LEGO® CUUSOO 空想 - Turn your model wishes into reality

[The Real Indiana Jones]

You might be able to tell by digging around in Glenbricker's data? I would guess that it is stuff that really has no chance of being changed or modified. Probably a couple of Comic Super Heroes blind bag projects, the LDD 3DS project etc.

Yes, and I'm sure he will give us a full detailed report in a few days. He is actively gathering data.....

In the meantime, has anyone noticed any specific pages deleted already?

Wow, it's surprising that they are acting so quickly!

[Faefrost]

Wow, it's surprising that they are acting so quickly!

They probably did a pretty thorough review of a high degree of projects in the database when they ended the last review period and announced the results. At least most of the projects over 1000 or 500 votes that would have been flagged by their comments previously.They mapped it all out before posting the changes. I don't think THAT many projects have gone away yet. Probably the really obvious ones or those that cannot be converted. Straight Up new part proposals. Software, Electronics, Minifig collector sets, etc. The notices most likely went out the same time the new rules were posted.

[Haltiamieli]

The clarification of the rules sounds good, though it's a bit sad that for example The Glory of Rome theme project, long ago deserted by its creator, will presumably get deleted "wasting" 3700 supports. I think a set idea could have been chosen and (vetted from new pieces) it could have still satisfied most of the supporters and have a fighting chance of surviving through the review. I was kind of hoping that if the project would have ever got close to 10000 supporters the creator's interest would have awoken.

[The Real Indiana Jones]

The clarification of the rules sounds good, though it's a bit sad that for example The Glory of Rome theme project, long ago deserted by its creator, will presumably get deleted "wasting" 3700 supports. I think a set idea could have been chosen and (vetted from new pieces) it could have still satisfied most of the supporters and have a fighting chance of surviving through the review. I was kind of hoping that if the project would have ever got close to 10000 supporters the creator's interest would have awoken.

The Glory of Rome was actually creeping forward at a snail's pace, and it would have taken SEVEN YEARS from now to reach 10,000...

More importantly, it was not a serious business proposal with a clearly defined goal or result. It was just a disorganized wish list, including an unrealistic ratio of minifigs to bricks, and new mold designs that have already been created in the meantime, and so they likely would have said "no" to it anyway, and simply waited for a different and better Rome project to finish. In the end, he gave up in a huff over a year ago, accusing Lego and Cuusoo of stealing people's ideas, and they definitely frown on that. There are several Rome sets by various different builders that are objectively better than his, and take the concept of a business proposal much more seriously. One or more of them will rise up to take his place, and then certainly finish in way less than seven years!

So whatever happens, you will get a great Rome set, and it will be objectively better, plus you will get it sooner... A "win-win-win" situation! =)

[Bobskink]

I'm really pissed with some of these new rules. Yes, this is exactly how I feel.

I've put a lot of effort into my project. I wanted to make something original and share on an official Lego site. But now it will get deleted.

I don't know why the rules suddenly changed, but I have the impression that the people at Cuusoo are mad ad some members (or themself). Their short communication gives me that impression anyway. They have a correcting undertone and I don't like it.

[ShaydDeGrai]

(snip)

I don't know why the rules suddenly changed, but I have the impression that the people at Cuusoo are mad ad some members (or themself).

(snip)

I think you might be attributing too much power/control on the part of the CuuSoo team. This whole venture is a novelty/experiment for TLG and I doubt Tim and his people have much say in the matter if established corporate entities come down and say "we control your budget and we're never going to approve a line item to do X" or "the Legal Department talked to Disney, don't even bother to do Y or Z, they'll sue us…" Now if you want to be pissed/disappointed/embittered/whatever at TLG upper management in general for the way the CuuSoo experiment has been handled, that's perfectly legitimate, but I wouldn't take any of the rule changes personally (even when the delete your project - lost one myself). This really rings more of CuuSoo passing on new restrictions handed down TO them rather than something they cooked up just to tick us off.

