LEGO minifigs doing dirty jobs! I ran across this collection of small LEGO vignettes on LEGO Ideas, really liked them, and thought to share them with you as well. As you probably know, LEGO Ideas is a platform where LEGO fans can submit their own concepts for future LEGO sets, and if they receive 10,000 public votes LEGO will consider them for production. 🙂
The LEGO Blue Collar Workers collection includes a series of small dioramas, each featuring a minifig at work. The concept is similar to the recently released, highly popular, and already sold out in most places #21110 LEGO Ideas Research Institute set, which includes three female scientists. It is also similar to what you can find in LEGO City sets, however they are more specialized to specific jobs that hasn’t been covered in LEGO City sets before.
Here are some details from the creator, Panda757: “My idea for a new LEGO set delves further into the world of LEGO City. While they have had various construction kits over the years, I believe LEGO has missed several opportunities to explore deeper into the blue collar trades – which could be considered the backbone of the modern era. Though not as heroic as a firefighter, or as glamorous as a scientist, these often overlooked jobs are essential in maintaining infrastructure throughout the world. And while it takes many years of training, certifications, and schooling, these jobs also allow for these skilled workers to use their hands and their minds in an innovative, problem-solving fashion, to build and create – in the same manner that is the very foundation of LEGO. As an electrician, myself, I credit building with LEGO in my childhood as a major influence in what I do today.” (Read more here.)
So far the LEGO Blue Collar Workers collection includes men and women who work in the following trades: mason, carpenter, pipefitter, HVAC mechanic, and electrician. Panda757 shares: “This last one holds a special place in my heart, as I based the minifigure on my first mentor, who taught me everything I know today.” And later adds: “With this set, I’d like to change the gender stereotype that these kinds of jobs – while certainly male dominated – are also done by women all throughout the world. And in doing so, I’d also like to break the view that women are always in skirts and dresses with long flowing hair.”
As you can see on the digital versions of the dioramas, they are quite realistic, detailed, and include all the tools these hard-working minifigs need to do their job. While these vignettes look great on their own, they could also be integrated into a LEGO City setting adding more detail and realism. On the main project page at LEGO Ideas only the digital version of each vignette is shown, however under the Updates tab there are more photos of the same sets built from real LEGO bricks.
I feel there is a good potential to make this concept into a whole series, either in individual packets, or in small sets including a 2-5 vignettes with different workers. I’m pretty sure that LEGO City fans would love these, and so would people who work in these fields. If you like this project, you can support it by voting here: VOTE FOR LEGO BLUE COLLAR WORKERS
What do you think? How do you like the LEGO Blue Collar Workers collection? Do you think it would be successful as a real LEGO set? Would you like to have it happen? What other blue collar jobs do you think would be a great addition to the collection? Feel free to share and discuss in the comment section below! And for the current selection of LEGO Ideas sets you can visit the Online LEGO Shop.
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They really should make the masonry set. It’s a missed opportunity to have a official brick layer set.
Yeah! Lego mursten!
I agree. Especially since the new masonry bricks are so sweet.
I love the look of the masonry bricks. I should get a ton a just build something.
I have been thinking the same, but they are quite expensive. But whenever I can, I add them to my order when I shop on BrickLink. I especially like the brick color ones. Maybe in the next Modular Building we will get more? 🙂
I was sad to learn that they don’t make them in a “brick” red, but happy to learn that they not only make them in 1×2, but in 1×4 as well.
I’m pretty sure eventually they will add brick red as well. This piece is here to stay and should be appearing in more and more sets. Yes, I was also happy to see the 1×4 version also!
These are pretty nice. I agree about the masonry necessity, but I’m afraid that won’t go particularly well with the new demolition sets…. 😉 Also, even if this made it to 10,000, I doubt LEGO would make this a set, as they just did the same thing with the Research Institute. Unless Lego did it Minecraft style and started a LEGO Vignettes line. 🙂
Also, I have corrected and completed my calculations on studs-per-second, if anyone’s interested.
So you gonna share the results of your calculations? 😉
Yes, yes, of course. Here goes: 1 stud is 8mm as we know, and 1 hour is 3600 seconds. If you’re moving at the speed of 1 stud per second (which is pretty slow even for Lego), then you’re also moving at… 0.00000000138 miles per hour. Super slow! ❗ If you’re moving at 1 mph, then you’re also moving at 447.45 studs per second! Quite fast. 😀 I think these speed conversions would be useful for brick-filmers who want their motion to be relative to real-life speed, especially for walking/running. 🙂
BTW, I finally got to use the ❗ smiley. Twice now! 😀
That is very interesting, and as you said; can be very helpful for brickfilmers. Okay, I will use that smiley too, since I hardly ever have a chance either. ❗
But are these calculations scaled down for minifig size?
The first calculator scales by element size. In otherwords if your house has a wall that is 60 ft long, it will tell you how many studs that is going to be. Assuming that your house is scaled to normal human size, and minifigs are considered avarage humans, your LEGO-built version should naturally be minifig size.
In the second calculator you can actually choose what size you consider minifigs to be and adjust all other calculations according to that. BTW, this second calculator has been having serious downtimes. I don’t know if it is caused by our traffic, or something else, but since I posted this article it has been down more than up. It haven’t had this problem before, so hopefully it will clear out soon.
I find these small sets cute and elegant. They’d be affordable enough to stand a better chance than those giant proposals flooding Ideas…
True enough, but I think Lego would pick a different type of model for the next Ideas set from the qualifiers. But maybe 10,000 + people who want these sorts of things will incline Lego to produce a small line of these sets, possibly as a City sub theme. That could work, if only Lego could see it. 😉
Thank you so very much for this and, again, your support, as well. While I’m realistic in thinking this set won’t hit 10,000, I still hold hope that there might be a chance. I’m grateful for any and all support. And, even if it doesn’t make it, I hope it gets noticed enough by Lego to eventually add more to their existing line. As always, I’m open to any and all comments and constructive criticism. Thank you again!
That’s a nice way to look at it. I think LEGO reps leave a comment when you reach 1,000 votes isn’t it? So it is a good way to get noticed. 🙂