The Real Indiana Jones

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I think the 60th anniversary was coincidental. Most people think of these as AFOL Designer Sets rather than LEGO 60th anniversary sets.

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13 hours ago, JintaiZ said:

Still a pretty limited number. 3 out of 12 is 25%...

But before the pandemic shook everything up, they’d still approve anywhere from zero to three projects in a single review and/or from a single batch, and it wasn’t always necessarily simply a matter of larger batches yielding more sets - they’ve approved nothing from a batch as large as 13 projects, and they’ve approved as many as three from a batch as small as six. It really just boils down to which projects they deem feasible, good brand fits, and good business-wise.

They can conceivably approve a slew of projects at once and simply queue them up.

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9 hours ago, Blondie-Wan said:

They can conceivably approve a slew of projects at once and simply queue them up.

This strikes me as the most likely scenario.  They'd probably like to keep a few things in the pipeline in any case just as a hedge against any given review cycle coming in 'light' (unresolvable licensing issues, poor business cases, pandemic ends and everyone takes a social media break because they're all so sick of living on-line that they just want to go out and play, etc) or to buy themselves some time if a "winning" Idea is taking longer than expected to adapt to kit-able standards for whatever reason (use of retired parts, structural issues, safety issues, license owner micromanagement, resource contention in the design department, etc).

Does anyone know if they still doing small (initial) production runs on these sets?  Under Cuusoo, Tim C claimed that "winning" sets got a 10,000 unit production run and depending on actual popularity of the finished kit, TLG reserved the right to either make more or end the run as a one-off.  If this is still the case, then approving multiple sets and simply queuing them up would seem like reasonable thing to do.  If a limited run sells out quickly, make more of the same.  If it's languishing on store shelves and warehouses, move on to the next design and don't look back.  

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1 hour ago, ShaydDeGrai said:

Does anyone know if they still doing small (initial) production runs on these sets?  Under Cuusoo, Tim C claimed that "winning" sets got a 10,000 unit production run and depending on actual popularity of the finished kit, TLG reserved the right to either make more or end the run as a one-off.  If this is still the case, then approving multiple sets and simply queuing them up would seem like reasonable thing to do.  If a limited run sells out quickly, make more of the same.  If it's languishing on store shelves and warehouses, move on to the next design and don't look back.  

I don't know, although Ideas has really taken off so maybe they no longer need the smaller first run. I remember back when the exo-suit and female minifigure set first came out, then both went out of stock for quite a while before coming back into stock. That might have been the realisation that they needed to increase initial production numbers. It was surprising they didn't do more Mars Rover as that was popular. It lasted about a week or so in the US although about 3 months in the UK/Europe. Maybe they had agreements on the numbers that would be produced with NASA and couldn't make more.

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1 hour ago, ShaydDeGrai said:

Does anyone know if they still doing small (initial) production runs on these sets?  Under Cuusoo, Tim C claimed that "winning" sets got a 10,000 unit production run and depending on actual popularity of the finished kit, TLG reserved the right to either make more or end the run as a one-off.  If this is still the case, then approving multiple sets and simply queuing them up would seem like reasonable thing to do.  If a limited run sells out quickly, make more of the same.  If it's languishing on store shelves and warehouses, move on to the next design and don't look back.  

Huh, I hadn’t been aware they actually said they got a 10k initial run; I remember folks like us talking about it here, but I was under the impression that was our best conjecture. I might well have missed something, though.
 

At any rate, I certainly don’t know all the details of the inner workings of the Ideas program, but I’ve certainly gotten the impression that it’s grown substantially in various ways over the years, including the size of the production runs of the sets. Think about how limited the early CUUSOO sets were - Shinkai 6500 was limited exclusively to Japan. And the Curiosity Rover and Research Institute both appear to have two very short runs, each of which sold out in days or perhaps a week. Now, though, we have Ideas sets that stick around for over a year, some of them up to two years, and it’s not because it’s the same unsold stock just sitting around - some of them are clearly kept in production because they continue to sell well (I can personally attest from having worked at one of TLG’s experimental pop-up stores over the 2018 holiday season that the Saturn V set, released in late summer of 2017, continued to sell strongly more than a year later).

The program has grown and expanded considerably in various ways since it began as LEGO CUUSOO back in 2008, and I’m absolutely sure that includes the sizes of the production runs (at least for some sets, though not necessarily all). But I’m afraid I don’t have hard numbers to back that up (and I imagine the only folks who do can’t share them!).

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I believe it was confirmed during the Steamboat Willie reaction that new molds for Ideas have been possible since Doctor Who, the bill just needed to be footed by another department (Dimensions and CMF) rather than themselves. They still kept the rule of "no proposals that require new molds" so that if nobody wants to pick it up a proposal that'd otherwise sell wouldn't fall at the last hurdle. We going to see a Sesame Street CMF in short order, then..?

Edited by toastergrl

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2 hours ago, Robert8 said:

New molds for LEGO Ideas are now posible....

 

This is a game changer *oh2*

Yes, they have updated their statement on it. It is not surprising really. Ideas sets have really taken off and become large value, large run sets so don't need to offset costs to other themes.

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6 minutes ago, MAB said:

Yes, they have updated their statement on it. It is not surprising really. Ideas sets have really taken off and become large value, large run sets so don't need to offset costs to other themes.

Guys, where did you see this update? I just looked through their guidelines and nothing has been changed there regarding new mold... May I have a link or something?

