We can reintroduce you to two new designs that have collected 10,000 votes on the LEGO Ideas platform. The Sewer Heroes and the Portal Gun managed to inspire the Ideas Community again in the last week from April 22 to 28, 2024. The two models qualify as the 42nd and 43rd model entries for the first phase of judging in 2024. While fan designers now have to wait for the reviews from the LEGO Ideas Designer Team, let's take a closer look at the two designs!
Sewer Heros
Facts about the design
Title: Sewer Heroes: Fighting the Fatberg – Overtime
Fan designer: MOCingbird
Days: 316
Minifigures: 8
Number of parts: 2,521
Dimensions: W 27 x L 22 x H 27 cm
Waste that does not belong in the sewer causes sewer blockages and plastic pollution in the waste water. Over time, food particles, grease and all kinds of 'non-flushables' build up in the sewers and begin to form large clumps that eventually develop into monstrous grease mountains. The largest fatbergs are over 100 meters long and weigh over 100 tons.
The Sewer Hereos model shows what's happening beneath the streets of our cities. In the front part of the model the canal workers are shown in their tough mission: cleaning the canals. The back of the model shows the contamination of the house's sewer pipes. The house itself is a mixed residential/business building, with a “Burgers & Fries” restaurant with kitchen on the ground floor and a residential unit with kitchen and bathroom above. The basement of the house and the canal are located in the “earth”.
The type of channel shown is a so-called “mixed channel” that can only be found in older cities. Modern separate sewer systems transport rainwater and sanitary wastewater separately, with only the latter being fed to a sewage treatment plant. Accessible sewers as depicted in the model are rare. The best-known sewers of this type can be found, for example, in large European cities such as Berlin, Paris, London or Vienna.
The Sewer Heroes model also includes the worker's equipment: a powerful fatberg removal machine - Jet/Vac Truck - which is equipped with high-pressure water jetting equipment and a powerful vacuum pump to remove the fatbergs. The removed mass is later reused and converted into biofuel.
The model reached the 3rd review phase in 2022 and was unfortunately rejected. The two designs Basement & Sewer and The World of Civil Engineering, in which MOCingbird addresses infrastructure topics, were also rejected. I am therefore afraid that the sewer cleaners will not be realized as a LEGO Ideas set.
Portal Gun
Facts about the design
Title: Portal 2 Quantum Tunneling Device. The “Portal Rifle”
Fan Designer: Hood-Blaze
Days: 60
Minifigures: 0
Number of parts: approx. 1,000
This model is based on Aperture Sciences' Quantum Tunneling Device, also known as the Portal Gun, from the video game Half-Life. This device allows staff to place two portals through which objects and subjects can pass. These portals can only be placed on large surfaces covered with a so-called conversion gel, which allows the portals to open. The portal gun is also capable of manipulating objects in its direct field of view by moving the object wherever the subject wishes.
While fans of the video game Half-Life are very interested in the portal gun, I doubt it will get a chance. The Portal Gun made it into the review a year ago and was rejected. Video games rarely get the chance to be realized and Half-Life is probably not well known enough outside the gaming scene to appear as a LEGO set. That's why I don't think the Portal Gun will get any positive feedback either.
