Blondie-Wan Posted March 25, 2016 I've seen a few like that, but they tend to get little or no support, which I view as the system working as intended. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
nine09nueve Posted March 25, 2016 I've seen a few like that, but they tend to get little or no support, which I view as the system working as intended. True - except that you'd like to have thought that the IDEAS submissions bods would have read through the blurb and gone... "dude (or dudette) please resubmit and either edit or remove that line!" Or do they just go... click (yes) click (yes) click (yes) click (yes) click (yes) click (yes) click (no - looks like a battle pack) click (yes) click (yes) :D Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Brickthus Posted March 25, 2016 In my experience as an attorney, an "exclusive license" works both ways. The reason why MegaBlocks cannot design, manufacture and market Star Wars construction toys is the same reason anybody else from outside TLG cannot design, manufacture and market Star Wars construction toys. In such cases, exclusivity protects the licensor as much as it protects the licensee. At this point you may be inclined to argue that TLG has the final say on the design and holds all rights to the final product. The counter argument to this is that 3 per cent commission (or whatever its) IDEAS projects earn for the designer may be interpreted as a royalty fee (courts take a "substance over form" approach to such matters) in which case it breaches the terms of a non-transferable license (trust me, they are all non-transferable). In any case, it is highly unlikely TLG could support a claim they made "substantial contribution" to the product design. Each SW LEGO product also requires the approval of somebody at Disney so there's also that to consider. I've spent about 160 hours on my LEGO Technic BB-8 droid up to now, with perhaps as much again to do. If I were being an engineer like my day job, that would have a minimum salary rate of £20/hour, probably £50/hour as a contract, so the time spent so far is worth at least £3200, possibly £8000 (OK so maybe model building pay rates are rather lower). According to the reward rules of LEGO Ideas, 5 kits at a price point of £170 = £850 plus 1% royalty on 4,000 kits at £170 = £6800, total £7650, so it would need quite a few thousand kits to be sold for any "profit" to be made. How many Technic BB-8 droids at £170 do you think TLG could sell? The price per piece of LEGO Ideas kits is higher than most, probably because of the shorter production runs; in any case they have to use existing parts and very few colour changes from available pieces in order to meet cost targets. I built BB-8 for the benefit of the community and to give TLG an opportunity to take pride in the technical capability of their products and to help people get more educational value from BB-8, not thinking of any potential profit; I think there is actually more profit in the educational value of the LEGO product, especially one that teaches something other sets don't. It has also been a really good challenge, like I haven't had for a long time. I can see why Disney, as the licence-holder, would need to approve any new SW product, which is why I have sought to make BB-8 as good as possible. I had the same desire to maximise accuracy when building for display at model railway shows - build LEGO trains to scale, with best functionality, and operate them properly; I won a prize at one show . I've trawled the videos of the real BB-8 to make sure I have the tool faces in the right order. I've started on the deployable tools and today developed a solution for deploying the cables, from the Millennium Falcon scene where BB-8 deploys 3 cables to hold position whilst the ship is barrel-rolling. When I raise a patent application in the course of my work, my employer has the rights to that intellectual property so I sign over the rights to the company in return for a reward that acknowledges the value of the IP to the company. There is a signing-over of rights to TLG as part of the submission of a LEGO Ideas project, so surely any reward offered in return could operate on a similar basis without breaching a licence? The fact that it is calculated as a proportion of sales is voluntary to TLG just like any reward I might get from a patent at work may have tiers in proportion to its profitability if it is a really good one. The retail mark-up on sets is at least 20% so a 1% reward is small compared to the profit, especially where an Ideas set is sold as much online as from shops, giving TLG more of the retail profit directly. After all, there is enough profit from Shop at Home to give us free postage when we order over £50 of sets. Longing to find out for real, but it needs all your support first! Mark Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Robert8 Posted March 29, 2016 I'm trying!! It seems its working because it's the most popular project this week again It's about the get 4000 supporters Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
CM4Sci Posted March 29, 2016 It seems its working because it's the most popular project this week again It's about the get 4000 supporters Yep. They put another banner up on the site for a few hours yesterday! Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Blondie-Wan Posted March 29, 2016 Longing to find out for real, but it needs all your support first! Mark I've supported your project. Best of luck! Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Blondie-Wan Posted March 29, 2016 The Ideas site says they'll have some site updates tomorrow (Tuesday the 29th) starting at 12 PM EST, and that there may be brief outages during that time. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Robert8 Posted April 1, 2016 Now this is a very cruel joke for those who got their projects rejected, but it would be interesting if they try something like that Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
nine09nueve Posted April 1, 2016 (edited) April fools from the brick fan? ( Since there is nothing on the legoideas blog :D ) Edited April 1, 2016 by nine09nueve Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
MAB Posted April 1, 2016 Something similar has been done unofficially already. I think it was on Glen Bricker's site, where he did a head to head play off for sets close to the 10,000 mark. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
