Let’s Get Nerdy About LEGO Frogs

Ribbit. Ribbit.

Today's article is brought to you by the letter F. F is for frog.

Will Hafner - Nerds

The LEGO frog seems to be weirdly special to many builders within the fan community. I inadvertently chose it to be my literal calling card many years ago, and many others have had an appreciation for this cute little guy over the years. But did you know that for how ubiquitous this little guy has become, the frog wasn’t even close to being the first LEGO animal? There are a few opinions on the matter, but according to my research, the first few minifig scale animals included the horse, followed by parrot, then cat... then maybe a spider? The exact timing gets murky. But how long has the frog been around?

A Frogotten Past

For many of us, it seems like the frog has ALWAYS been a constant sidekick of our minifig friends. But the first LEGO frog was actually released in the year 2000 in the Bellville set: The Queen's Room (5826). Yep, that is right—the LEGO frog is from Belville, the doll-like precursor to LEGO Friends.

via Bricklink

Surprisingly, the first colour the frog was released in wasn't the opaque green we know, but Trans Green and sat at the Queen's desk—presumably a nod to the German fairytale, The Frog Prince. What makes it even more interesting is that this set is not even minifig scale—it is the larger Bellville scale, yet it gave us our first little froggie!

The year after, the frog was introduced in its first minifgure scale sets, and it might again be surprising where it turned up. Back in 2001, you'd think the frog would pop up in City or Castle or even Johnny Thunder, but the frog only appeared in one line: Harry Potter. And it wasn’t even in brown as a chocolate frog until 2010! It switched from trans green to the classic green we all know and love today.

Throughout the next few years, frogs continued to be added in various sets, but always as a frog or frog-like creature or adornment. It showed up as a treat for Jabba the Hutt, made a run in dark bluish grey in the first few Modulars, and even popped up in a Space Police set! Beyond the two shades of green, bluish dark grey and a poisonous yellow one in the Pet Shop, the frog remained a frog.

A Ribbeting Development

It wasn't until 2013—more than a decade after its first introduction—that there was a real evolution in LEGO frogs. For the first time, a frog element was used in a way that wasn't an actual literal creature or a statue! It was used as the legs of an ornate table in the Kingdoms Joust set, and it was a game-changer. It was many LEGO fans’ first epiphany of NPU (nice part usage).

The infamous frog table via Dan Rubin

Since then, LEGO designers have been sneaking frogs into lots of interesting places: hood ornaments, horns and ears, hidden DNA and dumplings. Several designers have a proclivity for including them in their models with Nick Vás stealing the spotlight. He’s gotten six frogs in three colours in Ninjago City, an incredible 22 again in three colours in the Lion Dance, and most recently (and quite likely never to be topped) 100 pink frogs as blossoms in the Bonsai Tree. (He’s even started a Bricklist of all the models he has designed with frogs in them!)

via LEGO

Over the years, frogs have been included in more than 130 LEGO sets, including a collectible minifigure. They have come in many different colours too. According to Bricklink, there are ten different colour variations of frogs that have appeared in sets:

via Bricklink

But wait! Sharp-eyed-AFOLs might have spotted something wrong. We're missing a colour! There's a red frog! This special guy was only available in the Frog Rush game which is categorized as “gear” instead of a “set” on Bricklink. The introduction of the red frog was a momentous set for us frog lovers. I still remember getting mine at a blind build challenge at a convention. All of the hues together create such a collection of brightly colourful friends.

A Toadally Personal Element

But you might be asking me, “Simon, why do you like frogs!?”

Simon’s short answer: Because they are small and fit in a 2x2 dome. I needed them for the smallest thing I could build en masse.

Simon’s long answer: … Okay this might need a bit more context… Many years ago, in a galaxy far far away I was named Brickworld Master. That same year, the previous master builder, the late Arthur Gugick, randomly placed black scorpions on various builds around the convention hall that he enjoyed. This was met with some confusion as not everyone realized what it meant at first. I thought it'd be a fun tradition to continue and decided I would do something similar, but with a twist!

I decided to leave not just a token animal or other piece, but instead a small micro-build that we could spread all over the convention and ensure every displayer got something fun. While today many people associate me with Animal Mechs, at that point in my LEGO life, I actually had never built one. In fact, the original plan called not for frogs but to use the Friends Oscar the hedgehog. There would be no ambiguity for clueless builders finding Oscar near their build! Oscar is too cute not to like.

Sadly for me, that occurred in the pre-LUGbulk days and the ability to assemble a massive army of any animal was difficult... which resulted in me systematically going through every animal I had then every animal on Bricklink to find the perfect pilot.

In the end, I chose the frog to build my so-called “calling card”— a little build that will be forever known as the FrogPod:

And I ended up making a lot! Over the years, more than 1,000 of these FrogPods have found their way all around the world.

