LEGO Ideas Discussion

[Blondie-Wan]

I only recently saw the pics for the Big Bang set, and I think it's very curious that TLG has actually gone with 7 minifigs in such a small set. I thought they'd just do 4 or 5. I think it sends an interesting message for future Ideas submissions!

It's unusual, but not entirely unprecedented; they've occasionally done sets with minifigure counts notably higher than one might expect at a given price point, such as the 2005 Star Wars set 7264 Imperial Inspection (10 minifigures in a $50 set), or the 2000 LEGO Sports set 3416 Women's Team (6 minifigures in a $10 set). Of course those were a while ago, but there have been more recent examples.

The key here is the original CUUSOO project. The proposal was for a set of the apartment living room and the seven characters. Though TLG's designers do tweak the builds of approved projects to get the final set designs, they try to keep the basic concepts, descriptions, features, etc. the same as what were proposed by the project creators, since changing too much around and taking stuff out makes the sets fundamentally different from the projects people voted for. With this set, it was important that it have all seven main characters, since that's the project people voted for; if they left out any of those characters, at least some of the people who'd supported the project would feel it was fundamentally not the thing they'd wanted or voted for. That's also why project updates aren't allowed to radically change the nature of a project, like turning a car into a dinosaur - all the people who had voted for a car would now be having their votes count toward a dinosaur they didn't necessarily want.

Edited June 5, 2015 by Blondie-Wan

[tafkatb]

Ok, the Ecto-1 is back now; must have just been a temporary glitch.

[Dorayaki]

I only recently saw the pics for the Big Bang set, and I think it's very curious that TLG has actually gone with 7 minifigs in such a small set. I thought they'd just do 4 or 5. I think it sends an interesting message for future Ideas submissions!

As long as all things should base on the orignial project, getting rid of some characters could literally infuriate fans. It could also be that, without new prints, they're just ordinary flesh figures that don't need diverse parts, and LEGO is fine with that.

I hate to see some other official licensed sets with relatively fewer figures, due to ignoring some other characters who existed in the correspondent scene of the show or film. It should be nice that LEGO use one single set to cover most main characters. For example, we probably won't see Clara Clayton in a shor time....

Edited June 6, 2015 by Dorayaki

[Robert8]

Modular Library is the lastest project to achieve the 10000 supporters!

https://ideas.lego.com/projects/64145

[9v system]

Like the others I'm very exited to get the marble maze, even if it is just for the gbc balls.

Fro the next round I hope the frozen castle wins because it has soooooo many trans pieces, I could do with more trans pieces.

[jonwil]

There is no way the Frozen Castle will win because TLG has already made a Frozen castle set this year.

[MAB]

Like the others I'm very exited to get the marble maze, even if it is just for the gbc balls.

And if they give you Zamor spheres instead?

[SMC]

^ That would be very poor on Lego's part, some friends sets have balls so don't think it will be a problem.

[tafkatb]

I'm inclined to think they'd go with the soccer balls, even though Zamor spheres are more common, simply because Zamor spheres are larger and the whole thing, which is pretty big to begin with, might have to be scaled up to accommodate them.

[Blondie-Wan]

I'm not sure why it particularly matters which balls are used in this set, and why it would be so "poor" of LEGO to sub Zamor spheres for soccer balls or basketballs or whatever. Can Zamor spheres not be used for GBCs? And anyway, isn't the point of the inclusion of any of them simply to have something to roll through the maze? I get that obviously we'd like the final parts selection to be as versatile as possible, as with any set, but why would Zamor spheres be any less (or more) desirable than minifigure sports balls?

[legoman19892]

It should just use screaming minifig heads.

[Dorayaki]

There is no way the Frozen Castle will win because TLG has already made a Frozen castle set this year.

The case is somewhat different. The project appeared during the time when Frozen castle set wasnt' announced. However, since Disney is still in cooperation with LEGO, it should be predictable to see an official set and this project would be rejected very possibly.

[Lyichir]

I'm not sure why it particularly matters which balls are used in this set, and why it would be so "poor" of LEGO to sub Zamor spheres for soccer balls or basketballs or whatever. Can Zamor spheres not be used for GBCs? And anyway, isn't the point of the inclusion of any of them simply to have something to roll through the maze? I get that obviously we'd like the final parts selection to be as versatile as possible, as with any set, but why would Zamor spheres be any less (or more) desirable than minifigure sports balls?

Zamor Spheres are just harder to use in general, since while the soccer ball piece is slightly LESS than two modules wide (meaning that it can fit through a 2x2 hole easily), Zamor Spheres are slightly MORE than two modules wide (meaning that you need at least a 3x3 hole to accommodate them). There's a reason why soccer balls remain the GBC standard—Zamors add all sorts of complications regardless of how common they are.

Of course, I have little doubt that Lego will just use a soccer ball (or perhaps more likely, the solid orange Lego Friends basketball) for this set. After all, unlike a GBC module, this really only needs a single ball to be played with, perhaps with one or two spares. So there's little reason for Lego to choose the larger, more expensive Zamor over the soccer ball, which is still in production and closer to the original proposal.

