LEGO Doctor Who now a possibility?!

[TheDoctor]

The LEGO Cuusoo License Conflicts and Resolutions page has just been updated and now states they will be accepting Doctor Who entries! We can only assume character lost the license to make the copycat sets but this is great news! It's really quite specific as well, I predict a flood of Doctor Who models on there over the coming weeks. It's Almost like LEGO wants this to happen

The updated page - https://legocuusoo.u...and-resolutions

News courtesy of The Doctor Who site - http://merchandise.t...-a-possibility/

Edit: Sources Added

Edited February 26, 2014 by TheDoctor

[Blondie-Wan]

I was just coming here to post this myself, after seeing it this only this morning; you beat me to it!

I find it very interesting that the LEGO CUUSOO team made a point of specifically posting to say Doctor Who projects will now be accepted. I would have thought that when a previously-unavailable license became available, it'd be up to us, the fans, to discover that, but somebody at LEGO wanted to make sure we knew Doctor Who is now a possibility.

Mind you, that's still far from a guarantee that it'll happen, of course, and Doctor Who projects can still be declined for all sorts of reasons, and it's still entirely possible official LEGO Doctor Who will never happen. But this latest development is very encouraging.

In other words: Fantastic!

[JGW3000]

Need to start working on a fully PF/RC Dalek , but does LEGO have a toilet-bowl plunger part?

[CptPJs]

http://cache.lego.com/upload/contentTemplating/MinifiguresBios/images/picC19B51EA7B04A9878B149337C4508858.jpg but I think it's going to be much too big for what you want.

I'd love for Doctor Who Lego, but I'm not going to get too excited yet. I have my clone brand eleven Doctors and Tardis (and Friends-companions), and I suspect that's all I'll ever have.

[Andy D]

Where is Doctor Sinister? I just built Doctor Sinister's TARDIS, it is great, but more people need it. Docor Dinister, get your TARDIS on CUUSOO soon!

Andy D

[Godtshep]

Finally! I hope we do get sets...

[LEGO Family]

OMFG ....... I so need to put my T.A.R.D.I.S projct up there again.

I have never posted it in here, but it can be found Here:

Boxart:

http://www.mocpages.com/moc.php/314921

Tardis:

http://www.mocpages.com/moc.php/306796

[AndyC]

I think it's notable that Lego obviously didn't jump on the license at the first chance they got, so they can't be overwhelmingly keen on the idea of official Dr Who Lego. It may even be as benign as monitoring all the licenses that were rejected and this simply being the only one that has yet become available. Given that a lot of the others were actual Hasbro IP (Transformers, My little pony etc) it wouldn't be all that surprising.

Still it'll be interesting to see what gets submitted. Whether intentional or not it's something of a call for submissions of Dr Who ideas and it'd be interesting to see what might come along.

It's curious that Character (or the BBC) have apparently decided not to continue the existing lines though, or at least I assume that's the case as Lego would presumably not announce it so widely if there was a high chance of the license disappearing again soon.

[BrickG]

:O

Geeze that's good news. Maybe they'll even consider making official non-Cuusoo sets... though I'm not sure the series is popular enough outside the UK (yeah it's a lot more popular other places than it used to be but still kind of fringe).

I'd LOVE to see Dalek minifigures with custom molds. But I guess Cuusooing a tardis and a Doctor is enough.

[B-Lister]

Just hope they remember that there's 12 Doctors. I would love a set featuring the Eighth Doctor's console room.

[Faefrost]

I was just coming here to post this myself, after seeing it this only this morning; you beat me to it!

I find it very interesting that the LEGO CUUSOO team made a point of specifically posting to say Doctor Who projects will now be accepted. I would have thought that when a previously-unavailable license became available, it'd be up to us, the fans, to discover that, but somebody at LEGO wanted to make sure we knew Doctor Who is now a possibility.

Mind you, that's still far from a guarantee that it'll happen, of course, and Doctor Who projects can still be declined for all sorts of reasons, and it's still entirely possible official LEGO Doctor Who will never happen. But this latest development is very encouraging.

