LEGO Ideas Discussion

[Blondie-Wan]

3 hours ago, Lego David said:

With 26 projects being in the next review stage, I fully expect that will soon change. 

Yep. With how the whole Ideas program has grown, as well as the general state of affairs in the world, they might have to either allot more production capacity to Ideas sets, or start applying even tougher selection criteria to which ideas they approve. Otherwise, they could find the queue of Approved Ideas stretching out longer and longer.

[jonwil]

Its clear from both what LEGO have said and from what's been approved for Ideas over the years that LEGO wants to use the Ideas line in part to appeal to people who aren't LEGO fans but who might buy an Ideas set because of the subject matter (e.g. Beetles fans buying the Yellow Submarine or Space buffs buying the Saturn V or ISS). Sets like the Piano and the just-approved Typewriter very much fit into that and are intended to appeal to people who aren't necessarily LEGO fans. (whether the Typewriter in particular can do that remains to be seen though, I am skeptical that it will sell all that well)

 

[adwind]

5 minutes ago, jonwil said:

Its clear from both what LEGO have said and from what's been approved for Ideas over the years that LEGO wants to use the Ideas line in part to appeal to people who aren't LEGO fans but who might buy an Ideas set because of the subject matter (e.g. Beetles fans buying the Yellow Submarine or Space buffs buying the Saturn V or ISS). Sets like the Piano and the just-approved Typewriter very much fit into that and are intended to appeal to people who aren't necessarily LEGO fans. (whether the Typewriter in particular can do that remains to be seen though, I am skeptical that it will sell all that well)

 

There are folks (including me) who love vintage and just beautiful things being displayed at their living space, so I'm guessing this is the niche for the typewriter. Basically you're right, but there are also sets like Old Fishing Store, Pirate's Bay and the medieval thing who probably won't bring new customers to Lego, while being really cool sets though. Btw I think that this was the reason why Food Stands wasn't approved.

[jonwil]

I bet the Pirate Bay has drawn a fair few people who used to be LEGO fans (especially pirate fans) or had pirate LEGO as a kid but who aren't necessarily the biggest LEGO fans anymore back into LEGO.

I had Pirates as a kid (including the Black Seas Barracuda) and the only reason I haven't bought the Pirate Bay is because I already have the re-issue Black Seas Barracuda in my current collection (that and the fact that I am low on funds and have things higher on my wish list like the new Lamborghini)

 

[Lego David]

On 6/27/2020 at 12:35 PM, jonwil said:

Its clear from both what LEGO have said and from what's been approved for Ideas over the years that LEGO wants to use the Ideas line in part to appeal to people who aren't LEGO fans but who might buy an Ideas set because of the subject matter (e.g. Beetles fans buying the Yellow Submarine or Space buffs buying the Saturn V or ISS). Sets like the Piano and the just-approved Typewriter very much fit into that and are intended to appeal to people who aren't necessarily LEGO fans. (whether the Typewriter in particular can do that remains to be seen though, I am skeptical that it will sell all that well)

 

The problem is, I don't think trying to draw in adults that aren't fans of LEGO is a good strategy. Those adults might just buy one or two Ideas sets (just because of the brand, not because it's LEGO), and that would be it. In the long term, continuing to release Ideas sets like that wouldn't bring them any new fans. 

 

Edited June 28, 2020 by Lego David

[Blondie-Wan]

2 hours ago, Lego David said:

The problem is, I don't think trying to draw in adults that aren't fans of LEGO is a good strategy. Those adults might just buy one or two Ideas sets (just because of the brand, not because it's LEGO), and that would be it. In the long term, continuing to release Ideas sets like that wouldn't bring them any new fans. 

 

But surely selling one or two sets to such people is better than selling them no sets.

_____________________________________

 

There are now 14 projects in the Second 2020 Review batch already, and it’s still June! How many will there be by the time the batch closes at the end of August / beginning of September?

[MAB]

3 hours ago, Lego David said:

The problem is, I don't think trying to draw in adults that aren't fans of LEGO is a good strategy. Those adults might just buy one or two Ideas sets (just because of the brand, not because it's LEGO), and that would be it. In the long term, continuing to release Ideas sets like that wouldn't bring them any new fans. 