Edited June 8, 2015 by Lyichir

[jonwil]

The orange friends basketball is the same mold as the soccer ball, just orange with no printing instead of white with printing.

The actual basketball piece hasn't been made in years :)

In saying that, unless they are unable to get the OK to use the soccer ball piece (either in the orange found in the 2015 Juniors Family House set or in some other color) or their play testing shows that the Zamor Sphere rolls though the maze better than the soccer ball piece, they will almost certainly use the soccer ball.

[djm]

I'm not sure why it particularly matters which balls are used in this set, and why it would be so "poor" of LEGO to sub Zamor spheres for soccer balls or basketballs or whatever. Can Zamor spheres not be used for GBCs? And anyway, isn't the point of the inclusion of any of them simply to have something to roll through the maze? I get that obviously we'd like the final parts selection to be as versatile as possible, as with any set, but why would Zamor spheres be any less (or more) desirable than minifigure sports balls?

About 6 weeks ago, I built the maze for my kids based on the images and videos available online. They tried it with a Zamor spheres, a soccer ball and a basketball. The Zamor sphere didn't really work as part of the sphere is flat (take a look by looking at the larger image link available on the BrickLink Zamor sphere catalog page). When the Zamor sphere was used, there were times when it would sit of on the flat part of the sphere and not move. I would hope that the soccer ball and/or basketball make it into the set.

David

Edited June 9, 2015 by djm

[Lyichir]

The orange friends basketball is the same mold as the soccer ball, just orange with no printing instead of white with printing.

The actual basketball piece hasn't been made in years :)

In saying that, unless they are unable to get the OK to use the soccer ball piece (either in the orange found in the 2015 Juniors Family House set or in some other color) or their play testing shows that the Zamor Sphere rolls though the maze better than the soccer ball piece, they will almost certainly use the soccer ball.

I know that. I was just mentioning it since I feel like a solid color would make more sense for a wider variety of models, and that's the only solid color sports ball that's currently available. Not like Lego couldn't do a new one, perhaps an unprinted white or something similar...

[Blondie-Wan]

Thanks for the clarifications, you two. I believe I actually do have some Zamor spheres but haven't yet done much with them, and was unaware of the size issue, though I think I did know but had forgotten about the small flat area.

[dr_spock]

Soccer balls are 14mm in size. Spheres are around 16mm in size. Flat area may not be a problem if the ball has enough momentum or a steep enough incline to overcome it. I've used 14mm Chinese beads for GBC that have a flat spot too. It could make for a more challenging or maddening game if the ball is stuck on the flat spot and you tipped the base too much and it falls into the wrong hole.

[Sarah]

Soccer balls are 14mm in size. Spheres are around 16mm in size. Flat area may not be a problem if the ball has enough momentum or a steep enough incline to overcome it. I've used 14mm Chinese beads for GBC that have a flat spot too. It could make for a more challenging or maddening game if the ball is stuck on the flat spot and you tipped the base too much and it falls into the wrong hole.

I'm sorry. This is driving me nuts. what does GBC stand for? I know it is something like the Perpetual Motion Machines people make out of Lego. (Like the Lego Chain Reactions books I've got on my wish list) But I can't seem to resolve the letters... --

Edited June 10, 2015 by Sarah

[tafkatb]

Well, having worked for several years at a pizzeria, I still can't see it without immediately thinking "Garlic Bread with Cheese," but in this context it means "Great Ball Contraption."

[Kamen Rider Kiva]

Hey, guys, have y'all seen the Daft Punk Alive 2014 project? It's like that other Daft Punk project, but it's an actual set, not just a licensed minifig pack: https://ideas.lego.com/projects/60088

[Robert8]

Hey, guys, have y'all seen the Daft Punk Alive 2014 project? It's like that other Daft Punk project, but it's an actual set, not just a licensed minifig pack: https://ideas.lego.com/projects/60088

*oh2*

From LEGO Ideas Guidelines:

You may not use the LEGO logo, any close approximation of the LEGO logo, or any logo owned by the LEGO Group in any way that could imply your project is an actual LEGO product or that the LEGO Group endorses your project. You may not:

• Use any logo owned by the LEGO Group, including the LEGO logo, or, for example the Ninjago logo, the Minifigure logo, etc.
  
• Show anything that looks like our logo (including a red box) on your project images, custom artwork, etc.
  
• You may not mock-up concept LEGO product box art in your images.
  

Time to make a report

Edited June 11, 2015 by Robert8

[dr_spock]

*oh2*

From LEGO Ideas Guidelines:

Time to make a report

Many people do not read guidelines including EB site guidelines on Ideas promotion. I wonder if it will be rejected on that technicality.

[Blondie-Wan]

I'm not absolutely certain, but I think it was submitted before that rule was in place. I think the rule about no packaging mock-ups came around the same time the whole platform transitioned from CUUSOO to Ideas, and this project was submitted shortly before that, in March of last year.

There are a slew of older, mostly expired projects scattered hither and yon across the site that were fully compliant with the rules when they were submitted, but which would be in violation of one rule or another if submitted today.

[Robert8]

I didn't report it anyway.... I'm too lazy for that

I noticed some of the projects that expired in the great purge were already resubmitted

Edited June 12, 2015 by Robert8