LEGO Ideas Discussion

[Faefrost]

8 hours ago, Alpinemaps said:

I didn't mean to suggest that Voltron was happening because season 3 drops tomorrow. I was merely suggesting that the announcement of its section is timed to the release. 

I do think the delay was related to Voltron. I then think that they decided to wait until the drop of season 3 to announce it. I'm sure LEGO would have liked to announce it a couple week ago - I suspect they had this all tied up just before Comic Con but wanted to do the cross promotion. 

No inside info, just my theory. If Voltron doesn't get announced today I will definitely be bummed!

I've heard from a few people with first hand knowledge that the nice folks at WEP fell in love with the project the moment they saw it. The delay was likely more to do with license complexities. Right now WEP has three very active Voltron toy licenses out and in effect. Bandai, Playmates and Toynami. All with new product currently on shelves. So there was probably some extra due diligence needed to insure no conflicts anywhere. There may have also been some price haggling. Voltron is currently a hot license. But like I said, the WEP folks really really liked len_69's set. So there was going to be a deal done. 

41 minutes ago, Takanuinuva said:

I just hope it will be able to transform and not just be a figure of the mecha. It will have to be scaled down probably though.

I rather suspect that it will essentially be a Creator set. You can build it one of two ways. Either as the Voltron Robot or as the Five Lions. In the robot collector world we call this "parts forming". While not considered a good thing in terms of die cast robots, Lego IS partsforming.p by its very nature. So it's forgivable and expected. 

 

Edit: And my early prediction for the next review cycle. I'm betting on the Sega Arcade Machines. Everything else is either a license that they won't go for, or too generic looking. Longshot bet on the Venetian Houses. 

Edited August 3, 2017 by Faefrost

[Artanis I]

Next results due by end of November (it says "fall" - which of course is American Northern hemisphere language for Sept-Nov) but we know what these guys are like for releasing results on time...

[rob-ot5000]

ohmygod - Voltron. SO MUCH "YES". ALL OF THE "YES". It will be mine.

[lightningtiger]

Two got eh ?

Ship in a bottle............

And now for VOLTRON !

For Voltron, I'll be buying it and oh, for somemore 70s' & 80's classic kids TV series set ideas yes please LEGO !

[Capparezza]

Oh, Ship in a bottle? Wow. Might be my first Ideas set I will purchase... That's a nice surprise

[Digger of Bricks]

Not that it will go anywhere, but szabomate90's I Am Your Father has passed 10,000 to become the Second 2017 review's fourth project.

http://www.thebrickfan.com/lego-ideas-i-am-your-father-achieves-10000-supporters/

[LucyCol]

 Voltron does absolutely nothing for me, but I am please the 'Ship in a Bottle' made it through as this was one I actually supported.

 

[Blondie-Wan]

Incidentally, these review results mark the fifth time two projects have been approved simultaneously (after 1) Birds & The Big Bang Theory, 2) Doctor Who & WALL•E, 3) Caterham & Adventure Time, and 4) Yellow Submarine & Apollo Saturn V), and the third time a project has been approved after being held over for further review (after 1) Research Institute and 2) Doctor Who).

[x105Black]

I find it interesting how split the fanbase seems to be.  While there are a few that are interested in both, most people like one or the other.

[jonwil]

I wonder which one will come out first.

 

[dr_spock]

Hope Voltron comes out first. 

 

 

[AFOLguy1970]

I am not surprised about Voltron.  Congrats to those of you who are stoked to see this coming.  

The Ship in the Bottle looks nice, but I probably will pass.  Also a bit surprised the Tram got shot down.  I really thought that would have a large target audience:  adults, kids, train enthusiasts, people with town setups, etc.  The silver lining for me is I will save money in the forseeable future.  

[Artanis I]

1 hour ago, AFOLguy1970 said:

Also a bit surprised the Tram got shot down.  I really thought that would have a large target audience:  adults, kids, train enthusiasts, people with town setups, etc.

Definitely with you there, I thought it was a very high chance. I wonder if it was just that they weren't prepared to approve 3 or more at once? There are all sorts of possible reasons of course.

[Digger of Bricks]

I was looking over the Ideas house guidelines to become more familiar with them, and I found these two particular rules that had some particular questions about, so I thought someone here might know what the answers to these are.

https://ideas.lego.com/guidelines

In the first part of the main guidelines article titled "What is a Project", there is a excerpt that reads:

Quote

• We don’t accept “mass customization” projects such as custom mosaic or minifigure makers.

Would this also include Creator like projects that offer multiple alternate builds beyond the main one?

Now in the fourth part of the article titled "Acceptable Project Content", a subsection reads:

Quote

Don’t submit projects requesting we re-release or “bring back” discontinued LEGO products or themes in their original form, and don’t submit projects that are “modifications,” “improvements,” or “expansion sets” to existing or past LEGO sets. If you’re submitting a project based on a discontinued LEGO theme or brand (for example Blacktron or Octan), it must be your own new, creative work.

