LEGO Ideas Discussion

[AFOLguy1970]

Soon we should be getting the results of the current review projects. My hope is that the History Museum bucks the trend and gets produced. Minas Tirith would be nice, but no one really expects it. My fear is the nod goes to labyrinth or the piano (nice projects, but I would rather have the other two), although the silver lining would be a resting period for the wallet.

To my knowledge, there has not been a review where no set has been selected from the group. It would seem like Lego would want to avoid that situation as it would not look good to the public if they did not choose anything. My hope was the piano would roll over in the next review, because all of the other sets are fairly large in size and/or numerous in part count. It would be curious to see how Lego would respond to a review filled with only larger submissions. Now, I fear the piano in particular might be selected, because it is small and the "easy way out". Since we have yet to see Dr. Who, Wall-E, and BBT, there is already going to be a backlog of valuable shelf space to market these sets in addition to anything else that might get picked. They can only circulate so many sets at a time. Sure, there could be more than one selection in a round as we have seen, however the projects are competing against each other for that scarce space, and surely Lego is mindful of that. My guess is that only one from this round will be chosen. What would they do if they did not choose any? It would be comical to imagine the video where they open the envelope and it is blank. Again, I think Lego would like to avoid that kind of letdown to fans of Ideas. Hopefully we will hear something soon. If a big one does get approved, I need to start saving!

[Blondie-Wan]

The Winter 2014 Review Results - the results announcement in which they announced the Female Minifigure Set (that eventually became the Research Institute) was approved - also featured an entire review batch from which no projects were selected; the Female Minifigure Set had been held over from a previous batch for additional consideration. It's fortunate they did have it to fall back on, as it gave them something they could announce when everything in the following batch was being declined.

I like the Piano, and until not long ago I thought it had a strong shot, but it seems possible it might be disqualified for a possible rules violation - the Ideas terms say you may not sell anything pertaining to a project, but it appears the creator may be selling either instructions or built copies of the project model. I hope not, since I'd like to see it become a set, but of course it's the Ideas team's call.

Most of the other projects in this batch are so big it's tough to see LEGO taking a chance on them. The Natural History Museum might stand a chance though, since it falls neatly into the modular buildings line which is a proven seller for them. The only issue, I think, is whether they'd release it at the same time as one of their own (since they already release a new one each year, like clockwork; we can be sure they're already well into work on one for next year, and possibly even already working on one for 2017), or let an Ideas project "take the place" of whatever one they were going to release in a given year, and push their own buildings back one year each. Having to choose between one of those options might doom it, but even so I think it's the likeliest of all the really large projects in this batch.

I think the other strongest contender from this batch, besides the Piano, is the Labyrinth Marble Maze. It's a distinctive project unlike anything they've done before, it's fun to play with, it's probably easily turned into a set from the proposal model, it's free of licensing or brand fit issues, it requires no unusual colors or parts or anything not already in production, and it illustrates the greater range of possibilities LEGO offers that many people might not be aware of. I think the Labyrinth is therefore probably the strongest contender from this batch, and the Museum and (assuming it's not disqualified) the Piano are the other strongest two.

Not that I know, though, of course.

Edited May 7, 2015 by Blondie-Wan

[fred67]

I think the other strongest contender from this batch, besides the Piano, is the Labyrinth Marble Maze. It's a distinctive project unlike anything they've done before, it's fun to play with,

How do you know it's fun to play with? Have you played with it? I had a "real" one of those when I was a kid, I don't think I ever bothered playing it to completion.

I like the piano, too, but if it broke the rules, it broke the rules.

I'd definitely like to see the museum more than anything else in this batch. Daft Punk? Really? stupid dead sheep shoes. I can't imagine anyone seriously wanting to buy the Golden Girls in LEGO.

I'd rather see this over Daft Punk, at least it's funny:

Edited May 7, 2015 by fred67

[Blondie-Wan]

The Maze is definitely a playable thing, though; it's clearly meant to be played with, as opposed to being a display piece. And yeah, it's fun - maybe not for every human being that ever lived, but then nothing is. No, I haven't played with that specific model, but I have played with mazes of that type before (just not in LEGO), and I think it's reasonable to think playing with a LEGO one would be like playing with a non-LEGO one, only with the added playability of being able to reconfigure the maze yourself (and of course use the bricks to build something entirely different later).

