Lego Creator Expert

Older exclusives, such as set 10214: Tower Bridge, were merged into the newly created subtheme.

Advanced Lego models began being featured in the mid-1980s under the subtheme of "Lego Model Team" (a subtheme of Lego System) and were discontinued in 1999 (with the exception of a re-release in 2004). Future advanced models received packaging without a logo and sold as Lego exclusives, beginning with set Statue of Liberty (set number: 3450) in 2000.[1] In this timeframe, multiple subthemes were released, such as Modular Buildings,[2] a series of resident, retail, and restaurant buildings introduced in 2007; and Winter Village, a series of winter-holiday themed models, sometimes delving into deep fiction (such as Gingerbread House (set number: 10267)[3][4][5]).

In 2013, advanced models were officially classified as under "Lego Creator Expert," a subtheme of Lego Creator, and received their own logo (which was updated multiple times in the future), beginning with Palace Cinema (set number: 10232).[6][7][8][9][10] This established theme of advanced models was considered to help shape Creator Expert's reputation for unorthodox techniques and distant design from typical models, with old exclusives receiving updated packaging and being merged into the newly created subtheme.

In 2020, Lego announced that they will be retiring the "Creator Expert" branding, and replace it with "18+". The Lego Group cited the reason as to make it easier for adults to see which sets were meant for their age range. The Creator Expert theme remains, however, boxes do not feature the logo, and feature an all-black design.

In the early 2000s (decade), Lego created various uncategorized exclusive sets relating to aircraft and sculptures, beginning with Statue of Liberty (set number: 3450) and Sopwith Camel (set number: 3451), which eventually evolved into sub-themes themselves. These sets featured large-scale sculptures and planes based on real-world aircraft, such a model based on the real-life Wright Flyer (set number: 10124).[11]

While the sculptures sub-theme ended shortly one year after its debut, the aircraft sub-theme continued; with three consecutive sets from 2001—2003 and two sets in 2006 and 2012, where the subtheme officially ended with an overhaul of the original Sopwith Camel (set number: 10226).[12][13]

In the early-to-mid-2000s, more sub-themes were created. World buildings, a sub-theme centered on recreating famous landmarks (similar to Lego Architecture) began with set depicting the Eiffel Tower (set number: 10181).[14] The sub-theme has continued on, with releases such as Old Trafford—Manchester United (set number: 10272)[15] and Colosseum (set number: 10276).[16]

Set 10220: Volkswagen T1 Camper Van, apart of the Vehicles subtheme.

In 2007, Lego released a Café Corner (set number: 10182). The set depicted a near 2,000 piece, three-story structure that gave the builder the option to remove individual floors to access the interior (which was empty) accompanied by minifigures and semi-complex building techniques. In the following time, one set was released consecutively each year mirroring the original design of the Cafe Corner, creating an official sub-theme and rapidly gaining popularity amongst its target audience of adults and teenagers with its assortment of retail, real estate, eatery, office, and other buildings, becoming one of the most renowned Creator Expert subthemes.

In 27 November 2020, the 2021 modular building was revealed as being a large three-story police station with a donut shop and newspaper stand on the sides. Police Station (set number: 10278) will be the sixteenth set in the Modular Building line and has been released on 1 January 2021.[17] The side of the building features a large poster for "Soap 'n' Suds", a reference to the laundromat featured in the Brick Bank set.

Set 10247: Ferris Wheel, part of the Fairground subtheme

In 2008, an exclusive model was released depicting a Volkswagen Beetle (set number: 10187) 1960 'Charlotte' model. In following years, numerous large-scale sets mimicking real-life motor vehicles were released, and, beginning in 2014, one set was released consecutively each year, beginning an organized sub-theme. There was also a re-release of the 2008 Volkswagen Beetle (set number: 10252)[18][19] in 2016. The sub-theme has continued on, with releases such as James Bond Aston Martin DB5 (set number: 10262),[20][21] Ford Mustang (set number: 10265)[22][23][24] a recreation of the 1967 automobile[25][26], Harley-Davidson Fat Boy (set number: 10269)[27] a V-twin softail cruiser motorcycle with solid-cast disc wheels and Porsche 911 (set number: 10295)[28] is a two-door 2+2 high performance rear-engined sports car.

In 2009, a sub-theme named Winter Village was released, focusing on winter-holiday themed sets beginning in 2009 and has since consecutively released one set each year. The 12 sets being released were Winter Village Toy Shop (set number: 10199), Winter Village Bakery (set number: 10216), Winter Village Post Office (set number: 10222), Winter Village Cottage (set number: 10229),[29] Winter Village Market (set number: 10235),[30] Santa’s Workshop (set number: 10245),[31] Winter Toy Shop (set number: 10249),[32] Winter Holiday Train (set number: 10254),[33] Winter Village Station (set number: 10259),[34][35] Winter Village Fire Station (set number: 10263),[36][37] Gingerbread House (set number: 10267)[3][4][5] and Elf Clubhouse (set number: 10275).[38][39][40][41][42]

In 2020, a sub-theme named Botanical Collection would be released on 2 January 2021. The two sets being released were Flower Bouquet (set number: 10280)[43] and Bonsai Tree (set number: 10281).[44]

Other sub-themes include Trains (sets depicting various types of trains), Fairground (sets depicting Amusement Park attractions),[45] Maersk, Vestas[46] and Space (a small amount of sets revolving around spacecraft, also including real-life models).[47][48]

Creator Expert designer Jamie Berard has commented multiple times on the challenges of set design. Sydney Opera House (set number: 10234) was mentioned as one of the most difficult sets to design, and past attempts had always resulted in failure.[49][50]

Prior to that, Jamie Berard also mentioned Green Grocer (set number: 10185)[51] was a difficult model to design, and became one of his favorites due to the set's result.[52]

Cafe Corner (set number: 10182) was also commented as a difficult model to design due to piece limitation. The designer (Jamie Berard) wanted to add a bicycle piece into the set but the machine was temporarily broken, and he also had to work with instruction designers to implement set techniques onto the instructions since most were different from regular set design.