Would this include homaged reimaginings of of classic Lego sets, such as the Yellow Castle and the LL928 Galaxy Explorer? Maybe it depends upon how much the build and design differs?

Edited August 8, 2017 by Digger of Bricks

[Blondie-Wan]

2 hours ago, Digger of Bricks said:

I was looking over the Ideas house guidelines to become more familiar with them, and I found these two particular rules that had some particular questions about, so I thought someone here might know what the answers to these are.

https://ideas.lego.com/guidelines

In the first part of the main guidelines article titled "What is a Project", there is a excerpt that reads:

Would this also include Creator like projects that offer multiple alternate builds beyond the main one?

No, those should be fine.

2 hours ago, Digger of Bricks said:

Now in the fourth part of the article titled "Acceptable Project Content", a subsection reads:

Would this include homaged reimaginings of of classic Lego sets, such as the Yellow Castle and the LL928 Galaxy Explorer? Maybe it depends upon how much the build and design differs?

I think the latter. Note there actually already are a few projects scattered across Ideas that homage specific classic sets in this way. I think it just means you can't simply take an existing set and change a few pieces on it. Projects that have whole new builds from the ground up to achieve builds that reference the original designs seem to be okay. But I'd ask the Ideas team directly, of course.

[Capparezza]

3 hours ago, Digger of Bricks said:

If you’re submitting a project based on a discontinued LEGO theme or brand (for example Blacktron or Octan)...

Wait, WHAT? Octan is a discontinued LEGO brand??? I'm a bit confused now... or was this just a plain error on LEGOs side?

[Blondie-Wan]

2 hours ago, Capparezza said:

Wait, WHAT? Octan is a discontinued LEGO brand??? I'm a bit confused now... or was this just a plain error on LEGOs side?

I think it's meant to be read as "a discontinued LEGO theme, such as Blacktron, or a LEGO brand, such as Octan". I don't think they meant for "discontinued" to be read as a modifier for either theme or brand, only theme. It would probably be better if the wording were changed slightly.

[GentlemanJoker]

More than a year ago I made a LEGO Ideas submission for a Grumpy Cat set, which sadly never made it really far and died in obscurity.

Today on LEGO's Twitter, because it's international cat day, they posted this image:

Now compare that to my Grumpy Cat model and you'll notice it's practically the same model with just a few changes around the nose and mouth and in a couple other places.

See my project here: https://ideas.lego.com/projects/f71e06c9-99df-421f-89b4-462aa947e731

Does this mean that designers at LEGO use old Ideas submissions when creating newer models? Probably not for official sets, but models for social media like this?

Edited August 8, 2017 by GentlemanJoker

[rodiziorobs]

I don't know that I would say it's "practically the same", but there are some definite similarities. The two models seem to differ in a lot of the finer details/building techniques, although the basic approach to the area around the eyes is the same. Furthermore, the overall dimensions and the proportions of face, ears, and eyes are identical to yours.

Interesting.

It looks like the builder may have looked to yours for inspiration, which if a MOC builder did this I would say they owe you an attribution at least. However, since it was an Ideas submission, you gave TLG permission to use it however they see fit.

This kind of discussion has come up before on EB, here is the beginning of a memorable discussion from about 5 years ago if you are interested, and this particular comment from @Lyichir (from the same thread) sums up my thoughts on the matter.

[StarWars8Spoiler]

senteosan has reposted his previously failed Jurassic Park project on Ideas:

https://ideas.lego.com/projects/6842b9e2-5363-476a-abb2-e339917517dd

 

Didn't the mods there say this sort of stuff wasn't allowed? It's literally the exact same as the old one that got 10k votes back in 2014 but didn't pass the review.

[Tariq j]

Indeed, the rules state that:

LEGO Ideas does not accept projects based on:
•Currently active or announced licenses such as Star Wars™, MARVEL Super Heroes™, The LEGO Batman Movie, Ferrari, Mercedes-Benz, and others. For a list of active licenses, please refer to this article in the LEGO Ideas Knowledge Base.
 

[jonwil]

Jurassic World is very much an active license (there are leaked photos of the 2018 retailer catalog showing Jurassic World as an active theme, probably to tie into next years Jurassic World 2)

 

[StarWars8Spoiler]

This guy literally just took his project from 2014 and resubmitted it. He didn't even change the description or the build itself, and he didn't add anything.

[Agent Kallus]

How should one go about promoting a lego ideas project?

[LEGODalekbuster523]

13 hours ago, AgentKallus of Hydra said:

How should one go about promoting a lego ideas project?

I would imagine by advertising it all over social media. Twitter would probably be a good way to do it.