A thought about licenses....

[Beagle]

First off, if this topic is just too lame or inane, please, admins, feel free to close or delete it! :$

But... I was thinking about the licenses that Lego has chosen to produce, and I came up with what (to me, at least) was kind of an interesting pattern. It's almost like they choose licenses that, while free-standing, also kind of fit (roughly) into a previously-established Lego theme. For instance:

Star Wars = Space

Batman/Spiderman = Town

Potter/Avatar = Castle

Spongebob = Town/Paradisa, maybe Pirates

Of course the analogies are not perfect, and there are exceptions.... but it does seem that Lego has made an effort to find licenses that will appeal to (or at least be useful to) fans of its classic themes. I think they've been very smart picking licenses that span across all the themes, thereby appealing to several demographics. And as much as some purists might dislike the licenses, they really have contributed a lot of useful pieces to the themes they represent (think of all the great Space pieces that the Star Wars line has spawned!).

Anyway, sorry if this was already painfully obvious to everyone else, or if it has been discussed before. I just thought it was kinda interesting. :smile:

[xwingyoda]

Even if licences were discussed over and over, I like your "diversity" approach !!!

If you are a city fan what sets do we have nowadays ??? Police, firemen... but not really town accessories !!!

With the spidey licence we had loads of great city elements !!! Like the batmobile set !!!!

The KrustyKrab set has a green bin...

So licences sets have loads more cool city accessories !!!

TLC could make more Spongebob too venture into Paradisia: take goo lagoon for instance:

Great beach elements here !!!!!

Licences really contributed well to the joyfull world of Lego (except prices hehe).

Yoda

[Chuck]

Licences really contributed well to the joyfull world of Lego (except prices hehe).

Yoda

All the great peices, all for a small price of a few hundred dollars (or euro).

-l2k-

[gylman]

To see the impact of licenses, just look at the posts at EB - clearly the most diverse Lego community. 90% of the excitment, posts, debate, and anticipation centres around the licensed sets

How much time do we spend on designers, Xpods, and brick buckets? Technic, dear as it is to my heart, generates little discussion. Instead we talk about Batman, Starwars, Spongy, and recently even Avatar.

Obviously TLC needs the licenses. And clealry most of us need them too. If TLC does licenses well, like Spongebob - about which many including me were very skeptical - they are a great addition to the Lego lineup.

[snefroe]

i guess it's logical to assume that lego tried to find licenses close to their former lines. Without sw, we would have seen another sci-fi theme, something created by lego, no doubt. after all, lego knows there are castle fans, town fans, space fans,... they've always tried to satisfy all sections. so it's not very strange to assume that sw would replace space... and space will come back once sw is gone...

However, that only works for sw. I mean, HP comes rather close to castle, but castle is still here. Batman and spiderman come close to city, but city is still here. they don't replace city. The question for lego there was most likely: "how can we produce sets for batman and spiderman without having to spend too much on new parts, designs,...?" the answer was simple: "stay close to what's been produced in the past or to what's in production right now, and we can make a buck out of this line..." That wasn't too difficult, because spiderman and batman are both "town based" and both characters actually perform police jobs, so in the end, both licenses were the obvious choice...

[xenologer]

i guess it's logical to assume that lego tried to find licenses close to their former lines. Without sw, we would have seen another sci-fi theme, something created by lego, no doubt. after all, lego knows there are castle fans, town fans, space fans,... they've always tried to satisfy all sections. so it's not very strange to assume that sw would replace space... and space will come back once sw is gone...

However, that only works for sw. I mean, HP comes rather close to castle, but castle is still here. Batman and spiderman come close to city, but city is still here. they don't replace city. ...

This is why I am OK with all the licences, with the exception of SW. The others are fun to have on the side of lego's themes, but StarWars goes and Replaces classic space; and cuts down on the diversity of themes..

This problem is especially aggravated by the fact that StarWars isn't really science fiction, if you look at the storyline its actually a fantasy/adventure just painted over with a space-like motif. *points at the Jedi fighting with glowing samurai swords* I also get tired of the 'grungy' technology and ship designs, and the backstory that takes itself too seriously.

This is not to say that SW is bad, the first movie was actually very good (not so sure about JarJar), I just think the theme with its backstory and technology/design is a little too limiting to be completely Replacing classic space, theres no more sense of 'freestyle' play for me.

Lets put it this way, don't you miss the happy smiling yellow spacemen with their shining rocketships?

[captaintau]

This problem is especially aggravated by the fact that StarWars isn't really science fiction, if you look at the storyline its actually a fantasy/adventure just painted over with a space-like motif. *points at the Jedi fighting with glowing samurai swords*

You're right, SW is more fantasy than SF. BUT the lightsabers do not equate to Katana / Wakizashi. The Jedi bear little resemblance to the Samurai aside from SOME of their cultural aspects which Master Lucas did replicate.

I just think the theme with its backstory and technology/design is a little too limiting to be completely Replacing classic space, theres no more sense of 'freestyle' play for me.

Lets put it this way, don't you miss the happy smiling yellow spacemen with their shining rocketships?

I hadn't agreed with this until recently. Your sentiment also seems to be pretty common here. As a kid (I'm now nearly 27) I loved Space. My very first Lego set that I actually remember being given was a grey lunar rover with trailer that launched a missile/satalite thing. Had two astronauts - one red and one white. This being back in the days pre-visors. Ah, memories.

Now I make attempt to hide the fact that I love SW and very carefully broke the news this evening that I was going to be collecting LEGO until at least 2011 now (maybe I should have left it until valentine's day?). BUT I do concede that you're limited to know SW characters/vechiles/places. There's little room for imagination and diversity. I not committing myself either side of the argument but I do see the POV of the non-believers (non-SW-fans).

[Beagle]

I hadn't agreed with this until recently. Your sentiment also seems to be pretty common here. As a kid (I'm now nearly 27) I loved Space. My very first Lego set that I actually remember being given was a grey lunar rover with trailer that launched a missile/satalite thing. Had two astronauts - one red and one white. This being back in the days pre-visors. Ah, memories.

Now I make attempt to hide the fact that I love SW and very carefully broke the news this evening that I was going to be collecting LEGO until at least 2011 now (maybe I should have left it until valentine's day?). BUT I do concede that you're limited to know SW characters/vechiles/places. There's little room for imagination and diversity. I not committing myself either side of the argument but I do see the POV of the non-believers (non-SW-fans).

Hey, Captain, you and I are about the same age.... I'm 27 and change. I bet our respective first lego sets came from the same batch! :smile:

For the record, I DO miss the happy little yellow spacemen. Trust me, despite my appreciation of SW Lego, I

really do wish there were still a proper "Space" theme to co-exist with it. That would be the best of both worlds!

[alex54]

space, city, castle... ok but what about pirates? I'm not a fan of pirates line (I'm a city one!) but anybody speak about it... Even if I'm not a afn, it would make me happy to see new pirates sets. And I dream of a day, when I will have so much money, that I will be able to buy all the sets of all the lines.... :rolleyes:

[captaintau]

space, city, castle... ok but what about pirates? I'm not a fan of pirates line (I'm a city one!) but anybody speak about it... Even if I'm not a afn, it would make me happy to see new pirates sets. And I dream of a day, when I will have so much money, that I will be able to buy all the sets of all the lines.... :rolleyes:

There are pirates in the SW EU! :biggrin:

[Beagle]

And I dream of a day, when I will have so much money, that I will be able to buy all the sets of all the lines.... :rolleyes:

Ahhhh..... sigh, I think we ALL dream of that day...... :happy: