LEGO Ideas Discussion

[Blondie-Wan]

17 hours ago, koalayummies said:

 

 

Agreed. 

I'm glad you feel that way. Anyone can still express their opinion that it may be undesirable. In the meantime a recent Ideas selection, if that's the correct terminology despite multiple others also using the word win and not being condescendingly lectured to about it, has recently had three other submissions all cross the threshold so the odds of this conjectured scenario repeating itself have increased. That is the reason it was brought up. So I hope you're right about Lego choosing the best.

Sorry if you feel I was condescending. I pointed it out simply because there actually is a significant difference between winning a traditional contest and what happens with Ideas. The distinction is a critical one, and yet as you yourself note, multiple others have preferred here to "winning", which to me suggests a misunderstanding.

I should also note re: x105Black's misgivings about Alatariel's multiple "wins" that her second approved project / set, The Big Bang Theory, is actually a collaboration between herself and GlenBricker, so even just her two project approvals still entail multiple people being approved, even if those were the only two Ideas projects that had ever happened. In fact, at least a couple of the other sets to come out of CUUSOO / Ideas are also the result of collaborations, so there have actually been at least three more individual people who've had sets made than there have been sets made, rather than the other way around.

Re: LEGO choosing the best, they will of course make their decisions based on such considerations as whether they can license certain properties (which can be entirely out of their hands), what's a good brand fit (which doesn't always coincide with what we fans most want to see), what has the best business case (which may depend in part upon market research to which we aren't privy), and so on. Note that even here in this very thread, there's often disagreement about what "the best" really is; just with the most recent review results, for example, we have people interested in Voltron but not the Ship in a Bottle, and other people interested in the exact opposite. Personally, I feel every selection they've gone with has been a fantastic choice with the possible exception of The Big Bang Theory, and even that one makes sense to me even though it's not as inherently appealing to me personally as some of the others. In other words, I think everything they do approve is entirely justifiable.

It's a bigger and more understandable disappointment when they don't approve something that one does want. It just doesn't seem to make much sense to me to be upset about them approving something one doesn't want, though, and that includes projects from submitters who've already had previous projects approved. If each approved project were clearly "taking the place" of another project, that would be more understandable, but I just don't see how them approving a project by someone who's already had one is somehow worse than them just not approving anything.

[koalayummies]

1 hour ago, Blondie-Wan said:

Sorry if you feel I was condescending. I pointed it out simply because there actually is a significant difference between winning a traditional contest and what happens with Ideas. The distinction is a critical one, and yet as you yourself note, multiple others have preferred here to "winning", which to me suggests a misunderstanding.

I should also note re: x105Black's misgivings about Alatariel's multiple "wins" that her second approved project / set, The Big Bang Theory, is actually a collaboration between herself and GlenBricker, so even just her two project approvals still entail multiple people being approved, even if those were the only two Ideas projects that had ever happened. In fact, at least a couple of the other sets to come out of CUUSOO / Ideas are also the result of collaborations, so there have actually been at least three more individual people who've had sets made than there have been sets made, rather than the other way around.

Re: LEGO choosing the best, they will of course make their decisions based on such considerations as whether they can license certain properties (which can be entirely out of their hands), what's a good brand fit (which doesn't always coincide with what we fans most want to see), what has the best business case (which may depend in part upon market research to which we aren't privy), and so on. Note that even here in this very thread, there's often disagreement about what "the best" really is; just with the most recent review results, for example, we have people interested in Voltron but not the Ship in a Bottle, and other people interested in the exact opposite. Personally, I feel every selection they've gone with has been a fantastic choice with the possible exception of The Big Bang Theory, and even that one makes sense to me even though it's not as inherently appealing to me personally as some of the others. In other words, I think everything they do approve is entirely justifiable.

It's a bigger and more understandable disappointment when they don't approve something that one does want. It just doesn't seem to make much sense to me to be upset about them approving something one doesn't want, though, and that includes projects from submitters who've already had previous projects approved. If each approved project were clearly "taking the place" of another project, that would be more understandable, but I just don't see how them approving a project by someone who's already had one is somehow worse than them just not approving anything.

No worries at all, I was probably reading far too deeply into the wording. My apologies for getting hung up on that. It is more technically correct to refer to them as selections despite the overcoming of seemingly insurmountable odds to be selected appearing as quite a victory to both the submitter and supporters.

