The latest LEGO Ideas review results are in and they are going to be very disappointing for everybody who supported a project in the review round.
LEGO has made the decision to pass on all of the projects that were in the review. That means of the 14 projects in review, 13 were rejected and one has been passed to the next review period. LEGO have explained their decision in a video (see below).
It’s certainly disappointing that none of the projects passed the review but this result highlights the biggest problem with the Ideas platform – popular support is not enough to convince LEGO to make a product. Voting for an impressive 2000 piece creation isn’t the same as buying them. An even bigger issue seems to be IP issues.
There isn’t really a lot that LEGO can do about IP issues – they aren’t going to investigate new IPs until the review stage. They should be disallowing products that they already know they can’t get the rights to (Nintendo seems to be an example).
One thing LEGO should do is stop getting our hopes up with cool large sets. If there is an upper limit on parts for Ideas sets then tell us.
Here is the video of the announcement.
I suspect this might be the beginning of the end for Lego Ideas. Aside from the minefield of IP issues there are many others. TLG offer very little in the way of guidelines and then do no offer any specific criticism or comment on why a particular set does not gain approval. This leaves all the creative people who put in so much time & effort to submit their ideas with no feedback, and as a result, the whole process is a crapshoot. Secondly, on several occasions TLG has rejected Ideas submissions only to release a very similar official Lego set soon thereafter. Now this could be pure coincidence, and I’m sure TLG would push the “product line was already in development” mantra until the’re blue in the face. However, it leaves a slightly bitter taste in the mouth within the Lego fan community. There has also been some rather awkward situations related to Ideas of late. Specifically, the recall of WALL-E due to obvious flaws in its design and now the listing of the Ghostbusters HQ as an Ideas set on Lego S@H only to admit that it was a mistake. I think it’s pretty obvious to see how this mistake was made given how similar it looks to Brent Waller’s Ideas set that was rejected by TLG. I love the concept of Ideas, and it’s given us some great sets that would otherwise never have been made. However, I think the system is broken and needs a major overhaul. Imagine the cost to review all of the sets that reach 10,000 votes, not to mention the legal costs, only to annouce that none were approved. Specifically, there needs to be more guidelines and feedback with the community as to what would never get approved (eg. too big, specific IPs, etc). Otherwise it just wastes everyone’s time.
Funny I don’t see that at all. The Wall-E head swivel thing, from what I have read was blown a little out of proportion, and I think Lego did a wonderful thing by its customers in taking it back in for a redesign. I mean it only occurred in one position, so I honestly think that was people became a little excited and quite an easy ‘fix’ was available if desired.
The Ghostbusters HQ listed as a Lego Idea was certainly an error, but the rules state explicitly that a successful Idea might be the starting point for a new theme, and would be developed internally and independently. Given the length of time the Ecto-1 has been available and its popularity, I have no doubt at all, that they had the theme in mind.
As for submitting sets with licensing issues, that will always involve some risk for the contributor as the cost of the licence and decisions of external parties are a consideration.
Submitting a huge set, seems a little on the wishful thinking side, as many people have mentioned they might want the Ghostbusters HQ for example, but be out of the market for a price tag of $499. So common sense by the contributor needs to be a factor. (There is a current ideas set I love, but would never purchase, as I would need to sell the car to buy it – https://ideas.lego.com/projects/117087 – however it looks incredible !).
Personally, I would have loved the T-Rex as it is building a dinosaur, rather than a mould of one – but Lego does have a current Jurassic Theme and states in the project rules that this will lessen the chance of being chosen, although in this case, I think it is differentiated enough, the fact the contributor’s original submission was initially put in with a Jurassic Park motif may have had an influence sadly.
I actually think for Lego Ideas to work, it needs a level of ambiguity in its decision making – discretion if you will. Making it too transparent would get every ‘internet lawyer’ commenting on submissions and decisions – and a submission or 10,000 votes is not a guarantee, but rather an opportunity. I think there are many people out there that would still love the opportunity, I know I would, if I had either an idea and/or the talent š