Lego announces the 11 sets that reached 10,000 votes to qualify for review in the Lego Ideas program.
Back in 2008, Lego created a new initiative called Lego Ideas that would allow builders to submit concepts for new sets. If the proposals received enough support – in the form of 10,000 votes – then Lego would review the projects. If approved, the toy company would produce and sell the idea as a finished product, with some proceeds going back to the original creator. Since its launch, sixteen Lego Ideas sets have been produced, including a Back to the Future DeLorean Time Machine, Ghostbusters, WALL-E, Doctor Who, Adventure Time and a Beatles Yellow Submarine sets.
On May 1, the toy company announced the First 2017 Lego Ideas Review qualifiers. Eleven projects reached the 10,000 vote mark between January and May. The qualifiers covered many fandoms, from TV shows and movies (The Office, Blues Brothers, Power Rangers) to classic Lego constructions (Royal Air Force, venetian houses).
There was also, of course, the Surf Rescue set. The project gained publicity and a significant boost in votes when word spread about its origin story. The set was designed by a father and son to highlight Australian beach culture and raise awareness for sun safety. Tragically, the father has terminal stage 4 skin cancer from a melanoma that developed into tumors. He announced he had weeks to live in mid-April and his hope that the set would be something he could leave for his son, a legacy of sorts. The project hit 10,000 votes not long after.
Lego announces qualifiers three times a year, sharing the results approximately six months later. (For example, the third 2016 qualifiers, who hit the 10,000-vote goal between September 2016 and January 2017, were announced in January 2017 and Lego will notify fans with the results in summer 2017.) Recently, Lego shared that the Ideas project Apollo 11 Saturn V rocket would be produced as well as a Women of NASA set.
Meanwhile, among the projects that are close to reaching the 10,000 goal include a NF-15B Research Aircraft, a complete Jurassic Park and Mystery Science Theater 3000 scene. Lego has always had the power to inspire people to build bigger and better things and the Ideas project underscores just how seriously they take that mission.