Could the form letters have been kinder in their wording? Probably. They may even have started out that way. If it's like most contract related correspondence (and by posting a project to CuuSoo, you did actually enter into a form of contract as defined by their terms of service) the "nice" letters were probably sanitized by lawyers to avoid mentioning any details or using any narrative tone that could be used against them in a court of law. It's not good public relations from a "feel good" standpoint but it is common practice from a "good business sense" side of things.

PS: Sorry about you Duplo Batman guys. For what it's worth, I thought they were nifty.

[Faefrost]

I'm really pissed with some of these new rules. Yes, this is exactly how I feel.

I've put a lot of effort into my project. I wanted to make something original and share on an official Lego site. But now it will get deleted.

I don't know why the rules suddenly changed, but I have the impression that the people at Cuusoo are mad ad some members (or themself). Their short communication gives me that impression anyway. They have a correcting undertone and I don't like it.

The rules changed because CuuSoo is still an evolving "beta" experiment. After a number of very large and in depth project reviews they now have a far better concept of what is reasonably possible via CuuSoo, and what will never be possible.

Remember most decisions in business come from data and research. The past few review cycles have allowed TLG to put a very broad swath of project types under very deep business case reviews. Moreso than they likely ever imagined when they set up CuuSoo. They have had a number of projects that have forced them to look at new part or tooling feasibility from a number of angles. They have had cause to examine a number of unexpected licensing situations. And they have also discovered that a sizable portion of their fan base simply does not listen unless you hit them over the head with a stick (ie "no really we do in fact mean single project proposals and no themes or series proposals. We're not joking about this, honest").

They now have several thousand hours of review data with which to refine the system. One of the most basic refinements they have discovered is pretty obvious. It is better to disallow truly and obviously impossible projects initially than to do so at the review stage after they have garnered widespread fan appeal, and corresponding fan outrage. For most of the rule changes they simply took the stuff that they already told us would likely never pass review, and shifted that failure point to the beginning of the process instead of the end. They did the same thing with R rated subjects, violent video game subjects, modern warfare subjects, and impossible licenses in the past. There is nothing in what they did that is unreasonable, unexpected, petty, vindictive or inappropriate. Some of it may be disappointing. But a few minutes thought one can easily see the economies at work behind each change.

[Bobskink]

I understand this 100% an I agree. But I also knew this would happen when they launched Cuusoo. Every Lego fan knew this would happen.

When Cuusoo lauched, what do you think all the Star Wars fans came up with;

hmm, lets spend hours on creating a nice space ship.

or

Star Wars Collectible minifgures!

I just think Cuusoo was getting to usefull for the competition.

[Piranha]

There's a new blog update that codifies some of the condition projects and members should adhere to. I'm sure some people will be upset at some of these new conditions (the "brick-based construction toys only" condition is somewhat disappointing since it strikes down some of the projects I love like the tape measure and LDD for mobile devices), but I appreciate them for being a clarification of what can and can't work through LEGO Cuusoo and saving us the trouble of finding out through trial and error.

All those are good adjustments, all sound reasonable. I think this is a good sign they are refining CUUSOO to have better and more realistic project submissions. I am still glad they allow new prints and colors.

[Faefrost]

All those are good adjustments, all sound reasonable. I think this is a good sign they are refining CUUSOO to have better and more realistic project submissions. I am still glad they allow new prints and colors.

Be careful how you phrase that. It's there is a reasonable chance of seeing existing parts in colors that they have not been made in before. I don't think TLG will ever entertain a CuuSoo project adding to or expanding the actual available color pallet. That's even more complicated than a new part.

[Haltiamieli]

The Glory of Rome was actually creeping forward at a snail's pace, and it would have taken SEVEN YEARS from now to reach 10,000...

