LEGO Ideas Discussion

[Frostbricks]

19 hours ago, Bricked1980 said:

@Frostbrickshave you noticed any difference to the amount of support your project has been getting since the site was changed a couple of weeks ago?

Yes. I've heard other people talk about projects which get high support numbers, and it's natural for them to plateau. There's definitely a marketing aspect involved for some of them, and pressure to get it in front of new audiences. (Personally I don't think you can force it. The idea and build either resonate with people, or not. You can't force that. But that's a different discussion)

But, speaking directly about my project. I almost didn't put mine up at all. A local fan kinda gave me the push I needed. then I shared it once, and once only, via Facebook. Now probably helps that I've got some fans and local support already. But that was it. People loved it. They were the ones who shared it further, by the end of the first month it had over 3,000 votes. And I had no idea what I could do to help it (I really haven't plugged it much)

But it dropped off, plateaued out, and settled down to about 20-30 votes a day. Now there have been a few further bumps, being featured in the Ideas newsletter helped for instance, but those big bumps are the exception, and maybe not as big as you'd expect.

The redesign of Ideas has dropped that to half.

Now maybe there's other factors there. I'm not pretending to be a marketing expert, and if I was, it'd already be at the 10,000 mark. It's just what I've observed. Yes; something about the redesign has definitely made it harder.

I don't know. They're obviously still tweaking the new site. We'll see where it goes I guess.

 

[Bricked1980]

8 hours ago, Digger of Bricks said:

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

Thanks. I think I could get in to trouble if Lego thought i was trying to mislead people in to thinking my model was an official set. That definitely isn't my intention with that picture though. Just thought it was something different that might get noticed. Anyway I have sent Lego an email asking if I'm allowed to use their logos so I'll wait and see what they come back with.

@Frostbricks it's interesting to read your experiences of how the new site has affected the support you've been getting. I know my project has only been running for 3 weeks but I have noticed that my support count suddenly spiked a bit when the new site was unveiled and for some reason also when the Voltron set was unveiled. I suppose it was just because there were more people than usual were visiting the site on those days.

[Graupensuppe]

Is it permitted to use images in an Ideas project that show both your own proposed model and an official Lego set? I've submitted a modular building and I'd really like to add an image that shows it next to one or more of the existing modulars.

Edited July 13, 2018 by Graupensuppe

[Blondie-Wan]

Just now, Graupensuppe said:

Is it permitted to use images in an Ideas project that show both your own proposed model and an official Lego set? I've submitted a modular building and I'd really like to add an image that shows it next to one or more of the existing modulars.

I think so, as long as it’s not the main image but just one of many supplemental ones. It’s probably best to ask the Ideas team directly, though.

[Blondie-Wan]

On 6/30/2018 at 5:58 PM, Blondie-Wan said:

SpaceX - The Ultimate Collection, a Product Idea featuring an assortment of SpaceX craft (including a Falcon Heavy) all in 1:110 scale (like the NASA Apollo Saturn V set) has just rocketed its way to 10,000 supports in just over 7 weeks, becoming the third Idea in the Second 2018 Review

*snip*

On 7/5/2018 at 9:43 PM, Digger of Bricks said:

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

It has now been ten days since the latter project achieved support, and over two weeks since the former did, yet neither of them has received the congratulatory official LEGO comment that projects usually get upon reaching 10k. Have they stopped doing that? What’s going on?

[Digger of Bricks]

M&M's Chocolate Candy Dispenser by EDxAS has achieved ten thousand supporters, becoming the fifth project in the Second 2018 Review.

Edited July 23, 2018 by Digger of Bricks

[jonwil]

I think its pretty obvious that will get rejected.

 

[Robert8]

Yeah I don't think that's going to pass the review for safety reasons

 

[Takanuinuva]

1 hour ago, Robert8 said:

Yeah I don't think that's going to pass the review for safety reasons

 

Safety reasons how?

[Johnny1360]

Aside from the M&M trademark infringement it also would appear to encourage small children, it is okay to eat LEGO. So I don't see it standing a chance either. 

However I do have some elements that look very much like candy and quite delicious as well. 

[Robert8]

27 minutes ago, Takanuinuva said:

Safety reasons how?

Because little children could mix up small LEGO pieces with M&M's

Edited July 24, 2018 by Robert8

[x105Black]

4 hours ago, Johnny1360 said:

Aside from the M&M trademark infringement it also would appear to encourage small children, it is okay to eat LEGO. So I don't see it standing a chance either. 

However I do have some elements that look very much like candy and quite delicious as well. 

But this actually uses the real candy.  So it's just a matter of acquiring the license to make a LEGO set with m&m candies...

[Blondie-Wan]

8 hours ago, Johnny1360 said:

Aside from the M&M trademark infringement it also would appear to encourage small children, it is okay to eat LEGO. So I don't see it standing a chance either.

I... don’t understand this post at all, I have to confess. I don’t see how this project encourages children of any size to eat LEGO. It encourages them to eat M&M’s, certainly, but saying this LEGO-built candy dispenser encourages people to eat LEGO is like saying my ceramic coffee mug encourages me to eat ceramics.

And how exactly would this infringe the M&M’s trademark? It would obviously be licensed from Mars, Inc., the owner of the M&M’s trademark, the same way Minecraft, Back to the Future, Ghostbusters, The Big Bang Theory, WALL•E, Doctor Who, Caterham, etc. are licensed from those other IP’s rightsholders.

Edited July 24, 2018 by Blondie-Wan

[Bricked1980]

I voted for this project a couple of weeks ago so I'm pleased to see it reach 10,000, big congrats to the designers. I can see where people are coming from with the comments about children perhaps accidentally swallowing Lego bricks. I don't think it would encourage kids to eat Lego though any more than existing sets with food elements in them do. If this was released it would probably have a 8+ age rating on it anyway so most kids of that age would know better than to put Lego in their mouths.

