CUUSOO Corner

jasor

^ The trick with that one...is will the review/production/release come in time? It's kinda the same thing with Ghostbusters. It should be called

"CUUSOOOOOOOOO long review that you forgot about it."

Aanchir

jasor said:

^ The trick with that one...is will the review/production/release come in time? It's kinda the same thing with Ghostbusters. It should be called

"CUUSOOOOOOOOO long review that you forgot about it."

The thing about some franchises like Ghostbusters, though, is that to a sizeable audience they are timeless. Ghostbusters is still aired on a lot of TV networks, and the Ghostbusters theme is still a staple of many Halloween CDs and playlists. I don't think that even two years will be likely to change that. The resulting product might not get the marketing push that comes with a major anniversary, but there should still be an audience for it.

It's true that LEGO Cuusoo is starting to lag a bit in terms of the timeliness of its review results. But I saw a panel with Tim Courtney at Brickfair VA that helped me to fully understand the span of time that passes between the announcement of the review results and the final product release.

Basically, a typical LEGO Cuusoo set takes almost exactly as much development time as any other LEGO set. The only difference is that with regular LEGO sets, the majority of that development takes place long before fans even know what kind of products to expect, whereas with LEGO Cuusoo sets, LEGO fans know the concept behind the product that's being developed even before development on the product actually starts.

Anyway, so far there hasn't been a single project where the lag has severely cut into its profitability. Once there is such an example there might be reason to worry about whether Cuusoo needs to be more efficient.

dougts

^ Curiosity might be a good test case, and of course we don't even know if lag has hurt profitability or not, since we have no basis of comparison.

That said, I think it is undeniable that the lag has hurt perception pretty notably. In this day and age of instant everything, waiting a year for review results and another 6 to 12 months for product release is deemed by most people to be unacceptable. I know for a fact it has soured people on the Cuusoo experience, and it's always something that is being talked about - and almost always in a negative light. All that does indeed matter.

There are a lot of crowd sourcing models out there that turn stuff around much faster. I'm not saying LEGO should be churning out the sets a month after they hit the review deadline, but for anyone to say there is no room for significant improvement in both the timeliness of review results and in the time to market is, quite frankly, just being dishonest.

legomatt

jasor said:

^ The trick with that one...is will the review/production/release come in time? It's kinda the same thing with Ghostbusters. It should be called

"CUUSOOOOOOOOO long review that you forgot about it."

This is certainly something that I imagine they'd be keen to rectify at some stage, there's nothing worse for a company than setting something up only to miss the crest of the wave, and find it chugs.

But I would also put this down to teething troubles, Cuusoo strikes me as being a work-in-progress, it's doing well so far, but still has some refinements to go before it becomes a slick operation.

Time (capacity to capitalize on the 'buzz') is definitely an issue. If it takes an age to get votes, another age to be scrutinized, and a third age to go into design and production if accepted... then yeeesh. Those people who wanted the thing might have died of boredom, and moved onto something else.

Similarly if they only manage to release one or two sets per year from an ever-increasing list of backed projects, the whole thing is in danger of becoming viewed as an exercise in futility by both voters and project designers.

jasor

^ Also...notable mentions go to Minecraft 2nd and 3rd sets, respectively. The demand/supply will determine in production how a subsequent CUUSOO release will affect

1) The initial offering, depending if they EOL Minecraft 1, or keep trying to sell it in line with the other two

2) If that eats into any other CUUSOO release

3) Having more than one CUUSOO set out at one time, with BTTF

4) Dropping the CUUSOO label from any susequent set offering.

5) Future BTTF set offers.

It'll be pretty interesting to watch.

Aanchir

jasor said:

^ Also...notable mentions go to Minecraft 2nd and 3rd sets, respectively. The demand/supply will determine in production how a subsequent CUUSOO release will affect

1) The initial offering, depending if they EOL Minecraft 1, or keep trying to sell it in line with the other two

2) If that eats into any other CUUSOO release

3) Having more than one CUUSOO set out at one time, with BTTF

4) Dropping the CUUSOO label from any susequent set offering.

