LEGO® CUUSOO 空想 - Turn your model wishes into reality

[purpleparadox]

RoxYourBlox - don't give up. Please, don't ever give up. Both your Apple Square and your Pumpkin Factory are amazing works that any AFOL would be lucky to have.

... And for what it's worth, you're now one vote closer to 10,000

Make that two votes closer to 10,000!

[______]

50th Supporter of your Apple Square project. Looks fantastic! And the 1% couldn't go anywhere better in my opinion. Hopefully this idea will become big soon.

[RoxYourBlox]

First, thanks for the support! I hit 100 over the weekend. :) However, the boost that I had anticipated from the non-AFOL community by promising to donate to charity during breast cancer awareness month is less than hoped. I've considered making a .pdf flyer to pin up on bulletin boards at a few local coffee shops, yet I hesitate...

Why does Cuusoo require self-promotion? Shouldn't the website be able to implicitly drive votes for deserving projects in a timely manner?

Self-promotion would seem to require an incentive. The incentives currently are:

+ 1% of sales

+ See your idea re-imagined and produced as an affordable set by Lego

However, these rewards are offset:

- How much is the aforementioned 1%? To what extent would it compensate for the cost of materials and the time invested to design the prototype? How would the compensation compare with that generated from selling a custom kit with instructions and parts collated through bricklink?

- Unless the project was presented as a virtual file, the creator would own a prototype. Furthermore, the prototype likely would be more elaborate than the final model produced by Lego. Social media sites such as Flickr, Facebook, MOCPages, and ReBrick currently offer an outlet to share your creations and receive feedback (i.e., stoke your ego). Therefore, what becomes the value in seeing your idea produced by Lego?

Edited October 15, 2012 by RoxYourBlox

[AndyC]

I suspect that if you're looking at CuuSoo with an eye to making a profit, you're going to be disappointed. 1% of a limited production run set is probably never going to amount to a huge amount. It's much more about the kudos involved in seeing a creation come to fruition and being able to say "that was my idea" than anything else (CuuSoo does mean wish, after all). That being the case, it's also obvious why most of the promotion work is going to fall on the creator, rather than the CuuSoo site itself. At the end of the day, TLG doesn't really need Cuusoo, it's more a gift to Lego fans than anything else.

[drdesignz]

I've been trying hard to promote some of the better projects online. I've also been talking to the owner of a popular Lego news website about starting a once a week article for Cuusoo submissions. If implemented, it will be like a pick of the week type of article, similar to what Brick Hero's blog has. I think it would possibly be a good idea for the front page of EB as well. There are a ton of ideas that deserve more attention and support, many of which are original and not intellectual property.

[ShaydDeGrai]

I suspect that if you're looking at CuuSoo with an eye to making a profit, you're going to be disappointed. 1% of a limited production run set is probably never going to amount to a huge amount. It's much more about the kudos involved in seeing a creation come to fruition and being able to say "that was my idea" than anything else (CuuSoo does mean wish, after all). That being the case, it's also obvious why most of the promotion work is going to fall on the creator, rather than the CuuSoo site itself. At the end of the day, TLG doesn't really need Cuusoo, it's more a gift to Lego fans than anything else.

I think AndyC is very much on target here. If you're planning to retire off of your CuuSoo royalties, I wish you the best but hope you're keeping your day job.

Personally, I've got seven projects active over there with about a grand total of one thousand votes between them _combined_. I doubt I'll ever see any money from them but I like to think that the statistics TLG gets from CuuSoo at least _inform_ their internal conversations about what sort of kits and themes people are after; what it is about a given kit makes someone support _this_ model but not _that_; what makes a _fair_ price-point in the AFOL community; etc.

It takes a fair amount of self-promotion just to get a few dozen votes once your project slips of the "new projects" radar, but I'd like to _think_ that even the projects that haven't yet made it to the formal review stage but have managed to rise above the noise of the crowd are at least getting unofficial notice by the-powers-that-be.

[Faefrost]

It's pretty easy to do the math on this one. I vaguely seem to remember reading somewhere that the base default production run on a CuuSoo project is somewhere in the neighborhood of 10,000 units. So assuming a full production sell through on a $50 usd set the 1% return would be $5000.

If you are looking to create a charity funnel you would almost be better off offering the PDF design file and parts list as a reward for a $10 donation. Although it would not have that satisfaction of having it as a full packaged set.

[drdesignz]

I vaguely seem to remember reading somewhere that the base default production run on a CuuSoo project is somewhere in the neighborhood of 10,000 units. So assuming a full production sell through on a $50 usd set the 1% return would be $5000.

According to an email from Lego customer service, the first run of Minecraft was 10,000 units and it sold out within the first few weeks. It's since been in and out of stock, and they also told me they intend to meet consumer demand throughout the holidays. From what I've seen demand has been very strong, so I wouldn't be surprised if production was several times 10,000.

[Faefrost]

According to an email from Lego customer service, the first run of Minecraft was 10,000 units and it sold out within the first few weeks. It's since been in and out of stock, and they also told me they intend to meet consumer demand throughout the holidays. From what I've seen demand has been very strong, so I wouldn't be surprised if production was several times 10,000.

