LEGO Ideas Discussion

[dr_spock]

What I don't get, why do both have a traffic light? That wouldn't be obvious to me to include looking at the movie- plus it hangs over the base, can get in the way of something next to it... I never understood why it was in the LEGO Ideas project and I really don't see why it was in the official set. While I doubt the official LEGO project wasn't in the works, that detail alone makes me wonder if the Ideas project didn't have some influence. Legally, it's allowed to, would just like to know if it did.

A. Coincidence by supernatural beings.

B. Attempt to increase piece count and price.

C. LEGO may have chosen not to release the HQ with Ecto-1 to minimize their risk since they didn't have any previous Ghostbusters. Ecto-1 could have been their market test. Ecto-1 sales were good enough to help green light the HQ to production.

D. All of the above.

E. None of the above.

F. Fill in blank _____________________________

[6ix]

Maybe when the Idea was uploaded and quickly gained a popular vote, Lego hijacked the idea before it reached 10,000.

[Artanis I]

non-troversy

Brilliant

[Sven F]

Of all things in review + achieved support, only the beatles submarine seems feasible so far. (drug abuse seems a bit stretched)

[x105Black]

Of all things in review + achieved support, only the beatles submarine seems feasible so far. (drug abuse seems a bit stretched)

The Beatles didn't abuse drugs, they used them! Even still, I also think it's a stretch if they held off on the Yellow Submarine for that reason. It's a great set representing the most iconic popular musicians in the world.

[Blondie-Wan]

I didn't say it definitely would be declined for that reason, I was just trying to identify a reason why it might be, and that's the biggest potential pitfall I can see for that project. A while ago it would have been that another company was already making Yellow Submarine construction toys, believe it or not, but I think they might be done with them, and that the rights may be free again. Not sure, though - so that could also be an obstacle. But I do think it might have the best chance of the four projects so far that have achieved their support this period and are awaiting review (and for which we'll get the decisions announced sometime next spring).

[Faefrost]

If LEGO knows for a fact that they wont approve Ideas sets in certain themes they already have licenses for (e.g. Star Wars or LOTR or Super Heroes) they should say so and not allow those licenses to appear on the site.

As they said early on, "Licenses are complicated. Pre-existing licenses that were written without Ideas in mind especially so. They don't discount it, because it is not impossible for a pre-existing license to get an Ideas set. It just has far more built in failure points and is wholly at the whims of a third party above and beyond normal business case reviews.

Think of Star Wars. There are likely some sets that might be made. But they would have to exist in a very narrow band of subjects. Say EU ships that have never actually appeared on screen or been designed or rendered by ILM. But no made up fan fiction ships. The License holder will not let the fan create a new official design for these purposes. See complicated.

From a (well known on Eurobricks) Lego designer recently re discussion of (at the time) rumoured Nexo Knights:

Lego and the Lego designers statements are very carefully worded in this case, and do dance specifically around a few facts. We know that Lego did preliminary design and proposal work for a Thundercats theme. We know this because the Thundercats show runner who was in the meetings went on an unprofessional social media tirade when Chima was announced. He felt that his show was cancelled by WB to make room for Chima. Which he felt was leveraging Lego's Thundercats work.

The truth is likely somewhere in the middle. Pre license deal Lego developed some preliminary design work and proposals for Thundercats. When they decided to not go forward, any work that was not IP specific, such as character designs, remained Lego's to develop as they saw fit. So the organic cat designed buildings and vehicles likely evolved into the basis for Chima in some ways. This is common. It is all proper. You get to keep what you bring to the table if the deal falls through. And most will recycle what design work they can. "Hey Jimmy we got a filing cabinet full of kitty tank designs. What can we do with em?" "How about we create a post apocalyptic Fabuland fighting a war over narcotics?" "Brilliant!"

Can somone point me to information on the Thundercats that was supposed to happen? I'd like to know more details.

Also, there are a lot of assumptions here. Just because Zelda has failed a number of times does not mean it will always fail. However, that could indeed be the case. We don't know anything for certain. I wish we could get better answers for rejections, but they are always deliberately vague.

I think the Beatles set would be a fantastic set, and would sell very well. I know several adults who were KFOLs that are not currently into LEGO, but would jump on the chance to build their own Yellow Submarine. The Beatles are the biggest rock group of all time, I'm sure there's an audience. I hope the licensing wouldn't be too hard to obtain, but that's the only real snag I can think of.

I'd much prefer to see Adventure Time done in minifigure scale, and it can be done well, but would certainly require some new parts. I hope they end up developing this independently from Ideas, as it has so much more potential.

See above regarding Thundercats. The info came from the show runner. It was on his social media. I forget where.

I think we are discounting the Adventure Time too soon. Lego has a good partnership with WB. I would think WB would love to see Adventure Time. The big question will be whether they want it in Ideas? I suspect Adventure Time is almost guaranteed a Lego Dimensions presense.

What I don't get, why do both have a traffic light? That wouldn't be obvious to me to include looking at the movie- plus it hangs over the base, can get in the way of something next to it... I never understood why it was in the LEGO Ideas project and I really don't see why it was in the official set. While I doubt the official LEGO project wasn't in the works, that detail alone makes me wonder if the Ideas project didn't have some influence. Legally, it's allowed to, would just like to know if it did.

