Your thoughts on Lego licenses:

[Batbrick]

Heres my view on it, I love Indiana Jones and Batman, and am only glad to see them made in Lego.

Some people have called it "selling out", but I believe this is one of the few things that Lego has moved forward in. *sweet*

But is it going too far now? Batman and Indy are both timeless characters, but what of other licenses?

While some sets are good I don't think a Spongebob licence was needed at all, and sorry to HP lovers but I donm't think that Harry Potter lego achieved much. I like Lego licences, but I think that they are bringing in too much of a good thing! :'-(

Your thoughts on my comments or on Lego licences themselves? Remember again, this is an opinion based thread, so no critisising other's thoughts.

Batbrick Away! >:-)

Edited September 1, 2007 by Batbrick

[Shadows]

Avatar was very close to a complete waste, but I picked up both sets cheap and they've got some interesting minifigs and parts, so I'm not complaining.

Spongebob is fine, also interesting for parts though I don't care about the show.

Batman and Indy, like Star Wars, are definite winners with me.

Would I like to see a lot more licenses? No. I'm one of the few who is thrilled that LOTR and POTC didn't come to LEGO as licenses. I would much rather see non-licensed themes for Castle and hopefully Pirates one day.

Could LEGO go too far? Sure. Have they yet? Not to me. If that changes, I'll let you know.

[Piranha]

In the end Non License themes are always better ever since fleshies came into the picture

Yellow for Minis is the most classic and the best

I like MM,Castle AR and all other Non themes the most

The adventures are classic but indy is cool

More set ideas were possible with Johnny like King Kong and africa

I hate seeing a classic die for a fleshie license *n*

SW is cooler than Space at the moment

Pirates ON!!

Piranha

[Batbrick]

Thanks for your thoughts guys!

I forgot to mention StarWars :-$

They are definitely not a waste, Starwars, Indy and Btman are my top three licences! *sweet*

Batbrick Away! >:-)

[Tamaku-Dark Toa]

i for one miss spiderman :'-( *sing*

~ *vader* :-| ~

[Siegfried]

I don't mind licenses providing they don't displace existing ones. For example;

Star Wars - Was displacing Space, but that seems to be over

Indy - Could be seen to be displacing Adventures

Ferrari - Is (IMHO) displacing the old techinic geared cars and I wish it would go away

Harry Potter - Doesn't seem to be displacing anything.

Sponge Bob - Doesn't seem to be displacing anything.

Incidentally Batbrick, where in Tasmania do you live? I live in Hobart...

[Batbrick]

Thats AWESOME Sinner! *sweet* *sweet* *sweet* *sweet*

I live in Launceston, in the suburb of St.leonards.

Don't bother trying to find me though, I might be moving...... to another suburb! :-D

I also agree with your displacing theory Sinner, though adventurers finished a long time ago....... :-(

While we talk Tasmania, what is your opinion on the proposed pulp mill?

Batbrick Away! >:-)

Edited September 2, 2007 by Batbrick

[Siegfried]

While we talk Tasmania, what is your opinion on the proposed pulp mill?

Well it doesn't concern me directly, thus I tend to side with the "it should create jobs" line. However I have not looked into it at all.

[Brainbox]

I'm okay with licenses, as long as they're good ones. I mean, look at Batman and Star Wars. How cool is it to be able to have an official representation of your favourite character, or vehicle? And licenses fuel the imagination as much as non-license themes do, but in a slightly different way. Licenses can serve as an inroad to creative building as people build scenery or whatever to fit with what they've got. Plus, licenses can be a great way of pulling in new customers, which can only serve to make Lego even more popular. At least, that's the theory.

But, I would disagree with licenses if they went too far, and started doing stupid stuff. For examnple, if Lego started a Casualty (UKers will know what I mean) license, it'd be a complete waste of time.

So, yeah, keep licenses, as long as they're kept good.

[Batbrick]

Very good points there Brainbox, what are your views on the HP and spongebob lines?

