LEGO just announced the result of the first phase of LEGO IDEAS evaluation of the year 2022, with a batch that brought together 39 ideas that were more or less successful but which had all managed to gather the 10.000 supporters necessary for them to move on to the review stage.

Four projects have been definitively validated:

If you have time to spare, you can always try to guess who will be the winner of the next review phase, the results of which will be revealed in early 2023.

51 projects are in the running, there are some more or less interesting ideas, but the vast majority of those who managed to qualify their project will undoubtedly have to settle for the "consolation" endowment consisting of LEGO products with a total value of $ 500 offered to everyone who reaches 10.000 supporters.

The LEGO team in charge of evaluating the LEGO IDEAS projects that have reached 10.000 supporters will once again have to roll up their sleeves: 51 projects have been selected for the second phase of review in 2022.

As usual, the selection is made up of more or less interesting ideas, slightly wacky projects that a priori have no chance of passing, various and varied licenses, modulars, medieval sets, etc...

Fans have voted, now it's up to LEGO to sort out and select the idea or ideas that deserve to pass on to posterity. Always so difficult to risk a prognosis, we know that LEGO sometimes has the ability to surprise and disappoint us at the same time. All will not be lost for those who see their project go down the drain, they will receive a consolation endowment consisting of LEGO products with a total value of $500.

If you want to find out more about all these projects, head over to the LEGO IDEAS blog, they are all listed there. Result expected for early 2023.

In the meantime and if you have time to lose, you can always try to guess who will emerge victorious from the next phase of review, with 39 projects in the running, the results of which will be revealed soon.

Remember, in May LEGO teamed up with the US brand Target for an operation that would allow one of the three LEGO IDEAS projects that had reached 10.000 backers but had been rejected in the review phase to nevertheless become an official product in the LEGO IDEAS range.

It was then necessary to choose between the Working Mini Golf Course from LEGOParadise, the Viking Village of BrickHammer and the Marine Life by Brick Dangerous.

The fans voted and it was no surprise that the Viking Village won with 16317 votes, ahead of the Working Mini Golf Course, which accumulated 11575 votes. The Marine Life project ends third and last in the ranking with 6732 votes recorded.

The creator of the Viking Village is a regular review phases and rejections of his various creations, he finally manages to place one of them in the LEGO IDEAS range. He even has a second version of his Viking Village being evaluated, LEGO will no doubt take this into account when converting the winning project into an official set.

No deadline or public price for the moment, LEGO promises as usual to say more as soon as the set is ready. This box will be available through the usual channels, like the other sets in the range.

I told you a few days ago on the occasion of the announcement of the fifth series of characters to collect from the Super Mario universe (ref. Lego 71410), the days of minifigs delivered in the usual plastic bags are soon over. The manufacturer has already been working for many months on this transition, which should finally take place no earlier than September 2023 and the series of minifigs to collect in bags as we know them will then be delivered in a cardboard box that will no longer allow them to be identified. by handling the packaging.

LEGO does not plan to make life easier for fans: even if the manufacturer willingly admits having noticed over the years that the possibility of identifying the different characters in a series by handling the flexible bag has become a very popular activity. customers, there is no question of adding a code to these rigid packaging or any possibility of identifying their content.

As usual, LEGO declares that it does not rule out reviewing its copy later, but this necessarily implies that sales of minifigs individually or in complete boxes would have to drop significantly for the manufacturer to take into account. take this parameter into account and finally change your mind. Which will probably never happen.

What we do know, however, is that this new packaging will be sealed and not resealable after opening, that its contents will not be accessible without destroying the cardboard, that the boxes containing several series will always be composed of 36 units and that LEGO does not plan to modify the unit retail price of the product, i.e. €3.99.

LEGO could have used the principle of the box already used for the Bandmates of the VIDIYO range, but experience has shown that customers do not hesitate to open the boxes in stores to check the contents and the manufacturer has concluded that we had to imagine a more secure packaging.

I'll spare you all the talk about the need to save the planet that coats this announcement, LEGO obviously highlights the recyclable side of this new packaging and maintains that it is therefore necessary to sacrifice in passing a possibility of identification that simplified the life of many customers but which was in any case not envisaged by LEGO when launching these series of collectible minifigs. It's for the planet, make an effort.

You will find above and below some visuals illustrating the different avenues of reflection envisaged by LEGO around this new packaging with several prototypes. The final version of the packaging should be the one last seen in the gallery below. The possibility of a paper bag was quickly abandoned and the work mainly focused on the need to move from a flexible bag to a rigid container which unfortunately no longer allows you to try to guess the content. The manufacturer even claims that during the test phases with a sample of parents and children, more than 70% of those polled chose the new packaging over the old one. Planet first, take LEGO at its word.

Those who pre-ordered a copy of the set 910027 Mountain View Observatory as part of the third crowdfunding phase of the Bricklink Designer Program had inevitably found that the product was initially announced at 269.99 € but that it actually went to 209.99 € in the basket when ordering via the official online store. Others paid for the product at the expected rate as soon as the error was corrected.

bricklink react today by the voice of one of its managers to reassure all those who took advantage of this error but who fear a possible subsequent cancellation of their order: