LEGO Ideas Discussion

[Lyichir]

While there's definitely an abundance of science-related projects on Ideas, it's worth keeping in mind that their proposal and success both have a lot to do with previous successes. Every time a project succeeds, we tend to see a bunch of copycat projects hoping to ride that wave—some of them by the original creators, some not. But in many cases the success of these sorts of projects has more to do with capitalizing on that existing hype, rather than Lego's goal of reaching out to untapped markets. So their chances in review might be stunted relative to fresher and newer ideas.

I'm not too interested in the SpaceX projects, to be honest. The nice thing about historical rockets like the Apollo 11 Saturn V or older franchises like Ghostbusters or Voltron is that they have more or less stood the test of time and proven to be safer bets. Models based on breaking news have a higher chance of becoming associated with negatives if that news were to go sour—for instance, if SpaceX were to experience some sort of disaster or scandal. And especially considering how tied in the SpaceX brand image is with the cult of personality around Elon Musk, that's not exactly the most unlikely scenario.

[Digger of Bricks]

The Brick Fan - LEGO Ideas Steamboat Willie Achieves 10,000 Supporters 

[x105Black]

That's a pretty nice idea.  I'd like to see it done.

[Robert8]

Isn´t it too simple for a LEGO Ideas set?

[x105Black]

I would imagine there would be changes in production to make it look a bit nicer.  Honestly it's a bit bland in execution here, but the idea is good.

I mean, Mickey should fit inside...

Edited July 6, 2018 by x105Black

[Digger of Bricks]

4 minutes ago, x105Black said:

I would imagine there would be changes in production to make it look a bit nicer. 

Perhaps bigger too? 

[x105Black]

Just now, Digger of Bricks said:

Perhaps bigger too? 

One would hope.

[jfbat]

Well, it's at least bordering on a conflict with the "no active license" rule:

Quote

Disney characters (Mickey Mouse, Minnie, Donald Duck, Daisy Duck, Goofy, Tinker Bell)

So, the inclusion of Mickey (and to be honest, the whole set is a Mickey based thing) at least decreases the chances of it passing the review. I wouldn't get my hopes up for this being released...

Edited July 6, 2018 by jfbat
sets already submitted before activation of this rule merely have less chance to pass review, so I adjusted my post to that fact.

[x105Black]

5 hours ago, jfbat said:

Well, it's at least bordering on a conflict with the "no active license" rule:

So, the inclusion of Mickey (and to be honest, the whole set is a Mickey based thing) at least decreases the chances of it passing the review. I wouldn't get my hopes up for this being released...

This is a good point, and as much as I may think the idea is good, I have strong doubts it will pass review.

[MAB]

I wonder if they would still give the up to $500 reward if they have a lot of similar entries in review or multiple from one person. For example, if the SpaceX fans get behind all those projects and half a dozen similar projects make review at the same time or the fishing store style ones in the last review.

[Artanis I]

Is TLG going to keep throwing free Lego at the same 3 people all the time...

[Robert8]

16 minutes ago, Artanis I said:

Is TLG going to keep throwing free Lego at the same 3 people all the time...

Huh?

What do you mean?

[Artanis I]

The 3 people that regularly get projects to 10000

[Robert8]

I guess they already have their own fanbase, who support all their projects

[Blondie-Wan]

On 6/27/2018 at 2:09 PM, Exetrius said:

One thing I wonder: will the whole 10K-but-rejected club from the past be rewarded as well?

Actually, looking at the wording in the rules more closely, it seems they may have already been doing this a while, and that most of us just didn’t know about it before:

• We’ve updated our Product Idea Guidelines and Terms of Service. Most notably, now:
  • All product ideas must be submitted on your own behalf and not on behalf of an employer or client.
  • Under Prizes and Rewards, we have added a missing mention of the consolation prizes given for Product Ideas not approved in Review.

[Blondie-Wan]

16 hours ago, Artanis I said:

The 3 people that regularly get projects to 10000

Which three? There are at least seven people who’ve had three or more projects make it to review, possibly more (sometimes in collaboration, sometimes individually)...

