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CUUSOO Corner

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  • atkinsaratkinsar Member Posts: 4,258
    edited September 2012
    Oh yes, I follow video games, I'm a massive gamer and have been for nearly 30 years. I'm aware of Valve's fan base, I was simply stating that any Lego Portal release would surely fair better if tied in with a new game release, especially if trying to reach an audience outside of Portal fans. For the record, I would really like to see this one released.
  • Short_RoundShort_Round Member Posts: 161
    ^You're probably right, but I'm sure most geeks have heard of Portlal (and as afol's, we're doubtless regarded as geeks :/ ). Lego wouldn't do it, but with a good ad-campaign, headed by Wheatley/Steven Merchant, they could charm people in. Knowing Valve, they'd do their own online viral thing as well.

    Thinking about it now, another collaboration with Lego I'd love to see is Tim Schafer/Double Fine. Imagine Lego Monkey Island, Psychonauts, Costume Quest :)
  • LegoFanTexasLegoFanTexas Member Posts: 8,404
    If Valve is not working on Portal 3, then they are nuts too. ;)

    Likewise, where is m Half-Life 3??? :)
  • Short_RoundShort_Round Member Posts: 161
    half-life.wikia.com/wiki/Future_of_the_Half-Life_series
  • [Deleted User][Deleted User] Posts: 0
    I would really appreciate if anyone could look at my CUUSOO project "Built Anatomy" I started building in June 2012 and believe I have found my calling. Thanks - any comment would be greatly appreciated. Build on!
  • cloaked7cloaked7 Member Posts: 1,448
    ^ Very impressive.
  • emilewskiemilewski Member Posts: 482
    I just posted my first CUUSOO project! Anne of Green Gables. It doesn't have any advanced build techniques, but I think it has real potential to make the 10,000. I hope I am not just deluding myself. But my next step is to promote it on the Anne of Green Gables fan sites. It is huge in Japan, Canada, Poland and elsewhere. Thoughts?
  • DiggydoesDiggydoes Member Posts: 1,079
    Could it be that the general interest in Cuusoo has slowed down a bit? Everytime i check the "Top 6"they seem to be stucked at the votes they had couple weeks before! It's too bad,i think that the Space Marine idea could make it into a really nice set,desired both by kids AND AFOL's!
  • cloaked7cloaked7 Member Posts: 1,448
    ^ Yup, as a 40K player I would like to see Space Marines. Since they came out with the Aliens sets I figure it should be OK to have Space Marines. As long as there aren't any copyright issues, that is.
  • LegoFanTexasLegoFanTexas Member Posts: 8,404
    ^ I think to really get interest in Cuusoo, they need to have a monthly release. I could well be wrong of course, but if they did one of the small models each month, with every 4th month or so being a larger model, they would end up with a steady flow of product that would self-promote the idea.

    Every month could be too much, perhaps every other month, 6 releases a deal. Have them separate from the normal twice a year release schedule Lego does, put them in the Lego retail stores, [email protected], and Amazon, and go with it, that would be enough to get attention and draw interest in Cuusoo.
  • AmberylAmberyl Member Posts: 193
    @emilewski - I think it's conceptually interesting, and I like the look of the cart, but I think to get more interest, you'll probably want to actually build the house and show pictures of it, rather than just the LDD view, which at the moment seems very spare.
  • CCCCCC Member Posts: 20,526
    So it's a horse and a cart and a house with a green roof? Somehow I cannot see it making 10,000. Remember cuusoo is not for new themes but one off sets. So no expansion packs of characters, school house, train station, etc.
  • emilewskiemilewski Member Posts: 482
    ^ Thank you for the feedback. Yes, I would like to build it, but the windows, door frame, window frames, doors and some of the roof slopes, all in dark green, are not produced in that color. So to build it I will have to paint the pieces (shudder and horror). But yes, I think being built it will look better.

