Ivan Guerrero’s Sesame Street idea made room for the whole neighborhood
A look back at set 21324, its fan-design roots and the new character elements that helped bring a familiar street to life.
A familiar corner, rebuilt by a fan
A green street sign, a yellow bird and a recognizable doorstep can bring a whole television neighborhood to mind. LEGO Ideas 123 Sesame Street, set 21324, grew from fan designer Ivan Guerrero’s affection for that world. Announced in October 2020 and released that November, the 1,367-piece model translated a familiar screen setting into a place that could be explored in bricks.
This retrospective looks at how the idea became more than a recognizable building. The official photograph accompanying the article places Big Bird beside the street sign and nest. It is a small corner of the finished model, yet it already suggests a resident, a location and a story.
The creative team behind the street
The LEGO Ideas reveal identifies Guerrero as the creator of the original proposal, submitted in 2017. It credits Ollie Gregory with developing the official model and Crystal Marie Fontan with graphic design. Jaime Sanchez, Stewart Whitehead and Ann Chen created the new character molds.
Those individual credits are worth keeping visible. A fan submission supplies the starting vision, while the production model brings together several design disciplines. For readers who enjoy the community side of LEGO, that collaboration is part of the set’s appeal. It offers a concrete example of one builder’s subject knowledge becoming the foundation for a team project.
Characters changed what Ideas could include
The reveal describes this as the first LEGO Ideas set for which new elements were created specifically. Its residents include Elmo, Cookie Monster, Oscar the Grouch, Bert, Ernie and Big Bird. The locations include Hooper’s Store and the apartment shared by Bert and Ernie.
Our interpretation is that the characters and architecture do different jobs. The street establishes where the scene takes place; the residents determine which memories a viewer brings to it. Their distinctive shapes matter because recognition can happen before anyone notices the smallest interior detail. For a collector interested in minifigures, the development of those new molds is therefore a substantial part of the story.
A useful way to enjoy a detailed scene
Our display suggestion is to give each resident a little space around a familiar location. That makes the relationships between figures and places easier to read than lining everyone up along the front edge. A small change of pose can provide a new scene without rebuilding the street.
This is a source-based appreciation, not a report of our own build. Guerrero’s project remains an engaging example of fan design because the affection for the subject is visible at several scales: the neighborhood, its gathering places and the individual characters. Looking closely at one corner can be as rewarding as taking in the whole model.
Reporting checked October 7, 2026. Plans and programs can change; follow the linked organizations for current information.