CM4Sci Posted April 1, 2016 (edited) Even if that were true, I think the only ones to pass would be LoZ or Portal. Edited April 6, 2016 by CM4Sci Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Robert8 Posted April 11, 2016 (edited) There was a project of the 60's Batman batmobile with +9000 supporters and now it's gone. It didn't expire... it didn't achieve the 10k It just disappeared.... EDIT. Found it They "archived" it for being too similar to the D2C Batcave set released earlier this year... Dear B.Rick, First, thank you for building and submitting your very well done 1966 Batmobile 50th Anniversary set 'Cartboard Crusaders'. We have chosen to archive your project and no longer consider it for production based on its overlap with 76052 Batman™ Classic TV Series – Batcave, which was developed independently of LEGO Ideas submissions. Your project will remain visible on LEGO Ideas, but in a status where it can no longer be supported or commented on. This way fans can still admire your creation. As it typically takes 12-18 months to develop and release a LEGO product, situations like this are likely where a LEGO Ideas project overlaps a product in development. The closer an Ideas project is based on an existing LEGO license or product line, the greater this risk will be. For more info, please refer to the LEGO Ideas Guidelines regarding overlaps with our product pipeline. We're sorry to be the bearers of this disappointing news, and we hope to see more projects from you soon! LEGO® Ideas Team Edited April 11, 2016 by Robert8 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
CM4Sci Posted April 11, 2016 Oh, hohoho, that sucks. Though, he should have known, I guess. Won't be surprised if they start shelving other similar/existing products. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Robert8 Posted April 11, 2016 (edited) Though, he should have known, I guess. He submitted the project in 2014. Edited April 11, 2016 by Robert8 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
CM4Sci Posted April 11, 2016 Haha, oops, didn't know. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Tech Artist Posted April 12, 2016 Was the Shield Helicarrier also archived because of this? I remember seeing it on Lego Ideas way before the official set came out. He submitted the project in 2014. Are you saying they took his idea? Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Robert8 Posted April 12, 2016 Are you saying they took his idea? No, I was just saying that he didn't know about the 60's batcave when he submitted his project. (The guy based his project on the 2014 SDCC exclusive set) Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Aanchir Posted April 13, 2016 Was the Shield Helicarrier also archived because of this? I remember seeing it on Lego Ideas way before the official set came out. The Avengers Helicarrier project actually reached review and was rejected at that stage, rather than being archived like this project was. But it was for more or less the same reason — the SHIELD Helicarrier set was officially unveiled in January 2015, so development on it would have begun many months before the Ideas project was pitched in May 2014. Even more moderately-sized $30 or $40 sets usually begin development fifteen to eighteen months before they're released — huge exclusive sets like the Ghostbusters Firehouse, SHIELD Helicarrier, and UCS Star Wars sets are generally in development for even longer. That isn't to say that the Ideas project would have stood a chance otherwise... it was unrealistically large and (as a digital model) might not have even been able to support its own weight, so turning it into a set would have basically meant starting over from scratch. The project creator made a valiant effort to reduce its size, but even that only reduced it to 6700 bricks, which would have meant a $500 or higher price tag. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Robert8 Posted April 20, 2016 I wonder why they "archived" this project instead of just rejecting it in the review And they did it when the guy was just about to get the 10k supporters after 2 years of posting the project Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Aanchir Posted April 20, 2016 I wonder why they "archived" this project instead of just rejecting it in the review And they did it when the guy was just about to get the 10k supporters after 2 years of posting the project Letting it go to review would mean giving people a false sense that it might pass up until the review results are announced (which could be months from now). Honestly I think it's a lot better for LEGO Ideas to reject projects that conflict with an existing product as soon as they can reveal their reasons instead of leading people on. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Robert8 Posted April 21, 2016 Letting it go to review would mean giving people a false sense that it might pass up until the review results are announced (which could be months from now). Honestly I think it's a lot better for LEGO Ideas to reject projects that conflict with an existing product as soon as they can reveal their reasons instead of leading people on. Yes but they didn't do it with the Helicarrier and the Frozen castle Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
x105Black Posted April 21, 2016 Yes but they didn't do it with the Helicarrier and the Frozen castle Maybe they should have, and this is showing their aim to do a better job in the future. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
legonerd54321 Posted April 21, 2016 https://ideas.lego.com/projects/115817 It's so close! All it needs is a slight push. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Aanchir Posted April 25, 2016 Yes but they didn't do it with the Helicarrier and the Frozen castle The Helicarrier was already in review by the time LEGO was able to reveal they had a similar product coming out. Announcing the results for one review candidate before the review results as a whole is different than archiving an individual project before it gets to review. But Elsa's Sparkling Ice Castle was already on shelves by the time the Elsa's Ice Palace project got 10,000 supporters. So as x105black said, it's possible that it SHOULD have been archived before it reached review. Nobody's saying the LEGO Ideas team has had everything all figured out from the get-go. They're figuring out how to manage these specific kinds of scenarios as they go. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Robert8 Posted April 28, 2016 (edited) Johnny Five, by PepaQuin, achieved the 10000 supporters Edited April 28, 2016 by Robert8 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
