Unpopular Opinions about LEGO

[SpacePolice89]

I took a catalog and counted all sets that contain minifigures. There were 75 in house sets and 120 licensed sets. I counted very fast so there might be some minor mistakes but that is roughly the number.

[icm]

30 minutes ago, Wolfpack said:

Finally we are getting somewhere, those are the issues I am talking about.

1. Yes, that would certainly be a step in the right direction. It would be a huge difference if they would just make one Disney theme with combined Disney stuff. But the legal contracts are probably preventing them from doing that. As for City you are only talking about subthemes here. If they wanted to explore new directions and worlds, they should break it to different themes without the City label.

icm, a theme is what lego labels as such. The themes are listed in a table of contents.  Each theme has its own definition. This is definition for City: Explore the bustling world of LEGO® City, where there’s lots to do! Visit fun town centre destinations, play exciting emergency services stories and discover new frontiers, including the ocean and space. Build cool vehicles, take a ride on the train or put on exciting arena stunt shows.

1. What difference would it actually make? You still haven't explained that.

Ok, so a "theme" is a "label" listed in a "table of contents" with a "definition", where TLG maintains the table of contents/list of labels and their definitions. Pray tell, where is the master "table of contents" and master dictionary of "definitions"? Is that primarily defined by marketing or by budgeting? If it's clear by looking at a printed catalog, then I will maintain to my dying day that Divers, Arctic, Race, Extreme Team, and Ninja were their own separate themes. They had their own logos and pages in the mail order catalogs I got as a kid. It was clear to me as a kid, poring over the Lego catalogs, that those were exciting new themes. Of course, as an adult with some more perspective I think it's fair for Brickset and other online databases to catalog the first four as subthemes of Town and the last as a subtheme of Castle.

Edit - just to make it clear, I'm only quibbling about the definition of a "theme" here. I'm not going to take the time to count the number of sets of various categories in the database.

Edited March 13 by icm

[Wolfpack]

Yes, I also believe (if I remember that catalogue correctly, do not hold me for a word) that Diving, Arctic, Ninja etc. were their own themes. That was the distribution of themes I liked. All the other questions you should direct to tlg, but if you ask me, it would probably be the marketing?

MAB, I care about reality, not fantasy. I want lego to do it, not someone in his head.

Edited March 13 by Wolfpack

[MAB]

1 hour ago, Wolfpack said:

Finally we are getting somewhere, those are the issues I am talking about.

1. Yes, that would certainly be a step in the right direction. It would be a huge difference if they would just make one Disney theme with combined Disney stuff. But the legal contracts are probably preventing them from doing that. As for City you are only talking about subthemes here. If they wanted to explore new directions and worlds, they should break it to different themes without the City label.

So instead of 10 different Disney themes each with 5 sets in, you'd prefer one Disney super-theme with 10 subthemes, each with 5 sets in?

It would reduce the number of licenced themes, increase the ratio of unlicensed to licensed themes but keep exactly the same number of licensed sets as before taking up exactly the same amount of shelf space in a store. More importantly,  it would make no difference as to whether or not they made any classic style unlicensed sets. So it would change absolutely nothing.

But if you want that, you can do it yourself. Just mentally label all licensed sets as licensed, then use their current theme as the subtheme name. And as if by magic, there is only one licensed theme and so there are now more unlicensed themes than licensed themes. Yet absolutely nothing changes in terms of what sets you can buy.

[Black Falcon]

13 hours ago, Wolfpack said:

1. Yes, that would certainly be a step in the right direction. It would be a huge difference if they would just make one Disney theme with combined Disney stuff. But the legal contracts are probably preventing them from doing that. As for City you are only talking about subthemes here. If they wanted to explore new directions and worlds, they should break it to different themes without the City label.

It would make no sense actually. Star Wars and Marvel are both big franchises in the first place, with tons of new Sets every year, especially for the Galaxy far far away. While the Disney theme itself is more about the classic disney stuff, the old movies, new movies and of course the Disney Princess subfranchise. While you still didn´t explain what the benefit of throwing them all together would be, as others explained it would only change the label but not the contents.

