7MMO
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KPop Demon Hunters is one of the biggest success stories of the streaming era, so it’s no surprise that Netflix (eventually) made a collaboration with LEGO. Now, we’ve finally gotten our hands on the first official set from the collaboration: LEGO Derpy Tiger and Sussie Bird.
I, like many of us, have had "Golden" stuck in my head for two years now. I rewatched the movie before breaking open the new set, and had quite a few questions going into the build.
How does it capture the spirit of the movie without HUNTR/X? What’s the target audience here, adult collectors or younger fans? And how exactly do the plastic bricks capture the slightly off-putting but nonetheless endearing charm of the tiger and magpie, a duo rooted in Korean art history?
Expect spoilers from here on out. It’s been two years, guys.
Off the rip, I was shocked to discover the instruction booklet jumped right into, well, instructions. Sometimes LEGO will offer some sort of blurb about what inspired the build or how the designers approached adapting a specific IP. In this case, I think a blurb would've had a lot to offer.
In the movie, we first meet the Derpy Tiger and Sussie Bird after Jinu discovers Rumi is part demon, and decides to connect with her one-on-one to discover "her shame." Jinu sends the creatures in his place, who proceed to deliver small messages whenever he or Rumi want to meet.
The supernatural duo become how the part and full demon communicate with one another, while humanizing Jinu and offering some solid comedic relief. Their specific names aren’t actually mentioned in the movie, and instead come from internal conversations referencing the Gen Z slang "derp" and "sus."
The popularity of the two creatures isn't surprising. Unlike the somewhat sanitized designs we often see in newer Pixar and DreamWorks movies, Sony wasn’t afraid to get a little creepy with it.
The movie doesn’t offer a whole lot of explanation for the supernatural creatures. They’re tied to Jinu, and seem to obey him rather than Gwi-Ma. They still appear after HUNTR/X builds a new Honmoon, hinting at their relative independence, or, potentially, Jinu’s return.
The tradition of the tiger and magpie actually long pre-dates KPop Demon Hunters. The duo is inspired by traditional jakhodo paintings, popularized in the late Joseon era as artists depicted a bold-eyed tiger alongside a keen-eyed magpie, symbolizing strength, fortune, and good luck.
Just one Google search will show just how many articles and exhibitions about this history have popped up since the Demon Hunters explosion, aligning with the vision of the film's creator, Maggie Kang. "I wanted every part of this movie to be Korean," Kang said in an interview with Deadline, highlighting the efforts that went into maintaining "specific" cultural accuracy.
I’m of the opinion LEGO had an opportunity for some edu-tainment with this set, and my biggest criticism is that they didn’t do something with this context. Whether you agree depends on your perspective on LEGO’s 'responsibility' as a brand, because what I will say is they nailed the actual brick-building.
Once you open the box, you’ll immediately notice lots of blue. The Sussie Bird timeline at the bottom of the instructions offers a pretty clear sense of the breakdown of the build: around 90% tiger. Because just about every piece is some shade of blue, you have to pay close attention to the hue of individual pieces — I had to restart at least one section over a light blue shade mix-up.
What you don’t have to deal with is stickers. Every detail of the set, including Derpy’s eyes, nose, claws, are printed directly onto corresponding plastic bricks.
As for the build itself, you start with a base for the body, then work on layers for the two bottom and two front paws. Each paw gets four printed claws, and has a decent amount of mobility once attached to the body with hinges. You also build a curved tail, which is surprisingly sturdy and capable of supporting itself.
Derpy Tiger’s striped head is the bulk of the build. Once complete, it can turn on a full axis, owl-style. Some interesting layering effects for the teeth, ears, and eyes allow the build to capture a pretty one-to-one depiction of the whimsical creature.
There’s also no mistaking Derpy Tiger’s psychedelic orange and pink eyes. I do think printed graphics was the way to go for this set, though a massive 37,000 piece Derpy Tiger build shows how one LEGO designer tackled the haunting look with pure bricks.
Once you have your Derpy Tiger base, the rest of the details come together pretty quickly.
The first version of Derpy Tiger you build has his mouth closed, showing his bottom teeth in a creepy smile. However, you can swap out the bottom row of teeth for a tongue that can be attached to small letters, much like how the character shares notes between Rumi and Jinu in the film. The LEGO version provides two letter variants: Jinu’s first “Hello Friend,” and Rumi’s later “Save the Date.”
I’m greedy and prone to losing things, so I couldn’t help but wonder if there was some way to have a little movement here. Ideally, the set would let you open the mouth and reveal the tongue as opposed to swapping out the mini-builds, which can get a bit finicky. As a workaround, you can remove a section of Derpy Tiger’s head to store your extra pieces. It feels a little violent, but I suppose it works.
Sussie Bird comes together with about a dozen smaller pieces, and can be planted firmly on top of Derpy Tiger’s head. He gets his full set of ominous yellow eyes, and of course, his special little hat. In Jinu’s words, “I made it for the tiger, but the bird keeps taking it.”
Then there’s the plant. I get it, it’s a solid reference to the clumsy tiger continuously knocking over the shrub in Rumi’s room. It made for an intriguing teaser video when LEGO first revealed the set, but in reality, it’s a little bit awkward. Derpy and Sussie look great as a decorative duo, but I can’t imagine I’ll know where I put the little standalone plant after a month or so.
One 'criticism' I’ve seen floating around online is, well, it’s been two years since KPop Demon Hunters came out, so the LEGO collaboration feels a little slow to the draw. That criticism is easily explained.
It’s no secret that Kpop Demon Hunters wasn’t expected to be a big hit. The straight-to-streaming release had relatively minimal marketing, and thrived from word-of-mouth and, of course, some Netflix homepage placement. As such, it’s not surprising that merchandise is taking a little longer to come to market. In the words of one Reddit user, “we’re seeing the manufacturing timeline in real-time.”
On the plus side, it’s extremely unlikely that this is the beginning and end of LEGO’s take on the KPop Demon Hunters. Netflix has been a consistent collaborator for the brick-building giant, which has released multiple sets based on other Netflix Originals like Wednesday and One Piece.
Rumors are already pointing to several smaller KPop Demon Hunters sets coming in Spring 2027. I imagine these will involve a more literal translation of HUNTR/X and the Saja Boys, possibly as minifigures. There’s a lot of potential with the various "stages" each group performs on throughout the movie, but my biggest hope is that the next set offers a little more interactivity for younger fans.
The LEGO Derpy Tiger and Sussie Bird sets comes with 825 pieces across 7 bags. It's list price is $69.99 at the LEGO Store, but it's currently on sale for $55.95 at Amazon.
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