LEGO Ideas Discussion

[LEGODalekbuster523]

"Jurassic Park Explorer" project from senteosan reached the 10000 supporters

I think this has chances. They made the DeLorean, after all

I hope it does pass the review stage. Think it's great that all these movie cars are getting released as sets through Ideas.

[THERIZE]

That Jurassic car will be released I bet. And I wouldn't mind to have it next to my DeLorean. Although I have the sad feeling that the model will be too much modified. the front would be simplified I think.

[Blondie-Wan]

Oh, cool. Getting kind of tired of the 80s cars though.

You're in luck, then, since that's from the '90s.

[LEGODalekbuster523]

That Jurassic car will be released I bet. And I wouldn't mind to have it next to my DeLorean. Although I have the sad feeling that the model will be too much modified. the front would be simplified I think.

If the Disney minifigures rumour is true, I'm going to mix things up Dimensions-style and have Mickey and Minnie Mouse drive the Jeep (providing it passes the review stage).

Edited October 2, 2015 by LEGODalekbuster523

[Robert8]

I hope it does pass the review stage. Think it's great that all these movie cars are getting released as sets through Ideas.

A little "subtheme" with famous cars would be neat: The Mystery Machine, KITT, that car from Dumb and Dumber, the Panther De Ville, the The Flintstones car and the The Jetsons one

[adotnamedstud]

Is it just me, or do I think LEGO should accept Superheroes, Lord of the Rings, and other already licensed ideas? I understand why they don't accept them due to the licensing companies don't want the user to make a profit off of their owned license. But the fact that we make so many good ideas on there that get 10,000 clearly showing that the fans want the set, I as a creator of a ideas set would totally just opt-out of getting a profit if that means we can have that set.

This was primarily discovered after reading up about Ideas and seeing a set that gets produced, you get 5 copies of the product and 5% of the profit. If you made a licensed idea, would you opt-out of getting a profit just to have the set made? I wish LEGO had that option because we miss out on a lot of great products, aka almost everything from LotR we wanted but never got. (Some day you guys, some day. I still believe.) As a Superheroes guy, I just want heroes that the fans put in their sets. Because some have great ideas. LEGO hasn't even scratched the surface on either brand's heroes. The most obscure from each (as of 2016 so far) are Hyperion (Marvel) and Hawkman (DC).

Edited October 3, 2015 by (Nexus)

[LEGODalekbuster523]

A little "subtheme" with famous cars would be neat: The Mystery Machine, KITT, that car from Dumb and Dumber, the Panther De Ville, the The Flintstones car and the The Jetsons one

The problem is that there's already a Mystery Machine set (unless you mean one based on the Mystery Machine in the live-action films).

[Robert8]

"20.000 Leagues under the Sea NAUTILUS" is the latest project to achieve the review stage

Looks awesome.... but it's way too big

[Blondie-Wan]

Is it just me, or do I think LEGO should accept Superheroes, Lord of the Rings, and other already licensed ideas? I understand why they don't accept them due to the licensing companies don't want the user to make a profit off of their owned license. But the fact that we make so many good ideas on there that get 10,000 clearly showing that the fans want the set, I as a creator of a ideas set would totally just opt-out of getting a profit if that means we can have that set.

They do accept them; that's why there's a slew of projects on LEGO Ideas from already-licensed themes. I assume you mean they don't approve them, but we don't know that for sure; all we really know is that they haven't approved any yet. That doesn't absolutely prove they won't, though. It just means for whatever reason, they haven't so far. They might yet (it would probably help if the vote-getting submissions in those themes weren't principally multi-thousand piece behemoths).

This was primarily discovered after reading up about Ideas and seeing a set that gets produced, you get 5 copies of the product and 5% of the profit. If you made a licensed idea, would you opt-out of getting a profit just to have the set made?

No - it's five copies of the set and 1% of the profits, not 5%. 1% surely wouldn't make much of a difference.

Edited October 3, 2015 by Blondie-Wan

[Robert8]

1% of the profits

I'd be interesting to know how much money is that in real numbers.

