Ideas for new Lego themes! (Non-licensed)

[LegendaryArticuno]

20 hours ago, Lyichir said:

This is a licensed suggestion (and therefore outside the scope of this topic). And to be honest while I would like Lego to break their contracts with Blizzard given the toxic corporate culture there, Riot is guilty of many of the same exact issues.

Oops my bad, thought I had posted this in the other subforum... I guess for my unlicensed idea/wish, I would love to see an 18+ theme centered around the extreme consequences of climate change and other naturally occurring disasters.

I envision most of the sets would be diorama based, but depict scenes of flooding, draught, volcanic eruptions, meteorite crash, corporations dumping chemicals into water sources, etc. It's a bit extreme but would make for excellent sets.

Edited August 13, 2022 by LegendaryArticuno

[Karalora]

I came up with this one a couple years ago, and as we're gradually crawling toward fall I've been thinking a lot about it again: A Spooky Neighborhood for Halloween (to go with the Winter Village for Christmas). Each set would be a different dwelling or other feature of the neighborhood where the Halloween monsters live. You could take it at face value, as a fantasy thing, or frame it as a haunted attraction and say that those are just people in costumes. Some set concepts:

Witches' Cottage--a smallish cottage inhabited by three witches (a pretty one, a matronly one, and a scary old one), with a cluttered herb garden.

Pumpkin House--a family dwelling shaped like a pumpkin, residence of the Pumpkinhead family (mother, father, and two kids) who all have jack-o-lanterns for heads. They also have a greenhouse with a carnivorous plant living in it, and a large pumpkin patch where close examination reveals that they are growing some new family members! (Some of the pumpkins have "sleeping" jack-o-lantern face prints.)

Vampire Manor--the fanciest house in the neighborhood, a Gothic Victorian mansion with a backyard crypt. Home to Baron von Vampire and his wife, Uncle Orlok (a monstrous vampire with pointed ears), Cousin Batsy (a man-bat), and the family's brainwashed manservant (an expy of Renfield from Dracula). In some ways a callback to the Haunted House set from Monster Fighters, but this would be elegant rather than ramshackle. Would introduce the goblet piece in trans-red.

Honeymoon Pyramid--a charming little pyramid getaway for two, also including a pyramid-shaped doghouse and an obelisk birdhouse. Minifigs are two mummies, male and female. The interior features a double-sized sarcophagus-bed and lots of gold knickknacks. Also comes with a black dog wearing a gold Egyptian collar and a pair of vultures.

Werewolf's Camper--the smallest set I've come up with so far, just a rusted-out two-wheeled camp trailer parked under a twisted tree. The minifig is a Larry Talbot-style Wolfman, and the set also includes an ambiguous wolf/dog. It's up to you whether it lives with him...or is him!

Graveyard Jamboree--another large set, a parklike space full of headstones, statues, and small crypts, as well as trees in glorious fall foliage, one of which is suspiciously large and has a spooky face! Minifigs are a male and a female zombie, two shrouded ghosts, and three skeletons, the latter of whom are implicitly a band--their bony musical instruments are included. There's also a skeletal dog and an owl to perch in the big tree. Another feature of this model is that it is slightly modular--the individual grave and tree builds can be arranged within the space to your taste.

The Grim Coach--an old-fashioned horse-drawn hearse with seating inside and on the roof. The "public transportation" for the Spooky Neighborhood. Comes with a Grim Reaper minifig (the driver) and a skeletal horse.

You can very easily imagine a scenario where the coach goes around the neighborhood picking up the residents (might take two or three trips) and drops them off at the graveyard for a musical block party. In any case, the idea throughout is to be spooky, but not horrific. There are no victims here (except maybe the Renfield expy, but he's too comical to trigger that oof reaction).

[Lion King]

On 8/23/2022 at 10:13 AM, Karalora said:

I came up with this one a couple years ago, and as we're gradually crawling toward fall I've been thinking a lot about it again: A Spooky Neighborhood for Halloween (to go with the Winter Village for Christmas). Each set would be a different dwelling or other feature of the neighborhood where the Halloween monsters live. You could take it at face value, as a fantasy thing, or frame it as a haunted attraction and say that those are just people in costumes. Some set concepts:

Witches' Cottage--a smallish cottage inhabited by three witches (a pretty one, a matronly one, and a scary old one), with a cluttered herb garden.

