What franchise should Lego do next?

[AmperZand]

12 hours ago, Faefrost said:

D&D faces a number of hurdles. Problem one is that TSR got bought by a Wizards of the Coast that got bought by Hasbro. So the IP is owned by a competitor. Problem two is Hasbro released a D&D Kreo line not too long ago, and it bombed horribly. Total sales washout. Granted it was awful, but between it failing and Mega's World of Warcraft line tanking at the same time, nobody is going to touch it. 

Game of Thrones, way way too Adult for Lego. 

My interpretation of the OP's question was what licensed themes we would like to see ideally, not necessarily what is possible or likely.

I'm aware that there's currently no chance of TLG doing D&D because of Hasbro's ownership of both D&D and KreO. I borrow some of the KreO D&D parts for MOCs:

  

 

It's very unfortunate that Hasbro made a pig's ear of D&D KreO. It has probably left toy industry executives including those at TLG thinking there's no market for classic fantasy-themed construction toys rather than realising that the KreO skirmish game was rubbish, that the KreO minifigures are hideous and that KreO failed to exploit the richness of D&D's fantasy (so few non-humanoid monsters in KreO for example).

I concur that GoT is extremely unlikely for the reason you mention. Again, this was idealising, not predicting.

   

Edited January 9, 2017 by AmperZand
Trimmed quote

[Crashrip]

I agree that GOT is likely too adult, so limited sales likely wouldn't overcome the licensing costs.  But for me it would be very cool.  

[Giantorange]

Specially for those older than dirt.

Noggin the Nog.  The characters are already halfway to looking like minifigs.  It's a great, fun series and there are plenty of buildable locations.

[Loki]

It's hard to think within the realm of possibility for me; there's so many franchises, stories, out there I love and adore and would absolutely feel excited to see as a Lego theme. Zoids is one I keep thinking about, although I'm sure they're licensed under other companies, Medabots would be another, but same issue -- I think Hasbro owns their toy licensing? Or did at some point? I know a lot of Wizards of the Coast things would technically be off limits due to Hasbro, but I do think about how neat a Magic: The Gathering theme could potentially be (albeit I'm unsure if, even if they had the ability, if they would since MtG is more or less considered rated T and is based around a game that has a lot of fairly dark, gruesome lore and themes that run through the various stories of each Plane iteration they go through --- then again, LoTR kinda has some similar stuff within its own lore, so). 

But, within the realm of possibility, Overwatch would be an interesting theme, I think. Provided Blizzard gave the go-ahead, but with the large variety of characters and designs present in the game itself it could be interesting? Since, like, you have standard robotic characters like Zenyatta, along with Giant Knight with Massive Hammer (Reinhardt), not to exclude D.VA with her mecha suit, and so on. There's a lot of scenery and maps, the game itself is E for Everyone and has a more lighthearted, inclusive approach to its own vision. 

[LEGODalekbuster523]

They should do more LEGO Doctor Who before they take on another new franchise.

[GentlemanJoker]

3 hours ago, LEGODalekbuster523 said:

They should do more LEGO Doctor Who before they take on another new franchise.

We get that you like Doctor Who. I like it too. But you don't need to say over and over again when everyone already knows it.

[Lyichir]

On 1/24/2017 at 4:56 AM, LEGODalekbuster523 said:

They should do more LEGO Doctor Who before they take on another new franchise.

If the Doctor Who set had sold well enough to justify a full theme, we would probably be seeing one by now (like we did with Minecraft after the massive success of both the first Ideas set and the subsequent Micro World sets). The fact that we haven't would seem to suggest that the sales have been at best passable, not exceptional enough to merit additional sets. At least, not yet—I wouldn't necessarily be surprised to see another set whenever the Doctor's next regeneration happens, but that could be a while off, and in the meantime Lego can't realistically be expected to forego any other new licensed themes.

[LEGODalekbuster523]

10 hours ago, Lyichir said:

If the Doctor Who set had sold well enough to justify a full theme, we would probably be seeing one by now (like we did with Minecraft after the massive success of both the first Ideas set and the subsequent Micro World sets). The fact that we haven't would seem to suggest that the sales have been at best passable, not exceptional enough to merit additional sets. At least, not yet—I wouldn't necessarily be surprised to see another set whenever the Doctor's next regeneration happens, but that could be a while off, and in the meantime Lego can't realistically be expected to forego any other new licensed themes.