5) Future BTTF set offers.

It'll be pretty interesting to watch.

They're not going to EOL the first Minecraft set: in fact, from what I've heard, they're going to rebrand it as "The Forest" (to keep the naming consistent with the two new sets' biome-specific naming). Not 100% sure whether it's going to keep Cuusoo branding, but since it's just a triangle on the package and the whole package design isn't Cuusoo-inspired, I don't see what harm there'll be in keeping it. It's really just another selling point: "This set inspired and brought to fruition by fans!"

At Brickfair, Tim Courtney confirmed that the new sets were being developed separately from the LEGO Cuusoo line, so they should not influence the release schedule for LEGO Cuusoo sets. I doubt the original set would impact Cuusoo release schedules either, considering it doesn't need the same development time as they do.

The possibility of future BTTF sets, or of ANY LEGO Cuusoo product becoming an ongoing product line, will be the most interesting consequence of these new Minecraft sets. It raises some questions: for instance, in the case of a non-licensed project, will the project creator be owed any royalties or acknowledgments for the concept, and might that be a roadblock for further product development? In some cases, where a project's concept inspires a whole theme or product line, it might seem the creator would be owed some acknowledgement. But in others it's a bit fuzzier: if the first modular building had been fan-created, it's hard to swallow the idea that the creator would be owed royalties for all subsequent modular buildings. Likewise for the Winter Village series or any other product line released as individual single-product installments.

The Minecraft project had a unique feature working in its favor, in that the project creator WAS the rightsholder for the IP. Other projects don't have that advantage. And I hardly think the LEGO Group is going to pay royalties to two separate entities for product lines inspired by a license agreement, even if it got its start through LEGO Cuusoo.

prof1515

I don't see how Back to the Future has much potential for a product line. Seriously, there's little beyond the DeLorean and the train that distinguish it from City or Western lines.

Paperballpark

Road to Oz is going to be very close to getting into this review period - it's gained 500 votes in the last day (it has 9540 as I type), and there's only half a day left...

legomatt

I'm equally hoping Road to Oz (or something like it, without explicitly stating) will be possible within a CMF series or two.

We've got Witch and Scarecrow... all we need is scaredy-lion, kansas farmgirl (with red slippers & pet dog), and metal-(axe)man... and maybe a little-person with yellow bricks.
:oP

JamesJT

New project, F1 Ferrari.
http://lego.cuusoo.com/ideas/view/48913#

vitreolum

My new favorite project: http://lego.cuusoo.com/ideas/view/48953

Not gonna happen but I'd love this.

prof1515

I really wish there was a "Vote Down" option. Then I'd be inclined to vote for something on Cuusoo.

cheshirecat

Wow, you are such a negative nancy. I'm surprised you can get up in the morning.

prof1515

I get up plenty fine. That doesn't change the fact that I wish I could vote down the crap on Cuusoo.

dougts

Gotta go with Prof on this one. You have to wade through a 20 steaming piles for every decent project. And the majority of those are infeasible as production models for a number of reasons

cheshirecat

Being serious for a minute, can you imagine the problems the site would have if their was a 'vote down' option - i can only begin to imagine what the JP incident would have looked like. I suspect even the idea of voting something down would be about as far removed from what LEGO want CUUSOO to be as its possible to get. And I'ld agree, just let people have their moment no matter how bad something is.

A system that automatically removes projects that don't receive a certain number of votes over a certain amount of time could work to clean everything up.

CCC

What if there was a vote down policy on here, as opposed to flags. And the post is removed if more people vote it down than vote it up? Vote the crap out of here. Kill minority views as they are not important. Just like poor projects are not important.

Even (what you or I or someone else thinks are) crap projects on cuusoo can be used to spark ideas, which may lead to a better suggestion being made.

Bumblepants

If the internet needs anything, it is more ways to be negative. Boo! Hiss! Smite! Vote Down!

CCC

^ Flagged

:-)

vitreolum

CCC said:

Even (what you or I or someone else thinks are) crap projects on cuusoo can be used to spark ideas, which may lead to a better suggestion being made.

