It was such an honor to have 10 thousand Lego fans support my idea for a mechanical Lego Aquarium, and now its quite the honor to have Lego themselves post an interview with me.
Since the Aquarium was one of the last models to hit 10K during that Ideas cycle, I’m thinking that they are nearly ready to reveal which set in the ideas cycle is going to be made into a real Lego Set. Fingers crossed they pick the Clockwork Aquarium!
Lego Ideas has been around for several years now, and it appears they are ramping up as more reviews are approving multiple User Proposals and products are being released faster. Folks that make it to 10k supporters with their Lego Idea get their idea reviewed, and the wait for an answer can feel like it is taking ages.
I was curious about the review cycles and the delay till the winner is announced and the delay till the product is released, I tabled roughly 5 years of Lego Ideas data and produced the following graphs and observations.
First off, Lego Ideas has been consistent with when review period’s cut of.
Group 1 – January to early May
Group 2 – May to early September
Group 3 – September to Early January
The precise dates do tend to adjust but are announced ahead of time.
When are Lego Ideas Announcements?
As you can see, the announcements over the past years have quite a bit of variability. Group 1 typically is announced around the start of October the same year. Group 2 tends to be announced from late January to late February the next year. Group 3 is mostly announced at the end of May, also the next year.
How long does it take to go from announcement to product release?
You will quickly see a trend here. From 2016 to 2017, Lego Ideas dramatical reduced the time to go from announcement to product release from roughly 300 days down to about 150. Bravo! I’m guessing that means that internally, they get started earlier than the announcement, so there is a chance that if your idea is picked for production, you already know before the announcement and stay quiet due to an NDA. That may mean that not knowing up to the announcement date is a bad sign, but that is mostly conjecture and a theory.
Hopefully this data will be interesting to some and a relief to those who have projects in Review and are unsure how long their waits are going to be.
Good luck out there!
Data source: I grabbed the dates of their blog announcement posts and grabbed release dates from online Lego DBs and Wikis.
Well the big day is finally here. I’ve been waiting quite a while for Lego to announce their version of my Cosmic Rocket Ride. In the process of working with Lego on this little project, they asked me to make a little overview and comparison video. So lets start with the comparison of my submitted fan design to the official final Lego design:
They edited it down and used it for a little Facebook post which has been well received with predominately nice comments.
The little rocket ride is already showing up on Ebay and being listed for $75 to $99 even though its just a 154 piece set.
A Bit of the Behind the Scenes: Lego hosted a small contest on their ideas site called “Moments in Space.” One of the stipulations was that your entry could require no Lego parts in colors that have not already been made. What I learned during the process, was that they actually wanted to make the final design using only parts that were currently in their inventory (so no customs whatsoever). That tidbit right there was the prevailing reason the design’s colors were altered in so many places. I think the simplicity of my designs color scheme was possibly a benefit in it winning that contest with those particular set of rules…that and it did end up getting the most fan votes, but they had indicated at the start that they had the liberty to choose from the top 5 or so fan voted entries.
After I submitted my entry, I did make a few tweaks, particularly to the gizmo inside that makes it move. Lego made further modifications to that design. One key update they made resulted in the motion being slightly larger but also a bit asymmetrical. Lego made one of the technic pins a friction pin so that the ride could be left frozen in a “pose”. This was a good idea, it makes the motion smoother, but harder to perform. They made the design a little longer too, as you can see they added stairs, a step, and elongated the rocket by 2 studs.
The biggest concession was the handle for the crank. By the time Lego requested extra photos of my design, I had changed my crank handle from a gear to a really nice arm with rotating handle. Its smooth and a gives a nice crank. The final version was reduced to a twisty stick. It works, it has grip, but its not quite the buttery smooth crank I had. Their version does seem to be primed and ready for motorization if someone wanted.
Evolution of my design: My design went through a few stages including an initial prototype, the submitted version, and some further tweaking:
Make your own: If you weren’t lucky enough to get a free one from Lego during the promotion, here are my directions to make your own. This is my version with updated movement, but my original body and base design. If you make one, let me know in comments and share some pics! Best of Luck!
Well, its a little piece of wonderful to have my little rocket ride turned into an official Lego set. It is such a high honour and I’m very pleased. I hope the little rocket ride is well received and am thrilled to have been involved!
Adventure Baby Squad is an elite team of babies that are ready to charge into the world and help at a moment’s notice! They are fully equipped with big hearts, small rides, and an expanding headquarters. With their tiny pocket-sized rides, the fun doesn’t have to stay at home – bring one with you on away missions, in the car, or out on the town.
See the Adventure Baby Squad in action in their epic rescue mission!
The Adventure Baby Squad is a proposed Lego set entered into the Lego Ideas Contest. You can support the idea and see more pictures over at the Ideas Entry!