So my personal attachment to the wonderful LEGO frog started simply as a means to an end to make a cheap little build that I could give away (and making every subsequent Brickworld Master hate me). But it has become so much more since then.

A way cooler upscaled version of the FrogPod by Sean and Steph Mayo

Hoppy Go Lucky Friends

But I'm not the only one in the LEGO community that has an affinity for frogs. Enter Mr. Eli Willsea (aka Forlorn Empire). He's known for building wonderful scenes that are just bursting with story and life. You probably saw some of his work last year… it was a good year for him and he was kinda a big deal—competing in Iron Builder, being named Mr. RebelLUG 2020, and arguably the most important title, being named Builder of the Year by The Brothers Brick.

As evidence of his love of frogs, I present to you Exhibit A:

ForlornEmpire - Sigfig!

Though you might not recognize this specific build, you'll probably realize that the minifigure is Eli's sigfig (or profile pic). But if you look at the build closer, you'll meet Jimmy the Frog (and the Creep Ring but we don't talk about the Creep Ring). This frog has been and continues to be spotted throughout Eli's work. Much like the seemingly random appearance of frogs in LEGO sets, I wanted to know what purpose do the frogs serve from Eli’s perspective? Are they watching? Waiting?

So I asked him, “What’s up with the frogs?”

Eli's short answer: “This poster.”

Undisclosed secret location

Eli's long answer: … Okay … I was just as confused at his short answer as much as you probably are. It turns out this is a picture of a poster in Eli's LEGOtorium, behind his computer.

The poster is from the LEGO Master Builder Academy - Level 3, a set that came out around 2012 when Eli really started getting into building. Unlike a lot of LEGO sets, the Master Builder Academy was unique in that it attempted to not just have a lot of alternative builds and instructions, but show and builders both young and old new tips and tricks to build with LEGO.

This product line is also notable because it was one of the early collaborations between LEGO and builders within the AFOL community who helped with some contributions. Check out the original ad which described this unique LEGO line:

In this particular wave, the MBA focused on more teaching builders about storytelling and adventuring, but most importantly, it introduced a frog companion! That character, coupled with other frequent frog references from other builders on Mocpages and Flickr at the time, paved the way for Eli’s “Jimmy the Frog.”

So now you have the long explanation, you can read in his words what’s the big deal with the frog and why he thinks it has made such an impact on the LEGO fan community:

“The frog is small and scaled to the minifig better than a lot of other animals. (Well, back then, since now there are a lot more animal options.) The LEGO minifig can also hold a frog. There are also multiple colors of frogs, making some more special.

I like the fact that the frog can camouflage into a build. It adds life or character without taking too much space—and for some odd reason, no one will question why there is a frog in space, or on a throne, or in the Wild West!

In the Master Builder Academy book that the poster came with, it talks all about storytelling. You need a story behind your builds. You see a guy with a frog on an adventure? You ask yourself ‘why?’

So those kind of questions can be added into builds and can make you question the story—they add depth to a build without having to use words.”

In retrospect, I need to review some of Eli's past creations to see a whole new story unfold. That little frog represents story and adventure! Now I need to ask even deeper questions, like what happened to Jimmy the Frog!?

Croaking Up An Explanation

If you're still reading this, you might be asking yourself, “WHY did Simon just write a whole 2,000-word article about frogs!? And why did I read all of it!?”

Yes, I have an interesting history with frogs but the entire article was prompted by this exchange on the Discord we use at BrickNerd to coordinate articles:

Undisclosed secert discord location (that you can join on Patreon)

“Frog business” was just a placeholder joke by fellow contributor Doug Hughes. But it got me thinking:

Many LEGO sites write general articles and set news for the masses. At BrickNerd, we assembled an extremely diverse group of writers that each have their own different points of view. We realize that the LEGO community out there is equally diverse and that there's no magic recipe of articles or topics that would satisfy everyone. Instead, we would rather try our best to represent as many different segments and viewpoints as we can.

That means we won't always have something that is exactly “up your alley” each and every day, but we will continue to provide interesting articles regardless—hopefully, in new areas you didn’t know about before.

While I'm sure we'll have lots more “classic Simon” like greebles, animal mechs, and spacey things coming down the pipe, I am open to suggestions! We want to know what you are curious about within the LEGO community and what topics you would like BrickNerd to explore. Tell me in the comments or join our Patreon and tell the team directly!

So again you ask, “Why the frogs!?” Well, my answer to that is that there is no such thing as a stupid idea or stupid question. Just some stupidly fun LEGO answers.

Even if I spent the entire time talking about that stupidly inspirational frog. 🐸

Do you have ideas on interesting topics that BrickNerd could write about? Leave your thoughts in the comments below.