LEGO Ideas review results

I didn't expect that, but I think it could make a lovely set in retrospect.

Shame about Discworld and Community, but this is cool.

Expected that, and I'm glad to see it! Will be a beautiful display piece for a LEGO room, and appeal to a lot of non-Lego fans too. I'm just a bit surprised though that no other sets got through!

EDIT: Nevermind, Sonic got through! That's great for Sonic fans.

At of 35 projects, they picked only 1. It is good one, but I'm surprised it is the only one.

I just hope they don’t turn it into a mosaic.

Realistically, a pretty safe but fair choice that I think will sell well.

Good news for those Sonic fans too.

YES!!! i'm looking forward to buying starry night, it was my favorite of the bunch.

kudos to everyone else. 2022 now just needs to get here quickly.

Feels like kind of an anticlimax, but I am glad this one made it as it's a clever and creative use of LEGO. I think I would probably buy it, especially if it could be wall mounted. Being fairly flat it wouldn't take up too much space? (Which is my most limiting factor at the moment for buying more sets.)

I really do like it, also.
I think this falls into the same vein as the Bouquet or Bonsai Tree; you can build it and display it. And when people see it they have to do a double-take to see if it's really LEGO. Something you can display in your home or office and it's not immediately recognizable as LEGO.

Shame Avatar didn't get through

Excellent, this was the one I really wanted to see - something different, which is what Ideas should be about.

Only One again,
I mean it is nice but we had last year the third 2019 review we had 3/12 were approved and now you have 1/35 approved.

Yeah as something legitimately new for the Ideas line, that further demonstrates the art potential of Lego, was kind of rooting for this one

Such a great choice, but it’s a little disappointing that 34 sets got rejected. At least Lego Sonic is coming, which is extremely exiting.

Wait what?
Out of THIRTY FIVE ideas, they just picked ONE?!?!?!?!?

It's a cool project tho, I can't wait to see the final result.

I really liked Starry Night so I'm glad to see it get through. Now to see whether I like the actual set as much since there have been a couple of Ideas sets recently that edited out the thing I liked about them in the final product.

So many great Ideas in this round and they pick... this`?
Couldn't be more disappointed.

My ideal reaction to a LEGO Ideas review is 'huh, they went for that? Interesting.' and both the Van Gogh and the Sonic set fulfil that criteria. I probably won't pick either up, but they're more interesting than the Seinfeld or Home Alone sets.

I’m sure it’ll be good as a set (congrats to the designer!), but I’m honestly getting kinda tired of this.

I get there’s likely a lot of research and such that goes into these decisions, but it honestly is starting to feel like a waist of good projects.

Still, I’m holding out for that Sonic one! That minifigure will cost you an arm now, so hopefully new sets will make it easier for people to get ahold of.

I’m super stoked. I think this is a creative and attractive set. And was easily the most original of the lot.

Personally I dislike how much Ideas has basically attracted so many “HERE’S SOME NICHE PROPERTY I LOVE THAT I WANT TO SEE IN LEGO FORM.” So I am always in favor of non-licensed projects getting the greenlight.

It certainly has the potential to be superb.

Shame about Discworld though.

Well. One of the few ideas that I supported has been approved. I guess that I'm obligated to buy a copy now. :-)

I'm starting to lose faith in LEGO really caring about what we want as sets. I mean the fact that the Medieval Blacksmith went out of stock right away doesn't mean "yah let's ignore mountain windmills and markets now because we just made a medieval set." it means "Holy crap! People want medieval sets again? Who woulda guessed! Maybe we should make more!" -_- Overall I'm very disappointed.

@WemWem said:
"I’m super stoked. I think this is a creative and attractive set. And was easily the most original of the lot.

Personally I dislike how much Ideas has basically attracted so many “HERE’S SOME NICHE PROPERTY I LOVE THAT I WANT TO SEE IN LEGO FORM.” So I am always in favor of non-licensed projects getting the greenlight."
Honest question: is there some Van Gogh foundation they have to license this from?

