Lion King Posted April 16 Posted April 16 49 minutes ago, CloneCommando99 said: Is Technic not in-house? Yes, it’s not really an in-house theme even tho it has a few on-licensed sets like Earth orbit set last year.
imposter Posted April 16 Author Posted April 16 CITY/Space not Space... 1.) CITY 2.) Creator 3.) Dreamzzz 4.) Friends 5.) Monkie Kid 6.) Ninjago And in the end of 2026 Dreamzzz and Monkie Kid will be DISCONTINUED
BrickBob Studpants Posted April 16 Posted April 16 3 minutes ago, imposter said: And in the end of 2026 Dreamzzz and Monkie Kid will be DISCONTINUED And new themes will likely REPLACE them Also, you‘re missing a bunch of in-house themes from your list. Oh wait, those themes undermine your argument, so of course they must all be ignored
imposter Posted April 16 Author Posted April 16 I'm talking about themes. Real themes. Not for example Ideas or Icons. Themes with story, characters, vehicles and locations. That you can somehow compare to Harry Potter, Star Wars or Sonic for example. Creator is 1 of my favourites. It is some how super COOL to get brick build horses in modern set 2025.
icm Posted April 16 Posted April 16 Thanks for clarifying your terms. But if you mean themes with story and characters, why are you including City and Creator?
imposter Posted April 16 Author Posted April 16 Because CITY and Creator are these MAIN LINE themes, with story and characters. This is a quite good example. This continues Pirates. It is related.
icm Posted April 16 Posted April 16 (edited) Now we're just in No True Scotsman territory. City doesn't usually have a story and characters. Obviously it's a mainline theme, but it doesn't have story and characters. That Creator set doesn't have a story and characters either. It's an open ended play scenario inspired by Pirates. If we're going to count that as a Pirates set, there's no reason not to count the City spaceships from last year as Space sets. Besides, that set was a GWP, not a retail playset. Edited April 16 by icm
BrickBob Studpants Posted April 16 Posted April 16 The „there used to be 20 in-house themes“ argument also falls apart if we exclude non-story-driven themes
MAB Posted April 16 Posted April 16 1 hour ago, imposter said: Point of this TOPIC is that we had about 20 originals themes / per year. NOW 2025 we have about 5 and in end of 2026 about 3.... IN-HOUSE THEMES? Do I have to write here what happens next? That is because those unlicensed themes have essentially consolidated and become much bigger, and in some cases have also become evergreen / continuous. Presumably this is so that advertising costs are reduced and consumer knowledge of the theme increases and continues from year to year. Count the number of sets rather than themes and you will soon see.
imposter Posted April 16 Author Posted April 16 (edited) What you think? Rumor has it we are not Castle related. There is not any stories about us. We are ALONE in The Official LEGO universe. - WHO SAYS THAT!!?? - Well BIG guys on the forum. - a forum? - YES! Eurobricks... they know everything about LEGO. They are experts... - So Creator and CITY and other MAIN-LINE THEMES, all of them ... no characters, no story, no castle??? Edited April 16 by imposter
icm Posted April 16 Posted April 16 2 minutes ago, MAB said: Count the number of sets rather than themes and you will soon see. As the discussion loop in this thread has shown several times, he won't see.
MAB Posted April 16 Posted April 16 1 hour ago, icm said: For the purposes of this thread, I count the following unlicensed themes in 2011 from the Brickset list: Advanced Models 5 Bricks and More 9 Castle 4 City 29 Collectible Minifigures - not real sets Creator 17 Duplo - not regular LEGO Games - not regular LEGO Hero Factory 27 - constraction Life of George 1 Master Builder Academy 4 Mindstorms - not regular LEGO Ninjago 43 Pharoah's Quest 9 Racers 9 Seasonal 15 Space 10 Technic 11 With numbers of sets added in. 123 sets excluding constraction, 150 including it. But in 2024 - City 58, Creator 27, Dreamzzz 21, Friends 50, Monkie Kid 10, Ninjago 46, Seasonal 15. Just those themes total 227 sets. City has doubled in size, or quadrupled if you add in Friends. And look at the "creative" themes. Castle plus PQ plus Space totalled just 23 sets. These have disappeared but similar ideas appear now in City, Friends, Monkie Kid, Ninjago. So the choice of sets has gone up, it is just that the number of themes has gone down as they have consolidated their range. But if you sub-label City 2025 you have Space, Jungle, Racing, Traffic, Construction, Fire, Police, Harbour and Trains. Split those into individual more traditional smaller themes and you have Emergency, Construction and vehicle, Space, Jungle Exploration, Racing cars, Trains, Ships. Same with Friends splitting into Space, Transport, Houses, Shops, etc.
