BTTF reaches 10,000 votes overnight!

 

  • BTTF reaches 10,000 votes overnight!

    Posted by Huw, 29 Apr 2012 05:31. Filed under Cuusoo.

    Thanks to everyone who voted -- it reached its goal at 00:30, less than 2 hours after my post below.

    Now, all that's needed is a license from Paramount and some new minifig parts/prints for Marty and Doc.

    Until now Cuusoo sets have't featured minifigs, or at least have just had 'stock' ones thrown in, but this will require new ones. Of course they don't necessarily need to be in their 'western' outfits as shown in the picture, but I think they'd need to have new face prints if nothing else. I'd be surprised if Cuusoo has a budget for this, but I guess we'll see...


    34 comments, latest one posted 13 months ago. (Commenting has ended on this article)
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Comments

Posted by jengafett in United Kingdom, 29 Apr 2012 05:46

I should have voted...

Posted by richselby in United Kingdom, 29 Apr 2012 05:56

Let's hope they don't give the big N-O to this one too. Because if they do, one would have to wonder what the point of Cussoo is. But I can just imagine the review panel debate:

Christiaan from Cuussoo: The good news gents is this time it's a PG cert movie and it's got 10,000 votes without a celebrity endorsement. The demand is there...
Peder from Product Development: Hmmm, nice model, feasible size for pocket money, and kids love cars. Let's do it!
Magnus from Marketing: But we're gonna need buy a licence... [calls Paramount Studios in USA].... You want HOW MUCH??
Anders from Accounts: Over my dead body! We are NOT going to spend a ton of money on a licence for a 17 year old movie! Wait a mo... [looks at Excel spreadheet].... Sorry, the licensing kitty's empty after the Star Wars renewal.
Magnus: He's right, kids these days have never even heard of it.
...[big rubber stamp marked NO comes out of the drawer]..
All: Next!

Posted by DrDaveWatford in United Kingdom, 29 Apr 2012 06:01

^ :-)

He's right, though - the fact that these movies are ancient so far as the "target demographic" is concerned won't change the fact that a hefty licensing fee will be needed to secure the rights.

I bet there are folks within the LEGO organisation cursing the very existence of Cuusoo....

Posted by halfpenguinhalflego in United Kingdom, 29 Apr 2012 06:55

I did vote for this one as it only needed 25 more supporters, but I'm hoping that the next few 10000 supported MOCs are original MOCs.

Posted by mdolley in Australia, 29 Apr 2012 07:55

Maybe it will help that the creator discussed the possibility of some of the proceeds going to the Michael J Fox foundation? If LEGO can work something out that benefits a good cause then it might be more likely. Makes them look good and is a great ad for the Cuusoo platform.

Posted by richl in United States, 29 Apr 2012 08:09

^ Not a bad idea, but it would only reduce profitability even more once licensing fees were added in. Honestly, as much as I'd like this set/theme, I think Cuusoo would be better off explicitly excluding licensed products (unless perhaps they're part of a preexisting license like SW or LOTR).

Posted by Huw in United Kingdom, 29 Apr 2012 08:23

Let's not forget the Minecraft model is a licensed property so clearly LEGO is willing and able to negotiate licenses when needed.

Posted by OuterRimTradingCo. in Australia, 29 Apr 2012 08:24

It would be an interesting licencing fight. Paramount has had recent ties with Hasbro, and we all know that Hasbro is making the very familiar looking Krap-O brick based play sets. Reading the messages from LEGO on the BTTF page, they certainly haven't shut down the possibility of a licence, but most likely the team that places those messages is a very different team to the brand, marketing and legal team at TLG...

Posted by Thomson & Thompson in Canada, 29 Apr 2012 08:49

^^ You have a point. Can't wait to see it made into a model!

Posted by dmetcalf in United States, 29 Apr 2012 09:04

Hasn't anyone noticed that this is not a particularly good set? It's not even the best BTTF set on the site.
Compared to the Shinkai 6500 and Hayabusa, this set looks almost Duplo-ish.

