'We don't overuse the toilet': LEGO modular building designer talks toilet humour

The LEGO Group has a long history of including toilet-related humour in sets, and 11371 Shopping Street is no exception.

Everyone loves a good toilet joke, and LEGO fans are no exception. Over the years, the LEGO Group has dropped a few stinkers (if you'll excuse the pun) into sets, ranging from a NINJAGO waste controversy to a deep cut that relies on fossil knowledge in 10326 Natural History Museum.

Looking ahead to the next modular building, 11371 Shopping Street's designer Hoang Huy Dang wanted to include his own twist on that style of LEGO humour – to the delight of the collection's creator, Jamie Berard.

"The fact that he takes a beautiful building and corrupts it with a water leak [is wonderful]," said Jamie in a video compilation of interviews with the people who worked on the LEGO Icons set. "It's just reality. You could have the most beautiful place, and then there's always a problem. You just don't always see it."

If you want in on the joke before the set goes live on January 1, Hoang went on to explain how it's laid out throughout 11371 Shopping Street.

"On the backside, we have the plumber that got called in by our carpenter lady to fix the plumbing," explained Hoang. "You may see an interesting building technique there as he's trying to patch the pipe."

"But actually the real problem is underneath," the designer continued. "When you flip up a section of the floor, you will see a broken pipe – but nobody knows that. Little do they know, the pipe has got stolen by this guy over here, so he's causing trouble all over town."

'This guy' refers to the tiny rat, who Hoang says has a hidden home somewhere in the set for builders to discover.

This inclusion of some waste-based jokes isn't just a random story woven into the set. As Jamie goes on to point out, every bit of toilet humour is actually strategically planned by the LEGO Group.

"There are some things that adults love just as much as kids," explained Jamie. "Putting a toilet in a modular building is amazingly popular. The fans go crazy for it, almost as much as the kids, and it becomes one of their favourite features. It's something we like to use strategically. We don't want to overuse the toilet, but it is one of those things that we know people respond well to."

While many LEGO toilets in modular buildings get hidden away inside LEGO sets, as with 10312 Jazz Club as one example, the one in 11371 Shopping Street is far from subtle, taking pride of place in a well-windowed room.