Prediction Results – Second 2019 LEGO Ideas Review

Last month we thought we’d have a little fun with the eleven LEGO Ideas proposals under consideration in the Second 2019 LEGO Ideas Review. So we posted a blog article where we predicted which set we thought should be – and would be – approved as LEGO sets. And then we threw in a third set as an honorable mention, mainly to call out another one of our favorite designs and to cover our bets in case the first two predictions did not pan out.

So how did we do? Given the inherently unpredictable nature of predicting LEGO Ideas winners, I have to say that we did pretty well. Let’s take a minute to look back at our predictions and compare them to the actual results.

Who Should Win – Medieval Blacksmith

I’m delighted to see that our “should win” prediction, the amazing Medieval Blacksmith by Namirob (aka Clemens Fiedler), turned out to be an actual winner. Medieval Blacksmith reminded us of a classic fan-favorite LEGO Ideas set, The Old Fishing Store. It represents everything that LEGO Ideas should be – an original design loosely based on a classic LEGO theme, from a designer who consistently turns out some truly stunning work. It’s a beautiful set proposal that won completely on its own merits and for that reason we now predict it will one day rank among the best sets to be released by LEGO Ideas.

Who Will Win – The Seven Dwarfs’ House

We were confident that one of the three Disney-inspired sets – The Seven Dwarfs’ House, Winner the Pooh, and The Haunted Mansion – would be approved as an official LEGO set. So confident, in fact, that we picked The Seven Dwarfs’ House over Medieval Blacksmith as our “will win” prediction. And while we were right about Disney, we were only wrong about the set. The winning honors went to Winnie the Pooh by benlouisa, aka Ben Alder. So we’re going to generously and humbly give ourselves half-credit for this prediction.

Our Conclusion

In a perfect world, all 11 designs would have been approved for production as official LEGO sets. But with an average of 3 reviews per year, and 10 to 12 sets under consideration for each review, it’s just not practical to release 30 or more LEGO Ideas sets each year. Tough decisions have to be made, and our respect goes out to both the fan designers who achieved 10,000 supporters just to reach this stage, and the team at LEGO Ideas who have to make the tough decisions on which sets are approved for production and which sets are not.

That being said, we’re very excited to see that two sets were approved for production in this review. In our opinion, LEGO split the difference with one “original” design and one “commercial” design, so there’s a little something for everyone. We can all feel a little upset that some of our favorite designs did not make it through, but we can also be excited for the two sets that were approved and we look forward to seeing them on the shelves of the LEGO Store in the future.