Please don't let Sonic be another Mario.
Please don't let Sonic be another Mario.
Please don't let Sonic be another Mario.
Please don't let Sonic be another Mario....

Did really not see this one coming, because in my humble opinion the target market for this is really, really really small: since this is a pure display piece (like LEGO Art sets), an (adult) art aficionado who happens to like Van Gogh, this particular painting and LEGO seems like the primary target group, and well, how many of those come to mind?

For the rest of us who don't particularly appreciate fine art, this could be interesting as a parts pack and maybe for some building techniques, although based on the pictures it mostly seems to be stacks of plates.

While this comment is certainly coloured by my personal lack of interest in the chosen submission, I think it is also fair to say that there were quite a few of the other submissions with a much broader appeal and that it is a shame LEGO decided to only approve one out of 35 this time round.

Finally, congrats to Viv for getting Sonic through - I'm looking forward to that one!

As is always the case, most of these are good MOC's but not great Lego sets. This one is really the best choice given what Lego is aiming for and what types of sets they want to make.

As of when I'm posting this, this article has 38 Likes, and 41 comments.

I haven't read them yet, but I have a sinking feeling that a lot of them aren't positive lol

EDIT: Color me surprised, most of them are positive! Thanks for pleasantly surprising me, guys! :-)

I have to agree that everything else was just too similar to something else. I’m not a big art fan but I think this set could look great on display. Like other I hope they keep the brush stroke look and don’t turn it into a generic mosaic.

@Brickalili said:
"Yeah as something legitimately new for the Ideas line, that further demonstrates the art potential of Lego, was kind of rooting for this one"

My thoughts exactly! I'm totally stoked by these results. Maybe people will start to submit fewer multi-thousand-piece projects and we can get more solid, reasonable designs! I probably won't be picking up this or Sonic, but these are good picks.

@mstchmshrms said:
"I'm starting to lose faith in LEGO really caring about what we want as sets. I mean the fact that the Medieval Blacksmith went out of stock right away doesn't mean "yah let's ignore mountain windmills and markets now because we just made a medieval set." it means "Holy crap! People want medieval sets again? Who woulda guessed! Maybe we should make more!" -_- Overall I'm very disappointed."

If that's the case, then surely it would make more sense for Lego to be producing those, rather than waiting for them to come through the Ideas pipeline?

Also, the vast, vast, vast amount of whining that people have done over the comparison between the original Blacksmith submission and the final product serves as complete evidence that Lego should *not* be pulling those projects, and instead just do them in-house and skip all of the needless disappointment

This was one of my favorites, so I am happy with that.

Happy about Sonic as well.

Quality over quantity I guess. A step in the right direction. LEGO is throwing out far too many sets already anyway.

@lORDoFtHEbOARD said:
"Only one? So why did all those other builders even bother to design such wonderful and impressive (and bigger) sets? It really feels harsh Lego said no to all of them.

Better quit this whole ideas program. Right?"

No, not right. There are many nice mocs here, but not many really innovative, fresh, and new ideas.

It's not for me but I like it, it's different, bucks the recent trend for TV IP-based models and follows a similar philosophy that has produced the recently introduced Art and Botanicals adult-focussed themes.

@chrisaw said:
"Also, I’ve lost track. How many sets are yet to be released?"

The video lists seven: Seinfeld, Fender, Globe, Home Alone, Typewriter, Pooh, Sonic.

As for Van Gogh, I’m happy about that. The co-host noted that this was something they’d “never seen in Lego before”, and that’s a good focus for Lego to have. (I really wish they’d approved the little aquarium as well, because that was something a bit different too.)

I like the choice that's been made. i don't think I will buy it but I like the proposition and the choice.

I was so hyped at the beginning with pop culture references made into sets as it was new and something Lego hadn't really done (at least not one shot, there were the SW, LOTR, etc. lines). Now I'm quite tired of yet another licenced building/room that's not really interesting in terms of display/play or Lego building even but just reproduces a place with lots of minifigs from the show. Meh.
Don't get me wrong I loved Community for example, laughed my ass off (well until Troy character left) but do I want it as a plain room set? Not really no. Hell I mean I even feel (but I may be wrong) that if it's something I'd want it's something i could do myself. If I think about a Community set I'd rather have a paintball set or a clever build recreating the alternatives of the famous scene were Troy enters the room with pizzas. Something more creative/clever in the end.

