Is LEGO's Themes Declining?

[_Samibotss_]

Hello EB,

I have recently been thinking alot in my head about the current state of the LEGO Group.

I Think That The LEGO Group's Products have been declining in originality. I find that LEGO Has released a wave of themes in the recent years that

make it seem like they ran out of ideas. Sets/Themes Based on third party Intellectual Properties like Star Wars, LoTR, etc... Should be fine because they are

directly ripped from their respective universes. But, It's been a long time since I've seen a LEGO Made Theme that has decent sets.

Casting Aside City,Creator, and Technic, Sets Like Friends, Disney Princess, Elves, Ninjago, Chima,andSpeed Champion Have Nothing special in my opinion.

Some of them I consider even bad. When I go to my retail toy sellers, They never run out of Friends,DP,Elves,etc... They are ALWAYS there. Nobody buys them. But Licensed ones

actually sell, and often my local stores run out of supplies for them...

I actually liked the Idea of re-introducing Bionicle and Pirates, but again these were made some time ago, so nothing new...

Where are the themes like Blacktron, M:Tron, Mars Mission, Agents, Exo-Force, Power Miners, Drome Racers, Harry Potter,etc..?

I'd like to hear your opinion about it

[Hobbythom]

Given the fact that Lego increased sales again this year to an all-time high, I don't think your observation about people not buying sets is correct. In term of originality and such: there is an enormous amounts of themes available. And whether innovation within some themes would be welcome (looking at you City), overall I think there is a very diverse offering in both themes and sets.

[xboxtravis7992]

Ninjago though is a big hit with the kids, and although I'm not a fan some of the sets do look interesting.

Plus not all of Lego's late themes were a mass success, for example Galidor, Studios, Jack Stone, Ben 10, and more. If anything Lego has more hit licencesed and original themes now than it had 10 years back (when only Star Wars and Bionicle had large sell numbers).

[_Samibotss_]

Ninjago though is a big hit with the kids, and although I'm not a fan some of the sets do look interesting.

Plus not all of Lego's late themes were a mass success, for example Galidor, Studios, Jack Stone, Ben 10, and more. If anything Lego has more hit licencesed and original themes now than it had 10 years back (when only Star Wars and Bionicle had large sell numbers).

I know sets like Galidor, Jack Stone and Ben 10 are considered the worst. But LEGO Redeemed themselves later on with some of the greatest sets we have known....

I don't mind studios that much tho.

[nesquik]

It's important to bear in mind how you're viewing the LEGO brand. We're all AFOLs (to varying degrees), and therefore only a small selection of product lines are actually primarily targeted towards adults. You can be subjective and say that "nothing new" is being designed. Well, there's a reason for that; you don't tamper with a working formulae.

I work in a LEGO brand retail store and we are briefed regularly on how the company expects to hit certain targets. What where the top 4 selling themes last year? City, Friends, Creator, Technic; all in-house product lines. Not many people would believe this given the coverage of licensed themes, but the company are aware that these evergreen lines are important to the continued success of LEGO because they feature ideas that can be positively recycled. This is why we have a new fire station, police station, train set and more every 2-3 years - so that a new generation of children can enjoy the products and not miss out on staple additions to the system.

You should also avoid judging how well a product/theme sells just by viewing inventory at your local stores, which seems to be a bad habit here on these forums ("I think Palace Cinema is poor. It's not a Jamie design. It's not selling very well and will be retired soon." ..???). The rate at which a product sells depends on many, many factors; the distribution method, the store, its locale, the time of year, the type of customer.

The beauty of LEGO is that you can make whatever you want, so why not devise your own theme and share it with us?

[legoman19892]

Tagging on to other posts:

Themes don't change drastically because every year a new child is introduced to the toy and data proves certain themes (police, fire, castle, pirates, etc) are things the new customer likes to play with. If LEGO put aside police one year they areissing out on many sales.