In other words: Fantastic!

The other way to view that is the very fact that CuuSoo has openly said the license is available is almost a certain sign that TLG is NOT in any discussions with the BBC regarding a full Dr. Who license, and has no intentions of doing so. If they thought there was even a chance of another LR vs MWT type conflict they would not have publicly mentioned that the license was now open. If any discussions were going on, or if there was any larger scale internal interest in the license they would have simply kept it on the not allowed list until they were ready to make an announcement.

The other nasty side effect of this is that by CuuSoo making this public statement they have probably had a detrimental effect on any negotiations they may have in the future to aquire a license for CuuSoo or otherwise. After Character Builders line essentially fell flat the cost to anyone else to acquire the license would have probably been at a nice low price. But now CuuSoo has effectively said Lego is willing to entertain the idea of a Dr Who license. Lego's even mild interest in it from this simple public statement and fan chatter will greatly increase the cost to actually get the license. The BBC are not fools and are notorious for squeezing blood from a stone with regards to their licenses. (just look at the US costs for Dr. Who DVD's)

[HawkLord]

The tenth Doctor, Tardis, Rose, and a Dalek with maybe a Tardis interior would be a good start.

[LEGO Historian]

Something tells me that it would be a Generic Dr. Who... and any attempt at a "to scale" Tardis would probably involve a call box with the sides using a 1x4x6 window with decals for the sides of a similar vein as those used in Spiderman's Doc Ock's Hideout windows.... (note: this sticker sheet has 7 1x4x5 stickers)...

Using stickered windows for the wall panels would be a good way to keep the Tardis to scale, and also keep the price down...

Edited February 27, 2014 by LEGO Historian

[AyliffeMakit]

Great to hear that Cuusoo is allowing Doctor Who projects again,and I guess that this decision has only happened because the Sherlock project has brought TLG and the BBC closer together, and Dr Who probably came up in the discussions, as it is one of BBC Worldwides key licenses and they sell lots of merchindise for it. Anyway, I'm looking forward to having my own official Lego TARDIS!

[Lyichir]

Something tells me that it would be a Generic Dr. Who... and any attempt at a "to scale" Tardis would probably involve a call box with the sides using a 1x4x6 window with decals for the sides of a similar vein as those used in Spiderman's Doc Ock's Hideout windows.... (note: this sticker sheet has 7 1x4x5 stickers)...

Using stickered windows for the wall panels would be a good way to keep the Tardis to scale, and also keep the price down...

They probably would go with an idea like that (or possibly six 1x2x2 frames for a more accurate texture, or a 1x4x6 window with a printed pattern, like has been used in Ninjago). As a side note, the 1x4x6 frame could be even better if Lego introduced a set of half-width doors for those frames, so that you could have a double door in a 4 module space. Of course, new elements can't be included in Cuusoo proposals, so I can only hope that Lego might develop and produce such a part independently of Cuusoo first. It'd be great not just for the TARDIS, but also for bus doors and plenty of other applications.

Edited February 27, 2014 by Lyichir

[TheBrickPal]

Not a fan, but I have some friends who loved hearing this news! Who else thinks that LEGO may in fact be planning to release Doctor Who sets after doing this? The demand is definitely there, and I for one think it would be cool to see a TARDIS. Now, if only they could make it bigger on the inside!

[Faefrost]

Not a fan, but I have some friends who loved hearing this news! Who else thinks that LEGO may in fact be planning to release Doctor Who sets after doing this? The demand is definitely there, and I for one think it would be cool to see a TARDIS. Now, if only they could make it bigger on the inside!

The fact that they made the statement on CuuSoo permitting Dr. Who CuuSoo submissions pretty much 100% means that the regular TLG licensing group is not in any way talking with the BBC or currently planning on pursuing the Dr. Who license for a full theme. It may seem counterintuitive, but if they were interested in getting the license to release a series of Dr. Who sets, they would never have said anything on CuuSoo, and would have simply left Dr. Who on the not allowed list.

[TheLegoDr]

^Exactly. Otherwise all CUUSOO submissions that reached 10k votes would be declined because of the inevitable discovery clause. Very interesting though that they called out this one license.