 

There is a chance that they will buy other LEGO if they enjoy building the IDEAS set. Plus LEGO have sold sets to someone who was not otherwise interested in LEGO, so the set has done its job - that is, taking money from people that they do not normally take money from.

Making sets that are only of interest to existing fans will not bring in any new fans.

Edited June 28, 2020 by MAB

[CharlieBoy17]

I have an idea, I posted a Lego shrek IDEA, and it looks really good. If you guys could look at it, that would be helpful, I know you guys wont be disappointed??

https://ideas.lego.com/content/project/link/5f531bac-5133-411b-b046-c2fe6bce34f4

 

[Exetrius]

On 6/25/2020 at 9:03 PM, Lyichir said:

Bionicle wouldn't even attract new fans to Bionicle. While I appreciated the work put into that proposal and would almost certainly have bought it if it were made into a set, it targeted a hyper-specific audience of:

• G1 Bionicle fans,
• who followed the story from the beginning to the end,
• who want a Bionicle-themed display piece
• that doesn't include any Bionicle parts or offer a Bionicle-like building experience

For other customers, the project offered extremely little. There's hardly any play value beyond building the set, considering that the figures for each scene are at wildly different scales and thus would not make sense to interact with one another or rearrange. To someone unfamiliar with the Bionicle story, the three dioramas are essentially meaningless scenery—there's no context to tie them together or tell a coherent story with just the contents of the set, and the microscale builds offer very little "wow factor" that might attract non-fans despite their unfamiliarity with the source material. And to be honest, even for many Bionicle fans it might be a tough sell—fans who care more about MOCing or about the classic sets than about the story would likely not be excited by a build that does not use any Bionicle building system or offer any parts for use with that. All in all, I'm not surprised that Lego considered it a risky proposition.

I'd love to think a Bionicle project could still succeed on Ideas, but I think for that to happen it would have to be something that stood on its own without requiring external explanation to appreciate it, and something that better evoked the look and feel of the Bionicle brand outside of just reproducing background imagery.

Interesting take on the matter, this reasoning makes a lot of sense to me. I check all the boxes, except for the second one, so count me with the hyper-specific interest club*. 
 

Spoiler

 

[JGuy]

So the 15th project since May 4th has hit 10,000 today. FIFTEENTH. And we still have a few months to go until the deadline. (right?) AND there’s currently six projects with 9,000+ supporters. I’m starting to suspect that this review will be even larger than the last, as hard as that is to fathom.

[Friscorays]

As far as I am concerned, the more the better.  Lots of projects reaching 10k is a sign of a thriving program and it is better for the consumer to have those in charge have too many projects to pick from from rather than too few.

[Vilhelm22]

I just went back through the blog on Ideas and found out that the First 2019 Review Results post was on 26th September 2019.  We can therefore expect almost 3 months until the next review results...

....which would be 20-25 more ideas qualifying for the Second 2020 Review if they continue at the same rate (meaning 30-35 total!)

[Blondie-Wan]

17 hours ago, Vilhelm22 said:

I just went back through the blog on Ideas and found out that the First 2019 Review Results post was on 26th September 2019.  We can therefore expect almost 3 months until the next review results...

....which would be 20-25 more ideas qualifying for the Second 2020 Review if they continue at the same rate (meaning 30-35 total!)

The Second Review batch will close a bit earlier than that; the cutoffs for the batches are on specific dates, rather than whenever the previous batches finish their reviews (since the reviews typically take a little longer than the four months that the batches take to fill up, this means that immediately after a batch closes there’s typically an overlap period of a few weeks or so when two batches are in review at the same time - the one that just entered review and the one that’s nearly done).
 

I don’t know the exact date and time (though it should be on the Ideas site somewhere), but the Second 2020 Review batch should close sometime around the beginning of September, not the end. Even so, it’ll still be huge - heck, at fifteen it’s already larger than any batch ever except for the last one, and there are still about two months left for it to gather more projects.

