The LEGO Ideas Thread

[BrickBob Studpants]

12 hours ago, danth said:

A little sad that half of Ideas sets are licensed slop. It's like Speed Champions but for houses. 

Looks like we can add “slop” to the pile of words that have lost all meaning

[Wolfpack]

Both programs have their problems.

I would prefer if they would take the BDP selection and make them "normal" sets like Ideas. In Ideas the last set I liked was Viking Village and even that one was selected by target not by lego! They had some thirty sets after that, but basically all licenced or some recreation of an object or an animal. In BDP I like most of the sets, but they bring nothing new (except for sticker sheet), not even instructions. Why cannot they select such sets for Ideas??? Keep BDP only as a selection process and make all sets in Ideas.

[BrickBob Studpants]

1 hour ago, Wolfpack said:

Why cannot they select such sets for Ideas??? Keep BDP only as a selection process and make all sets in Ideas.

The BDP sets are pretty niche in the grand scheme of things with a much lower production capacity. I mean, a lot of sets each round don’t get enough pre-orders to even be produced!  Some of them could probably sell well as Ideas sets, but I reckon a lot of them wouldn’t. 

[Black Falcon]

5 hours ago, hikouki said:

They said that Golden Girls is leaving the parking lot ~ does that mean it actually got rejected???

Yes.

1 hour ago, Wolfpack said:

Both programs have their problems.

I would prefer if they would take the BDP selection and make them "normal" sets like Ideas. In Ideas the last set I liked was Viking Village and even that one was selected by target not by lego! They had some thirty sets after that, but basically all licenced or some recreation of an object or an animal. In BDP I like most of the sets, but they bring nothing new (except for sticker sheet), not even instructions. Why cannot they select such sets for Ideas??? Keep BDP only as a selection process and make all sets in Ideas.

The thing about BDP is that they can just produce it in one go, so they basically have to make sure all the parts are produced beforehand that they need and put together their sets. If you would make an own theme out of it you would need budget for the parts etc as all of it needs storage and a higher production capacity, which is just not there. On the same time it would basically remove all differences between the BDP and Ideas and make the bdp sets ideas ones, so in the end, you would have ideas and essentially just remove the bdp completely.

 

[Wolfpack]

1 hour ago, BrickBob Studpants said:

The BDP sets are pretty niche in the grand scheme of things with a much lower production capacity. I mean, a lot of sets each round don’t get enough pre-orders to even be produced!

Not true. That never happened! So far all the sets got produced.

3000 sets is minimum and all the sets got 10.000 or more orders (Lost City had the least and that was about 10.000 as far I remember), average has been 30.000, which is not much less than some exclusive sets (unofficially some d2c sets have a production run of less than 100.000)

Also you must take into account that marketing and advertisement for BDP is basically nonexistant. Despite that and despite having no new parts the sets are sold out in a week with no problem. With new parts, instructions, proper marketing and availability on the lego site the sales would be huge.

Black Falcon. Yes, that is what I want. BDP should be removed and Ideas should have those unlicenced sets instead. If not all, than at least one round per year should be done this way. Lego bought BL after all, I am not a fan of that, but they should at least take the better advantage of it.

They can make them limited to 50.000 or something and in one run as far as I care, if prodution capacities are the problem. BDP in current form makes no sense, it is just PAB for other people MOCs.

[Black Falcon]

12 minutes ago, Wolfpack said:

3000 sets is minimum and all the sets got 10.000 or more orders (Lost City had the least and that was about 10.000 as far I remember), average has been 30.000, which is not much less than some exclusive sets (unofficially some d2c sets have a production run of less than 100.000)

Lost City was a bit over 8k Sets, not 10k, but that was the only one that didn´t make it to that benchmark. However the average can´t be 30k, since just few sets went over that point and there are several that just made it to about10k and others that didn´t reach the maximum either. The only series that was actually selling almost the maximum of the 150k Sets in total was the last one, there are some that just sold about 70% of the Sets avaiable so the avarage should be more about 25k Sets.