The LEGO Doctor Who stuff was hugely popular. The LEGO Ideas Doctor Who set sold out in no time, and it was hard to get the LEGO Dimensions packs after their respective releases. Many shops didn't have them in-stock, both on and offline and there was a huge buzz about the Doctor in LEGO. In fact, they had a DC video about LEGO Dimensions and everyone on the live stream asked for the Doctor! LEGO are stupid if they don't announce a LEGO set this year to tie in with Series 10 of Doctor Who. The sets I would do if I were LEGO are:

1. K9 (a bigger build version of the LEGO Dimensions K9), minifigures: Fourth Doctor, Tenth Doctor, Sarah Jane Smith

2. Dalek Saucer, minifigures: two buildable Daleks, Special Weapons Dalek, Davros, Rose Tyler

3. Bessie, minifigures: Third Doctor, Jo Grant, Roger Degaldo Master

4. Clara's TARDIS, minifigures: Clara Oswald, Ashildr/Me

I would also release a Series 10 Story Pack for Year 3 featuring Bill, a Bessie mini-build and the facade of Bristol University (the university Bill appears to work at according to set photos).

[Lego Dino 500]

DnD may be out of the future because Hasbro owns WotC, but there are other decent ideas for fantasy. The final How To Train Your Dragon film comes out next year, they could easily snap that up for a late series of sets like with Lord of the Rings. There's a Elfstones of Shannara series on MTV that looks okay. 

 

Or Lego could reboot the Lego Heroica series into a larger, deeper, fleshed out series with better game mechanics and actual sets. DnD would be awesome though.

[koalayummies]

Lego should reduce the number of licensed products and focus more on original ideas and themes.

I thought this thread looked familiar, a couple threads down from this one, same exact thread same suggestions but 11 pages long. 

 

[Aanchir]

20 hours ago, Lego Dino 500 said:

DnD may be out of the future because Hasbro owns WotC, but there are other decent ideas for fantasy. The final How To Train Your Dragon film comes out next year, they could easily snap that up for a late series of sets like with Lord of the Rings. There's a Elfstones of Shannara series on MTV that looks okay.

Or Lego could reboot the Lego Heroica series into a larger, deeper, fleshed out series with better game mechanics and actual sets. DnD would be awesome though.

How to Train Your Dragon could be an interesting theme, although when the last movie came out, Ionix had the building toys license for it. Time will tell whether they chose to renew that for the new movie. I also wonder whether LEGO would want to pursue a dragon-heavy theme when Ninjago and Elves are still ongoing and getting two or more dragon sets a year or more (though with HTTYD3 a year off, it's possible that Elves will have either ended or moved away from dragons by then).

Honestly, if LEGO were to pursue licenses for any DreamWorks properties, I wouldn't mind them going for some of the DreamWorks Netflix originals like Voltron: Legendary Defender or Trollhunters. I've been enjoying those a lot lately.

 

[LEGODalekbuster523]

45 minutes ago, Aanchir said:

How to Train Your Dragon could be an interesting theme, although when the last movie came out, Ionix had the building toys license for it. Time will tell whether they chose to renew that for the new movie. I also wonder whether LEGO would want to pursue a dragon-heavy theme when Ninjago and Elves are still ongoing and getting two or more dragon sets a year or more (though with HTTYD3 a year off, it's possible that Elves will have either ended or moved away from dragons by then).

Honestly, if LEGO were to pursue licenses for any DreamWorks properties, I wouldn't mind them going for some of the DreamWorks Netflix originals like Voltron: Legendary Defender or Trollhunters. I've been enjoying those a lot lately.

 

They should totally go for Madagascar.

[Tariq j]

Wallace And Gromit would be a fun theme. If they could make one set from every Episode, so for example, The Rocket, the train set, motorcycle and sidecar, etc. 

[LEGODalekbuster523]

2 hours ago, Tariq j said:

Wallace And Gromit would be a fun theme. If they could make one set from every Episode, so for example, The Rocket, the train set, motorcycle and sidecar, etc. 

Wallace And Gromit would be perfect for LEGO. LEGO basically sums up the shorts and feature-length nicely. 