Also picking Starry Night seems logical in their art/adult not AFOL new sets and the bonsai would have perfectly fit in it too if it hadn't been a planned set already.
I was kind of expecting the calendar set to be selected too as it seems like it could have totally fit in this strategy too, in terms of product and size. And it could have been a long run commercial opportunity by releasing seasonal scenes for Halloween, Easter, etc.

I hope this turns out like Minecraft and starts a long-lasting line of recreations of classic artworks... Surely a couple of van de Velde (both elder and younger) works would assuage the disappointment of pirates fans hoping for an Imperials set!

Very good choice! Was also my favourite among all the submissions. Hope LEGO will not change the painting all together to make it simpler.

@parsom said:
" @lORDoFtHEbOARD said:
"Only one? So why did all those other builders even bother to design such wonderful and impressive (and bigger) sets? It really feels harsh Lego said no to all of them.

Better quit this whole ideas program. Right?"

No, not right. There are many nice mocs here, but not many really innovative, fresh, and new ideas."

Also, 'bigger' is absolutely a drawback of a project, not a plus. The reaction to the Blacksmith shows how people react to big projects that get taken down to a reasonable size

While there isn't that much here I wanted it's still a shame they only picked one set out of 35. Real shame.

I have a feeling we’ll be seeing more of the ‘1 out of 35’ results from Ideas in the future. I don’t know how I feel about the prospect of raising the vote number, but this is what happens now when you ‘only’ need 10k. We see a lot of ideas reaching that number and not many of them can be turned into sets. I’m happy with this result but I would’ve liked to see Ratatouille.

I mean, they're not going to make a modular building out of a Lego Ideas set, they've already shown that much, and things like Discworld and Schitts Creek are way too niche to make money on a global scale

@DecR504 said:
"I have a feeling we’ll be seeing more of the ‘1 out of 35’ results from Ideas in the future. I don’t know how I feel about the prospect of raising the vote number, but this is what happens now when you ‘only’ need 10k. We see a lot of ideas reaching that number and not many of them can be turned into sets. I’m happy with this result but I would’ve liked to see Ratatouille."

I think the vote count is not most relevant as to whether or not a set should be produced. One submission that manages to get the whole of its fan base voting, may easily get a large number of votes, whereas something that gets less attention may be a better choice for a set. Presumably getting to the 10k threshold is more of an indication for TLG that enough people are interested.
Voting is just one casual click.

@Wrecknbuild said:
" @DecR504 said:
"I have a feeling we’ll be seeing more of the ‘1 out of 35’ results from Ideas in the future. I don’t know how I feel about the prospect of raising the vote number, but this is what happens now when you ‘only’ need 10k. We see a lot of ideas reaching that number and not many of them can be turned into sets. I’m happy with this result but I would’ve liked to see Ratatouille."

I think the vote count is not most relevant as to whether or not a set should be produced. One submission that manages to get the whole of its fan base voting, may easily get a large number of votes, whereas something that gets less attention may be a better choice for a set. Presumably getting to the 10k threshold is more of an indication for TLG that enough people are interested.
Voting is just one casual click."

They should bring back the other questions that they used to ask when you supported something. Not only would the extra steps make it a tiny bit more of a real vote, since it's not just one click, but you also have those things of "How many would you buy, how much would you pay for it" to help people realize that they aren't just clicking a like button. This is for things that will be made into products. It seems like a lot of voters and submitters have lost sight of that and are just supporting anything that looks like a neat build

I think it's appalling to have 35 projects that have made it to 10,000 supporters and only choose 1. I'd not want to submit with those odds.

