Towards the end of December, we discussed the latest updates on the LEGO FORMA project at Indiegogo. (To learn more about LEGO FORMA see links at the end of this post.) At that time, LEGO was still on schedule to deliver all four LEGO FORMA sets by the beginning of January. Although production was finished, some hiccups came up in regards to delivering the sets. Below are the latest updates…
The LEGO FORMA campaign at Indiegogo was only available for LEGO fans in the US and the UK, so those are the only two places LEGO needed to ship the sets. Packages to the UK were already shipped at the beginning of the year, so, if you are from the UK, you should have received your LEGO FORMA set(s) by now.
LEGO fans in the US will have to wait a bit longer, however. The LEGO FORMA skins were produced in Europe, and there were unexpected delays delivering them to LEGO’s distribution center in the US during the high holiday shipping season. According to the latest update, the current outlook is that they should be received at the distribution center by the end of the month. After that, LEGO will do their best to have packages shipped out to backers as fast as possible. Currently, the expected delivery is around February 6th, although this could still change.
It’s a bit disappointing that LEGO fans in the US have to wait an extra month to receive their LEGO FORMA sets, however delays caused by unforeseen obstacles are very common with projects that go through fundraising platforms as their workflow is different than that of already established products. Another LEGO-related project I’m backing has been delayed by more than a year, so a one month holdup with LEGO FORMA is not bad at all.
What do you think? How do you like LEGO FORMA? Are you a backer in the Indiegogo campaign? And are you excited for the product coming in January? Are you planning to make your own designs for the skins? Do you see a future for these type of LEGO sets? Feel free to share your thoughts and discuss in the comment section below! 😉
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That’s not too bad of a delay. What I’m curious about is how successful Lego views this campaign. Are they going to make more FORMA sets? Are they going to do more crowdfunding?
There is another crowdfunding project LEGO is running in collaboration with BrickLink. These are test projects, so I’m sure once they are over, LEGO will evaluate the results and see if there is any future in crowdfunding and the LEGO FORMA building system. My hunch is that FORMA as a LEGO theme won’t have a wide appeal. However, LEGO may use other collaborations and crowdfunding efforts for other projects that they want to try out.
Thanks for this update. I was wondering what was going on. The delay due to holiday rush is understandable. I haven’t seen so much discussion on the sets by even those who received it. Are they okay?
Huw from Brickset reviewed them here: https://brickset.com/article/41625/review-lego-forma-81000-koi
It’s a niche product, and it’s expensive, plus limited-release, so we probably not going to see a bunch of people talking about it.
Another LEGO-related project I’m backing has been delayed by more than a year?
That’s I-Brix. The wireless light system. I do hope that the project is going to materialize as I really like the concept, but backers are getting impatient: https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1426110532/i-brix-wirelessly-powered-lighting-system-for-lego/description
Yeah, I’m waiting on iBrix too. A month for Forma is fine, but oh that iBrix better be awesome!
Hey, Sarah, nice to have you over. I emailed Dustin to see what’s the latest news on I-Brix, but I haven’t heard back yet. I do hope that all this wait is going to be worth it! 😀
Thanks for emailing him. I’m curious what the update is.
I mean, I knew their estimated timeline wasn’t realistic from the moment I backed it due to having backed so many Kickstarter projects. Technology ones are the worst to try to estimate, but they didn’t give themselves any buffer of time, which is typical for those new to crowdfunding and doing these kinds of projects. So I give him a lot of slack for the hard learning curve.
And this wouldn’t be the longest delay I’ve experienced for a Kickstarter. One took almost 3 years to deliver after the estimated delivery date. I have a few that sadly never delivered and I doubt they ever will. But that’s the risk of crowdfunding.
Sarah, thanks for sharing all those insights. I was actually going to contact Will about this to see what he thinks about the delays. I know you guys have a lot of experience with crowdfunding, so just wanted to get a feel of what is normal.
Dustin did get back to me yesterday. He didn’t really say anything new. Still working on it, white lights will be first, he will send out another survey. But no timeline on anything. He did say he might try sending out my pack a bit earlier so I can write a review, but again, there was no timeline of when that might happen.
why only in US and UK? Lego is from Denmark, so why not in Denmark first?
Hamish, this is a test project, and it makes sense for LEGO to test it out at two of their largest markets. Denmark is a tiny country. Testing out such a project there would not give LEGO the necessary feedback they need to see if it has a wider appeal. In addition to testing out a new LEGO building system, LEGO also used this project to test out working with one of the largest crowdfunding platforms.
I guess in-house testing is often done in Denmark first, such as inviting families for testing out new product lines, and such. Not commercially released niche products.
Also, Lego is operating on a global scale, and the Danish market isn’t in itself that important. The most important national markets might be in US, UK and Germany, I think.
Yes, and now they want to creep into China too. 😀
Yes, that’s my understanding as well. The families and kids they test products with are often local. But product testing is done at the markets they want to appeal to.
I like the packaging. It reminds me of Apple products. Clean white box, minimalist graphics. It looks good. This could be a good investment for those who got it. Especially if it won’t be available for a wider release.
Yeah, I know that some people got two sets so they can keep one and sell one. That might not have been a bad idea. I only got one though. 😀
I guess that should read “That might ‘not’ have been…”
Yes, sorry about that. Had it fixed. 😀