The Results of the Second 2022 LEGO Ideas Review
The official announcement on 8 Februrary, 2023.
Over the past months, the LEGO Review Board evaluated 51 stunning product ideas that reached 10,000 supporters between early May 2022 and early September 2022.
A big congratulations to all our 10K members for managing to get to this challenging milestone and becoming eligible for review. Our review board really enjoyed reviewing the wide variety of submissions but as always had to make some tough decisions.
We currently have 9 fan creations that are in development, launching at different points in the future. On top of that we just recently revealed the stunning A-Frame Cabin by Andrea Lattanzio. We’re delighted to add several new LEGO Ideas creations to that list today!
And those LEGO Ideas creations are…
Drumroll… And the successful creations are…
Red London Telephone Box and The Nightmare Before Christmas!
Looks like Armada Port has failed the review, but let’s not feel too fearsomely cutthroat, 48 other 10K submissions also didn’t pass the review.
Good thing us LEGO Pirate Fans never surrender!
If you’re looking for more Pirate-themed fort submissions to support on LEGO Ideas, check out:
- “Island Of The Imperial Soldiers” by Wolf King
- “Imperial Island Outpost” by Blej
- “Lostmans Island” by PirateTales
51 Product Ideas Qualify for the Second 2022 LEGO Ideas Review
That’s quite a selection of entries!
It’s official, Armada Port has entered the review phase.
This morning, we closed the latest review qualification round with a massive 51 submissions reaching the 10,000 supporter milestone and qualifying for the Second 2022 Review.
These 51 product ideas have hit the 10,000 supporter milestone between the months of early May 2022 and today’s review qualification date, the 5th of September 2022. Congratulations to all 10K members who’ve made it to this milestone!
Product Ideas hitting 10,000 supporters after today’s deadline will be eligible for the next review period instead which starts on the 2nd of January, 2023.
We look forward to celebrating our 10K Club members through the 10K Club Interview series, which will kick-off as soon as we’ve announced the First 2022 review results.
Have a favourite or perhaps multiple favourites? Let us know in the comments what you’re hoping will make it through this review.
A whopping 51 entries in total but Armada Port is the only pirate-themed submission – unless you count THE GOONIES 360°.
It also should be noted that BrickHammer has a second 10K submission “Viking Village” in the same LEGO Ideas Review so it will be interesting to see if this has any effect on the outcome.
Read more about it on the official LEGO Ideas blog.
LEGO Ideas Team’s Official Announcement
An announcement has been made, so here is an except containing all the vital details:
Congratulations on 10,000 supporters, BrickHammer!
Hi BrickHammer,
Congratulations on once again reaching the 10,000 supporter milestone! What an achievement it is!
We now officially advance this project to the Review phase.
The LEGO Review Begins in September 2022
This project qualifies for the Second 2022 Review, which includes projects that reach 10,000 supporters between early May 2022 and early September 2022. For more information about the LEGO review process, please see the Project Guidelines and House Rules.
We will post follow-up information and our decision here.
You can read the complete announcement in the Official LEGO Comments on the Armada Port submission webpage.
Support Achieved!
Support has been achieved! Now we await the LEGO Ideas Team’s official comment…
Thank you to everyone who took their time to support this wonderful creation! Visit the LEGO Ideas project page to see the result for yourself, or continue reading this blog post for more news, images and behind the scenes commentary from BrickHammer.
Seven times LEGO Ideas 10K Club Member, BrickHammer has returned with yet another stunning creation, “Armada Port“!
This seaside stronghold has already attracted more than 9,000 6,300 supporters and has more than 700 days remaining, giving it a decent phenomenally good shot at reaching 10K supporters.
So let’s make it happen! Let’s all unite and tell The LEGO Group it’s time to release a brand new Pirate-themed set! It’s been more than two years, after all!
March over to the LEGO Ideas project page and click the SUPPORT button right now! And then leave a comment while you’re at it! Or continue reading this blog post for exclusive commentary from BrickHammer about the build.
BrickHammer writes:
Pirates and buccaneers beware!