[augustov0n]

would love PVZ sets,but,with k'nex having the popcap license,it cant happen

[Blondie-Wan]

I’ll second (third, fourth, fifth?) Trollhunters and Star Trek. I’ll also agree Doctor Who should have more of a theme than an Ideas set and a small number of LEGO Dimensions packs, and add that the same is true of Adventure Time. Same with Back to the Future, for that matter - but that is indeed getting at least one new set. Perhaps we can look forward to Adventure Time and Doctor Who BrickHeadz?

For extant but dormant full-blown themes, Indiana Jones is at the top of my list. I think it actually has a strong chance of returning in 2020 when the franchise gets its next screen installment; the others here are less certain, but you never know...

Oh, and I do also think Sesame Street and The Muppets would be great, as well.

Edited May 17, 2018 by Blondie-Wan

[Digger of Bricks]

Well, one particular franchise I'd really love to see would be for Pacific Rim, just as an excuse for some Jaeger and Kaiju playsets. Naturally though, they would NOT be minifigure scale. 

On 11/18/2016 at 10:14 AM, xboxtravis7992 said:

Also speaking of cartoons, since Lego also has a strong relationship with Warner Brothers they should make more sets based on the cartoons Time-Warner owns the rights to. They already did Scooby Doo sets from the Hannah Barbara division of WB, but imagine if Lego did a Collectible Mininifigure series based on Looney Tunes, Hannah Barbara, and even the WB 1990's TV shows such as Animaniacs?

Given what you said regarding TLG's relationship with Warner Brothers, I don't know why Lego hasn't touched upon any of these franchises yet. 

On 1/8/2017 at 12:50 AM, Benylin said:

I would like more LOTR sets,  but also a serie of medieval "modulars" would be quite interesting.

Like a series of medieval village modular buildings, perhaps? 

On 1/28/2017 at 3:12 PM, koalayummies said:

Lego should reduce the number of licensed products and focus more on original ideas and themes.

Ultimately, I too would rather want to see this happen before TLG accumulates any more licensed properties.

[Digger of Bricks]

What about Warner Brothers' MonsterVerse, either in time next year for 2019's Godzilla: King of the Monsters or the following year for 2020's Godzilla vs. Kong? 

[Aanchir]

On 5/18/2018 at 5:47 PM, Blk69 said:

Its hard to say as depends on what the kids are into these days.  As an AFOl would love to see some sort of planetary defense force fighting aliens.  Maybe GI Joe would be fun.

G.I. Joe is another brand wholly owned by Hasbro, like Transformers or My Little Pony — unless the toy industry landscape gets completely upended I can't imagine them licensing it out to a rival toy company.

Little Witch Academia is one I'd love to see, though perhaps not that likely since there's no indications as to whether it will continue as a series.

[Digger of Bricks]

After the recent announcement of TLG's partnership with Blizzard for the Overwatch franchise, what other videogame licenses/franchises would you expect to see partnered with Lego in the near future, even if they were only a one-off thing for the BrickHeadz theme exclusively?

[Lyichir]

7 hours ago, Digger of Bricks said:

After the recent announcement of TLG's partnership with Blizzard for the Overwatch franchise, what other videogame licenses/franchises would you expect to see partnered with Lego in the near future, even if they were only a one-off thing for the BrickHeadz theme exclusively?

Personally, most of my favorite game franchises belong to Nintendo—Mario, Zelda, Kirby, Splatoon, and so forth. But given their platform exclusivity I'm not sure how interested Lego would be in those franchises (though I'd love to be proven wrong). Mario, at least, has been licensed by K'nex so I'm unsure of its likelihood (though I haven't noticed any new Mario K'nex sets, so maybe that's up in the air again). Pokémon can probably be ruled out due to Mega Construx very recently obtaining the license. Zelda has yet to feature in any major building toy brand, though, demand is high, and it feels like a good brand fit (console exclusivity aside).

[MAB]

On 17/05/2018 at 3:31 AM, Blondie-Wan said:

I’ll also agree Doctor Who should have more of a theme than an Ideas set and a small number of LEGO Dimensions ...

1

I'd also like to see more Doctor Who sets (at least one containing my Doctor Who, Tom Baker!), but I think the sets aspect is the problem. There are loads of characters they could do, but sets ... there is the Tardis (done) and ... not much else.

