LEGO Ideas Discussion

[adwind]

Just now, Digger of Bricks said:

The show didn't grab my attention or interest either until @figura's own Mystery Shack project was archived in the unusual way it was, so in wondering if the IP was the issue, I checked out the first few episodes of the show and got sucked in. Wouldn't have thought that it'd be up-my-alley as much as it turned out to be. 

If I had to pick three that I'd place my hopes on, it'd probably be Norders' UCS Chitty Chitty Bang Bang, Astronaut Avila's Retro Bowling Alley, and @brettcuv's Iron Giant.

It was archived because he's a Lego employee (just in case you weren't aware :) )

[Digger of Bricks]

30 minutes ago, adwind said:

It was archived because he's a Lego employee (just in case you weren't aware :) )

That was confirmed for certain? I know that the creator of the Japanese Tea Garden (another project archived alongside the Mystery Shack in the same manner) was an employee, but I hadn't heard he was too. 

[adwind]

2 minutes ago, Digger of Bricks said:

That was confirmed for certain? I know that the creator of the Japanese Tea Garden (another project archived alongside the Mystery Shack in the same manner) was an employee, but I hadn't heard he was too. 

It's in his bio :) https://ideas.lego.com/profile/Figura/entries?query=&sort=top

[Blondie-Wan]

11 hours ago, MAB said:

- the stickers, which make the location a specific IP. In this one, there will be a lot of aligning a number of different stickers across multiple parts and good luck to anyone trying to attach them to 1x1 quarter circle tiles.

I doubt that’d be an issue. Ideas sets tend to favor printed elements over stickers to begin with, and it’s also unusual for any sets (whether in the Ideas line or not) to use stickers for 1x1 elements.

[JintaiZ]

6 hours ago, adwind said:

It was archived because he's a Lego employee (just in case you weren't aware :) )

But then Tiago Catarino is an employee too.

[JintaiZ]

19 hours ago, Another Brick In The Wall said:

So hard to predict this one. I’m going with Mary Poppins and Castle in the Forest

I think it'd be more than 2 sets that makes it

[Another Brick In The Wall]

18 hours ago, Digger of Bricks said:

The show didn't grab my attention or interest either until @figura's own Mystery Shack project was archived in the unusual way it was, so in wondering if the IP was the issue, I checked out the first few episodes of the show and got sucked in. Wouldn't have thought that it'd be up-my-alley as much as it turned out to be. 

If I had to pick three that I'd place my hopes on, it'd probably be Norders' UCS Chitty Chitty Bang Bang, Astronaut Avila's Retro Bowling Alley, and @brettcuv's Iron Giant.

I get the impression that a Studio Ghibli license won’t come cheap. Also, there’s a Japanese company that makes paper construction models of their IP.

[Lego David]

The first 2020 review stage was the one with 27 projects, right? If that's the case, then I wonder, how many of them are they gonna choose? Previously, three projects seemed to be the max amount of projects that can be approved in one review stage, but judging by how many projects there are now, I think we should expect at least 5 or 6 of them to make it. 

[JintaiZ]

3 hours ago, Lego David said:

The first 2020 review stage was the one with 27 projects, right? If that's the case, then I wonder, how many of them are they gonna choose? Previously, three projects seemed to be the max amount of projects that can be approved in one review stage, but judging by how many projects there are now, I think we should expect at least 5 or 6 of them to make it. 

Actually, 26 made it to 10K supports. I'm not sure how much will actually make it, but the more the better...

Edited September 26, 2020 by JintaiZ

[MAB]

21 hours ago, Blondie-Wan said:

I doubt that’d be an issue. Ideas sets tend to favor printed elements over stickers to begin with, and it’s also unusual for any sets (whether in the Ideas line or not) to use stickers for 1x1 elements.

I guess it depends on the amount of decorated parts and the range of parts that need print. Friends had a sticker sheet, for example.

5 hours ago, Lego David said:

The first 2020 review stage was the one with 27 projects, right? If that's the case, then I wonder, how many of them are they gonna choose? Previously, three projects seemed to be the max amount of projects that can be approved in one review stage, but judging by how many projects there are now, I think we should expect at least 5 or 6 of them to make it. 