^ This. Many crap projects can come from people lack building skills, but can have decent ideas behind them. Not to mention if they were to pass review, the product will be far from the initial project, being modified by TLG designers.

Just look at minecraft's original project and what came out.

That Python I mentioned is not a mastery of design, but it got some classic scenes from the movie right. When I see a project, I think about what MAY come out as a set and what the project is as an idea, not the project itself.

Still, projects should have some requirements to be allowed, but I don't see how that can be properly implemented.

prof1515

CCC said:

What if there was a vote down policy on here, as opposed to flags. And the post is removed if more people vote it down than vote it up? Vote the crap out of here. Kill minority views as they are not important. Just like poor projects are not important.

Even (what you or I or someone else thinks are) crap projects on cuusoo can be used to spark ideas, which may lead to a better suggestion being made.

Freedom of speech works both ways. What if the minority view is to vote down? Fact is that majority and minority mean nothing without the context of what constitutes the total.

I might also point out that you're assuming that voting something down would result in it being removed. Voting down could counter fanboi voting. I seem to recall many being critical of some model that had a lot of votes from a specific group that rallied for it (was it a particle accelorator or something? I didn't pay attention to it). Well, voting down could counter a special interest group like Apple drones or similar ilk.

CCC

prof1515 said:

I might also point out that you're assuming that voting something down would result in it being removed.

Yes, the comment was not directed at you, but at the thread and was based on the comment directly after yours which was ...

dougts said:

Gotta go with Prof on this one. You have to wade through a 20 steaming piles for every decent project.

Those 20 steaming piles would still be there if they were not removed, hence no change if you could vote them down and they were not removed.

prof1515

Well, I support the idea of the Cuusoo team going through and cleaning house too, for what it's worth. A negative vote balance would be a great way for them to decide what to remove.

My comment was in effect a criticism of all the crap, be it intellectual property theft or just sh*tty design. People like to suggest stuff they'd vote for and vote for that which they like so I'd like to vote down the stuff I wouldn't just refrain from voting for but actively dislike. Cuusoo isn't a gallery to display little Timmy's first connection of two bricks or little Suzy's demonstration of her colorblindness or little Billy's lack of artistic ability. That stuff belongs on a refrigerator somewhere, not clogging up Cuusoo.

vitreolum

True, but a vote down would give idiots a way to bash projects for the sake of it. The system is well made as it is, support if you like/want the possibility of set, or ignore if you don't. There's absolutely no need for vote up/down, a system that can be easily abused.

It's stated in their rules that Cuusoo is not a gallery, they should remove projects like the ones you mentioned. Same goes for projects that were uploaded 2-3 months ago and have less than 10 votes or something. Another annoying thing is the amount of duplicate projects...

vitreolum

Also, a new minecraft set will most likely never happen since it clearly interferes with (now) their theme, so they should remove them and clear half of cuusoo...

Ra226

So is anyone else as excited about the Macross Valkyrie as I am??? I absolutely loved Robotech when I was little--and the model is excellent!

JamesJT

I finally did a MOC worth putting on cuusoo, any support or comments would be great thank you.

Small technic carousel...
http://lego.cuusoo.com/ideas/view/49298

A grand carousel is also under development.

klatu003

Monty Python! These are really cute.

http://lego.cuusoo.com/ideas/view/48953
http://www.brothers-brick.com/2013/08/26/unofficial-lego-monty-python-sets-that-youll-never-see-in-stores/

legodude

I've been browsing CUUSOO a lot recently looking for good projects and supporting them. Here are some of my favorites:

James Cameron's Avatar
http://lego.cuusoo.com/ideas/view/25360

That VTOL is really cool, about the right size for a suitable model, has a good fit with LEGO (vehicles vs animals) and well designed.

The Twist N Whirl Carnival Ride
http://lego.cuusoo.com/ideas/view/18203

I think this is another cool model, in the size range of a realistic product and fit with LEGO (Creator).

