LEGO Ideas is all about the community, so what does everyone think about the latest results for the second review round of 2024?
The results are in for the second LEGO Ideas review round of 2024, with Maximilian Lambrecht’s Floating Sea Otter and Robert Becker’s Snoopy – Campfire officially confirmed to be coming as LEGO Ideas sets and Alexis Dos Santos’ Tintin Space Rocket and Sebastian Veselka’s Downton Abbey: Highclere Castle placed into the new ‘parking lot’.
That left 31 fan-designed projects in the unfortunate position of not becoming real LEGO sets. Still, there's plenty to come to the LEGO Ideas theme in this year and beyond now.
Fan-designed projects are, by their nature, a part of the LEGO community. They're designed by fans, supported by fans, and ultimately bought by fans. At this early stage, let's take a look at what LEGO fans are saying about the most recent review round results.
Round of applause for the Parking Lot
This was the first LEGO Ideas results announcement since the start of the parking lot, a home for LEGO Ideas projects to have a little more time for consideration before being accepted or rejected. When it was first announced, many speculated that it was a system for allowing the LEGO Ideas team to have more time to secure licenses and, with too IP-based sets being the first to enter it, that seems to be the case.
LEGO fans have generally responded well to the parking lot concept, with _SchruteBucks on reddit writing: "I love the parking lot. I hope those sets make it through."
Others were slightly confused, perhaps having missed the initial parking lot announcement, with IndyDude11 writing on a separate reddit post: "I thought they were bringing out a literal parking lot set."
Too many licences, not enough time
The second 2024 review round was a particularly IP-heavy round. With only a certain amount of projects able to become LEGO Ideas sets, that left some out in the cold, leading some fans to wonder whether licensing was the issue in getting popular designs over the line.
"I'm kind of shocked the Bob Ross one didn't make it to either," wrote SPEK2120 on reddit. "Must've been unable to get licensing."
Other rejected sets that are getting frequent mentions include Minibrick Productions' Gravity Falls: The Mystery Shack and HunshuiMOYU's Impression Sunrise – Monet. Fans are already theorising about why this could be.
"At this point, I’ve given up all hope of a Gravity Falls set ever being made," wrote BrickJedi on reddit.
"The Monet one not getting approved tells me that it's too close to something LEGO is doing themselves" mused darthjoey91 on a separate reddit thread.
Ultimately, we'll never know why LEGO Ideas projects don't become real sets – and any one of those could still have their day in a future review round.
Can fans do it better?
Others pointed out that, in some cases, the LEGO Ideas versions of sets already in production tick more boxes than the official ones. Some Wednesday fans would have preferred minifigures to mini-dolls, as seen in Airbricks95's Wednesday: The Room and The Balcony, while Monkey Scout's Bluey!! is a more detailed build than the child-focused sets that are currently on the way.
"The Wednesday and Bluey kits there are both legitimately better than the ones that currently exist," argued VoidMunashii on reddit.
A Snoopy LEGO set is not enough
There's also a lot of love for the two successful LEGO Ideas sets – and some are clamouring for more than just a Snoopy set.
"A Peanuts minifig series would probably do well," wrote Tehva on reddit. There's even precedence for this: 21348 Dungeons & Dragons: Red Dragon's Tale was a LEGO Ideas set that spawned a CMF series. Once the LEGO Group has the license, it's only one step further to turn that into more products behind a LEGO set, so it's not too far out of the realms of possibility.
Other commenters are wondering exactly what form the final Snoopy will take. LEGO Ideas projects often go through changes in the design process and NuidisVulko on reddit is pushing for new moulds to perfect the build.
"I love Snoopy but not sure I need a brick-built one," they wrote. "I’d be more keen on a little moulded piece for him, like they did for Dumbo and Bambi in 43230 Walt Disney Tribute Camera."
Does LEGO Ideas need to change?
Last but not least, there were widespread comments arguing that LEGO Ideas as a concept needs to change. With more and more projects gaining 10,000 votes, some people suggest that 'too many impossible projects' are appearing in review rounds.
"At least this round has a lot less projects in total, which means less get denied, but they still need to raise the minimum votes," wrote YodasChick-O-Stick on reddit. "10K isn't enough in 2025. Too many impossible projects are getting pushed through."
"Increasingly feeling like Ideas needs some kind of a shake-up," agreed NegZer0 further down the same thread. "Maybe just increasing the threshold, maybe more sets getting made, maybe more stuff flowing into the BrickLink Designer Programs.
"Every round now is always so disappointing. Even when something I’m actually interested in buying gets picked, it doesn’t feel great because it usually comes with two or three others I wanted more getting knocked back."
The comparison between Ideas and BrickLink Designer Program – two programs packed with fan-designed builds – are rising as both initiatives get more popular.
"Why are the Bricklink Designer Program sets always way better than the actual Lego Ideas sets?" commented TheSleepyTruth on reddit. "Even browsing through the general submission pool of each program, the BDP submissions are always of a much higher calibre with more thoughtful detail on average with countless excellent builds, compared to the LEGO Ideas submissions, which are often very lacklustre with the odd good one occasionally making it in.
"Yet, the Ideas sets receive a far larger investment from the LEGO Group. It's frustrating."
It's worth noting that the key difference between Ideas and BrickLink Designer Program is that the latter are fully formed LEGO sets that will be sold as is. The LEGO Ideas projects we see at this stage will still be workshopped in collaboration with the LEGO Group and the fan designers.
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