I doubt it will be as high as 5-6 as that will just add to a large backlog unless they start releasing two per month to catch up.

[Blondie-Wan]

9 hours ago, MAB said:

I guess it depends on the amount of decorated parts and the range of parts that need print. Friends had a sticker sheet, for example.

So did Shinkai 6500, Hayabusa, The Big Bang Theory, the Old Fishing Store, and Voltron (possibly among others I’m forgetting). Most of those also had printed elements, though, and plenty of them. And they’re just a fraction out of the dozens of sets the Ideas line has brought. A few of the others simply lack any decorated elements at all, but AFAICT, the solid majority of Ideas sets do have some deco’d parts for which they rely exclusively on printed pieces, with no stickers.

Off the top of my head, I can’t think of any sets (Ideas or otherwise) that use stickers for 1x1 tiles. Are there any? Usually, if a set has decoration on elements that small, they print those elements directly even if all the larger decorated elements use stickers, but there could be lots of stuff I don’t know about...

9 hours ago, MAB said:

I doubt it will be as high as 5-6 as that will just add to a large backlog unless they start releasing two per month to catch up.

They recently released a statement indicating there is some upper limit to the number of sets they’d approve at once and queue for production, but they don’t say exactly what it is (and it could be somewhat flexible, depending upon the size and complexity of the approved ideas). FWIW, there have been times when there have been several approved, announced sets all in the pipeline at once. They’ve also released sets just a month or so apart on numerous occasions, and most notably, in summer of 2014, they released the Ghostbusters Ectomobile on June 1st, and then exactly two months later released both the Exo Suit and the Research Institute together on the same day, August 1. Granted that those two were both smaller sets, of course...

[jonwil]

Looking at what's up for review:

Mary Poppins. Will depend on licensing and how popular the movie really is (as well as whether the size is a problem and whether they could shrink it down and still make it work)

Cybertruck. Won't happen. Not a vehicle with mass market appeal plus its an unreleased product and who knows what the license situation might be.

Untitled Goose Game. Won't happen. Once again very small market appeal.

Chitty Chitty Bang Bang. I would say it has no chance unless the movie is a lot more popular with the right demographic than I thought.

The train station. Won't happen. Very big (bigger than any as-yet released Ideas set by a fair margin) and it requires several parts that have long been discontinued and would almost certainly require new molds to bring them back, something that can be justified for a set based on an IP as popular as Sesame Street but not for a set like this one. Also LEGO clearly has evidence that train stations don't sell otherwise they would presumably have done one to go with the 2018 train lineup.

SpaceX Falcon 9. They are re-releasing the Saturn V Rocket so its highly unlikely they would approve the SpaceX rocket (its has way less market appeal than the rocket that took man to the moon).

Project Gemini  With the Apollo Lunar Lander and the re-released Saturn V Rocket, this is unlikely to get made (also its nowhere near as well known outside of people who are space buffs etc as something like the Space Shuttle or the Apollo stuff)

Retro Bowling Alley. I think this one has a decent chance. Its not so big as to be unviable. Its nothing like a modular. LEGO hasn't done a bowling alley before (they did a few bowling setups in a few sets but never an entire alley) and bowling is a popular activity. Plus its in an architectural style we haven't seen much of from LEGO.

Indiana Jones. They already know how well Indiana Jones sets did or didn't sell from the last batch plus who knows what they might be planning for the next Indy movie (assuming it ever gets made that is) so I dont see this as being particularly likely.

Bricks & Blooms. Its a modular and they don't do those in Ideas.

Sonic. They are doing Mario and there is no way they are going to do Sonic at the same time (even if their license with Nintendo doesn't prohibit it which, knowing Nintendo, it might)

Fishing Boat. I don't think its got mass appeal (not in the way things like the Fishing Store did) although if they make it I hope they use that hat from Hidden Side on the crew.

Knight Rider. It could happen, the TV show is still fairly popular and the car itself is even more popular than that (lots of people know the car who don't know much about the TV show). Plus they did Knight Rider in dimensions so they would know more about licensing, how popular the fun pack was etc.

Snow Groomer. Not going to happen, they already have a long pipeline of large flagship Technic sets and they already made this as a Technic set back in 2009 (although smaller).

