably proves it won’t, ever. 

[Accio Lego]

1 hour ago, williejm said:

That the toucan didn’t show up in any Encanto sets probably proves it won’t, ever. 

The Encanto sets were minidoll based – the toucan was never going to show up in them the same way the capybara introduced in them will never show up in a City set. It’s not a reflection on how willing lego would be to use the toucan in a Minifigure system set. 

[RichardGoring]

DiuckBricks has a pretty in-depth video on the five year 'rule' for mould storage.

 

[rebelpilot]

12 hours ago, Lyichir said:

Lego molds definitely can be stored for several years without being used......

That said, taking an out of production mold out of storage and putting it back into production comes with its own logistical costs.....

Absolutely. 

The point I was trying to make in the first part of my post was not the economies of storing moulds but theorising Lego could treat new CMF parts (which is what the mouse and flamingo are) differently because they sort of pay for themselves in the short term. Whether it's a decision to create a new part or retire it from their inventory.   

[Roebuck]

5 hours ago, RichardGoring said:

DiuckBricks has a pretty in-depth video on the five year 'rule' for mould storage.

Yes, and that makes sense when parts disappear as well, up to 5 years old parts show up again without much issue in a new set, after that it seems much harder. That video was a eyeopener to me and it suddenly made sense why the goat mould was destroyed.
 

6 minutes ago, rebelpilot said:

Absolutely. 

The point I was trying to make in the first part of my post was not the economies of storing moulds but theorising Lego could treat new CMF parts (which is what the mouse and flamingo are) differently because they sort of pay for themselves in the short term. Whether it's a decision to create a new part or retire it from their inventory.   

 It believe the CMF parts are special and are made on a different factory (in China?). If they want a CMF part in a set later they need to make a new mould in another factory for it. Since they already have made the mould once it cost less money to make a copy of it than something from scratch. However probably more than another part already in production and some parts they do not find a use for outside the CMF   Take this with a pinch of salt, I think I have read it somewhere, but do not have a source to show you.

[rebelpilot]

12 hours ago, Accio Lego said:

Yeah, I’m not sure where people got the idea that the goat mold was originally deliberately destroyed from lack of use, but I distinctly remember reading an interview with a designer who stated that they’d gone to pull the mold from storage to use and found it damaged. 

I think that's because, from my memory, the first time the goat mould was addressed publicly by a Lego representative was around the time of the release of the 21325 Medieval Blacksmith. Back in 2021 when it was revealed AFOLs being AFOLs were like "where's the goat?", LAN members asked the designers during a press event and designer Austin Carlson said:  

Quote

We all know the goat is coveted, because of how quick it ran and how limited it was,” Austin explained. “The problem was that, with all the moulds that we have in the company, some of them have to be given up so we can make way for the new moulds. And [we had] such a big drought of not having any place to use a goat, so we’d lost the mould for that.

That was interpreted different ways. Some interpreted it as since it hadn't been used in 10 years since Mill Village Raid, Lego destroyed the mould after several years of no use and some interpreted it as it was literally lost while in storage.  

The answer is true in keeping with their policy for unused moulds, even if it wasn't accurate in the case of the goat. It was later clarified that it wasn't destroyed from lack of use but found to be damaged. But people still remember the destroyed or lost line. Fortunately, they brought back the goat and we don't have to keep hearing about it 

edit: my memory failed me, I got it backwards. The first time Lego addressed the goat was during the release of 75936 T. Rex Rampage in 2019, designer Mark Stafford said they wanted to include the goat but found the mould was damaged. I thought I better add an edit before I'm corrected. But I think people still remember the Medieval Blacksmith explanation, they really wanted it to include some goats.

6 hours ago, RichardGoring said:

DiuckBricks has a pretty in-depth video on the five year 'rule' for mould storage.

