The latest LEGO Cuusoo project to hit the 10,000 vote mark is simply titled Sherlock, and based on the BBC hit starring Benedict Cumberbatch and Martin Freeman. The project gained a rapid influx of votes after Sherlock fan sites sent their viewers to the Cuusoo site.
This project now moves to the review stage, with the next review set to take place in January.
How likely is this project to pass review? Let’s have a look at some of the assessment criteria:
Brand Fit – The show does deal with quite a few adult themes including murder. I believe that LEGO could go either way with this. They might be willing to approve it because it is going to be a limited production set. Back To The Future also has it’s share of adult themes.
Licencing – This project focuses on a specific incarnation of the Sherlock Holmes character, which is going to make licencing a little trickier. The original Sherlock Holmes stories are now public domain, but being based on the TV show an agreement would need to be made with the BBC. From my research there doesn’t seem to have ever been any licencing agreements between the BBC and LEGO. We do know that there is an existing agreement for Doctor Who sets to be produced by Character Building. Without knowing how far this agreement extends there is no way to know if a licence is even possible.
The Actual Set – There doesn’t seem to be any immediate issues with the actual set design. It is quite modest in terms of part count, and doesn’t require the creation of new one-off molds. The proposed set could easily be created with stickers or printed bricks. The included minifigures all look reasonably simple too, and the number could easily be scaled back from all of the characters to just Sherlock and Watson.
Conclusion – Sherlock is a great show that deservedly has quite a following, but it seems unlikely that this project is going to pass review.