Edited November 27, 2015 by legoman19892

[BlockLogo]

When I go to my retail toy sellers, They never run out of Friends,DP,Elves,etc... They are ALWAYS there. Nobody buys them?

That is like saying global warming isn't real because it's cold right now where I am. An objective look at objective data would strongly suggest otherwise.

[BrickJagger]

Ninjago though is a big hit with the kids, and although I'm not a fan some of the sets do look interesting.

Plus not all of Lego's late themes were a mass success, for example Galidor, Studios, Jack Stone, Ben 10, and more. If anything Lego has more hit licencesed and original themes now than it had 10 years back (when only Star Wars and Bionicle had large sell numbers).

Agreed. The Big Bang themes seem to be a financial success, so I get why they would want to make several of them.

PS: You might want to fix the last line of your signature.

[HawkLord]

It seems to be more common seeing threads asking about the abundance of Lego themes as a negative, only to find that the general majority of replies see it as a positive. All of the themes the OP mentions bring something new to Lego, and that I view as a positive.

[Robert8]

They try new stuff from time to time like Monster Figthers or Ultra Agents or Vikings

[Tariq j]

Interesting points, Lego, so to speak, are not "running out of ideas". They are a money making company not a museum, they repeat sets like the fire brigade and the Police Station because they sell well. And if they satisfy kids, which are there primary audience, then TLG had done their job. Also, if Lego decide to rehash or produce a similar set it means they made a overall business decision which benefited the company as a whole. Whether that brings long term or short term benefits they do it for the company.

Now to your second point, it doesn't matter where you live, and what store you visit, you can't judge the popularity and success of a set simply on your own findings. Saying "X theme isn't selling well because I always see them on shelves" isn't an accurate way of deducing set statistics. Now if various people from various countries were to come forward and state their sightings that would be different, then we may have a chance of predicting what is selling well and what isn't but one person in one toy store isn't enough.

You also mention how "Nobody Buys" Friends, DP and Elves, yet if you visit the Special Themes Forum you can see a lot of people like them..

Edited November 27, 2015 by Tariq j

[notaromantic]

I tend to think that it is not so much that the "themes are declining", but rather, that there really is no room for original themes when we are talking about a market that is entirely steered by a dominating popular culture. Our toy market is just an arm these days for the juggernaut that is popular, business-initiated culture and its advertising conglomerate. When each new blockbuster movie or blockbuster trend has to have an accompanying set, or now, wave of sets, and now too, successive waves of sets although no new films are being produced, this really leaves no room for what we might call "original" LEGO themes.

Yea, its demand. But that demand is largely business driven, to wit the want is translated to the consumer. We don't want what we want, because we inherently want it - we want what we want because we are led to want it.

There's just no room left in the aisle, and therefore, at the design and production levels, for ideas that are not the bourgeois ideas of the moment. A company has to be pretty bold, and pretty independent, to veer, and to succeed veering, from that juggernaut of the global market.

I would say that the Friends line has been able to though, but perhaps that is because the feminine business juggernauts are to be found more in the fashion and accessories worlds, whereas the toy market and movie/ comic markets are predominantly male driven.

Superheroes and Star Wars, man... I have to weed them both out my searches, whether in BL or the Bay, when searching. Otherwise, they make up more than 80% percent of my results. Now mostly a builder, I recently decided to remove all of, or most of, the licensed figures from my displayed collection. So my collection would actually reflect LEGO. And let me tell you, it was difficult to do. Some great figs. But it made me realize exactly where LEGO has invested its resources, especially in the last 15 years.

The CMF's too, were an exception to this rule. But, even they are now too, because of their own success, being sucked into the economic monster. I wouldn't doubt if, given more time, the CMF releases will also reflect this, with maybe one original wave sandwiched in between two or three licensed waves.

Am I cynical? No, not really. But there is no other way of explaining what is apparent. If it sounds "seedy", then it is. I don't much like it either. But I am an ant, not the honey. And I'm trying to eat more vegetables...

