A LEGO SUBMARINE

WE ALL LIVE IN A LEGO SUBMARINE

The LEGO Ideas platform can be the maker or breaker of dreams but for Yellow Submarine creator Kevin Szeto, it’s been a dream come true

Words: Lewis Matthews Photography: Kevin Szeto

For LEGO fans everywhere, the LEGO Ideas platform produces an exciting chance for you to become actively involved in the LEGO Group by voting for and creating your own ideas for future sets. It’s a wonderful and privileged experience to vote on community ideas and follow them as they make the nerve-wracking attempt to gain 10,000 votes. And it’s even better when an idea you love reaches that stage. When Kevin Szeto’s Yellow Submarine was announced as successfully making it through the review period, we at Bricks, myself particularly, became very excited. Surely for the first time, the LEGO Group would officially re-create a real-life band in brick form and who more appropriate to start with than the biggest band the world has ever seen: The Beatles. And how better to celebrate the pop culture icons than with their iconic psychedelic transportation that they used to get to Pepperland in the 1968 fantasy film, Yellow Submarine, as well as featuring in one of the songs of the criticallyacclaimed 1967 album, Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band. Today Bricks goes on a voyage of its own with Canadian engineer, long-time LEGO lover and creator of the next Ideas set, Kevin Szeto, who shares his experience of what it’s like to create a successful LEGO Ideas set.

“THE BEATLES WERE - AND INDEED STILL ARE - IMMENSELY POPULAR AND LOVED THROUGHOUT THE WORLD”

“I started as a fan of Space and Castlethemed sets before moving onto Technic but now my favourite sets to collect are Expert Creator and Ideas sets. I love Expert Creator sets because they often showcase ingenious use of parts and building techniques. However, I love Ideas sets because they are unique, one-of-akind creations that touch upon a subject matter which LEGO perhaps otherwise would not produce. So I’m completely over the moon that my design will be an official set. It’s all a little surreal.

“I have always been drawn to the music of The Beatles, especially being a musician and songwriter myself. The creation of the Yellow Submarine model was really just me showing my affection for the British band. The Yellow Submarine is bright, fun and colourful, which made it a good subject to translate into LEGO form. It is also instantly recognisable by many people, which made it easier to pique interest and garner support. I created the model using LEGO Digital Designer specifically as an Ideas submission and I did it digitally because I didn’t have all the requisite pieces at the time. So as a result, I was unable to build the physical model. Regarding the design of the minifigures, I based my designs on the respective likenesses of John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison and Ringo Starr as depicted in the Yellow Submarine poster and album cover. The torsos and faces were custom decals. Believe it or not, these decals were drawn using nothing but Microsoft Paint. I am sure there are more sophisticated tools for this task but, for me, there is something innately fun about doing things the basic way. Regarding the heads, I chose what I thought were the best hairpieces available in LEGO Digital Designer database for each Beatle. Note that the sideburns are part of the face decals and that George’s long hair is reflective of him from a slightly later era. I purposely did this to help distinguish him from the other members. Of the four minifigures, my favourites are definitely Ringo and Paul. Since making the project live, I have acquired the pieces, built the submarine and made a handful of tweaks but supporters voted for the digital renders of the actual model.

“The Yellow Submarine wasn’t my first submission and it won’t be my last. My very first submission to LEGO Ideas was a WALL-E robot from the Disney Pixar movie. Of course, another version went on to become an official Ideas set. My model had only 309 pieces and was about half the size but despite garnering less than 500 supporters, I was still very proud of this creation. It was the first model where I truly went over and above my usual attention to detail and complexity. Though I have since dismantled it to use the pieces for other projects, I still use the photo of WALL-E as my Ideas avatar and my Facebook profile photo. Since then, I have put 12 more ideas on the platform but the Yellow Submarine has been the most popular so far.

Kevin’s creation is both fun and a superb homage to the Fab Four

Designed with play and display in mind, the interior is accessible

Yet again, a demonstration of the importance of the LEGO Ideas platform

The Fab Four in their later, psychedelic phase...