And I think you'd be surprised with Golden Girls. No, it wouldn't set the world on fire or displace Star Wars as the top-selling LEGO license or anything like that, but a single set? I can actually see that selling, honestly. And it's telling that not only did this project get all the votes, but there are two other projects on the site, both by other people. Not only have several thousand people voted for these, but at least three different fans love both LEGO and the show enough to have created Ideas projects for it. That's more than some fantasy / science fiction / adventure franchises have gotten.

Edited May 7, 2015 by Blondie-Wan

[fred67]

These themes, though, like Golden Girls and Daft Punk, are more likely to have gotten people outside the LEGO community to register and vote just for those set (like the Winchester, although I wasn't complaining about that). I'd be willing to bet that, at best, GG gets held over to see how well BBT does. Even then, it shouldn't be comparable, but that's often how marketing drones think.

Let me ask you this: would you buy GG? Seriously?

[jonwil]

Of the items currently in review, the ones I would consider buying are:

Science Adventures (still annoyed that I was unable to get an RI)

Daft Punk (if it had any nice parts)

Minas Tirith (Love LOTR and a Minas Tirith would probably have some nice parts)

Labyrinth Marble Maze (it looks like it would be fun to play with as well as to build)

DC-3 (I love airplanes and wish that I had been able to acquire the 787 Dreamliner)

Natural History Museum (nice design and probably some nice parts)

Piano (pianos are cool :)

Corvette (its a GM product and the LEGO design looks cool)

[Blondie-Wan]

These themes, though, like Golden Girls and Daft Punk, are more likely to have gotten people outside the LEGO community to register and vote just for those set (like the Winchester, although I wasn't complaining about that).

Yes, and that might be a plus as far as LEGO is concerned - it means an opportunity to sell LEGO to people who don't normally buy it.

Let me ask you this: would you buy GG? Seriously?

Probably not, but perhaps. I'm not a fan of the show, per se, but I generally enjoyed it. Moreover, it looks like it would be a fantastic set for parts, as well as greatly expanding the range of fleshtone faces available. There really isn't a great selection of older women's faces in non-yellow, and this would give us four. Honestly, the only reason I might not buy it is because of the expense. I'm considering buying the set for The Big Bang Theory, after all, and I don't like that show as much as this one (I do have an interest in TBBT, but it's complicated by tons of stuff about the show that I don't care for).

The Daft Punk one, meanwhile, I'd definitely buy - it would probably be a very small and inexpensive yet very sweet parts pack. And I do enjoy what I've heard of their music, though I'm not familiar with much of it yet.

Edited May 7, 2015 by Blondie-Wan

[Faefrost]

13 new Projects IN REVIEW: https://ideas.lego.c...rted&scroll=283

1. Daft Punk https://ideas.lego.com/projects/40291

2. Small Yellow https://ideas.lego.com/projects/17353

3. The Discworld https://ideas.lego.com/projects/36302

4. Science Adventures https://ideas.lego.com/projects/83039

5. Medieval Market Street https://ideas.lego.com/projects/18873

6. Disney Princess Frozen Ice Palace https://ideas.lego.com/projects/58608

7. Douglas DC-3 https://ideas.lego.com/projects/17534

8. Bricksauria-Tyrannosaurus Rex https://ideas.lego.com/projects/48453

9. International Space Station https://ideas.lego.com/projects/61057

10. The Golden Girls https://ideas.lego.com/projects/98263

11. The Legend of Zelda: King of Red Lions Play Set https://ideas.lego.com/projects/2082

12. RMS Titanic https://ideas.lego.com/projects/1319

13. 1969 Chevrolet Corvette https://ideas.lego.com/projects/77779

Wow toughest list to predict yet. While I don't discount the possibility of nothing passing, there are a few that may make the cut if iDeas is willing to stretch towards their upper end of size.

1. Daft Punk - unlikely.a little too niche without good brand crossover.

2, Small Yellow - I'm mixed on this one. I really don't think a ton of people want one. But Lego's political relationship with famed legit Lego artist Nathan Sawata may make this a no brainer from a marketing and pr standpoint. I'll go with a likely yes.

3. Disk world - in a less crowded field a strong possibility, especially given Sir Terry's recent death. In this pack, it gets shoved somewhere in the middle and doesn't make the cut.

