LEGO Ideas Test Lab sets are fan-designed – but you can't tell

Seven LEGO Ideas Test Lab models are available now via Pick a Brick and with two in hand, it's hard to distinguish them from official builds.

The first LEGO Ideas Test Lab sets have launched on LEGO.com. We've got a full guide on how you can get your hands on them that you can read by clicking here. These models are all designed using a selected palette of bricks by experienced LEGO Ideas users with little to no involvement from official LEGO designers.

However, based on our experience with Garden Dreams and Modular Racers, there's not much difference between these fan designs and official sets – an impressive feat considering the limited pieces available to make them.

Garden Dreams' concept is undoubtedly different from most of the LEGO Group's organic models, depicting a garden made of four sections that can be connected in a variety of ways. Few sets have attempted this, with the most recent being the upcoming 10315 Tranquil Garden and some of its included plants. But while it's tricky to compare Garden Dreams' modular layout to any one set, we can compare some of its individual builds to official LEGO models to see how they stack up instead.

Placed next to a similar, tree, fountain and flowers from both 30412 Park Picnic and 40236 Romantic Valentine Picnic, Garden Dreams' builds are undoubtedly similar, using familiar techniques in different ways. Whether it's the flowers placed near each other and other plants, the bar with multiple leaf elements at varying heights through the stud or the fountain's transparent dome placed the right way up rather than inverted, these solutions won't be alien to veteran LEGO fans.

Modular Racers is a slightly different story: the design of the cars is similar to vehicles from LEGO City, Marvel and other themes, and if you didn't know any better you'd think that they were official sets. However, it's their main feature that sets them apart.

Modular and customisable LEGO cars have taken a star role in recent LEGO City sets, but they typically use clips to hold pre-assembled sections in place before switching them around and between vehicles. In Modular Racers, fan designer Quinten has modules attached to a much simpler chassis via standard stud connections.

It has the same effect and is just as sturdy, but you'd never tell just by looking at the two cars in Modular Racers. That's a common trend across the two LEGO Ideas Test Lab models that we've got in-hand – and looking at the others, it seems likely to be the case with those too. They might cover more unfamiliar concepts, such as billboards and brick-built modular fish, but rest assured that these models are mostly indistinguishable from official sets.

Seven of the nine LEGO Ideas Test Lab sets are now on the official online store worldwide and we've got a comprehensive guide taking you through the full ordering process, which is more complicated than for other products.

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