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LEGO Ideas interesting new projects

by Thita (admin) on January 17, 2015

We haven’t talked about LEGO Ideas projects for a while, so I thought to do a round-up of some of the upcoming projects that you might like to support. As you probably know already, LEGO Ideas is a platform where LEGO fans can submit their own ideas for future LEGO sets. If a project gets 10,000 public votes it goes before the LEGO review board, and if the idea is a good fit for the company it is made into an official LEGO set. 🙂

➡ LEGO IDEAS RECORD STORE: This is a very popular submission by RyanHowerter that received a lot of praise when it was first posted on flickr and has been shared and blogged in several news publications since then. The details just looks excellent! This is also a timely submission as record stores are becoming very popular again. There is something about a record store that brings back so much nostalgia and memories to so many people. The weakness of this model is that it doesn’t have a clear size, shape and part-count. I hope that Ryan will consider finalizing the model into a coherent LEGO set. Currently this project has over 1,000 supporters of the required 10,000, and about 230 days left to reach that goal. If you are interested to support this project, or would like to leave feedback, you can do so here: LEGO IDEAS RECORD STORE

➡ LEGO IDEAS WORLD MAP: This is basically a world map mosaic, submitted by LEGO Ideas member TPNK. World maps are a popular decoration in homes, offices and classrooms. They make great conversation pieces and also work as an educational tool with children. Because this map is built of LEGO elements there is a potential to build on the surface of the map; mark locations visited, add flags, or build micro versions of famous landmarks. The LEGO Group hasn’t released a LEGO mosaic set for quite some time now, so this would also serve as a great LEGO mosaic with some interactive features. The downside is that this submission is not as exciting and sexy as some of the other ones, so it may not get the required number of votes. Currently this project has over 1,000 supporters of the required 10,000, and only about 100 days left to reach that goal. If you are interested to support this project, or would like to leave feedback, you can do so here: LEGO IDEAS WORLD MAP

➡ LEGO IDEAS VENATOR-CLASS STAR DESTROYER: This is a LEGO Star Wars project submitted by Qui-Gon-Gin. It is a massive Republic warship depicted in Star Wars: The Clone Wars, Star Wars: Revenge of the Sith, as well as Star Wars: The Clone Wars cartoon series. It is in line with other large LEGO Ultimate Collector Series sets in size, detail, suggested piece-count, and price. It features the main ship, a removable stand, and a data-sheet. It also includes a detailed and fully-functional ventral hangar bay with a detachable scale model Republic Frigate. The color scheme is that of an Admiral’s flagship, characterized by the dark-red bridges. The weakness of this model is that it is Star Wars, a license LEGO already produces many sets for. I’m not sure if they would be willing to produce a LEGO Ultimate Collector Series Star Wars model under the LEGO Ideas line. So far all LEGO Ideas sets have been in the $20-$50 range and were limited releases. Of course this can change, but these are some of the obstacles this submission is up against. Currently this project has close to 1,500 supporters of the required 10,000, and about 280 days left to reach that goal. If you are interested to support this project, or would like to leave feedback, you can do so here: LEGO IDEAS STAR DESTROYER

LEGO Ideas Star Destroyer by Qui-Gon-Gin

➡ LEGO IDEAS THE SPIRIT OF FREEDOM: This is a really sweet plane submitted by JonHall18, another project that has been extensively blogged and shared on social-media platforms. It’s an imaginary aircraft from a 1940s-era fantasy world of the Kingdom of Arcadia. The plane pictured here is the “Spirit of Freedom” one of the four planes that escorts the Arcadian Royal Airship. The crew consists of one pilot and one gunner. I think this model has a good chance to become a LEGO set; LEGO likes model airplanes and this submission also fits well with the LEGO Ideas parameters. Currently this project has over 2,000 supporters of the required 10,000, and only about 100 days left to reach that goal. If you are interested to support this project, or would like to leave feedback, you can do so here: LEGO IDEAS AIRPLANE

➡ LEGO IDEAS NEUSCHWANSTEIN CASTLE: This looks like a very large set, but it is in fact in line with the #10214 LEGO Creator Tower Bridge, and other large LEGO Creator models. It was submitted by LEGO Ideas member t-brick, and is based on the famous Neuschwanstein castle in Bavaria – a major tourist attraction, and the inspiration for the Disneyland’s Sleeping Beauty Castle. The scale is big enough to show all the windows, battlements, winding roofs, flights of stairs, gates, alcoves and of course the big towers. This is a really nice model that I could see being accepted as an actual LEGO set. I remember building paper models of this castle when I was a kid, and would love to build it out of LEGO! Currently this project has over 2,500 supporters of the required 10,000, and only about 100 days left to reach that goal. If you are interested to support this project, or would like to leave feedback, you can do so here: LEGO IDEAS CASTLE

➡ LEGO IDEAS GINGERBREAD HOUSE: This project looks dangerously yummy! Cookie walls, decorative icing, lots of candy, and caramelized windows – they are all there! It was submitted by Swan Dutchman as a LEGO Christmas set, and a possible addition to the LEGO Christmas Village line. I think this submission also has great potential to become an official LEGO set. Currently this project has almost 3,500 supporters of the required 10,000, and about 300 days left to reach that goal. If you are interested to support this project, or would like to leave feedback, you can do so here: LEGO IDEAS GINGERBREAD HOUSE

LEGO Ideas Gingerbread House by Swan Dutchman

There are many other LEGO Ideas projects that are coming up through the ranks and starting to get some traction in visibility and support. If you would like to see any of them make it into an official LEGO set, make sure you cast your vote and also share them on social-media platforms and in other communities. They all still need quite a bit of votes. And if you would like to check out the currently available fan-created LEGO sets, you can check out the LEGO Ideas section of the Online LEGO Shop.

