Indiana Jones 2023 - Rumors & Discussion

[Mandalorianknight]

If the theme actually returns turtle should be unbanned, even if just to make a single post gloating about how he was right all along.

[a_clay_brick]

He was not referring to this theme. I promise.

[RichardGoring]

In non-licensed discussion, the Lost City in the Bricklink Designer Program is a pretty excellent setting for Indy, and Solid Brix Studios has done a review on it, placing Indy in there for a bit of fun.

[BrickBob Studpants]

8 hours ago, a_clay_brick said:

He was not referring to this theme. I promise.

Thank you for confirming it!  Now I‘m curious which theme(s) he was referring to, unless that post didn‘t hint at themes other than the ones he already confirmed (i.e., Simpsons and Horizon). 

Avatar can be ruled out too since he said in another post he only expects it to return.

[Lordhelmet]

19 hours ago, Agent Kallus said:

It was Alfrid (not Alfred) that was the greasy advisor in the Hobbit movies.

Ouch, catching spelling error strays.  I agree the greasy advisor was who I intended.

 

I enjoyed the Indiana jones sets and was sorry to see them leave.  They may have been the best priced sets I can remember.

[Darth_Bane13]

I really don't understand why LEGO wont make a full Indiana Jones wave, did they really sell that poorly?

[Agent Kallus]

13 hours ago, Darth_Bane13 said:

I really don't understand why LEGO wont make a full Indiana Jones wave, did they really sell that poorly?

I think they were hoping that the new film would push IJ to the forefront of pop culture in a way that it, uhh, didn't.

 

Edited October 5, 2024 by Agent Kallus

[RichardGoring]

I can still see it returning as a few one-off sets in the Icons range, similar to Lots of the Rings, Back to the Future, Ghostbusters. These older, iconic movies, with a core fan base of mostly adults with money to spend, have been good for LEGO to target. Larger scale sets or dioramas seen most likely though, rather than the play sets. And, if it does ever happen, it won't be for a while.

[Black Falcon]

6 hours ago, RichardGoring said:

I can still see it returning as a few one-off sets in the Icons range, similar to Lots of the Rings, Back to the Future, Ghostbusters. These older, iconic movies, with a core fan base of mostly adults with money to spend, have been good for LEGO to target. Larger scale sets or dioramas seen most likely though, rather than the play sets. And, if it does ever happen, it won't be for a while.

Yeah exactly. Like no chance we will see them doing a big icons set so short after the playsets - especially since I think that the most iconic location they could make is already on the shelves. 

For now, I think a big icons Adventurers Set is more likely to happen than an Indiana Jones one.

[Renny The Spaceman]

12 hours ago, Agent Kallus said:

I think they were hoping that the new film would push IJ to the forefront of pop culture in a way that it, uhh, didn't.

 

What are you on about? Did you forget how 2023 was the summer of Indy? Now all our favourite characters from Dial of Destiny have become just as iconic as the OG characters. We all love the likes of:
-Somehow not Mads Michelson's worst role that year
-Fleabag
-Antonio Banderas 
-Whoever that one kid who was. He there for the entire movie but literally no-one I speak to ever remembers he was even in the film

I mish we got a Charles Stanforth figure

[Kit Figsto]

On 10/4/2024 at 11:32 AM, Darth_Bane13 said:

I really don't understand why LEGO wont make a full Indiana Jones wave, did they really sell that poorly?

I think the best explanation is that Indy merch has never been the same giant that Star Wars or Marvel has been, unfortunately. 

The only movies that even really got much merch in the first place were Raiders, Crystal Skull, and Dial.  If you go way back to the 80s, you can see that the toys and stuff must've been a bit of a failure, for multiple reasons that others have already covered (distribution, figure selection, etc).  Temple of Doom barely got anything merch-wise (most notably, nothing from Kenner), and I don't even know if Last Crusade got ANYTHING.  

Crystal Skull definitely had the biggest merch push of any of the films - you had LEGO and Hasbro on board, plus brands like Topps, Gentle Giant, and Mighty Muggs (basically Funko Pops before Funko Pops), as well as a bunch of food promotions (off the top of my head, I believe Burger King, Dr. Pepper, and M&M's, among probably some others).  Indy was everywhere in 2008, and even though the movie got mixed reviews, it still did well at the box office, it was the 3rd best movie of 2008, only barely behind Iron Man for the #2 spot.  I think despite all of this, the merchandise just wasn't selling that well, because pretty much all Indy tie-ins were gone by 2009.

If you look at the Dial of Destiny merch push, most of it was adult focused, whereas the Crystal Skull merch seemed to aim more at getting kids interested in the movie, which they may not have seen before.  Anecdotally, I can say that it worked, because I literally wouldn't be an Indy fan if not for the LEGO sets.  The Hasbro Adventure Series figures (while expensive) are phenomenal, but their other Indy action figure lines were much more scaled back.  There were a handful of Funkos for the movie, but they also license basically everything as a Funko, so that's not a huge surprise.  That's basically it as far as other main tie-ins.

