LEGO finally decides to put in place new rules to partially restore the concept LEGO Ideas on the tracks he should never have left:

It is no longer possible to submit a licensed project if the LEGO Ideas platform has already delivered a set based on the same license. Relevant projects already online will be archived and no new project will be validated. End of variants more or less inspired around the Back to the Future, Doctor Who, Minecraft, Ghostbusters licenses, etc ...

The proposed projects must fit in a single box, with a maximum limit of 3000 pieces. End of UCS of 20.000 pieces.

Projects which aim to promote a hypothetical range in a generic way or which mix licenses will no longer be accepted.

Some new restrictions are put in place: No human scale weapons. No blasters, no knives, no swords, etc ... No projects around the LEGO Dimensions universe. Some restrictions on the use of third-party brand logos in the visuals of the proposed projects.

The essential is there. For more information, see the LEGO Ideas blog at this address.

These new rules should "clean" the LEGO Ideas platform of many parasitic projects that have absolutely no chance of success and convince those who were planning to add their own to give up. It is always that taken.

The results of the last phase of the LEGO Ideas review have arrived: Two projects have been selected and will end up on the shelves.

This review phase brought together nine projects that had reached the threshold of 10.000 supporters between September 2015 and January 2016.

On the one hand, the Beatles Yellow Submarine which will provide us with at least four new minifigs, on the other, the rocket Saturn V from the Apollo 11 mission.

LEGO is currently working on adapting these two projects into marketable sets. No retail prices or final versions for the moment.

Everything else goes by the wayside.

Below, the nine projects in the running for the next review phase. These projects reached the required threshold of 10.000 supporters between January and May 2016. The results will be unveiled next fall.

Since LEGO kindly offered to send me a copy of the set LEGO Ideas 21305 Maze In exchange for my opinion on this box, I therefore lent myself to the game and I patiently assembled this reproduction based on LEGO bricks of a great toy classic.

I am not going to dwell here on the process of assembling this set, others will do it better than me and I prefer to dwell on the real intention of this box: To offer a playable version of a mobile maze in wood which undoubtedly had its heyday a few decades ago but which no longer interests many people today.

In short all the same, I found the assembly quite boring during the construction phases of the support integrating the tilting mechanism and the frame in which the game board fits. It is necessarily a bit repetitive and monoso-tone. I took more pleasure in assembling the game board with the little houses of type "Monopoly", green spaces, paths Tan and the (two) trees.

So, can we really play with this mobile maze? Apart from a few details, the answer is yes. However, I quickly cut short my play session: The soccer balls provided by LEGO seem too light to me and I lack the inertia of the good old steel balls. With a little practice and by manipulating the Technic wheels very gently, however, we manage to manage the movements of the balloons, avoid the "black" boxes and complete the planned course.

Another detail that spoils my pleasure a little: On the wooden version, the aim is to prevent the ball from falling into holes scattered around the game board. Here, the ball simply ends its course in a non-open space. "tiled". It is moderately exciting. In my memories, the sudden disappearance of the marble had its small effect. This effect is not there with this LEGO version: The marble just remains stuck on the game board.

By the way, when you have finished assembling the thing by following the instructions, do not forget to remove the wedge provided to prevent the upper plate from moving during transport before starting a game ...

For its part, the tilt mechanism plays its role perfectly: It is precise and on condition of showing a little coordination, even the youngest will quickly master the principle. The only notable defect is that the maximum inclination angle of the inner tray is not the same on both sides. The same goes to a lesser extent for the outside frame. I will be told that it is not necessary to push the two axes to their maximum angle to move the ball, but this detail still deserves to be underlined. The creator of the initial project speaks about it in his video review.

We all know that some of the buyers of this set, collectors of beautiful boxes or investors who bank on the popularity of LEGO Ideas products, will probably never open it. Others will assemble this maze, play it for a few minutes, and then let it collect dust in a corner. There will then remain the most motivated who will try to create a few alternative game boards, just to prolong the interest of the thing, even if most of these changes will ultimately only be purely aesthetic.

Concerning the two game boards presented on the box with the mention "2 in 1", you will not be able to assemble them both with the supplied inventory: They share common parts and it will therefore be necessary to dismantle one to assemble the other. It's petty.

