Category: LEGO Ideas

Baba Yaga figures as one of the most iconic (if not the most iconic) personage in Easter European folklore. Casual observers might remember the MCU’s “Ant-Man and the Wasp.” When the antagonist Ghost becomes visible besides Scott Lang/Ant-Man and his crew, his friend Kurt fearfully utters the name. A quick run-through of Russian and Slavic folktales however establishes Baba Yaga as the quintessential bogeyman of those regions. Living in her chicken-legged hut, Baba Yaga can be a child-eating monster or magical ally depending on story. And now a LEGO Ideas member is turning that mythos into a quirky product idea…again.

Russian builder Artem Biziaev is a LEGO Ideas 10K Club Member. His past three product ideas made the 10,000-support milestone only to crash during the Review Stages. This includes his original take on the Baba Yaga character and her house. Thankfully, the submission got plenty of support from Russia, so Biziaev has re-launched the build and got 10-K support anew. “The first pancake is lumpy,” he writes in the description, quoting a contemporary Russian saying. Not much has changed in the re-submission, if any. The chicken-legged hut remains, alongside Baba Yaga herself, her mortar, pet cat, and human visitor/intruder Vasilisa.

We at The Brick Show can’t help but admire Artem Biziaev re-submitting his product idea without any visible alteration. Here’s hoping then that his second pancake, as it were, won’t be as lumpy as the first. Still, a hut with chicken legs certainly “stands out” among the other building sets included in the LEGO Ideas Third 2021 Review Stage. But surely somebody would get a product idea that isn’t a building in here. Well, let’s see about that another time.

In other news, The LEGO Ideas Ninjago 1-Button Game contest announced its winners last week.

Buildings, buildings and more buildings: this would be an appropriate description for LEGO Ideas’ Third 2021 Review Stage. The creators of this batch of product ideas really put their best architectural-design feet forward. Fantastical locations (often based on licensed IPs) sit side-by-side with original concepts. In our past explorations of the LEGO Ideas website, we often saw one submission featured on the front page. We at The Brick Show breezed through it at the time to check on any new 10-K-supported product ideas. Well now, this submission by 10-K Club member Lepralego won’t allow us to ignore it any more.

Check out “The Meeting Point.” This structural build by Lepralego is yet another product idea that would fit right into LEGO City. In this case, it would give a LEGO City neighborhood a distinctly European aesthetic. The Meeting Point is the train station for “Brickester City.”

According to Lepralego’s set backstory, the station building was revamped with an iron-glass main terminal, leaving the older façade intact. And indeed, this build balances old and new designs.

We have a retro train platform and newsstand mixed with an airport-like terminal area and second-floor café. The set certainly encapsulates the sense of wonder Lepralego felt with various European train stations he has seen.

The Meeting Point is made up of 2,850 bricks and features eight minifigures. We’ve got commuters, shop employees and even a busker performing at one corner. This is definitely one of the liveliest building sets we’ve seen make it to a LEGO Ideas Review Stage. From here, we wish Lepralego’s submission the best of luck. The other cool building product ideas already with 10-K support will give The Meeting Place a run for its money.

After looking at a couple product ideas garnering support last week, we have another 10-K passer on LEGO Ideas. We know we’ve tried in the past to peg the common trend of submissions to the then-current Review Stage. But we at The Brick Show can certainly see that this Third 2021 Review Stage is all about the buildings. The new 10-K support submission from HarrisBricks reinforces this.

We can also observe that the product idea in question goes for LEGO “authenticity.” Its modular design makes it look right at home with LEGO City. And every neighborhood needs a music store.

“Downtown Records” by HarrisBricks looks like an official LEGO City modular set already. We’re looking at a two-floor building, each serving its own function. The ground floor houses the titular music store, in all its retro record aesthetics.

The building is designed to serve as a street corner, allowing a tree and a newsstand on one side.

Upstairs, accessible by a spiral staircase out back, we find a neat studio apartment just as media-heavy as downstairs.

Four minifigures populate this location: the store clerk, corner newsboy, a customer, and the apartment resident. You’re probably hearing tracks playing in your head.

LEGO Ideas Third 2021 Review Stage now stands at 18 product ideas. Nine of them are buildings, many of which are from licensed IPs. Of the original creations, two look like expected LEGO sets already: Castle Outpost and The (Ninjago-alike) Dojo. Can Downtown Records coast to a passing review thanks to its LEGO City-like modular design? The Review Stage isn’t over yet, so we’ll wait.

Our most recent LEGO Ideas updates consisted of official set releases or current developments in their various contests. It’s been over a week since the last product idea to reach the magic 10,000 supporters for review. At last however, a new submission successfully got into the Third 2021 Review Stage. Theme-wise, the new entry significantly ups the brick-building representation for this batch. This submission by xXgGhostXx is also Third 2021’s second “castle” submission. If BrickGallery’s Hyrule Castle is heavy on the licensed IP, then “Castle Outpost” is wonderfully generic. You could almost see this as a classic LEGO theme throwback.

As xXgGhostXx explains in is product idea description, “Castle Outpost” is a revamp of an earlier idea of his. The original design actually still figures in the image gallery (second in the series). The changes he mentioned are evident, from the rear-left round tower to the shape of the towers’ battlements. xXgGhostXx also notes some stability improvements, though as the set images are renders we have to take his word.

The structure features a central well and stable. The towers also have interiors, serving as dungeon, armory, kitchen, and garrison. Functional rotating catapults and nine knight minifigures complete the ensemble.

Castle Outpost can be compared to the Creator 3-in-1 Medieval Castle (31120), but also does its own thing. The sheer nostalgia factor of the design, with modern functional play elements, gives this product idea a solid chance. xXgGhostXx’s work deserves its spot on the Ideas Third 2021 Review Stage. It’ll be taking on comers like Hyrule Castle, The Dojo, Steampunk Explorers and Ichiraku Ramen. Let the better-received build win.