While it's still up in the air, Doctor Who might soon become an official Lego set. Two Doctor Who sets were submitted by fans for consideration as part of LEGO Ideas, formerly known as LEGO CUUSOO. Submitted sets are considered to become official LEGO products if the fan-set can gather more than 10,000 supporters. Each set then undergoes review by a team of top LEGO officials to determine the set's potential as an official LEGO product. LEGO Ideas just announced that two new sets will be officially entering production -- a set inspired by the show The Bing Bang Theory and the LEGO Birds Project, which includes LEGO recreations of a Hummingbird, Blue Jay and Robin Red Breast. Both projects are on opposite ends of the spectrum and highlight just how creative LEGO fans can be. It would seem like all hope for the Doctor Who sets becoming official would have died with the announcement, but LEGO Ideas in its official blog post does say that the two sets inspired by the BBC show are still in the running.
"This review period featured two Doctor Who concepts, and the LEGO Review Board is evaluating them," the blog says. "We'll let you know when we decide whether or not one will be produced as a LEGO set." LEGO says it can take a while for the evaluation process, as each fan-submitted set must undergo the same kind of process that an official set would. LEGO must look at aspects of the submitted sets like playability, safety and how the set would fit with LEGO as a brand. Both sets could make it, or LEGO might decide Doctor Who doesn't mesh well with the LEGO brand and decide that neither set will make the cut. It's unclear how long it will be before fans get word about the Doctor Who sets, but LEGO already has the next batch of six idea projects lined up for consideration. Undergoing review next will be projects like a new Batman Wayne Manor set, a recreation of the Hubble Space telescope and a LEGO version of Pixar's WALL-E. Doctor Who, BBC, Big Bang Theory, Lego, Lego Ideas
The Lego Movie hits theaters today, bringing together yellow-brick remixes of a range of licensed characters wider than we’ve seen since Wreck-It Ralph. Sadly, though, some of the best characters in pop culture aren’t family-movie-friendly. But why should that stop design-minded gamers and cinephiles from creating homebrew versions? It shouldn’t—and more importantly, it hasn’t. Emboldened by Lego’s decision to embrace a mashed-up multiverse, we’re taking the opportunity to draw some attention to some pretty incredible work by some pretty incredible bricketects. (Do you like that? We made it up just now. Feel free to run with it.) Here, then, is some serious eye candy in the form of the coolest concepts and fan builds you won’t find in the official Lego Movie. Breaking Bad’s Super Meth Lab You can’t say that Breaking Bad isn’t perfect for a Lego playset: It’s got a self-contained environment, distinctive (and easily simplifiable) characters, and a lot of cool scientific equipment and gadgets that seem custom made for Lego.
Luckily, Citizen Brick has made this awesome custom Superlab playset, complete with carefully non-trademarked epithets. Unfortunately, it’s a) $500 and b) sold out. But yet, somewhere out there, tiny plastic men are hard at work cooking their tiny plastic meth. Normally Chris McVeigh’s Lego fun involves playing with individual characters and props (the things he does with Stormtroopers are pretty stellar). But last year as part of a build-it-yourself series for holiday decorations, he made this “very peculiar Police Box.” (Or, you know, TARDIS.) Want to make one yourself? McVeigh posted instructions here. The Ad Men and Women of Mad Men “After becoming aware of, and amused by, the many tiny suits available for Lego minifigures and getting absorbed by the TV show Mad Men, I set myself a side project of recreating the characters with existing Lego pieces,” writes UK cartoonist Adam Cadwell. The result is a nice juxtaposition of family-friendly PG Legos with the hard-R world of Sterling Cooper Draper Pryce Whatever.
Hard-drinking, adulterous, unstable characters are so much more charming when they’re adorable little plastic people, no? A Normandy SR2 from Mass Effect 2 When it comes to ship builds, Ben Caulkins is a master. His Halo Covenant Assault Carrier is breathtaking, but this sleek and intricate Normandy SR2 from Mass Effect 2 is particularly fetching. Lego’s always gone hand-in-hand with science fiction, so this one might be less of a stretch than the others — but is there any better platform for a fully customizable Commander Shepard? The Testing Chamber from Portal 2 This Portal 2 set isn’t an actual build — it was pitched to Lego Cuusoo, Lego’s user-submission site. The proposed set included all the minifigs, settings, and set dressing you’d expect — Chell, GLaDOS, turrets, and, of course, Lego companion cubes — but the real feather in its cap was a fully modular testing chamber, which would have been a match made in heaven for Lego. Alas, while it earned well over the required 10,000 supports, it was nixed in the Review Phase for unspecified reasons, which is a shame, because it would have been awesome.
Dr. Loveless’ Mechanical Spider from Wild Wild West I never expected to describe it as “a shame” that the generally terribleWild Wild West movie is unlikely to make its way into the Lego universe, but Imagine Rigney‘s (yes, that’s his real name) Lego reimainging of villain Dr. Arliss Loveless’s giant spider mechs is awesome enough to give me second thoughts. Video Bonus: The Last of Us (Below) Given that Naughty Dog’s dark post-apocalyptic game has swept the shops and awards this season, the obvious next step for The Last of Us is a Lego remake, courtesy of the creator behind the (sadly not real) Breaking Bad videogame. I didn’t realize before watching this that there is an empty place in my heart exactly the size and shape of tiny Lego Joel shivving a tiny Lego clicker, but there you have it. >> iPhone 7 review Fully Charged: Doctor Who Lego, Virgin Media's 152Mb broadband and the solar charger you wear on your wrist Virgin Media wristband records the shows you miss when...