    ^^ Thank you also for the feedback. While it is pretty simple, I was hoping for the appeal to all the Anne of Green Gables fanatics out there (there are many). Such a set would not appeal to an AFOL. Which is a problem too...even if a lot of Green Gables fans (typically women) saw it on facebook and their forums and voted for it, would they actually buy it? They would not typically be the crowd visiting LEGO brand stores and lego.com. It would have to be marketed on Prince Edward Island where all the tourists go, which is not something LEGO has done with Cuusoo products.
  • CCCCCC Member Posts: 20,526
    Remember real fans might want the house to look more realistic. Right numbers of windows, right shape, etc.

    Every tourist attraction in the world could have something like this, sold only at the attraction. The lack of wide appeal outside of being sold as tourist souvenirs at the site means that sales would be low.
  • prof1515prof1515 Member Posts: 1,550
    Cuusoo has proven to be a failure really in terms of generating much by way of decent ideas. It's mainly been used to express fanbois' wet dreams of implausible nonsense. That's why it's slowing down. Imagination can go on and on but there's been very little of it demonstrated in the Cuusoo submissions. Once the flood of the same old fantasies have been spouted through Cuusoo, the river has run dry.
  • LegoFanTexasLegoFanTexas Member Posts: 8,404
    The other issue is that too many popular ideas are themes Lego won't do.

    When Shawn of the Dead was killed, that was the beginning of the end... Firefly didn't help either...

    The thing is, if LotR can be made, those two should be able to be made. That strict policy kills most interest because the average adult doesn't want to play, "guess Lego's policy"
  • dougtsdougts Member Posts: 4,110
    And we are *still* waiting on the results of the summer review (Western Town, Zelda, BTTF car, Rifter). On September 1, the cuusoo team posted this: "We’re just as eager to share the news as you are to hear it. The results should be in within the next several weeks, watch this space for updates!"
  • LegobrandonCPLegobrandonCP Member Posts: 1,917
    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AcPM60WLBuE
  • LegoFanTexasLegoFanTexas Member Posts: 8,404
    ^ Nice to at least see the video, but that poor guy should NEVER do videos for Lego again. :)

    Seriouslly, hire people for that job who can do it, speaking in front of a camera isn't as easy as you'd think, I know I suck at it (and I've tried).

    When CEOs get up to do keynote speechs, they get lots of training from speaking coaches to do it right, it is a learned skill.

    Not bashing the person, perhaps he is great at his job, just saying that is very amaturish video work...
  • LegobrandonCPLegobrandonCP Member Posts: 1,917
    ^ I certainly suck in front of a camera, I get nervous and stutter when I speak. Same story goes with doing presentations in front of people. :( I need to work on that.
  • LegoFanTexasLegoFanTexas Member Posts: 8,404
    LegobrandonCP said:

    ^ I certainly suck in front of a camera, I get nervous and stutter when I speak. Same story goes with doing presentations in front of people. :( I need to work on that.

    :) And that doesn't make you bad in any way... But if you were The Lego Group, I think you'd be able to afford some help and training, or a professional speaker, or something, no? :)
  • DiggydoesDiggydoes Member Posts: 1,079
    The guy who´s got "Space Marines" on Cuusoo´s got a promo-video on youtube!
    Looks pretty cool!

    www.youtube.com/watch?v=uobWt7FU5qk&feature=plcp
  • peterlinddkpeterlinddk Member Posts: 170
    edited December 2012
    I just read up on some Cuusoo news, and wanted to look at the Space Marines page, but alas it has been removed due to Trademark issues ...

    But since it is just the name that is trademarked, the project could still succeed under a new name - see http://legocuusoo.posterous.com/ for more info.

    I personally think that the name is so generic that any name change would benefit the final product! What do you think it should be called?
  • HuwHuw Administrator Posts: 7,074
    Games Workshop I presume?
  • andheandhe Member Posts: 3,907
    edited December 2012
    If it is, why has it taken them this long to act? Or maybe because it's only just become a possibility rather than a fan project?