About how many Sets are made for normal ones I can´t say much, as Lego won´t tell anyways, but if you say a production run has less than 100k you shouldn´t forget that there is not just one production run, as not all sets are produced at the same time, let alone the same factory. But as those numbers are pure speculation there isn´t much to compare there anyways IMO.

12 minutes ago, Wolfpack said:

Also you must take into account that marketing and advertisement for BDP is basically nonexistant. Despite that and despite having no new parts the sets are sold out in a week with no problem. With new parts, instructions, proper marketing and availability on the lego site the sales would be huge.

Well, the target for those Sets are AFOLs and people learn about them through online blogs, forums (like this one) and marketing emails from Lego + the bricklink team beeing there and showing them live on lego events. Aside of that, of course you are right that sales would be a lot higher if those would be normal sets with higher avaiability, especially to normal consumers. But at the same time production, logistics and overall effort and costs would increase too.

12 minutes ago, Wolfpack said:

Black Falcon. Yes, that is what I want. BDP should be removed and Ideas should have those unlicenced sets instead. If not all, than at least one round per year should be done this way. Lego bought BL after all, I am not a fan of that, but they should at least take the better advantage of it.

They can make them limited to 50.000 or something and in one run as far as I care, if prodution capacities are the problem. BDP in current form makes no sense, it is just PAB for other people MOCs.

I would disagree here. BDP fills a niche. And that it is done the way it is done has a reason, sure you want new stuff and all and I can understand that, in the end everyone would love it. But in the end everything they would change and especially having new moulds, parts, prints etc for it will increase costs and while as it is Lego can just make those sets without much risk and can easily produce sets that they otherwise wouldn´t do. So instead of wishing for BDP sets to show up in ideas, you could just aswell wish that they would just make more classic ideas sets - though I don´t see much more chance for that happening either honestly.

[BrickBob Studpants]

1 hour ago, Wolfpack said:

Not true. That never happened! So far all the sets got produced.

Oh? I thought a lof of BDP entries make it to the pre-order phase, but in that case there’s another round before that then  I do remember a lot of submissions that never got anywhere, so I suppose there’s a jury that selects the sets that advance to the pre-order stage?

[SpacePolice89]

17 hours ago, danth said:

A little sad that half of Ideas sets are licensed slop. It's like Speed Champions but for houses. 

Licensed slop is the perfect term to describe many of those sets. They just blindly copy everything from pop culture instead of building something original.

[Black Falcon]

25 minutes ago, BrickBob Studpants said:

Oh? I thought a lof of BDP entries make it to the pre-order phase, but in that case there’s another round before that then  I do remember a lot of submissions that never got anywhere, so I suppose there’s a jury that selects the sets that advance to the pre-order stage?

There are like 400 to 600 Submissions for one round, of course not all are getting as far as crowdfunding. There is a peoples vote on all designs, after which the designs are choosen by the team (so not 5 castle sets make it for instance) and those 5 are getting refined by the fan designers with the help from Lego. And those 5 are going to crowdfunding, so there is no other round inbetween.

[BrickBob Studpants]

35 minutes ago, SpacePolice89 said:

Licensed slop is the perfect term to describe many of those sets. They just blindly copy everything from pop culture instead of building something original.

That’s quite an insult to fan designers, you know  People obviously put in a lot of effort here. It’s not automatically “slop” just because it’s attached to an IP. By that definition, my projects that I put hours and hours of work into are also just “slop”?

There’s nothing stopping you from submitting something “original” to Ideas if IPs offend you that much.

[Wolfpack]

1 hour ago, Black Falcon said:

But at the same time production, logistics and overall effort and costs would increase too.

Yes I know that, but I think the difference would be only minor and it would be a small price to make a really premium product.

It will probably not happen, but I think it is still more realistic than they all of a sudden starting to make more classic Ideas sets.

Quote

Lego can just make those sets without much risk and can easily produce sets that they otherwise wouldn´t do.

