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LEGO Ideas Ship-In-A-Bottle & Voltron

LEGO fans have been eagerly awaiting the third 2016 LEGO Ideas review results, and the LEGO Ideas team finally made the announcement yesterday. Over the past several months, the LEGO Ideas Review Board has carefully reviewed twelve projects that reached 10,000 supporters between September 2016 and January 2017, the third review qualification period of 2016. Below are the details of the announcement. 🙂

As you will see in the video below, LEGO Ideas Project Manager, Sanne, will show you the project that was chosen from this review period, as well as another project that was delayed from the previous review period and eventually got full approval.

The LEGO Ideas Ship-In-A-Bottle – The Flagship Leviathan, was designed by 39-year-old LEGO fan and screen-printer Jacob Sadovich (a.k.a. JakeSadovich77) from Garden City, Idaho. As an avid LEGO builder, Jacob was inspired to create his LEGO Ship in a Bottle – The Flagship Leviathan, following a real-life ship-in-a-bottle that he had built just a few years ago. His project was so popular on LEGO Ideas, that it only took 48 days for it to gather 10K votes! You can read more about Jacob and his project in this interview at the LEGO Ideas blog.

The LEGO Ideas Voltron – Defender of the Universe was designed by 41-year-old software architect Leandro Tayag (a.k.a len_d69) from the Philippines (currently lives in Malaysia). Leandro’s passion for Voltron started at a very young age when his parents bought him a Voltron toy. Building with LEGO bricks allowed Leandro to celebrate his passion for Voltron – Defender of the Universe even more. This project was also very popular on LEGO Ideas, and it received 10K votes in just three weeks! You can read more about Leandro in this interview at the LEGO Ideas blog.

Now that the two projects were selected, it will still take some time for LEGO designers to fine-tune both projects to make sure they are up to LEGO’s standards for building, play and durability. The final design, pricing, and availability will be announced sometime in 2018.

In the meantime, the next batch of LEGO Ideas projects that reached 10,000 supporters between January 2017 and May 2017 is already in review. The LEGO Ideas team will share results of the first 2017 LEGO review period in the fall of 2017. And while waiting for the new sets to arrive, you can also check out the currently available fan-submitted models under the LEGO Ideas section of the Online LEGO Shop.

So what do you think? How do you like these LEGO Ideas projects? Are you excited about the two that were selected, or were you hoping for some of the other ones? Feel free to share your thoughts and discuss in the comment section below! 😉

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

{ 21 comments… add one }
  • DavidH August 4, 2017, 10:51 AM

    Congratulation to the creators! I like the ship in the bottle, although I don’t see what would be the play value once it is built. But it will definitely look good on display! I don’t know much about Voltron, so I can’t comment on that one, but it seems that lego robots generally do well.

  • Professor Bunny August 4, 2017, 11:07 AM

    Meh. The projects are both cool, but just not that appealing to me. I think I would have preferred the Vintage Tram.

  • brickmaster August 4, 2017, 11:25 AM

    I really wanted the boat repair shop, to go with the old fishing store. I guess our hope for a full fishing village is now over. Sad.

    • BLProductions August 4, 2017, 12:00 PM

      I suspect the Boat Repair Shop didn’t pass precisely because of its relation to the Old Fishing Store. LEGO Ideas does not permit a series of projects that act like their own product line to be submitted. Also, for fairness’ sake, LEGO probably tries not to pick multiple projects by the same creators, just to give other fans the opportunity of having their project made into a set. There’s only been one exception to this thus far, I believe. But a full fishing village would still have been nice to see.

      • admin August 4, 2017, 12:49 PM

        LEGO Ideas is still a very new platform, and they are still continuing to make changes. So whatever their current rules are, I don’t see them as being set in stone. If they think that an idea is that strong, I wouldn’t be surprised if they would be open to make a whole series. Plus, the fishing village wasn’t going to be like an ongoing product line. Just a limited collection of sets.

        I think it’s the timing that was mainly against the Boat Repair Shop. The Fishing Store is not available yet, so LEGO couldn’t judge how popular it is, and if they should give the Boat Repair Shop a chance too. If the Boat Repair Shop does really well, maybe the next project in the collection will make it. At least that’s how I see it. 🙂

        • BLProductions August 4, 2017, 9:33 PM

          They have made a single set from Cuusoo/Ideas into a series before – Minecraft. So it’s possible, but as an unlicensed and undoubtedly expensive limited collection of sets it seems unrealistic for LEGO to do so. Such a line is not allowed to be produced within Ideas either, as the guidelines state, and I doubt LEGO is keen to break their own rules while the platform is young. That said, you are probably still right about timing being the key factor: LEGO doesn’t know how wide of an appeal the Old Fishing Store has, and so cannot judge in favor of more related products. Maybe if it does well enough, the Medieval Watermill from the next review phase will have a higher chance of being selected.