Well yes. But that is with a highly successful CuuSoo set that they have gone back and continued production on. The base production run that I believe they star at is 10k. Minecraft sort of sits on the high point of CuuSoo success, not the typical or expected outcome.

[BrickG]

Naw it was expected by people in the video game business. It was a no brainer with the crazy surge of popularity of the game.

[Wedge09]

I see this project http://lego.cuusoo.com/ideas/view/1128, I really like it because I see the Neuschwanstein Castle in the realty and it is fantastic.

What do you think??

[just2good]

They made another blog post about the top 5 supported projects. They didn't talk about the other TLoZ project! That's not good!

[BrickG]

They made another blog post about the top 5 supported projects. They didn't talk about the other TLoZ project! That's not good!

I think they couldn't get the license. So that would destroy both of those Zelda projects.

Either that or they got the license already but I'm doubting that. I think Zelda Lego is dead. :(

[Aanchir]

I think they couldn't get the license. So that would destroy both of those Zelda projects.

Either that or they got the license already but I'm doubting that. I think Zelda Lego is dead. :(

Or maybe they don't want to get people's hopes up for one Zelda project when the Zelda project already in review is still completely up in the air. I see no reason to jump to conclusions about whether or not they have or can get the license.

Edited October 18, 2012 by Aanchir

[Faefrost]

They made another blog post about the top 5 supported projects. They didn't talk about the other TLoZ project! That's not good!

I think that TLoZ project is kind of doomed no matter how you slice it. They already have a Zelda project under review. Chances are they will not do two CuuSoo Zelda projects back to back, assuming they can even get the license. do they have some mechanism to merge projects or combine elements from differing projects of the same subject matter?

[AncientDayz]

*snip*

I'd like to plug my project. I still like my Pumpkin Factory better than Apple Square. However, while the former failed, the latter could ride a wave over the next 5 weeks... or die just as miserably. Either way, I won't be collecting a cent. If this doesn't work, then I think none of my MOCs--nor any of my future ideas--would, and I'll safely write off Cuusoo altogether.

I just saw your Pumpkin Factory on another site for the first time yesterday. I didn't realize that was yours (I should have known). I love the colors of that one, but I must say that the textures on your Apple Square won me over. I would definitely buy it. Don't give up.

[RoxYourBlox]

It's pretty easy to do the math on this one. I vaguely seem to remember reading somewhere that the base default production run on a CuuSoo project is somewhere in the neighborhood of 10,000 units. So assuming a full production sell through on a $50 usd set the 1% return would be $5000.

If you are looking to create a charity funnel you would almost be better off offering the PDF design file and parts list as a reward for a $10 donation. Although it would not have that satisfaction of having it as a full packaged set.

Honestly, I hadn't considered the math--it's persuasive enough such that today I rebooted a couple projects. As for your second point, the .lxf file for the university was already freely available, and a bill of materials can be generated within LDD.

Edited October 23, 2012 by RoxYourBlox

[drdesignz]

For those who haven't noticed yet, a survey window pops up now when you support a project. That will give you an opportunity to make suggestions to make Cuusoo better.

[just2good]

For those who haven't noticed yet, a survey window pops up now when you support a project. That will give you an opportunity to make suggestions to make Cuusoo better.

That's been there forever.

[drdesignz]

That's been there forever.

Well, that's strange... I've been going to their website almost every day for a long time and I never got that until yesterday...

[just2good]

Did anybody see this project on Cuusoo recently? It has been around for a week and already has 5,000+ supporters. Not to be mean, I don't really understand the appeal... Edited October 24, 2012 by just2good

[Kristel]

I don't see the appeal either. Looks like a mascot with a loyal fan base.

[drdesignz]

Mass emails were sent out and Purdue University's campus had tables setup for the students to support the project. At least, that's what I've read. I know there is at least an online campaign of some sort to get the students to vote for it. That's pretty obvious. There has been some heated discussion going on in the comments section. Most of the supporters are only supporting this submission, no others, which is unfortunate.

[just2good]

Mass emails were sent out and Purdue University's campus had tables setup for the students to support the project. At least, that's what I've read. I know there is at least an online campaign of some sort to get the students to vote for it. That's pretty obvious. There has been some heated discussion going on in the comments section. Most of the supporters are only supporting this submission, no others, which is unfortunate.

If that's true, I can't really call it cheating, but it is a bit unfair (while still being fair). Purdue University is really doing this for (obviously) profit, and to give some students scholarships (which is okay).

[drdesignz]

According to the comments I just read, they had multiple iPads set up at various, high-traffic locations around campus at kiosks. The project was published in the student newspaper and on Facebook calling for 10,000 votes in a 36 hour period, starting today. There appears to have been a few dozen fake accounts that voted earlier, but those were quickly reported and hardly made a real difference either way. The majority of supporters use their Facebook accounts. While it is disappointing that the vast majority of these people are only interested in this specific project, because it is of their mascot, I do believe this can be looked at as a positive thing because many more people have been exposed to Cuusoo who were previously unaware of such a thing. Surely many of these students had Lego growing up, so this may very well encourage those who have "outgrown" Lego to rediscover the hobby as an AFOL. Being young people who are more likely to use social media, I think sharing this project on Facebook, Twitter, etc. will have a positive effect for the Lego fan community.