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SALT LAKE CITY — A Utah man is trying to combine his love of two different toys by petitioning Lego to make a line of Muppet figures.
Quinn Rollins is a Social Studies Specialist for Granite School District, but he said one of his true passions involves building and creating toys. He said that since he was a young boy, he loved the unlimited creativity that Lego blocks gave him, and now he loves seeing his two young sons experience it as well.
"I love seeing my two sons play with Lego in ways that I wouldn't think of myself," Rollins said. "I still love building with Lego as an adult, even though the things I build now might be different than what I would have done when I was a kid."
Rollins said that he also loves the Disney Muppet characters because of their creativity as well.
"I grew up watching Sesame Street and The Muppet Show, and I admire how Jim Henson and the other people behind the scenes were able to take these bits of felt and foam and give them life — making memorable characters that have lasted for generations," he said.
As a result, the Salt Lake City native came up with the idea of petitioning LEGO to create a line of Muppet blocks. Lego created a crowdsourcing website that they use to generate new ideas for Lego bricks. Rollins felt that the Muppets would be a perfect fit for Lego since the Muppets are owned by Disney, and Lego has a license with Disney for creating figures.
" 'The Muppets' was a hit movie in 2011, and they have a new movie, 'Muppets Most Wanted' coming in spring 2014," Rollins said. "LEGO and Disney already have a good working relationship, so I figured why not give it a shot?"
In order to make his dream toy come true, Rollins would need to collect 10,000 votes for the Muppet Lego to be considered for production. He currently has collected 3,913 votes as of Friday.
To help bring his vision to life, Rollins created his own Muppet Lego set as a template on his proposal webpage. He said he used existing Lego minifigures and then added hand-sculpted pieces to them made of polymer clay. He then baked the figures, and painted them with acrylic paints and sealant.
Rollins began the petition Feb. 28, 2012. To help make his toy vision a reality, vote here.