4. Science Adventures - been there, done that

5. Medieval Market Street - it's a MOC not a set. A gorgeous MOC, but too much in every way to see retail production.

6. Frozen - immediately rejected. Lego has already released a similar product under license. It does not matter which is "better".

7. Douglas DC3 - as much as I want this, I think it loses the impact without chrome. And costs of chrome or silver parts will blow it out of budget. Rejected after lots of analysis.

8. Brick TRex - immediate fail, license conflict with Jurassic World. This one is all about Universal. Lego will have no choice.

9. International Space Station - Lego has released several ISS models. They generally don't approve new versions of old sets underrated Ideas. I think this one fails review.

10. The Golden Girls - complete and utter wild card. I don't see why Lego would make this? But there seems to be a lot of organic broad support.

11. The Kegend of Zelda - sigh! Just put it over in the corner on the pile with the others. In a slow cycle it would have nearly no chance. In a pack this crowded? It gets rejected faster than Frozen. The previous 3 or is it 4? Zelda projects failed in the initial business case review. The reasons for those failures have not changed.

12. RMS Titanic - fail. Doomed ship with catastrophic loss of life is not what one normally thinks of as a brand fit for Lego. They won't do this for the same reasons they don't do Navy ships.

13. 1969 Corvette - probably the best all around project on the list. The one that hits the best broadest notes. Only downside is size. This is the one most likely to surprise us and come out on top.

[AFOLguy1970]

The Winter 2014 Review Results - the results announcement in which they announced the Female Minifigure Set (that eventually became the Research Institute) was approved - also featured an entire review batch from which no projects were selected; the Female Minifigure Set had been held over from a previous batch for additional consideration. It's fortunate they did have it to fall back on, as it gave them something they could announce when everything in the following batch was being declined.

Not that I know, though, of course.

Interesting, so it was the Research Institute that gave Lego the save. In the current review, I do not think there are any holdovers from previous waves, so they would either have to reject all sets or pick a new one

After studying the labyrinth again, it does seem to have a substantial size and number of parts, therefore it would not likely be as cheap as many might hope it would be if approved. Also, if it does come out at an inflated price, I could see people who might casually want one simply pull up the instructions once it goes online, and using PAB and Bricklink to build their own as most of the parts are quite common, which is also a possibility with the piano. Would Lego anticipate people trying to do this to avoid paying the higher price?

[XAxles]

So either 'Vette, Golden Girls, Piano, or Labyrinth Marble Maze for the win. Just imagine if you have both the UCS Ferrari F40 and the Corvette. Methinks it'd rock really hard.

[Blondie-Wan]

Keep in mind the Corvette and Golden Girls are from one review batch, while the Piano and the Labyrinth are from another. Unless they hold stuff over again (which is quite possible; they've done it multiple times before), we'll get results on the latter two (along with seven other projects) in the very near future (the next couple days or weeks), while we won't hear about the Corvette and Golden Girls (and the other eleven projects with them) for a few more months.

[Robert8]

My predictions

1. Daft Punk NO

2. Small Yellow NO

3. The Discworld NO

4. Science Adventures YES

5. Medieval Market Street NO

6. Disney Princess Frozen Ice Palace NO (maybe just the brick built Marshmallow to go with the Palace already released)

7. Douglas DC-3 NO

8. Bricksauria-Tyrannosaurus Rex YES

9. International Space Station NO

10. The Golden Girls NO

11. The Legend of Zelda: King of Red Lions Play Set NO

12. RMS Titanic NO

13. 1969 Chevrolet Corvette YES

Edited May 8, 2015 by Robert8

[Artanis I]

They are taking their sweet time in giving us the results from the previous period... and when are they going to reveal the 3 sets already in production? I get impatient sometimes. Not often, but right now, yes.

[tafkatb]

The current review just began a few days ago; there was never any guarantee that the previous review would be done by now. As for the three upcoming sets, release is still a few months away, so official reveals may not come until SDCC.

[Robert8]

The current review just began a few days ago; there was never any guarantee that the previous review would be done by now. As for the three upcoming sets, release is still a few months away, so official reveals may not come until SDCC.

!

Say what?!

There are 2 months until SDCC.... I was expecting the results in a couple of weeks

Edited May 9, 2015 by Robert8

[tafkatb]

Well, I should clarify that I expect official reveals by SDCC at the latest, so the more optimistic answer is "sometime between now and then." They may even release official pictures of TBBT and/or WALL-E at the same time as they announce the latest review results.

