If you don’t know how the Lego Ideas site works, it’s pretty simple:
- Create a cool-looking Lego set
- Get 10,000 people to upvote it
- ???????
- PROFIT
The question mark-y part, of course, is when Lego takes notice of your project and there’s a Review Board to decide if it’s worth going in to production. So I combed through the pages of projects (some of which have been online for quite a while) and found ten builds that I think deserve a little more attention. A completely biased list, of course.
10. Elsa’s Castle from Frozen – Okay, I haven’t seen Frozen. But everyone else has, and they’re insane for it — like, apparently Elsa (Adele Nazeem) made an appearance on last night’s Once Upon a Time. While I don’t care about any of that, this ice castle is pretty sweet. It’s actually comprised of six different shades of translucent blue bricks. I didn’t even know there were that many.
9. Lothlórien Swan Ship – I’m a little sick of the Lord of the Rings sets, this one’s very pretty, and the golden sail means it would be a unique set, and not something you could easily build by pilfering other Lord of the Rings sets.
8. Food Truck – If you’re like “Hey, BK, this looks boring, what gives?” First of all, how dare you speak to me. Secondly, I realized that 90% of this list was licensed properties when I ran across this little food truck and was charmed by its originality. It wasn’t yet another version of Hogwarts. It wasn’t a Batmobile. But it’s got quite a lot of little details that make it fun. So I decided to kick some of the less inspired sets (like a Goonies set that was only really interesting because of the minifigures, which you can’t pitch as an idea by itself) off the list for more “just plain Lego” stuff. Remember when everything wasn’t a Star War?
7. Stay-Puft Marshmallow Man – I’ve mentioned it here before, but it still hasn’t reached that 10,000 vote limit. This is a 13″ figure, with articulated arms, legs, head, feet and hands, created by Brent Waller, who’s already had one Ghostbusters Lego set put in to production. Just makes sense to add the most memorable villain to his repertoire. (Sorry, Viggo.)
6. The Legend of Zelda: Windwaker – This set includes the King of Red Lions’ dragon boat, an island with Chu-chu jellies and a hidden treasure chamber, and an enemy warship. Any one of those three things is worth buying on its own, at least if you’re a Zelda nerd and your favorite game is Windwaker (I.E., me.) This build is over 500 pieces, but the creator claims it would sell for less than $50. Dude, the boat’s head turns and stuff. Charge like $7 extra for that. More if you can make it actually talk.
5. Golden Girls – If this doesn’t get re-titled “Thank You For Building A Friend” then a huge opportunity is being lost. I know I said I kicked other things off my list because I only liked the minifigures, but c’mon. There’s even a Stanley Zbornak and a GOTDANG CHEESECAKE, people.
I MEAN, COME ON.
4. Medieval Townhall – Inspired by the historic townhall in Michelstadt, Germany, this set is another one of those non-licensed projects that is detailed and fun. It hinges in the middle, so you can open it up and look at all the stuff going on inside, which appeals to me as someone who never had a dollhouse and probably needs therapy about that. It’s cool, and it’s not something you see in the toy aisle every day. More stuff like this, please.
3. WALL•E – This one is so far up the list mostly because I can’t believe it hasn’t already been marketed. Honest to Eve, this set was created by Pixar animator Angus MacLane. Who actually worked on WALL•E:
…this was the model that I was building and refining as the film progressed. I started building this LEGO version of WALL•E around the same time the computer model was being built in late summer of 2005 and finished three years later.
You can read more about MacLane and his project over at Brothers Brick.
2. The Discworld – Yep, here it is. The Great A’Tuin, the elephants, Death and Binky, and the Librarian. Apparently a Granny Weatherwax is forthcoming, but as I’m not particularly a “witches” novels fan, just gimme the rest. (And build a City Watch set for that Sam Vimes.) This set has been up for votes for over three years, and it’s time it gets a big push in voters. Discworld creator Terry Pratchett has early onset Alzheimer’s, and the guy behind this set has pledged to donate 50% of his portion of the profits (if your set is chosen by Lego to be put in to production, not only do you get free sets, you get 1% of the total net sales of the product) to Alzheimer’s research.
So not only am I a die-hard Discworld fan, but Alzheimer’s has deeply affected my family. This set is two awesome things at once. Honestly, it’s my personal #1 and if you registered for Lego Ideas and voted the crap out of it, you’d be on my Do Not Kill With Mind Powers list. But realistically, this next one is the one everyone’s gonna want:
1. The T.A.R.D.I.S. – How is there not already a Lego T.A.R.D.I.S.? The doors open, the railings move, and it splits open in to three so you can play around on the inside, which is of course bigger. This set is gorgeous. With the Lego Ideas’ new deadlines (there was a site migration, and all projects are now only up for a year), this has to hustle to get to 10,000 votes. While it’s over 700 pieces and would probably retail for much more than the estimated $70, I can’t see Doctor Who fans passing this up. My only criticism is the minifigures aren’t very recognizable, I mean I guess that’s Matt Smith in the photos, because there’s a bow tie.
This thing is super cool and deserves a chance at being put in to production. And considering the number of Who fans I know, I’m pretty sure it could get voted in to consideration on the strength of my Facebook friends list alone.