    I'd love to see it succeed under a different name, it intrigues me a lot more than the slightly lacklustre galaxy squad.

    It could be re-named 'Galaxy Marines' and be a spin-off of Galaxy Squad.
    bricksanDiggydoesUKtsumiLegoFanTexas
  • prof1515prof1515 Member Posts: 1,550
    andhe said:

    If it is, why has it taken them this long to act?

    The holder of the trademark may have requested its removal.


  • akunthitaakunthita Member Posts: 1,038
    I can't believe Games Workshop has done this! I guess some lawyer got up on the wrong side of the bed. It is pretty obvious what CUUSOO is about; fan-created suggestions for future possible products. It is not like LEGO was going to steal Space Marines! They would take care of the negotiation with the license holder once the product is approved. As far as I can tell it would have been a profitable project for GW too. And if not, then of course they could have just ended the project then or rename it or whatever.

    But to just storm in there and tell LEGO to pull the project sounds like a real jerky reaction. The ones who loose out on this is basically GW, who had a chance to negotiate a license. Now the project will be just renamed something more generic and GW will never get part of the pie. Actually, I'm glad they are out of the picture at this early stage. Who needs such a partner?...)c:

    SherlockbonesLegoFanTexas
  • andheandhe Member Posts: 3,907
    I should have probably read the article:

    "Hi LEGO Fans. You're probably wondering what happened to those awesome-looking space military guys on LEGO CUUSOO; you know, the ones that reached 10,000 supporters just before the Winter Review deadline. Well, the name of the project used by the fan builder is actually a trademark owned by another company, and they requested we stop using it on our site.

    While we let you submit projects that refer to trademarks owned by others, we don't enforce others' trademarks ourselves. However we are legally obligated to comply when we receive a request from a rights holder to remove their trademarks.

    Since all of you voted the project to 10,000, and since the artwork is original and based on LEGO elements, it's our opinion that the only trademark infringement here is the use of the name. So, we're in contact with NickRoyer to pick a new name and continue to consider the project in the Winter Review. We hope to have it back online soon with the new name.

    Sorry about the surprise, and happy building!".

    Pretty much answers all our questions.
  • SherlockbonesSherlockbones Member Posts: 411
    akunthita said:

    I can't believe Games Workshop has done this! I guess some lawyer got up on the wrong side of the bed. It is pretty obvious what CUUSOO is about; fan-created suggestions for future possible products. It is not like LEGO was going to steal Space Marines! They would take care of the negotiation with the license holder once the product is approved. As far as I can tell it would have been a profitable project for GW too. And if not, then of course they could have just ended the project then or rename it or whatever.

    But to just storm in there and tell LEGO to pull the project sounds like a real jerky reaction. The ones who loose out on this is basically GW, who had a chance to negotiate a license. Now the project will be just renamed something more generic and GW will never get part of the pie. Actually, I'm glad they are out of the picture at this early stage. Who needs such a partner?...)c:

    I have to agree it's been on there a long time, why now? Hmm new name...

    SUPER space marines ;) JK

    Maybe Alien Marines?
  • meyerc13meyerc13 Member Posts: 227
    Why now? Probably because the news of the 10K votes made headlines outside the LEGO community and someone from the trademark holding company saw the story for the first time.
  • binaryeyebinaryeye Member Posts: 1,831
    akunthita said:

    I can't believe Games Workshop has done this!

    Honestly, I've been waiting for this to happen since I first saw the project on CUUSOO.

    A large part of their business is selling very expensive miniatures to be used in their tabletop games. Why would they license something that could take the place of their own product?
  • dougtsdougts Member Posts: 4,110
    edited December 2012
    akunthita said:

    I can't believe Games Workshop has done this! I guess some lawyer got up on the wrong side of the bed. It is pretty obvious what CUUSOO is about; fan-created suggestions for future possible products. It is not like LEGO was going to steal Space Marines! They would take care of the negotiation with the license holder once the product is approved. As far as I can tell it would have been a profitable project for GW too. And if not, then of course they could have just ended the project then or rename it or whatever.

