Some of that is due to reasons they cannot say. They've developed a policy of "no current IP currently produced by the Lego Group". So even if a set gets past the 10,000 mark, if it's a minifig scale Death Star, it's not being made.
So if it's a set they currently have IP rights for, but have not announced sets for, they'll generally turn it down. But they can't say it's because they've recently acquired the IP rights to Sonic the Hedgehog.
They also have a loose "no contemporary war toys" policy. I say loose because the Indiana Jones line kind of pushes on that a bit. But that's right around the cutoff for them. But you definitely won't see an F16 fighter jet anytime soon.
The problem is that according to Science™ (https://www.bbc.com/news/magazine-20578627) with a tower of 2.17miles you start to get materials failure on the bricks. You might be able to engineer around this, but I suspect that the minifig-scale deathstar would cause the bottom bricks to melt.
That's true if you build the station on the planet, but I think the station is designed to be constructed in orbit in the first place. Its self-gravity should be negligible. Problem solved!
If I do my math correctly, the mass of the structure should be dominated by the surface, if it is constructed mostly hollow. There will be plenty of room to add individual rooms to play with inside.
The mass of the LEGO would be on the order of 113 tons assuming you build the surface out of 8x16 base plates. This is comfortably within range of a single Starship payload. It is much tougher to say how long LEGO would take to manufacture them, but I think it is safe to say that they could spin up additional manufacturing capacity for such an important national project.
It should pay for itself - you'd have a very long line of LEGO nerds buying tickets to help assemble it.
Nothing baffling there. The Osprey isn't very good for its design use case that happened once in 1980, but it makes up for that by being even worse at everything else.
I assume they don’t have infinite capacity either. So even without rights conflicts, if they can only ramp up say 10 sets at a time, and they’re working on eight for a new campaign, they’re going to be pickier about the final two.
Lego may sell a hundred different sets at the same time, but if they run out of one they aren’t going to get more tomorrow. It’s on a manufacturing schedule. They may have all of the yellow 1x6 bricks you could ever need, but they still have to fire up the part picker, the bag sealers, and order new boxes and booklets from the printers. Plus there’s that weird part that is only in three current sets, they have to make more of them, and the first gap in the schedule is next Thursday.
I had the same thoughts when I was thinking of "how can I make myself an Enterprise 2 years back. I hope that a Lego AI* will help me get the individual parts needed AND the manual to build it myself, and to work around the IP issues name it "Green Spaceship" (and I will simply order the Grey pieces instead of the Green.
People will have better chance coming up with their own generic design than an IP-owned.
> But you definitely won't see an F16 fighter jet anytime soon.
Considering some Lego AI* that will be 'smart' enough when fed the full library of Lego bricks dimensions, it should be able to build ANY 3D design or using 'many' 2D (photos/drawings) of a 'thing' and generate the 'shopping list' and the manual.
I don't know how happy would Lego be then (as Lego bricks must be somehow their IP), but it would be GREAT if someone built that.. I would happily pay $100 to generate stuff some some Star Trek iconic designs (Dyson sphere, all the Enterprises, the Voyager, etc.)
*ACTUALLY, now that I'm thinking about it I will try with Bard and ChatGPT and see what comes out
EDIT: I saw others had the same idea in other comments.. I'll add a reminder on my Calendar in 6 months from now to see what's been going on for this topic
EDIT2: I just asked Bard and it came up with 5 suggestions, listed below:
1. Mecabricks
Mecabricks is a web-based software that allows you to create LEGO models from scratch or import photos and dimensions. It has a large library of LEGO bricks and pieces, and it can generate step-by-step instructions for your models.
Image of Mecabricks website Opens in a new window
www.stonewars.de
Mecabricks website
2. Rebrickable
Rebrickable is another web-based software that can help you create LEGO models from photos. It has a similar interface to Mecabricks, but it also has a feature that allows you to search for existing LEGO models that match your photo.
Image of Rebrickable website Opens in a new window
www.reddit.com
Rebrickable website
3. Brick-A-Pic
Brick-A-Pic is a web app that converts photos into LEGO mosaics. It can be used to create custom LEGO artwork or to recreate logos, portraits, and other images.
Image of BrickAPic website Opens in a new window
wired.jp
BrickAPic website
4. Art4Bricks
Art4Bricks is a company that specializes in creating custom LEGO mosaics. You can upload a photo to their website and they will create a custom design for you. They will also sell you the LEGO bricks and instructions you need to build the mosaic.
5. LEGO Mosaic Maker
The LEGO Mosaic Maker is an official LEGO product that allows you to create LEGO mosaics from photos. It comes with a set of 4,702 LEGO bricks in 5 colors, and it includes instructions for creating 15 different mosaic designs.
As for the IP around lego bricks, an instruction set would be copyrightable, the brick system is patentable (but the patents on most of the bricks would be expired now which is why there are generic brick sets available), and they can do a trademark that would provide limited protection, but mostly for the brand, not for the bricks themselves (I remember being at the Lakland workshop back in the 90s and they were talking about how the Fender lawyers came and told them how they needed to redesign their headstock as to not violate Fender’s trademarks/design patents on the headstock shape, and there would be some similar protection potentially available to Lego, but again, the existence of generic bricks tells me that it doesn’t apply to the bricks).
So the bottom line is that Lego cannot keep you from publishing plans and parts lists for your own Lego sets. Heck, you could even, if you were sufficiently funded, manufacture the set yourself. You just couldn’t use the Lego brandname at all.
The idea of a Lego AI sounds amazing... just thought of what might happen if you took a photo of your pieces then said "I like original Star Wars, make me a series of spaceships from that" and it outputted step by step instructions to create them. So cool.
Sure, something seems a bit lost in the creative flailing that is the growth path of young Lego-ists, but it would be really cool.
So if it's a set they currently have IP rights for, but have not announced sets for, they'll generally turn it down. But they can't say it's because they've recently acquired the IP rights to Sonic the Hedgehog.
They also have a loose "no contemporary war toys" policy. I say loose because the Indiana Jones line kind of pushes on that a bit. But that's right around the cutoff for them. But you definitely won't see an F16 fighter jet anytime soon.