[Wolfpack]

So you admit it would make no sense from the corporate view. :) The benefit would probably be less marketing, less budget, less IP recognition etc. especially in the long term, so more of everything for other themes.

In modern world labels are extremly important.

[Black Falcon]

27 minutes ago, Wolfpack said:

So you admit it would make no sense from the corporate view. :) The benefit would probably be less marketing, less budget, less IP recognition etc. especially in the long term, so more of everything for other themes.

In modern world labels are extremly important.

It would make no sense for Lego and it would make no sense for costumers. And no, just because they slam a big Disney sign on it and Star Wars as Subtheme on it, it wouldn´t reduce budget, marketing or anything else. If anything it would increase costs because you would have to redesign existing sets in the first place.

[Yoggington]

17 hours ago, Wolfpack said:

Yeah, I am only interested in minifigure scale. If you enjoy playing with duplo, technic, scala, belville or whatever, great, but obviosly I am allowed to discuss the aspect of lego I care about.

Of course you're allowed.

But when you post something like the below - which has no such restrictions. Then get called out on it and react by clarifying in a way that suits your argument, you should be able to see why people react strongly.

On 3/12/2026 at 12:48 PM, Wolfpack said:

Absolutely. It is all just licenced stuff nowadays. The regular themes have been demoted to DBP. Since the start of it in 2024 we got exactly zero new sets for Castle, Pirates etc. Zero in three years!

There are only two non-licenced themes left! One is town and the other feels licenced anyway with all the characters and story set in stone. We came to the bizarre situation where the best theme, despite all the simplication and flaws, is Creator.

Like, it is not "just licensed stuff nowadays", and there are absolutely many more than "only two non-licensed themes left!". It's a hyperbolic argument, and it seems very dishonest to say that actually you meant if you only count this limited number then I'm right.

Hopefully you at least know it is far fro an unpopular opinion. It's been rehashed in the thread at least a half dozen times.

[Wolfpack]

I think that I clarified everything more than adequatly and who actually wanted to undertand my opinion understands it by now. The only problem was that I did not specify that I am interested in minifigure themes only, which I then emphesized right waway. If anyone still has any concerns it is probably dishonesty on their part.

You can cherrypick, turn words around, relativise etc. but (after the final retirement od Dramzzz) the ratio stays 2 to 20 or 3 to 19 or something similar. I do not like it, others like and that is it.

[danth]

9 hours ago, Yoggington said:

Like, it is not "just licensed stuff nowadays", and there are absolutely many more than "only two non-licensed themes left!". It's a hyperbolic argument, and it seems very dishonest to say that actually you meant if you only count this limited number then I'm right.

It's not that exaggerated. Most people when they say "theme" are talking about minifig themes, like the original Space, Town, and Castle were. All we have left for those is City, Ninjago, and Dreamzzz. At least I assume Monkie Kid is dead. 

Friends isn't a minifig theme, it's a minidoll theme. Creator isn't a minifig theme, since many (most?) Creator sets don't include minifigs, and since Creator sets don't follow a theme in the literal sense. 

I guess there's the Modular Buildings but those are effectively deluxe City sets and there's only one a year. 

So, saying two unlicensed (minifig) themes wasn't really that hyperbolic if the actual number is three. 

[icm]

Yeah, the complaint is valid. No ongoing Space theme since 2013 (though the 2024 Space subtheme was amazing), no ongoing Castle theme since 2013 (though there have been some amazing one-offs and related sets), no ongoing Pirates theme since 1997 (just intermittent waves and one-offs), and non-Space sci-fi action-adventure themes being hobbled by the Big Bang development model and not running concurrently, or being folded into the Ninjago umbrella.

All that is true. It's just the theme counting I was quibbling about, since the prevalence of umbrella themes, the tendency to feature similar kinds of content in several themes at once, and having several different themes take on the same IP in different ways means that the traditional concept of a theme as a distinct play world or a distinct license is less relevant than it used to be. Also the rejection of Friends as not a proper playtheme due to its use of a different style of minifig gets tiresome.