This and the Minecraft set currently represent the "best" the MOC community (outside of Japan) has to offer ?
Is there something keeping all those unbelievable sets on Flickr from being put on Cuusoo?

Posted by Rockman Xtreme in United States, 29 Apr 2012 09:06

I kinda like that movie. I didn't finish watching it, frankly, cuz they swore every five seconds! :P

Posted by halfpenguinhalflego in United Kingdom, 29 Apr 2012 09:15

^
^
There are many fantastic MOCs on CUUSOO, it's just licensed sets usually get 10000 supporters.

Posted by meyerc13 in United States, 29 Apr 2012 09:59

What's keeping other awesome sets from being posted? Probably the fact that you have to sign over all rights to your creation to LEGO, even if they vote 'no' on producing it... or at least those are the terms laid out so far. It will be interesting to see if the rights for the Winchester revert back now that they've declined it.

Posted by scifiantihero in United States, 29 Apr 2012 10:21

What 'rights?' it's not like lego cares if people take pictures of their sets/creations and posts them on dozens of websites.

Unless the guy who made that has a plastic brick factory somewhere, I'm not sure what having the right to such a design would even do.

Posted by Storm-Reaper in United States, 29 Apr 2012 12:32

I hope if it's made that it will not be too expensive.

Posted by yys4u in United States, 29 Apr 2012 13:06

I never voted for this either, was hopping to be the 10000 voter, then I forgot to

Posted by Balthazar Brannigan in United States, 29 Apr 2012 13:36

I personally think the model photographed for the project listing is one of the best Delorean designs I've seen, and I respectfully question any assertions otherwise. The design featured in the video in the description is admittedly nowhere near as high-quality, and I am unsure why the link is even included. Further, I think the featured design is more marketable as a set as it is very minifig-compatible without being excessively complicated.

I remember a comment made previously by @renesisx (http://brickset.com/news/article/?ID=2483):
"As someone who has worked with Universal Licensing on bringing out official products, I can assure you that Universal would have nothing against the Back to the Future properties being created in Lego. They'd just ask for their regular licensing % on each set sold. We're even supporting it on the (soon-to-relaunch) official Back to the Future web site: http://www.backtothefuture.com/"

I think it's significant that projected based on a 27-year-old movie reached 10,000 supporters with (as far as I'm aware) no "help" from the Brickset effect or a Minecraft-like fanbase. I'm sure fans of the movies (young and old alike) would love to buy the sets, and a line of sets would introduce a younger generation to a great series of movies as well.

Posted by meyerc13 in United States, 29 Apr 2012 13:39

@scifiantihero - The rights to sell instructions or custom sets on ebay. When you post your model on Cuusoo, you are giving all of your intellectual property rights to LEGO:

"In exchange for use of the Platform, and to the extent that your contributions through use of the Platform give rise to any intellectual property right interest, herunder copyright, you hereby assign all rights worldwide to the content generated by you to LEGO, meaning that LEGO can use your contributions in any way and for any purpose, including to reproduce, copy, adapt, modify, perform, display, publish, sell, broadcast, transmit, or otherwise communicate to the public by any means whether now known or unknown and distribute your contributions for the whole duration of protection granted to intellectual property rights by applicable laws and international conventions.

Although you are assigning the rights above, you may continue to share and promote your work on your own website, online profiles, and event displays."

and:

"You agree not to remove, obscure, or alter copyright, patent, trademark, or other proprietary rights notices affixed to content. You may not to sell, license, distribute, copy, modify, publicly perform or display, transmit, publish, edit, adapt, create derivative works from, or otherwise make unauthorized use of Content."

So people may not post because it could restrict them from having their models published in a magazine, or if they want to make some $ off the set they could no longer do it.

Posted by madforLEGO in United States, 29 Apr 2012 14:08

I just laugh at all of this, @richselby hit it right on the head. Are all of these entries cool? Yes, BUT people seem to be surprised by some (what I believe are) very common factors that have to go into making a LEGO set (or Line).
1) Must appeal to kids
2) must really be in the mainstream at the time to be made ( to maximize attempt at a profit, after all LEGO IS a business)
3) (and lesser) but I'm guessing licensing COSTS will ALWAYS be a factor, unless it is SW.