As for this needing to be licensed by M&M's. They certainly look like M&M's on the photos but in the UK we also have "Smarties" and other similar brands of candy that would all work equally well in this model. So I think this could be sold as a generic candy machine rather than exclusively M&M's.

[Blondie-Wan]

They’ve finally added congratulatory official LEGO comments to all the projects that have reached 10k supports now, including this M&M’s dispenser.

40 minutes ago, Bricked1980 said:

As for this needing to be licensed by M&M's. They certainly look like M&M's on the photos but in the UK we also have "Smarties" and other similar brands of candy that would all work equally well in this model. So I think this could be sold as a generic candy machine rather than exclusively M&M's.

Indeed (in fact, according to Wikipedia, Smarties actually inspired M&M’s), but given that the product idea is clearly, specifically designated an M&M’s dispenser (and submitted in commemoration of the candy’s anniversary), they might not be willing to change that.

It’s likely a certain percentage of the votes came from people who don’t just like small candies of this type in general but are specifically fans of the M&M’s brand in particular. Changing the branding could be seen as altering a fundamental aspect of the idea, even if the physical brick build were kept exactly the same (in much the same way changing an idea for a Ford Mustang into one for a Chevrolet Camaro or a generic car would be seen as turning an idea into something fundamentally different from what its supporters had supported).

[Johnny1360]

1 hour ago, Blondie-Wan said:

I... don’t understand this post at all, I have to confess. I don’t see how this project encourages children of any size to eat LEGO. It encourages them to eat M&M’s, certainly, but saying this LEGO-built candy dispenser encourages people to eat LEGO is like saying my ceramic coffee mug encourages me to eat ceramics.

Not the same at all, unless your coffee mug is made up of small pieces the same size and color of candy. 

[Bricked1980]

18 minutes ago, Blondie-Wan said:

Indeed (in fact, according to Wikipedia, Smarties actually inspired M&M’s), but given that the product idea is clearly, specifically designated an M&M’s dispenser (and submitted in commemoration of the candy’s anniversary), they might not be willing to change that.

That's true I guess. If they took away all reference to M&M's then that would kind of kill the whole point of why the designer created the mode in the first place.

[Blondie-Wan]

13 minutes ago, Johnny1360 said:

Not the same at all, unless your coffee mug is made up of small pieces the same size and color of candy. 

I think your point is only a potential issue for very young children, for whom LEGO doesn’t design its System / non-DUPLO sets anyway. A child who would mistake one of these elements for an M&M could just as easily eat an element from any random LEGO set, but they haven’t discontinued all LEGO production and ceased operations because of that.

[Johnny1360]

Just now, Blondie-Wan said:

I think your point is only a potential issue for very young children, for whom LEGO doesn’t design its System / non-DUPLO sets anyway. A child who would mistake one of these elements for an M&M could just as easily eat an element from any random LEGO set, but they haven’t discontinued all LEGO production and ceased operations because of that.

Well I could certainly see a child eating all the candy then filling it with other LEGO pieces just to continue working the mechanism then their smaller sibling doing the same and eating the LEGO the same as they did the candy. 

I certainly wouldn't expect TLG to stop production and cease all Operations because little Johnny ate a LEGO element. I know I did and they didn't. 

Sorry if you don't see my point, it was just a thought, I wasn't expecting the Spanish Inquisition. 

[Blondie-Wan]

45 minutes ago, Johnny1360 said:

Sorry if you don't see my point, it was just a thought, I wasn't expecting the Spanish Inquisition. 

Nobody expects the Spanish Inquisition!

[Artanis I]

Similarly functioned Lego dispenser models have been shared on "lifestyle" websites (for women who do craft things for their kids/home) for years. My sister asked me to make one for her kids. You can put any lollies/sweets/candy in them, M&Ms, Skittles, Smarties, Tic Tacs, Nerds etc... (chocolate is not a great idea due to it potentially melting!)

I don't see how it needs to be exclusive to M&Ms, it's not like they built it in the shape of one. TLG can repurpose an Idea however they deem fit. They don't care who voted for it and for what reason, if they think it's viable in a certain form they'll do it, otherwise they won't.

Regarding the "children will eat Lego" subject, the set would surely either be made with a certain agreed partnering food product accompanying it, or with none. If there's none, how do you demonstrate the mechanism? With... Lego? Oops!

It's a great Idea (obviously not original though) but seems a hot potato.

[Bricked1980]

The Rolls Royce jet engine has now reached 10,000 votes.

https://ideas.lego.com/projects/f18a11c6-f704-4827-b06a-fba84e5818df

Edited July 27, 2018 by Bricked1980

[Robert8]

Good for the guy for getting 10k supporters but I just can't see the appeal of that as a set

[Digger of Bricks]

9 hours ago, Robert8 said:

Good for the guy for getting 10k supporters but I just can't see the appeal of that as a set

As the sixth project to join the Second 2018 Review Stage, I personally think this one has the best chance so far of being accepted.

The Brick Fan - LEGO Ideas Rolls-Royce UltraFan – The Ultimate Jet Engine Achieves 10,000 Supporters

[Bricked1980]

6 hours ago, Digger of Bricks said:

As the sixth project to join the Second 2018 Review Stage, I personally think this one has the best chance so far of being accepted.

The Brick Fan - LEGO Ideas Rolls-Royce UltraFan – The Ultimate Jet Engine Achieves 10,000 Supporters

 

I agree. I personally don't think they'll pick one of the space based sets, especially whilst Saturn V is still on the shelves. I could imagine this being produced as a retail set though.

Edited July 28, 2018 by LuxorV
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