Pumpkin House--a family dwelling shaped like a pumpkin, residence of the Pumpkinhead family (mother, father, and two kids) who all have jack-o-lanterns for heads. They also have a greenhouse with a carnivorous plant living in it, and a large pumpkin patch where close examination reveals that they are growing some new family members! (Some of the pumpkins have "sleeping" jack-o-lantern face prints.)

Vampire Manor--the fanciest house in the neighborhood, a Gothic Victorian mansion with a backyard crypt. Home to Baron von Vampire and his wife, Uncle Orlok (a monstrous vampire with pointed ears), Cousin Batsy (a man-bat), and the family's brainwashed manservant (an expy of Renfield from Dracula). In some ways a callback to the Haunted House set from Monster Fighters, but this would be elegant rather than ramshackle. Would introduce the goblet piece in trans-red.

Honeymoon Pyramid--a charming little pyramid getaway for two, also including a pyramid-shaped doghouse and an obelisk birdhouse. Minifigs are two mummies, male and female. The interior features a double-sized sarcophagus-bed and lots of gold knickknacks. Also comes with a black dog wearing a gold Egyptian collar and a pair of vultures.

Werewolf's Camper--the smallest set I've come up with so far, just a rusted-out two-wheeled camp trailer parked under a twisted tree. The minifig is a Larry Talbot-style Wolfman, and the set also includes an ambiguous wolf/dog. It's up to you whether it lives with him...or is him!

Graveyard Jamboree--another large set, a parklike space full of headstones, statues, and small crypts, as well as trees in glorious fall foliage, one of which is suspiciously large and has a spooky face! Minifigs are a male and a female zombie, two shrouded ghosts, and three skeletons, the latter of whom are implicitly a band--their bony musical instruments are included. There's also a skeletal dog and an owl to perch in the big tree. Another feature of this model is that it is slightly modular--the individual grave and tree builds can be arranged within the space to your taste.

The Grim Coach--an old-fashioned horse-drawn hearse with seating inside and on the roof. The "public transportation" for the Spooky Neighborhood. Comes with a Grim Reaper minifig (the driver) and a skeletal horse.

You can very easily imagine a scenario where the coach goes around the neighborhood picking up the residents (might take two or three trips) and drops them off at the graveyard for a musical block party. In any case, the idea throughout is to be spooky, but not horrific. There are no victims here (except maybe the Renfield expy, but he's too comical to trigger that oof reaction).

Oooo “Spooky Neighborhood” name is much better than my idea “Halloween Town” or “Autumnal Village”! Spooky Neighborhood is really fitting for new theme. :)

I really love your ideas you came up with!! I can see a new theme filled with scary monsters and buildings,just away from cheerful minifigures and winter wonderland. 

May I add a few ideas to your Spooky Neighborhood idea?

Okay, here are my ideas.

Masquerade Ball - A Southern-style manison is having a grand manqurade ball for all ordinary minifigures with different types of masks (including Venterian, beaked mask). But! They would not be aware that there is a mysterious figure showing up in the darkened corner of the ballrooom (I was inspired by Edgar Allen Poe’s the Maquerade of the Red Death). Spooky, is it? Oh and the ballroom includes a spider-webbed grandfather clock that strikes midnight  . On the top of the clock, it sits a glaring raven. 

Haunted Clocktower - A tall, Gothic clock tower that has not been operated or centuries. Two ordinary ghost-hunting minifigures (male and female) want to investigate the mysterious mechical noises when it’s midnight. The clock tower has 3 stories for ghost hunters to explore. Thre will be 3 ghost minifigures - all ghostly clock workers - with ghostly white wrench, rattling chain, and flashlight. 

Trick-or-Treaing House - A Halloween-decorated house with a front yard that is fenced with hire fences.  Inside the front yard, there is a tiny tombstone with a cute jack-o-lantern on top of it  (with a light brick hidden inside a tombstone to light up pumpkin!). A huge oak tree with a hanging cloth (to mimic a ghost floating in wind0. A female homeowner hands out candies to 3 young trick-or-treaters. The woman has no idea one of thse trick-or-treater is actually a zombie.  Chilling, huh?

Werewolf’s Cabin - A werewolf lives in his cabin. Two ordinary hikers (or campers) accidentally witness the werewolf’s transformation as there is a full moon visible. The cabin set includes two trees, a dead campfire, and a tiny tool shed. Wooden panel inside the cabin would be printed with deep scratches. Of course and trees have scratched barks too.  It would include 4 minifigures - normal and werewolf verison and to hikers. 