I'm sure Paramount would LOVE to SELL a license to LEGO, the issue is LEGO just does not buy ANY license, especially at what Paramount would probably charge. Now if they were to Re-release BTTF to the theater or make a cartoon or something, maybe.

To be honest I think CUUSOO is a bad idea in that it seems to give A LOT of people false hopes and 10000 really still is a drop in the bucket considering Ninjago sells, what, a million units of some sets.

I'm wondering if another factor is people building stuff in minifig scale.. has anything made for CUUSOO been minifig scale?

Posted by fettcult in United Kingdom, 29 Apr 2012 14:49

Hot Wheels produced BTF DeLorean and Ghostbusters ambulance, so maybe there is some hope licensing wise?

Posted by Brickmeister1138 in United States, 29 Apr 2012 15:08

@madforlegos: The BTTF entry this article is about is in minifig scale. The western town is minifig scale. The pub was minifig scale.

Also, CUUSOO has churned out three sets so far, so TLG is obviously putting effort into looking at the entries. The 10,000 supporters bit seems to simply be a way to see if the intrest in the idea is statistically significant within the, TFOL/AFOL communities. BTTF is far from irrelevant today, since it has become ingrained in our pop culture. An episodic adventure game series was recently released for the franchise, so someone out there must like it.

Also, CUUSOO is not pointless just because they did not do the Winchester, Lego needs to exercise its right to say no in order to keep the entire system sane. So far, Brickset has only really covered about four projects that reached 10,000: the Pub, Minecraft, The DeLorean and the Eve Online Ship. If only Minecraft gets made, a 1 in 4 ratio is still higher than I would have expected Lego's approval rate to be.

I do, however see liscenced themes as a bit iffy on CUUSOO, and Lego may have to implement more stringent standards for liscenced ideas on CUUSOO in the future, because many unsuitable franchises could reach 10,000, especially with celebrity endorements easily, but then all Lego has to do is say NO. CUUSOO seems to be a great way for Lego fans to give their ideas to Lego, which helps to keep things fres. CUSOO may even point Lego in the direction of lucrative liscencing deals in the future, we will just have to see.

Posted by JohnnyB in United States, 29 Apr 2012 21:19

I like it. It isn't that it's over the top with refinement but it does have a nice bit of imagination to it which to me is still the point of Lego. I can see why it would be such a hit, beyond the licensed 'BTTF' theme aspect & it does fit the mold of 'creativity blended with adventure'.

Posted by IlovePowerMiners in United Kingdom, 29 Apr 2012 21:23

I would totally buy a few of these when and if it gets produced. :3

Posted by lippidp in United States, 30 Apr 2012 03:58

Am I the only one growing tired of all the movie tie-ins? Can't we be more creative than this?

Posted by roamingstudio in Switzerland, 30 Apr 2012 04:09

People are more creative than movie-tie-ins. It is just that most people on Cuusoo would not know a creative MOC with real potential if it came up and bit them on the nose. Well except Western Town maybe... Just dig back a few pages of content (currently 120+, which takes around 1 hour of time) and you will find some really nice town MOC's, space MOC's and other creative models. But they dont get listed on the discover page because generally they are flooded out by movie-tie-ins (or online game-tie-ins), and their owners are not jumping up and down with Brickset / Eurobricks / Bloggosphere.

Posted by Pawel Kaminski HWS in Poland, 30 Apr 2012 07:51

I did vote for this! I'm a huge Back To The Future fan. It would be great to see this as a LEGO theme, it's pity that there will be just one set. I'm happy that there will be official LEGO DeLorean.

