One of the best things about Lego is that anyone can pick up a handful of bricks and build something incredible.
With that in mind, the Lego Ideas program allows any Lego fan to design their own Lego set and upload them to the Lego Ideas platform. There it can be viewed by the public, where it will be voted on. If a set receives 10,000 votes, it will be put in front of a panel of Lego judges, who will ultimately decide whether it will be made into a real boxed Lego set or not.
Thousands of set proposals are uploaded to Lego Ideas every year, but only a handful are made. So it’s a tough call, with rejection being the most likely outcome, but there are currently three space-based Lego Ideas sets that have really caught our attention. Two of them have already reached 10,000 views and one of them is well on its way, so we’re keeping our fingers crossed that at least one of these sets will one day hit our shelves as a real copy.
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The Martian
The Martian was designed by Lego Ideas user Mr Sci-Fi and is the first and only set he has ever submitted to the platform. It was submitted in December 2023 and has already amassed 3,879 supporters, along with the coveted ‘staff pick’ award. And with a year and a half to go to reach 10,000 votes, we’d say the odds are in Mr. Sci-Fi’s favor to reach that all-important 10,000 milestone.
In case you couldn’t guess, the set idea is based on The Martian, the 2015 sci-fi film starring Matt Damon. Along with his one minifigure of Mark Watney, he comes with a MAV rocket, a Mars rover and an artificial habitat where Watney grows a potato farm.
Those familiar with The Martian will appreciate Mr Sci-Fi’s little touches: there’s a calendar, in which Watney keeps track of how long he’s been on Mars, a laptop filled with disco music, and an airlock door held together with duct tape. . We love seeing clever, intricate details like this in Lego sets.
Will The Martian be made into a real Lego set? At this point there’s no way to know. It seems likely that it will reach at least 10,000 votes, after which it will be judged by a panel of Lego judges. You can add your own voice to the mix and track progress on The Martian’s Lego Ideas page.
NASA’s Space Launch System: To the Moon and Mars
What’s special about this Space Launch System set is that it was designed by a 15-year-old. Kansas native William Butterworth – also known by his Lego Ideas handle, NASA RocketBuilder – first submitted the concept to the Lego Ideas platform in August 2022.
A year later, in August 2023, it had reached the milestone of 10,000 supporters and is currently under review at Lego. Along with 48 other entries, it will be judged by a Lego team to determine whether it is eligible to be made into a commercial set. &
Not surprisingly, Butterworth says his favorite Lego set ever is the Lego Ideas Saturn V, and it’s not hard to see the inspiration here in the scale and design of the SLS, NASA’s flagship rocket for its Artemis program. He has been a lifelong NASA fan, so building a NASA-inspired model was a natural.
While we should know the results of the review Butterworth is part of soon, it’s hard to know if it will be approved. Typically, Lego only approves one or two sets from each review wave. The Saturn V on which it is based used to be indeed a Lego Ideas entry, which is promising, but Lego has Artemis-based sets as part of its City range, so may not want to revisit the concept.
Read William Butterworth’s 10K Club interview on Lego Ideas to learn more about him and his set design.
Kerbal Space Program – Modular ship system
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28-year-old Sam Haughton from Cornwall, England, is the designer of the Kerbal Space Program – Modular Ship System. Also known by his Lego Ideas handle Sam67c. He submitted the idea in May 2023 and by July he had already reached 10,000 supporters. That’s a very quick thing – and it’s currently in the same review batch as William Butterworth’s SLS above.
Based on the popular Kerbal Space Program video game, Haughton’s set is modular in design, allowing users to design their own ship. There is a standard version or designs of 40 other “mini versions” to choose from, providing a fantastic amount of customization.
Interestingly enough, as Haughton explains in his 10K club interview on the Lego Ideas blog, the original idea for the set came from him using Lego to create a short animation about Kerbal Space Program 2. After building all the parts he needed for his animation, he realized he had a potential Lego Ideas entry on his hands.
It’s clear that the target audience here is people who are fans of the Kerbal Space Program games, but even for those who aren’t, it’s clear to see the appeal. Building our own modular rockets sounds terribly neat, and since Lego doesn’t have anything comparable – unless you count the brand new modular space station – we’d say it has the potential to be selected as a real set. But we’ll have to wait to know for sure.