The last LEGO Ideas review was pretty expensive for the LEGO Group

Last week’s LEGO Ideas review saw a record 54 projects rejected in one go – and that’s a pretty expensive result for the LEGO Group.

While successful LEGO Ideas fan designers go on to receive 1% of the total net sales of the official set they inspire (along with 10 complimentary copies), those 10K club members whose designs fall at the final hurdle don’t walk away with nothing.

According to the LEGO Ideas guidelines, builders behind projects that aren’t approved during review receive up to three LEGO products totalling $500 in combined value as a consolation prize. That means the LEGO Group will need to give away up to $27,000 of products as a result of the first 2021 review.

In the grand scheme of things, $27,000 isn’t really going to hurt the LEGO Group’s bottom line. For reference, its operating profit in the first half of 2021 reached a staggering $1.25 billion. But the past three LEGO Ideas reviews have included a total of 107 projects, all but five of which were rejected at the last step – totalling a whopping $51,000 given away in consolation prizes.

lego

For now, the LEGO Group has resisted making any sweeping changes to the Ideas platform to reduce the number of projects reaching the 10K threshold, but the pace at which they’re continuing to do so – another 34 ideas qualified for the second 2021 review last month – may yet lead to ‘potential changes’ further down the line.

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Author Profile

Chris Wharfe
I like to think of myself as a journalist first, LEGO fan second, but we all know that’s not really the case. Journalism does run through my veins, though, like some kind of weird literary blood – the sort that will no doubt one day lead to a stress-induced heart malfunction. It’s like smoking, only worse. Thankfully, I get to write about LEGO until then.

Chris Wharfe

I like to think of myself as a journalist first, LEGO fan second, but we all know that’s not really the case. Journalism does run through my veins, though, like some kind of weird literary blood – the sort that will no doubt one day lead to a stress-induced heart malfunction. It’s like smoking, only worse. Thankfully, I get to write about LEGO until then.

3 thoughts on “The last LEGO Ideas review was pretty expensive for the LEGO Group

  • 22/10/2021 at 05:40
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    Sorry, I don’t need to feel bad for a company giving away $27K worth of their product to some super talented super fans. I’m not sure how many BILLIONS the LEGO Group made last year, they won’t miss it at all.

    Reply
  • 21/10/2021 at 21:44
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    I still say that submissions clearly based on the modular town building theme should be rejected outright.

    Reply
  • 21/10/2021 at 19:29
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    Misleading premise. It obviously does not cost LEGO regular retail price of sets. I am pretty sure the cost of the Ideas review platform out paces those relatively insignificant costs (ie cost of sets they themselves produce). The PR LEGO gets from the platform grows w/ each additional set that gets reviewed so LEGO is likely making more $$$ as the numbers of review sets grow.

    Reply

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