Featured LEGO Ideas project: LEGO factory

LEGO fans are often curious about how LEGO bricks are made, and also how LEGO sets are designed. Thus videos about the LEGO factory, and interviews with LEGO designers are always very popular (you can watch many of them on YouTube). I have heard that Danish people are naturally shy and reserved, and thus it doesn’t come easy for them to talk about their own work and products. But the LEGO Company has been getting better at responding to the enthusiasm and curiosity of their fans. They are more open to interviews with their designers, and facilitate more tours at their factories. In fact, the LEGO Inside Tour – which only happens 3-4 times a year – is so popular, that tickets sell out within a few minutes for the entire year. 🙂

Interestingly, there are very few LEGO sets that are related to production of LEGO or the LEGO company. There have been a few micro-scale LEGO factory sets that are given as gifts to LEGO employees. And there is an exclusive LEGO Inside Tour set every year, which usually has to do with the history of LEGO or the LEGO factory, but these sets are very limited and only available to those who participate of the tour. (You can find these very unique sets in the BrickLink Catalog at this page.)

One LEGO fan, Jonas Kovacs, recognized that LEGO fans want a more readily available set that replicates a LEGO factory, so he designed a LEGO Factory Playset, and submitted it to LEGO Ideas. The set is a small version of LEGO’s Headquarters in Billund, Denmark, including its key features. Judging by the votes and comments, it is already getting a lot of interest and support from LEGO fans. Jonas shares the following on his LEGO Ideas page:

There are many videos about the LEGO production process, and many interviews about the LEGO design process, but have you ever wondered about a playable LEGO Factory, where you can play the whole process with your minifigures? You can drive the truck that transports the raw material for the little bricks and upload it to the silos. In the meantime, the LEGO designers in the design-studio make new models that will be produced in the factory. In the factory there is a working moulding machine, “where the magic happens”. It would be so cool to have a set like this, wouldn’t it?

Jonas’ LEGO Factory set includes three rooms: an entrance/reception area, a designers’ office and a factory with a working moulding machine (you can push and pull a little handle on the back of the machine to make the moulded piece move inside). The exterior also comes with accurate details, with a LEGO sign, Danish flag and bicycle-racks at the front, and silos at the back. Jonas said he spent a lot of time researching and looking at pictures of the real factory in Denmark to design this set. Even Tim Courtney, Community Manager at LEGO, commented on the project: “Wow, this is incredible. Every detail is accurate, the sign, yellow bikes, and even the brick cabinets. Good luck!”

Basically with this model you would have a pretty accurate replica of LEGO’s main factory, and instead of being a miniature model, you can also have minifigs inside. I really like this set, and I think it has great potential for achieving the minimum required supporters, and also get the green light from LEGO to be produced as an official LEGO product. What do you think? How do you like this LEGO Ideas project? Feel free to share your thoughts in the comment section below! And if you do like it, you can also support it directly with your vote at the following link. It still has a lot to go to achieve the minimum required 10,000 votes: SUPPORT LEGO FACTORY PLAYSET

And if you haven’t done so already, you can browse the currently available LEGO Ideas sets designed by LEGO fans under the LEGO Ideas section of the Online LEGO Shop.

And you might also like to check out the following related posts:

• LEGO Ideas WALL-E Now Fixed and Available!
• LEGO Ideas Doctor Who Set Review
• LEGO Ideas Update & Announcement
• The LEGO Inside Tour – Introduction