I really don't understand the backlash to Starry Night. It's nothing like an Art mosaic and it's an incredibly detailed display piece like the best Ideas sets. These submissions are all fantastic designs and I'm not trying to put down the designers, but I don't want LEGO Ideas to release more modular buildings and Creator Expert cars. I also don't need an endless supply of TV show/NASA sets and one-off buildings, even though I love sets like the Ocean House. Starry Night is a unique style of build that we haven't seen in LEGO before and I can't wait to see the final set.

@briandrewz86 said:
"I think it's appalling to have 35 projects that have made it to 10,000 supporters and only choose 1. I'd not want to submit with those odds."

Never tell me the odds.

Not something I'd actually go out and buy, but it looks interesting, and at least it's not another sitcom set.

Very disappointed that the Naruto set wasn't picked given that the fan base is global, I understand why. Whilst having Ninjago, Lego would be able to have next to zero obstacles in making this. However, because Ninjago is already a long standing series in their portfolio ok guessing a Naruto set would be too much.

But having a manga/anime set would be a big deal and would a Lego first.

I fear that this would put a lot of people off forwarding their ideas to Lego Ideas given the slim chance of making it through. A lot of talented makers sell their MOCs on Rebrickable and, although they don't see their set available in a official capacity, the amount they earn through people buying their instructions probably makes worthwhile. I hope Naruto gets another chance or becomes available to buy through instructions.

@briandrewz86 said:
"I think it's appalling to have 35 projects that have made it to 10,000 supporters and only choose 1. I'd not want to submit with those odds."

I don't feel it's appalling at all. As with most Ideas submissions, many are good MOC's and look fantastic, but make very poor sets. Not without significant changes at least. Lego has standards and rules for sets that they follow, whether we like that or not. Because of this, many of these sets are either too complex, too many pieces, poor structure, etc. It's not really about the odds, it's about what does and doesn't make a viable set that should be mass produced.

They can increase the number of submissions to 100 that make the vote if they want, or change the number of necessary votes to 1,000, but that will never change the fact that the projects have to be viable sets. Many of these simply are not. People lose sight of this.

As an 80’s kid now AFOL I would have liked any of the pirate or castle inspired sets or the rollercoaster. But then Lego knows that by now and the ideas platform isn’t really the place to revive old themes (thanks for the pirate bay, though).
But Van Gogh is exactly that...a new idea. Will I buy it. Most likely not. But that doesn’t put into doubt the ideas project. It just confirms it. Enough people liked it to get it this far. So I wish them happy building and I'll just buy and build one of the many other great current sets :)

Very convenient that Minifigs don't have ears; it will make Mr. van Gogh look very realistic!

@Maladar said:
"What a mediocre choice, no offense to the creator but who the hell is interested in this? :|"

Why is everyone saying "who would even be interested in this" as if Starry Night didn't get the same number of required votes as every other project in the running? Obviously 10,000 people like it enough for it to become an official set!

@GoldenNinja3000 said:
"I really don't understand the backlash to Starry Night. It's nothing like an Art mosaic and it's an incredibly detailed display piece like the best Ideas sets. These submissions are all fantastic designs and I'm not trying to put down the designers, but I don't want LEGO Ideas to release more modular buildings and Creator Expert cars. I also don't need an endless supply of TV show/NASA sets and one-off buildings, even though I love sets like the Ocean House. Starry Night is a unique style of build that we haven't seen in LEGO before and I can't wait to see the final set. "

I agree, this is the type of thing Ideas is really meant for. Ideas ends up having a lot of licensed and pop-culture submission on there. While those are often neat, it's things like this art piece that bring out the best in Lego.

I would be curious to know if the people who submit modular type buildings think they have a chance of it being made into a set or if they are happy just to get to 10k and have the kudos and recognition with no expectation of it getting approved. I say modulars in particular because while they are permitted it seems that the consensus is that they will never be chosen.

It might also be true of quite a lot of the realistic vehicle submissions, although those have been done in the past (the Caterham for example).