True enough, but that's more or less the story of all my favourite projects too. If I am to have any hope in them, I have to hope that in the long run the supporting patterns may still change a bit. Undoubtedly the vast majority of AFOLs is currently either indifferent or somewhat disillusioned when it comes to Cuusoo. But every new Cuusoo product (or refinement of Cuusoo system) may spark interest in some of them, which in turn could result in even "nonlicenced" projects (which cannot rely on outside-of-fandom support) getting a bit more votes.

There are several Rome sets by various different builders that are objectively better than his, and take the concept of a business proposal much more seriously. One or more of them will rise up to take his place, and then certainly finish in way less than seven years!

So whatever happens, you will get a great Rome set, and it will be objectively better, plus you will get it sooner... A "win-win-win" situation! =)

Hopefully, though I haven't been too impressed with the other Rome projects I've found either, they tend to propose bland and/or huge sets. In comparison The Glory of Rome even with all of its failings seemed to be one of the better thought out ones. But maybe the best one is yet to come. :)

[The Real Indiana Jones]

True enough, but that's more or less the story of all my favourite projects too. If I am to have any hope in them, I have to hope that in the long run the supporting patterns may still change a bit. Undoubtedly the vast majority of AFOLs is currently either indifferent or somewhat disillusioned when it comes to Cuusoo. But every new Cuusoo product (or refinement of Cuusoo system) may spark interest in some of them, which in turn could result in even "nonlicenced" projects (which cannot rely on outside-of-fandom support) getting a bit more votes.

Hopefully, though I haven't been too impressed with the other Rome projects I've found either, they tend to propose bland and/or huge sets. In comparison The Glory of Rome even with all of its failings seemed to be one of the better thought out ones. But maybe the best one is yet to come. :)

Ah, well then take a look at this and tell me what you think... I designed it very carefully to keep the price-point perfectly realistic.

I was hoping to do a full theme, but this one is definitely the fastest mover of all. You can click on the banner below to see the rest.

Edited December 16, 2013 by The Real Indiana Jones

[Bobskink]

And my project has been deleted... I didn't expect it to happen so soon, I wanted to a take screenshot as a last souvenir. Didn't get any notification at all. Kinda sad now,

Anybody knows what happens with my votes if I stop my account? Cuusoo has no real purpose for me anymore, but I don't want my precious votes lost aswell.

Edited December 16, 2013 by Bobskink

[Meatman]

And my project has been deleted... I didn't expect it to happen so soon, I wanted to a take screenshot as a last souvenir. Didn't get any notification at all. Kinda sad now,

Anybody knows what happens with my votes if I stop my account? Cuusoo has no real purpose for me anymore, but I don't want my precious votes lost aswell.

How many supporters did you have?

[Faefrost]

And my project has been deleted... I didn't expect it to happen so soon, I wanted to a take screenshot as a last souvenir. Didn't get any notification at all. Kinda sad now,

Anybody knows what happens with my votes if I stop my account? Cuusoo has no real purpose for me anymore, but I don't want my precious votes lost aswell.

Did you check and see if it is archived? They normally don't delete projects like that. They archive them off where they aren't linked and can't be voted on or searched for. But you can still reach them via direct URL. This way the creator can make changes and resubmit, etc.

[Bobskink]

How many supporters did you have?

184, not that mush, but I didn't start spamming my friends, family and other people yet. I always wanted to reach 1.000, to have some comments by Lego.

Did you check and see if it is archived? They normally don't delete projects like that. They archive them off where they aren't linked and can't be voted on or searched for. But you can still reach them via direct URL. This way the creator can make changes and resubmit, etc.

I don't think so. I got an e-mail eventualy,

Since your project below suggested something other than a brick-based play set, it has been removed by our moderation team

So I presume it's really gone, since they say removed, not archived. Check my signature, which is the direct link.

[The Real Indiana Jones]

I always wanted to reach 1.000, to have some comments by Lego.

Ah, well it was a wonderful idea and beautiful work, so I am sure it would have reached 1000 and beyond.....

And they don't make any specific comments on individual projects anymore, they just copy a standard message to your page now...