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Here's my own MOC and my first completed Modular Building! It's called Concession Corner. It features nearly 3,000 pieces, a large fast-casual restaurant, and a loft studio! It was just approved as a LEGO Ideas project, so please give it a support and share! 

https://ideas.lego.com/content/project/link/e5754639-ea04-4419-8e4a-c59c713eb5b2

Concession Corner Lego Modular

 

Edited by Cherry-Rose

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12 hours ago, Thieda said:

The set will be $119.99!

Wow that's a lot smaller than I was expecting but it makes sense. I wonder if the house will be downs-caled a bit original design or if there will just be less rooms

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On 9/8/2020 at 5:56 PM, KotZ said:

1. The Mountain Windmill It's not going to make it. It looks good. But I have no idea how it is 2000 pieces. It looks way less. It would look pretty next to the Treehouse though.

I think the biggest problem with this is that it's too similar to too many castle MOCs at the moment. The dilapidated, run-down look is extremely fashionable to the extent it takes a lot to stand out, and this windmill just ain't got it.

On 9/8/2020 at 5:56 PM, KotZ said:

12. BMW M1 (E26) Same problem as the Trabant

And the biggest problem with the M1 is that the model is way too chunky in comparison to the real deal. LEGO's designers are known to completely refactor an IDEA to bring it to market, but this baby needs to be a good 4 or 5 studs longer with those wheels, it needs the rear air vents to be moved back substantially, it needs the windowscreen stood up straighter and moved way forwards. The black stripe across the side needs to be 2 plates higher. And that's just the beginning. The M1 is a beautiful car, but this IDEA just isn't.

On 9/8/2020 at 5:56 PM, KotZ said:

27. Bangladesh National Parliament (Jatiyo Sangshad Bhaban) I could see another Architecture set being made, but this building doesn't scream iconic to me.

This makes me sad because it really is iconic, and it'll be right there in the pages of any book you pick up on the International Style or (perhaps) Brutalism.

Edited by jimmynick

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Stonewars has posted an interesting rumor that the Saturn V and Ship in a Bottle sets will be returning under new set numbers.

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The Saturn V I can understand (given how popular it was) but the Ship in a Bottle makes no sense to me. When it was in stores here in Australia it never really sold.

There are sets they could bring back (non-licensed even) that would probably sell better than the Ship in a Bottle. Bring back the Exo-Suit. Bring back the (very popular) Fishing Store.

 

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The exo-suit didn't sell that well though did it? Of course, it might do better now that there are more LEGO fans, but the original one had to have a long "decommissioning" phase that went on longer than LEGO implied.

Bring them back is tricky - do they give exactly the same number and keep it in Ideas, or a new number in Ideas, or a new number outside of Ideas. A new number in Ideas would really annoy any collectors that have all the Ideas sets as they wold "need" the new one to remain complete even though they already have it. If outside of Ideas, I wonder what contract problems they may have over royalties, reissuing the same set under another guise.

 

It would be great if they reissue the Saturn V, but this time include three named minifigures on a display stand, to make it stand out from the previous one.

 

Edited by MAB

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54 minutes ago, MAB said:

The exo-suit didn't sell that well though did it?

Are you kidding?? By the end of the initial release day, it was backordered for two months! Towards the end it was stuck on shelves on discount, but I think it was pretty popular.

 

I'm wondering if the rereleases of Ship-In-A-Bottle and the Saturn V will be an exact reproduction, or if the sets will be updated in some way. Maybe some new parts to make the Saturn V more accurate? I',m so excited to pick up another Saturn V :D

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2 minutes ago, NathanR said:

Are you kidding?? By the end of the initial release day, it was backordered for two months! Towards the end it was stuck on shelves on discount, but I think it was pretty popular.

Which suggests that they did not stock enough at the start of the run, but overall produced too many.

 

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Where's that rumor originally came from? 

Fan designers should be celebrating if that's true :)  

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6 hours ago, NathanR said:

Are you kidding?? By the end of the initial release day, it was backordered for two months! Towards the end it was stuck on shelves on discount, but I think it was pretty popular.

 

I'm wondering if the rereleases of Ship-In-A-Bottle and the Saturn V will be an exact reproduction, or if the sets will be updated in some way. Maybe some new parts to make the Saturn V more accurate? I',m so excited to pick up another Saturn V :D

Different set number, but I think that's about it.

 

48 minutes ago, adwind said:

Where's that rumor originally came from? 

Fan designers should be celebrating if that's true :)  

Rumor came from Stone Wars

7 hours ago, MAB said:

The exo-suit didn't sell that well though did it?

I think it sold fine. However, prices didn't seem to go up at all.

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1 hour ago, JintaiZ said:

I think it sold fine. However, prices didn't seem to go up at all.

They said it was to be decommissioned in Feb 2015 with a number of "don't miss out" emails sent, but it hung around until at least June that year, and they had to give 30% off in the UK to shift the remaining stock through lego.com. Normally putting a retiring soon badge on most stock is enough to sell it off through lego.com. Although that was all before you got your first LEGO set.

The secondary market price is barely above RRP, which is indicative too many went to the aftermarket and demand is too low compared to supply, even now.

 

 

Edited by MAB

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Huh, this is really interesting. Usually with these November re-releases, we either get a pretty old set (Taj Mahal) or a set that was previously very exclusive and unavailable to the general public (Vestas Wind Turbine). I understand with the Saturn V, but did the Ship in the Bottle set sell so well too that it warrants a re-release to capitalize on Christmas buys?

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