LEGO have just announced the results of the latest LEGO Ideas review and we have a new LEGO Ideas set on the way. The female minifiigures project will become LEGO Ideas Research Institute. According to the announcement video we should see the final set released in August 2014.
We are really pleased to see this project become a set. The original idea had a lot of merit, and managed to gain a fair bit of media interest. The issue of gender inequality in the available range of minifigures has always been a topic of discussion. There is also an under-representation of women who undertake science careers. If young girls can be inspired to have an interest in science from
The fact that the final sets has been titled Research Institute, along with what was said in the announcement video, indicates that we will see three different female scientists coming together in a single set. Our hope is that the final set brings the three separate vignettes together into a single cohesive product.
Our take on the unsuccessful products is below the announcement video
Macross VF-1 Valkyrie +Fast pack / Armoured Parts – This one doesn’t really come as a surprise to us. LEGO has already announced that we are getting an Exo-Suit set, and we can see that this project may be considered too similar.
Legend of Zelda: Iron Knuckle Encounter – We suspect this may be at least partially related to a licensing issue. This is the second Zelda project to reach 10,000 votes and then get rejected. We do know that Nintendo has an existing line of products through K’Nex. What we aren’t clear on is it that if this is a licence conflict issue, why does LEGO allow Zelda projects at all?
Japanese Old Style Architecture – We are a little disappointed that this didn’t make the cut, as the designs look great. Unfortunately LEGO seems to stick with smaller products for the Ideas range.
Adventure Time Project – This wacky cartoon could have made for an interesting product. There is possibly a licence issue, or it may be that the proposed set was too large.
BTTF – UCS DeLorean Time Machine – Another great project that we fear was too large or expensive to become a LEGO Ideas set. Remote controlled sets require a lot of expensive parts. Any “UCS” style Idea set seems unlikely
Sherlock – A live action TV show were people are regularly murdered. That is not a good brand fit for LEGO.