And I'm sure the issue was just the new mold for Batman's head. They probably just reasoned that the concept would not be viable without creating a new mold.

Edited December 17, 2013 by The Real Indiana Jones

[Faefrost]

Ah, well it was a wonderful idea and beautiful work, so I am sure it would have reached 1000 and beyond.....

And they don't make any specific comments on individual projects anymore, they just copy a standard message to your page now...

And I'm sure the issue was just the new mold for Batman's head. They probably just reasoned that the concept would not be viable without creating a new mold.

I think it was the Batman head mold plus the one or two pieces needed for the Duplo Barris Batmobile. That is probably what pushed it over the edge. The Batmobile parts were truly impossible and without that it's just a custom minifigure project . very sad. I loved those little Duplo caped crusaders. And you can really see a nice niche for a more extensive line for them. Ala Fisher Prices stuff. (which may also be a reason that Lego has not brought the Superhero stuff to Duplo. FP already sits on the needed license.)

[BrickG]

One of the few minifigureless builds I'm somewhat interested in.

[Faefrost]

It looks fairly unchanged. Just some improved new part usage.

[Bobskink]

Not that it's not a great and accurate model, but iI have the impression I've seen sets like this before.

[Faefrost]

It was a safe choice. But Lego has done well with real space subjects, and this one still sparks some interest. Wasn't there a story from it just last week? I think it found proof that Mars once had free flowing water. And potential conditions for life. It's not the most colorful of subjects, but it still makes a nice little scene on its base. (Now if only they had made the sky hook or whatever it was called? )

[Blakstone]

Bobskink, I don't know if it is any consolation but I consider the Batman Juniors set to be inspired by your custom Duplo build. The 60s retro Batman and Robin probably would not have been made without TLG seeing the popularity of your work.

I think Faefrost is right about the reason for the evolving rules and just realized the set I want most from Cuusoo except a good Roman set is impossible. I had hoped that someone would do a Forestmen set. No new molds would be needed. However, they have a rule against trying to bring back all themes too.

[Lyichir]

Bobskink, I don't know if it is any consolation but I consider the Batman Juniors set to be inspired by your custom Duplo build. The 60s retro Batman and Robin probably would not have been made without TLG seeing the popularity of your work.

I think Faefrost is right about the reason for the evolving rules and just realized the set I want most from Cuusoo except a good Roman set is impossible. I had hoped that someone would do a Forestmen set. No new molds would be needed. However, they have a rule against trying to bring back all themes too.

Keep in mind there is a difference between the vague instruction to bring back a theme (which on top of the fact that it's a theme proposal, is not an original idea) and a more focused set proposal. A single forestmen set would be a perfectly valid proposal (and if it came down to it, it could be promoted as an adjunct to whatever Castle theme is currently running). The same would apply to a Neo Classic Space set. As long as it's a single set and doesn't involve new or discontinued parts (like Monorail track, for instance), it wouldn't break the rules.

[Faefrost]

Keep in mind there is a difference between the vague instruction to bring back a theme (which on top of the fact that it's a theme proposal, is not an original idea) and a more focused set proposal. A single forestmen set would be a perfectly valid proposal (and if it came down to it, it could be promoted as an adjunct to whatever Castle theme is currently running). The same would apply to a Neo Classic Space set. As long as it's a single set and doesn't involve new or discontinued parts (like Monorail track, for instance), it wouldn't break the rules.

This. Heck you can just call it Sherwood Forrest or something. You can put a project up that draws inspiration from an old theme, "I loved the Forrestmen as a kid so I was inspired to create this "Merry Band's Hideout" set in order to channel that feeling". Is fine. So long as it is a tight single set. Heck we even know the Forrestmen molds are current as they have been used recently in CMF lines. The only point you would run into a problem is if it conflicts with Lego's upcoming plans. (Ie a new Castle Forrest line, or a Robin Hood theme, etc)