This was one of the sets that I hoped would be passed, as it looks incredible and is one of my many favourite paintings.
I do think that the final model will be significantly different in its construction, as i simply do not see Lego releasing a set with that many 1x X plates stacked on top of each other! I don't think it would be a very interesting build experience for one thing, though I may well be wrong!
Looking forward to seeing what is finally released, but they *must* keep the brilliant 3D aspect of the set.

(I was rooting for The Discworld, Portal 2 and Roller Coaster sets as well!)

@dmdp78 said:
"So much work, so much dedication, so much effort so that of 35 good projects you only choose to carry out one? It seems pathetic to me, it seems to me to have a very rude company with so many people who have dedicated many hours of hard work thinking, buying parts to finally make the whole. "

Did Lego ask them to design things and submit them? If they went to each one of these 35 people and said "Make a build that we can consider" and then shut down 34 of them, THAT would be rude. But anyone can throw anything on Ideas. No one is asked to do it. There's nothing rude at all here

@dmdp78 said:
"So much work, so much dedication, so much effort so that of 35 good projects you only choose to carry out one? It seems pathetic to me, it seems to me to have a very rude company with so many people who have dedicated many hours of hard work thinking, buying parts to finally make the whole. "

I will refer you to one of my above comments, but just because there are a lot of submissions does not mean they would make good sets. It's not rude at all, nor is it an insult to any submission. This Ideas program isn't about who can make the biggest, most detailed and labored set. It's about an idea for a set that would make a good set.

@merman said:
"BIG REQUEST: could you please not spoil the surprise and just let the video speak for itself. I always want to find out in the video and not from a post like this one. "

Then why click on the post?

@onejdmbrick84 said:
"Very disappointed that the Naruto set wasn't picked given that the fan base is global, I understand why. Whilst having Ninjago, Lego would be able to have next to zero obstacles in making this. However, because Ninjago is already a long standing series in their portfolio ok guessing a Naruto set would be too much.

But having a manga/anime set would be a big deal and would a Lego first.

I fear that this would put a lot of people off forwarding their ideas to Lego Ideas given the slim chance of making it through. A lot of talented makers sell their MOCs on Rebrickable and, although they don't see their set available in a official capacity, the amount they earn through people buying their instructions probably makes worthwhile. I hope Naruto gets another chance or becomes available to buy through instructions. "

There's an interesting comment on the Ideas blog from the submitter of the Naruto project (I think) which essentially said that TLG couldn't get the licencing exclusivity they wanted so the project couldn't happen.

We really never know why projects get rejected, apart from the obvious ones (like the TX Master games one in the next review that baffled us all) so there might have been ones that LEGO would have made if the licence situation had been workable.

Not at all surprised this was picked. I AM surprised they only picked one.

So happy that this one got picked. It was at the top of my list because of the 3D interpretation of a 2D piece of art. I like that it is not base on some other IP. I hope they keep that 3D aspect, it would be a huge disappointment to see them turn it into another mosaic since that extra dimension is really what made this stand out.

If the set is as intricate as the fan model, I see this one as a great display piece. However, I do hope that it remains three dimensional rather than being converted into a mosaic-like two dimensional format.

Oh. My. God. This won?! Only this?! Screw it.. so many good sets, ideas, MOCs.. they were playable, had great scenes but they pic a buildable image? It is one of the least exciting sets.. what a shame.
Lets hope for the next review round, gratz to legotruman, tho.

This is a truly excellent choice. For anyone who has seen the painting in real life, it is immediately apparent how brilliantly this build captures the painter's style and texture. Translating it into Lego in such a way is also pure art itself. I would have been disappointed if Lego does not select it.

This batch had so many great projects like the Far West setting, Hocus Pocus cottage, wooden coaster, Oriental temple or the Up house... The selected model sure looks interesting and creative, but I cannot help myself wondering "Why only one...?!"

The neatest thing about this set IMO is how well it captures the unique style of a Van Gogh painting, both the thick long brushstrokes and the buildup of paint into a very 3-D surface. One of the things that always surprises me when I see a painting "in the paint" after becoming very familiar with its flat image is how much the interplay between light and surface affects the experience of viewing it. This set captures that sensation very well!