[Athos]

SpongeBob has had some good sets, the Krusty Krab is a great set, both modelwise and for parts. But it still seems like a silly license and a bit of a stretch for Lego. It must be doing good though to have another line of sets come out.

Avatar was a waste. I didn't like the sets much and I have no idea what the show is.

Indy is a good license, though it seems very limited to me. JT would have been better.

Star Wars was a good license, but I think its run its course and is time to be put to bed.

Harry Potter didn't work out well. Too hard to make sets for the movies which all take place at essentially the same place.

Steve

[SupremeCommmanderGrievous]

I love the licenses, especially Star Wars. Spongebob and Avater did not exite me in any way, Harry Potter is okay, and Indy should be awesome. Star Wars should continue, just move on to more EU. I don't think Lego needs any new licenses, exept maybe Battletech :-D

[maiq the liar]

Harry Potter didn't work out well. Too hard to make sets for the movies which all take place at essentially the same place.

Steve

Well, it wsn't too hard back 2 movies ago...

I'd like Lego Goldeneye...or moonraker...Maybe Lego Super mario 2...imagine LEGO

Edited September 3, 2007 by maiq the liar

[Brainbox]

Very good points there Brainbox, what are your views on the HP and spongebob lines?

Well, having none of either, this is gonna be interesting.

Songebob, well, I guess it's kinda cute, and has some appeal. I wouldn't have chosen to do it, and I'd never have thought it would be done. But I think there's a certain degree of potential.

Harry Potter was a good idea in theory, but not so much in practice. In other words, it could perhaps have been done better than it was. Different character like Luna ( *wub* ), or teachers, and more sensible Hogwarts add-ons might've been useful. I think I actually regret a little never having actually owned an HP set.

Edited September 3, 2007 by Brainbox

[Batbrick]

Interesting to see what people say on licenses. If you had to eliminate 1 license what would it be?

Mine would be Spongebob

Batbrick Away! >:-)

[Siegfried]

Interesting to see what people say on licenses. If you had to eliminate 1 license what would it be?

Mine would be Spongebob

Batbrick Away! >:-)

But why? If you don't like them, just don't buy them! I don't like Bionicle very much, but they sell and thus help keep TLC alive. :'-)

[Batbrick]

You make a good point. But the original Bionicle sets were good. I guess I just want Lego to have licenses that will atleast be remembered. Who is gonna remember Spongebob Squarepants or Avatar: The Last Airbender in 10 years time! |-/

But Indiana Jones and Starwars and Batman are well known and always will be! Thats what I want to see more of! :'-)

Edited January 27, 2008 by Batbrick

[john cleese]

licenses, lately, seem to cost a bit too much, i guess its because you're paying for the brand. Often useful pieces are in these sets but i just cant justify paying the price for some of the bigger ones, like puff's boating school for instance (which isnt that big at all just expensive). So generally i would rather lego do only original themes. I didnt mind it when all we had was SW, but now we have SW, spongebob, batman, indy, avatar and harry potter. It's getting out of hand.

Edited September 4, 2007 by john cleese

[Joebot]

My two-bit opinions on the subject:

Star Wars -- the granddaddy of all Lego's licenses. This one has been a colossal success ... but I wonder if it's run its course. For the first time since the license began (way back in '97!), I find myself not really interested in the latest releases. New mini-figs still get my attention, but that's about it.

Harry Potter -- seemed like a good idea at the beginning, but the sets have grown really repetitive. We're on, what, our THIRD Hogwarts now?? Ugh.

Spongebob -- my kids have most of these, and they really like them. They are undoubtedly cute, but I don't see that this line has much longevity to it. I wouldn't be surprised if the Chum Bucket and the Boating School are the final two sets in the theme.

Avatar -- never seen the show, never bought any of the sets.

Batman -- a really smart license for Lego. Batman captures the two things that Lego licenses do well: lots of colorful, unique characters, and lots of interesting vehicles (Star Wars has these same two features as well). A good choice for Lego, and I love the sets so far.