Castle. Seems too close to the Blacksmith Shop to me (both being large medieval creations). Will probably be rejected for the same reason anything Pirates is going to be rejected after Barracuda Bay hit.

Coraline. I could see this happening, the movie is fun and reasonably popular and a pink house could have appeal. Heck, even I would be interested in it if they did it right.

Rome. Too big and if the rumors are true they are doing a Colosseum set soon.

Ruined House. Interesting design but also somewhat large. Hard to find a market for this (as compared to a licensed IP like Home Alone)

Krusty Krab. Don't see this one happening (I don't know if anyone else still has the license but a set that large would be a hard sell to the target audience for Spongebob toys and they already know from the past how well Spongebob sold or didn't sell)

Waterfall. Neat but very little market for it IMO.

Queen. As awesome as Queen is, I dont think this set is going to make it. I consider my self a fairly big Queen fan and even I don't know anything about this train.(the song involved is far from their most popular/well known as well). And its a train (something LEGO is very cautious about in general, look at how long it took them to release another AFOL train with that brown thing they did this year). I think a Queen set might work but it would have to be a much more popular song (and one with nothing controversial about it unlike I Want to Break Free)

Futurama. May happen although the show overall is both more controversial/adult than The Simpsons and less popular (and isn't making new content unlike The Simpsons)

Iron Giant. Getting the IP might be an issue plus I dont know how popular it is (I suspect far more people recognize it from Ready Player One than from the actual Iron Giant movie)

Zelda Castle. Don't see this happening (it looks almost Disney Castle sized to me and as popular as Zelda is as a franchise, I don't see that being a viable product. Plus who knows what is going on with the licensing.

Blue Origin Rocket. Even less likely than the SpaceX Rocket (and even less well known outside of space buffs as well)

Globe. This I could see happening as a neat desk toy or whatever. Could have similar appeal to the Ship in a Bottle or the Typewriter. Stability (i.e. how stable is it while being built and once completed) might be a potential issue though (its unclear from the pictures how they reinforced in on the inside) and I dont know how much it would need to cost and if that would be too high for such a product (remember how the Ship in a Bottle was scaled down frpm the original submission, this one would be harder to scale down)

 

[jonwil]

3 hours ago, Blondie-Wan said:

Off the top of my head, I can’t think of any sets (Ideas or otherwise) that use stickers for 1x1 tiles. Are there any? Usually, if a set has decoration on elements that small, they print those elements directly even if all the larger decorated elements use stickers, but there could be lots of stuff I don’t know about...

Looking at the Bricklink database I count 8 different 1x1 round tile with sticker and no less than 32 different 1x1 tile with sticker.

Looking at Ideas sets with stickers, the first 2 (submarine and that space probe) were very limited production so stickers made sense for those. Big Bang Theory had stickers only on 2 parts (door and 1x1x6 column) that have never had prints on them so it may have been simply that it was too expensive to set up the templates needed to print on such parts. Old Fishing Store had a lot of prints and new elements as well as the stickers (some of which were for parts that also had not had prints on them at that point like the doors and the 2x3 tile with clip). The stickers in the Voltron set were intentionally made as stickers since different versions of Voltron either did or didn't have the numbers on the lions so they wanted people to be able to choose. Central Perk once again had stickers but also lots of prints (and you could probably leave the stickers off and still have something that looks good). And none of the more recent sets (Tree House, Steamboat Willie, Flintstones, ISS, Barracuda Bay or Piano have had stickers).

Ignoring the first 2 sets (which didn't get the production run to be able to print on parts), those instances of stickers on parts that were not able to be printed on at the time and Voltron where the stickers were done to give builders a choice, only the Fishing Store and Central Perk had stickers that could have been prints but weren't and even then you could leave the stickers off and still have a good looking set.

 

[MAB]

58 minutes ago, jonwil said:

Looking at the Bricklink database I count 8 different 1x1 round tile with sticker and no less than 32 different 1x1 tile with sticker.

I remember trying to line up the one for the Porsche, it was a real pain. Looking at BL, the person that submitted the image didn't fare any better!