Too long have you preyed on weak and unprotected merchant ships! Too long have you raided small Caribbean Islands and ports! Too long have you roamed the seven seas without meeting any real resistance! Now you will have to face the justice of the mighty Imperial Armada!
This “Armada Port” is an homage to the beloved 90s Imperial Armada pirates subtheme, which only ever got a single fort like structure! While sets like the “Eldorado Fortress” were clearly based on the British Empire, this all new design uses elements of real life Caribbean architecture to pay tribute to the Spanish Armada while also trying to capture the spirit of Caribbean ports like Havana!
The Overview
BrickHammer has skillfully woven traditional Spanish-style architecture into the design, particularly the turret and tejas curvas roofing
This port is the stronghold the Imperial Armada deserves!
The back… What might be hidden in that cave? Spinoza’s coconut stash?
Here’s the floor plan
Not one, but THREE parrots!
The port is immaculately detailed and elevates the crane concept found in 6244 Armada Sentry to another level
The Build
The building can be separated into 9 pieces for easy access.
BrickHammer provides us with further details of his creation:
The build consists of a small Caribbean island complete with a bay, a rocky cliff, a cave, palm trees, parrots and a monkey. Despite the small size of the island, this Caribbean trading post consists of several interesting structures:
- A small wooden peer
- A crane
- A boat
- An open storehouse to store incoming goods
- A small residential house
- and the big Armada fort on the cliffs above the bay!
The fort itself consists of:
- The governor’s house, which contains a war room, a storage for treasure, an armoury and bunk beds for the port’s garrison,
- and a bastion with cannons and a bell to sound the alarm in case of a pirate attack!
The “Armada Port” consists of 2980 pieces including 3 parrots, a monkey and 4 minifigures:
- The port’s governor
- An Armada guard
- An Armada sailor
- and a female merchant!
Length: 38 cm.Width: 38 cm.Height: 24 cm.
Looks cozy! But it seems a little too small for old Cannonball Cordoba
Is this Don Diego de LEGO, leader of the Imperial Armada, 25 years later?
Labonita Legola just finished drinking sangria lemonade…
The Design Process
BrickHammer explains how he arrived at the final design:
After my first LEGO IDEAS submission “Imperial Island Fort“) was turned down I immediately started to plan a redesign of the project. I always start my designs with a very clear vision in my head and for this redesign I had two major goals: 1. I wanted to make the design a lot more colourful and 2. I wanted to add as much depth and verticality as possible within the 3k parts limit of LEGO IDEAS. On top of that, instead of going back to the “old” red coats, who already had their big “Eldorado Fortress”, I decided to honour the legacy of the Armada faction which only ever received one bulding: The Armada Sentry!
I had started the project about a year ago but then put it on ice because I was not really happy with the results. At one point I just decided to move on to other designs and have created a couple of them since then. You can see the final result of my first attempt in the picture below. Even though this was far from finished it is clearly visible that the proportions and the over all layout would have looked super weird.
Brickhammer’s first attempt… which he wasn’t satisfied with
I then returned to the project in early May 2022 and finished it in about two weeks. My main hobby is martial arts and for some reason I keep injuring myself which then results in me having more time to build. In a way this project is thus brought to you by my broken rib! However, two weeks are a rather long time for me. Some of my projects were built within two or three days (even some of the ones that made it to 10k). The rendering usually takes a longer than the building!
To get a better feeling for the general shape of the island I used a couple of placeholders to determine the relative size and location of the different structures, as can be seen in the picture below:
A behind the scenes exclusive!
After I was satisfied with the results of the first couple of test renderings, I also made sure that the geography of the whole island was visually appealing from all angles and that there was a good mixture between 90 degree angles and odd angled elements, as can be seen from a bird’s eye view:
Helicopter Sea eagle view
Once, I was happy with the general shape I started to design the different buildings in detail. While the fortification and the smaller houses were quite easy to design, I struggled a lot with the design of the main building. Originally I had planned to include a big arch with a bell, but was unable to find a design that did not look like a church! In the end I decided to move the bell to the right outer wall and go for a more basic roof design, since I really did not want to make the building look like a chapel. You can see a couple of different variations for the roof structure below:
Armada Port version 2.0
And this one with a bell but no minfigs… Version 2.1
The Minifigs
The Imperial Armada minifigures never received names in the set packaging or retail catalogues. However, the Northern American, LEGO Mania Magazine and Shop At Home catalogues referred to the minifig with the bright red torso as “The Admiral”. The March/April 1996 issue of LEGO Mania Magazine held a contest to determine his name, offering “Billy Cannonball Cordoba” and “Don Diego de LEGO” as suggestions, along with a write-in option to allow participants to submit their own.
Minifig lineup – do we have Don Diego de LEGO®, Captain Valiant and Cannonball Cordoba? But who is the senorita?
But alas, the winning name was never announced! The July/August 1996 issue merely stated three names offered by fans; “Sir Sail-a-Lot”, “Don Juan DeMented” and “Chrislego Columbia”. So without a canonical designation, later magazines, catalogs and even video games continued referring to him as “The Admiral”.
Some sources state the UK Bricks ‘n Pieces Magazine named the minifig “Sergeant Speedy”. Although, the magazine’s narrative mentions this character springing to action at the “outpost”, which could be a reference to 6244 Armada Sentry, rather than any of the Imperial Armada minifigures onboard the Santa Cruz (6280 Armada Flagship).
The green torsoed Captain Valiant was also mentioned on the same page, only his name and dialogue was used in conjunction with the speech bubble above the minifigure speaking the same lines.
Not to worry, the Classic Pirates are happy put forth naming suggestions! Let’s give “Cannonball Cordoba” to the new soldier who doesn’t resemble any past Imperial Armada figures, and “Labonita Legola” to the stunning senorita.
But what do you think? Could these minfigures be given better names? Or should we honour the past and use what previous media has offered?
BrickHammer’s Closing Words:
They seem a bit confused… Imperial Guard flags instead of Imperial Armada flags?
I am really happy with how my “Armada Port” turned out! If you like it you can check it out on the LEGO IDEAS website!
If you have any questions please ask! I really appreciate criticism and feedback!
How Can I Help?
1. Support on LEGO Ideas
The very first thing you can do is support the submission on LEGO Ideas!
Click the Yellow Support Button
Just click on the Yellow Support Button:
- To the right of the main image on Desktop
- Beneath the main image on Mobile
2. Comment on LEGO Ideas
Write a comment on the project page and tell everyone why you think Armada Port will make a great set!
Commenting let’s LEGO.com know the project is popular, so recommend it to more people
Scroll down beneath the main image and click the Comments link.
You’ll need to be logged into your LEGO.com account to submit a comment. If you don’t have an account you’ll need to create one – it’ll be worth it!
Just be sure you read the House Rules before submitting anything!
3. Share on Social Media
One you’ve done that, share it to social media! Share to your friends or relevant LEGO Pirate groups.
Share from LEGO Ideas
You can share directly from the LEGO Ideas project page by clicking the Share Project link to the right of the main image.
Share straight from LEGO Ideas!
Share from Classic-Pirates.com
The Classic Pirates have made it easy for you. At the bottom of this post are some share buttons to each of the major Social Media platforms.
Make good use of these!
So scroll down and share to yer heart’s content!
If the answer is “No” get to the LEGO Ideas project page at once!
About the Builder…
BrickHammer specializes in digital builds within the Pirates and Castle theme and has achieved 10,000 supporters for SEVEN different LEGO Ideas projects. That’s right, 10,000 supporters for each of the the seven seas! To be dazzled by more of his fantastic builds, check out his Instagram, LEGO Ideas profile, and Eurobricks profile.
Now, have ye pledged yer support for this beautiful build? If not set a direct course to LEGO Ideas project page at once! Then tell us yer thoughts on Armada Port. Do you think it would make a worthy addition to the Imperial Armada subtheme? What do you like about it? Could there be improvements? What would you do differently if you were the builder?
Visit the LEGO Pirates Forum and share yer thoughts with the Classic Pirates!
