Pirates terminated POTC rumours

[Thee Pirate]

Im not waiting till I am 23 for Pirates to Return.

Heh, I waited til I was 24 for the return of Pirates.

...and what a glorious return it was... aside from the Brickbeards Bounty having the worst pirate ship design ever. At least the minifigs were absolutely amazing.

[Commodore Hornbricker]

It really looks as if the new Lego business model of licensed themes has become the dominate force in how Lego intends to procude sets going forward. Why have your own identity and imagination when you can buy someone elses. It is a shame. I thought licensing was fine when it augmented the main business of original Lego themes. Now it has taken over and it degrades the reputation of the product. It think they are being penny wise and pound foolish with this approach. No one will remember Lego for Lego they'll just remember their Starwars toys and their Indiana Jones toys. I had Starwars action figures and GI Joes as a kid but honestly I don't know who made them nor do I care. It kind of makes me sad to see this continue to grow and force out the traditional Lego themes. The kids of today won't feel the same way about Lego when they have kids. They'll be buying movie/video game toys for their kids because that's what they'll remember and when Lego doesn't get a licenses they'll be in real bad shape. In the end all Lego really has is their brand name and their reputation for quality and this approach does nothing to bolster either. Make a quick buck and move on...Way to go Lego...that's smart thinking. Ignore the formula for decades of success. Let's see how that works out for them in the long run.

[Mission Commander]

The Lego pirate theme may have ended, but with the new Disney licence there might be a Pirates of the Caribeen theme.

[5150 Lego]

I am Teddy and I'm a multi-thousand-dollars-a-year-Lego-costumor.

As costumor I am King, and I will kindly ask for what I want.

Since, I splash the cash to back it up.

It is up to Lego to decide if they want my business.

And it is up to me to decide where I spend my honoust and hard earned cash.

I vote with my Euros/ Dollars.

NO ones telling you you can't have an opinion or that yours doesn't count. All I'm saying is that kids will, and always will be the deciding factor on what theme's are created and ones that drop.

---------------------------Off topic ---------------------------------------

Those guys at Lego are selfish, only thinking about making profits to add to their bonusses.

Little less profit for them and a lot happier costumor is what I prefer.

----------------------------------------------------------------------------

I'm sure we'd all love that, but sadly, that just isn't how the world works.

It really looks as if the new Lego business model of licensed themes has become the dominate force in how Lego intends to procude sets going forward. Why have your own identity and imagination when you can buy someone elses. It is a shame. I thought licensing was fine when it augmented the main business of original Lego themes. Now it has taken over and it degrades the reputation of the product. It think they are being penny wise and pound foolish with this approach. No one will remember Lego for Lego they'll just remember their Starwars toys and their Indiana Jones toys. I had Starwars action figures and GI Joes as a kid but honestly I don't know who made them nor do I care. It kind of makes me sad to see this continue to grow and force out the traditional Lego themes. The kids of today won't feel the same way about Lego when they have kids. They'll be buying movie/video game toys for their kids because that's what they'll remember and when Lego doesn't get a licenses they'll be in real bad shape. In the end all Lego really has is their brand name and their reputation for quality and this approach does nothing to bolster either. Make a quick buck and move on...Way to go Lego...that's smart thinking. Ignore the formula for decades of success. Let's see how that works out for them in the long run.

First, POTC theme is only speculation at this point. We really don't know what TLC is going to do.

Second, what worked 20yrs ago might not work today. Ya TLC did great with there own space line and adventure themes, but we also didn't have the abundance of Comic book based movies and licenses to work with either. If there were Batman LEGO when i was a kid i would have eaten it up like breakfast cereal. we live in a new age of Video Games and computers. LEGO needs to make there mark however they can. And one way of doing so is Licence themes.

[Commodore Hornbricker]

LEGO needs to make there mark however they can. And one way of doing so is Licence themes.

I disagree. A company doesn't have to make more and more money or grow their market share bigger and bigger at all cost to be successful and sustainable. What they need is a good brand name and image and a quality product. If the Lego business model is going to revolve around only or mostly licenses then they are making their product subservient to the licensed theme...in other words if all that matters is the license then at some point Lego won't matter at all. At some point some other company will pay more for a license and Lego is left with nothing because they didn't make anything themselves to begin with they just copied movies and anyone could do that and someone will do it cheaper at somepoint and thus pay more for the licenses.