So what do you think? How do you like the above mentioned LEGO Ideas projects? Did you vote for any of them? Are the any other submissions that you really like and would like others to support? Feel free to share your thoughts in the comment section below! 😉

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

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Brick Breakdown: LEGO Minecraft The Cave

by Thita (admin) on January 16, 2015

in Other LEGO Sets & Themes

(Written by William)

In this Brick Breakdown series I review official LEGO sets, from the perspective of looking at interesting building techniques we can all learn from. Today we will be looking at the #21113 LEGO Minecraft The Cave. You can also check out the previously discussed LEGO techniques found in official LEGO sets at the end of this article. 🙂

“Blocky” is the only word to really describe a LEGO Minecraft set. Many people say that Minecraft and LEGO are just two ways of saying the same thing. However, after seeing a LEGO set inspired by this popular video-game, you can see just how different they actually are. Normally LEGO sets are filled with vibrant colors and interestingly shaped pieces to create the featured models. Sure, some LEGO designs have square-ish tendencies, but most modern LEGO sets focus on fairly life-like models. With the LEGO Minecraft sets there was a need to have less definition and a sense of chaotic randomization that makes them really hard to compare with other LEGO sets. I puzzled over this – and another technique – when I considered writing about this LEGO Minecraft set. Ultimately I realized I will have to talk about a technique that dates back to before I was even born. So grab your pixilated pickaxe and let’s dig into what this set has to offer…

➡ GOING BACK TO LEGO RETRO DESIGNS

For many years LEGO produced mostly simple bricks. They came in various colors and had a number of basic shapes, but in general they pretty much resembled wooden toy blocks. There were two unique features of LEGO though from the very beginning, compared to wooden building blocks; the first one being that the LEGO bricks could stick together, and secondly, every element could fit together with other elements. Fast forward to the present day and those two characteristics are still the core of all LEGO pieces. The difference is that now we have more unique shapes, printed elements, minifigures, licenses, and a whole host of other improvements that make the original designs pale in comparison.

Then comes LEGO Minecraft. It has a look that is so basic that we need to revisit some of the oldest LEGO designs and techniques. In fact the issue becomes how to limit yourself from building with more elaborate pieces. The answer comes from creating a base unit to measure everything against. In the Minecraft video-game the world is represented by very specific block shapes. LEGO’s equivalent to this in the minifigure-scale LEGO Minecraft sets became the 2×2 brick – the unit of measurement LEGO designers used for all of the sets in this line.

Essentially what this means is that everything must look like it was made out of a series of 2×2 bricks. Of course you can have a little wiggle-room with a plate’s thickness, but ultimately everything should be measured in 2×2 increments. Once a unit of measurement was decided, it was time to see what could be built. The end result is a retro design that you can apply modern techniques to, without worrying about whether or not it will disrupt the old-school style of LEGO building.

➡ BUILDING MODULAR WALLS WITH LEGO

Most of the times when we think of building a modular wall from LEGO element we do so because we want to include some play-feature (opening walls, exploding walls, hidden passages, etc.). They are often comprised of a number of elements that fit solidly together and make wall-shaped chunks. This LEGO Minecraft set offers a different approach. Instead of thinking of the modular piece as a wall, it considers the bricks that make up the wall. In this way there is a greater degree of modularity in the design. This decision comes from how Minecraft is played, but it does introduce an interesting building option for LEGO fans.

The use of such a design is fairly easy to understand; you can take apart and redesign sections much faster than normal, plus it can look cooler if you are simulating a breakable wall. However this technique also comes with some drawbacks. The most important drawback to consider is the lack of stability. For a good modular piece to stay loose, it needs to have the minimum amount of connection-points. This is often why you only have one or two studs holding a piece. Another drawback is the chunky size you typically have to go with to compensate for the lack of stability due to the very few studs. However, this results in chunkier designs that may be hard to fit into a creation. As long as you are aware of these issues, you can have a rather unique approach to your designs.

➡ APPLYING WHAT YOU LEARN

A retro design is just one application for choosing a specific unit of measurement. You can also change the unit of measurement to help enlarge the scale of a LEGO model. For example when you build a basic holiday set (like a brick-built bunny or heart), you can use the smallest detail of the model as the base unit of measurement and enlarge everything based on it. This way you can make the same model, just ten times the size of the original

As for building a modular wall, it is a functional choice you have to make. Do you want something that can come apart easily but is prone to falling apart? If so, a modular wall technique will most likely work in your favor. However, if you need absolute stability, this is a technique you should probably avoid. If you are interested, you might also like to read the Minifig-Scale LEGO Minecraft Sets Review for a detailed look at the features of this set, and you can also find all the LEGO Minecraft sets at the Online LEGO Shop.

So what do you think? How do you like the new LEGO Minecraft sets? Have you had a chance to build any of them? Did you learn from the interesting building techniques used in the sets? Feel free to share your own experiences and tips, or ask questions in the comment section below! 😉

And you might also like to check out the other reviews in this series:

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