GBR News
More New Pages: Progress to 10k, Progress to 1k, and Tweet count
I have created a few more pages for doing Cuusoo analytics and streamlining the blog content.The pages Days to 10k and Days to 1k replace my old progress report with ones that are generated daily.
The last new page (at this time) is kind of a throw away for most people: Tweet Count. This is just like the "Most Viewed" on Cuusoo but this one shows the projects in order of Tweets. This is an attempt to show the importance of twitter in getting your favorite projects to 10k. In fact, by the time you are reading this project, FMS will likely be the #1 most tweeted project on Cuusoo, which segues us to the next article.
General News
Female Minifigure Set Surges 4300 supports in 3 days and still going
There is a solid chance this project will reach 10k inside a week, but we have all seen projects stall out before.
Summer Review Roster is Finalized
June 3rd was the deadline for the Summer Review and League of Legends of LEGO – The Raid on Baron Nashor made it under the wire with only hours to spare. This puts it in company with the Mini Shop Series and theBatmobile Tumbler Minifig Scale.Absolutely no offense to BrentWaller but I don't think there is a legitimate chance for the Tumbler. The earliest production is likely sixteen months out and that is a friendly estimate assuming Lego gets these long lead times under control. The Batman trilogy will be too old for anyone to care and too recent for Nostalgia. His Ghostbusters project is another matter entirely though.
As for LoLoL versus Mini Shop Series, well...LoL is incredibly popular. But even though it has millions of people online and playing in an active online community it still took "ages" for this project to get to 10k. To put it in perspective, there are currently 8,194 lol players on reddit right now...and by that I mean, online...there are 290,000 subscribers on Reddit that all got the message when it went out. These guys could have crushed the 10,000 support rating but they didn't. Most projects have a word of mouth issue that is slowing them down, but that just was not the case here. Another factor is, of course the Brand Fit. I have never played LoL but if you check out their site it is rated teen for Blood, Violence, Suggestive Themes, Alcohol, and Tobacco. Good luck with that! Not an impossible hurdle but definitely an issue.
This of course leaves the Shop Series. In this case, the issue is, Is there enough fans for any single one of the establishments, and does Lego want to associate with any of them directly? Despite many people's opinions I don't think Lego is interested in the Lego store. They have an official Lego store set already and they seem to like making it a limited engagement item. I think I really said everything I had to say about this one on brickset though.
All in all I think the Shop Series has the strongest chance but I would not be totally surprised if LoL shows up.
Crowd funded
Lego Compatible Tank Treads in Final Days
Massive Chalice
Double Fine Productions, which famously got funded over $3 million dollars is back with a new game concept, Massive Chalice. It sounds like X-COM meets Fantasy. Instead of researching tech though, the creation of your heroes is based on breeding them. As part of the strategy aspect of the game you need to choose when to use your heroes or when to retire them for giving birth to the next generation.
Currently this appears to just be conceptual (no demos) but it sounds like a fascinating concept. You do need to accept that your characters are going to grow old and die though.
Threadless
Pony Stark
Cuusoo
Pick of the Week
Hyperboreaby Nickroyer
Support Level: 341
NickRoyer always brings really impressive concepts to Cuusoo. His skill with Blender is certainly an asset to his concepts.
Diselpunk is a really fun theme to play with and one that has not been done in Cuusoo or Lego. Merging it with pulp hollow earth adventure is inspired. Now, Nick is playing up the theme aspect but I have come to respect that as a good idea within the Cuusoo structure. Showing a lot of concepts and seeing what the fans respond to is a great way to keep the supporters and the creator engaged. The is of course is dependent on both groups accepting that only one set will get produced.
The use of a rapier as an antenna is a really clever idea too.
Honorable Mentions
Ancient greek bireme (micro model)
by Ma_bricks
Support Level: 51There are several Biremes on Cuusoo but I think this is my favorite. It utilizes a lot of great building techniques and is able to represent the scale of the ship without breaking the bank.
Escher-ish Nr. 1
by B.bokslag
Support Level: 8What a clever use do the headlight element dimensions. Really quite Escherian and the color palette transitions is one of the better ones that I have seen.