Also there were plenty of licensed toys when I was a kid and I am older than most here. I had all those toys as well as my Lego. I think in the long run it will weaken the brand because people won't identify with Lego they'll just identify with the movie/game. Time will tell.

[5150 Lego]

I disagree. A company doesn't have to make more and more money or grow their market share bigger and bigger at all cost to be successful and sustainable. What they need is a good brand name and image and a quality product. If the Lego business model is going to revolve around only or mostly licenses then they are making their product subservient to the licensed theme...in other words if all that matters is the license then at some point Lego won't matter at all. At some point some other company will pay more for a license and Lego is left with nothing because they didn't make anything themselves to begin with they just copied movies and anyone could do that and someone will do it cheaper at somepoint and thus pay more for the licenses.

Your correct. But LEGO already has a good brand name, image, and quality product. No one is saying that licence themes is imperative for LEGO to survive, but in a bad economy, LEGO is doing what they need to to survive for many years to come.

As far as Licence themes over shadowing LEGO's own themes, i think that can be partially true. In terms of Space, its definitely going to be hard for Lego to top Star Wars with there own theme (As MARS Mission showed), but that doesn't necessarily mean that there products wouldn't sell. IN the case of Pirates, if i remember correctly, there really wasn't much in terms of competition for LEGO in the 80's. Now we have MEGABLOCKS making a strong comeback who hd the POTC licence and did fairly well. With a new movie coming out POTC toys are bound to grab little ones attention (as well as adult collectors).

Also there were plenty of licensed toys when I was a kid and I am older than most here. I had all those toys as well as my Lego. I think in the long run it will weaken the brand because people won't identify with Lego they'll just identify with the movie/game. Time will tell.

Kids/people are already identifying with Movies/video games more than ever. When i was a kid, video games were just coming out (original Atari and Nintendo) and Comic book based movies are almost non- existent. Now it seems were getting several remakes of comic book, or 80's cartoon based character movies, and kids have several video game consoles to choose from, as well as Internet. I'm not sure how old you are (I'm 28) but LEGO did not have this competition in my days. were in a different time now, and what worked 20yrs ago in terms of marketing and design does not mean it will work today. A company must adapt to the times. I don't believe TLC has gone away from any morals they've built themselves on, or hurt there image. Just adapting to the times.

[Mata Nui]

I dint read all the posts( Yeah, Im lazy too :P) but the Pirates arent shutting down. Someone posted it on another LEGO forum but we find out it wasnt true. So, arr yaaa readyyy to pirrrate? :P

[MetroiD]

Mata Nui, perhaps you SHOULD have read the thread before going "someone said, so I say..."

Back on topic - Pirates taking a "break" (as long as that is) can't be all too bad guys, come on, lighten up! Yes, there MIGHT be a POTC line for a year or two or even three, but that will soon come to an end and the regular Pirates will be back again, revigorated by the power of new items / colours / combinations created while drawing inspiration from something else. I personally would rather have one GOOD line of Pirates every five years than a bunch of useless sets every six months - even though, I must admit that I don't buy half as many sets as you guys do.

Oh, and talking about Pirates of the Caribbean - I really feel you are being too harsh guys. The movies are witty and really fun to watch, at least to me, so why do you have to bash them as well?

[ILikePi]

Teddy, do you feel better now that LEGO has made a really large Imperial ship?

[RampantDingo]

I would be pleased with a good black pearl set to add to my fleet.

[Teddy]

Teddy, do you feel better now that LEGO has made a really large Imperial ship?

Yes, I do feel better now the imperial ship is there.

Especially since my girlfriend likes it a lot as well.

But I just found out that, while I'm in Finland, the bank were I have my Lego savings account fell.

So it will take me months to get my Lego savings back...

I always save first and then buy.. I tend to use my credit card only on hollidays.

After upgrading my account linked to the credit card with a similar savings amount as the maximum of the credit card.

I think I'm a bit Dutch in that. But now it has backfired a bit...

I cannot touch my savings since the Dutch regulator has locked all saving accounts.

How I wish I would have kept them on my account in another bank.