Interview: The Australian Behind LEGO Ghostbusters

This morning we got news about the latest product to come from the LEGO Cuusoo website, but that news was particularly exciting for one Brisbane LEGO fan. Brent Waller is the man behind the project, and he has spoken to Bricking Around about his creation. 

What is your history with LEGO? For example have you always been a fan or did you have a dark ages like the rest of us?
I was a Lego nut as a kid until about 13 or 14, I stubbornly moved onto other pursuits like sports and computers. It wasn’t until about 2008 after playing with the Lego Digital Designer and designing a Batmobile, I ordered the parts off of Bricklink and then began the spiral of Lego spending, beginning with the Indiana Jones sets.

Did the model come first or did you have an idea for a CUUSOO project and then build the model after that?
As a kid I would make Ghostbusters out of Lego, I had a very primitive Ecto-1 and the whole gang of characters. So I guess it began there. The initial inception for this version though was seeing some of the other Ghostbusters creations at the time and thinking I could do better (this was before Orion Pax’s amazing MOC) so I figured I’d take it as a challenge and use it to make a display for my local LUG group, BrisBricks at their annual Expo. The minifigures came first, I actually had them done nearly 6 months before I even started Ecto-1.  It wasn’t until I’d finished Ecto-1 and I showed it to a fellow Lego fan at work, he convinced me to post it on Cuusoo, which I hadn’t really even thought of previously.

This review was a little strange, with two Ghostbusters projects included. What do you think it was about your project that lead to it being picked over the other?
Well they have stated in the announcement that it was the fact that my creation reached 10,000 votes first, combined with the Lego designers preferring my model over the other. TeeKay did a great job with his version and it’s unfortunate that there wasn’t a way both could be recognized, but it’s understandable from Lego’s perspective.

What was the review process like for you? Was there much back and forth between you and LEGO?
As with my Batmobile Tumbler (which didn’t pass review), there’s no real communication with TLG or Cuusoo to speak of, so much like everyone else I just had to patiently wait for the results.

The day of the announcement I woke to find a ton of e-mails and Facebook notifications, it took me a few seconds to figure out what was going on before I quickly loaded up the cuusoo blog to see the results. It looks like it had been up a few hours though before I discovered it so most people probably found out before me!

Have you seen a final design, and have you been involved in the final design process?
I have not seen anything of the final design, but they have indicated they would like to involve me in the process as much as they can. I dare say much of that will be confidential when it happens though.

Your original project included the converted Firestation HQ, which doesn’t appear to be part of the final set. Was that disappointing for you?
I never really intended it to be the main focus of the submission, I was making it for the BrisBricks Expo anyway so I thought I’d just throw it on the submission but try not to focus on it. So I wasn’t disappointed at all it wasn’t apart of the final set, I would have been more surprised had they used it.

As mentioned, you also created the Minifig scale tumbler project, which reached review but was passed up as a product, how did that experience compare to this?
Obviously the Tumbler not passing review was disappointing, but out of the two projects, if I had a choice in which one I would want to make it to a final product it, would be Ghostbusters. Growing up there were 3 main things I was into and would remake with Lego; Batman, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (which Lego themselves have already covered) and Ghostbusters. It’s a licensed theme that doesn’t currently exist through Lego and it’s something as a fan of both Lego and Ghostbusters I would love to see released, whether I designed it or not.

After reaching the review stage twice, what is next for you?
I have no immediate plans for Cuusoo submissions. I still have a few original creations on Cuusoo I’d love to see reach 10,000, particularly my Modular Costume Store for Collectible Minifigures and ALA-N: Astronautical Lunar Android 9. So perhaps I will knock up some videos to help promote those more. Being original creations they are infinitely more difficult to attain 10,000 votes than a licensed set. I have started and do plan to finish a Stay Puft Marshmallow Man MOC to go with my Ghostbusters for this year’s BrisBricks show so perhaps I will submit that as well.

Do you have any general comments on the Cuusoo concept?
I think it’s a great initiative and I  look forward to seeing where it goes in the future. I know there’s a lot of complaints from people about the focus on licensed submissions but after successfully launching a Kickstarter last year for a video game called Satellite Reign which was inspired by another games series it’s fairly obvious that the focus doesn’t come from Cuusoo or the Lego Group themselves but from us as users of the sites and supporters. An existing license is a quick shorthand for the public to quickly and easily attach an emotional connection with the project, the appeal is instantaneous. Whereas a completely original project has a much larger barrier to entry. The fact that I have submitted 7 projects to Cuusoo and the 2 that have achieved 10,000 votes are based on existing intellectual properties while the remaining 5 original ideas languish with only a few hundred of votes speaks for itself. I think those 5 creations are just as strong but the appeal to the public is much less as they don’t have that history or connection to it.

Bricking Around would like to thank Brent for taking the time to talk to us.