deskp, on 13 July 2012 - 08:31 PM, said:
but they are using the "mature" designs/vehicles, but setting it to the general batman universe.
"batman" is as much a kids thing as an adult thing.
"shaun of the dead" is a franchise only ever meant for more mature audiences.
Batman has an anchor in content for children is the key.
All true, but if you take the Nolan films for what they are solely based on their merits, they are strictly for adults, easily on par with SotD or Firefly in light of mature themes. There is a wealth of source material to draw from in the Batman mythos that would easily fit into the '6-11' demographic. To pick that small portion of the whole pie, while it makes sense from a business standpoint, goes against what they've said about similarly themed properties in the past. They've skirted the issue before by producing the Tumbler set which wasn't expressly rooted in the Nolan Batverse, with a more cartoony Joker figure/vehicle. This Bane figure, as great as he is, is definitely rooted in TDKR. What happens when kids ask their parents if they can see the movie the set is based on?
h-7, on 13 July 2012 - 08:33 PM, said:
I think they reject projects more due to the cost of license. It could be the cost of the license will exceed expected purchase. Say the "Shaun of the Dead" license is 3 mil.... The Winchester set would retail for 199.00. There are 10,000 likes with the project so saying if all 10,000 of those people bought it for the 199.00 price they would only return 1,990,000. That kinda comes up short in the profit range. You also have to deduct cost of production as well.
That's sort of my point, too. I had the sneaking suspicion that the rejections came more from a monetary standpoint than from an ethical standpoint. My contention is that rejecting mature themed properties because of a moral obligation to the '6-11' demographic but then producing sets based on other properties that don't fall into that demographic is disingenuous, not that they should produce the sets they rejected, more that they should temper the ones themed after TDKR in the same way they have in the past, by cartoonizing The Joker.
Darth Lurtz, on 13 July 2012 - 08:37 PM, said:
The examples you've listed don't really compare to Nolan's movies. Shaun of the Dead being rejected was obvious with the levels of gore in that movie and Firefly has prostitution in the show which is something Lego doesn't want to be involved with. Also the violence in The Dark Knight is more implied than shown not once in the movies do we see blood shown. Scenes like Harvey Dent's face being on fire is no different than Anakin losing all of his limbs and also being burnt alive.
Comparing SotD and Firefly to the Nolan films, then to Indiana Jones, Star Wars and LotR, I would definitely place the Nolan films in with SotD and Firefly more readily than with the others. Arbitrary distinctions? Perhaps, but we're all splitting hairs here. At the end of the day, the question is: Do the Nolan Batfilms fall into the previously stated '6-11' demographic? My answer is "most decidedly not".
I would go so far as to say I would let my daughter watch Firefly/Serenity before the Nolan Batfilms, and I'd let her watch the Nolan Batfilms before SotD. The main sticking point for me is that the Nolan films are all-serious, all the time... there's no lightheartedness at all, whereas Firefly/Serenity has a healthy balanced diet of fun to serious. That goes a long way toward diluting the maturity level.
As for Anakin vs. Harvey Dent on fire, the RotS scene has that "Sci-Fi violence" factor, whereas TDK is much more 'real-world'. I also already stated that I find RotS to be inappropriate for my daughter, and it really just barely skirts that '6-11' demographic, doesn't it, being rated PG-13. Also, Firefly was before the time of TV ratings, but Serenity was PG-13 here in the states, which is the same as the Nolan Batfilms.
Regardless of minute distinctions made between these films, I think we can all agree that none of the following: 'Serenity', 'Shaun of the Dead', 'Batman Begins', 'The Dark Knight', 'The Dark Knight Rises'; are acceptable for the '6-11' demographic, which was really my point all along.
9
(Sorry all my knowledge of Batman comes from the Lego video games)
Minifigures that were skipped in the Batman theme appearing gives me hope that we may see Batgirl. 
Maybe I'll change my mind when I see him in person.