It's an actual well know building in NYC. Most designers work off a picture of the building, not movie stills. The Traffic Light is a clear detail when looking at the building, and is just the sort of detail that no MOC'er nor Lego Designer could ever bring themselves to not include. Plus it adds a subtle play element to the Ecto-1

[MAB]

I didn't say it definitely would be declined for that reason, I was just trying to identify a reason why it might be, and that's the biggest potential pitfall I can see for that project. A while ago it would have been that another company was already making Yellow Submarine construction toys, believe it or not, but I think they might be done with them, and that the rights may be free again. Not sure, though - so that could also be an obstacle. But I do think it might have the best chance of the four projects so far that have achieved their support this period and are awaiting review (and for which we'll get the decisions announced sometime next spring).

K'Nex make them, and they are still for sale in some (discount) stores in the UK.

[x105Black]

K'Nex make them, and they are still for sale in some (discount) stores in the UK.

Well that's bad news. We can probably write off the Yellow Submarine for licensing issues.

[The Steward]

Well that's bad news. We can probably write off the Yellow Submarine for licensing issues.

I hope the Beatles thing is kicked out, I want a cool to make it, not a set based off a singing group.

[Blondie-Wan]

I hope the Beatles thing is kicked out, I want a cool to make it, not a set based off a singing group.

It's a nice build (not that it matters too much, since Ideas projects are just concept proposals and will get redesigned if approved anyway) of a nifty, fanciful craft, that would make a fine set even without minifigures of the group.

[The Steward]

It's a nice build (not that it matters too much, since Ideas projects are just concept proposals and will get redesigned if approved anyway) of a nifty, fanciful craft, that would make a fine set even without minifigures of the group.

But there are much better sets that I would MUCH rather make it to 10k, and pass the review.

Like one of my projects for example.

Edited November 19, 2015 by The Steward

[Artanis I]

But there are much better sets that I would MUCH rather make it to 10k, and pass the review.

Like one of my projects for example.

The yellow submarine is not what is preventing other projects from reaching 10000 supports or passing review.

[Blondie-Wan]

Indeed. For that matter, they could approve the Yellow Submarine and still approve one or more other projects at the same time - they've already had at least two different reviews in which they approved multiple projects at once.

What are some of your projects, The Steward?

Edited November 19, 2015 by Blondie-Wan

[The Steward]

The yellow submarine is not what is preventing other projects from reaching 10000 supports or passing review.

I know I just said I would much rather others made it.

[Artanis I]

Then why say this?

I hope the Beatles thing is kicked out

[The Steward]

Because, I don't want it to make it, there for I want it kicked out. As in kicked out of the review.

[Blondie-Wan]

Unless it's determined prior to the review that another company does still have the rights, I don't think there are grounds for kicking it out (archiving the project).

They can always simply decline it in the review, of course. Alternately, if they actually approve it and produce it, you can simply not buy it. No one will make you have it if you don't want it.

[x105Black]

That's brash. I hope it's successful. I hope a lot are successful. I don't know what you made, but I hope they are successful, too.

What did you make?

[Blondie-Wan]

A few minutes of internet research show K'Nex acquired the Beatles / Yellow Submarine rights in May 2012, and apparently released the products later that year; they seem to no longer be actively producing them, though, although some stock remains in retail channels as reported by MAB. If they're no longer making them, I think there's a good chance they no longer have the rights.

K'Nex's site still lists their Angry Birds products but not their Yellow Submarine ones, and we know TLG has scooped up the former. If they still feature a property to which their rights have expired or are about to, it suggests to me that they stopped making Yellow Submarine stuff a little less recently, which would bode well for the possibility of LEGO doing it... though that's assuming Angry Birds is treated as a single property, and not split into separate rights for the original videogames and the upcoming movie, which is a possibility. Note that at the same time TLG was making Spider-Man sets based on the first couple Raimi / Maguire movies from 2002-2004, Mega Bloks was making their own Spider-Man sets based on the comics.

Either way, though, it appears from their website K'Nex is no longer making Yellow Submarine stuff, which seems borne out by MAB's report of the remaining stock being on clearance, so as someone who'd like to see an official LEGO take on it, I'm cautiously optimistic.

[Robert8]

The HMS Beagle got 10000 votes today

https://ideas.lego.com/projects/93900

I don't think it will pass the review though

Edited November 21, 2015 by Robert8

[AFOLguy1970]

The HMS Beagle got 10000 votes today

I don't think it pass the review though

It is a beauty, but the piece count/types will certainly kill it. They made it clear during the last review that allocation of factory resources is a consideration. Also, if it were to have to compete with anything similar in other lines, such as a pirate ship, it will have a difficult time passing review. I suspect these are the same factors that killed the Natural History Museum a couple of review cycles ago.

[Robert8]

And now Apollo 11 Saturn V got 10000 supporters

https://ideas.lego.com/projects/76841

I think that one has chances to pass the review

Edited November 21, 2015 by Robert8

[jonwil]

I own all of the sets form the "NASA Discovery" line (including the larger "UCS" lunar module and the Technic mars rover) and I would love to add this Apollo rocket ship to my collection.

I recon it might be a bit big for LEGO Ideas though, just looking at the piece count for it.

If I thought it had any chance of reaching 10k (and getting approved if it did), I would dig out my own Ideas idea and actually submit it to the site (its an idea for a set that can build 1 of n different styles of 6-wide City car at any given time ala the x-in-one Creator sets)

I would also consider submitting my bus designs as well but all that would do is make it just that much harder for every other bus design on the site...

[Tariq j]

And now Apollo 11 Saturn V got 10000 supporters

https://ideas.lego.com/projects/76841

I think that one has chances to pass the review

Now this would be an excellent Ideas set. One that I would certainly buy.