LEGO Ideas project hits 10K for the third time – but looks less likely than ever to pass review

16/02/202416/02/2024 Chris Wharfe 4243 Views 0 Comments

A clockwork LEGO solar system model has just reached 10,000 votes for the third time on LEGO Ideas – but it looks less likely than ever to pass through the review stage.

Chris Orchard and Brent Waller’s collaborative Clockwork Solar System has already been rejected by the LEGO Ideas review board in the third 2021 review and the second 2022 review, but the dynamic duo – steadfast in their ambition to get the green light – resubmitted the model again in February 2023. Almost a year to the day later, it’s now racked up 10,000 votes once again.

That means it passes into the first 2024 review, but the deck is stacked against this mechanical model more than ever. Not only has the LEGO Ideas team expressed a desire to see changes to resubmitted projects – of which there are none here – but the LEGO Technic theme is on the brink of launching something very similar in concept in 42179 Planet Earth and Moon in Orbit.

Orchard and Waller’s working orrery goes above and beyond the scope of that LEGO Technic model, packing in the entire solar system with orbital timing accurate to 99.8%, but it’s difficult to see the LEGO Group finding space for both on shelves (even if 42179 Planet Earth and Moon in Orbit would likely be nearing retirement by the time this set actually released).

Still, you never know: it’s not like we’ve never seen two very similar LEGO sets on shelves at once. (Here’s looking at you, Artoo.) We’ll find out either way when the first LEGO Ideas 2024 review results are announced later this year.

Every LEGO Ideas project in the first 2024 review

Number	LEGO Ideas project	LEGO Ideas user	Date qualified
1	Spirited Away	legotruman	January 10, 2024
2	Appa the Sky Bison, from Avatar the Last Airbender	Yarrostudios	January 10, 2024
3	Venus Flytrap	Bricky_Brick	January 11, 2024
4	Minerals Display	ddf72	January 12, 2024
5	Dreamworks’ Shrek’s Swamp 2	AshnFlash	January 12, 2024
6	Hello Kitty and Friends – 50 Years	Bulldoozer	January 16, 2024
7	Dr. Seuss’s The Grinch	BenBuilds	January 19, 2024
8	Medieval Tournament	hello_zol	January 24, 2024
9	Among Us: The Skeld	BrickRealm101	January 25, 2024
10	Cherry Blossom Ikebana	Brickcea	January 28, 2024
11	Roman Forum	Krackenator4	February 1, 2024
12	The Wizard of Oz – 85th Film Anniversary	The Wizard of Oz	February 3, 2024
13	Interstellar	Minibrick Productions	February 5, 2024
14	Working Suspension Railway	Baron von Barron	February 6, 2024
15	Metallica M72 World Tour	MetalliBrick	February 6, 2024
16	Suitcase Express!	UsualBuilder	February 7, 2024
17	Outer Wilds	Minibrick Productions	February 8, 2024
18	Medieval Inn by the Gatehouse	_nightbricks_	February 14, 2024
19	Clockwork Solar System	ChrisOrchard	February 14, 2024

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Chris Wharfe

I like to think of myself as a journalist first, LEGO fan second, but we all know that’s not really the case. Journalism does run through my veins, though, like some kind of weird literary blood – the sort that will no doubt one day lead to a stress-induced heart malfunction. It’s like smoking, only worse. Thankfully, I get to write about LEGO until then.