LEGO Ideas Discussion

[astral brick]

On 12/17/2020 at 7:14 PM, JintaiZ said:

It's great to see that bricklink would produce rejected Ideas projects! But it's a bit disappointing that the ones with IP won't be produced...

I thought exactly the same. In fact, wouldn't it be easier for them to forbid any new ideas based on IP? In any case, even if they are allowed and they reach the 10.000 votes, there is a 99% chance that they won't be produced. I think, for instance, of japanese IPs.

[tomorrowboy]

On 12/18/2020 at 7:07 AM, adwind said:

It just hit my mind now - we guys can hope for Food Stands!

Oh, I loved the Food Stand Diners. I hope they get made.

[RichardGoring]

1 hour ago, astral brick said:

I thought exactly the same. In fact, wouldn't it be easier for them to forbid any new ideas based on IP? In any case, even if they are allowed and they reach the 10.000 votes, there is a 99% chance that they won't be produced. I think, for instance, of japanese IPs.

But the vast majority of LEGO-produced Ideas sets are based on IPs. So while they won't do it for the BrickLink project, because getting the IPs and licensing them is expensive and time-consuming, it's important to have the ideas for their main Ideas sets.

[tafkatb]

2 hours ago, astral brick said:

I thought exactly the same. In fact, wouldn't it be easier for them to forbid any new ideas based on IP? In any case, even if they are allowed and they reach the 10.000 votes, there is a 99% chance that they won't be produced. I think, for instance, of japanese IPs.

By my count it's more like an 84.5% chance. Those really aren't terrible odds to pursue for people who want to submit IP-based ideas.

[astral brick]

16 hours ago, RichardGoring said:

But the vast majority of LEGO-produced Ideas sets are based on IPs.

I wonder what would happen in case a Gundam project would make the first cut. Back in the day an amazing Macross idea was rejected.

16 hours ago, RichardGoring said:

So while they won't do it for the BrickLink project, because getting the IPs and licensing them is expensive and time-consuming, it's important to have the ideas for their main Ideas sets.

Since now Bricklink is owned by Lego, the latter could use it to produce sets that normally would be discarded. I think of the ones addressed to a more mature audience, i.e. many Japanese IPs. They could make a good use of the 18+ label, maybe adding some "limited edition" warning in order to furtherly increase the sales.

[jonwil]

Many Japanese IPS can have fragmented licencing around the world and can therefore be difficult to get rights to

[Another Brick In The Wall]

On 12/18/2020 at 10:23 PM, RichardGoring said:

StoneWars has put together a list - https://www.stonewars.de/news/bricklink-afol-designer-program-runde-2-ideas/

Is Train Station: Studgate based on an existing IP ? If not, why is it not on the list? 

On 12/19/2020 at 8:03 AM, adwind said:

It's 4 years old... Only projects not older than 3 years qualify 

So how long before people start to resubmit previously rejected projects to circumvent this rule? 

[jonwil]

The train station requires parts that are long discontinued so it can't be made as a set.

[Another Brick In The Wall]

23 hours ago, jonwil said:

The train station requires parts that are long discontinued so it can't be made as a set.

Sure. But I was not aware that was a criterion. 

 

[MatthewRC]

On 12/22/2020 at 9:07 AM, astral brick said:

I wonder what would happen in case a Gundam project would make the first cut. Back in the day an amazing Macross idea was rejected.

Since now Bricklink is owned by Lego, the latter could use it to produce sets that normally would be discarded. I think of the ones addressed to a more mature audience, i.e. many Japanese IPs. They could make a good use of the 18+ label, maybe adding some "limited edition" warning in order to furtherly increase the sales.

I think the Macross VF-1 Valkyrie project was rejected due to legal problems involving Harmony Gold, the company that adapted Macross (along with two other unrelated mecha anime series) into Robotech.

[CopperTablet]

I'm hoping that we get the Ideas Caribbean Clipper, either as an Ideas set, or a Bricklink Designer Program set, or....

[MatthewRC]

9 hours ago, CopperTablet said:

I'm hoping that we get the Ideas Caribbean Clipper, either as an Ideas set, or a Bricklink Designer Program set, or....

Sadly, the Caribbean Clipper is too similar to The Pirates of Barracuda Bay. So it won’t make the cut.