    But to just storm in there and tell LEGO to pull the project sounds like a real jerky reaction. The ones who loose out on this is basically GW, who had a chance to negotiate a license. Now the project will be just renamed something more generic and GW will never get part of the pie. Actually, I'm glad they are out of the picture at this early stage. Who needs such a partner?...)c:

    Sorry, gotta disagree with you on this one. GW is doing exactly what they should do - protect their IP. They don't know if LEGO had any intention of approaching them for a license, as the project wasn't marketed by the submitter as a license of the GW IP at all. By contacting LEGO, GW forces LEGO to do one of two things: Take it down/change the name OR engage GW in a licensing agreement. LEGO is going the former route, which leads one to believe they were never looking to do a licensing agreement on this generic project to begin with.

    cheshirecatkylejohnson11BrickDancerRedbullgivesuwind
  • drdavewatforddrdavewatford Administrator Posts: 6,753
    edited December 2012
    Notwithstanding the fact that "Space Marines" is about as generic a title as you can get, I don't think the licence holder has a legal leg to stand on. Basically, a LEGO fan has created an idea, called it "Space Marines", and posted it on a LEGO ideas website. The licence holder would have to prove that (a) a reasonable person could mistake this idea for one of the licence holders products, and (b) that they were taking a financial and/or possibly a reputational hit as a result. None of which is even vaguely credible. So it's a bunch of bullsh*t, basically, and LEGO are just being diplomatic by removing it. IMHO, of course....

  • TormentalousTormentalous Member Posts: 4
    The game that the name "Space Marines" is infringed upon is this new Space Hulk game that they're working on. http://www.pcgamer.com/2012/12/10/new-space-hulk-game-announced-trailer-within/
  • paul_mertonpaul_merton Member Posts: 2,967
    If LEGO didn't remove it as requested, they would be symmetrically implying that it's okay for others to similarly infringe LEGO's IP.

    ... so they had no choice, really.
  • Lego_Lord_MayorcaLego_Lord_Mayorca Member Posts: 618
    edited December 2012
    With regards to the review of the "Back to the Future" model that is currently in review, I have some news courtesy of Bob Gale, one of the producers/co-writers of the BttF Trilogy. The recent release of the Mattel Hoverboard replica was a huge dud, a sub-par product even with the knowledge that the thing cannot hover in advance. Bob Gale himself endorsed this product during its conception, but upon receiving a copy, had a quite different opinion on the product.
    This product, at this price, falls short of the top notch standards that you and I have come to expect for something that carries the Back to the Future brand.
    I would gather that statement about "top notch standards" for the BttF brand would indicate a Lego Time Machine set would more than make Bob (and other license holders) happy, since after all, Lego is still synonymous with quality.

    Source: Ain't It Cool News Hears from Bob Gale on the Hoverboard Replica
  • OldfanOldfan Member Posts: 703
    akunthita said:

    I can't believe Games Workshop has done this! I guess some lawyer got up on the wrong side of the bed. It is pretty obvious what CUUSOO is about; fan-created suggestions for future possible products. It is not like LEGO was going to steal Space Marines! They would take care of the negotiation with the license holder once the product is approved. As far as I can tell it would have been a profitable project for GW too. And if not, then of course they could have just ended the project then or rename it or whatever.

    But to just storm in there and tell LEGO to pull the project sounds like a real jerky reaction. The ones who loose out on this is basically GW, who had a chance to negotiate a license. Now the project will be just renamed something more generic and GW will never get part of the pie. Actually, I'm glad they are out of the picture at this early stage. Who needs such a partner?...)c:

    Games Workshop did the same thing on boardgamegeek.com (a popular boardgame site to which I belong) a couple of years ago. They "asked" that bgg take down all not only all pictures of their figurines (painted by fans and uploaded to the site), but also any "fan art" or other representations of their IP other than the box covers. This for a site that is dedicated to nuturing and promoting the board game/card game/miniatures gaming hobby, such publicity for which most niche hobby businesses would love to have on their side.