That is my objection actually. It is too easy. BDP is so lazy, they are getting away with it too easy, to cheap and too good. And there is basically nothing we can do. If we buy more sets, they will say the sistem is working, everything is fine. If we do not buy them, they will say see, there is no interest in castle, pirates etc.

[SpacePolice89]

23 minutes ago, BrickBob Studpants said:

That’s quite an insult to fan designers, you know  People obviously put in a lot of effort here. It’s not automatically “slop” just because it’s attached to an IP. By that definition, my projects that I put hours and hours of work into are also just “slop”?

There’s nothing stopping you from submitting something “original” to Ideas if IPs offend you that much.

Today even Barracuda Bay would've been rejected. They only want licensed sets for Ideas nowadays.

[BrickBob Studpants]

5 minutes ago, SpacePolice89 said:

Today even Barracuda Bay would've been rejected. They only want licensed sets for Ideas nowadays.

Can you back that up? Last time I checked, the split between licensed and unlicensed Ideas sets was still around 50:50  And how exactly is reimagining a set from the 80/90s a creative masterpiece, but recreating a location from a movie “slop”?

Hate to say it, but it’s attitudes like these that make me less inclined to feel bad for fans of classic themes. You can advocate for something without tearing other things down

[Wolfpack]

This is maybe not the topic for it and it should go the unpopular opinions thread, but I remember one legendary designer explaining in an interview, when Star Wars came in 1999, how the designing process changed with licences and how they hated it. So I just wanted to say there is some objective difference, of course not delving into whether slop is the right word to describe it.

[SpacePolice89]

2 hours ago, BrickBob Studpants said:

Hate to say it, but it’s attitudes like these that make me less inclined to feel bad for fans of classic themes. You can advocate for something without tearing other things down

That's rich since the licensing deals killed all but one of the original themes.

Upcoming Ideas sets (they are all licensed or hipster sets except Amsterdam):

Godzilla	3rd 2024	Jun 2025	Q2 2026
Power Rangers	1st 2025	Oct 2025	Q4 2026
La Catrina	1st 2025	Oct 2025	Q4 2026
Smurf Village	1st 2025	Oct 2025	Q4 2026
Ramen	1st 2025	Oct 2025	Q4 2026
ET	1st 2025	Oct 2025	Q4 2026
Downton Abbey	1st 2025	Oct 2025	Q4 2026
Edward Scissorhands	2nd 2025	Apr 2026	Q1 2027
Amsterdam houses	2nd 2025	Apr 2026	Q1 2027
National Lampoon	2nd 2025	Apr 2026	Q4 2026
Old Man and the Sea	1st 2025	Apr 2026	Q1 2027

Edited Tuesday at 02:52 PM by SpacePolice89

[BrickBob Studpants]

Last time I checked, ramen and la catrina weren’t licensed, and what is a hipster set supposed to be exactly?  

[Black Falcon]

1 hour ago, SpacePolice89 said:

That's rich since the licensing deals killed all but one of the original themes.

In the end consumers decided what they would buy and what not, so if people wouldn´t have bought Star Wars but Space instead, guess what we would have on shelves now.

1 hour ago, SpacePolice89 said:

Upcoming Ideas sets (they are all licensed or hipster sets except Amsterdam)

That list is not complete though. 

[danth]

9 hours ago, BrickBob Studpants said:

Looks like we can add “slop” to the pile of words that have lost all meaning

Disagree; slop is a term to describe things that can be generated quickly without much thought and without care for quality. 

Licensed sets fit this bill because you already have a design and just need to come up with a reasonably good Lego facsimile for the set. It doesn't have to be amazing because there is an existing fan base ready to accept whatever you come up with. You can just slap stickers on them, you don't need to design reasonably generic/reusable prints. 

With Ideas it's even worse because the initial design doesn't have to be very good. It's just an Idea. Lego will "fix it up". So you have people voting for something just because they like the idea/movie, with the reasonable expectation that the final result will be acceptable. (The situation is reversed with non-licensed sets; the original designs are often amazing because they have to be, and the official released sets are always worse because they have to be -- the budget people require sacrifices to reduce cost.)

