Category: LEGO Ideas

Rolls-Royce UltraFan – The Ultimate Jet Engine Qualifies for LEGO Ideas’ Second 2018 Review Stage

For those who have been keeping up with us on our coverage of new Product Ideas on LEGO Ideas that have passed the 10,000 support mark, they might think the initial trend of “high-techie” aspiring official sets was broken with Steamboat Willie and the M&M Dispenser. But now the prevailing theme’s back in full force with the next LEGO Ideas project gaining the 10K thumbs-up of approval from LEGO fans: the Rolls-Royce UltraFan – The Ultimate Jet Engine.

This next Review-ready Product Idea is courtesy of LEGO Ideas member DanCodd. Instead of perhaps yet another tableau to the glory of the private aerospace company SpaceX, we get a pure intricately technical model of a  new, energy efficient, jet engine.

Jet aircraft history buffs can tell us all about Rolls-Royce being one of the top jet engine designers and manufacturers in the world, and their UltraFan is subtitled by DanCodd in his Product Idea as “The Ultimate Jet Engine”. That’s no exaggeration since the Rolls-Royce UltraFan – The Ultimate Jet Engine has more than 20,000 pieces to boast of! Now just to be clear, if ever this project sees the light of day as an actual LEGO Ideas set, then the designers will have a bit of a challenge in their hands on how to compress this mammoth MOC into a viable. trimmed down, LEGO set.

Rolls-Royce UltraFan - The Ultimate Jet Engine

Look at the structure of the UltraFan in these photos. From the fan-blades to the engine interior, the whole setup is mind-blowing. And DanCodd claims that his proposed project for LEGO Ideas is overly simplified as it already is! It also features a handle mechanism that actually turns the blades when cranked.

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With the support gained by the Rolls-Royce UltraFan – The Ultimate Jet Engine, the number of Product Ideas that’ll go to the Second 2018 Review Stage for future LEGO Ideas sets have grown to six. DanCodd’s submission has some heavy competition in this batch, but his set’s ready for the challenge.

LEGO Ideas M&M’s Chocolate Candy Dispenser Project Gets 10K Thumbs Up

Here’s something that chocolate lovers and LEGO fans may want to watch out for. We now have our fifth LEGO Ideas project proposal to join this year’s LEGO Ideas Second Review Stage. The LEGO Ideas Ideas M&M’s Chocolate Candy Dispenser project by EDxAS is a virtual color feast of sweet proportions, which won the hearts of 10,000 LEGO Ideas supporters. This brick-built contraption from ElectryDragonite and Astonishing Studios began its 10K climb in 2016, and has now been officially recognized as the next qualifier for the 2018 Second Review Stage.

M&M’s Chocolate Candy Dispenser

The M&M’s Chocolate Dispenser project features an innovative candy dispensing machine that uses a simple but very effective lever mechanism made of Technic elements. It is also launched in connection with M&M’s 75th anniversary.

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Here’s a video demo of how the dispenser works which is really neat actually.

The LEGO Ideas M&M’s Chocolate Candy Dispenser project joins the ranks of other 10K supported ideas that qualified for the next Review Stage such as the Space X Falcon Heavy, Space X – The Ultimate Collection, International Space Station and Steamboat Willie.

 

LEGO Ideas Voltron (21311) Is Now Available for VIP Members

As we already recounted at the close of SDCC during the weekend, limited quantities of the LEGO Ideas Voltron (21311) set went for sale at the LEGO booth throughout the comic convention, with each box made extra special with autographs from some of the people and designers behind this largest LEGO Ideas set to date. With the SDCC 2018 wrapping up, the LEGO Ideas Voltron (21311) is now available for LEGO VIP members at their nearest LEGO Store or at shop.LEGO.com starting today.

LEGO Ideas Voltron (21311) is now available

That’s right, for the rest of July the LEGO Ideas Voltron (21311) is now available for grabs by LEGO VIP members starting Monday, July 23. This next period will run just over a week more until at long last, the set becomes available to the general consumer starting on the first day of August. It most definitely won’t be long now in any case.

Designer Video

The LEGO Ideas Voltron (21311) set has been billed as the largest LEGO mech-type set ever built made up of 2,321 pieces, and is unique for being a combiner of five articulated figures that form a fully poseable and sturdy humanoid robot figure. The model comes with accessory shield and the iconic “Blazing Sword”.

