The Best LEGO Ideas 10k Finalists – September 2023 Review Stage

LEGO Ideas has been a theme since 2008 (after starting life as LEGO CUUSOO). What makes this collection of releases so special is that all the official sets began as MOCs, created by passionate LEGO collectors and builders, before being selected for official production by LEGO.

The idea of an incentivised community-supported build competition continues to strike a chord with the fanbase, resulting in hundreds of entries submitted each year. We all remember growing up with a box of assorted bricks and creating weird and wacky creations. Now, AFOLs who have refined their construction skills over several decades have the ideal platform to share their work, with the chance of seeing their vision become the real thing.

What Is The LEGO Ideas Selection Process?

LEGO Ideas currently has three stages – submission, review, and production. The submission stage runs throughout the year, whereby anyone can submit their models online. The ultimate goal of every project is to hit 10,000 supporters so that it will reach the next stage.

The main review stage occurs three times a year, although there are often other one-off LEGO IDEAS challenges taking place, usually based on a specific subject such as Lord of the Rings or Dungeons & Dragons. During this time, an official team of LEGO judges will pick out any sets they deem worthy of entering official production.

Fans who see their sets enter production will receive 1% royalties of any sales of the set. There are also consolation prizes for anyone reaching the review stage.

LEGO Ideas September 2023 Review Stage

Voting has closed on the latest batch of entries, with 39 fan-made ideas set to be considered for production.

Check out the entries for yourself online, or join us as we pick out four of our favourite submissions below!

The Krusty Krab!

By Lanko

The Krusty Krab! Come spend your money here! Fans of the early 2000’s Nickelodeon American animated comedy series SpongeBob SquarePants will love this faithful recreation of The Krusty Krab fast food restaurant in the underwater city of Bikini Bottom.

This Ideas submission presents a new-and-improved version of a previous design, with more minifigures and intricate details. The minifigures, including favourite characters like SpongeBob, Squidward, Patrick and Mr Krabs, are instantly recognisable thanks to the LEGO pieces used. The set is constructed from 2,824 brick elements and includes many fun hidden references, such as “Squidward spells” graffitied inside the dumpster.

The restaurant (located inside a repurposed lobster trap in the cartoon) is recreated in brick-built form with internal details such as the kitchen, employee of the month photo and more. It’s great to see the builder of this LEGO Ideas entry attempt to build on their previous effort, and we wish them luck. The world needs a SpongeBob LEGO set!

Jumanji Game Board

By Airbricks95

Our regular blog readers will know by now that we’re suckers for anything that takes us back to the 90s.

This nostalgic brick model of the gaming box from 1996’s Jumanji is beautifully decorated with jungle-themed elements, including foliage on the lid and references to creatures and characters from the cursed gaming world, such as Van Pelt the hunter, the rhinoceros, and an elephant.

The box opens out to reveal the gaming board, constructed using micro-scale elements to mark out the squares and four player figurines sitting in each corner. We love the inclusion of the gaming dice and the gold hinges which hold the box together. The whole model feels like an antique, which is precisely the point.

Trojan Horse

By Daytona

The Trojan Horse is a staple of Greek mythology, which has become a term in modern culture to represent something (such as a computer virus) that sneaks past someone’s defences disguised as a good thing.

The original horse was a giant statue built by the Greek army during the 10-year siege of Troy, a mainly fictional event chronicled in Homer’s epic poetic account of the ancient world, The Iliad. The Trojans, believing the Greeks had abandoned the siege, took the statue inside the city as an offering to the gods. Little did they know, Greek soldiers were hidden inside the horse, ready to take the city from within.

The model reminds us of the version from the climax of the 2004 film epic Troy, with the horse constructed from reclaimed wood and boat sections taken from the ravaged Greek navy. This LEGO build is a truly eye-catching piece that should prove popular with fans of mythology, and we could certainly see it gracing the desks of a few university history lecturers. The LEGO build includes several famous hero’s in minifigure form, including Odysseus and Achilles, clocking in at 2,700 pieces.

The Very Hungry Caterpillar

By Lyonsblood

Now that we’ve seen this fun build, we have to admit that we are surprised LEGO has not created something similar before. The Very Hungry Caterpillar by Eric Carle is a children’s literary classic which most of us remember reading when we were young – perfect material for a brick-built model.

The designer stated that they wanted to create a LEGO Ideas model that would appeal to kids and nostalgic adults alike. We think this model achieves that, with plenty of educative and display potential – can you think of a better set to decorate a library or classroom?

The model uses clever segmented body sections held together with ball hinges so the caterpillar can twist and move like the real thing. We also love the addition of the five fruits from the book, all with a suspicious hole left by the hungry insect…