10 hours ago, Yoggington said:

Hopefully you at least know it is far fro an unpopular opinion. It's been rehashed in the thread at least a half dozen times.

If I had a nickel for every time this gets brought up I could probably reach a hefty GWP threshold.

Edited March 14 by icm

[Lion King]

I guess Lego is on steroids when there are some licensed themes and it lurks to attract new fans over to bricks and away form other rivals. And it’s gross. 

And I get that it’s 2026 and kids don’t know what in-house themes mean but they know what movies (DC, Marvel, Harry Potter) or video games (Fornites, Legend of Zelda, Pokemon, Super Martio) or musicals (Wicked). I love in-house thing that don’t look like they are from movies, video games or musicals - outlet unique. 

So far, we have Friends (only minidoll in-house theme), Creator (it does have a few minifigures but not too much), City, DreamZzz (soon it will meet its end like Monkie Kid’s fate). Ideas and Icons are just mix of non-licensed and licensed. I take comfort in in-house CMF series as they offfer Pirates, Castle, Adventurers, and Space minifigures annually. 

[MAB]

17 hours ago, Lion King said:

And I get that it’s 2026 and kids don’t know what in-house themes mean....

Yet City has been a top selling theme every year for many decades. Ninjago and Friends have been so popular that they have grown in terms of yearly output way bigger than classic themes or the one year themes, and keep selling year after year after year. So some kids must understand what in-house themes mean.

[Lego David]

I am so confused by the people in this thread who are trying to deny that Licensed Themes vastly outnumber original themes. They clearly do, that is literally an undeniable fact. 

I went to Brickset and I looked at all the themes listed in 2026. For the sake of the argument, I will be generous and also list unlicensed non-minifigure based themes such as Creator and Botanicals. Here is the result:

Licesned Themes:

Animal Crossing 

Bluey

Brickheadz

DC Super Heroes 

Disney

Editions 

Fortnite 

Gabby's Dollhouse 

Harry Potter

Jurassic World 

Kpop Demon Hunters 

Marvel Superheroes 

Minecraft 

One Piece 

Pokemon 

Sonic the Headgehog 

Speed Champions 

Star Wars 

Super Mario 

The Legend of Zelda 

Hybrids (Themes that have both Licensed and Unlicensed sets)

Technic

Collectable Minifigures 

Duplo 

Icons 

Ideas 

Architecture 

Art 

Fully Original Themes (no licensed sets at all)
Ninjago 

Dreamzzz (confirmed to retire soon)

City 

Creator 

Friends 

Botanicals 

That's 20 Licensed themes in total, plus 7 hybrids, which makes 27 in total, versus 6 Original themes in total. If we exclude non-minifigure themes, we are only left with Ninjago, City, and Dreamzz, three original themes in total, and if you don't count Dremzzz because it is confirmed to retire soon, you are only left with City and Ninjago. 

No Matter how you try to spin it, Licensed Themes outnumber original themes almost 20 to 2. That is absolutely insane, and the imbalance is absolutely undeniable. 

 

Edited March 16 by Lego David

[icm]

It's that the notion of what counts is a theme is a lot fuzzier than it looks at first glance. 

Anyway, your list is internally inconsistent. You need to move Icons and Ideas to the hybrid category and you need to merge DC and Marvel Super Heroes because it's well known that they have a single budget and a single set of designers, so internally they are a single theme.. You also need to move Architecture and Art into the hybrid category. Of course, extending the hybrid category that way doesn't make the licensed vs unlicensed roster look any more balanced.

[Lego David]

43 minutes ago, icm said:

Anyway, your list is internally inconsistent. You need to move Icons and Ideas to the hybrid category and you need to merge DC and Marvel Super Heroes because it's well known that they have a single budget and a single set of designers, so internally they are a single theme.. You also need to move Architecture and Art into the hybrid category. Of course, extending the hybrid category that way doesn't make the licensed vs unlicensed roster look any more balanced.

Noted. I edited my original message and moved Icons, Ideas, Architecture, and Art in the hybrid category, thanks for the feedback. 