    So, GW is acting very consistently with their principles by "asking" CUUSOO to remove the "Space Marine" name, as this is arguably part of their Space Hulk miniatures gaming system (and maybe Warhammer 40k too) IP. Any gamers in the crowd will not be surprised...

  • DaddyDeuceDaddyDeuce Member Posts: 272
    edited December 2012
    drdavewatford said:

    Notwithstanding the fact that "Space Marines" is about as generic a title as you can get, I don't think the licence holder has a legal leg to stand on. Basically, a LEGO fan has created an idea, called it "Space Marines", and posted it on a LEGO ideas website. The licence holder would have to prove that (a) a reasonable person could mistake this idea for one of the licence holders products, and (b) that they were taking a financial and/or possibly a reputational hit as a result. None of which is even vaguely credible. So it's a bunch of bullsh*t, basically, and LEGO are just being diplomatic by removing it. IMHO, of course....

    Personally, I don't think it is bullsh*t at all. GW has a valid trademark on "Space Marine" as part of their Warhammer 40,000 game. This game is played with miniature figures and vehicles on the tabletop. The trademark explicitly covers use of the "Space Marine" brand on toys and games. If I were GW and this project came to my attention, I would have politely asked TLG to cease using my trademark as well.

    Since TLG is aggressive in protecting their own IP, I bet they didn't see this request as objectionable in any way. I'm sure TLG would have done the same thing if GW had produced a tabletop game called "Friends" that featured a group of young girls having fun riding horses and grooming animals.
  • binaryeyebinaryeye Member Posts: 1,831
    Tormentalous said:

    The game that the name "Space Marines" is infringed upon is this new Space Hulk game that they're working on.

    There are many games (board and video) based on Warhammer 40k. Games Workshop has had a trademark on Space Marines since 1995.
  • akunthitaakunthita Member Posts: 1,038
    edited December 2012
    @DaddyDeuce "Since TLG is aggressive in protecting their own IP, I bet they didn't see this request as objectionable in any way. I'm sure TLG would have done the same thing if GW had produced a tabletop game called "Friends" that featured a group of young girls having fun riding horses and grooming animals."

    LOL! *Smiley laughing its head of goes here...*

    DaddyDeuce
  • LegoFanTexasLegoFanTexas Member Posts: 8,404
    What is the use of a Hoverboard that doesn't... you know... hover?

    Who has dibs on the first one that actually works like in the movie? I'll even take one in Pink, so long as it has power. :)
  • DanGPDanGP Member Posts: 66
    We might think its petty but a company has to protect it's IP otherwise it sets a precedent for future cases.
  • drdavewatforddrdavewatford Administrator Posts: 6,753
    DaddyDeuce said:

    drdavewatford said:

    Notwithstanding the fact that "Space Marines" is about as generic a title as you can get, I don't think the licence holder has a legal leg to stand on. Basically, a LEGO fan has created an idea, called it "Space Marines", and posted it on a LEGO ideas website. The licence holder would have to prove that (a) a reasonable person could mistake this idea for one of the licence holders products, and (b) that they were taking a financial and/or possibly a reputational hit as a result. None of which is even vaguely credible. So it's a bunch of bullsh*t, basically, and LEGO are just being diplomatic by removing it. IMHO, of course....

    Personally, I don't think it is bullsh*t at all. GW has a valid trademark on "Space Marine" as part of their Warhammer 40,000 game. This game is played with miniature figures and vehicles on the tabletop. The trademark explicitly covers use of the "Space Marine" brand on toys and games.
    I'd suspect however that the trademark doesn't explicitly cover the use of the words "Space Marines" in juxtaposition with some fan-rendered pictures of custom minifigures on a website, which is what GW seem to be objecting to.....