Indy -- the verdict is out until we see some pictures, but I'm a little leery of this one. The movies are 20 years old!! Yeah, there's a new movie coming out next year, but does anybody still care? I suppose there are die-hard Indy fans out there. I loved the old movies back in the day, but that was a long time ago.

Bob the Builder -- my kids are older, so I've never got any of these Duplo sets, but it sure seems like a natural fit for Lego, and the sets look cute. Same goes for Thomas the Train.

Some older defunct licenses:

NBA -- what a trainwreck. Why would a toy company want to sign a deal with a sports league populated by some of the most unlikable athletes in any sport? Hey, why not make a set with a crooked ref who works for the mob!!

Galidor -- Ha ha ha ha ha ha!!

Disney (Winnie the Pooh, Mickey) -- this was surprisingly short-lived. I would have expected to see this line go on for a while. The Pooh Duplo (Poohplo?) sets were cute, but they needed more characters. The sets got really repetitive.

Spider Man -- a cool theme with some terrific sets. Unfortunately, the license was hamstrung by being tied to the movies. That greatly limited the sets / characters that we got. I really wish this deal had been an open-ended license with Marvel, like the Batman deal with DC. I loved the sets that we got, but this one could have been much, much better with a broader license.

[Batbrick]

What are you talking about Joebot?

Everyone loves Indy! Everyone! :-P

Other than that you made a lot of good points!

[Shadows]

I have to agree that they've gone too far. Why just the other day I saw a minifig driving down the road and I thought, "where did he get his license?" :-P

And Joe, SW started in '99, not '97 and I don't think Batman is that well designed in terms of capturing all those possible characters. We seem to be getting more reissued minifigs than even the SW line.

As for Indy, it's a timeless story and full of action. We've already seen the Indy minifig and it's a winner, just like the line will be (though I suspect it won't end up being as many sets as we'd like).

Harry Potter is over after this wave, so no worries there.

Avatar sets are good for parts. It seemed like a long shot and I'm sure it's over.

Spongebob doesn't interest me in terms of the show connection, but they aren't bad for parts. I don't know how they sell, so it's hard to determine if they're worth continuing.

Spiderman was a mostly boring series far too connected to the whole Studio line to work out well. Same reason the monster line failed. I still can't understand how vampires, mummies, mad scientists and such didn't sell better. Seemed like everything Studio touched turned to megabloks.

[Minifig Lecturer]

Yes I do think there are too many licenses. Licenses are fine for me as long as they don't result in Lego's own themes being put on the back-burner, for example Star Wars removing Space from the shelves.

Personally I feel that for kids, Lego's own themes have something more than the licensed ones as they put less limits on the imagination.

[Asuka]

Spiderman was a mostly boring series far too connected to the whole Studio line to work out well. Same reason the monster line failed. I still can't understand how vampires, mummies, mad scientists and such didn't sell better. Seemed like everything Studio touched turned to megabloks.

That

[Batbrick]

imperialshadows what exactly do you mean by saying that the Batman sets have loads of reissued figs?

I think that everyone will be glad once StarWars is over, it had loads of great sets, boosted Lego up, and once it is over then Space can reappear.

[Brainbox]

licenses, lately, seem to cost a bit too much, i guess its because you're paying for the brand.

That really makes no difference here, all Lego costs more than it perhaps should.

Same goes for Thomas the Train.

Tank Engine. Thomas the Tank Engine. Sorry, but I loved that show as a youngster, and can't bear to see it misnamed.

imperialshadows what exactly do you mean by saying that the Batman sets have loads of reissued figs?

We got Riddler and Scarecrow again this year, meaning only one new villain. It was a slight over-exaggeration.

I think that everyone will be glad once StarWars is over, it had loads of great sets, boosted Lego up, and once it is over then Space can reappear.

I dunno, Star Wars is pretty popular. Even though I've not bought any of the sets this year, I'll be sad to see it go. As the grandaddy of licence sets, it'll be a sad day when it dies.