LEGO Ideas: Tetris, Space Rocket, Iron Giant and Mini Projector chosen

Tintin's rocket, the giant from space, Tetris and an image projector managed to collect 10,000 votes on the LEGO Ideas platform in the last week of June 3 to 9, 2024. Although we couldn't present you with any models last week, this time we have four concepts that will enter the second evaluation phase in 2024 and will be examined by us. Let's go to the moon first!

Tintin – Space Rocket

Facts about the design

• Title: Tintin – Space Rocket
• Fan Designer: tkel86
• Days: 658
• Minifigures: 0
• Number of parts: 1,675

The Space Rocket is a replica of the famous rocket that Tim and his companions travel to the moon in. Just like in the comic Tintin - Journey to the Moon, an attempt has been made to depict the launch tower and the rocket as accurately as possible on a slightly smaller scale than the minifigure, so that they are not too big and can easily be placed on a desk. or on a shelf.

The famous Space Rocket of Tintin & Struppi is legendary. But I think that without Tintin as minifigures on the set the landscape is a bit lost. The comics were already implemented as series and movies in the 90s; No new episodes are expected , since no new comics have followed since the death of the Belgian cartoonist Hergé (1907–1983). Will LEGO like the realization of the rocket? I almost doubt it.

The giant from space

Facts about the design

Title: The Iron Giant in the Forest
Fan Designer: hachiroku24
Days: 141
Minifigures: 1
Number of parts:
The Iron Giant model has no joints at all on the legs and hips, but the upper half (torso, arms, hands, head, mouth) is fully articulated and almost any pose is possible. The previous design was built with articulated legs, but This made the model too complex and less stable and therefore the giant was placed on a pedestal.

The base is inspired by the forest and autumn setting of the film. It has an elliptical black frame, a dark brown floor and some foliage. There are also three trees that help illustrate the size of the Iron Giant. The base features the iconic S symbol (which can also be attached to the Iron Giant), Hoggart and the red car he used as a rocket when playing with the Iron Giant.

A few giant designs were already included in the Ideas Review: The Iron Giant and the improved 20th Anniversary version of BrettCuv, as well as the previous model of this design. The Mata Nui, based on the Bionicle series, also made it into the review. All designs have been rejected so far. I don't think this giant design has a chance.

Tetris

Facts about the design

Title: Tetris Solid
Fan Designer: victorvey300
Days: 83
Minifigures: 0
Number of parts:
Tetris is a tetromino puzzle video game developed by Alexey Pajitnov in 1985. Since then, the game has gained worldwide popularity for decades: CTWC, Guinness World Records, and the game's 40th anniversary were postponed in January of this year.

Bringing a digital game with LEGO bricks to the physical world was a challenge, so a new game with modified rules was needed: Tetris Solid. The goal is simple: get the highest score on the leaderboard. The player must stack as many shapes as possible on the grid, while maintaining a solid structure without holes. If the player encounters a hole, he must end the game and enter the leaderboard with a colored round tile.

The playing surface is a physical slider mechanism that determines which shapes are selected from the container. The hold function allows you to carefully consider where the selected shape will land on the matrix grid. The continue function gives the advantage of seeing an upcoming form. The reset function is a door hinge function supported by four blue rubber bands and the 24 figures can be carried effortlessly. When the game is over, the player presses down the red "reset" lever on the left side of the grid, which activates the hinge mechanism. This causes all the figures to fall back into the container.

There are 24 items in total, in seven shapes: I, O, T, J, L, S, and Z. Each shape is supported by four ball joints, allowing the shape to be rotated to any four angles before falling into one of the ten vertical slots. The grid consists of ten vertical slots and sixteen horizontal rows; the scoreboard (on the right) shows the best lists.

In short, I would always say that games don't have a chance to have ideas. But Dungeons & Dragons also managed to be realized as a set in collaboration with Target. And since Tetris is one of the most famous and popular games of all time, I can certainly imagine that Tetris has a chance. But will it work with the new rules? I'm not sure about this. Still, I think the idea is fantastic.

Projector

Facts about the design

Title: Working image projector “Magic Lantern”
Fan Designer: Norders
Days: 610
Minifigures: 0
Number of parts: 513
In the days before television, before moving pictures and even before the invention of the spotlight, a Dutch scientist invented a magic machine that could change the images before your eyes. It thrilled the audience at the time and became known as Laterna Magica or magic lantern.

400 years later, there is now the LEGO version. However, Laterna Magica does not use candles, gas or quicklime as a light source, but something much more modern that everyone has in their pocket: the flashlight on their mobile phone.

The mini projector is built on a scale of about 1:3 of the original. Two lenses in the base of the lantern concentrate the light rays emitted by the phone's flash. This means that the spread light rays are bundled in such a way that they form a parallel form bundle path.

A single lens is used as the projection lens. The slides have to be placed upside down, because the projection lens reflects the image from top to bottom and from left to right. Because the projection lens is only 1 cm in diameter, making the slides was a bit of a puzzle. The images have to be slightly smaller than the lens, in this case about 8 mm. This resulted in small images of 1200 dpi on acetate with a black background. The dark background increases the contrast with the image.

On a clear day, hold the lens against a wall opposite a window. The distance from the wall is determined at which the external image appears sharp: this is the focal length of the lens. If you now move the lantern away from the wall, the image becomes larger (but fainter). In a darkened room, the images projected by the lantern are large, bright and colorful, so that from a few meters away the projection is almost a meter in diameter.

I find the implementation of this mini projector made of LEGO bricks quite exciting. Above all, you can learn how a projector works. I also find it interesting to use modern technology in the form of cell phone lights in combination with the old projector.