A set of projects for third place and final qualification read ideas The 2022 review period has been confirmed – they include pac man with The Legend of Zelda.
These projects are submitted by fans to the Lego Ideas website and receive a certain benchmark of fan votes to progress to this stage. At this point, each will be submitted to a committee of LEGO designers and decision makers; at least one of them will be given the green light to be promoted into a real-world LEGO set that you can buy in the store.
The first of two game designs eligible for this phase is “Pac-Man Moving Display” by user LiteBricks. It’s an impressive mobile showcase featuring Pac-Man and his ghostly nemesis – Inky, Pinky, Blinky and Clyde.
The set is impressive, featuring movement using motors and LEGO Technic bricks. Pac-Man’s mouth opens and closes, the ghost bobs up and down, and it even includes interchangeable parts to put the ghosts in vulnerable mode, just like they appear after Pac-Man eats the Power Pellet.
On the Zelda side, this worn out Zelda set is an impressive Breath of the Wild “Temple of Time” model, submitted by a user called LEGOverwatch.
It’s a beautiful model, but it’s also the latest in a long line of Zelda submissions through Lego Ideas — all of which have been rejected so far. Oddly enough, some time after this project was submitted, LEGO changed the rules for Ideas to include Zelda in the list of properties that were not allowed to submit Ideas. This is usually reserved for IP already in development by LEGO, such as Mario and Minecraft, or IP held by other brick toy companies such as MegaContstrux, such as Halo and Pokemon.
With that in mind, it feels like we’ll be finishing Zelda builds pretty soon–though time will tell if it’s LEGO-related. If LEGO happens to like one or both of these ideas, they’ll negotiate with the rights holders and redesign the set so it’s retail-friendly.
It’s not all bad news for video games, however. The recent excellent Lego Sonic the Hedgehog playset is the result of the Ideas program, as is the first Lego Minecraft set. In Minecraft’s case, a single creative set led to an entire series of Minecraft branded building sets, a theme that is still thriving today.
In recent years, Lego Ideas has become a major Lego sub-brand and offers a mix of original and licensed sets. Releases based on Ghostbusters, The Flintstones, TRON, Home Alone, Doctor Who, Sesame Street are available through the Ideas program.
At the same time, Lego continued to increase its investment in games outside of the Ideas program. LEGO Mario continues to go from strength to strength, with more adult sets, including a giant LEGO Bowser and a nostalgic Atari 2600 model. Rumor has it that Sonic might also follow in Minecraft’s footsteps — jumping from a one-off creative project to a series of full-fledged playsets. If this becomes a reality, we’ll post the news here.