Meet the Squad
Known only by the colors they wear the team is comprised of:
Pink (Reconnaissance) flies the Sci-Fi Spaceship – Shirt design: Butterfly
Yellow (Mechanic) flies the Space Shuttle – Shirt design: Duck
Green (Chef) drives the Tricycle – Shirt design: Turtle
Blue (Tech) flies the Prop Plane – Shirt design: Elephant
Teal (Secret Agent) pilots the Submarine – Shirt design: Dolphin
The Vehicles and Robot
The babies all drive their own different craft which give them command of the land, sea, sky, and space! In certain tricky situations, the vehicles can be linked together to form a robot with a multitude of configurations. With multiple options for the head, arms, and the option for a jet pack, wings, or both, the robot can be tailored to your liking.
Headquarters
The headquarters build is a bit more complex than it may seem. The front sections slide out to reveal the lido deck -a hidden pool that connects underground to a local river system and used for the submarine dock. The plank in the back center can then slide out over the pool to create a platform for the robot to be displayed, maintained, or modified by the squad.
Other features include:
Parking for all vehicles – trike and plane can be hung up on the side supports
Conference Room – complete with custom modern art blueprints
Kitchenette – stocked with fridge, stove, sink, and plenty of extra bottles
Mechanic’s Bay – with tools and essentials
Command Center – features a sophisticated computer and communications desk
Fold down ramp in the back
Two landing pads
Storage slips for the robots arm extensions
Compact design for shelf space or expansion for display!
Included
This proposed Lego set would include everything you need to go on adventures of your own:
6 Babies in 6 colors with prints on each
6 Pocket-sized vehicles ready for land, air, and sea
1 Headquarters main build with slide outs and all the amenities a team could want
Ability to create a multi-configurable robot!
Custom tiles with modern art and blueprints
4 colored arm extenders for the robot
Excitement and a glorious sense of Adventure!
Help this Idea become a full on Lego Set by free supporting it at Lego Ideas!
Here is an exciting update for the Clockwork Aquarium Lego Ideas project: a second alternative theme inspired by the Disney/Pixar movie “Finding Nemo”! Since the Clockwork Aquarium is of course, made out of Lego, it can be modified to the extent of the builder’s imagination. The “Finding Nemo” theme is another demonstration of how Lego fans could customize the Clockwork Aquarium to their liking.
This project is on a long journey to reach the Lego review board. Your free support at the Lego Ideas Project page would be greatly appreciated! Lets start with the video which shows the Theme in Action:
Now lets break down the specific elements of this Aquarium theme:
The “Printed” Swimming Fish: It was a hope for this project from the start that if it was picked up by Lego, that the set would include colorful printed fish, even if the set was not Finding Nemo Theme. I have carefully hand painted 3 Lego fish (to the best of my ability) to resemble they type of fish that “Finding Nemo” characters were based on. In other words, the fish are meant to be more like real world fish, as opposed to cartoon fish.
Clown Fish – Nemo and his dad Marlin were both Clown fish
Blue Tang or Surgeon Fish – Dory (She was never in the fish tank in the movie Finding Nemo, but this theme is of course, only inspired by the movie and not meant to recreate it.)
Moorish Idol – Gill (from the fish tank in the dentist office of Finding Nemo)
The Treasure Chest: This moving feature replaces the jumping crab in this theme. The treasure box opens and shuts as it does in the movie fish tank to release bubbles, which are of course closely guarded by the Yellow fish named Bubbles. The treasure box can fully close, but last second before filming, I stuck two gold coins inside it which make it not fully shut. I think I will leave those out from now on.
Spinning Starfish: Representing Peach from the movie, the spinning starfish continues to add another motion to the life-filled aquarium. It is not the exact right color for Peach, but will have to do for now.
Scenic Elements:
Mount Wannahockaloogie – Potrayed in all its glory is the Volcano from the movie aquarium. I would like to mention that when I first started working on this theme, I tried to make the Volcano the centerpiece and have it look like Lava was bubbling up at its top. Even though I have a working version of just that, I was more impressed by the treasure box’s motion that I used it instead. The Volcano is once again a hand painted Lego piece. If this set was picked up, I would hope Lego would print a volcano pattern onto the sloped piece. I did try the similarly sized craggly wedge pieces in trans orange with black printing. It looked perfect, but the studs prevented the fish from swimming by smoothly so I had to use the sloped piece with no studs.
Jacques and Helmet – The shrimp and helmet from the original theme came over as well since they represent Jacques and his dive helmet quite well.
Tiki Mask – The movie aquarium featured tiki mask decorations. This mask comes from the collectible minifigure series 11 Island Warrior. It takes the place of the Easter Island head from the original Clockwork Aquarium theme.
Lots of Plants/Coral – the fish tank in the movie “Finding Nemo” was abundantly populated with lots of coral and plant life. I squeezed in more plants and added more Pinks and purples to create the illusion of dense plant life.
