The LEGO Group has given Hideo Kojima a brick-built gift based on his game, Death Stranding, but a comment from a well-known fan designer has sparked controversy.
Hideo Kojima is a vocal LEGO fan, often sharing his LEGO purchases on social media and recently confessing that he’s bought so much that he’s got a backlog to build. Now, he’s been given an unusual model in the form of a small build seemingly given to him directly by the LEGO Group based on his 2019 action game, Death Stranding.
“Received this LEGO version of DS from LEGO headquarters in Denmark,” Kojima wrote on X. “They recreated Sam, the BB pod, and even the BT strands! Thank you very much!”
However, the designer of Mushroom House from the BrickLink Designer Program Series 2, Jonas Kramm, has since reposted the post from Kojima, claiming that the LEGO Group has copied his design without asking and highlighting that the gifted model looks very similar to one Jonas made back in 2020.
“Wait! That’s my design from 2020!” wrote the fan designer. “@LEGO_Group why [have] you copied my design without asking?”
Looking at a post that Jonas shared in 2020, the two Death Stranding builds clearly do look similar. The design of the metal backpack and the BT strands in particular are very close, down to the use of the grills and black string. The same hairpiece is also used for Sam, meaning the minifigures look very alike as well.
Brick Fanatics has reached out to the LEGO Group for comment on the gift and Jonas Kramm’s claims.
Featured image: Kojima Productions
Support the work that Brick Fanatics does by buying your LEGO sets using our affiliate links. Thank you!
Author Profile