I still don't think it is as globally popular as people make it out to be, but I could certainly be wrong. But if you think about it, if you only produce 10-20,000 sets, it doesn't have to be purchased by everyone all over the globe, just has to be purchased. Are there 10-20,000 fans of Dr. Who in the UK that are also LEGO fans that would love to buy something involving both? Maybe the US market wouldn't even need to be considered in the end. Although from a business standpoint, you'd want to attract as many consumers as possible.

[Blondie-Wan]

Well, I don't profess to know exactly how large the fan base is, but I do feel confident in making the observation that beyond LEGO, there is currently much, much more merchandise being produced for Doctor Who than there is for, say, either Back to the Future or Ghostbusters, just FWIW...

... which is kind of indeterminate, really. It could mean that Doctor Who currently enjoys a greater following of serious devotees (the folks who buy merchandise, as opposed to more casual fans content to simply watch the show and/or movies) than those other two franchises do, and therefore if TLG thought they were commercially viable (as they obviously do), then Doctor Who should be a slam dunk as far as the business case goes. Or, alternately, it could mean their research showed significant fandoms for those two franchises that were being underserved by the paltry or dormant or nonexistent licensing programs for them, and therefore they represented opportunities for TLG to grab a share of the disposable income of every current fan of either of them, and that the same opportunity isn't present with Doctor Who fans who have a much broader current selection of things on which they can spend money, so Doctor Who is a more risky license than Ghostbusters or Back to the Future, rather than a less risky one. In other words, who knows?

If nothing else, though, Doctor Who does at least enjoy the advantage of being a currently active series, which isn't the case with either Ghostbusters or Back to the Future, neither of which has had a new movie or episode in well over twenty years. Doctor Who is still running, with no sign of ever going away.

Edited February 28, 2014 by Blondie-Wan

[Cult_Of_Skaro]

One project on cuusoo for a TARDIS has already gone past 350.

[AyliffeMakit]

Just found this project by Flailx which demonstrates a great idea for including the main console room without producing an overly-expensive set.

Edited February 28, 2014 by AyliffeMakit

[Aanchir]

Just found this project by Flailx which demonstrates a great idea for including the main console room without producing an overly-expensive set.

This is by far my favorite TARDIS project and I've been trying to promote it everywhere I can. Its one disadvantage compared to some other projects is that it doesn't have enough door panels, but that's something the LEGO Group's designers could surely fix in a heartbeat.

It's not that I think a TARDIS needs to have a working interior and exterior, but so many of the TARDIS projects I've seen don't even include opening doors of any kind, meaning that the "exterior" version of the TARDIS is little more than a static display piece. And I think a franchise with as much action and excitement as Doctor Who deserves a set with a similar sense of action and excitement built in — not just a boring replica.

The Daleks in this project are also more nicely-proportioned than many of the LEGO Daleks I've seen, though they would probably have to be redesigned slightly since their construction involves parts not pressed down all the way on the studs. Still, they're beautiful in their simplicity.

[Paul B Technic]

My wife will be very excited about this :)

[Dorayaki]

Litereally all licenses can have a chance if Cuusoo never gave a reason or guideline. If it's just for the permission of license from Cuusoo, I can say that many other licenses also have the chance already. These include the BTTF, Ghostbusters and some other licenses used/discontinued in past Lego regular products such as Avatar and Toy Story.

The rise of votes is mostly due to the explosion of expectation from DW fans. For other licenses, it's glad to know that BTTF has a chance to get the second set, but I'm not sure if the voters do care about the rest of licenses.

After all it still depends on the quality of projects and we're not 100% ensured to get physical sets. I have faith in those talented MOCs, but at the same time I hope Cuusoo Team can announce more themes/licenses that are allowed or not allowed, not just one little update for DW.

Edited March 7, 2014 by Dorayaki

[BrickG]

I'm not sure how they could make a good Lego Tardis without a new mold or two. Honestly I've not liked any custom Lego Tardises so far that used only official Lego pieces.

I'm talking minifigure scale.