As you probably know already, LEGO Ideas is the platform where LEGO fans can submit their own ideas for future LEGO sets. If their models get 10,000 public votes, LEGO will consider them for production. The LEGO Ideas team reviews eligible candidates in batches throughout the year, and makes an announcement about which project(s) were approved from that particular batch. So far we always got at least one new set per each announcement, but this time things turned out a bit different. Below are the results of the latest LEGO Ideas review (original announcement here).
“Today we share the outcome of the First 2015 LEGO Review, for LEGO Ideas projects that reached 10,000 supporters between January and May this year. Usually we happily announce project(s) that will become the next LEGO Ideas product(s), but unfortunately this time we’re not able to do so. For a number of reasons, none of the projects that qualified during this period were selected in the LEGO Review; this has never happened before and we’re very disappointed to pass on this news, especially because we know the huge amount of effort each member put into creating the models and campaigning for their projects.”
“Why did these projects not pass the LEGO Review? While we don’t share specific reasons why an individual project did not pass, there are a number of reasons why projects don’t make it through the review process. For example, perhaps we can’t come to an agreement with the companies who own the Intellectual Property Rights to the models or characters involved, or it is possible companies are just not interested in having a LEGO version of their product. Other projects sometimes come too close to a number of the products that the LEGO Group already has today or has plans for the near future. Some projects can challenge the rules we have on safe and good building experience for all LEGO builders. We can also have difficulties simply producing some of the larger projects with the production capacity we have for LEGO Ideas.”
“It is never easy to reject any project, and we are very disappointed that we couldn’t announce the next LEGO Ideas product here today. On a more positive note, 2015 has been one of the strongest years for LEGO Ideas. This year alone we’ve seen the launch of #21301 LEGO Ideas Birds, #21302 LEGO Ideas The Big Bang Theory, #21303 LEGO Ideas WALL-E, and soon #21304 LEGO Ideas Doctor Who. And next year the amazing LEGO Maze will be launched through LEGO Ideas. Looking ahead, the Second 2015 LEGO Review features some strong projects and this review period is already well underway. We hope next time we can give you all happier news about the next LEGO Ideas set!”
As you can imagine, LEGO fans have been quite disappointed with this announcement. It was pretty clear that some of the ideas are not going to be approved as they were too big to become an official LEGO set, and others were too close to already released LEGO sets, or LEGO wasn’t able to secure a license. However I’m surprised they couldn’t pick even one from the line-up. I felt that Science Adventures would have been a good candidate, and a worthy continuation of the highly popular #21101 LEGO Ideas Research Institute (both designed by Alatariel) that proved to be extremely popular. The big Tyrannosaurus Rex and Small Yellow could also have been good candidates. LEGO however is still considering the F7A Hornet – Star Citizen project, from the previous review period.
One thing we definitely learned from this announcement is that project creators really need to pay attention to what works as a LEGO set, and consider LEGO as a business partner, rather than a wish-fulfilling magic fairy. Even if a project is awesome, if it is too big, too fragile, or too impractical as a LEGO set, we can’t expect LEGO to produce it. Also, if the idea is licensed, and the license is already held by a LEGO competitor, it most likely not going to happen. And not to speak of projects where LEGO already made a set (or have one in the works) that is very similar to the submission. And since we are not going to get a new LEGO Ideas for a while, this is a good time to catch up on the current selection. They are available under the LEGO Ideas section of the Online LEGO Shop.
And now it’s your turn; what do you think about this announcement? Were you surprised by it? Was there a project that you were hoping to see as a future LEGO set? And is there a project that you would like LEGO to select from the next review period? Feel free to share your thoughts and discuss in the comment section below! 😉
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The F7A Hornet looks pretty darn awesome! Hopefully it does get past review stage and is selected as an official LEGO Ideas set. If so, it would be my first one for sure! 😀
Yeah, they have been reviewing the Hornet for some time now. I think it will be a go, if they can work out the licensing.
Well that is disappointing. I would have been cool to have a Small Yellow on my shelf. But the may have been the reason for rejection. It’s a display piece and doesn’t have much play value.
I will be ordering that Doctor Who Set as soon as it’s in the online shop.
Yeah, I liked Small Yellow as well. There are other LEGO Ideas sets that don’t really have any play-value. I’m thinking of Birds. And yes, Doctor Who will be a first day purchase for me as well. 🙂
I think the LEGO IDEAS are great and shows us a lot of ideas for us to create on are own ( if need be). As well as giving LEGO some thought on what fans are looking for in possible future sets.
We are really disappointed that Science Adventures didn’t make it. Both of our kids loved the Research Institute set and we thought Science Adventures was a perfect companion to it!
Heather, yes, I was very surprised about that too. Especially since the Research Institute was very well received, and LEGO didn’t make enough to fulfill the demand. This set would have been a great continuation for those who already had the first set, and also would have satisfied people who couldn’t get the first one. My only guess is that this would have been the third LEGO Ideas set designed by the same person (Alatariel) and LEGO didn’t want that. 😐
Being a third set sounds like a solid reason for a rejection. Give other builders a chance. But they could have told her that once she got approved for a second one. But then that would limit creativity.
I think Lego is getting off too easy here. If sets are too big to be made as Lego sets then why allow them as submissions? On the flip side wasn’t the forthcoming Ghostbusters HQ an Ideas set that just isn’t being branded as one?
There really needs to be more transparency in the rules and decisions even if we don’t know specifics about set rejections.
Joe, there is a fine balance between allowing creativity and boxing everything into rules and guidelines. By leaving the LEGO Ideas platform fairly open, it allows LEGO to see what is popular and what people want. Perhaps they are entertaining the idea of releasing more large and expensive sets in the future. In fact they are already going in that direction with several $300+ sets this year. If LEGO sees that people keep choosing sets that are well over the $1000 price-tag, and that their current large sets sell well, they may consider creeping up on the piece-count and price. And from the perspective of people who submit such large project, they should be aware that their project most likely won’t make it through the review process. They could simply submit a smaller, and more realistic version, if they really want to push their project through.
I agree that there should be more transparency on why a project is rejected, but there are some issues with this as well. LEGO sets are usually in the design process for at least a couple of years before release. So in the case of the Ghostbusters HQ, they were already working on the official set when the Ideas project was under review. However they couldn’t just say that the project was rejected because they were already working on a similar one, because that would have spoiled the surprise for the new set, and most likely would have violated the license agreement. So yeah, it’s a delicate matter, and both LEGO fans and LEGO itself are learning how to balance all those factors.
This almost seems like they’re trying to phase out the ideas sets. Does anyone have any information on this?
You are not the first person who mentioned that. I don’t think they are necessarily phasing it out, but they might be limiting it to a certain extent. The amount of time and resources going into these sets appears to be significantly more than a regular LEGO set. They have to maintain a separate website, have a team to review and work on the submissions, negotiate licenses, etc. LEGO Ideas sets also come with more expensive packaging and printed elements. All that adds to the costs. They have released four Ideas sets this year, and I think that’s a good maximum number per year – even a bit too much. I think is what’s most ideal. Dealing with all the problems WALL-E had probably thought them some lessons as well…
I was disappointing in the Ideas not going through, the Dimensions Dr. Who is amazing! Also oh my I can’t wait till next year!
Well, some of those sets did look pretty cool, but I’m really looking forward to the release of the doctor who set!
Yeah, me too! 😀