4 ms·

> offering both fame and a small fortune — 1 percent of net sales — to anyone who can convince 10,000 peers and The Lego Group that their set deserves to exist

> offering both fame and a small fortune — 1 percent of net sales — to anyone who can convince 10,000 peers and The Lego Group that their set deserves to exist This isn't entirely true. Plenty of LEGO Ideas designs get to the 10k threshold, then LEGO vetoes them for one reason or another. The decision process is completely opaque; more often than not, they basically just say "the design didn't pass internal review." Never mind that most Ideas sets get a significant design overhaul before reaching production anyway.

bombcar 3y ago
That’s why it says “and the Lego Group” - you have to do the 10k and pass internal design review.
- nicklecompte 3y ago
  "Lego is 'proud' to announce Lego McLegoface Mark XVI. Apparently you guys still think this joke is funny."
- ryukoposting 3y ago
  "Convincing" the Lego Group implies that there's dialogue.
  - fshr 3y ago
    I don’t think it implies that. The 10k votes, parts list, photos, impetus, and lore/background is the “convincing”. A speech, a monologue, can be convincing.
  - mcphage 3y ago
    There is, but it seems like it's between Lego and the rightsholder.
- eloisant 3y ago
  But then the 10k is meaningless. "Anyone who can convince the Lego Group", that could be said of any product/company! It's like saying "anyone who can convince Netflix can launch a new TV Show".
  - The_Colonel 3y ago
    It's just screening the clearly not-good-enough designs so that Lego employees don't have to review everything.
    - em-bee 3y ago
      it also shows the market potential: 10000 people would buy this set. sure not all of them will buy it, but it's certainly a useful metric.
  - nkrisc 3y ago
    It’s not meaningless, it’s just an initial filter to show there’s at least some amount of interest in it. No sense reviewing proposals for sets that can’t even get 10,000 people interested.
- billfor 3y ago
  I'm still waiting for my Saturn V Gantry. https://ideas.lego.com/projects/a88109ec-9970-4fe1-98b4-9bd535856ab4 https://ideas.lego.com/projects/a88109ec-9970-4fe1-98b4-9bd5...
  - tills13 3y ago
    BTW: https://www.bricklink.com/v3/studio/design.page?idModel=160302 https://www.bricklink.com/v3/studio/design.page?idModel=1603... or other, similar models there. Bricklink is perhaps secretly (or perhaps not) owned by LEGO itself so they can have their hand in the pocket of the used / resale market. People will upload full MOCs (My Own Creation) there and you can purchase the sets piece-wise. Usually even more expensive than if you wait and buy a set through LEGO but for stuff like this it's worth it.
    - C4stor 3y ago
      Bricklink has been acquired by Lego 4 years ago, I don't think that's a secret at all !
      - jerrysievert 3y ago
        which was one of the better things that could have happened after Daniel Jezek passed. lego has been a good steward of it since.
bena 3y ago
Some of that is due to reasons they cannot say. They've developed a policy of "no current IP currently produced by the Lego Group". So even if a set gets past the 10,000 mark, if it's a minifig scale Death Star, it's not being made. So if it's a set they currently have IP rights for, but have not announced sets for, they'll generally turn it down. But they can't say it's because they've recently acquired the IP rights to Sonic the Hedgehog. They also have a loose "no contemporary war toys" policy. I say loose because the Indiana Jones line kind of pushes on that a bit. But that's right around the cutoff for them. But you definitely won't see an F16 fighter jet anytime soon.
- cainxinth 3y ago
  According to gpt-4, a minifig scale Death Star I would be over 2 miles in diameter
  - Ringz 3y ago
    Seems reasonable to me. Let’s start building.
    - dhosek 3y ago
      The problem is that according to Science™ (https://www.bbc.com/news/magazine-20578627 https://www.bbc.com/news/magazine-20578627) with a tower of 2.17miles you start to get materials failure on the bricks. You might be able to engineer around this, but I suspect that the minifig-scale deathstar would cause the bottom bricks to melt. Bummer.
      - whythre 3y ago
        Maybe in this hypothetical we could reduce weight by making it the 2nd Death Star? A lot of that was skeletal superstructure.
        Uvix 3y ago
        The second Death Star was also about 33% bigger in diameter, though.
greenpizza13 3y ago
I think it's possible you did not continue reading the article. This is all covered.
jk_i_am_a_robot 3y ago
"Never mind that most Ideas sets get a significant design overhaul before reaching production anyway." You've answered your own question -- selection criteria extend beyond physical design.
mcv 3y ago
> most Ideas sets get a significant design overhaul before reaching production anyway. Often it's an improvement, but lots of people are disappointed that the new Orient Express[0] is nothing like the original Ideas design[1]. [0] https://www.lego.com/en-us/product/the-orient-express-train-21344 https://www.lego.com/en-us/product/the-orient-express-train-... [1] https://ideas.lego.com/projects/568ee861-3b62-413a-9432-ce1d3a98c61a https://ideas.lego.com/projects/568ee861-3b62-413a-9432-ce1d...
ItsMattyG 3y ago
This is literally what the whole article was about. Not only does the quote itself contain that context "and the lego group", but the very next paragraph is "And then… nothing. The Tintin votes dried up, and Lego rejected both his fan-favorite Avatar and Polar Express ideas. The company never says why it rejects an Ideas submission, only that deciding factors include everything from “playability” and “brand fit” to the difficulties in licensing another company’s IP."
panzi 3y ago
Also the final product often looks very different (usually a lot smaller) then the submission.
deleted 3y ago
[deleted]

bombcar 3y ago

That’s why it says “and the Lego Group” - you have to do the 10k and pass internal design review.