[adotnamedstud]

They do accept them; that's why there's a slew of projects on LEGO Ideas from already-licensed themes. I assume you mean they don't approve them, but we don't know that for sure; all we really know is that they haven't approved any yet. That doesn't absolutely prove they won't, though. It just means for whatever reason, they haven't so far. They might yet (it would probably help if the vote-getting submissions in those themes weren't principally multi-thousand piece behemoths).

No - it's five copies of the set and 1% of the profits, not 5%. 1% surely wouldn't make much of a difference.

Ah, alright. I mixed up the percentages with something else.

Anyways, what other reasons would there be? I'm almost certain a few projects were do-able. I guess it just depends on the audience. The high piece count is a valid argument. I guess I just don't understand why LEGO doesn't make many of the sets. It's all really coming to me right now on how dumb I sounded.

I'd be interesting to know how much money is that in real numbers.

An Ideas set is normally around $60. 1% of that is 6 cents. If they sell 10,000 copies (based on votes and such) you're looking at $6,000. I think there could be tax on that though.

The money is always the strangest part of that as it really can vary. I'm not sure how many Ideas sets are actually made, I just guessed that if around 10,000 people wanted it. LEGO would supply it. And then you have things like the Female Science set that almost rapidly needed another production of product. So putting that all into account could mean there's a possibility you could make a buck or two on this.

[Blondie-Wan]

Ah, alright. I mixed up the percentages with something else.

Anyways, what other reasons would there be? I'm almost certain a few projects were do-able. I guess it just depends on the audience. The high piece count is a valid argument. I guess I just don't understand why LEGO doesn't make many of the sets. It's all really coming to me right now on how dumb I sounded.

There are lots of reasons they pass on projects, and we don't know what all of them are. Sometimes it's not as simple as there being something "wrong" with a particular project; it may just be that they have other projects they want to do more, and of course they can't do everything.

When you go to a restaurant, I'm guessing you don't order everything on the menu, or even a third of the menu, but just pick one or two or three things. You can't eat everything, after all. That doesn't mean you dislike everything you didn't order, right? It just means you picked the item(s) you wanted most. LEGO is in a similar position. They might genuinely like everything in a given review batch, but they can't make all of them; their production capacity is mostly tied up doing regular, non-Ideas sets, and they have just a little bit left that they can allocate to Ideas sets. Maybe these two small projects could be done more easily than that big one, so they choose those. Or maybe the big one is big, but it also would use a bunch of common parts in ordinary colors, so it's really easy - or maybe it uses special parts in funky colors, but they're all parts that it coincidentally happens to be making a lot of anyway for some regular mass-market theme, so it's still easy to do. There is lots of weighing of options and considerations against one another, until they decide upon which project(s), if any, they're going to do from a particular review batch.

And it's entirely possible some projects that otherwise have everything going for them are just victims of timing - like, maybe there's a sports car project that would have been a shoo-in in the last review, but in this review there's a similar but even better project, or there's something else that's even better that they'd rather do instead. There might be nothing wrong with the car project; it might be a perfectly good project that they like a lot, and perhaps it would have been chosen in the previous batch, but now there are four other projects that they'd rather do instead, so now it doesn't get approved.

There's a ton of luck involved. There are also other factors that have nothing to do with luck, but some of them we know nothing about - what other themes TLG is planning for a year or two from now, what legal terms exist in their various licensing agreements, how many and which different part molds they're currently planning on using for their own products over the next few months, what their supply of a particular plastic color is like right now or anticipated to be like over the next six months, what old themes their last three customer surveys told them their customers were most interested in seeing return, etc.

[Lyichir]

...what their supply of a particular plastic color is like right now or anticipated to be like over the next six months...

Your post is generally really, really good, but I thought I'd point out that of the considerations you mention, this probably isn't one of them—remember, Lego no longer uses pre-dyed granulate, and as such what colors they can produce depend more on dye colors (which they're unlikely to have any shortage of), and on what colors of parts they're already producing (since Lego puts a hard limit on the number of different elements they can have in production at a time, meaning a set that requires 50 brand-new recolors will be less likely to pass than one that only needs three, regardless of which specific color is needed).

[jonwil]

The stories surrounding how the Exo-Suit got made are a great insight into some of that production stuff IMO.

