Best of BrickNerd - Article originally published August 20, 2021.

A lot of the community is predominantly focussed on the plastic parts that LEGO produces, but there are also numerous cloth-based items. Sails for ships/wings for dragons, netting/string, minifigure capes/skirts are probably obvious, but there are many others. There is a whole range of Primo cloth items for babies (in fact, enough of those are creature-based for their own article!); clothing/household items in Scala, Belville and Duplo; and, today’s topic: plush/soft toy editions of creatures.

This is one of those areas on the edge of what is well-documented in the standard databases of BrickLink, Brickset and Brick Owl. It is much harder to know what exists and therefore what you are collecting/searching for. Added to that, information on the things you do find is more limited. In short, there are a lot of unknown unknowns. It is completely different from collecting Star Wars sets for example, where the parameters are well-known and the information abundant. It might not be easy, or affordable, to collect them all; but at least you know what you’re looking for. Plushies are not a good area for completists!

From what I can tell (limited data, remember) a significant proportion of plushies are produced and sold through two main routes: LEGOLAND parks (and sometimes LEGO Brand Retail) and other external licensees. There are plushies of all kinds, from minifigs to animals to little robots and there are representatives covering all building systems, including Belville, Primo and Duplo.

A Miniature Horse

My creature collection includes a dozen or so plushies (so far!). Most of these are surprisingly accurate replicas of their single-piece plastic counterparts, and there are a couple representing brick-built ones too. This particular article was prompted because I received a BrickLink order from my friend and fellow plush-enthusiast Ann of Minifigforlife and was blown away by the reality of the plush horse that I had ordered.

Belville horse in plush and in plastic, with minifigure for scale

She was considerably larger than I had thought, she has articulated legs (they feel like high-quality metal armatures) and the detail of her eye decoration and mane bows are precise copies of her plastic counterpart – right down to the three gold stars on her eyebrow!

Belville horse, detail of eye decoration.jpg

The horse appears in several Belville sets, but the blue bows in her mane mean this particular version is from set 5827-1, Royal Coach.

I enjoy the concept that Belville figures are often shown building their surroundings in the instructions, and this set is no exception. On page one, we see the Prince taking the blue bows off their sprue…

Set 5827-1 instructions extract. Image credit: Brickset.com

…and page 11 shows him decking out the horse with her bows, harness and jewel decoration.

Stuffed Animals

I thought I’d share some of my other plushies and their plastic counterparts with you. This Duplo dragon is a great replica of their plastic self (although you’ll have to ride the plush version bareback—no saddle!)

duplo dragon in plush and in plastic, with minifigure for scale

The plushy dragon’s underbelly is rendered in a fabulous, iridescent fabric, which reminds me a little of the new satin colours we’ve been seeing in plastic parts.

My plushy Duplo dog shows the green outline image of a 2x2 brick embroidered on a paw—that is a hallmark of many Duplo plushies and a fun hidden detail.

duplo dog in plush and in plastic, with minifigure for scale

They are also a good reminder that, exactly like our precious plastic elements, LEGO plushies are not always UV stable. Sadly my plushy dog has suffered a little fading, from when I unthinkingly kept them on a windowsill for a while. Whoops!

The eyes, the spots on the haunches and the colour of the ears and tail are all identical to the plastic version.

Not-So-Creepy Crawlies

One of my favourite things in my collection is my plushie beanbag Primo ladybird (ladybug for our American readers out there).

primo ladybird in plush and in plastic, with minifigure for scale

They are not shown in any database or catalogue I’ve found (although I freely admit my search of catalogues has not been *that* extensive), so I can’t give you a link to their online listing. I bought them from the fantastic Loplet, in Billund (now very sadly closed – it was a fantastic thrift shop of sorts where collectors of LEGO would sell their wares) and they were mint-in-sealed-bag.

I had longed to unbag them, and writing this article gave me the perfect excuse to take them out of their (entirely unremarkable) plain plastic wrapping and squish their cute beanbag behind! They share the shape and colours of the ladybird Primo rattle but have two little pockets for wings – the perfect size to hold their plastic selves.

And, in case you’re wondering, they come with full washing instructions!

I bought my plushie octopus from LEGOLAND Windsor, probably 10 years ago. Sadly it is also a victim of fading in the sun. I haven’t photographed mine, but I wanted to include it because the detail of the shape of the tentacles of the plastic version has been replicated exactly, and I think that is fairly amazing in a soft toy.

I think the eyes on my Duplo plushie crocodile (again, not documented online) look very sad, maybe because it is an example of a plush that is not an exact replica of a plastic version – maybe they miss having a LEGO buddy!

There are numerous plush crocodiles available, including one that BrickLink lists at over a metre/3 feet in length!

Character in the Plush

Creature plushies of brick-built characters are less common, but Unikitty pitches in – and then there’s Ollie the dragon, who is legion.

I particularly like that she is correctly ‘built’ at the back, where the line between her feet and hip is clearly delineated. The plush shows a version of Unikitty that doesn’t exactly exist as a minifigure from a set. She has elements from a number of versions of herself; crossing both The LEGO Movie and The LEGO Movie 2 colourings and neck connections, but can be made up from official Unikitty parts.

Ollie, the LEGOLAND mascot, is probably worth a whole article on his own. He has his own ride at the parks and his merchandise takes a place of pride on the LEGOLAND.co.uk’s page about shopping. I doubt anyone knows how many plush editions there are of him – I expect even LEGOLAND doesn’t keep conscious track of them all!

He appears in a Hawaiian shirt; in chef’s whites; in a nappy; holding a cupcake, and numerous ‘plain’ versions. There is also a female-coded version with pink spikes and tail tip, and a tutu.

On the plastic side of things, there are several brick-built versions of Ollie, the sculpture set 3724 being the most notable.

So, if your interest is piqued enough to make you want to run out and buy some plushies, where should you go to find them? They do appear on BrickLink, but not a lot; at the time of writing there are less than 150 plush items listed for sale, globally, and over half of those are Batman/Bee Girl/Sensei Wu/Lloyd minifigures. Not to mention holiday variants of many characters.

Conversely, an eBay search currently returns 727 listings. (The author will not comment on the fact that she may have just got distracted by finding a plush Angry Kitty from The LEGO Movie 2, which fell into her basket!). So if you want to collect LEGO without the hard plastic, go with plushies – the softer way to enjoy LEGO!

What LEGO plushies do you have in your collection? Are any rare or obscure? Let us know in in the comments below.

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