[Blondie-Wan]

Yeesh, that Porsche sticker is nuts. It’s insane to me that there are that many official 1x1 stickers. How many different sets do all of those come in?

I knew the Voltron stickers were specifically intended to give builders a choice of whether to build the American or Japanese version by choosing whether to include the numbers for the individual lions. I would rather they’d printed those parts and included unprinted additional parts for that, but I know that’s a bit much to ask for.

[Heechee84]

The results of this round of review will be interesting. My take on the products' chances follows.

Almost zero chance (mostly for obvious reasons):

Tesla cybertruck, Untitled Goose Game, Chitty Chitty Bang Bang, Train Station, SpaceX Falcon 9, Bricks & Blooms, Sonic Mania, Snow Groomer, Historically Accurate Rome, Working Waterfall, Queen - Miracle Express, Futurama Headquarters, Zelda Hyrule Castle, Blue Origin Rocket, Iron Giant

Possible, but unlikely:

Project Gemini - Generally seems to be different enough (not another SLV, not a lander), correct size and interesting build. At the same time bit niche thematically, and there has been perhaps too many space sets. Wouldn't bet on this one.

Retro Bowling Alley - A simple building with very limited appeal to non-american audience.

Knight Rider - The car design with not much to offer. The nostalgia potential itself is weak.

Castle in the Forest - Nice, but comes too soon after Blacksmith. Also, they might be aware of 3 large castle sets coming in the batch after the next one.

Ruined house - One of the coolest builds this round, but likely only little market appeal.

The Krusty Krab - Uncertain regarding the license. It would be good candidate otherwise.

Pool of the most likely candidates:

Great Fishing Boat: Borderline case. Maybe too soon after the pirate ship, also the fishing industry might be considered controversial. Otherwise an ok candidate. Hard to guess the market potential.

Mary Poppins - No obvious negatives/hurdles.

Coraline's appartments - No obvious negatives/hurdles. Although yet another house after Sesame Street and Home Alone?

Earth Globe - Another display piece, like the typewriter or the piano.

There's also the Indiana Jones diorama, which I have hard time to assess.

 

[Another Brick In The Wall]

6 hours ago, jonwil said:

Looking at what's up for review:

Mary Poppins. Will depend on licensing and how popular the movie really is (as well as whether the size is a problem and whether they could shrink it down and still make it work)

The project looks deceptive bigger than the piece count. Only the Banks house has an interior. The minifgs are fantastic 

The biggest drawback is that LEGO IDEAS have two similar structures in the pipeline, Sesame Street and Home Alone. 

2 hours ago, Heechee84 said:

Historically Accurate Rome

Why dismiss it so easily? It’s the most original contribution in the current wave.

[JintaiZ]

Congrats @Bricked1980!!!

Well deserved!!!

 

Edited September 30, 2020 by JintaiZ

[icm]

@JintaiZ, it's great that @Bricked1980 made it to 10K, but why single him out for congratulations right now?  Do you know something that we don't know about which project is getting approved in the current review cycle?

[JintaiZ]

2 minutes ago, icm said:

@JintaiZ, it's great that @Bricked1980 made it to 10K, but why single him out for congratulations right now?  Do you know something that we don't know about which project is getting approved in the current review cycle?

Still, it's a pretty big achievement :)

[JintaiZ]

@icm - Another of his project reached 10k today. In case of any confusion.

[icm]

Oh, ok ... In that case, well done to Bricked1980! Thanks for letting me know, I hadn't heard the news yet.

[BrickBob Studpants]

The results of the latest review will be announced today! The time is apparently 9pm, but I have no idea which time zone this refers to  Fingers crossed for the Krusty Krab!

[adwind]

3 minutes ago, Lego-Freak said:

The results of the latest review will be announced today! The time is apparently 9pm, but I have no idea which time zone this refers to  Fingers crossed for the Krusty Krab!

It's just in an hour!!! :) Excited to find out who wins this time!

[Roebuck]

12 minutes ago, Lego-Freak said:

The results of the latest review will be announced today! The time is apparently 9pm, but I have no idea which time zone this refers to  Fingers crossed for the Krusty Krab!

6 minutes ago, adwind said:

It's just in an hour!!! :) Excited to find out who wins this time!

Today? One hour? Source