So I promised in the "Latest Purchases" thread that I'd prove (with pictures) that I had in fact bought Lego, and lots of it. I've been working on a set idea which I hope will become an actual Lego set by virtue of the Lego Ideas website. If you haven't heard of it, the Lego Ideas system is a relatively recent development in the Lego landscape that presents everyday and ordinary people like you and I with the opportunity to submit ideas for future Lego sets. If a Lego Idea receives 10,000 votes in the public domain, it is then reviewed by members of the Lego team including set designers and marketing specialists. If the idea is given the seal of approval at this stage, it is assumed by the Lego brand as their own property and, after any necessary refining or tweaking, it will become an official Lego set that is mass produced and sold worldwide, with 1% of net sales going to the original designer. Here's the set I've proposed, called the "Monster Miner." (Lego Ideas link - please support the project if you genuinely appreciate it and think it has merit as a potential Lego set!) As the project description explains, I've designed this set so that it appeals to a broader market than a typical "niche" Lego set. This set has aspects of basic and more advanced sets and combines them into what is hopefully an eye-catching and very play-friendly toy with heaps of features and, crucially, potential for modification and further development. Being quite a realistic model of a real mining loader (based on the Komatsu WA1200), it is also an educational toy. Please feel free to discuss this further as I'm very interested in the marketing side of Lego and what makes customers tick. After all, Lego is now marketed for adults as well as for children, making it less of a toy and more of a general and very diverse recreational medium. Kudos Here are some more pics & brief comments: Minifig scale V16 engine made from minifig pants Realistic disassembly And finally, the "Zoolander"
As someone who is a life long lover of all things Lego but never had the ability to conceive complex models, I've always been impressed by people who can build things like this. Well done. If I may ask, how long did it take you to design the model, and how did you go about the actual design process?
Thanks To be honest, I'd say that this process began nearly 30 years ago when I first started playing with Lego as a young child. Every interaction I've had with Lego has given me a good understanding of physics and engineering, and also nurtured a healthy curiosity in that regard. This model features various Lego building techniques that I learned and refined over a number of years. I started to build the model itself maybe two weeks ago, and the first stage was very rough prototyping - establishing things like the height of the model, overall width, distance between the axles, and the means of articulation etc. With prototyping done, I began the extremely slow and painstaking process of refinement, which involved honing in on a part of the model, breaking it down, rebuilding it, and repeating the process until the resulting construction is aesthetically pleasing, well designed and sturdy enough to be played with by a young child! I had a number of ideas ready to implement into the design, however the beauty of hands-on prototyping with Lego is that happy accidents often occur - two or more parts fit together in ways that you wouldn't have thought possible or viable, at least intuitively. The guards behind the front wheels took a lot of brainstorming, as did the hatch that opens at the side of the engine housing. From a mathematical standpoint, I'm in awe of how incredible Lego is. The tolerances are so incredibly small for a child's toy (something like four thousandths of a millimetre) and it's so satisfying when unorthodox combinations of Lego elements just "work".
Absolutely. The production tolerances are one of the reasons why a piece made today will fit snugly with a piece made 30 years ago. It's incredible how well they're made.
I think it looks pretty professional. Like something you would buy. My first thought was that it doesn't look like lego though. So that may be an insult or a complement. Either way thats what I thought. Good luck with it though man. It's good to see people make things.
Supported! Looks like something I'd buy, The Technic loader is awesome but the 'normal' Lego range is missing heavy machines imo. Are you planning a matching articulated 'rock' truck?
Thanks guys theshadow2001, I'd say that Lego looks less like it used to and more inconspicuous, because a lot of the new elements that you find in modern sets don't have a blocky or particularly "Lego-esque" appearance. I've tried to make use of these elements where possible because I wanted the model to appear current rather than dated. And to me, it's a big compliment that it doesn't look particularly like Lego, because that should attract attention from people who are less interested in a toy and more interested in a replica or display piece.
Supported. Some stiff competition though with BOTH Spaceballs 'ship's on the site too. Still, Good Luck Sam
I've just noticed this as well - excellent thinking outside the box. I think it looks unmistakably like lego - it's not just a pile of basic bricks clearly, but then neither are most of the higher end sets. There are a few elements that seem as if they would be fairly delicate - how well do the stairs and back chain posts hold together?
It struck me as a high number... basically judging submissions on their submitter's social media marketing abilities rather than merit of the submission itself
Thanks guys. @Mister_Tad, absolutely hit the nail on the head IMO, and I'm realising that more now as I've been researching previous projects and how they've reached the 10,000 milestone. A trend I'm seeing with good, well-designed projects on the Lego Ideas page is that roughly 10% of views are translating into votes, so it's pretty easy to calculate the level of publicity that an idea needs to achieve if it is to get to the Lego review stage. How does one reach 100,000 people online? Not with ease, that's for sure! At any rate, it's pretty shrewd of Lego to have people not only design products for them but also to have them advertise the sets as well. BIG win for the Lego brand here! Surprisingly it's all pretty sturdy, especially the stairs, which are attached in two places with a combination of hinge bricks and plates to achieve the steep angle. The most fragile parts of the model are the exhaust stacks, but they will be redesigned later if I think the model is doing well. A year is a long time to get to 10,000 votes, and 6 months are added to each project that reaches 1,000 votes, and again for every project that reaches 5,000 votes.
Thanks! Courtesy of Photoshop I was able to produce a mock-up of what the model may look like in white, which is how many of today's mining machines are painted. I like it - looks a bit more serious, less toy-like I think.
Now i have to try and work out how to build a version of it myself. Made the mistake of showing the pictures to my 3 1/2 year old nephew and the first thing he said was "can you build it now, uncle Marc?" I think it's a hit already...
Haha awesome - appealing to the younger crowd, which I hoped it would. My son is pretty much the exact same age (he'll be 4 in Oct) and I had a really hard time telling him that he can't play with it...yet! Edit: just checked my project status on the Lego Ideas page. 650 views and 65 supporters... it doesn't get closer to 10% than that!
It only gets worse. My daughter turns 8 in July. When my wife got me the Mini Cooper Lego set, I mistakenly thought it would remain proudly on display in the living room. Instead, my daughter's Lego Friends are always taking it out for picnics. You'd be amazed how many Lego Friends can fit in a Mini Cooper.