BrickBob Studpants Posted April 16 Posted April 16 2 minutes ago, MAB said: These have disappeared but similar ideas appear now in City, Friends, Monkie Kid, Ninjago. Exactly. Some may disagree, but I think it’s a neat ideas to integrate some new concepts into an existing theme such as Ninjago, like with the underwater or D&D-inspired subthemes they had. That approach is far less risky than creating an entirely new theme! Same with Adventurers sort of returning in a City subtheme That of course doesn‘t mean every idea should be treated like that!
imposter Posted April 16 Author Posted April 16 MAB, great points. Actually CITY is a MASSIVE theme in 2025 and even BIGGER 2026.
Lion King Posted April 16 Posted April 16 1 hour ago, icm said: As for 2024, going from the Brickset list I count: Animal Crossing - licensed Architecture - licensed Art - mixed licensed and unlicensed, we'll count it as unlicensed here Brickheadz - licensed Bricklink Designer Program - unlicensed City - unlicensed Classic - unlicensed Collectible Minifigures - mixed licensed and unlicensed, we'll count it as unlicensed here Creator - unlicensed DC Comics Super Heroes - licensed Despicable Me - licensed Disney - licensed Dreamzzz - unlicensed Duplo - mixed licensed and unlicensed, but mostly licensed in 2024! I'll count it as a licensed theme here Fortnite - licensed Friends - unlicensed Gabby's Dollhouse - licensed Gear - not a theme for the purposes of this list Harry Potter - licensed Icons - mixed licensed and unlicensed, we'll count it as unlicensed here Ideas - mixed licensed and unlicensed, but mostly licensed in 2024 Jurassic World - licensed Marvel Super Heroes - licensed Minecraft - licensed Miscellaneous - unlicensed Monkie Kid - unlicensed Ninjago - unlicensed Promotional - mostly unlicensed GWPs, so I'll count it as a theme here Seasonal - unlicensed Sonic the Hedgehog - licensed Speed Champions - licensed Star Wars - licensed Super Mario - licensed Technic - mostly licensed in 2024, with some unlicensed sets The Legend of Zelda - licensed Wednesday - licensed Wicked - licensed I would count as unlicensed themes for 2024: Art Bricklink Designer Program City City Space (I'm counting it separately from City here) Classic Collectible Minifigures Creator Dreamzzz Friends Icons Botanicals (I'm counting it separately from Icons here) Ideas (a few unlicensed sets) Miscellaneous Monkie Kid Ninjago Promotional Seasonal Technic Space (I'm counting it separately from the licensed Technic sets here) So, that's about the same number of unlicensed themes as in 2011, while the licensed portfolio has grown. May I ask why BDP is counted as an unlicensed theme even tho it’s not sold through Lego S@H or offical stores?
icm Posted April 16 Posted April 16 It's a stretch to count BDP as a theme, because it's not sold through Shop at Home or in Lego retail stores, but it does have a fairly large amount of sets, they are produced by the Lego company, and there's reasonable availability for a short-run boutique product. But yeah, BDP is certainly not a theme in the same way Atlantis or Dreamzzz are.
