LEGO® has just released the results of the latest Cuusoo review round, and we have a new set incoming. LEGO has decided to proceed with Mars Science Laboratory Curiosity Rover. I don’t think there is any huge surprise here – the Curiosity project was well designed and is a great fit with the LEGO brand. It also has similarities with other products produced by Cuusoo in the past (Shinkai 6500 and Hayabusa).
So what about the other projects in this review round?
UCS Sandcrawler™ – This seems to have been rejected because LEGO won’t release a Star Wars set as part of the Cuusoo range.
Unfortunately we can’t approve this project in the LEGO Review based on our ongoing relationship and collaboration with Lucasfilm on LEGO Star Wars.
If you were thinking of starting a Star Wars Cuusoo project, it seems it might be a bit pointless. The UCS Sandcrawler was also an extremely large model, and Cuusoo seems to be sticking with smaller sets at this stage.
Thinking with Portals – Is still a possibility. I’m not sure if this is related to on-going licensing negotiations or just that LEGO isn’t sure about the viability of the potential product. Portal came out in 2007, and the sequel was 2011.
Offical blog post from LEGO
21104 Mars Science Laboratory Curiosity Rover
It is with great pleasure we reveal that the next LEGO CUUSOO set will be theMars Science Laboratory Curiosity Rover, based upon the LEGO CUUSOO project by Perijove.This project rose to popularity in late summer 2012, when the real Mars Curiosity Rover approached and landed on the planet Mars in its historic mission. The model designer, LEGO CUUSOO user Perijove is a Mechanical Engineer who worked on the actual Curiosity rover at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory. Perijove writes that he built and submitted the rover to further the educational outreach of the Mars Curiosity rover’s incredible mission, and to encourage greater public support for space exploration.
The final product is still in development. Exact pricing and availability is still being determined, so stay tuned on this blog and LEGO CUUSOO for an update on when you can buy your own LEGO rover in the coming months.
Via LEGO Cuusoo – http://blog.lego.cuusoo.com/2013/06/14/results-fall-2012-lego-review/
Image credit: Perijove http://lego.cuusoo.com/ideas/view/3431