 

Signed LEGO Ideas Voltron (21311) Sets Available in Advance at SDCC 2018

SDCC 2018 is off to a grand start, and for attendees who are fans of both LEGO and the beloved 1980’s mecha icon, now’s their chance to come and grab a signed LEGO Ideas Voltron (21311) set ahead of their official release next month. However, these sets come in limited quantities so expect some pretty tight competition out there for those who want a signed copy of the largest LEGO Ideas set to date.

As if collectors need no more reason to get a signed LEGO Ideas Voltron (21311) set ahead of the crowd, the boxes on display at LEGO’s SDCC booth have been made even more special, because all of them have been autographed by creative higher-ups from LEGO Ideas.

The two signatures on every signed LEGO Ideas Voltron (21311) set at SDCC belong to Samuel Johnson, Creative Lead for LEGO Ideas, and Designer Niek van Slagmaat. If you’ve been following us, you’d recognize van Slagmaat as one of the interviewees for the recent Designer Video for the Ideas Voltron set (21311). He even showed off the stocked shelves on his Twitter.

That’s a nice gesture from the good folks at LEGO Ideas who have finally managed to get to heavily-anticipated set out after a long wait, and a great boost on the collector’s value of every 21311 box sold at SDCC.

For those who won’t be at San Diego all weekend for the SDCC, they’ll get another shot at an early purchase of the LEGO Ideas Voltron (21311) on July 23, if they’re a LEGO VIP member. Finally, the general release of this set for everybody will be on August 1.

WATCH: LEGO Ideas Voltron: Defender of the Universe (21311) Designer Video

From days of long ago, from uncharted regions of the Universe
Comes a legend…the legend of Voltron, Defender of the Universe
A mighty robot, loved by good, feared by evil

As Voltron’s legend grew, peace settled across the Galaxy
On Planet Earth, a Galaxy Alliance was formed
Together with the good planets of the Solar System,
They maintained peace throughout the Universe…

Well, I guess that’s enough of the legendary blurb for now. We know the lowdown since late last month: our next much-awaited set, the LEGO Ideas Voltron: Defender of the Universe (21311) is coming, and nostalgic LEGO fans can’t wait. To gear up for the releases of LEGO Ideas Voltron (21311) next week (for VIPS) and next month (for general consumers), LEGO has now uploaded the designer video for it. Featured on the video are model designers Niek van Slagmaat and Mark Tranter, who discuss the manufacturers’ process in transforming the proposal of Ideas member Leandro Tayag (len_d69) into the official product it is now.

Perhaps the biggest draw about this immense set was that Ideas Voltron (21311) is technically five individual brick-built models that combine into one giant mech. The nice part as we’ve seen from this designer video was that all components were poseable alone or together, articulating as either lions or robot limbs.

The LEGO Ideas Voltron: Defender of the Universe set (21311) will be available (in limited quantities) during the 2018 San Diego Comic Con starting Thursday (July 19) this week to next Sunday (July 22). LEGO VIP members can get it the following Monday (July 23). And finally, it’ll be available to all starting August 1.

LEGO Ideas Spotlight: the “Will & Grace & LEGO” LEGO Ideas Project

The LEGO Creator Expert Aston Martin DB5 (10262) set may be based on a spy-car laden with weapons and gadgets and lots of fast-paced violence, but nonetheless, the set itself comes across as an impressive build worthy to be compared to other impressive LEGO Creator Expert sets. LEGO does have regulations on the level of content they want from licensed franchises. But this recent proposal on LEGO Ideas platform is of a potentially mature kind and of a different sort – the LEGO Ideas project Will & Grace & LEGO.

Some three months ago, NBC aired the season finale of the revived sitcom starring the most recognizable gay-hetero besties on TV, Will & Grace. Australian fan Mark Fitzpatrick was then inspired to conceptualize a set idea which eventually evolved to the Will & Grace & LEGO project based on the show.

Will & Grace & LEGO

Listed under his Ideas username SeeMarkGeek, the “Will & Grace & LEGO” set proposal is a remarkable recreation of the sitcom’s primary set location. That is, of course, the well-appointed apartment of gay corporate lawyer Will Truman (Eric McCormack), with interior designer and old friend Grace Adler (Debra Messing) as his roommate.

Not only is the set detail accurate to the show (no fourth wall for the audience and everything), the minifigures of Will and Grace, and their friends Karen and Jack, are marvelously designed.