[dr_spock]

An Ideas set is normally around $60. 1% of that is 6 cents. If they sell 10,000 copies (based on votes and such) you're looking at $6,000. I think there could be tax on that though.

The money is always the strangest part of that as it really can vary. I'm not sure how many Ideas sets are actually made, I just guessed that if around 10,000 people wanted it. LEGO would supply it. And then you have things like the Female Science set that almost rapidly needed another production of product. So putting that all into account could mean there's a possibility you could make a buck or two on this.

You would most likely have to declare the money earned as personal income to your country's government tax authority and pay any taxes owing on it.

[adotnamedstud]

You would most likely have to declare the money earned as personal income to your country's government tax authority and pay any taxes owing on it.

It's an odd situation as they lowered the age limit to 13 years to submit a project. (Odd if that wouldn't apply to accepting it.) The parents would likely collect the money and pay the taxes though. Finance is a strange business.

Edited October 4, 2015 by (Nexus)

[Blondie-Wan]

Your post is generally really, really good, but I thought I'd point out that of the considerations you mention, this probably isn't one of them—remember, Lego no longer uses pre-dyed granulate, and as such what colors they can produce depend more on dye colors (which they're unlikely to have any shortage of), and on what colors of parts they're already producing (since Lego puts a hard limit on the number of different elements they can have in production at a time, meaning a set that requires 50 brand-new recolors will be less likely to pass than one that only needs three, regardless of which specific color is needed).

That's true; I did know that, but didn't think about it when I posted.

[Vodnik]

An Ideas set is normally around $60. 1% of that is 6 cents. If they sell 10,000 copies (based on votes and such) you're looking at $6,000

That would be 1% of the REVENUE at the RETAIL prices. This has very little to do with the PROFIT of TLG. To calculate the TLG profit you would have to know their wholesale price of the set and the total cost of making it to calculate the difference. And then take 1% from THAT number, not from retail PRICE.

One more thing: 1% from $60 is 60 cents, not 6 cents..

Edited October 4, 2015 by Vodnik

[Another Brick In The Wall]

How can you send PMs to Lego Ideas creators? I'm specifically trying to get in contact with the creator of the VF-1 macross Valkryie? Anybody know if he is on Eurobricks?

Edited October 4, 2015 by Another Brick In The Wall

[adotnamedstud]

That would be 1% of the REVENUE at the RETAIL prices. This has very little to do with the PROFIT of TLG. To calculate the TLG profit you would have to know their wholesale price of the set and the total cost of making it to calculate the difference. And then take 1% from THAT number, not from retail PRICE.

One more thing: 1% from $60 is 60 cents, not 6 cents..

I feel like whatever I comment is wrong on this thread... So, nobody listen to me. Please.

[dr_spock]

It's an odd situation as they lowered the age limit to 13 years to submit a project. (Odd if that wouldn't apply to accepting it.) The parents would likely collect the money and pay the taxes though. Finance is a strange business.

Here you can start working at age 12 like babysitting to earn money. Most young teens don't make enough to have to pay income taxes. So it's more advantageous to the parents if LEGO made out the cheque to the young Ideas submitter. Finance is not that strange. There are a lot of rules to know and follow.

[Robert8]

"Toyota Landcruiser 40 Series" achieved the 10000 supporters today

Looks pretty cool

Edited October 11, 2015 by Robert8

[Kaanere]

"Toyota Landcruiser 40 Series" achieved the 10000 supporters today

*snip*

Looks pretty cool

Love it!

There are many cool cars on Lego Ideas review stage (Corvette, Caterham). I would like them all, but they would saturate the market. There are aslo the Creator Expert cars.

I would bet for the 'vette and maybe this one.

Edited October 11, 2015 by Kaanere

[jonwil]

Of the 3 cars that got to 10k, the Corvette is the one I would buy. Not the LandCruiser or the Caterham.

Now if that Cruiser was the pickup variant, it would be different...

[Robert8]

Of the 3 cars that got to 10k, the Corvette is the one I would buy. Not the LandCruiser or the Caterham.

Now if that Cruiser was the pickup variant, it would be different...