-pkmovies92 (AFOL)

Posted by Mickitat in Germany, 30 Apr 2012 13:18

I did not vote for it and I don't like it. Pushing stuff from movies and games is not what CUUSOO is for - in my very humble opinion. It should be for creating great novel ideas and models, recreating real-world or media stuff is not really original, even if the builds themselves might be outstanding.
There are so many great sets that do not even get 100 votes and which have no chance at all (classic space themes), because they are competing with stuff that gets pushed by many people who are fans of the game/movie, but not because they consider the MOCs fantastic achievements. I will not say they are not true Lego fans (who is to judge that), but I would much rather see something like the Western Town or other stuff that does not have to be licensed realised.

Posted by richl in United States, 30 Apr 2012 13:22

I'd think that the cost of licensing Minecraft would be considerably lower than a movie property that involves actors' likenesses and real-world vehicle companies, even if (in this case) the movie is almost 30 years old and the vehicle company no longer exists.

Posted by lippidp in United States, 01 May 2012 10:22

Then again, one could argue that Star Wars saved TLG from bankruptcy so I guess I shouldn't complain. As long as they keep producing my favorite non-licensed themes everything is OK.

Posted by ytjedi in United States, 01 May 2012 10:23

To be honest, growing up I basically used LEGO to build and play with movie/game related things. From Mario Bros to Mega Man to Men in Black and Independence Day. LEGO was always there after a new movie came out for me to build the characters. Before LEGO Star Wars came out I was just using my pieces to build Star Wars models. I had built my own DeLorean when I was little. From this perspective it's very easy for me to see why a lot of the popular items on CUUSOO are tied to licensed themes.

On a few other notes, I don't know how many people read LEGO's comments on the CUUSOO pages, but they provide little tidbits and insights as to what may happen.

From the congrats of 10,000 votes for this set:

"Slow and steady wins the race. You came out in front early on with the DeLorean model and you have done it thanks to hard work and persistence. The awesome LEGO model didn't hurt, either. Congratulations!

As we're approaching the 30th anniversary of Back to the Future, this project could not have come at a better time. Congratulations on achieving 10,000 supporters. We now officially advance this project to the Review phase."

Could this mean that if approved they may hold off on the sets release for a couple years when the 30th anniversary comes and there's more buzz around the franchise? It might give Traveler's Tales some time to come up with a LEGO video game to go with it (Traveler's Tales also made the previously mentioned episodic BTTF video game that came out last year).

Also, is everyone aware that there won't be word on the GO/NO-GO on this set until at least June possibly?

"From here forward, the LEGO Review will take place quarterly. The next review will be held starting in June and will include all projects that reach 10,000 between now and then. We'll update the LEGO CUUSOO blog with additional details soon; this project crossed the threshhold before we were fully prepared to provide this update."

Overall, these are fun and interesting times to be into LEGO. It's neat seeing people come together and TLG pulling in creative involvement, even if everyone's dreams aren't coming true perfectly.

Posted by Odeinoichus in Canada, 01 May 2012 10:57

This would be an awesome thing to have, expensive most likely though. And I hate to be a clueless nitpickering nitpicker but I have to ask this.

Why is everybody saying TLG would need to go to Paramount to purchase the rights to use BTTF characters and Themes in their sets? Correct me if I am wrong, but the packaging on all of my BTTF DVDs and even the ones in the stores say that the films were released originally by Universal Studios, heck the Ride was at Universal Studios Florida for the longest time. (Even got a chance to ride on it back in the day.) So wouldn't TLG need to approach Universal for the rights and not Paramount?

Paramount owns Star Trek people, not BTTF. Unless something changed in the 20+ years since the films were originaly released.

Posted by legojoker89 in United States, 02 May 2012 17:25

Great Scott! Its About TIME!!!

Posted by ibes007 in United States, 02 May 2012 19:10

Who here agrees that Firefly was one of the top ten science-fiction shows of all-time, since television was invented? I do, as well as several article writers for major companies/magazines who create top science-fiction television show lists.

There is a Serenity model that is increasing in votes at an incredible rate on Cuusoo. It's already past 7,000.

Please vote if you also loved this tv show and the follow-up movie, and would buy this model.

Posted by itsaturkey in United States, 07 May 2012 14:03

It's a tragedy that some kids today have never seem Back to the Future. I like the model and I think there is a fair chance of it being made by Lego.

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