I completely understand that the position that I stated thats being discussed can seem contradictory with regards to all aspects, especially those that have been highlighted; that its not really a competition between submissions, they are making the choice based on a myriad of factors including what is best to sell and appeal to the widest audience and so forth. I agree they should pick the best and if that happens to be the same submitter as a selection before then there's not a strong argument against it. Its just the part of me that never forgets that this is a children's building toy, Ideas allows a wide and young age-range of submissions, so few are ever selected, the benefits of being selected are very respectable and I'd just like to see everyone get a chance, again, even if they're not technically competing and they will approve whatever they see is best. I can see the contradiction, I've never had a position on an issue thats so difficult to explain so I should probably just let it go and have more faith in the process. 

So for clarification, and apologies if this is getting redundant (and probably been discussed previously), but theoretically if a bunch of projects that have all garnered the required support and are up for review they could conceivably all be so good that they all get approved or is there a limitation on Ideas production?

[Blondie-Wan]

No worries.

I think there probably is some upper limit on how many Ideas things they'll approve at once, but I don't know that we've hit it. We do know they'll approve more than one thing at once, sometimes; they've done it five times now, after all.

They've yet to approve three at once, but they have approved three projects from a single batch before. There was a batch with six projects - the life-sized birds figures, The Big Bang Theory, a modular Apple Store, the Back to the Future Time Train, and two separate, similar Doctor Who projects. They approved the Birds and The Big Bang Theory right off the bat and held the two Doctor Who projects for further review, and then approved one of them in the next review (alongside the WALL•E project from the following batch), so they ultimately approved three projects from that one batch - fully half the total six!

_____________________

Could they approve an entire batch? It's very unlikely to actually happen, but I do think it's theoretically possible (and likelier for small batches than for larger ones, of course).

[x105Black]

7 hours ago, Blondie-Wan said:

It's a bigger and more understandable disappointment when they don't approve something that one does want. It just doesn't seem to make much sense to me to be upset about them approving something one doesn't want, though, and that includes projects from submitters who've already had previous projects approved. If each approved project were clearly "taking the place" of another project, that would be more understandable, but I just don't see how them approving a project by someone who's already had one is somehow worse than them just not approving anything.

True, it's much more disappointing when they don't approve something I want than when they do approve something I don't want.  Also, it's true that Ideas submissions are not selected at the expense of others.  However, I do think that it is even more disappointing when they approve something I don't want at the same time as not approving something I want.  While it's not being picked 'over' the one I want, I feel worse than if they had selected nothing because it means they found value in this project in which I have zero interest, but found no value in the project I loved.  I'm sure there are other factors at play most of the time, like licensing deals and so forth, but it doesn't stop the feeling.

[Artanis I]

Can't stop the feeling?

Just dance, dance, dance

[x105Black]

22 hours ago, Artanis I said:

Can't stop the feeling?

Just dance, dance, dance

Well yes, there is always that option.

[Elysiumfountain]

While I agree that it isn't a competition per se, for some people I can see the viewpoint where it might be. Currently there are 1916 active projects on Ideas (quite a bit less than there used to be). Most non-AFOLs, and indeed probably most AFOLs would not want to search through 1916 projects every day! (It takes me approximately 45 minutes just to support 21 projects, with my horrendous internet speeds). So the biggest factor is visibility and getting visibility on projects. Once a project is off the Most Recent page, unless it gets onto the Trending pages, the only way to view it again without searching for it is if it's been Recently Updated. No offense to anyone, but a majority of humans have the attention span of gnats! It's logistically impossible, of course, but it would be cool if there was a way to consolidate ALL the projects onto one page to see how they look beside each other. Either that or make the Discover button easier to use ;) 

Edited September 28, 2017 by Elysiumfountain

[zux]

Just bought a copy of Women of NASA. Not sure if this has been posted:

 

[TAFOL]

Looks great. Definitely one to add to my wanted list.

What was the price of this set? And where did you get it?

 

[zux]

I got it from local LEGO (monobrand) store. It was priced at 32.99 EUR. I believe German price will be lower.

[Robert8]

The box looks nice

But this is an easy pass for me

[Umbra-Manis]

I find a certain Irony in the fact that the minifigure which got the project the most public attention (Katherine Johnson) ended up being omitted. 

[BlueberryWaffles]

Eh, easy pass. New female heads are always nice though, might see how much those go for on Bricklink.

[1980-Something-Space-Guy]

6 hours ago, zux said:

I got it from local LEGO (monobrand) store. It was priced at 32.99 EUR. I believe German price will be lower.

