LEGO Ideas Discussion

[Exetrius]

6 hours ago, MatthewRC said:

Well, technically both. However, I don't know how I can make a signature on Eurobricks. How do I make one?

EDIT: Never mind, I figured it out myself.

Haha, nice! Good luck!  

[MatthewRC]

Alert! LEGO Ideas is getting a software upgrade and will be offline May 30 7AM EST to May 31 in the morning EST!

LEGO Ideas will be offline for a Software Upgrade

[legonerd54321]

https://brickset.com/article/28346/ideas-blog-21310-old-fishing-store-details

 

Fishing Boat Store has been revealed!

[StarWars8Spoiler]

Beautiful looking set! This and the Saturn V are gonna eat up my entire LEGO budget this year.

[K_Tiger]

Finally. Loving all the gulls and printed board tiles. Should have kept the fish for the lightning rod/weather vane finial, however. LEGO might get $150 out of me for that.

Edited May 31, 2017 by K_Tiger

[x105Black]

It looks fantastic.  I may have to get this one.

[lightningtiger]

Has anyone had any trouble logging into Ideas today ?

For me it just simply goes around in circles saying email address in use, what's going on at Ideas ?

Edit - just received this from Hasan at Ideas.....

Hi there, 

Thank you for your message concerning your account login. 

We discovered the issue concerning account logins this morning and our development team is hard at work trying to resolve this as soon as possible. 

When the issue has been resolved we will provide an update on the LEGO Ideas facebook and twitter accounts, so please follow these for updates

Thank you for your patience, 
 

Edited June 7, 2017 by lightningtiger
updated information

[Artanis I]

So, the Fishing Store is AU$250 (next most expensive Ideas was $100*). That's modular building territory. I am wondering if that encourages people to reduce the size of their massive detailed mocs they think are going to pass review...

Or, do they take this set as a precedent, and assume that "hey, they did it once before, they will surely do it for me too"

 

(*I forgot about the rocket... whatever price that is. All the sets released so far have been <100 anyway)

Edited June 8, 2017 by Artanis I

[Blondie-Wan]

19 hours ago, Artanis I said:

So, the Fishing Store is AU$250 (next most expensive Ideas was $100*). That's modular building territory. I am wondering if that encourages people to reduce the size of their massive detailed mocs they think are going to pass review...

I think the rule instituted not long ago that projects need to be no more than 3000 pieces will do that. Projects that are clearly larger than that simply aren't accepted any longer.

Quote

Or, do they take this set as a precedent, and assume that "hey, they did it once before, they will surely do it for me too"

 

(*I forgot about the rocket... whatever price that is. All the sets released so far have been <100 anyway)

Well, as I've noted many times over the last several years, LEGO Ideas has been pushing boundaries all along, and while it started out entirely with sets under $50 USD, they've gradually released larger and larger sets. Up through the end of 2014 and beginning of 2015, they released nine sets, all of them $49.99 USD or less (well, except for the first not having a USD price since it was Japan-only, but comparable), then in the rest of 2015 they had three sets in a row at $59.99. After that, they did one at $69.99, then one at $79.99. All the while, the sets continually broke new ground in other ways.

It's clear the program began somewhat cautiously, but as it's progressed they've experimented with it in various ways, including using it to produce larger and larger sets, and while I've been wrong many, many times about what they would or would not do, I was right that they would eventually do large sets as they're doing now (though I admit they're doing a couple huge ones in a row much sooner than I thought they would). If you dig through the old pages of this thread you can find various posts from various members doubting Ideas would ever produce a set with over a thousand pieces or a price above a hundred dollars or whatever, yet here we are getting two in a row.

The next set after the Old Fishing Store should be the Women of NASA one, which should be a return to smaller, less expensive sets, but in the meantime it's now been firmly established that large, expensive sets of the sort one finds in the Creator Expert / D2C / Star Wars UCS lines can be produced under Ideas. Whether one will or will not be approved from any one particular batch is all down to the merits of a particular project; simply being big is no longer a clear guarantee of rejection, the way it appeared to be not so many years ago, but nor is it a guarantee of approval, either. I think we can generally expect to see Ideas sets in a range of sizes and price points from here on out.