I don't want to watch a 15 minute video so I'll go one better:

Quote

Below an excerpt from the great book The Secret Life of LEGO® Bricks by Daniel Konstanski:

Today, element coaches lead a yearly parts catalogue review effort. Thanks to the digital EBT database, they can tell exactly how many products a given part has been included with in recent years. Design teams each select an element ambassador from their ranks to join this review effort and make their case for parts that should be preserved for one reason or another. An element that may not currently be in use could be working its way through the approval process as a key piece in new products. Their argument must be robust, however. This team ‘polices’ the element library, keeping it trim and agile.
When an element does not make the cut, it is marked as retired and its mould is destroyed. This practice stems from a study that was conducted during the initial reduction in elements and which yielded surprising results. The LEGO Group found that for most moulds the cost of remaking them was less expensive than five years of storage. That finding became part of the calculus during yearly evaluations. If a strong case can’t be made for an element in the next five years, retirement is more economical than storing its mould.

Like I said on the previous page I think 5 years is a good rule of thumb but I don't think it's strictly adhered to or there's some leeway. But I'll accept it as Lego's official line. 

Edited March 4 by rebelpilot

[rebelpilot]

12 minutes ago, Roebuck said:

It believe the CMF parts are special and are made on a different factory (in China?).

That was the case that they were only produced in China. But circa 2019 was when CMF parts began being produced in Lego factories globally. 

 

[RichardGoring]

22 minutes ago, rebelpilot said:

I don't want to watch a 15 minute video so I'll go one better:

Ah yes, that is one better. The video references that book and this part as a core source.

[rebelpilot]

1 minute ago, RichardGoring said:

Ah yes, that is one better. The video references that book and this part as a core source.

That's on me, I didn't check. Props to the video for sourcing its info. 

[Roebuck]

On 3/4/2026 at 7:48 AM, rebelpilot said:

Below an excerpt from the great book The Secret Life of LEGO® Bricks by Daniel Konstanski:

Today, element coaches lead a yearly parts catalogue review effort. Thanks to the digital EBT database, they can tell exactly how many products a given part has been included with in recent years. Design teams each select an element ambassador from their ranks to join this review effort and make their case for parts that should be preserved for one reason or another. An element that may not currently be in use could be working its way through the approval process as a key piece in new products. Their argument must be robust, however. This team ‘polices’ the element library, keeping it trim and agile.
When an element does not make the cut, it is marked as retired and its mould is destroyed. This practice stems from a study that was conducted during the initial reduction in elements and which yielded surprising results. The LEGO Group found that for most moulds the cost of remaking them was less expensive than five years of storage. That finding became part of the calculus during yearly evaluations. If a strong case can’t be made for an element in the next five years, retirement is more economical than storing its mould.

Thank you, perfect when someone have a good source to back their claims
I still think the wording of the goat mould was damaged means that it was destroyed because they could not find a use for it in a set the next 5 years.. No wonder when they closed down the castle theme and had not any farm sets in City etc..
 

23 hours ago, rebelpilot said:

That was the case that they were only produced in China. But circa 2019 was when CMF parts began being produced in Lego factories globally. 

OK, so both the mouse and flamingo are probably made in China then, if they where made today they would probably showed up in BAM or a set 

[RichardGoring]

On 3/4/2026 at 7:22 AM, rebelpilot said:

That's on me, I didn't check. Props to the video for sourcing its info. 

Oh, no criticism, just a confirmation that it seems to be a reliable source and that a quote extract is better than a long video. I usually hate just posting a link without some kind of thought/extract from it to provide information, but there was a lot in it, even just referencing the book.

[Lion King]

I wonder if Lego used budget for both CMF and Icons to resurrect a goat by making a “new” mold?

[Roebuck]

14 hours ago, Lion King said:

I wonder if Lego used budget for both CMF and Icons to resurrect a goat by making a “new” mold?

