Your ideas for new Lego history themes

[Jargo]

18th century gentry and highwaymen. Early Georgian era. (from my British perspective) Neo classical architecture, rich colours, silly pompadour wigs. Coaching inns, coffee houses, townhouses, horse drawn carriages, flintlock pistols and duelling at dawn. Masked bandits and the kings men (the redcoats). Not to mention peasant farmers and servants. Everything you'd expect for a historical theme that would in theory tie into the pirates theme without being pirates. There could even be a ship or two. Global exploration and trading. Tea and spices. Exotic fruits.

As much as I love ancient civilisations I think the 18th century fizzes more. An age of discovery and invention. The agricultural revolution and the build up to the industrial revolution but mostly pre-revolution when times were simpler but in many ways more grand. A world on the brink of change. A world of silly wigs.

[Grimmbeard]

The only problem with your idea is that there's not really a basic good guy vs bad guy conflict. sure there were conflicts all over the world with imperialism, but then you run the risk of real issues with countries, something TLG has really tried to avoid.

[Mazin]

18th century gentry and highwaymen. Early Georgian era. (from my British perspective) Neo classical architecture, rich colours, silly pompadour wigs. Coaching inns, coffee houses, townhouses, horse drawn carriages, flintlock pistols and duelling at dawn. Masked bandits and the kings men (the redcoats). Not to mention peasant farmers and servants. Everything you'd expect for a historical theme that would in theory tie into the pirates theme without being pirates. There could even be a ship or two. Global exploration and trading. Tea and spices. Exotic fruits.

As much as I love ancient civilisations I think the 18th century fizzes more. An age of discovery and invention. The agricultural revolution and the build up to the industrial revolution but mostly pre-revolution when times were simpler but in many ways more grand. A world on the brink of change. A world of silly wigs.

It almost happened - http://lego.wikia.com/wiki/Europa was a theme in works but canceled as it would probably interpenetrate other themes like Castle and Pirates too much. You can clearly see wigs and stuff in the picture:

although I would really like it to happen it looks like a mixture of ancien regime and revolutionary France - those revolutionary bicorns worn by the infantry... I wonder if it was proposed before or after Pirates came to life... if it was before Pirates then cancelation of the product could be the actual reason why we have XVIII and XIX century soldiers in a pirate theme

there is even a different type of ( field ) cannon

as for the bad guys I think we can see them right by the windmill - these two men in black look rather suspiciously

Edited December 7, 2012 by Mazin

[Jargo]

The only problem with your idea is that there's not really a basic good guy vs bad guy conflict. sure there were conflicts all over the world with imperialism, but then you run the risk of real issues with countries, something TLG has really tried to avoid.

Erm, the highwaymen mentioned in my first sentence are the bad guys. The good guys are everyone else. Smugglers and thieves and bandits versus the world.

I only mentioned the redcoats as they would have been a major force in keeping law and order. As well as local sherrifs. However they wouldn't be the main focus of the theme. The main focus would be the rogue-ish highwaymen and the foppish dandies they steal from.

Edited December 7, 2012 by Jargo

[Grimmbeard]

It almost happened - http://lego.wikia.com/wiki/Europa was a theme in works but canceled as it would probably interpenetrate other themes like Castle and Pirates too much. You can clearly see wigs and stuff in the picture

although I would really like it to happen it looks like a mixture of ancien regime and revolutionary France - those revolutionary bicorns worn by the infantry... I wonder if it was proposed before or after Pirates came to life... if it was before Pirates then cancelation of the product could be the actual reason why we have XVIII and XIX century soldiers in a pirate theme

there is even a different type of ( field ) cannon

as for the bad guys I think we can see them right by the windmill - these two men in black look rather suspiciously

Yeah, the reason Europa didn't succeed was that they were testing this and Pirates. Kids seemed to like Pirates better, which doesn't really surprise me, so they went with Pirates instead. I wish they could have added Europa as part of the pirates theme, it would add a lot of diversity to it, but I don't think they'll bring it back. However you can see some elements of this theme used in the Pirates theme, such as the Hats, soldiers, weapons, and that rare merchant torso on the left side.

Edited December 8, 2012 by Grimmbeard

[Evil Porkchop]

I'd like to see a Greek or Roman theme, more so the Greek theme as they could not only do normal historical stuff. But I think it would lend itself better to mythological stuff than a Roman theme.

[Hrw-Amen]

I think a classical style would be good for a theme. You could include Roman / Greek types but would not have to be either of them. Just set it back in time a bit further around the era of the Trojan war. You could then have generic 'Greek' style soldiers and other figures without them actually needing to actually be Greek. They could if you like be the good guys if you want, then you could have creatures such as the Minotaur that we already have a mini-fig for, the Genie and the upcoming Cyclops forming the other faction, or even factions of there own. They would still be in keeping with the overall theme of the age but not actually relate to any existing countries today. You have sets based around islands, caves, mazes, temples, oar propelled galleys to mention but a few possibilities.

You could go back even further if you like and have a theme based around the formation of the first small towns. You have farmers versus nomads, Neither side would have to be good or bad it could be up to the person playing which side they choose to be which. The sets could centre around the beginnings of small settlements, houses, out buildings farm animal, perhaps a temple of chiefs house, or both. Then the nomads could have tents, caravans with camels etc. each side could have a few warriors, a few civilians, they could interact peacefully over market environments or un-peacefully with the nomads driving their animals across the farmers fields, or the nomads having had a bad year trading / hunting and gathering attacking to steal food from the greedy farmers who want it all to themselves. It could go either way. You would have the conficts but again no clear identifiable countries from today's world.