[jonwil]

Lets hope the decision to release the large Saturn V and Old Fishing Store bodes well for the still-in-review Voltron project (an IP that I suspect has only gained in popularity with the new cartoon)

 

[Blondie-Wan]

7 minutes ago, jonwil said:

Lets hope the decision to release the large Saturn V and Old Fishing Store bodes well for the still-in-review Voltron project (an IP that I suspect has only gained in popularity with the new cartoon)

 

I think the fact it got its supports incredibly quickly bodes well for that project. While it's not the only factor considered in the LEGO Review, they do take into account how quickly a project gets supported as an indication of demand for it (i.e., the business case for the set), and the Voltron project was one of the fastest vote-getters in the batch it originally came from (along with Women of NASA, which of course was approved).

I also think that while it would be one of the largest Ideas sets, it still wouldn't be quite as large as either the Apollo Saturn V or the Fishing Store, so it's certainly in the range of sets they'll seriously consider.

Best of all, though, is the fact it got held over for further consideration. That to me indicates that they really see potential in it and are trying to make it work (whether it's working out a design, hammering out the licensing, whatever). While only a relatively small fraction of the projects that make it to review get approved, the percentage of ones that are held over from one review batch to the next and then get approved is quite a bit higher. Still not a guarantee, of course, and it very well might be declined after all, but I think the project's chances are almost as good as they could be.

[Digger of Bricks]

It been pretty slow on Ideas for awhile now, but I see The Wonders of Peru project has jumped ahead of the NF-15B project in the race to the 10K mark.

It looks like we have only one more 10K club interview, the Iron Giant project, before maybe we we'll hear of the review results.

[JGuy]

You know what I think might be a good idea?  A thread that showcases unique and "undiscovered" projects on Lego Ideas.  Obviously you wouldn't promote your own, but instead ones that have just been buried in the thousands of projects on Ideas.

 

Anyone with me? :D

[Digger of Bricks]

10 minutes ago, JGuy said:

You know what I think might be a good idea?  A thread that showcases unique and "undiscovered" projects on Lego Ideas.  Obviously you wouldn't promote your own, but instead ones that have just been buried in the thousands of projects on Ideas.

 

Anyone with me? :D

Sure, count me in, but I would message the mods and ask them about it.

Edited June 12, 2017 by Digger of Bricks

[Exetrius]

21 minutes ago, JGuy said:

You know what I think might be a good idea?  A thread that showcases unique and "undiscovered" projects on Lego Ideas.  Obviously you wouldn't promote your own, but instead ones that have just been buried in the thousands of projects on Ideas.

 

Anyone with me? :D

I feel like those don't come around too often, so a brief mention here would be enough for me. Just my opinion.

By the way, the Old Fishing store is just Perfection! I guess it's time to go modular... 

[Digger of Bricks]

Well, the Iron Giant interview with creator Brett Cuviello has been posted on the Ideas blog, so perhaps the review results are not long from now. 

https://ideas.lego.com/blogs/a4ae09b6-0d4c-4307-9da8-3ee9f3d368d6/post/008b0604-5eea-4834-a90a-1224a3fb7bbb

[Elysiumfountain]

I wonder if the fact that I don't have a large social media following works against me here. My projects are decent but sadly lacking in support although promoted everywhere I can think of...maybe it's because I don't have Facebook lol 

And by here I mean Ideas, not EB 

 

[Exetrius]

1 hour ago, Elysiumfountain said:

I wonder if the fact that I don't have a large social media following works against me here. My projects are decent but sadly lacking in support although promoted everywhere I can think of...maybe it's because I don't have Facebook lol 

And by here I mean Ideas, not EB 

 

I'd say: put a thumbnail of it in your signature with a something like: Support Now!  No obligations to stay subtle. Also, I don't know the extent of the Trains fanbase, but almost 1000 supporters is not too bad. If you haven't done so already, there is of course eurobricks, reddit, imgur, neogaf, flickr, instagram, twitter, youtube, etc. where you could make a post. Alternatively, maybe you can find someone (with large following), willing to feature your project. You can update your project with fancier pictures, or physical update, with which you remind people to take a second look and vote for your project. Good luck.  