Can you post pictures of the figures once it's built? I really want to see how the astronauts look. Those torsos look super useful in making an astronaut lineup.

[x105Black]

1 hour ago, BlueberryWaffles said:

Eh, easy pass. New female heads are always nice though, might see how much those go for on Bricklink.

You could probably try Bricks & Pieces as well.

[22kane]

9 hours ago, zux said:

Just bought a copy of Women of NASA. Not sure if this has been posted:

 

 

Whats the piece count? I don't see it anywhere on the box.

[Artanis I]

Seems quite small. I bet the book is huge.

[AFOLguy1970]

Question about the Women of NASA set.  I see the box photos, but my eyes are not good enough to discern the details on the torsos.  Do the flight suits have the specific names on them, or can they be used for to MOC other astronauts?  If they are "generic" then they will potentially be profitable on Bricklink.  

[zux]

Sorry I haven't posted more details - there have been some uncertainties. As the box is for EU there's no piece count - haven't counted all the parts myself.

On 10/16/2017 at 5:09 PM, AFOLguy1970 said:

Question about the Women of NASA set.  I see the box photos, but my eyes are not good enough to discern the details on the torsos.  Do the flight suits have the specific names on them, or can they be used for to MOC other astronauts?  If they are "generic" then they will potentially be profitable on Bricklink.  

Sally Ride's suit is has her name tag, the rest are generic torso's. Margaret's outfit is quite nice.

[Robert8]

Jaguar E-Type Roadster, by Ozzyeatingbats, achieved the 10000 supporters today!

[NathanR]

On 15/10/2017 at 5:17 PM, zux said:

Just bought a copy of Women of NASA. Not sure if this has been posted:

 

Ok, that looks a lot better than the original submission... the space shuttle is cute. I'm curious how the Hubble telescopes been built though, is that a trash can piece holding the hinged door to the main body?

[Digger of Bricks]

LEGO Ideas 21312 Women of NASA Unveiled [News]

9 hours ago, Robert8 said:

Jaguar E-Type Roadster, by Ozzyeatingbats, achieved the 10000 supporters today!

Now there's a project I really hope will be approved! It's so beautifully shaped! 

[Blondie-Wan]

On October 15, 2017 at 11:33 AM, TAFOL said:

Looks great. Definitely one to add to my wanted list.

What was the price of this set? And where did you get it?

 

Official MSRP is $24.99 / €24.99. I'm a bit surprised ZUX was able to get it; it's not officially released until November 1st.

On October 15, 2017 at 8:49 PM, 22kane said:

Whats the piece count? I don't see it anywhere on the box.

231. This makes it the second-smallest and second-least expensive CUUSOO/ Ideas set to date, after the Research Institute.

On October 15, 2017 at 5:57 PM, Umbra-Manis said:

I find a certain Irony in the fact that the minifigure which got the project the most public attention (Katherine Johnson) ended up being omitted. 

They were unable to get approval to use her, apparently. I would have thought they'd opt to include an alternative woman of NASA to retain the count of the original proposal, but I guess they didn't want to include someone not featured in that, or to be seen as "replacing" Johnson.

All that said, it looks great, and I'm looking forward to getting it.

[Umbra-Manis]

1 hour ago, Blondie-Wan said:

They were unable to get approval to use her, apparently. I would have thought they'd opt to include an alternative woman of NASA to retain the count of the original proposal, but I guess they didn't want to include someone not featured in that, or to be seen as "replacing" Johnson.

I see that now per the Brickset article. Very strange that she'll agree to books and movies but not a little tiny figure...

[rodiziorobs]

59 minutes ago, Umbra-Manis said:

I see that now per the Brickset article. Very strange that she'll agree to books and movies but not a little tiny figure...

It may not be her that said no, if she signed some kind of exclusivity deal with the movie studio. Who knows, though.

2 hours ago, Blondie-Wan said:

They were unable to get approval to use her, apparently. I would have thought they'd opt to include an alternative woman of NASA to retain the count of the original proposal, but I guess they didn't want to include someone not featured in that, or to be seen as "replacing" Johnson.

My guess is they went ahead designing the set with Johnson in mind, waiting on the deal to close, but when they were denied permission, there wasn't time to sub anyone else in. I suspect they had been planning on another minifigure and +80 pieces, with a $35/€35 price (which I heard rumors was the expected price) but it was simpler to drop the set size than scramble for an alternative figure.

This is all conjecture; I know nothing.