Why a Shaun of the Dead LEGO set was rejected

While the zombie apocalypse rages, there’s really only one true plan: go to the Winchester, have a nice cold pint and wait for all of it to blow over. But that might not work out in the LEGO version of Shaun of the Dead. No, we’re not talking about an upcoming LEGO Shaun of the Dead movie or video game (although how awesome would that be?), but rather an actual LEGO Shaun of the Dead that was so close to being put into production…until it was deemed that the blood, language and beer might not be appropriate for their demographic.

Here’s how the bricks fell: In the early 2010s, LEGO and Shaun of the Dead fan Yatkuu (real name Greg Coquelz) submitted his idea for a set based around pub The Winchester, a central location in the 2004 zom-com. This was part of the brand’s LEGO Ideas (formerly Lego Cuusoo) initiative, in which brick lovers across the world have a chance to see their creations come to life. The general idea is that a LEGO fan creates an idea – whether original or from an IP – and sees if it can get 10,000 online supporters. If it does, it then moves on to a review phase. (This is how the upcoming Jaws set came to be.) It was here that a block was put on the set.

After hitting the required number of supporters – in part due to Simon Pegg openly praising the design – LEGO put the Shaun of the Dead set into the review phase, although it would soon be stamped as “not approved”, with the company stating, “All LEGO products, regardless of age target, must be content appropriate for our core audience. With this in mind we have decided that – good though the model is – the film Shaun of the Dead contains content that is not appropriate for our core target audience of children ages 6-11.”

That was all it took for Yatkuu’s design to be smashed to bits. It was especially disappointing because they previously gave him a hopeful message of, “Since Shaun of the Dead is a comedy, and you present your work in a humorous fashion, we believe this is within the realm of the LEGO company brand standards on violence. Note that the zombie theme does put this project at the edge of what we produce, however we recognize that the LEGO Group produces other products where themes of violence and death play a significant role.”

While it will never make it to shelves, this Shaun of the Dead LEGO set did look like a faithful tribute to the movie, with awesome details on the characters (Shaun’s minifigure has red on him!) and interiors (there’s the jukebox that plays “Don’t Stop Me Now!”). Sure, some might see some “adult content” in here, but it’s not like minifigure Ed is asking his fellow blokes if he can get of those c*nts a drink…

Would you have purchased the Shaun of the Dead LEGO set? Do you think LEGO had a good enough reason to skip it?