LEGO Stronghold

[Jarren Harkema]

Here is something else to think about with this project. This is purely an analysis of the timeline for a project like this. My opinions about this project are irrelevant to this post.

The latest LEGO ideas kit is this awesome marble maze.

Here is the project timeline:

The project met the 10000 voters needed by the January 2015 deadline. Project deadlines occur about 3 times a year. This way the projects that cross the threshold are grouped together for evaluation.

The project was approved in May 2015. Many good projects were rejected, including a Goonies set celebrating the movie's 30th anniversary, and a reasonably scaled Minis Tirith from Lord of the Rings. Both of these projects have a large following from outside the "LEGO community", but neither advanced beyond the review stage. This could be because of licensing terms, or a market evaluation to determine interest. LEGO does not release the details on why a project is rejected.

Official product images of the Marble Maze were released in March 2016 with the official launch in April 2016.

This means from the project reaching 10000 votes to the project becoming an official event took 16 months. Following this timeline, LEGO FIRST Stronghold would be released in January 2018.

Just some food for thought. How can this be marketed in such a way to make it relevant a season and a half from now?