Blondie-Wan

I’m assuming this was intended as a joke.

I have no doubt LEGO evaluates data on just such matters for every Ideas project that reaches review. My personal impression is that Community definitely doesn’t have the broad mainstream popularity of Friends or The Big Bang Theory, but that a much higher percentage of its viewers are the sorts of devoted fans of the show that would (do) buy merchandise like LEGO sets. I honestly don’t know whether it’d do better or worse than those other sets (for that matter, I’m really not in a position to judge whether those others have done well or not, since it’s not like I see LEGO’s sales data). I will say, though, that I think Community is a better brand fit for LEGO than either Friends or The Big Bang Theory, which frankly both really surprised me when they were announced. Honestly, none of the three is exactly something that screams “LEGO needs to do this!” to me, but Community is (IMO) cleverer and more offbeat while at the same time more heartfelt and sincere, in ways that feel to me like it would be a better match for both the humor and heart of LEGO (alongside the imagination and creativity). Yeah, Harmon has by his own admission been guilty of a number of such things, like no small number of people both in and out of Hollywood. FWIW, he later made a lengthy admission of and apology for his behavior on his podcast and the writer, Megan Ganz, accepted what she called a master class in how to apologize, and forgave him; I imagine LEGO surely considers matters like that in their evaluations as well. From what I understand of it (and given the histories of some of the other people behind things they’ve licensed), I don’t think it’s something that would prevent them from doing it, but one never knows (of course, if it’s declined, we almost certainly will never know whether it’s for a specific reason, or if they just decided the project just doesn’t have that compelling factor that makes this one of the things they should approve out of all the many worthwhile ideas that cross their desks).

I’m not sure how that’s a “fake” support. Isn’t that how most support for projects works - at least for ones based on licensed pop-culture properties? For LEGO, part of the whole appeal of doing an Ideas set for something like The Big Bang Theory or Yellow Submarine is the fact people who aren’t necessarily fans of LEGO but who are fans of that show or of the Beatles might buy the set; for LEGO, it means they have a chance to sell sets to people who don’t normally buy them. That’s true for lots of Ideas projects, perhaps even most of them. In order to get support, any Ideas creator needs to reach out beyond just LEGO fandom; they need to get supports from people interested in whatever thing is being represented in the project. That means all those space projects get their support not just from LEGO fans but also space enthusiasts. Projects based on TV shows get support from not just LEGO fans but also fans of those shows. And so on. That’s an inherent part of how the whole thing works. Yes, that does mean an awful lot of the people supporting projects on Ideas are folks who just sign up to support one specific project that’s relevant to their interests, and then never return. That doesn’t mean their support is “fake”; it’s just part of how Ideas works.

I think you misunderstand my point. I was merely pointing out Community is not something super-obscure. Having said that, I do have to take issue with some of what you’ve said here. You appear to be using “classy” and “classic” interchangeably. Friends and The Big Bang Theory are indeed both older than Community, and it could be argued they’re classics of television, but neither is really classy. Moreover, if it’s truly about years, as you say, you should be aware Community came out in 2009, so it’s over a decade old already. That’s still younger than Back to the Future, Ghostbusters, Friends, Doctor Who, The Flintstones, Yellow Submarine, and Mickey Mouse / “Steamboat Willie”, to be sure. On the other hand, it’s older than Adventure Time. It’s older than WALL•E was when it got its Ideas set. It’s older than Minecraft. And as a matter of fact, it’s several years older now than The Big Bang Theory was when it got its set. If you’re arguing that The Big Bang Theory deserved its LEGO set on the basis of the show being a well-established classic, that actually supports the idea that Community deserves to be a set rather than refuting it. The Big Bang Theory was seven years old when its Ideas set was approved, and still a little less than eight by the time the set was released. Community on the other hand is now already over ten years old. None of this is to say they definitely will or won’t approve a Community set. I’m just saying the age of the show isn’t really important. What’s important is how popular the show remains, and whether its fans are interested in merchandise for it.

I don’t know, but it’s sufficiently well-known enough that this project got fully supported in ten days, when other projects (including all the other TV shows from which LEGO has produced Ideas sets) took longer (granted, we can attribute part of that to current circumstances, but even so, that’s awfully fast by any measure). Also it stars such luminaries as Donald Glover, Alison Brie, Ken Jeong, and Chevy Chase, who are not exactly unknowns. Also also, it was created by Dan Harmon of Rick and Morty fame. Also also also, Joe and Anthony Russo got to direct some of the biggest movies in the Marvel Cinematic Universe (Captain America: The Winter Soldier, Captain America: Civil War, Avengers: Infinity War, and Avengers: Endgame - I imagine you’ve heard of some of those, at least) largely on the strength of their work on Community, so it's known for that, too (I’m not sure how The Big Bang Theory has had a bigger impact on pop culture than influencing Marvel’s directorial selections for some of the biggest movies in cinema history, though I’m willing to entertain arguments for that). While the show itself is over, there have also been rumblings lately about a possible movie (this fulfilling the “six seasons and a movie” goal which became something of a mantra for the show and its fans).