Star Tours
http://lego.cuusoo.com/ideas/view/19558

Again another nice design and execution, I would like to see more Disney Park rides, and this would be one of the best to start with.

klatu003

Mini modular Castle theme! Very appealing to those of us who like buildings and historical themes.
http://lego.cuusoo.com/ideas/view/50233

HarryPotterLover

I think RTO has a very good potential for becoming the next model. The figures could easily be created and the style is lovable in terms of creating the setup yourself. Don't think theres many people who haven't seen or at least herd of the books/ movie. (Little note- if the lion god Andrea's hairpiece in Dark Tan or Regular (brown like Andreas) than there could also be a spot for the bow he gets in the EC

durazno33

Castle fans! Here's a project that I put up on Cuusoo that may interest you.
King's Castle Keep

DarthWalle

Does anyone love "The Little Prince/Le Petit Prince," by Antoine Saint-Exupery? I put a project up on Cuusoo for Asteroid B-612: http://lego.cuusoo.com/ideas/view/50323. Next year marks the 70th anniversary of the author's tragic death during WWII. This is my first Cuusoo project, and it is admittedly simple/rough, but I'm shooting here for something that would go in the $10 range (the largest piece here would be a modified Star Wars planet, with extra studs that would make them more "playable"), perhaps even something that bookstores would want to market as well. I'm working on additional items from the book that can go with the concept. I'm also going to do another version of the asteroid as well.

Peter1975

For those who like to collect minifigs:
http://lego.cuusoo.com/ideas/view/11050
although I think Lego will not sign another contract....

converse

For those who likes TRAINS:
http://lego.cuusoo.com/ideas/view/33485
Not my design but I would love to see more train support especially for this!

JamesJT

More trains... microscale and quickly building a head of steam...
http://lego.cuusoo.com/ideas/view/50295

icey117

Sherlock reached 10k... nice!
http://lego.cuusoo.com/ideas/view/47380

Peter1975

Oh, this one I like: http://lego.cuusoo.com/ideas/view/49729

E.T. phone home.....

DarthWalle

New rendering for "The Little Prince" done by glenbricker - posted on Cuusoo: http://lego.cuusoo.com/ideas/view/50323! Please check it out!

icey117

Here's my shot at The Forbidden Pool (from Lord of the Rings) in Cuusoo :-)

http://lego.cuusoo.com/ideas/view/51380

Bustin

Someone submitted an idea for Total Drama Island. I spent a good couple hours posting image links from the show in comments until Cuusoo staff finally deleted the project.

Initially staff just deleted my comments...then someone finally looked in to why I kept saying this show is absurd and overly sexualizes girls.

Schwallex

So the results are in. For three reviews at once.



http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x-NTCGA5uKE

http://blog.lego.cuusoo.com/2013/10/21/results-of-winter-spring-summer-lego-reviews/

Anyone else not surprised at all?

CCC

Well that is fantastic news the best designed model in there is going to be produced.

I'm going to say it for the first time ever - well done Cuusoo.

binaryeye

The blog post mentions that no other sets will be produced from the three reviews, yet the image indicates the Land Rover is still in review.

It will be interesting to see how LEGO packages and promotes the Exo Suit as the first CUUSOO model not based on a real-world object or third-party IP.

SirKevbags

Come on down Pete and take a bow! Congratulations mate. Much deserved.

bea

Totally uninteresting to me but I'm glad to see another original design got through.

LegobrandonCP

The Exo-Suit wasn't my first choice, I was really hoping for the Android, and Mini Shops to shine though, but that wouldn't of have happened anyways with all the licensing issues.

Congrats to the Exo-Suit! I'm excited to see what the final product will look like.

vitreolum

Decent choice. Zelda was a no go from the start (I'm not a fan, but I do like the designs) and the others are of no interest to me (really glad it's not the android or perdue pete, whatever the hell that is).

Bumblepants

DIsappointed Portal didn't happen but glad to see a non-IP make it. Will be interesting to see how close the final product resembles the submission. I think they will probably add a splash of color if not re-color it entirely. Hopefully this will spark a surge in worthwhile non IP ideas getting submittedd and voted for.

rchadd

maybe they will brand the exosuit to fit with galaxy squad range