“It gained over 100 supporters in the first day and after about three, it made it onto the ‘popular this week’ page. As it gained momentum, it was humbling to see it gaining positive feedback and comments. The momentum was kept up and it received a huge boost once it was featured on the ‘Staff Pick’ page in late July. That, combined with postings and tweets from LEGO Ideas Twitter and Facebook, meant the project kind of just took off on its own. I didn’t even do a last push myself! Between early August and early November when the model finally reached 10,000 supporters, the project stayed in the ‘Popular This Week’ section. Luckily for me, this exposure was enough to drive the project to 10,000 votes. During this period, I was spending my time on promoting other projects. It’s a subject matter that people know and love, given the popularity of the Beatles. If anything, I’m delighted to know that so many Beatles fans are also LEGO fans.

“At the time I submitted the project back in May 2015, I told myself that I would be really happy if it reached 1,000 supporters. None of my previouslysubmitted projects got past 500 supporters so I thought if I could double that, then I would have done well. Thanks to the Ideas ‘Weekly Digest’ updates, I was able to monitor and graph the progress of its number of supporters (I’m an engineer, after all). When it hit 10,000 supporters, I was of course ecstatic. Never in my wildest dreams did I expect to reach that milestone! My family, friends, and work colleagues were all very happy for me and I humbly celebrated with dinner at a local sushi restaurant.

“In April, after I hit the end goal of 10,000 supporters, I was contacted by a representative from the LEGO Ideas team and asked some questions regarding my inspiration for the project, the design and build process and my reaction when it hit 10,000 supporters. From then until the week LEGO Ideas made the official announcement, I was just crossing my fingers. June came and LEGO requested a Skype meeting with me, where I met with a team of project, marketing, design and communications personnel. It was during this meeting that I was given the news that all Ideas candidates long to hear: my project had been selected and I was to be the designer of an official LEGO set! The hardest part was containing my excitement for a couple of days until the official announcement was made. Keeping the news to myself was one of the most difficult things I have had to do; it was so surreal. All I could do was ponder on why my set had been chosen. The Beatles were, and still are, immensely popular and loved throughout the world. They are a truly cross-generational, crosscultural phenomenon whose music, ethos and iconography are as relevant today as they were when they produced their

first record. To have them in minifigure form will surely be exciting not just for Beatles fans but LEGO fans too and the Yellow Submarine model is fun, colourful and quirky. It’s a model that will both look beautiful on display and provide a really enjoyable build and play experience.

“The people at the LEGO Group have been wonderful. Working with them and seeing this process unfold has been really positive and fun. After the review period, it has pretty much been handed over to them to develop. We had a Skype meeting where the lead designer showed me early prototypes of the submarine model as well as the minifigures. It was so much fun to see the project’s evolution.

“When it comes to advice I could give to any hopeful candidates, all I can say is choose an idea that is a manageable size and piece count. With the exception of the Apollo 11 project, all the winning submissions thus far have been notably below 1000 pieces. Also, do not be discouraged to submit new projects even if past projects do not garner the support you had hoped for. As I mentioned above, none of the first three projects I submitted went on to gain more than 500 supporters. Learn from the experience and see what can be done to improve your approach. Try a different subject matter, a better presentation or a different approach to your promotion. Lastly, and above all, try to submit projects that are truly meaningful to you. Create things with which you have a real connection or by which you are inspired, rather than something that just happens to be the latest fad. I believe this is what makes your submissions stand out from the crowd. As exemplified by all the projects on LEGO Ideas, imagination is the only limit! To be just one of the many contributors to this platform has been a fun, positive and hugely-rewarding experience. And as for actually reaching 10,000 supporters and having the project chosen as an official LEGO set? It really is a dream come true.”

Keep an eye out in Bricks’ Big Ideas section to see when the official version of Kevin Szeto’s Yellow Submarine will be available in stores.

“NONE OF MY PREVIOUSLYSUBMITTED PROJECTS GOT PAST 500 SUPPORTERS”