Edited November 27, 2015 by notaromantic

[Lyichir]

They never run out of Friends,DP,Elves,etc... They are ALWAYS there. Nobody buys them. But Licensed ones

actually sell, and often my local stores run out of supplies for them...

In addition to what others have said, the current stock of a product in a particular store is a TERRIBLE way of gauging demand. Not only do you not know whether that store is representative of all areas (it usually isn't), but unless you're monitoring those stores vigilantly, you can't even be sure whether a product is actually languishing on shelves or whether it's being restocked regularly due to high demand (and consequently, high supply). Friends and Elves are HUGE sellers from what I've heard (not just from Lego but from other toy industry publications), and while occasionally one or two sets from a wave will experience lower demand (lasting longer on shelves and/or eventually being marked down for clearance), even that can often be chalked up to falling slightly short of huge initial expectations.

[dr_spock]

LEGO is hiring for a business analyst. That is job to get if you really want to analyze their theme performance with real sales data. The position is in Demark.

My local LEGO Retail Brand stores do seem to restock shelves throughout the day.

[paul_delahaye]

I'm only into a couple of themes, mainly City, Train and Technic.

• City, they are just playing it safe all the time. I can understand they sell Police and Fire, a bit more variety might help, but I can't see this changing any time soon.
  
• Train, they are almost letting this theme die, ok, they have kind of attached it onto City, which makes sense, but there does not seem to be any real dedication to this theme in the last few years
  
• Technic, the second half of the year is always exceptional, but the first half almost appears like they are releasing sets for the sake of releasing them as this is what they did last year. I don't doubt one of two of the 1st half sets will be good, but usually nothing to write home about.
  

As for your question on declining on originality. It could just be that we are all getting older and they are making more and more sets which appeal to kids rather than their smaller demographic of AFOLS. Although you cannot doubt in the last 5 years they have made some exceptional AFOL sets which kids would never have been able to afford.

[RCPD93]

Yes, most themes are going down the toilet with few exceptions. City is still amazing but Elves and Minecraft are terrible

[Aanchir]

Yes, most themes are going down the toilet with few exceptions. City is still amazing but Elves and Minecraft are terrible

In my opinion, Elves is better than anything City has had in years. Beautiful, imaginative, complex, and well-rounded. Granted, Elves is generally aimed at older kids than City, so it's bound to be at least a little bit more sophisticated in terms of builds and functions. And I tend to be drawn more to fantasy themes than realistic themes in general.

Besides Elves, Ninjago continues to build on its incredible track record, Ultra Agents and Legends of Chima had a good showing this year in spite of dwindling sales, and even Friends has continued to impress even though i tends to be more realistic than the themes I'm most invested in. The Bionicle reboot has also brought a bunch of brilliant designs that exceeded my expectations even as a lifelong Bionicle fan.

Obviously, personal taste is going to dictate which of these themes you like and which you don't. But from a financial standpoint, the LEGO Group's investments in non-licensed themes have paid off handsomely. In the UK, at least, this year's Ninjago launch actually surpassed The LEGO Movie product launch! That's certainly no indication of a theme that's on the decline.

[Mercury]

I know this is a bit of a thread necro, but I felt I had to comment.

As a longtime fan of Swiss Army Knives and Multitools, I am no stranger to niche market fandom. I am a longstanding member of a forum dedicated to these things, and I have seen threads nearly identical to this one every year. Just replace "Lego themes" with "Leatherman Designs" or "Victorinox ideas" and the question is always the same. One thing the OP always forgets to take into account is he/she is part of a VERY small group(relatively speaking) that likes the given product. With Leatherman, our site was on the radar, but as far as opinions/sales percentage ratio is considered, we were pretty heavy on opinions with not a whole lot of sales to back us. Roughly translated, that means that while this forum is important to TLG, just like all AFOL's are, the opinions of Eurobricks members simply cannot influence TLG's overall approach to their business on a day to day basis. It just isn't feasible, they'd be running around like headless chickens and not pleasing anyone at all. If Leatherman listened to Multitool.org forum members on every topic, they'd have gone under a long time ago. They figured out how to build multitools cheaper and sell them to more people, and it may not please every enthusiast, but sales don't lie.