Oh, I forgot to mention. "Ideas" implies fresh ideas. "Ideas" implies your ideas.

The new Edward Scissorhands and Christmas Vacation movie sets are neither. They are the same exact idea as the recent Home Alone Ideas set.

"A house from a Christmas movie from around the year 1990."

Edward Scissorhands is 1990, Christmas Vacation is 1989! They're all considered Christmas movies.

They're all the exact same Idea!

This is why I call them "slop". AI literally could have come up with these "ideas". These are not organic. Someone saw that Home Alone won, and thought "What's the closest thing I can do do that?" It's just copycats. The exact opposite of what Ideas should be.

 

[danth]

4 hours ago, BrickBob Studpants said:

That’s quite an insult to fan designers, you know  People obviously put in a lot of effort here.

Oh please. Can we not do this faux concern pearl clutching about "insulting" people we don't know and will never meet? I spend too much on Lego for someone to tell me I can't be critical of the state of things, that I can't be disappointed with what's on offer. No criticism or disappointment aired here is a personal insult to anyone. Especially when we're talking about licensed Ideas. The designs are from movies, and the original submissions get totally overhauled by Lego designers. So there's no insult possible to the original designers. 

And then you say this:

3 hours ago, BrickBob Studpants said:

Hate to say it, but it’s attitudes like these that make me less inclined to feel bad for fans of classic themes. You can advocate for something without tearing other things down

So you delight in the dissatisfaction of fellow fans you interact with on this forum because they had the nerve to make valid critique (AKA "tearing things down" whatever that means)? Seems weird for someone who is so concerned about the feelings of designers you've never met.

[BrickBob Studpants]

27 minutes ago, danth said:

They're all the exact same Idea!

By that logic, every project based on a classic theme is also the exact same idea then  Creating broad categories to make everything sound the same is very easy  

27 minutes ago, danth said:

Disagree; slop is a term to describe things that can be generated quickly without much thought and without care for quality. 

Again, that’s an insult to everyone who puts hard work into their projects. It’s not less work just because the building/vehicle/object already has an existing design, you still need to translate it into a realistic set, and that’s still a challenge  And you can’t tell me that Ideas projects based on something more generic like the A-Frame or the Medieval Blacksmith didn’t use any reference material. The design process isn’t that different overall.

And 90% of projects never reach the 10k, no matter whether they’re licensed or not. You still need to create something presentable to get there  People don’t vote for actual low-effort slop.

Edited Tuesday at 04:32 PM by BrickBob Studpants

[danth]

19 hours ago, Kit Figsto said:

I've become a lot more interested in BDP in recent years than Ideas...The second part is that it feels like half of the submissions are just people clout chasing without giving any consideration whatsoever to what would actually make a good set...Anyway, with BDP, getting those giant MOC-like sets made is kind of the point, since it doesn't really need to be a viable product on store shelves, so I think it's cool to see what people come up with from their own creativity with fewer limitations on what they can and can't do.  

I don't have much to say in response other than agreement. The parts I quoted are the parts I agree with the most! Thanks for the intelligent reply.

[SpacePolice89]

31 minutes ago, Black Falcon said:

In the end consumers decided what they would buy and what not, so if people wouldn´t have bought Star Wars but Space instead, guess what we would have on shelves now.

We never had the chance to choose between Space and Star Wars. After 1999 Space as we knew it was dead and only because SW feared competition. Personally I believe that both could coexist.

[BrickBob Studpants]

4 minutes ago, danth said:

Oh please. Can we not do this faux concern pearl clutching about "insulting" people we don't know and will never meet?

Well, I’ve had two projects on Ideas so far, one got rejected and the other is on the way to 10k, and I do feel insulted when people in ambiguous terms say that the kind of project I’ve been working on is low-effort trash. Of course I know nobody was targetting anyone in particular, but as someone who really wants to see their set on a shelf one day, this kinda hits a nerve  

8 minutes ago, danth said:

(AKA "tearing things down" whatever that means)? 