nicklecompte 3y ago
"Lego is 'proud' to announce Lego McLegoface Mark XVI. Apparently you guys still think this joke is funny."
ryukoposting 3y ago
"Convincing" the Lego Group implies that there's dialogue.
- fshr 3y ago
  I don’t think it implies that. The 10k votes, parts list, photos, impetus, and lore/background is the “convincing”. A speech, a monologue, can be convincing.
- mcphage 3y ago
  There is, but it seems like it's between Lego and the rightsholder.
eloisant 3y ago
But then the 10k is meaningless. "Anyone who can convince the Lego Group", that could be said of any product/company! It's like saying "anyone who can convince Netflix can launch a new TV Show".
- The_Colonel 3y ago
  It's just screening the clearly not-good-enough designs so that Lego employees don't have to review everything.
  - em-bee 3y ago
    it also shows the market potential: 10000 people would buy this set. sure not all of them will buy it, but it's certainly a useful metric.
- nkrisc 3y ago
  It’s not meaningless, it’s just an initial filter to show there’s at least some amount of interest in it. No sense reviewing proposals for sets that can’t even get 10,000 people interested.
billfor 3y ago
I'm still waiting for my Saturn V Gantry. https://ideas.lego.com/projects/a88109ec-9970-4fe1-98b4-9bd535856ab4 https://ideas.lego.com/projects/a88109ec-9970-4fe1-98b4-9bd5...
- tills13 3y ago
  BTW: https://www.bricklink.com/v3/studio/design.page?idModel=160302 https://www.bricklink.com/v3/studio/design.page?idModel=1603... or other, similar models there. Bricklink is perhaps secretly (or perhaps not) owned by LEGO itself so they can have their hand in the pocket of the used / resale market. People will upload full MOCs (My Own Creation) there and you can purchase the sets piece-wise. Usually even more expensive than if you wait and buy a set through LEGO but for stuff like this it's worth it.
  - C4stor 3y ago
    Bricklink has been acquired by Lego 4 years ago, I don't think that's a secret at all !
    - jerrysievert 3y ago
      which was one of the better things that could have happened after Daniel Jezek passed. lego has been a good steward of it since.

bena 3y ago

Some of that is due to reasons they cannot say. They've developed a policy of "no current IP currently produced by the Lego Group". So even if a set gets past the 10,000 mark, if it's a minifig scale Death Star, it's not being made. So if it's a set they currently have IP rights for, but have not announced sets for, they'll generally turn it down. But they can't say it's because they've recently acquired the IP rights to Sonic the Hedgehog. They also have a loose "no contemporary war toys" policy. I say loose because the Indiana Jones line kind of pushes on that a bit. But that's right around the cutoff for them. But you definitely won't see an F16 fighter jet anytime soon.

cainxinth 3y ago
According to gpt-4, a minifig scale Death Star I would be over 2 miles in diameter
- Ringz 3y ago
  Seems reasonable to me. Let’s start building.
  - dhosek 3y ago
    The problem is that according to Science™ (https://www.bbc.com/news/magazine-20578627 https://www.bbc.com/news/magazine-20578627) with a tower of 2.17miles you start to get materials failure on the bricks. You might be able to engineer around this, but I suspect that the minifig-scale deathstar would cause the bottom bricks to melt. Bummer.
    - whythre 3y ago
      Maybe in this hypothetical we could reduce weight by making it the 2nd Death Star? A lot of that was skeletal superstructure.
      - Uvix 3y ago
        The second Death Star was also about 33% bigger in diameter, though.

greenpizza13 3y ago

I think it's possible you did not continue reading the article. This is all covered.

jk_i_am_a_robot 3y ago

"Never mind that most Ideas sets get a significant design overhaul before reaching production anyway." You've answered your own question -- selection criteria extend beyond physical design.

mcv 3y ago

> most Ideas sets get a significant design overhaul before reaching production anyway. Often it's an improvement, but lots of people are disappointed that the new Orient Express[0] is nothing like the original Ideas design[1]. [0] https://www.lego.com/en-us/product/the-orient-express-train-21344 https://www.lego.com/en-us/product/the-orient-express-train-... [1] https://ideas.lego.com/projects/568ee861-3b62-413a-9432-ce1d3a98c61a https://ideas.lego.com/projects/568ee861-3b62-413a-9432-ce1d...

ItsMattyG 3y ago

This is literally what the whole article was about. Not only does the quote itself contain that context "and the lego group", but the very next paragraph is "And then… nothing. The Tintin votes dried up, and Lego rejected both his fan-favorite Avatar and Polar Express ideas. The company never says why it rejects an Ideas submission, only that deciding factors include everything from “playability” and “brand fit” to the difficulties in licensing another company’s IP."

panzi 3y ago

Also the final product often looks very different (usually a lot smaller) then the submission.

deleted 3y ago

[deleted]