Nine LEGO Ideas projects that stand a great chance in the first 2023 review

From Shrek to Parks and Rec, here are nine different LEGO Ideas projects that stand a great chance in the record-breaking first 2023 review.

A total of 71 different LEGO Ideas projects are vying to become an official set in the first review phase of 2023, which is a new record for the crowdsourcing platform. (The previous title holder was the first 2021 review, which featured a whopping 57 projects.) But thanks to minor obstacles like production capacity and finite resources, not all of them will get the green light from the LEGO Ideas review board.

We reckon there’s a good chance at least a handful will, though – potentially enough to make this a double record-breaking review, smashing past the first 2022 review’s four new sets – and from the full list of 71 projects, these nine look like they have the best chance of making the cut.

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9 – Shrek’s Swamp

2024 marks the 20th anniversary of the original Shrek film, and we all know how much the LEGO Group loves an anniversary. But if it does choose to produce a LEGO Shrek set to celebrate, it will be in the rare position of having two different (but surprisingly similar) projects to choose from in the first 2023 review. Both Ashnflash and danielbradleyy have taken Shrek-inspired submissions to the same review phase, and both builds depict the same segment of the ogre’s swamp. Either or both would work well.

8 – Baby Green Sea Turtle – Kinetic

If there’s one thing you can say for LEGO Ideas, it’s that it’s still finding fresh concepts to bring to the table in 2023, almost 50 sets in. (The latest, 21340 Tales of the Space Age, is proof of that.) And QuaintWolf082’s Baby Green Sea Turtle would definitely fulfil that criteria, with a huge, buildable sea creature situated atop a stand decorated to resemble the ocean floor. The best part? The front and rear flippers can realistically flap by turning a crank in the base.

7 – Brooklyn Nine-Nine: 99th Precinct

For as much as the LEGO Ideas theme continues to innovate, though, there is one format it’s revisited again and again over the years: sitcoms. The most recent effort arrived in late 2022 in 21336 The Office, and the reception to that set suggests this genre hasn’t been fully exhausted yet. Ben Fankhauser’s Brooklyn Nine-Nine: 99th Precinct feels like another home run waiting to happen, but it’s not the only sitcom set hoping to get the green light this round…

6 – Parks and Recreation

Based on a show arguably cut from the same cloth as Brooklyn Nine-Nine, SJs Workshop’s Parks and Recreation offers another office building filled with recognisable characters and details. Perhaps the only thing standing in the way of either of these projects is their direct similarity (at least in format) to 21336 The Office, but who knows – that set might be on the brink of retirement by the time either (or both) of these land on shelves.

5 – CATAN – The Game

LEGO and board games have been pretty good bedfellows over the years, but a direct recreation of an existing game – and one as iconic as CATAN, no less – is something we’ve yet to see properly attempted by the LEGO Group. Christoph Ruge’s brick-built version of the strategy game comes on the cusp of its 30th anniversary in 2025, and not long after the tragic passing of designer Klaus Teuber on April 1 this year. What better time to honour the classic game in bricks?

4 – E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial

LEGO Ideas is no stranger to artwork (hello, 21333 Vincent van Gogh – The Starry Night), but Marcos Garavelli’s framed poster of Spielberg’s 1982 classic E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial feels different enough to Truman Cheng’s 2022 set to get the green light. It’s an out-of-this-world concept brought to life by minifigures – the silhouetted Elliot and E.T. in front of the moon – and comes together in just 1,550 pieces, so wouldn’t break the bank. Shame we’ve just missed the movie’s 40th anniversary, though.

3 – LEGO Astronaut: Never Give Up

Speaking of Truman Cheng: the designer behind The Starry Night is back with another 10K project in LEGO Astronaut: Never Give Up, which recreates NASA’s Extravehicular Mobility Unit spacesuit in 927 pieces. The success of 21309 NASA Apollo Saturn V (and its relaunch 92176 NASA Apollo Saturn V) should give the Ideas team plenty of cause to pursue this brick-built figure, which again offers something brand new for the crowdsourcing theme.

2 – The Iron Giant

José María has already joined the exclusive club of successful LEGO Ideas designers with his Insects project, which is currently in production. But his towering recreation of The Iron Giant feels just as worthy of joining the official LEGO line-up – especially as it’s turning 25 years old in 2024. The iconic grey giant, lifted straight from the 1999 movie, stands on a display plinth complete with a minifigure of Hogarth Hughes.

1 – Welcome to Narnia: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe 75th anniversary set

You’ve probably noticed that a good chunk of the projects we’ve picked out here are hooked to anniversaries – and with good reason. The community has clearly identified it as a means to getting approved, and the same can be said for Reepicheep90077, whose colourful Narnia build skyrocketed to 10,000 votes in a little under two months. The 75th anniversary of C.S. Lewis’s original novel isn’t until 2030, but that just means there’s plenty of time for the LEGO Group to take it through production.

Check out the full list of LEGO Ideas projects in the first 2023 review here, and let us know in the comments which ones you’re hoping to see make the cut. Based on previous review schedules, we’ll probably find out the full results in October.

In the meantime, click here for a full list of every LEGO Ideas set currently in production.

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