[Bricked1980]

I wonder if people get a choice of which sets to have once they achieve 10,000 supports. Can they choose any three sets up to the value of $500 dollars or do Lego choose which sets they give away?

[Blondie-Wan]

52 minutes ago, Bricked1980 said:

I wonder if people get a choice of which sets to have once they achieve 10,000 supports. Can they choose any three sets up to the value of $500 dollars or do Lego choose which sets they give away?

Here’s what it says under “Prizes and Rewards” in their Product Idea Guidelines:

If your Product Idea is not approved in Review, you will receive the following consolation prizes.

Up to three LEGO products totaling $500 USD in combined value, subject to availability.

Huh. It doesn’t say whether they choose or not, though the “subject to availability” but makes me think it’s chosen by the user.

You know, we have multiple users here who’ve had projects make it to review and then get no farther. Perhaps one of them will be kind enough to tell us (assuming they’re free to do so)...

[Bricked1980]

Well it seems the Ideas site has been taken offline for maintenance again and has been down now for the past couple of hours or so. I wonder what changes they will be implementing this time. Hopefully they'll be sorting out some of the issues that arose after the last update.

[Frostbricks]

53 minutes ago, Bricked1980 said:

Well it seems the Ideas site has been taken offline for maintenance again and has been down now for the past couple of hours or so. I wonder what changes they will be implementing this time. Hopefully they'll be sorting out some of the issues that arose after the last update.

Hopefully they're bringing back better ways to sort the entries, including "most supported" (but not yet at 10,000). That'd previously been a great way to see projects that had real traction, and just needed that final bump to hit the 10,000. (And yeah, I might have personal feeling cos of my project)

 

[Bricked1980]

9 hours ago, Frostbricks said:

Hopefully they're bringing back better ways to sort the entries, including "most supported" (but not yet at 10,000). That'd previously been a great way to see projects that had real traction, and just needed that final bump to hit the 10,000. (And yeah, I might have personal feeling cos of my project)

I've just been checking the site and I can't see that anything has changed. The search function is still not working properly. As an experiment I tried doing a search for my own project so entered the words "Traction Engine" in to the search box. It brings up over 3000 results, many of which having nothing whatsoever to do with steam engines.

I'd be interested to know @Frostbricks have you noticed any difference to the amount of support your project has been getting since the site was changed a couple of weeks ago? In my opinion it does seem like they've made it harder for people to find the more established projects with higher support counts. It seems as if whole idea of the homepage is now just to point people towards the newer entries or ones that haven't had many votes.

[Bricked1980]

Just wanted to ask people's advice. I am trying to promote my own Ideas project and have created an image that basically looks like fake box art packaging of the model. It also includes the Lego and IDEAS logos on the box. I was intending to distribute this on Flickr and maybe Instagram with a caption saying something like "help make this a reality" or something like that.  

Anyway I'm just wondering if this is against the rules and whether or not I could get disqualified for using the official Lego logos in my promotional stuff. There is some small print on the Ideas site saying "You mustn't create mock ups of box artwork or use the Lego logo" but I think that is relating to the images you submit to the Ideas website itself. Not sure if it would also apply to images promoting the models on other websites.

Edited August 24, 2018 by Bricked1980

[Exetrius]

@Bricked1980 That looks great! So great in fact, that I think you may indeed run into trouble. Your shots are already outstanding, so I wouldn't take the risk if I were you.

[Bricked1980]

Thanks @Exetrius. There is another bit in the T&C's that says you can promote the projects in any way you want but I think you're right. It's probably not worth the risk unfortunately.

I showed that picture to my daughter earlier who thought it was a real. I have now got an upset 6 year old who is distraught she can't have a copy of Daddy's Lego set. 

[Digger of Bricks]

10 hours ago, Bricked1980 said:

Here is the image I created, I haven't put this on any other sites yet.

Well, if I didn't know any better, that would most certainly fool me for a minute there.