Would Lego Ideas ever approve a Modular Building?

[Whacky Brick]

Hi all,

I recently uploaded a Modular building project to Lego Ideas after working on it for a couple of months, but have some doubts about the possibility of it being selected as a set if it was to reach 10,000 supporters due to it being a Modular Building. --> https://ideas.lego.com/projects/553dc24c-d615-4294-ab85-6d2974059d8e 

I am slightly confused because no modular buildings have been selected after reaching 10K supporters, although some have had great feedback from the community. I was wondering if this is because Lego would not accept a 'Modular building ideas set' (and I respect that), or simply because the builds weren't good enough by Lego's standards. I have had suggestions that Lego would probably change the build from the modular-building format to a building that is not compatible with other modular buildings (if they selected it as an ideas set) by removing the pin connectors to make it separate from the modular building theme. 

It would be great to hear your thoughts, and I hope you like my Modular Building 

thanks

 

 

 

Edited July 2, 2020 by Whacky Brick
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[MAB]

I doubt they would pass a modular, as they already sell modulars under their own range. They have their own designers and don't need other people to design sets for their own modulars range. However, they have shown they will accept modular-style but stand-alone, one-off sets. 

[Whacky Brick]

Thanks for your quick reply! I suppose Lego could always adapt a Modular building MOC to be a stand alone set, since they always modify Ideas builds if they are chosen. 

[JopieK]

In fact the second Modular designed by an AFOL (Eric Brok): https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lego_Modular_Buildings.

[Mylenium]

3 hours ago, Whacky Brick said:

I was wondering if this is because Lego would not accept a 'Modular building ideas set' (and I respect that), or simply because the builds weren't good enough by Lego's standards.

Don't get this the wrong way and I don't mean to be a party pooper, but it's that old "Everybody and their mom." thing. There's simply too many Modular Building style proposals even if they aren't called that technically. LEGO are clearly conscious of this issue and are simply trying to not get locked too much into it. Add on top of that their own plans for the actual MB series plus the fact that right now you can already buy tons of custom instructions and you quickly realize that anyone can already fill the rest of their lives just building those houses. Again something LEGO have to be and clearly are aware of, meaning that even if there were more actual modular buildings being produced, the market potential is still limited. There's just too many factors speaking against it and if at all, they will only pick models that truly stand out or have merits beyond just being a building like e.g. representing an opportunity for franchise licensing (TV series, movies etc.).

Mylenium

[Whacky Brick]

23 minutes ago, Mylenium said:

There's just too many factors speaking against it and if at all, they will only pick models that truly stand out or have merits beyond just being a building like e.g. representing an opportunity for franchise licensing (TV series, movies etc.).

The chances are pretty slim but like you said there is a possibility. I will probably end up selling the instructions of my modular MOC at some time in the future, it seems worthwhile. 

[ShaydDeGrai]

My only data point is several years old at this point (back when Cuusoo was just becoming Ideas) but I had the chance to talk to members of the Ideas team at a convention and I recall one of them (It might have been Tim Courtney - at my age memory is the second things to go...) saying that part of the review process was to go to the various design teams for existing themes and ask "Is this the sort of thing you're working on or might consider doing in the future" and if they come back and say yes, the chances of the proposal passing review go way down.

In evidentiary law, they have this concept of "Eventual Discovery" which (to over simplify) says that evidence obtained under questionable (but not clearly illegal) circumstances can still be entered into a court of law if, by following "normal" procedures, not subject to interpretation, the evidence would have come to light anyway.  I think much of Ideas, operates under a similar principle, if TLG's "regular" design teams have a reasonable likelihood of producing a set that would compete with an Ideas set for the same audience dollar, TLG goes with the internal design and shoots down the submission. 

So i don't think it's really a question of quality, complexity or scale, I think it's just the fact that modular buildings are an established "thing" and the team behind them doesn't see value added in letting the Ideas theme create a limited edition "competing" set that blurs the lines of their territory, release schedule and marketing strategy.

Of course, one can also turn their well defined niche against them to offer something that would force them to say "no" when asked if this is something they'd release themselves.  Consider the Old Fishing Store (21310).  When most people think "Modular" they think of a layer cake stacked design of an urban building with a fancy facade, plain sides designed to connect to other building via technic pins, and some sort of minimal back ally rear.  The Old Fishing Store, while being on a scale and complexity on par with a Modular, defied these expectations  and allowed Ideas to offer something unique with a lot of appeal to Modular fans, without stepping on the Modular theme directly. 

Personally, I wish more talented Modular MOC'ers would consider mixing up basic design premises and pitch things like the Old Fishing Store or the Monster Fighters Haunted House (10228) (another official offering that defies "Modular convetions" - 360 degree design, doll-house-style hinged reveal - but looks fine (give or take some deferred maintenance) on the outskirts of a Modular town).  Non-urban/non-tenement designs, stand-alone structures, buildings with open backs or hinged panels rather than stacked floors, etc; there's enough room to play and come up with something cool, Ideas-worthy, and outside the fiefdoms of established themes, without abandoning the concept of compatibility with a modular city entirely.  It just seems like a lot of  time and talent goes to waste creating awesome proposals that would fit in "perfectly" with the Modular line, only to have them get shot down specifically because they are such a seamless fit with those in-house offerings.