Edited May 9, 2015 by Tragic Banjo

[The Real Indiana Jones]

Well, I should clarify that I expect official reveals by SDCC at the latest, so the more optimistic answer is "sometime between now and then." They may even release official pictures of TBBT and/or WALL-E at the same time as they announce the latest review results.

Ah, well they definitely have the tendency to delay results if there is even just one copyright licensing deal in the group that is taking a while.

How many copyrights are in the works this time? I mean among the ones that are on the verge of being announced as passed/not-passed now?

[jonwil]

My predictions:

Daft Punk. No, there just isn't a set in it beyond the figs and maybe some instruments. And toys based on musical acts dont sell (certainly not for the kind of band Daft Punk are). Plus licensing for bands can be tricky.

Small Yellow. No, its too niche and wouldn't sell.

Discworld. No, the books aren't that popular with the sort of audience who would buy LEGO and there is no TV/movie content to tie into so the product just wouldn't make enough money.

Science Adventures. Maybe. Research Institute sold well (probably enough that if they had the production capacity to do another production run, they could do it and easily sell the whole run) but this one may not be quite as attractive. Plus LEGO might not want to do a set so similar to the Research Institute so soon.

Medieval Market Street. No, its too big and expensive and Castle as a theme in general isn't on their radar screen.

Disney Frozen. No, LEGO already have a Frozen set on the market.

Douglas DC-3. Maybe, its an iconic and historically significant airplane (and it looks cool) but its not the kind of airplane kids would think of when they think of an airplane. Not sure it would sell that well to airplane enthusiasts either (they tend to be more interested in model kits with high levels of detail). Licensing (through Boeing who own Douglas) wouldn't be all that hard though I suspect.

T-Rex. No, they have the Jurassic World stuff (which includes a T-Rex) and even if the Jurassic World license doesn't preclude it, I cant see them doing this.

International Space Station. No, the ISS just doesn't have the visibility to make it work in the way the Mars Rover did (at the time the Mars Rover set was green-lit and hit shelves it was still very much news, the ISS only seems to make the news when one of the ships headed to it either can't launch for some reason or launches and has a failure of some sort)

Golden Girls. No, the sort of people who like the Golden Girls are not the sort of people who generally like LEGO.

Zelda. No for the same reasons the other Zelda projects have been rejected.

RMS Titanic. No, its not really a good fit with the LEGO ethos to product a set based on a boat that sank and killed so many people. Plus any set that looked anything like realistic would be far too big for an Ideas project.

Corvette. Maybe, Corvette is a cool car for sure but how many Europeans know what a Corvette is or would be interested in one (as opposed to, say, a Ferrari or Porsche that is popular on both sides of the pond). Plus they would need to negotiate with General Motors for a license and I dont know how hard GM is to work with. And with Speed Champions, there is the question of whether another sports car is something LEGO would want on the shelves right now.

Of this batch, the best chance might be for the DC-3,and Corvette and maybe the Science Adventures (only because of how popular the Research Institute was)

[Xyver]

So a couple of photos are doing the rounds for the new Dimensions game which shows a set for Portal 2 and a set for Dr Who.

So obviously Lego has a licence for Dr Who for more than just one Ideas set (which is great since I've now actually watched Dr Who and can't wait for the set) and for Portal. So if the makers of Portal have no problem with Lego making a set of their product, why was the Ideas set rejected? (I never played, or even seen the game, so don't really care either way, I just feel sorry for the person who submitted the idea for a Portal project to get it rejected in review and then made by Lego anyway)

[Robert8]

So a couple of photos are doing the rounds for the new Dimensions game which shows a set for Portal 2 and a set for Dr Who.

So obviously Lego has a licence for Dr Who for more than just one Ideas set (which is great since I've now actually watched Dr Who and can't wait for the set) and for Portal. So if the makers of Portal have no problem with Lego making a set of their product, why was the Ideas set rejected? (I never played, or even seen the game, so don't really care either way, I just feel sorry for the person who submitted the idea for a Portal project to get it rejected in review and then made by Lego anyway)

I don't remember the set, but it could have been rejected by the LEGO designers team, not by a license issue

Edited May 11, 2015 by Robert8

[jonwil]

It may be that they couldn't come up with a viable product for Portals (remember they did hold it over for a while after the results of that particular review were announced) but with Dimensions you dont need an entire set, just the figs and micro builds.