    You may be right that LEGO would have asked GW to desist if they'd "produced a tabletop game called "Friends" that featured a group of young girls having fun riding horses and grooming animals" (!) but it's a totally different scenario - there's no actual LEGO product infringing a GW trademark for GW to complain about, just the use of the words "Space Marines" and some fan art, and hence my scorn. By the same token, every Cuusoo idea based upon existing I.P. should be removed from the site....
  • TyoSoloTyoSolo Member Posts: 539
    edited December 2012
    You have to bear in mind that "Space Marines" as far as GW is concerned consists of heavily armoured space soldiers, not at all unlike the Space Marines project. By that definition, it's release could damage the GW trademark rather than compliment it - as it is not licensed.

    NickRoyer already had several other naming suggestions, as the coincidental likeness to Warhammer had been identified previously.

    I don't think the project will suffer as a result of this - TBH, with Galaxy Squad being released, TLG have no reason to use this project whatsoever.

    I hope they do though. I like it!
  • drdavewatforddrdavewatford Administrator Posts: 6,753
    edited December 2012
    TyoSolo said:

    You have to bear in mind that "Space Marines" as far as GW is concerned consists of heavily armoured space soldiers, not at all unlike the Space Marines project. By that definition, it's release could damage the GW trademark rather than compliment it - as it is not licensed.

    I fully agree; sorry to labour the point, however, but there IS no release at this stage, just a fan proposal, which is the crux of my argument.

    I wasn't actually aware of the GW property until this little storm in a teacup; if the original idea wasn't actually based on the GW property, however, it would nevertheless seem to be a good way of tapping into a passionate, existing community, and also potentially also a nice little for GW, so who knows....

  • Lego_Lord_MayorcaLego_Lord_Mayorca Member Posts: 618
    LegoFanTexas said:

    What is the use of a Hoverboard that doesn't... you know... hover?

    Who has dibs on the first one that actually works like in the movie? I'll even take one in Pink, so long as it has power. :)

    Probably the same people who shelled out hundreds of dollars in 2011 for Nike's replica "Power Laces" sneakers from the same movie, in spite of the sneakers NOT having power laces. It's a darn shame no real hoverboards nor widely-available power-laced shoes are available, but then again, 2015 is still a couple of years away. Maybe by then there will indeed be a Lego DeLorean Time Machine, complete with Marty and Doc Brown figures (maybe even an Einstein?). It will be a worthwhile purchase, moreso than tickets to Jaws 19 in Holomax.
  • CrowkillersCrowkillers Member Posts: 757
    He should just change the name to Solar Marines and call it a day...
  • prof1515prof1515 Member Posts: 1,550
    drdavewatford said:

    I'd suspect however that the trademark doesn't explicitly cover the use of the words "Space Marines" in juxtaposition with some fan-rendered pictures of custom minifigures on a website, which is what GW seem to be objecting to.....

    You may be right that LEGO would have asked GW to desist if they'd "produced a tabletop game called "Friends" that featured a group of young girls having fun riding horses and grooming animals" (!) but it's a totally different scenario - there's no actual LEGO product infringing a GW trademark for GW to complain about, just the use of the words "Space Marines" and some fan art, and hence my scorn. By the same token, every Cuusoo idea based upon existing I.P. should be removed from the site....

    Actually that's the part that the trademark would cover. The term "Space Marines" is trademarked for a game or toy and if the trademark specifies that this game or toy utilizes figures, Lego's out.

    The registration of the trademark requires an actual product but violation of the trademark does not.


  • CrowkillersCrowkillers Member Posts: 757
    Solar Brigade would also be a cool name...
  • CrowkillersCrowkillers Member Posts: 757
    edited December 2012
    It would be really cool to see a BTTF Technic themed Delorean as well.. If you can get the license, you might as well roll with it... But then again, I guess that would be a double license for the Movies theme and the car, No?
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