[Vilhelm22]

1 hour ago, Blondie-Wan said:

The Second Review batch will close a bit earlier than that; the cutoffs for the batches are on specific dates, rather than whenever the previous batches finish their reviews (since the reviews typically take a little longer than the four months that the batches take to fill up, this means that immediately after a batch closes there’s typically an overlap period of a few weeks or so when two batches are in review at the same time - the one that just entered review and the one that’s nearly done).
 

I don’t know the exact date and time (though it should be on the Ideas site somewhere), but the Second 2020 Review batch should close sometime around the beginning of September, not the end. Even so, it’ll still be huge - heck, at fifteen it’s already larger than any batch ever except for the last one, and there are still about two months left for it to gather more projects.

Ah.  Thanks for the info.  Also, it’s 16 now.  Can’t remember the name but that big blue plane.

[Blondie-Wan]

54 minutes ago, Vilhelm22 said:

Ah.  Thanks for the info.  Also, it’s 16 now.  Can’t remember the name but that big blue plane.

Yep - the Southwest airliner. I was just coming to note that myself (that the batch is now 16 projects).

[Robert8]

Everytime I come to this thread another project has reached the 10K

I think is time for a change

[Blondie-Wan]

10 hours ago, Robert8 said:

Everytime I come to this thread another project has reached the 10K

I think is time for a change

How so?

[Franzplus]

On 6/27/2020 at 11:47 AM, adwind said:

There are folks (including me) who love vintage and just beautiful things being displayed at their living space, so I'm guessing this is the niche for the typewriter. Basically you're right, but there are also sets like Old Fishing Store, Pirate's Bay and the medieval thing who probably won't bring new customers to Lego, while being really cool sets though. Btw I think that this was the reason why Food Stands wasn't approved.

Personally, I was disappointed with the results of the Ideas winners they have recently announced. Apart from the Home alone Set which is very original and offers an excellent level of playability, the other sets would not have been produced.

[Robert8]

9 hours ago, Blondie-Wan said:

How so?

With this amount of projects getting to the review stage at once, they will have to start rejecting projects due to production capacity, even if the project is fit to become a LEGO Ideas set

 

[Blondie-Wan]

14 hours ago, Robert8 said:

With this amount of projects getting to the review stage at once, they will have to start rejecting projects due to production capacity, even if the project is fit to become a LEGO Ideas set

 

I guess what I’m thinking is “what kind of change”? I suspect the big jump in the number of things hitting the 10k goal (and doing so quickly) lately is principally a side effect of the current pandemic, so they might want to effect changes that can be reversed once the situation is over. Also, I’d hope it would be something along the lines of just approving more projects each time around and allocating more production time to Ideas sets, as opposed to simply declining a larger percentage.

[BitByBrick]

About when will we see these 3 (newly announced) sets? Home Alone maybe October/November 2021? Just a guess. How long did it take from announcing the Friends idea set as a winner and its official release? Maybe Sienfeld would be about the same time frame? Forgive me if this has been already discussed, I tried to research it but couldn’t find anything. Thank you. 

[Robert8]

I guess Home Alone will be out around Easter.... maybe earlier

The 2021 Winter Village set sales would be affected if Home Alone is released around the same time

 

[MAB]

On 7/4/2020 at 8:18 PM, Franzplus said:

Personally, I was disappointed with the results of the Ideas winners they have recently announced. Apart from the Home alone Set which is very original and offers an excellent level of playability, the other sets would not have been produced.

It's funny how different people view things in different ways. I found the Home Alone set very unoriginal. It's a close resemblance to the one in the movie, so to me not an actual original creation. Very good, but not original.

Edited July 6, 2020 by MAB

[CabbageFace]

Personally i think it's healthy for Lego to have such a vast and varied selection.   It's tough to get to the 10k, from experience.   You gotta get alot of factors right, design, IP and presentation. 

[tafkatb]

Sailing Ship Adventure by yc_solo has won the "Holiday" contest and will be made into a GWP: https://ideas.lego.com/blogs/a4ae09b6-0d4c-4307-9da8-3ee9f3d368d6/post/505cb9b5-c93c-4961-831f-33c650769854