Mysterious Lakeside House - Two (male and female) homeowners hand out candies to 2 trick-or-treaters. A small, lovely lake house sits next to a lake and the house is also decorated with Halloween things. But homeowners are not aware - there is a swamp monster observing them from behind plants on the shore. I’m not sure if that is interesting tho. 

Twilight Train Station - A town’s train station is quite lovely and sleepy. It has antique style from 1900s - it has a gas lamppost otuside train station. One orindary traveler waits for their train to arrive. Suddenly, as the sun sets, there is a ghostly antique train rushing past the station as it’s driven by the wicked-looking train conductor. Probably, the train would have light brick? Oh and the car being pulled by the train! Its greenish transparent windows are printed with images of tormented minifigure souls. Also,there is a devilish worker tossing coals into the train’s engine. 

Whew, I think i have all ideas so far. 

Edited August 25, 2022 by DBlegonerd7

[Lion King]

@Karalora, by the way - Witches’ Cottae is quite similiar to Sanderson’s Cottage - we will get IDEAS Hocus Pocus set. 

[Karalora]

8 hours ago, DBlegonerd7 said:

@Karalora, by the way - Witches’ Cottae is quite similiar to Sanderson’s Cottage - we will get IDEAS Hocus Pocus set. 

That thought occurred to me, but the Hocus Pocus house is going to be a large, expensive set. I was envisioning something closer to the $50-60 range.

I like your ideas in themselves, but they don't quite seem to be part of the same concept as mine. You've got eerie scenarios where the mundane and the supernatural cross paths (potentially to the detriment of the former). I'm just kind of positing the existence of a suburban monster neighborhood--maybe it's a mysterious part of town where no one goes, maybe it's part of a larger monster city in a monster world, maybe it's not even real but a trick-or-treat event with people in costumes--but in any case it's just a setup with no specific implied story. It's an answer to the question, what kind of houses would Halloween monsters live in? Well, witches would live in a storybook cottage, vampires would live in a fancy mansion, and a werewolf would live in a broken-down trailer house.

[Lion King]

10 minutes ago, Karalora said:

That thought occurred to me, but the Hocus Pocus house is going to be a large, expensive set. I was envisioning something closer to the $50-60 range.

I

You make a fair point. Also I’m a huge fan of unlicensed themes that includes yellowimie minifigures. So ye, i wll buy your Winteres’ Cootage set if LEGO likes your idea. :)

[Lion King]

14 minutes ago, Karalora said:

I like your ideas in themselves, but they don't quite seem to be part of the same concept as mine. You've got eerie scenarios where the mundane and the supernatural cross paths (potentially to the detriment of the former). I'm just kind of positing the existence of a suburban monster neighborhood--maybe it's a mysterious part of town where no one goes, maybe it's part of a larger monster city in a monster world, maybe it's not even real but a trick-or-treat event with people in costumes--but in any case it's just a setup with no specific implied story. It's an answer to the question, what kind of houses would Halloween monsters live in? Well, witches would live in a storybook cottage, vampires would live in a fancy mansion, and a werewolf would live in a broken-down trailer house.

Fair enough. I really like your “Spooky Neighborhood” concept.  A otherworldly tow that’s full of monsters is very different from Monster Figthers theme, it is really neat.

Winter Village is usually a mix of realism and fantasy . For example, Santa came to visit a family (Santa’s Visit) set). So I like that style so I came up with the er lyween Town. It’s why i put some superantural creatures in the mundane world. So your Spooky Neighborhood is competely opposite of Winter Village. 

Hmm… In fact, I think I have a few ideas for Spooky Neighborhood. Sorry, my brain is quite buzzed with creativity!

ok here it is:

Ice Inn - The tiny inn is where Yeti owns and operative. The hotel is made out of light blue, white and trans clear bricks. Monster guests have to deal with COLD beds (vampires don’t mind, don’t they? I mean they don’t have warm blood anymore). However, Yeri is so generous becuase he provides cozy blankets and hot chcolate. And of course, the hotel has ice cream shop! Inside and outside, there are some ice sculptures. 

I knew i had other ideas but they just sipped aay as I typed down Ice Inn. Ah well…

[Lion King]

@Celtchief Ok, here it is. You can see posts @Karalora and I made about the Halloween-themed collection line. Enjoy reading!