Simple, it’s possible to advocate for classic themes without shredding licensed themes to bits at every opportunity. I didn’t say I was revelling in other people’s dissatisfaction, only that the constant bashing makes me less sympathetic to their cause.

[danth]

2 minutes ago, BrickBob Studpants said:

By that logic, every project based on a classic theme is also the exact same idea then  Creating broad categories to make everything sound the same is very easy  

But classic themes are not the Ideas theme. I think a Christmas Vacation house would be fine in Icons. But I'd at least like to see original ideas from Ideas! And also the sets I'm complaining about are ALL CHRISTMAS MOVIE HOUSES FROM 1989/1990. That would be like getting 3 Ideas sets all from Ice Planet 2002.

9 minutes ago, BrickBob Studpants said:

Again, that’s an insult to everyone who puts hard work into their projects.

It's not. It's a lower bar to sell a licensed set. It just doesn't have to be as good. Any Lego designer would tell you that. They probably don't even like it as much working on licensing sets because of it. Oh wait:

3 hours ago, Wolfpack said:

This is maybe not the topic for it and it should go the unpopular opinions thread, but I remember one legendary designer explaining in an interview, when Star Wars came in 1999, how the designing process changed with licences and how they hated it. So I just wanted to say there is some objective difference, of course not delving into whether slop is the right word to describe it.

Thank you for this amazingly relevant tidbit! 

11 minutes ago, BrickBob Studpants said:

And 90% of projects never reach the 10k, no matter whether they’re licensed or not. You still need to create something presentable to get there  People don’t vote for actual low-effort slop.

I agree with this! Ideas submissions have be good enough, even if they are based on a license. But submissions based on an original idea have to be amazing.

6 minutes ago, SpacePolice89 said:

We never had the chance to choose between Space and Star Wars. After 1999 Space as we knew it was dead and only because SW feared competition. Personally I believe that both could coexist.

NAILED IT.

Yes. Space was replaced by Star Wars before they had any idea what the sales would be. 

And they keep bringing back waves of Space when Star Wars isn't in theaters. So obviously it sells, and consumers are deciding they like unlicensed Sci Fi Space. 

Anyway. I really don't mean to turn this thread into another licensed vs unlicensed argument. It's really about THE SAME EXACT IDEA 3 TIMES vs Original IDEAS. In the IDEAS theme!

I mean come on. 

Home Alone Ideas set. CHRISTMAS MOVIE HOUSE FROM 1990.

Christmas vacation Ideas set. CHRISTMAS MOVIE HOUSE FROM 1989.

Edward Scissorhands Ideas set. CHRISTMAS MOVIE HOUSE FROM 1990. 

I mean, two of these sets 5 years apart would be one thing. But two in the same year? And should we ever really get repeated ideas in Ideas?

I wouldn't be complaining if this was a licensed movie helicopter. 

9 minutes ago, BrickBob Studpants said:

Well, I’ve had two projects on Ideas so far, one got rejected and the other is on the way to 10k, and I do feel insulted when people in ambiguous terms say that the kind of project I’ve been working on is low-effort trash.

Was yours a CHRISTMAS MOVIE HOUSE FROM 1989/1990? Because if so, the idea itself is low effort, regardless of the set design. 

To be clear, I meant that the final sets will be "slop", not the fan submission. Lego has a way of cheapening and dumbing down Ideas sets.

[danth]

17 minutes ago, BrickBob Studpants said:

Simple, it’s possible to advocate for classic themes without shredding licensed themes to bits at every opportunity.

So? You should be able to criticize something, especially something you like, especially on a fan forum. It's not the end of the world, as much as status quo defenders think otherwise.

And frankly, Lego can only make so many sets. There is only so much shelf space. If that wasn't true, there would be sets from every theme every year. But there isn't. So it's okay to say "I'd rather have more sets like X, even if that means less sets like Y." It doesn't mean you hate fans of Y. It just means you have a preference.