How LEGO Designed The Simpsons Krusty Burger Set

To larn much astir the acceptable and its creation, we interviewed its designer. Ann Healy is simply a 39-year-old Senior Model Designer who's worked with the LEGO Group for the past six years. Here, lightly edited for clarity, are her thoughts connected creating LEGO The Simpsons: Krusty Burger, the archetypal caller LEGO Simpsons acceptable successful astir a decade.

What different LEGO sets person you had a manus successful designing implicit the past six years?

Healy: I worked for 3 years connected the LEGO Friends line. A fewer years ago, I got the accidental to enactment connected a Disney favourite of mine: The Sanderson Sisters’ Cottage acceptable from Hocus Pocus. That task took years successful the making to travel to market, and I’m rather arrogant of it.

More recently, I person been moving connected the LEGO Icons team. From past year’s products, I designed the McLaren MP4/4 & Ayrton Senna acceptable and the Poinsettia LEGO Botanicals set.

What drove the determination to revive the Simpsons marque aft specified a agelong hiatus?

Healy: We saw that adjacent aft a 10-year agelong since a caller Simpsons set, determination was inactive a batch of emotion for The Simpsons amongst LEGO fans. Our marketplace probe showed that determination is immense marque loyalty for The Simpsons, appealing to radical globally. Designing the Krusty Burger successful LEGO ceramic signifier serves arsenic a earthy continuation of our Simpsons enactment and gives america the accidental to marque new, never-before-seen LEGO minifigures.

Coincidentally, the archetypal Simpsons House and Kwik-E-Mart LEGO sets were immoderate of the past sets I purchased earlier I knew I would beryllium coming to enactment astatine The LEGO Group. In my archetypal week moving here, I recovered an aboriginal prototype of the Krusty Burger acceptable connected a support successful our office. For context, LEGO designers often physique successful their escaped time, moving towards builds that they anticipation volition 1 time go sets. It gave maine anticipation that someday, I mightiness get the accidental to enactment connected thing similar that.

Five years later, to my surprise, our Head of Marketing pulled that aforesaid prototype disconnected the support and said it was clip to revisit The Simpsons! I volunteered close distant arsenic a lifelong instrumentality of the Simpsons. I couldn’t judge my luck!

Describe the process of designing and gathering this acceptable arsenic champion you can. How galore times did you person to physique the full exemplary successful the people of finalizing it?

Healy: I started with refining and updating the aged prototype, figuring retired the wide layout and processing a building-instruction flow. I worked digitally first, past built the exemplary physically. From there, I would spell backmost and distant betwixt integer and physical, seeing if the exemplary would enactment with existent bricks. We person plan squad check-ins wherever I showed advancement connected the exemplary and got suggestions from our Creative Lead and the different exemplary designers.

I had respective check-ins with the IP partner, wherever I would amusement them the latest updates and they could springiness feedback connected the exemplary and mini figures. I besides had interior reappraisal meetings with our Model Governance and Building Experience teams, wherever we physique the model, reappraisal each operation step, measure the play acquisition and trial the spot of the model.

I did not support way of each clip I rebuilt the model, but I would estimation astatine slightest 20 times. The past clip I built the Krusty Burger acceptable was erstwhile the archetypal accumulation boxes arrived from the factory. I built it 1 past clip for prime assurance!

Krusty Burger isn't a afloat realized determination successful the amusement successful the aforesaid mode that Moe's Tavern is, oregon the Kwik-E Mart is, oregon the Simpsons’ location is. Which TV episodes did you usage to representation retired the Krusty Burger and find however it's acceptable up?

Healy: Disney was a large spouse successful sending america notation images and layouts erstwhile available. Also, I watched arsenic galore episodes of The Simpsons arsenic possible, truthful I could construe the TV animation into a real, physical, artifact playset.

Season 20, Episode 21, “Coming to Homerica,” is the occurrence we utilized the astir successful reference, due to the fact that it features the Mother Nature Burger that we notation respective times successful this LEGO set. The “Ribwich” from Season 14, Episode 12, “I'm Spelling arsenic Fast arsenic I Can,” is besides featured.

Other referenced episodes of enactment include:

• Season 6, Episode 15, “Homie the Clown” – Homer performs astatine a Krusty Burger
• Season 12, Episode 13, “Day of the Jackanapes” – Bart and Sideshow Bob spell to the Krusty Burger.
• Season 10, Episode 1, Lard of the Dance” – Homer tries to merchantability grease from the restaurant.
• Season 7, Episode 15, “Bart the Fink” – Features the IRS Burger takeover.
• Season 19, Episode 1, “He Loves to Fly and He D'ohs” – Homer hides successful the Krusty Zone shot pit.
• Season 15, Episode 10, “Diatribe of a Mad Housewife” – Shows the Krusty Burger thrust thru sign.
• Season 21, Episode 4, "Treehouse of Horror XX" – Features the Krusty Burger successful “Don't Have a Cow, Mankind.”

What's your favourite heavy chopped Easter Egg successful the build?

Healy: Above the Krusty Burger drive-thru window, determination is simply a room show screen, showing that idiosyncratic has placed an bid for 700 burgers. This is simply a notation to the Season 5 occurrence “Boy-Scoutz 'n the Hood,” successful which Krusty has unwisely opened a Krusty Burger lipid rig successful the mediate of the sea.

What was the astir challenging facet of designing this build? How were you capable to flooded it?

Healy: The astir rewarding situation of designing this acceptable was gathering the Krusty Burger Sign with LEGO bricks. The IP spouse paid a batch of attraction to the proportions of Krusty’s look wrong the sign, giving america notation worldly and tips connected however to champion seizure his likeness. We adjacent got hand-drawn doodles of the Krusty the Clown from them! One of my model-designer colleagues utilized to enactment arsenic an illustrator and utilized his skills to seizure Krusty’s features successful brick-form adjacent much accurately.

In addition, it was challenging to get the dense Krusty Burger motion to basal up and stay unchangeable connected a azygous axle. Our Element Lead connected the plan task suggested we usage a caller constituent she was developing, an axle sleeve, to summation the value the rod could clasp upright. This caller constituent did the trick.

Is this a one-off revival of the Simpsons brand? Or is this the opening of a longer partnership, wherever we tin expect to spot much LEGO Simpsons themed sets successful the adjacent future?

Healy: I cannot speculate connected aboriginal products, per the LEGO Group’s and our partners' policies. Nonetheless, arsenic a immense Simpsons instrumentality myself, I americium hopeful that fans person a affirmative effect to this set!

LEGO The Simpsons: Krusty Burger, Set #10352, retails for $209.99, and it is composed of 1635 pieces. You tin purchase it connected June 4 for the wide public, oregon starting connected June 1 for LEGO Insiders. You tin motion up for LEGO Insiders for escaped here. And enactment tuned! We volition beryllium building, photographing, and reviewing LEGO Krusty Burger aboriginal this month,

Kevin Wong is simply a contributing freelancer for IGN, specializing successful LEGO. He's besides been published successful Complex, Engadget, Gamespot, Kotaku, and more. Follow him connected Twitter astatine @kevinjameswong.

Originally posted:

Jun 1, 2025 2:30 pm