[Lion King]

I’m just gald to see another in-house theme, Dreamzzz! We have City, Monkie Kid, Ninjago (I like yellowie minifigures). 

Anyways, I think i have an idea for a new theme….how about Fantasy Pirates? I don’t think we had any fantasy pirate theme before so…

Here is my idea - 

Merpeople’s Siege - it would include some mermaids with new shell-tangled hair, coral spears, coral shields. It also includes a rowboat with some pirates fighting off merpeople.

Fairies on the Island -Pirates encounter some native fairies as they try to find a hidden treasure. Several baby figures with new colorful wings and one queen fairy. 

Kraken Ambush - Pirate ship is under attack! There is a massive kraken underwater! Kraken doens’t need to be built out of bricks. Just new molds.

Sea Witch’s Cove - Pirates need a help from Sea Watch to locate a precious treasure beyond kraken’s line. 

Harpies’ Cliff - Pirates just notice harpies’ nest on cliff. Not a good sign for them becuase harpies like to prey on humans. 

Sea King’s Wrath - A Poseidon-like Sea King (bigfigue in dark azure with shell crown) attacks the pirates’ ship with a new trident piece. Also, there would be a massive brick-built watery maxfigure of Sea King (like a mech but less machine-y, more fantasy)

[SpacePolice89]

A history related Lego theme taking place in Europe in the late 1700s and early 1800s. Soldiers like the Imperial Guards or Imperial Soldiers could be carried over from Pirates and used in this theme just like Town and Trains sets overlap each other. Instead of pirates there would be bandits and highwaymen. 

[danth]

4 hours ago, SpacePolice89 said:

A history related Lego theme taking place in Europe in the late 1700s and early 1800s. Soldiers like the Imperial Guards or Imperial Soldiers could be carried over from Pirates and used in this theme just like Town and Trains sets overlap each other. Instead of pirates there would be bandits and highwaymen. 

Sounds like the unreleased Europa theme.

[SpacePolice89]

42 minutes ago, danth said:

Sounds like the unreleased Europa theme.

I was inspired by the unreleased Europa theme but I intended this to be more like soldiers vs. highwaymen and bandits. A little bit like soldiers vs. pirates but on land this time. It's a shame that Europa didn't become reality, I would love such a theme.

[MAB]

 

6 hours ago, SpacePolice89 said:

A history related Lego theme taking place in Europe in the late 1700s and early 1800s. Soldiers like the Imperial Guards or Imperial Soldiers could be carried over from Pirates and used in this theme just like Town and Trains sets overlap each other. Instead of pirates there would be bandits and highwaymen. 

If doing such a theme, I'd like them to go wider and continue for more than one year. Call it Timelines or something like that, and have each wave feature a different era in history and place. That way each wave is essentially a one and done theme, and after 18th Century Europe they could move on to ancient China, then Roman Europe, ancient Egypt,  and so on. Everyone knows what we're getting for a particular era and if you dont like that one, anotger one comes along in a year. If they really need continuity of characters, they could have a named couple that show up in all eras, a bit like the different generations in Blackadder or Stitch and Mo in the American cartoon version of Horrible Histories.

[SpacePolice89]

1 hour ago, MAB said:

 

If doing such a theme, I'd like them to go wider and continue for more than one year. Call it Timelines or something like that, and have each wave feature a different era in history and place. That way each wave is essentially a one and done theme, and after 18th Century Europe they could move on to ancient China, then Roman Europe, ancient Egypt,  and so on. Everyone knows what we're getting for a particular era and if you dont like that one, anotger one comes along in a year. If they really need continuity of characters, they could have a named couple that show up in all eras, a bit like the different generations in Blackadder or Stitch and Mo in the American cartoon version of Horrible Histories.

That's a good idea to rotate between different time periods but my original intention was to create something related to Pirates but still completely different, like Town and Trains. They are both related and share the same "universe". I'd rather see it expanded with more factions. We already have the Imperial Guards (redcoats) and Imperial Soldiers (bluecoats) so this theme could feature soldiers with yellow or white uniforms while still retaining the same overall designs as the guards and soldiers minifigures. Of course this theme wouldn't need to have new release every year and could rotate with other similar historic themes as you mentioned above. In my opinion only four themes should be permanent and those are Town(City)/Trains, Castle, Space and Pirates.

[MAB]

2 hours ago, SpacePolice89 said:

In my opinion only four themes should be permanent and those are Town(City)/Trains, Castle, Space and Pirates.