Will & Grace & LEGO

SeeMarkGeek’s product proposal for LEGO Ideas comes across as really pushing the envelope on what franchises LEGO could render on their various sets and polybags. Will & Grace may not be violent, but its fame as a sitcom and cast of controversial characters raises the same questions that the first hints of a James Bond set did last month. At present the LEGO Ideas Project Will & Grace & LEGO has over 300 supporters. Let us see how far that goes in future. As for Ideas proposals up for review, there are now four for the 2018 Second Stage.

Will & Grace & LEGO

LEGO Ideas Project Steamboat Willie Achieves 10K Votes

After 2 years of gathering fan support and approval, we now have our next candidate to qualify for this year’s LEGO Ideas Review Stage. We followed Steamboat Willie’s development since 2016 and it caught our eye because of the Disney legacy that it alludes to. This LEGO Ideas project by szabomate90 pays tribute to early attempts of Walt Disney to bring cartoon animation to the masses, and now the LEGO Ideas Project Steamboat Willie has garnered the necessary 10K fan support in order to qualify for the 2018 LEGO Ideas Review Stage.

LEGO Ideas Project Steamboat Willie

Coming in at 156 LEGO pieces, the set features the iconic Steamboat Willie in its classic monochromatic color scheme, with a similarly colored LEGO Mickey Mouse minifigure. Though I’m glad that this set has made it this far especially after two long years of waiting, I’m quite skeptical if this project will gain the approval of the LEGO Ideas Review Team considering that policy changes in the LEGO fan platform requires that all submitted projects must not be a part of any existing LEGO themes. Since LEGO already has an active of Disney-inspired sets, and even has an existing LEGO Mickey Mouse collectible minifigure, I’m not really sure if Steamboat Willie will make it to final cut.

LEGO Ideas Project Steamboat Willie

LEGO Ideas Project Steamboat Willie

LEGO Ideas Project Steamboat Willie

Here’s szabomate90 with more info on his LEGO Ideas Project Steamboat Willie, followed by a feature video about this entry.

Steamboat Willie is the first fully synchronized sound cartoon directed by Walt Disney and Ub Iwerks.

It was the debute of Mickey Mouse in a cartoon the first to be distributed and the third to be produced.

So as an animator and a Lego fan I’d like to pay my respect to that marvelous production, which since was created then inspired a lot of talented artists.

Because Disney Minifigures arrived, I have the luck to create a Mickey Mouse related set with him as well. In addition I repaint the figure to match the original 1928’s appearance.

The model designed to be tiny, easy to build and playable. You can put Mickey Mouse inside the boat also you can play with the cranes.

The LEGO Ideas Project Steamboat Willie is the fourth LEGO Ideas Project that qualifies for the next LEGO Ideas Review Stage together with the International Space Station, SpaceX – The Ultimate Collection, and SpaceX Falcon Heavy.

LEGO Ideas Introduces New Logo, Website Design, and More

For several years now, the LEGO Ideas online platform has served as the “dream machine” for many a LEGO builder who has wanted their custom creations to become official mass-produced sets. We’ve covered enough entries on the site that have gone to review, and beyond, so we know its styling.

A lot of that has changed lately, thanks to a website design overhaul of LEGO Ideas to coincide with its adoption of a new logo. Remember that logo design contest they held starting late last year and ending last January? That’s the centerpiece of the new LEGO Ideas website layout.

To check the differences between old and new, we opened up some of the Ideas entries we featured in the past. On those project pages, gone now is the old green progress bar at top. Only numerical statistics are shown to one side. But that’s not the only changes here.

Here’s a rundown of the alterations on LEGO Ideas according to their blog post announcing the overhaul. We also add our own opinions as to whether they “work” or not.

  1. LEGO Ideas submissions are now officially termed as “Product Ideas” (which we’ll try to use from now on)
  2. Navigation menu redesign to make Ideas Contests more prominent (okay)
  3. News feed sidebar with filters to show Product Ideas in terms of newness, top ranking, and amount of support (the last filter seems like a last-minute add-in; it wasn’t there when we first looked)
  4. Ideas Search Engine now has a page of its own, called “Discover” (kind of neat)
  5. Updates on LEGO Ideas Guidelines and TOS for Product Ideas; all PI’s must be submitted by the creator themselves and not on behalf of someone else, while consolation prizes for 10-K supported PI’s that fail review have been listed (reasonable and informative additions)

One more thing. LEGO Rebrick will soon be shutting down in September, with its contests being folded into those for LEGO Ideas by that time.

We’re looking forward to cover more interesting Product Ideas coming from the revamped LEGO Ideas platform in the near future.

“International Space Station”: New LEGO Ideas Entry Added to 2018 Second Review Stage Makes Group “Space-Themed”

The month of June hasn’t quite ended yet, and now we’ve got another winner, sort of, in terms of having a MOC submission to the LEGO Ideas platform become sufficiently noticed. At this rate it probably won’t be long before the 2018 Second Review Stage is sufficiently “populated” with entries.

Previously, the LEGO Ideas submission to first get listed in the 2018 Second Review Stage is a SpaceX Falcon Heavy rocket by khehmeyer. With this new 10K support-passer, the stage seems on the verge of becoming a space-themed batch, because builder XCLD has just submitted an impressive International Space Station.

With its first modules launched and assembled in space in 1998, the ISS is the largest man-made object orbiting the Earth today. Its magnificent modular construction, highlighted by the wing-like solar panel arrays, was meticulously replicated by XCLD in his build. He’s got experience as he already made one before.

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Prior to his latest submission, XCLD already created an International Space Station for LEGO Ideas that got 10-K support in 2015 (it didn’t pass review however). His new version is composed of almost a thousand bricks and building elements (850), and also has compatibility potential with other LEGO Ideas sets.

What that means is that the space shuttle from the highly celebrated LEGO Ideas Women of NASA set (21312) is perfectly scaled to the size of XCLD’s ISS, which already has four detachable capsule options (2 Soyuz astronaut capsules and 2 Progress cargo capsules). This is a decidedly brilliant gesture.

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As it stands we are now 2 for 2 in the kind of sets being included in the LEGO Ideas 2018 Second Review Stage. We don’t think the common theme will hold long with any future 10-K support addition, but we’ll see. Perhaps the “SpaceX Ultimate Collection” can now pass?

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Will The Rumored LEGO James Bond Set Finally Become Real?

LEGO caused quite a stir in the LEGO community recently with its cryptic post (which is more like a question) about their plans of coming up with a ‘special’ Secret Service model befitting of a top-notch agent. In fact, even British luxury car manufacturer car Aston Martin, and James Bond ‘himself’ joined in the discussions with their respective tweets hinting on the shape of things to come.

From the look of things, LEGO is definitely hinting on a new set that will feature a brick-built model of the classic James Bond vehicle, the Aston Martin DB5. After the teaser announcement, the LEGO fan community were more than thrilled to see the possibility of seeing a next LEGO Creator Expert set focused on this iconic vehicle. Furthermore, this theory is further strengthened by the fact that a particular LEGO Ideas project review stage qualifier did not make it to the cut because of the fact that LEGO has been working on a ‘similar project’. Brickfinder tells us that during the recent LEGO Fan Media Days, LEGO Ideas lead designer Samuel Johnson was kind enough to explain why the third 2017 LEGO Ideas Review qualifier Jaguar E-Type Roadster by Ozzyeatingbats was not considered. It is not because the set is less appealing over the next LEGO Ideas set which is JKBrickworks’ Pop-Up Book, but because as it turned out, LEGO was also developing a set which is much like that of the Jaguar. “It clashed with another product that is coming up”, Johnson disclosed.

lego ideas project
A proposed LEGO Ideas Project 1963 Aston Martin DB5 by fearthepeanut.

Now I’m not quite sure if this is a single, one time D2C set under the LEGO Creator Expert theme (though most signs point towards that possibility), or maybe it could be a start of a new line of LEGO James Bond sets which if you remember, was rumored to be a part of the now discontinued LEGO Dimensions theme. Now that LEGO’s toys-to-life arm is essentially dead, and that LEGO has teased on this Aston Martin set, the obvious question in every LEGO fan’s mind is, are we going to see a LEGO James Bond minifigure that will go along with this iconic vehicle? In retrospect, could there be some weight in those rumors that we heard last year about a LEGO James Bond set, or something close to that? Though the rumor was dismissed as a hoax by some of the most prominent names in the LEGO community who claims to have insider info, I couldn’t help but think that this recent development may actually give some credence to what we heard last year.

In any case, regardless if LEGO did or did not actually came up with James Bond-inspired set, it will be absolutely cool to see this legendary spy rendered in actual minifigure form. And what better way to complement this with an equally sleek and handsome Aston Martin.

So what do you guys think? Do you believe that we will be seeing a James Bond minifig along with his brick-built Aston Martin? Share your comments below.