I won't buy this set but I'm glad it exists.

It's an interesting use of Lego and should make a visually distinct set.

@drewtstew said:
"Something that Lego should consider is publishing instructions for the sets that weren't chosen, in case people really like them. There's no reason they can't. "

That's up to the submitters. They aren't prevented from giving instructions away, and it wouldn't really make sense for Lego to make them since they aren't approved. Plenty of submissions have had illegal connections and almost every single digital entry has had parts that never existed in their respective colors. So there are pretty good reasons that Lego can't, but nothing is stopping the individuals

@CCC said:
" @monkyby87 said:
" @GoldenNinja3000 said:
"I really don't understand the backlash to Starry Night. It's nothing like an Art mosaic and it's an incredibly detailed display piece like the best Ideas sets. These submissions are all fantastic designs and I'm not trying to put down the designers, but I don't want LEGO Ideas to release more modular buildings and Creator Expert cars. I also don't need an endless supply of TV show/NASA sets and one-off buildings, even though I love sets like the Ocean House. Starry Night is a unique style of build that we haven't seen in LEGO before and I can't wait to see the final set. "

I agree, this is the type of thing Ideas is really meant for. Ideas ends up having a lot of licensed and pop-culture submission on there. While those are often neat, it's things like this art piece that bring out the best in Lego. "

I don't see it as that different. Instead of being a set based on a pop culture TV show conceived by someone else, it is a set based on a pop culture painting conceived by someone else. "
This painting is at least far more iconic and has stood the test of time.

So glad !!! Finally an “idea” made it through. Fresh, entertaining, gorgeous, innovative. This is what ideas is all about !!! The others - although beautiful
- are simple mocs... except maybe the bonsai, lovely but with bad timing and fallout very ugly imho (tastes are tastes) ! I guess this round confirms that Lego could possibly stop accepting modular building mocs as ideas, it’s quite obvious they have in-house capable designers who can build the same if they wanted ??! Anyways, Starry Night day 1 purchase for me !

A great choice, it's truly original. And that's the very idea of Ideas. This round shows that Lego values quality over quantity. 35 entries is a lot, but too many of them just are too heavily inspired by existing sets.

Almost none of the candidate sets were realistic or viable options, so this one seems the most fitting for what Ideas is supposed to be about. not my cup of tea, but I get it

Ah, yes. Don't pick the amazing windmill, or the wild west saloon. They could have gone with Appa, or the Clipper, but no. Lets choose the most boring, most similar to the mosaics of the 35.

Complaining aside, it looks decent, but in my opinion they should have still gone with the Imperial Fortress/Seagull bay or the wild west roller coaster.

I get why the modulars did not get picked, or the doggos, considering we got the brickheadz, but still kind of disappointing.

@gunther_schnitzel said:
"Seems pointless to have initially accepted so many sets sets into the process, to then reject 97% of them after they got the 10,000 votes to move to the next phase."

What’s pointless is people voting for projects they know won’t make the cut and aren’t viable sets. Nothing about this is Legos fault.

I'm losing faith in Lego Ideas! So many great ideas and they pick another single static model!
I won't be buying this.
Ratatouille got 10,000 votes for a second time. It clearly has a market and yet not a word as to why it failed again! and yes I would have loved the Exploratorium as well.
Although I don't buy rip-off Lego copies it seems that so many of these ideas end up being copied because there is obviously a market for them which Lego seems to be ignoring more and more. If they don't watch out they are going to start losing more market share.

There were a lot of great builds and they picked such a stupid thing!

now watch how the wave of brickbuilt painting submissions hits lego ideas

@Maladar said:
"What a mediocre choice, no offense to the creator but who the hell is interested in this? :|"

At least 10,000 people, like the rest of the sets.

Don't get me wrong, I think there are some real missed opportunities in what they've rejected. Some that may well sell a lot better than the Van Gogh (and I'm not even including any of the sets that would have to go through licensing).

But there is a market for this, and it may open some possibilities to place it in art museum gift shops and reach an audience that maybe wouldn't normally look at Lego.