Some people will not fail to tell me that I can always modify what does not suit me, improve it, use other marbles, that it is LEGO and that therefore I can change or adapt what I want. , etc ... In this specific case, this argument is not admissible in my eyes. I buy a product for which the manufacturer promises me a result. Those who will be offered this box do not all have a substantial bulk or the ability and desire to engage in various adaptations or modifications. LEGO or not, it is a finished product that must meet the expectations of the customer as it is sold.

In the end, this box lacks in my eyes a little "panache" for a product stamped "LEGO Ideas". Nostalgia aside, the skill game, invented in the 40s by the Swedish manufacturer BRIO, from which this LEGO version at 74.99 € is loosely inspired, is above all an old-fashioned pastime that hardly anyone plays today. .. The original wooden versions can also be found for a few euros at a flea market.

Even if the 21305 set is visually successful (The packaging is beautiful...), in my opinion, LEGO misses the point of the gameplay issue: The simplification of the game system, wanted by the creator of the project himself and kept by LEGO in the final product, kills the concept a bit starting point. The ball MUST disappear into a hole, which is what causes the most clumsy players to swear and exclaim in the first place ...

You have my opinion on this box which will be available from April 1st and which ultimately may not deserve all the attention it receives. But since it is LEGO that treats, many reviews are now available.

Note: If you have taken the trouble to read this article so far, please be aware that I am giving away the set I received from LEGO via a raffle among the comments posted below (Deadline: on March 20, 2016 at 23:59 p.m.). The box is obviously open, but the winner will save € 69.99. It's always taken.

The next two boxes of the LEGO Ideas range are known: These are the projects Caterham Super Seven de Carl Greatrix et Adventure Time de aBetterMonkey. These two sets will be marketed at the end of 2016 / beginning of 2017.

The Star project Citizen F7A Hornet which had been put on hold during the last wave of validation was finally rejected.

Unsurprisingly, nice but disproportionate projects go by the wayside. The project Le Petit Prince, which had been the subject of an intense media campaign on social networks and which many saw succeed is also rejected.

About the license Adventure Time, the rumor that announces the arrival of possible expansion packs based on the animated series for the video game LEGO Dimensions perhaps explains the choice of the LEGO Ideas team through the acquisition of the license concerned ...

Below, the projects competing for the next review phase:

With the announcement of the thirteenth set of the LEGO Ideas range, I ask myself an existential question that is well worth a Sunday discussion: Who collects these boxes considering the Cuusoo / Ideas theme as a full range?

In the beginning was the Cuusoo concept, a service de through crowdfunding / crowdsourcing Japan that LEGO relied on in 2008 to launch its participatory platform before the manufacturer regained full control of what has since become LEGO Ideas.

For those who do not follow, the principle of the concept LEGO Ideas is simple: The creator deposits his project on the dedicated space, the fans vote and if the project gathers 10.000 supporters, it is examined more closely by LEGO who decides (or pas) to make it an official set.

Five sets were released under the Cuusoo label between 2010 and 2014 (21100 Shinkai 6500 Submarine, 21101 Hayabusa, 21102 Minecraft Micro World, 21103 The Delorean Time Machine et 21104 NASA Mars Science Laboratory Curiosity Rover) and it was in 2014 that the first set stamped with the LEGO Ideas logo was released: 21108 Ghostbusters.

It has since been joined by seven new references: 21109 Exo-Suit, 21110 Research Institute, 21301 Birds, 21302 The Big Bang Theory, 21303 WALL-E, 21304 Doctor Who et 21305 Maze.

Two years later, this theme, which has become a melting pot of very different universes, still has only one common thread that the plebiscite to which all the concepts resulting from the same participatory project have been the object. 

Some of the sets marketed under the LEGO Ideas banner have since been joined by other boxes on the same theme: This is the case for reference 21102 Minecraft Micro World released in 2012 with the launch in 2013 of a complete range of sets based on the favorite video game of a whole generation or the Ecto-1 of the set 21108 Ghostbusters who (almost) found their garage this year with the box 75826 Ghostbusters Firehouse Headquarters.

What are your purchasing criteria for LEGO Ideas sets? Are you buying the label or the content? Do you collect this "range" or are you content to choose from among the references offered according to your desires and your areas of interest?