 

By the way, was "support now!" the first thing in this post that caught your attention? Then it works! 

Edited June 13, 2017 by Exetrius

[rodiziorobs]

58 minutes ago, Exetrius said:

By the way, was "support now!" the first thing in this post that caught your attention? Then it works! 

Ah, the joys of mobile browsing--I didn't even know you had a project!

Back in the CUUSOO days I posted a handful of things, then quickly realized that even an actual LEGO designer would never get 10k unless they took to social media all the time, and I decided it wasn't worth it. Good luck to you both.

[Digger of Bricks]

6 hours ago, Exetrius said:

Also, I don't know the extent of the Trains fanbase, but almost 1000 supporters is not too bad.

Well at least the Vintage Tram successfully made it to 10K, but other than that, it's really a shame there haven't been any 10K train projects for Ideas/CUUSOO this whole time. 

I figured perhaps that a licensed train project would have some success on Ideas, such as Thomas the Tank Engine. But I eventually learned that intellectual property is actually OWNED by Mattel. So much for that idea. 

[Elysiumfountain]

True that! I just think trains don't really have such a huge audience sadly, although I still have hope for mine. I thought maybe the Orient Express would be at least recognizable. Apparently there's a remake of Murder on the Orient Express coming out in November! Although it might spawn competitor Orient Express projects! ;) 

[Exetrius]

12 hours ago, rodiziorobs said:

Ah, the joys of mobile browsing--I didn't even know you had a project!

Back in the CUUSOO days I posted a handful of things, then quickly realized that even an actual LEGO designer would never get 10k unless they took to social media all the time, and I decided it wasn't worth it. Good luck to you both.

Well actually, I have my first one in the works... But, as you can see, I do have quite a clear picture on how I'm going to promote it. 

@Elysiumfountain Hey, look at that! You already did the signature thing!  Edit: Just checked reddit... 

 

Edited June 14, 2017 by Exetrius

[Elysiumfountain]

@Exetrius YES! I figured out how to do it! It did take a while with the frustrating photo insert process, but I got it! Thank you for the advice! :) 

[Alpinemaps]

On 6/12/2017 at 2:52 PM, Digger of Bricks said:

Well, the Iron Giant interview with creator Brett Cuviello has been posted on the Ideas blog, so perhaps the review results are not long from now. 

https://ideas.lego.com/blogs/a4ae09b6-0d4c-4307-9da8-3ee9f3d368d6/post/008b0604-5eea-4834-a90a-1224a3fb7bbb

Nice interview, thanks for sharing.  One line from the interview that I thought was good:

Quote

Do you have any useful advice about creating a successful LEGO Ideas project?
Well, I’m not sure that anything I have to say on this topic will be very useful. I feel like I’m just a victim of great circumstances, bringing this idea to fruition a little before its 20th anniversary. It’s a nostalgic project, and no one’s immune to a sucker-punch from nostalgia. I guess if I had one piece of advice to really give, it’s that you should design something you haven’t seen done before. Think outside the box, and really work your imagination into the build. Put time and effort into your project, and make sure it shows that. As far as gaining support goes, it doesn’t hurt to email editors of pop-culture news websites.

Two parts that I thought I'd highlight from this quote:

1. Getting the word out (since we're talking about that on this very page of the thread) - finding alternative methods of getting the word out, in the field of interest.

2. "Design something you haven't seen done before."

Total words of wisdom there.  How many Star Wars sets, and other rehashes are we going to see.  Why do you think the Old Fishing Store got approved?  It was very unique and not something done before.  

[Digger of Bricks]

http://www.thebrickfan.com/lego-ideas-wonders-of-peru-achieves-10000-supporters/

The Wonders of Peru by cdwboy1979 has become the second project of the Second 2017 Review Stage.