          • admin August 4, 2017, 10:40 PM

            Yeah, we shall see… all we can do is wait how the Fishing Store performs. I hope it won’t sell out as fast as the Saturn V, as I definitely want to get one. 🙂

    • admin August 4, 2017, 12:38 PM

      Yeah, that’s definitely sad, but it was expected. Maybe the creator will release instructions for the other ones.

  • Cooper August 4, 2017, 11:27 AM

    I can’t wait to see if the Jeep Wrangler gets selected

    • admin August 4, 2017, 12:39 PM

      Yeah, a lot of people liked that one! 😀

  • legofan August 4, 2017, 11:37 AM

    too bad the boat repair shop didn’t make it. that was my favorite too. but congratulations to the winners!

  • BLProductions August 4, 2017, 11:54 AM

    I must say, both of these are very impressive models. While Voltron doesn’t interest me in terms of subject material (I never even heard of Voltron before this project), the ability for the mech to split into five distinguishable lions without greatly compromising the look of one or both forms amazes me. But, while the lions look very posable, I wonder how well their legs support them, since they seem quite spindly and use Mixel ball joints and hinge-plates. I see the legs can support the bodies, but I wonder if they’re strong enough for LEGO’s standards.
    The Ship In A Bottle is in my opinion cooler than Voltron. The ship is a work of art with all those realistic micro-scale details, the square bottle (which I thought was round) looks nice, and the stand looks great too with the dark brown, gold, and naval-themed parts. However, the model has several issues LEGO may have to fix for the final set, which could alter the model significantly. Primarily, how sturdy is the bottle? In my experience, large panels with no cross-structures tend to collapse easily. Perhaps the angled top and thickened bottom (which doesn’t look that good, but likely can’t be improved) are enough to secure it, but I wonder what LEGO will do if they aren’t. Looking at the ship itself: beyond the masts being fragile, the rope for the rigging looks too complicated (though realistically it should be) for a LEGO set, and I fear LEGO will remove most of it. Additionally, LEGO does not produce 1M outer cables, so I’m unsure what will become of the cannons, which look brilliant as they are. If both rope and cable are left in the final set, there may be lots of cutting involved in the build. LEGO also hasn’t made a brown Chain 16M since 2007, so I think the chain on the stand will be recolored or removed. Finally, all those trans-light-blue 1×1 round plates… has LEGO ever made a set with so many loose parts before?
    I realize I’ve gone on a while, so I’ll end by saying that of the first 2017 review projects, Red Arrows Hawk and the Arcade Machines seem fairly likely candidates to me, but LEGO could certainly pick any of them. 🙂

    • admin August 4, 2017, 12:44 PM

      I’m very curious how LEGO designers are going to treat that ship in the bottle. As you said, panels like that are very fragile, and usually need extra support. Also, I was surprised how big it is, when I found that picture with the designer. I very much like the little ship, although it will likely go through some changes for the issues you mentioned. Voltron is new to me too, but I like LEGO robots, so hopefully it will be a great set. LEGO designers had plenty of experience with Mixels, so they should be able to make the individual parts stable enough. I think it should be an interesting set. I like the Arcade Machines and Red Arrows as well, and I agree that they have a good chance. Now if LEGO would just restock the Saturn V, that would be groovy. 🙄

      • gid617 August 4, 2017, 5:14 PM

        I’m also very curious about the ship in a bottle. I was quite surprised that got picked, in fact. I guess some designer wanted a challenge… 😛

        • admin August 4, 2017, 10:42 PM

          That’s actually a really good point. The review team probably not going to approve a set that none of the designers want to work on! 😀

  • BrianG August 4, 2017, 4:50 PM

    Only 1 winner this time? I was hoping for another winner since Voltron was from last round.

    Anyways, I’d like the next round to have all of the following win, at least in preferred order: TRON, SEGA, Wrangler.

    • Håkan August 4, 2017, 6:16 PM

      I find the Medieval Watermill the most interesting, but possibly the piece count might be way too high, also, a lot of the dilapidated look might be due to many of the tiles connected rather loosely and such, and I’m not sure on how the designer teams would approach it.

      The Red Arrows Hawk might be the most elegant build in the bunch, though. Appears to be quite sturdy.

      • admin August 4, 2017, 10:42 PM

        While I really like that dilapidated look of the Watermill, in my experience that look requires a lot of unconventional and unstable techniques. Still, it would be interesting to get a set like that, just to play with the techniques. 🙂

  • PrashBricks III August 28, 2017, 3:08 PM

    150 euro for the old fishing store!!!!! what???!! That’s a hell of a lot of money, I could buy detective’s office from that, is it worth it????

    • admin August 28, 2017, 3:13 PM

      It is an over 2,000-piece set, and almost as big, and just as detailed, as the Modulars. It is also full of printed pieces, very useful colors, and unique minifigures. So, yeah, price-wise it’s definitely worth it. It’s just a different kind of Modular. 😉

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