I would still count DC and Marvel as two separate themes because although they do have the same design team they are still two different licenses coming from two different license holders. If you're going to count it based on the design team, I think technically the same team that worked on Ninjago worked on Dreamzz also (correct me if I am wrong) but that doesn't mean we should count Ninjago and Dreamzz as only one theme.

[Karalora]

I haven't seen anyone deny that licensed themes far outnumber unlicensed ones. What I have seen is a position that the theme count matters less than the set count, which is closer to parity.

[Lego David]

On 3/12/2026 at 10:26 AM, MAB said:

It is not 90% of the time. It is still about 50:50 licensed to unlicensed when comparing numbers of sets

 

8 minutes ago, Karalora said:

I haven't seen anyone deny that licensed themes far outnumber unlicensed ones

That's kind of what @MAB has been implying with his comments. However even if we take it from that perspective and count it purely based on the number of sets, the balance wouldn't look that much better, because themes such as Icons which are counted on this list as a single license get a tone of sets, while some of the original themes such as Dreamzz barely got a few new sets this year to close the theme out. I don't have the time to do a formal counting of all sets right now, but even if I did, I would bet the results wouldn't be that much different. 

 

Edited March 16 by Lego David

[Yoggington]

25 minutes ago, Lego David said:

 

That's kind of what @MAB has been implying with his comments. However even if we take it from that perspective and count it purely based on the number of sets, the balance wouldn't look that much better, because themes such as Icons which are counted on this list as a single license get a tone of sets, while some of the original themes such as Dreamzz barely got a few new sets this year to close the theme out. I don't have the time to do a formal counting of all sets right now, but even if I did, I would bet the results wouldn't be that much different. 

 

See that's the thing, if you go ahead and do that count you'll find it's pretty close to a 50:50 split.

It can be quite surprising to find there are so many City sets, Friends sets, Ninjago sets (e.g. respectively for 2025, 50, 42 & 48). Meanwhile in the licensed side, only really Star Wars has comparable numbers (2025: 54). After that you're looking at Marvel (38) and Minecraft (34). Following those, numbers get distinctly small. Even ones that 'feel' like big hitters are not. Like Harry Potter (20) is smaller than you'd have the impression of. There were more Botanicals released (13) than DC sets (12). And so many 'themes' have less ten. Like in no way is the One Piece theme (6) comparable to the Duplo range (27). But thinking back through the marketing for the year it seems to feel like it is. Most in house themes don't get a whole ton of marketing or hype - because they don't need it.

[SpacePolice89]

1 hour ago, Karalora said:

I haven't seen anyone deny that licensed themes far outnumber unlicensed ones. What I have seen is a position that the theme count matters less than the set count, which is closer to parity.

 

On 3/13/2026 at 10:37 PM, SpacePolice89 said:

I took a catalog and counted all sets that contain minifigures. There were 75 in house sets and 120 licensed sets. I counted very fast so there might be some minor mistakes but that is roughly the number.

As I mentioned in my earlier comment there are almost twice as many licensed sets. I know that some sets (both licensed and unlicensed) are not in the catalog but most are.

Edited March 16 by SpacePolice89

[icm]

Just now, SpacePolice89 said:

As I mentioned in my earlier comment there are almost twice as many licensed sets. I know that some sets (both licensed and unlicensed) are not in the catalog but most are in the catalog.

Your list is skewed because you're going from a short printed catalog that necessarily omits more than half of the sets produced in a particular year, and it can't be verified by anyone who doesn't have that specific print catalog in front of them. It's more useful to count sets from an online database than from a print catalog. It's an equally valid question or complaint why there are almost twice as many licensed sets as unlicensed sets in the particular piece of marketing that is the print catalog you're looking at, but it is a separate question.