Blue gravel – Some people may notice that I changed the sandy bottom for blue in this theme which is of course to represent the aquarium from the movie. My “gravel” is in normal blue but ideally it would be in more of a teal blue color.
The original version of the Clockwork Aquarium continues to be my primary push for the Lego Idea. This Finding Nemo them, and the previous Spongebob theme are mainly intended to demonstrate some flexibility and the capability for customization. Of course, if Lego picked up the project and decided to package it with two or more themes in the box, then I’d have no objections at all.
Do please follow this Link to Lego Ideas and click the support button for the Clockwork Aquarium. It is on a long Journey to 10000 supporters and could very much use your support!
Turn the crank and the mechanical delight comes to life. The fish swim, the crab jumps, and the starfish spins. This is all packed into a detailed and ornate Aquarium made entirely out of Legos.
This project is hoping to gain 10000 free supporters/votes over on Lego Ideas. If it gets the 10K supporters, Lego will take it to their review board and decide on making it an official Lego set.
The project also has several themes coming with the first being: SpongeBob Squarepants: with Spongebob, Plankton, a Crabby Patty, Pineappled, Chum Bucket, and Moai head!
“Finding Nemo” is the second alternate theme I’ve put together:
Any ideas for improvement? Let me know.
Thanks for taking a peak and particular thanks to any and all supporters!
The winners of the Lego Moments in Space Contest have been announced. The contest was set up so applicants could suggest a future Lego mini set that would be given out as a Free with Purchase promotion in 2019. 1065 entries started out with high hopes. The voting took ten days and reduced the pool of candidates that Lego would review to just the top 25. Lego spent another few days deciding on the grand prize and 11 Runner ups.
The contest always stated that the winner “Might” get made into a Gift with Purchase set, no guarantee. But with today’s announcement, according to the Official Lego Ideas Twitter Feed: “His winning entry, the ‘Cosmic Rocket Ride’, will be adapted into an official Gift with Purchase set!”
I know there are a lot of happy and broken hearts at the end of this contest as more than a thousand people put their hat in the ring. Lets all hope for more contests like this in the near future because there were some terrific advantages to this scaled down Lego Ideas contest!
Some folks may know about the Lego Ideas mini contest called Moments in Space. My entry is a fun Coin Operated Rocket Ride. A commenter shared a gif of Deadpool Riding in a rocket…so I quickly made this Lego version with my little Rocket Ride prototype.
A while back my friend James “Artbot132” Garrett, and I entered into the Lego Ideas competition with a Rolling BB-8 model that could roll while keeping its head up on top. It quickly reached the needed 10000 Votes to go into Lego Review. Sadly, it was not selected by Lego to become the next production set. During the competition and continuing to this day, I have been getting requests for a tutorial on how to build one. So I finally put the parts list and tutorial together.
A demonstration of the Rolling BB-8: (Just in case you haven’t seen it)
Parts List: You can of course use any color of any of these pieces, but this list reflects the colors that I used for the most part. I had a lot of these parts to start, especially the old ones, but I tend to order used parts off of Bricklink. I have this parts list on Bricklink, but they do not have the “Wishlist” Share function working yet. Once it starts working, I’ll edit this page to include a link to the shared wish list.
(Click to expand this pics)
Video Tutorial: And here is the video that goes through the steps to build our version of the Lego Rolling BB-8! (Actually building starts around 3m10s)
I continue to be thrilled by the interest in this little Lego BB8 project and am sorry it took me this long to Shell out the list and tutorial. If any of you should get a prototype of this working, please send me a pic or comment somewhere.
Lego is looking to have the community pitch potential Free with Purchase sets. They are running the contest on their Lego Ideas Site. Unlike the Regular Ideas system that requires 10000 votes in under 2 years, these smaller contests have a limited time to enter and only 10 days of Voting (Feb 9-19, 2018).
I’ve submitted this little retro styleCoin Operated Rocket Ride. This is based off of similar looking rides that used to be in front of stores and in malls. These days, there are not as many out an about but they can still be found.
The Model is pretty simple and uses about 115 pieces. You can turn the crank in the back to make the Rocket swing up and down and back and forth. The motion is a little more extreme than the real life rides, but if you want to simulate reality, you can just rock the crank back and forth.
I’ve rigged up the seating area with a normal Minifig Chair, and the Mini-Dolls “Tbar”. This means both Minifigs with short and bending legs can sit in the ride, along with the Lego Friends style Mini-Dolls.
There is a little slot where you can drop in a Lego coin and retrieve them by simply opening the hinged hatch.
Voting is for a limited time and goes from February 9th to 19th of 2018.
There are some pretty good ideas already posted and Lego intends to review the top 25 voted submissions. They will pick 1 winner and 10 runners up. After this is all said and done, the only way to get the exclusive set that results from this competition is to wait for them to sprinkle it in as a promotion for making a purchase.