On 28/01/2017 at 11:36 AM, LEGODalekbuster523 said:

The LEGO Doctor Who stuff was hugely popular. The LEGO Ideas Doctor Who set sold out in no time, and it was hard to get the LEGO Dimensions packs after their respective releases. Many shops didn't have them in-stock, both on and offline and there was a huge buzz about the Doctor in LEGO.

 

In the UK, I don't think they sold anywhere near as well. It was easy to purchase for ages at 1/3rd off, sometimes more off than that, and loads of them got bought to part out on bricklink.

[Blondie-Wan]

10 minutes ago, MAB said:

I'd also like to see more Doctor Who sets (at least one containing my Doctor Who, Tom Baker!), but I think the sets aspect is the problem. There are loads of characters they could do, but sets ... there is the Tardis (done) and ... not much else.

Tom Baker holds a special place in my Whovian heart as well.

I think they can do the TARDIS more than once, just as Hogwarts, the Millennium Falcon, the Batcave, etc. have all been done multiple times. The TARDIS is particularly fitting for this treatment, since while the exterior changes little, the interior changes quite a bit. There’s also Bessie, various UNIT and Dalek things, and so on. Obviously there’s no way Doctor Who will ever be a huge theme à la Star Wars, but there’s certainly room for more than what they’ve done. If nothing else, I can easily imagine them doing Brickheadz.

Quote

In the UK, I don't think they sold anywhere near as well. It was easy to purchase for ages at 1/3rd off, sometimes more off than that, and loads of them got bought to part out on bricklink.

Sure, but by that standard, hardly any LEGO ever sells well, since most mass-market sets get discounted at some point or another.

Edited May 24, 2018 by Blondie-Wan

[ShaydDeGrai]

I've harbored a wish-list for decades, but I doubt any of the items on it stand a chance of ever becoming official lines (mostly due to age - does anyone even remember who Gerry Anderson was these days?)  So barring major reboots revitalizing forgotten franchises I doubt we'll see:
 

1) UFO - it only lasted one season,  but SHADO had some nice hardware, a moonbase and, of course, invading aliens

2) Thunderbirds - (the marionette version, not the live action one) Five iconic vehicles, a command center and assorted action scenes to recreate

3) Star Blazers (aka Space Cruiser Yamato) - every Lego collection needs a wave motion gun and a UCS Comet Empire

4) Space:1999 - Moonbase, moon buggy, Eagles (various configurations), and Hawks 

5) Buck Rogers in the 25th Century - a cheesy Gil Gerard/Erin Grey show from ~1980; again space ships, space stations robots, domed cities, lame plots and a hawk-man, what's not to love?

6) Star Trek - (all flavors, 'nuff said)

7) Stargate SG1 - Lot's of mixed culture art direction to play with on this one, from star cruisers and Death Gliders to ancient Egyptian and Babylonian civilizations

8) Battlestar Galactica- I remember building Vipers and Cylon Fighters back in 1979, the revival a few years ago made me wish it had gotten the Star Wars treatment back in the day.

9) Doctor Who - (others have already lobbied for this one, so I'll just say "ditto")

10) The Lord of the Rings - Yes, I know they already did this, but I always thought they could have done more with it.  I'd love to see an Architecture-style line of iconic LOTR locations, highly detailed micro-scale models of Barad-dur, Orthanc, The Black Gate, Minas Tirith, The Argonath, The Golden Hall, Rivendell, etc. along the lines of the US Capitol Model or the upcoming Statue of Liberty kits.  

[MAB]

31 minutes ago, Blondie-Wan said:

Sure, but by that standard, hardly any LEGO ever sells well, since most mass-market sets get discounted at some point or another.

 

It wasn't just at some point, it was for ages. I feel they shouldn't do the Tardis too many times, as it gets a bit boring.  And the locations were just so varied, they could be anywhere. I think only a CMF would really work for it.

12 minutes ago, ShaydDeGrai said:

2) Thunderbirds - (the marionette version, not the live action one) Five iconic vehicles, a command center and assorted action scenes to recreate

4) Space:1999 - Moonbase, moon buggy, Eagles (various configurations), and Hawks

9) Doctor Who - (others have already lobbied for this one, so I'll just say "ditto")

 

 

Are you British? I might as well add the late 70's British classic Blake's Seven. There are some great MOCs of the Liberator and LEGO would never do it as good as them.