Swiss Ghostbusters statement on the upcoming Firehouse set
We all looking forward to the new LEGO Ghostbusters Firehouse set that is coming in early 2016 but it isn’t without its controversies, firstly it’s listed on as a LEGO Ideas set, yet Firehouse Ideas projects got rejected by LEGO and secondly the similiarities to Sergio’s Ideas version are that many it’s hard not to assume that LEGO Designer Marcos Bessa hasn’t based the official set on Sergio’s. The fact both Sergio’s and the official one are based on both movies only intensifies the debate.
Well to add fuel to the fire, not only has Sergio posted his own views about how things have transpired, his visit to LEGO and meeting with Ideas team but also an official email from LEGO replying to his concerns, you can read the entired statement over on their site by clicking here.
But here is the highlights; Sergio states he is happy about the release but also very very disappointed that LEGO didn’t contact me or Brent about that. For him he feels like a wrong and unfair move from such a professional company, in June 2015 hr met the Lego Ideas guys in Denmark but they didn’t mention anything about the upcoming set and questions why given the fact he was their about his firehouse they didn’t make him sign an NDA to explain.
This is reply he got back from LEGO; “We debated whether to share this news with you early during your visit to Billund in June, however we chose not to do so in accordance with our confidentiality policy. You’re correct in noting that we could have employed an NDA, and we sincerely regret not making the extra effort to share the confidential news of the upcoming set.
75827 Firehouse Headquarters was developed independently of any LEGO Ideas submission depicting the firehouse, and is a result of the ongoing relationship we have with SONY Pictures. Our LEGO designers planned and created the set by referencing the Ghostbusters film and through collaboration with the studio.
LEGO Ideas Guidelines state that projects based on current LEGO licenses are likely to be similar to concepts already in our product pipeline. By agreeing to our Guidelines and submitting a project, LEGO Ideas members acknowledge that any overlap or coincidence is unintentional; and that our pre-existing product pipeline supersedes fan-submitted LEGO Ideas projects. See specific guidelines here. We appreciate that your note is based less on this question and more around the fact that we didn’t share with you that it was already in development.
As a gesture of our sincere regret for not making the right effort to share this news with you in advance, we would like to send you a gift copy of 75827 Firehouse Headquarters when it releases in January.”
Sergio then goes on to say it leaves a bitter taste when he looks at both buildings next to each other and he see’s a lot of similarities. In particular considering that both built a hybrid between both Ghostbusters movies. This seems too much of a coincidence to him.
Below is Sergio’s version and the right is the official one coming next year, do you thing Sergio has a reason to be a little miffed at LEGO or do you think they planned for this soon as Ecto-1 was a hit?
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It is unfortunate, but any creation based on a film will likely see many similarities without there necessarily being copying. After all, the set is ‘copied’ from a film. The interiors are likely to tell a story one way or the other.
I imagine the Ghostbuster licence would have been picked up wholesale with the Ecto-1 release but a set of such size as the HQ is a hell of a gamble; that Ideas showed interest by 10000 people might have been the push it needed to go into production. And that interest has come solely from the Ideas submission.
Worldwide market research for the price of a new HQ set? Lego have certainly got a bargain there and I feel Sergio probably has a right to feel pretty burned by what’s happened.
IMO clearly ripped off but LEGO had already acquired the license by the time this reached the 10,000 so they were always going to not give credit tk the ideas project!
Just gives LEGO a bad name and will no doubt stop certain people uploading projects! It destroys the whole concept but i love the project so will be buying!
Hmmm I think there was bound to be similarities and the sets do look different enough to me (lets see what the interiors like), however I know I would be SUPER annoyed if I was in Sergio’s position so I can certainly sympathise. But hey a free $350 set isn’t a bad apology…note LEGO never actually apologised in there email, just a lot of “regret”.
If the the inside is as close a match to the outside then its a terrible apology.