Lego is still a toy, and the primary target is and always will be children, not adults. While they do target us, they are counting on our children to push us to buy them sets and that is how Lego got where they are.

[_Samibotss_]

Recently, I see alot of my local stores hiring men roaming around the store with a LEGO checklist, and writing down how many lego sets in X Theme Have been sold, and how many there still is. They carry out a catalog for 2016 sets. I've only recently started seeing this, Therefore I can assume that they are conducting business analysis.

It is true LEGO is a company, their #1 goal is money. I've only seen this because in my point of view, very few of what LEGO sells actually appeals to me now. I almost never buy a set to build it and display it as it is.

A couple of years ago, I used to love the Idea behind Mars Mission, Exo-force, agents, etc... But Now, Only thing I see appealing to me personally is Creator( Modular Buildings ), Star Wars and Architecture..

If LEGO made more sets that appeal to AFOLs, wouldn't it be more profitable? As a Toy Company, Their first Target would be children, But I personally feel that they could do us more....

[THERIZE]

Eeh why? I don't think may AFOLS buy sets, they are more likely to build MOCS and buy the pieces from Bricklink. And I don't think AFOL sets are the ones that sell good, apart from Modular buildings, Technic, architecture and Star Wars I don't see any more AFOL themes. And perhaps with a reason. According to some guys at the 2016 Trains topic the creator expert train production has been stopped. Because they didn't sell well. And looking at all those LEGO train shows perhaps AFOLS do indeed prefer to make own models.

I honestly like the variety LEGO has to offer. Speed Champions is a great series if you like cars (like me), LEGO friends for girls (my sister LOVES them!) the theme is better then it used to be in the beginning, they have schools, planes and busses and private yachts. Non of these are in other city style themes. (planes have been a few years ago and busses are part of the biggest sets)

And really, duh many AFOLS do not like themes like Chima, Ninjago, elves and MINECRAFT.

But looking at the average age of a MINECRAFT player I'm not surprised that AFOLS do not like it.

'It only has tiles and is expensive blah' WHAT ON EARTH WOULD YOU EXPECT FROM A MINECRAFT THEME? Everything in minecraft is BLOCKY!! You see, BLOCKY!! That would be like the same as saying: LEGO Star Wars is boring, it's grey. BUT STAR WARS VEHICLES ARE GREY.

[_Samibotss_]

Eeh why? I don't think may AFOLS buy sets, they are more likely to build MOCS and buy the pieces from Bricklink. And I don't think AFOL sets are the ones that sell good, apart from Modular buildings, Technic, architecture and Star Wars I don't see any more AFOL themes. And perhaps with a reason. According to some guys at the 2016 Trains topic the creator expert train production has been stopped. Because they didn't sell well. And looking at all those LEGO train shows perhaps AFOLS do indeed prefer to make own models.

I honestly like the variety LEGO has to offer. Speed Champions is a great series if you like cars (like me), LEGO friends for girls (my sister LOVES them!) the theme is better then it used to be in the beginning, they have schools, planes and busses and private yachts. Non of these are in other city style themes. (planes have been a few years ago and busses are part of the biggest sets)

And really, duh many AFOLS do not like themes like Chima, Ninjago, elves and MINECRAFT.

But looking at the average age of a MINECRAFT player I'm not surprised that AFOLS do not like it.

'It only has tiles and is expensive blah' WHAT ON EARTH WOULD YOU EXPECT FROM A MINECRAFT THEME? Everything in minecraft is BLOCKY!! You see, BLOCKY!! That would be like the same as saying: LEGO Star Wars is boring, it's grey. BUT STAR WARS VEHICLES ARE GREY.

I don't mind the more young targeted themes, I just personally feel we don't have enough AFOL themes... It's my opinion, I understand both point of views...