Want to build a toy space telescope together?

Mar 20, 2025

In the near future, we could be building a space telescope together, out of Lego. I have this vision of myself in a new workshop, putting the pieces together, making the thing real. I’d rent out a library space and sit and have a building session. I’d take selfies beside my toy telescope in the stores it is stocked in, and life would be so much better.

But it isn’t real, not on the timeline we are currently on.

Something needs to change, right now.

We need to change timelines.

Lego space needs YOU.

A while back, I shared my Lego James Webb Space Telescope.

It is the only accurate model of the JWST that has been made with Lego.

I created this so that schools, universities, nerds, geeks, and science enthusiasts might build something that reminds them of humankind’s relentless drive and exploration. There are only a handful of Lego STEM sets, and this would be one of the biggest.

It’s also accurate, with the right amount of hexagonal panels arranged in a careful lattice so they are spaced equidistant from one another (this has never been done before in Lego, unless you count my geology build from a few years ago)

But there is some sad news.

Unfortunately, without your help, it will not get made.

The reason why is simple.

Projects need 10,000 supporters, and this one has just 1000.

I have 109 days now to find 4000 more, because when you hit 5000, they give you another hundred or so days.

https://ideas.lego.com/projects/827599f8-9903-42da-a3e6-cadf4b493ff2

That’s the link. You can make a Legoideas account for free, and voting is free, and supporting the project is free, and sharing it is free.

It’s all free. And it takes less than five minutes.

Lego’s rules and limits

the wobbly playing field

Legoideas has pretty strict rules about promotion. You cannot pay to promote an idea, but you can use social media. This means that the playing field is sadly not level. Famous Lego artists or influencers can get 10,000 votes in a matter of weeks, whereas smaller creators like myself have to scramble to get something past 100.

I was on Channel 4’s Lego Masters, and my Lego instagram is seen by 260,000 people every month… but converting that into votes is a nightmare. Instagram isn’t really what it looks like, engagement is fleeting. This is perhaps why my fellow creators sometimes message me and ask why nobody is actually engaging with our stuff. It gets seen, sure, but I need more people to vote for this project.

Otherwise nobody gets to play with a Lego James Webb Space Telescope.

Trying to get noticed

I have contacted influencers, scientists, physicists, journalists, even physics people I know, and all have turned me down for one reason or another. One even said they didn’t support indie creators because they wanted to avoid ‘bias’ and a week or two later supported a different Lego science project…

It’s the same rejection cycle I faced as a poet in the beginning, and as a comedian in smaller doses, and as an author, too. I know I am different, and sometimes my ideas are a bit strange, but this one felt normal enough that I hoped more people might engage with it.

Sure, it’s not based off an existing and popular intellectual property, as so many big Legoideas projects are, so I wasn’t expecting it to skyrocket (pun intended) but I thought there’d be room for science.

Is there room for science in your heart?

Look deep in your heart and see if there are Lego bricks in there. That’s probably not normal, but in this case it’s fine. Let’s build something with them.

From every possible angle this thing is both accurate and beautiful. The angling of the fins and mirrors took days to perfect, and it saddens me to think it might never get made.

A knockoff Lego company or two has emailed me asking to sell the instructions, but I want this to be legit.

It is the Lego equivalent of writing the entirety of THE STEPHANIE GLITCH or another of my books, being rejected, and then NEVER publishing it.

Because there’s no infrastructure I can use to make the JWST if it doesn’t get the votes, and Lego’s rules mean they keep the design for a while as well.

You are here, and truly you are the project’s final hope.

We can do this, can’t we?

The final push

I am hoping that with this newsletter I might stand a chance at getting the 10,000 votes I need.

Ultimately, if this set does not reach 10,000 votes, I will remove myself from the Legoideas platform. I don’t want to walk through that old narrative again. I don’t want to be rejected any more.

I want Lego to accept me as an official designer, if only for this one final project. It’s been my dream since I was a child, and is still a dream now.

We have 108 days to make it happen.

Will you help make this happen?

Happy Camel Photograph by Jennifer Kothenbeutel - Fine Art America

The hopeful camel of hope says yes.

The future is yours to create.

You have the power now. All of it.

108 days remain

Also, if you could share this, that would be fantastic!

Here’s the link you can copy paste to your friends