I think that the problem with Indy merch is that the universe is much more grounded than something like Star Wars or super heroes.  The movies aren't as character-driven, outside of Indy.  Yes, there are tons of cool and memorable side characters, but if you offered action figures of Marion, Henry Jones Sr., Sallah, and Short Round, versus Leia, Chewbacca, Darth Vader, and Yoda, I feel like almost anyone is going to choose the second option.  There's also fewer options for location/vehicles than something like Star Wars or Marvel, where you can either sort of invent your own thing, or there's so many background ships/vehicles that are still cool enough to warrant making a toy out of it.

Don't get me wrong, I really want more Indy merch in any capacity, but I think that's just the reason why we don't get much at all.

[Darth_Bane13]

3 hours ago, Kit Figsto said:

I think the best explanation is that Indy merch has never been the same giant that Star Wars or Marvel has been, unfortunately. 

The only movies that even really got much merch in the first place were Raiders, Crystal Skull, and Dial.  If you go way back to the 80s, you can see that the toys and stuff must've been a bit of a failure, for multiple reasons that others have already covered (distribution, figure selection, etc).  Temple of Doom barely got anything merch-wise (most notably, nothing from Kenner), and I don't even know if Last Crusade got ANYTHING.  

Crystal Skull definitely had the biggest merch push of any of the films - you had LEGO and Hasbro on board, plus brands like Topps, Gentle Giant, and Mighty Muggs (basically Funko Pops before Funko Pops), as well as a bunch of food promotions (off the top of my head, I believe Burger King, Dr. Pepper, and M&M's, among probably some others).  Indy was everywhere in 2008, and even though the movie got mixed reviews, it still did well at the box office, it was the 3rd best movie of 2008, only barely behind Iron Man for the #2 spot.  I think despite all of this, the merchandise just wasn't selling that well, because pretty much all Indy tie-ins were gone by 2009.

If you look at the Dial of Destiny merch push, most of it was adult focused, whereas the Crystal Skull merch seemed to aim more at getting kids interested in the movie, which they may not have seen before.  Anecdotally, I can say that it worked, because I literally wouldn't be an Indy fan if not for the LEGO sets.  The Hasbro Adventure Series figures (while expensive) are phenomenal, but their other Indy action figure lines were much more scaled back.  There were a handful of Funkos for the movie, but they also license basically everything as a Funko, so that's not a huge surprise.  That's basically it as far as other main tie-ins.

I think that the problem with Indy merch is that the universe is much more grounded than something like Star Wars or super heroes.  The movies aren't as character-driven, outside of Indy.  Yes, there are tons of cool and memorable side characters, but if you offered action figures of Marion, Henry Jones Sr., Sallah, and Short Round, versus Leia, Chewbacca, Darth Vader, and Yoda, I feel like almost anyone is going to choose the second option.  There's also fewer options for location/vehicles than something like Star Wars or Marvel, where you can either sort of invent your own thing, or there's so many background ships/vehicles that are still cool enough to warrant making a toy out of it.

Don't get me wrong, I really want more Indy merch in any capacity, but I think that's just the reason why we don't get much at all.

Yeah I don't think it needs to be a permanent theme but a couple waves similar to 2008/2009 with some remakes and some new stuff would be cool. The original sets go for quite a lot now so I think there's a decent sized fanbase, and the 2023 sets we got seemed to be pretty popular.

[Tariq j]

On 10/5/2024 at 3:53 AM, RichardGoring said:

I can still see it returning as a few one-off sets in the Icons range, similar to Lots of the Rings, Back to the Future, Ghostbusters. These older, iconic movies, with a core fan base of mostly adults with money to spend, have been good for LEGO to target. Larger scale sets or dioramas seen most likely though, rather than the play sets. And, if it does ever happen, it won't be for a while.

Yeah, I could see the anniversaries of the films being celebrated - like maybe a truck chase diorama for the 50th anniversary of Raiders or a grail temple diorama for the 40th anniversary of Crusade. But beyond that I don’t see Indy coming back with a full wave of sets.

[Doddsino]

On 10/4/2024 at 11:32 AM, Darth_Bane13 said:

I really don't understand why LEGO wont make a full Indiana Jones wave, did they really sell that poorly?

Several reasons;

1. Unlike Star Wars, it doesn't have as much of an imaginative or unique places and vehicles, in fact most of them were the sets we already got.

2. Religious relics such as the Holy Grail are very likely not going to be made. And they already censored the Nazis.

3. Other locations/sets won't be represented such as the child slaves and human sacrifice in Pankot Palace, despite how cool that might be as a playset. I doubt they're going to make Marion's bar either.

4. You're pretty much limited to Indy as your focus, whereas Star Wars could cutaway from Luke to Han to Leia to Vader to the droids...and that's only the original trilogy.

If anything, I'd almost prefer if they were imaginative with the Indiana Jones license and created new sets based off their own ideas for adventures. That's probably the only way we're going to see a real return.