It may also be that LEGO couldn't proceed with the Portals idea because Valve said no to a Portals set without a new portal gun mold but with Dimensions able to green-light new molds (like this new Portal Gun) they can include it.

What it presumably means is that if someone submitted another Portals idea (one that was actually a more concrete set) to the Ideas portal and it got to 10k it might stand a greater chance of being made due to the license and the new Portal Gun piece (I doubt the inclusion of Portals Dimensions means actual sets are on the way, the Hoverboard is new for the Dimensions set and I doubt that means another BTTF set is in the works)

Same with Wizard of Oz being in Dimensions and the Ideas project being rejected, its possible that the original Ideas project didn't get green-lit because there wasn't a clear set in the Ideas project or because new molds (or too many new prints/etc) were required.

[Master_Data]

With the new molds included in the Dimensions set so LEGO could also include them in the Ideas set, what is to stop a new Ideas project from including a request for a new mold claiming it would be used in a Dimensions set? How can new molds be a premise for rejection anymore?

[Faefrost]

It may be that they couldn't come up with a viable product for Portals (remember they did hold it over for a while after the results of that particular review were announced) but with Dimensions you dont need an entire set, just the figs and micro builds.

It may also be that LEGO couldn't proceed with the Portals idea because Valve said no to a Portals set without a new portal gun mold but with Dimensions able to green-light new molds (like this new Portal Gun) they can include it.

What it presumably means is that if someone submitted another Portals idea (one that was actually a more concrete set) to the Ideas portal and it got to 10k it might stand a greater chance of being made due to the license and the new Portal Gun piece (I doubt the inclusion of Portals Dimensions means actual sets are on the way, the Hoverboard is new for the Dimensions set and I doubt that means another BTTF set is in the works)

Same with Wizard of Oz being in Dimensions and the Ideas project being rejected, its possible that the original Ideas project didn't get green-lit because there wasn't a clear set in the Ideas project or because new molds (or too many new prints/etc) were required.

It was very clear why the original Portal set failed. It required new construction elements to form the portal gun and Turrets. This was before the no new parts rule. In fact it is likely the ultimate reason for the no new parts rule. TLG took extra time with the portals set examining the possibility of the new parts in what looked to be a quite detailed way. The conclusion, that they could never amortize new parts at the distribution numbers of Ideas projects. They clearly liked the Portal proposal. But it was economically impossible, and it gave them enough data to realize that any new parts in Ideas would not be possible.

But Lego Dimensions has a very different business model than ideas. It looks to be closer to CMF's, which can easily absorb 30-40% of the price of the product on a new part, such high numbers are produced. So that allowed them to make the Portal gun and do the Lego Dimensions a Portal set. Ideas sets are produced in lots of 20,000 up to maybe 100,000 for the well selling items. CMF's and likely LD's are produced in lots of hundreds of thousands up through more than a million. Plus they are full retail products that likely have the highest margin return vs shelf space consumed. New parts are all about the math. Can we sell enough of this product at a high enough margin to absorb the costs of the new tooling.

[Faefrost]

With the new molds included in the Dimensions set so LEGO could also include them in the Ideas set, what is to stop a new Ideas project from including a request for a new mold claiming it would be used in a Dimensions set? How can new molds be a premise for rejection anymore?

Because they cannot factor dimensions into product planning for Ideas. Remember Dimensions likely carries its own licensing. New molds are purchased via business loans made against the projected use of the part. They cannot project it onto another license without a license contract clearly in hand. And if it is a pre existing contract it gets very complex. They will not create a part for Ideas even if they think they can use it elsewhere. The best ideas can hope for is that another line creates a part that they can use.

[The Real Indiana Jones]

Because they cannot factor dimensions into product planning for Ideas. Remember Dimensions likely carries its own licensing. New molds are purchased via business loans made against the projected use of the part. They cannot project it onto another license without a license contract clearly in hand. And if it is a pre existing contract it gets very complex. They will not create a part for Ideas even if they think they can use it elsewhere. The best ideas can hope for is that another line creates a part that they can use.

Well, if the mold has been created, and if the image of it is not still under secrecy, then you could try doing an ideas project with it...!

Edited May 12, 2015 by The Real Indiana Jones