LEGO fans have been using the toys to make stop-motion animation for decades—there are even official sets and tools that lean into that. But now LEGO is hoping for more mainstream appeal with VIDIYO, a combination of toys and AR video that lets you create your own music videos. Or more likely, lots and lots of meme-filled shorts.
The core of the system is the VIDIYO app, which lets kids customize avatars, backgrounds, props, and other 3D augmented reality elements to place within their videos. You can scan existing LEGO sets and minifigs into the system, or add new props, animations, sounds, and licensed music via “BeatBits,” tiny sold-separately LEGO pieces that unlock parts of the VIDIYO system.
So in addition to the TikTok social video element, LEGO is trying augmented reality toys again (see: the shuttered LEGO Dimensions). There’s also a hefty dose of proprietary kid-focused music formats, reminiscent of HitClips from the early 2000s. Music in the app and on the BeatBits is on loan from the Universal Music Group, which LEGO claims will suit “everyone’s tastes, from toddlers to great-grandparents.”
If you’re cringing at the privacy implications of a video service made specifically for kids, LEGO’s already thought of that. Users in the VIDIYO system are fully anonymous, each video has to be reviewed and verified by a real person at LEGO before being published, and parents can see (and remove) all the videos their kids post via a parental dashboard.
VIDIYO will launch as a free app on Android and iOS on February 16th. Prices for the BeatBits add-ons have not been announced.