[Lego David]

1 hour ago, Yoggington said:

It can be quite surprising to find there are so many City sets, Friends sets, Ninjago sets (e.g. respectively for 2025, 50, 42 & 48). Meanwhile in the licensed side, only really Star Wars has comparable numbers (2025: 54). After that you're looking at Marvel (38) and Minecraft (34). Following those, numbers get distinctly small. Even ones that 'feel' like big hitters are not. Like Harry Potter (20) is smaller than you'd have the impression of. There were more Botanicals released (13) than DC sets (12). And so many 'themes' have less ten. Like in no way is the One Piece theme (6) comparable to the Duplo range (27). But thinking back through the marketing for the year it seems to feel like it is. Most in house themes don't get a whole ton of marketing or hype - because they don't need it

Okay, fair enough. But this still doesn't address the central problem that is driving so many people to complain about the lack of original themes: The lack of diversity when it comes to original themes. There may be a lot of Ninjago or Friends sets, but most people who are into original themes don't care about those two particular themes, outside the occasional set that may have pieces that they could use in their MOCs. On the flip side, just a quick glimpse at the list I posted earlier reveals a shocking variety of licensed themes currently on offer, ranging from popular kids cartoons (Bluey) to Anime Shows (One Piece, Pokemon) to popular video games (Fortnite, Zelda), and various 18+ Icons sets based on properties from more adult oriented Shows (Stranger Things). Basically, if you are an adult pop culture fan, there is more than enough for you to choose from. The same cannot be said for fans of original LEGO themes at all. 

[Yoggington]

15 minutes ago, Lego David said:

Okay, fair enough. But this still doesn't address the central problem that is driving so many people to complain about the lack of original themes: The lack of diversity when it comes to original themes. There may be a lot of Ninjago or Friends sets, but most people who are into original themes don't care about those two particular themes, outside the occasional set that may have pieces that they could use in their MOCs. On the flip side, just a quick glimpse at the list I posted earlier reveals a shocking variety of licensed themes currently on offer, ranging from popular kids cartoons (Bluey) to Anime Shows (One Piece, Pokemon) to popular video games (Fortnite, Zelda), and various 18+ Icons sets based on properties from more adult oriented Shows (Stranger Things). Basically, if you are an adult pop culture fan, there is more than enough for you to choose from. The same cannot be said for fans of original LEGO themes at all. 

This is true and I agree. I for one would certainly like to see a lot more Castle stuff for example.

I think the irritation comes when people make sweeping statements about how there are way more licensed sets than unlicensed - because this simply isn't true.

Phrased the way you've put it now, I can get behind that.

[icm]

From model year 2025 alone, we have the following in the Brickset database (link). I will use the following abbreviations: ML for minifig-scale and licensed; DL for non-minifig-scale (Display/Duplo/etc) and licensed; MU for minifig-scale and unlicensed; DU for minifig-scale and unlicensed. I'm ignoring magazine gifts and other tiny promotional items, and I'm counting each CMF series as a single set. I know BDP is a very different production and distribution model from most sets, but it's an ongoing program that's highly visible in AFOL spaces, so I'm counting it as a theme. If a set contains minifigs but the main build is a non-minifig-scale display item like a large car or a Disney dress, it counts as non-minifig-scale. I'll list these in the order ML, DL, MU, DU.

• Animal Crossing: 6xML
• Architecture: 3xDL
• Art: 3xDL, 1xDU
• Bluey: 4xML
• Books: not counted for this discussion
• Botanicals: 9xDU
• Brickheadz: 16xDL
• Bricklink Designer Program: 20xMU
• City: 6xML, 32xMU
• Classic: 6xDU
• Collectible Blind-Boxes: 1xML, 1xDL, 1xMU
• Creator: 2xMU, 26xDU
• DC Comics Super Heroes: 4xML, 1xDL
• Disney: 18xML, 7xDL
• Dreamzzz: 11xMU
• Duplo: 10xDL, 17xDU
• Education: not counted for this discussion
• Fortnite: 2xML, 2xDL
• Friends: 34xMU
• Gabby's Dollhouse: 2xML
• Gear: not counted for this discussion
• Harry Potter: 13xML, 6xDL
• Horizon: 1xML
• Icons: 7xML, 6xDL, 4xMU, 4xDU
• Ideas: 4xML, 2xDL, 2xMU, 6xDU
• Jurassic World: 5xML, 4xDL
• Marvel Super Heroes: 24xML, 4xDL
• Minecraft: 18xML, 1xDL
• Miscellaneous: 4xDU; 5x employee and inside tour sets I'm not counting
• Monkie Kid: 2xMU
• Nike: 3xDL
• Ninjago: 24xMU, 2xDU
• One Piece: 5xML
• Promotional: 1xML, 1xDL, 5xMU, 14xDU, a bunch of other little stuff I'm not counting
• Seasonal: 1xDL, 3xMU, 17xDU
• Sonic the Hedgehog: 5xML, 3xDL
• Speed Champions: 15xML, 1xDL
• Star Wars: 18xML, 15xDL
• Super Mario: 18xDL
• Technic: 16xDL, 5xDU
• Wednesday: 2xML, 1xDL
• Wicked: 4xML, 2xDL

