New Ideas Projects Come Out on Top

[Hapori Tohu]

In addition to the recent changes in guidelines, there have been a couple of projects over on LEGO Ideas that have achieved the requisite ten thousand votes of support. Earlier this week it was Merchant's House by bigboy99899, which is an awesome piece of architecture with some great landscaping to boot. There's a crazy amount of detail that would make a very intricate LEGO set. A few weeks before that it was the Addams Family Mansion by afol777 based on the classic sitcom from the 1960s. It's a huge model with lots of references to the show and little vignettes throughout. I'm sure fans of the show would love to see this made as a set. What about you? Would you buy either of these two models if they went up for sale?

 

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[SPIRIT]

Holy crow!  The Merchant's House is gorgeous!  It's just so aesthetically pleasing.  Probably murder to build, though.

[Ghidora131]

Dang, that merchant house is brilliant! this might be the first IDEAS set I actually buy!

 

...Addams Family, however, doesn't seem acceptable for children in most of its areas, and I'm getting real skeptical of how LEGO judges worthy sets and themes.

[Vorahk1Panrahk2]

Dang, that merchant house is brilliant! this might be the first IDEAS set I actually buy!

 

...Addams Family, however, doesn't seem acceptable for children in most of its areas, and I'm getting real skeptical of how LEGO judges worthy sets and themes.

 

These sets just receieved 10,000 votes, which means LEGO will consider making them official sets. Neither is guarenteed to make it into set form. And while I'm not super familiar with Addams Family, the show seems harmless enough from the little I've watched.

 

I'm pretty bad at judging piece count by size, but I'm wondering how closely that mansion gets to LEGO's new rule about size.

[Ghidora131]

And while I'm not super familiar with Addams Family, the show seems harmless enough from the little I've watched.

There's a couple of reasons why LEGO shouldn't make The Addams Family for a set:

 

1. The show is incredibly old, and making a set of a franchise from something so long ago and barely re-lived in this day and age won't popularize well for sales.

 

2. While it may be harmless enough for you, be aware that you're 25, and you don't exactly have the same outlook on things that a six year old would. I'm not saying that a six year old is !00% sure to buy this set, but perhaps a six year old shouldn't have the option. It's also a monster-based comedy show, and rather dark in some areas, not as friendly as The Munsters was. Then again, LEGO also decided to make Beetlejuice, so I'm suspicious on their kid-quality judging they boast of.

[Aanchir]

 

And while I'm not super familiar with Addams Family, the show seems harmless enough from the little I've watched.

There's a couple of reasons why LEGO shouldn't make The Addams Family for a set:

 

1. The show is incredibly old, and making a set of a franchise from something so long ago and barely re-lived in this day and age won't popularize well for sales.

 

2. While it may be harmless enough for you, be aware that you're 25, and you don't exactly have the same outlook on things that a six year old would. I'm not saying that a six year old is !00% sure to buy this set, but perhaps a six year old shouldn't have the option. It's also a monster-based comedy show, and rather dark in some areas, not as friendly as The Munsters was. Then again, LEGO also decided to make Beetlejuice, so I'm suspicious on their kid-quality judging they boast of.

 

Generally I don't see how the Addams Family was any scarier or less kid friendly than Star Wars or Harry Potter. The LEGO Group's standards for kid-friendliness mostly tend to mean nothing that's strictly for adults. Broadly speaking, that means no shows rated TV-MA or higher, no movies rated R or higher, and no video games rated M or higher.

 

Also, of course, the LEGO Group exercises discretion in what ASPECTS of certain brands they represent — so, for instance, they were OK making Simpsons (TV-PG) sets, but the sets themselves don't include alcohol references even though the show frequently does. They were OK making Indiana Jones sets, but didn't include any Nazi imagery from Raiders of the Lost Ark (PG) or The Last Crusade (PG-13), or the human sacrifice scene from Temple of Doom (PG-13).

 

The original Addams Family TV series, which is what the Ideas project is based on, is rated TV-G, or "General Audience". For reference's sake, this is the same rating as a lot of the LEGO Friends, LEGO Elves, and LEGO Star Wars TV specials.