Edited December 27, 2020 by MatthewRC

[astral brick]

On 12/26/2020 at 6:53 PM, MatthewRC said:

I think the Macross VF-1 Valkyrie project was rejected due to legal problems involving Harmony Gold, the company that adapted Macross (along with two other unrelated mecha anime series) into Robotech.

Then why did they allow the submission? And if they didn't know it beforehand, why didn't they stop it before reaching ten thousand votes?

[Lyichir]

5 hours ago, astral brick said:

Then why did they allow the submission? And if they didn't know it beforehand, why didn't they stop it before reaching ten thousand votes?

Because licensing negotiations are a part of the review process, not the submission process. Most rejections at the submission stage happen because of "brand fit", a decision that can be made based on Lego's own brand standards, without the input of external parties. But licensing is a much more complex beast than that, involving the input of two or more parties, and there's never really even a guarantee that licensing talks that fail once won't have the potential to succeed some time in the future.

It would be practically impossible for Lego to vet the feasibility of licensing for every single project that gets submitted. Heck, often even with less complex licensing scenarios, it's impossible to know whether or not an acceptable agreement for all parties can be reached before a dialogue has been started between Lego and other licensors. That's part of why the review stage can take so long.

Edited December 27, 2020 by Lyichir

[jonwil]

In instances where they know a license isn't possible (IP owned by another toy company as with e.g. He-Man, licence held by another company as with e.g. Mega and Caterpillar/John Deere or license ruled out based on past analysis/discussion) they could (and should) reject the project at the submission stage.

 

[astral brick]

12 minutes ago, jonwil said:

or license ruled out based on past analysis/discussion)

Exactly, I agree with you

12 minutes ago, jonwil said:

they could (and should) reject the project at the submission stage.

Yes, they should indeed, otherwise they are giving false hopes to the submitter and the supporters.

[MatthewRC]

13 hours ago, Lyichir said:

Because licensing negotiations are a part of the review process, not the submission process. Most rejections at the submission stage happen because of "brand fit", a decision that can be made based on Lego's own brand standards, without the input of external parties. But licensing is a much more complex beast than that, involving the input of two or more parties, and there's never really even a guarantee that licensing talks that fail once won't have the potential to succeed some time in the future.

It would be practically impossible for Lego to vet the feasibility of licensing for every single project that gets submitted. Heck, often even with less complex licensing scenarios, it's impossible to know whether or not an acceptable agreement for all parties can be reached before a dialogue has been started between Lego and other licensors. That's part of why the review stage can take so long.

I wonder if this will impact DadiTwins’s Naruto project? I’m hoping to see Ichiraku Ramen Shop get made.

[Lyichir]

5 hours ago, jonwil said:

In instances where they know a license isn't possible (IP owned by another toy company as with e.g. He-Man, licence held by another company as with e.g. Mega and Caterpillar/John Deere or license ruled out based on past analysis/discussion) they could (and should) reject the project at the submission stage.

 

Licenses being owned by another toy company is one thing, and could certainly be curtailed at the submission stage without much issue. But a license merely being held by another company currently could be a challenging thing to keep track of at the submission stage, in part because the terms and expiration of such licensing agreements isn't always obvious to an outside observer. Some licensing arrangements with other toy companies might lack an exclusivity clause, or expire between the submission of a project and the point at which it begins review (a period that can last over two years).

[BrickG]

It's too much to ask them to do much of anything at the submission stage. It's a lot more complex than you might expect. They'd have to hire tons of people just to handle the submissions, of which there's thousands and thousands.

[tomorrowboy]

4 hours ago, Lyichir said:

between the submission of a project and the point at which it begins review (a period that can last over two years).

Does anyone have stats for the time from submission to approval to release for each Lego Ideas set?

[JintaiZ]

[koalayummies]

1/1/2021 12:01AM EST and its gone!

[RichardGoring]

44 minutes ago, koalayummies said:

1/1/2021 12:01AM EST and its gone!

Don't! Just don't! 

[Exetrius]

https://bouwsteentjes.info/lego-ideas-medieval-blacksmith/ good morning, 2021! I really like the look of this!

[JintaiZ]

The blacksmith looks good overall. It's super exciting to see TLG producing sets similar to the castle line but this seems small for the price...