The LEGO Ideas platform has been buzzing with activity this year. Back in May, a record-breaking 26 projects managed to hit the 10,000 supporter milestone and qualified to go under review. The LEGO Ideas team wrote that they were “utterly flabbergasted”, especially considering that they tend to see between 9-12 product ideas in a review period.
And the record was just broken again just a few days ago. Hasan Jensen from the LEGO Ideas team wrote: “Just when we thought the previous review period containing 26 submissions was a LEGO Ideas history breaking event, it’s been topped, as we close the latest review with a record breaking 35 submissions that have hit 10,000 supporters.”
You can check out the qualifying submissions from both review periods at this LEGO Ideas page. With the increasing number of projects achieving 10k support and fans wondering what this mean for the future of the LEGO Ideas platform, the LEGO Ideas team have issued a brief statement, which you can read below.
Over the past six months, we have read a growing number of comments from the fan community related to the significant growth of product ideas reaching 10,000 supporters. A lot of those comments ask the same thing. Is it time for change on LEGO Ideas? Should we increase the supporter threshold, decrease the timeframe, or change something else altogether?
The last two review periods have shown an invigorated interest in LEGO Ideas product idea submissions. We’ve gone from averaging about 10-12 product ideas in each review phase to seeing 26 and 35 product ideas, respectively, in the last review phases. A significantly leap.
We want to let you know that we’re aware that this increase is occurring. We’re also aware that this significant increase has coincided with global lockdowns related to COVID-19. The effects of this global pandemic has driven people to spend more time at home and online, as well as finding LEGO Ideas as an outlet for all that extra time and creative energy. An outlet that has not only driven an increase in supporters but also submissions.
It’s too early to determine whether the trend will continue and we don’t want to make any snap decisions based solely on the effects of this global situation that we face. Therefore, you shouldn’t expect any fundamental changes to the way LEGO Ideas works in the near future.
In the longer term, we are exploring several potential changes, not only to address the current situation, but also to continue our mission of realizing more AFOL (Adult-Fan-of-LEGO) designs. When exploring these options, we are of course mindful of the decade-long journey and heritage of design collaboration with the LEGO Ideas community. Importantly, we will always to strive to make LEGO Ideas the best possible experience for our members and community.
As you can see, the LEGO Ideas team is aware of the situation, but also mindful that the current global pandemic could factor into the increased interest in the platform. So, although there are no immediate changes planned, there could be changes in the future.
What do you think about the significant increase of LEGO Ideas submissions and projects that go into review? Are there any changes you would like to see? And which of the current projects under review are you rooting for to become official LEGO sets? Feel free to share your thoughts and discuss in the comment section below!
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Hmm, I’m apparently quite bad at this guessing game, but I guess the standard is still quite high, despite the number of reviewed submissions. I don’t think any of them strikes a chord with me, though.
I notice that there are two relatively similar Imperial Fortresses in the review (of which the Seagull Bay Lighthouse Imperial Fortress would appear to be the biggest and most elaborate). But I guess that Lego either wouldn’t pass any of them, or pass them both and merge them into a single set…
Hm… that’s an interesting idea about merging projects. They haven’t done that before. I suppose it would make things complicated as far as the payout for the builders.
Then, they just released a pirate Ideas set quite recently, and I guess that pirates would be a better seller than Imperial soldiers, anyway, so it might not be that likely…
The number of great projects is incredible. I go through the site like once a month to vote for the ones I like the most and there is a lot to like.
A lot more projects are presented professionally. Digital building programs have gotten so much better, which makes the projects all the more attractive. I remember the early days when everything was brickbuilt with whatever pieces someone had lying around.
As people get more and more comfortable in their creative ways, as they grow so does the ideas. The sets become bigger and a lot more in detailed in the build. So, Lego should grow with the creative people, because , it’s they’re monster that they created. It’s not wise to try and dim the light bulb in an idea.
There are a number of those sets I would kill for (HeroQuest, anyone?), but the only one that stood out to me as really deserving of the prize (comparable in WOW-factor to the grand piano or the dino skeleton set, for example) is the bonsai tree.
I would love to see one of those ships approved! Another one I like is the modular flower shop.
I wonder if they would consider releasing more than just a 2-4 sets a year. Does anyone have any idea how well the ideas sets sell? Like would it be worth to Lego to release more, or produce them in larger numbers, or make them available for longer periods?
The LEGO Ideas platform continues to evolve, and the team behind it always looks at the best way to work with the community. It’s likely that we will see changes in the future based on the ideas presented. We will see… 🙂
There has been a number of great ideas sets that have come out over the years from the fishing shop to the Pirates of Barracuda Bay.( of which I just finished building a couple days ago). I’m waiting for the Sesame Street set to come out. In fact, I had the Fisher-Price version of it. When Fisher-Price was a big deal almost as big as Lego. It was a big part of my childhood.
Wow. You had Fisher Price sets? I’m jealous! 😀
I wish I kept some of the sets. My brother and I had a lot of themes. We particularly loved the animals from the farm set and the circus set. My family moved a lot and we couldn’t take some of the stuff with us. So we left it at our grandparents house. And let me just say there was a rodent infestation in there basement and destroyed everything. It was a sad day in Fisher-Price land.😭