I’m not sure what you mean by “day trendy thing”, but the “trendy” makes me think it’s something that’s currently, well, trendy. Community isn’t particularly trendy at the moment (it’s been over for a few years), but it’s much-beloved. I know people who have binged the entire show multiple times. Anyway, it’s a hilarious show with a fiercely devoted following, and I’d love to have it myself. Though it’s essentially a sitcom, it’s not much like The Big Bang Theory, Friends, or The Flintstones; if anything, I think it appeals much more to lots of the same folks who like Doctor Who and Adventure Time. I hope it happens.

Oh, and BTW, massive congratulations on your success with your Sonic the Hedgehog project!

Hey, we all forget stuff once in a while, and I might be wrong about 13 projects in a batch before this (though obviously, whatever the old record was, it’s been surpassed now). The three by a single builder in a single batch thing is definite, though. I’ve been wondering myself whether the way they do things might change. I think it depends on part on whether this is just a one-time crazy outlier, or a sign of our new normal. If the latter, though, I think it might just mean they assign a few more people to the Ideas team.

Not quite; the Third 2017 Review, which had a total of seven projects, had three by the same submitter - just a few months after a previously-approved project by that same builder was released as a set (the Old Fishing Store, by Ideas vet RobenAnne). And I think there have been one or two others with two projects by the same person. However, this is easily the most projects (or Product Ideas, as they call them now) overall in a single review batch. In fact, IIRC the previous record is 13, which I think two batches have had, and this is exactly twice that. Remember the early LEGO CUUSOO days, when six or seven projects in a batch seemed like a lot? Oh, how young we were...

LEGO Ideas has gotten more well-known and popular as time has gone on, though this is a pretty big spike for one review period. Maybe it’s as simple as millions of people now being stuck at home and spending more time on the Internet. So what’s the controversy? If they determine it’s plagiarized, they can disqualify it.

Wait, what? I’d heard the color shift had to with something else, like balancing colors in some way. I’ve never before heard that the old grays used lead. Are you sure about this? It seems inconceivable that LEGO would have used lead in bricks as recently as 2002...

Apparently, these video game toys will also include some sort of construction element as well. My understanding is that these seem to be comprised of some sort of “bricks” which can be connected and disconnected from one another, apparently in a great variety of ways.

Maybe not this year, but can you be sure about 2021 or 2022?

I think it looks great, myself, though I can see how fans who think exclusively of minifigures would be disappointed. At any rate, it certainly represents a huge investment in parts / tech. Has there ever been any one single licensed theme before that obviously had so much invested in its elements? This doesn’t look like a one-and-done to me.

So... did LEGO just use the announcement timing to make a joke? Mar 10 = Mario?

Well, from the teaser, it certainly looks like the figure has some sort of integrated electronic video display, to let it change expressions and whatnot. That seems crazy, but I guess if there’s any theme where they’d roll out such a feature, a theme based on video games would be it. Will LEGO Mario figures work as Amiibo?!

Added Mario! I know people have wanted this one for a while.

I wouldn’t give up all hope. Adventure Time showed that just because one project based on a particular licensed property was declined once doesn’t necessarily mean that there’s no chance they’ll ever do that property. And heck, the just-released ISS was based on a specific project that was declined, and then got a second chance. Thunderbirds’ chances of ever getting an Ideas set might be exceedingly slim, to be sure, but not quite zero.

I Googled “CemU”, and apparently it’s a WiiU emulator, so I gather this is the WiiU version of the game we’re seeing. Would one be able to download updates and add-ones and whatnot for it under this? What about trophies / achievements / whatever they’re called on the WiiU?

I consider that more of a “corporate brand” license (à la Exxon, Shell, Volkswagen, Toys ‘R’ Us, Maersk, Vesta, etc.) than a narrative- / character-based one. Should the Paul Frank monkey be gone, perhaps?

Update: added Fast & Furious (!)

To address your second point first, I’m sure they’ll be free to use a faux stop-motion style if they choose to - it’s not as though Warner Bros. has a monopoly on it as a cinematic technique, or even one on it specifically as it applies to LEGO, given the whole point of it was to evoke the look of the stop-motion brickfilms LEGO fans have been making for decades. However, the folks making LEGO movies for Universal might intentionally opt not to use it, specifically to help distinguish these new movies from the Warner ones. Which brings us to the first point. I believe the characters from these movies actually are technically owned jointly by LEGO and Warner. That doesn’t mean there’s absolutely no possibility of them continuing on in these new movies, but I suspect Universal will instead want to start with a fresh clean slate... although if any of the creative staff behind the extant LCU does carry over to the new movies, they may want to keep the established characters / continuity going.

It has taken way too long, but thanks to this year’s Black Friday promos I finally have a PS4 - huzzah! I’m so looking forward to finally playing more than the little bit of this game that I first got to play on my nephew’s XBox One around Christmas 2015, nearly four years ago (!). Too bad, because you’re getting them anyway! :p

Similarly, when Elves was coming out and we saw some of the pics of designers working on the theme, there was a brick-built sculpture of an Indiana Jones minifigure on a table alongside the Elves stuff, and obviously that theme came and went without being accompanied by the return of LEGO Indy. That said, I think the gestating fifth movie planned for a 2021 will likely be accompanied by at least a few new sets. Similarly, if SpongeBob is another still-active franchise through this prequel series, then more LEGO sets could well happen as long as none of TLG’s competitors are using the license.