Pretty sure they used the CMF budget since the Icons set had not the budget to do it themself. Icons MTS was a very low budget set compared to the high budget set that leaked of it a year before

[williejm]

3 hours ago, Roebuck said:

Pretty sure they used the CMF budget since the Icons set had not the budget to do it themself. Icons MTS was a very low budget set compared to the high budget set that leaked of it a year before

I recently stumbled on the leaked image of the that set. It featured a veritable ark full of animals. 😩

[Roebuck]

19 hours ago, williejm said:

I recently stumbled on the leaked image of the that set. It featured a veritable ark full of animals. 😩

Yes it had the potential to become the G.O.A.T. set when it came to animals and Lego cut the budget big time and gave us one recoloured goat instead. I was shocked for months, the set is decent, but could have been so much more and ended up selling below expectation and retired early 

[williejm]

6 hours ago, Roebuck said:

Yes it had the potential to become the G.O.A.T. set when it came to animals and Lego cut the budget big time and gave us one recoloured goat instead. I was shocked for months, the set is decent, but could have been so much more and ended up selling below expectation and retired early 

It was a weird step imho. Even just a few recolours of existing farm animals would have made so much difference. 

[hikouki]

15 hours ago, Roebuck said:

Yes it had the potential to become the G.O.A.T. set when it came to animals and Lego cut the budget big time and gave us one recoloured goat instead. I was shocked for months, the set is decent, but could have been so much more and ended up selling below expectation and retired early 

 

9 hours ago, williejm said:

It was a weird step imho. Even just a few recolours of existing farm animals would have made so much difference. 

Wonder if Lego learned their lesson or they're going to just blame all the nitpicking AFOLs... for being picky. 

[Accio Lego]

Some leaked sketch (clearly traced) images have surfaced of summer Harry Potter sets. 
 

The Knockturn Alley Shops set is confirmed to include Ron Weasley’s dog as part of the anniversary patronuses gimmick. The leak shows said dog as having ears much less pointed than the shepherd puppy and a distinctly upright tail that doesn’t match any preexisting mold, but does fit the fact that Ron’s patronus is specifically supposed to be a Russel Terrier. It’s not conclusive but it does seem worth getting optimistic about. 
 

The other leaked sketch is of the East Wing – the patronus isn’t confirmed as of yet, but the leak do seem to feature a new flying phoenix mold for Fawkes. 

[Roebuck]

6 hours ago, Accio Lego said:

Some leaked sketch (clearly traced) images have surfaced of summer Harry Potter sets. 

Apparently they are made from prelim pictures of the sets so they could change, but would be surprised if we do not get a single new animal out of the patronus gimmick. Hopefully they will include them in the sets in the coming years also.. HP has a lot of budget and are not afraid to use it on new animal moulds after all 

[Lion King]

A flying phoenix sounds cool to me!

Anyways, it looks like there will be a new Icons set coming up in September. The rumor says it would be “Haunted House”. I’m excepted about it. However, I dobut it would offer us some newly recolored animals as we ahve seen numerous Anyang like rat, owl, frog, bat, and spider, bolting else. Recolored are okay but nothing else. We will see what animal that set would offer us. 

[williejm]

9 minutes ago, Lion King said:

A flying phoenix sounds cool to me!

Anyways, it looks like there will be a new Icons set coming up in September. The rumor says it would be “Haunted House”. I’m excepted about it. However, I dobut it would offer us some newly recolored animals as we ahve seen numerous Anyang like rat, owl, frog, bat, and spider, bolting else. Recolored are okay but nothing else. We will see what animal that set would offer us. 

I do like the existing phoenix, though it’s limited use to me. I suppose it *might* pass for a hoatzin with a little bit of artistic licence … 

As aye I would welcome another dog mould, though I do think it’s high time we started getting some generic mongrels 

[Accio Lego]

The Ideas Tintin Rocket has leaked and includes Snowy, although due to him wearing a little doggy space suit I don’t think his mold has any other potential uses. 

[williejm]

6 hours ago, Accio Lego said:

The Ideas Tintin Rocket has leaked and includes Snowy, although due to him wearing a little doggy space suit I don’t think his mold has any other potential uses. 

Quite unusual (though I get it, given the rocket) for a licensed animal to appear first in such an elaborate mould & in costume. I did wonder if the head might separate as in Scooby, and the DC super pet dogs 

[Lion King]

I spotted and prayed five pigeons off PAB so I could replace doves in Modualr City with. Still no Arctic fox.