MAB Posted April 16 Posted April 16 8 minutes ago, imposter said: MAB, great points. Actually CITY is a MASSIVE theme in 2025 and even BIGGER 2026. I know. Look at the numbers of sets in various unlicensed themes and you will see there is way more new choice every year now than 10 years ago, or 20 years ago, or 30 years ago. Look at when the classic type minifig based themes essentially disappeared - it is about 2010-14, which was the rise of Ninjago and the introduction and growth of Friends. Many unlicensed minifigure based themes are now media promoted over the long term, as LEGO found that worked well for Ninjago. Chima, Nexo Knights, Friends, City, Monkie Kid, Dreamzzz, all have been media based now. Keeping those themes on the shelves means they are advertised by the existing media for the following years when TV shows are repeated or on streaming services. LEGO knows this works. Similarly, in theme parks they want to keep rides and displays current for many years, so one year themes no longer fit their way of longer term experience based advertising now. Many Ninjago sets could easily be badged as a separate theme, but include a Cole or Jay minifigure and they are a Ninjago set instead and kids that have been into LEGO for years will recognize it and use it alongside their LEGO from 5 years ago, and kids new to LEGO will buy in and be able to use it alongside sets bought five years in the future. New kids to LEGO can play with new sets alongside their older siblings old sets of the same theme. If you put a City of Atlantis set from Atlantis (2011) next to the Scorpion Pyramid from PQ (also 2011) then they don't go together very well, even though they are both ancient architecture, as the heroes and villains are totally different as they are from different themes. But if they had made a single theme and included the same heroes in these sets without changing anything else (such as Cole and Jay in one and Lloyd and Kai in the other), then they suddenly become playable together. It also becomes playable with a set such as Jungle Dragon from 2021 or the Super Storm Jet from 2025 because of the longevity of the characters and the theme over a decade. That is why the number of themes goes down even though the choice of available sets is still just as and if not more varied. That other people can enjoy something based of a new or old movie that they enjoy, or a video game, or they can build a flower has no impact on that at all.
Lion King Posted April 16 Posted April 16 30 minutes ago, icm said: It's a stretch to count BDP as a theme, because it's not sold through Shop at Home or in Lego retail stores, but it does have a fairly large amount of sets, they are produced by the Lego company, and there's reasonable availability for a short-run boutique product. But yeah, BDP is certainly not a theme in the same way Atlantis or Dreamzzz are. Htat’s valid. I was just confsued why you included BDP since it’s not an offical lego theme through S@H or offical Stores.
imposter Posted April 16 Author Posted April 16 I'm starting to think Ninjago spoiled everything. It was success so LEGO did put anymore effort new IN-HOUSE themes... I really hope they discontinue Monkey Kid and Ninjago.
CloneCommando99 Posted April 16 Posted April 16 (edited) 25 minutes ago, imposter said: I'm starting to think Ninjago spoiled everything. It was success so LEGO did put anymore effort new IN-HOUSE themes... I really hope they discontinue Monkey Kid and Ninjago. So your solution to increasing the number of in-house themes is to get rid of the big one that’s probably providing Lego with a large chunk of its non-licensed profits? This feels more like a scorched earth policy. As you know, Monkey Kid is ending next year anyway. It makes no sense. But you, o great Turtle, have never made sense. Edited April 16 by CloneCommando99
imposter Posted April 16 Author Posted April 16 I just try to say that because Ninjago was and is so popular - there were no need interesting new in-house themes. Also even story of Dreamzzz is ending... we don't know when there is coming new theme and if we are very unlucky it could be some terrible theme. Like Vidiyo.
BrickBob Studpants Posted April 16 Posted April 16 1 hour ago, imposter said: I really hope they discontinue Monkey Kid and Ninjago. …you wanna save in-house themes by praying for their demise?? Bold strategy.
Black Falcon Posted April 16 Posted April 16 43 minutes ago, BrickBob Studpants said: …you wanna save in-house themes by praying for their demise?? Bold strategy. I don´t see any strategy at all. First he cries about discontinuing of unlicensed themes and how bad everything is, then he wants to discontinue even more, including one that he cried about one day ago. Like every second post of him in this thread is about how great, creative and everything Dreamzzz is, now he is claiming that Ninjago was the last theme Lego put any effort in. Which just proofes he doesn´t even watch the videos he is posting here constantly.
Peppermint_M Posted April 16 Posted April 16 Videyo was something I found to be truly creative. Weird, but creative. Unusual characters, a variety of settings lots of interesting colours. Very enjoyable to me, as I love weird and wonderful minifig parts to create vibrant worlds. Playing "Music Band" was something of a game for my siblings and I when we were children : Marching band plushies, pop group fashion dolls, even a rock band from the Bionicle generation 1 figures we had and some system built instruments. We would play music from the radio or tape and mime the toys. Of course, I was not into using the app or following the play pattern that was planned for the sets. I was well out of demographic!
imposter Posted April 16 Author Posted April 16 https://brickset.com/sets/theme-Vidiyo This is maybe a CMF theme. Not good. I hope we get Castle theme from LEGO but probably it's only a Dream.
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