Edited October 16, 2024 by Doddsino

[icm]

You mean, what you'd really prefer is a full fledged return of Adventurers in which you could insert your 2023 Indiana Jones minifigs. Right? 

[Classic_Spaceman]

The latest news (Pokémon theme in 2026) basically confirms that Indy will return at some point - TandNbricks posted a list of “leaks” on April Fools’ Day last year, and now IJ returning is the only one to not be confirmed as true (as of right now, anyway). It seems the joke was that they are all true! 

The full list: 
1. Simpsons will return - True! 
2. Horizon isn’t a one off - True! 
3. LOTR returns in 2025 - True! 
4. Pokémon is coming - True! 
5. Endor is the next Master Builder Series set - True! 
6. Indiana Jones will return - TBD 
 

[CloneCommando99]

7 minutes ago, Classic_Spaceman said:

The latest news (Pokémon theme in 2026) basically confirms that Indy will return at some point - TandNbricks posted a list of “leaks” on April Fools’ Day last year, and now IJ returning is the only one to not be confirmed as true (as of right now, anyway). It seems the joke was that they are all true! 

The full list: 
1. Simpsons will return - True! 
2. Horizon isn’t a one off - True! 
3. LOTR returns in 2025 - True! 
4. Pokémon is coming - True! 
5. Endor is the next Master Builder Series set - True! 
6. Indiana Jones will return - TBD 
 

How do we know Indy specifically wasn’t the April Fools?

8 minutes ago, Classic_Spaceman said:

5. Endor is the next Master Builder Series set - True! 

That’s extremely debatable. It appears to be a combo of both Death Stars with Krennic and Chewie being the first fig leaks.

[Classic_Spaceman]

4 minutes ago, CloneCommando99 said:

How do we know Indy specifically wasn’t the April Fools?

Four or five out of six being true makes me inclined to believe that all of the leaks are true (or at least were at the time - Maybe TDoD’s lacklustre reception caused a change in plans?). 

5 minutes ago, CloneCommando99 said:

That’s extremely debatable. It appears to be a combo of both Death Stars with Krennic and Chewie being the first fig leaks.

I thought were getting an Endor MBS, with the $1,000 Death Star being a separate UCS set. Also, until we hear about RotJ-only characters appearing in the set, I will assume that it is the DS1. 
 

[nicknack116]

20 minutes ago, Classic_Spaceman said:

TandNbricks posted a list of “leaks” on April Fools’ Day last year, and now IJ returning is the only one to not be confirmed as true

I remember that April Fools’ Day list and thought there was no way they were all real, Pokemon had to be the prank. Surprise, surprise!
 

i wonder if plans have changed since Dial of Destiny? But maybe other mediums (like the video game) will keep Indy alive enough in pop culture to justify some one-off Icons sets based on the movies? like Lord of the Rings?

I just personally have a hard time believing we’ll get a dedicated theme again.

[Classic_Spaceman]

35 minutes ago, nicknack116 said:

I just personally have a hard time believing we’ll get a dedicated theme again.

I can see us getting large dioramas every year or two - Maybe a Grail Temple next? 
 

[Black Falcon]

1 hour ago, Classic_Spaceman said:

The latest news (Pokémon theme in 2026) basically confirms that Indy will return at some point - TandNbricks posted a list of “leaks” on April Fools’ Day last year, and now IJ returning is the only one to not be confirmed as true (as of right now, anyway). It seems the joke was that they are all true! 

I still think it isn´t likely we will see another Indy Set. Aside from that, it also seems possible that Pokemon was meant to be a joke but just turned out to be true now. I guess only one person will be able to tell. 

On a side note, it would also be possible (but still seems unlikely to me) that an other bigger Indy Set was planed but got dropped.

[nicknack116]

10 minutes ago, Black Falcon said:

it also seems possible that Pokemon was meant to be a joke but just turned out to be true now.

It’s a great strategy for a leaker if they know enough “sure” things but a few “maybes” to position it all as an April Fools’ Joke and ask us to decide what’s real or not. That way if one or two fall through they were “always” the jokes.

[BrickBob Studpants]

Someone claimed on the Brick Tap Discord server that @TandNbricks himself said that only the first four out of the six were real. Since I don‘t have IG anymore, maybe someone can verify? ^^

[Renny The Spaceman]

I think the theme and the general push for that film flopping as it did shows pretty clearly differences in how successful and unsuccessful legacy sequels go. Disney banked hard on the nostalgia for the old films carrying it whilst back in the day with Crystal Skull there was a big marketing push before the movie specifically targeting getting new audiences invested in the series, they had a heavy push with various LEGO animations, games + had him cameo in the complete saga the year before just on the LEGO end. The film was gonna flop no matter what with that budget but coasting on nostalgia so hard meant it entirely relied on old fans to support 

[BrickMatit]

17 minutes ago, BrickBob Studpants said:

Since I don‘t have IG anymore, maybe someone can verify?

He posted in his stories a screen from his 2023 April Fool's post with a tick near the first four statements.