Spider-Man: The Symbiote Costume
by Mmccooey
Support Level: 87Simply amazing. All of Mmccooey's work is simply stunning and the fact its real Lego really kicks it up a notch. The spider on the chest looks fantastic.
by Glenbricker
Support Level: 126One of my own projects. I am particularly proud of the Pegasus figurehead. The aft of the ship does need some work though. I must admit that I like "Space Fantasy" a lot more than most people.
The RAVEN helicopter - Galaxy Command
by Kitbricksto
Support Level: 180This is the helicopter of the Galaxy Command series. It is a very well designed with a lot of great snotting aspects.
Notables
Minecraft: Desert biome, abandoned mine
by Thewolfpack
Support Level: 60If any more basic minecraft sets are going to get made, I think Lego will do it themselves. The sad thing is I think a lot of people are going to accuse Lego of stealing their idea when/if Lego produces more minecraft sets based on their own model that every one else is copying from
Iron curtain defender
by Whatsuptoday
Support Level: 35Of all the projects "every" published by "Whatsuptoday" I think this one is the best.
steampunk era
by Rom1kno
Support Level: 28I thought of doing something like this for a while but it is one of the projects I have not gotten off the ground with. Then Team Jigsaw came by with their steampunk train and well, I did not need to worry about it anymore. That being said, this build is way too black. Needs more color, both for presentation and the real world.
Mospeada Ride Armour
by Wolf.leews
Support Level: 19I love the "cyclones" but if you are going to post a project that has a subject that chances from one form to another you gotta pull that off! Don't taunt me with just the one setting. Also, if the Veritechs can't get past 8,000 I can't see the cyclones standing a chance. Still, awesome work.
Grandad's Tramby Cutietiny
Support Level: 14Something about this one just appeals to me.
About the LoLoL, all those thing you listed appear in other Lego themes alchohol appears in POtC, tobacco is in the Hobbit and LotR, blood and violence is certainly in most of Lego licensed themes, and as for suggestive theme,s Lego has another metal bikini princess Leah planned. T, if I'm correct is pg to pg-13. Legto has done many many pg-13 themes.
ReplyDeleteAnonymous,
ReplyDeleteThank you for your comment but it seems a bit over-reactionary as my statement is that the T rating is "Not an impossible hurdle but definitely an issue."
Forgive me if I oversimplified the argument but by this I am addressing the fact that all projects that are to pass the review must not allude to content that is deemed inappropriate for consumption by people as old as 11 years of age as dictated by social norms and as determined by Lego.
If someone proposed a project based on a game that 12 million people a day played and it was totally non violent with an E rating than this would be the proverbial Cakewalk.
This is not an E rated game though, thus each step toward (T)een is a step towards this threshold of exceeding 11. Does LoL cross the line? That is for Lego to say, but it is certainly an issue that must be addressed by them.
Second your examples are out of context of cultural acceptance. In your references your are casually referencing Star Wars, Disney, and Lord of the Rings.
They are all aged properties and cultural icons. As popular as LoL is, it holds a candle to none of them on market penetration and cultural acceptance. By the way, Lego turned down LotR 10 years ago because it was too violent. The movies have not changed in the last 10 years. It is the cultural acceptance of them that has.
If someone told me they were going to show my kids a movie with drunken bar fights, kidnapping, heroes shooting men armed with only swords, spears being violently driven through people and in the end people's faces get melted off in pretty much the most graphic way ever preformed in cinema I would never let my kids talk to them again. If someone said, Hey, We are going to watch Indiana Jones I would say we are coming right over.
Third, It is often best to make an argument by breaking up the challenges into bite sized elements. You have however made the mistake of making the course three times too big. Now again, I am not familiar with LoL's Teen rating but what you really just said to me was LoL, in one package combines the very worst qualities of PotC, LotR, AND Star Wars. A Movie that combines the debauchery of Potc, the violence of LotR, and the scantily clad slaves of Star Wars might be fine for adults, but it does not sound like anything I will be exposing my kids to any time soon.
Lastly, your argument is based on a classically false assumption. Lego Cuusoo has rules for what is appropriate content for submission, The actual Lego product lines do not.
This is a double standard and a totally justified one.
Just like how governments trust their scientists to work with radioactive materials but restrict it from public use, Lego trusts its internal developers and marketeers to walk the line and sanitize what needs to be sanitized but that does not obligate it to allow "non-professionals" to play with uranium in a public area.
Cheers!