So, using this very simplistic ML/DL/MU/DU sorting I count:

165 ML

127 DL

140 MU

111 DU

So that's 292 licensed vs 251 unlicensed, and 305 minifig-scale vs 238 non-minifig-scale.

That's 16% more licensed sets than unlicensed sets, which is very noticeable but isn't at the point where licensed sets drastically outnumber unlicensed sets.

[icm]

3 hours ago, Lego David said:

That's kind of what @MAB has been implying with his comments. However even if we take it from that perspective and count it purely based on the number of sets, the balance wouldn't look that much better, because themes such as Icons which are counted on this list as a single license get a tone of sets, while some of the original themes such as Dreamzz barely got a few new sets this year to close the theme out. I don't have the time to do a formal counting of all sets right now, but even if I did, I would bet the results wouldn't be that much different. 

44 minutes ago, Lego David said:

Okay, fair enough. But this still doesn't address the central problem that is driving so many people to complain about the lack of original themes: The lack of diversity when it comes to original themes. There may be a lot of Ninjago or Friends sets, but most people who are into original themes don't care about those two particular themes, outside the occasional set that may have pieces that they could use in their MOCs. On the flip side, just a quick glimpse at the list I posted earlier reveals a shocking variety of licensed themes currently on offer, ranging from popular kids cartoons (Bluey) to Anime Shows (One Piece, Pokemon) to popular video games (Fortnite, Zelda), and various 18+ Icons sets based on properties from more adult oriented Shows (Stranger Things). Basically, if you are an adult pop culture fan, there is more than enough for you to choose from. The same cannot be said for fans of original LEGO themes at all. 

That's a good way to put it. Yes, there's rough parity in set count, but not in set diversity. There are more licenses with only a few sets each than there are distinct in-house themes with only a few sets each. The lack of proper, unlicensed, continuous, classic themes is a crying shame, and there aren't a lot of small single-wave unlicensed themes in different subject areas to balance out the small single-wave licensed themes in different subject areas.

But then again, this is at least partially due to the strategy of placing things within the budgets and labels of umbrella themes, rather than due to the contents in the box. If we separated things out from umbrella themes and gave them their own labels, we would have now or would have had recently the following additional unlicensed themes to accompany City, Creator, Friends, Ninjago, and Dreamzzz. That is to say, apart from the label on the box there's no reason not to think of these as continuing or single-wave in-house themes akin to the single-wave in-house themes of the 2000s and early 2010s. Remember, Botanicals used to be labeled under Icons before it got its own label.

• the many realistic animal sculptures from Creator 3-in-1
• the cute buildable household items from Creator 3-in-1
• City Space 2024-2025
• Friends Space 2024
• Technic Space 2024
• Winter Village
• Modular Buildings
• City Exploration themes

Of course, then we'd have to break out other licensed themes from their umbrellas:

• Icons-scale licensed vehicles
• Car Transporter Gang
• Lord of the Rings
• Zelda
• Other individual licenses
• City Formula 1 2025-2026

But we could break out at least one unlicensed theme from a licensed theme:

• Dinosaur Fossils (this seems to me to be pretty close to unlicensed in concept; they just stick it in the Jurassic World label because there's no reason not to

So, I guess it would be pretty much a wash in terms of licensed:unlicensed theme ratios if we broke things out from their umbrellas. I'm just making the point, once more, that theme counting is inherently fuzzier than set counting.