Friends overlaps with City and seems to take some of the non-emergency services ideas, and Ninjago has quite strong overlap of ideas (but not necessarily minifigs) with the other three. I cannot see LEGO killing of those two in-house themes.

[The Brick Boss]

How about Railway Heroes? Railway Heroes is like Speed Champions and focuses on real trains and locomotives such as the Flying Scottsman, the Metrorail 7000 Series or the Orient Express. Not fantasy trains like the Hogwarts Express or generic ones like the ones in City. 

[jonwil]

I like that idea, a london underground train would be great to see or a new York City Subway Train.

 

[SpacePolice89]

9 hours ago, MAB said:

Friends overlaps with City and seems to take some of the non-emergency services ideas, and Ninjago has quite strong overlap of ideas (but not necessarily minifigs) with the other three. I cannot see LEGO killing of those two in-house themes.

I was only thinking of minifigure scaled themes. Of course Friends has a permanent place in the lineup. As long as Ninjago is popular and selling well it should get new sets every year. If it was up to me 2024 would feature Classic+Creator+Friends+Town/City+Castle+Space+Pirates+Ninjago+Technic and two themes that would change every year (one licensed and one unlicensed). 

6 hours ago, The Brick Boss said:

How about Railway Heroes? Railway Heroes is like Speed Champions and focuses on real trains and locomotives such as the Flying Scottsman, the Metrorail 7000 Series or the Orient Express. Not fantasy trains like the Hogwarts Express or generic ones like the ones in City. 

I believe such a theme would be insanely popular. I was so thrilled when they released the Santa Fe locomotives in the early 2000s, I still don't get why they stopped making those and discontinued the Hobby Train lineup.

[Yperio_Bricks]

1 hour ago, SpacePolice89 said:

I was only thinking of minifigure scaled themes. Of course Friends has a permanent place in the lineup. As long as Ninjago is popular and selling well it should get new sets every year. If it was up to me 2024 would feature Classic+Creator+Friends+Town/City+Castle+Space+Pirates+Ninjago+Technic and two themes that would change every year (one licensed and one unlicensed).

That means all licensed themes but one would be discontinued?

[SpacePolice89]

@Yperio_BricksIf it was up to me to make the decision, yes that would be my choice but we all know that ain't gonna happen because Lego is nowadays very reliant on licenses.

 

Edited August 28, 2023 by SpacePolice89

[The Brick Boss]

3 hours ago, SpacePolice89 said:

I believe such a theme would be insanely popular. I was so thrilled when they released the Santa Fe locomotives in the early 2000s, I still don't get why they stopped making those and discontinued the Hobby Train lineup.

Probably because they weren't popular like that back then. 

[Yperio_Bricks]

I mean, there must be still a big enough business to make out there because so many of the other companies sell pirate or castle sets or trains, etc. Also from what i observe modular type buildings must be doing well too (That's adult city of you will).

[MAB]

4 hours ago, Yperio_Bricks said:

That means all licensed themes but one would be discontinued?

This would be the start of a gradual death for LEGO and I cannot really see the point of having one licensed theme. Keep a balance like now (about 50:50) or have none if they want to make a stand against licenses. If LEGO tell Disney that they no longer want their licensed properties, they'd pull them all and Mega Bloks or some other clone would soon be doing Star Wars and Disney. Same with Warner Bros. None of these large companies would be giving LEGO one license per year, as they will have moved their properties to another manufacturer that is willing to keep them on shelves.

Some AFOLs might think that is great, and LEGO can go back to being unlicensed only. But with people buying other brands, LEGO would start to lose market share, not just for licensed but unlicensed too as people get more used to buying other brands and fewer designers are needed. We'd end up with 100% unlicensed but probably less choice of unlicensed sets compared to now.

[Yperio_Bricks]

9 minutes ago, MAB said:

This would be the start of a gradual death for LEGO and I cannot really see the point of having one licensed theme. Keep a balance like now (about 50:50) or have none if they want to make a stand against licenses. If LEGO tell Disney that they no longer want their licensed properties, they'd pull them all and Mega Bloks or some other clone would soon be doing Star Wars and Disney. Same with Warner Bros. None of these large companies would be giving LEGO one license per year, as they will have moved their properties to another manufacturer that is willing to keep them on shelves.

Some AFOLs might think that is great, and LEGO can go back to being unlicensed only. But with people buying other brands, LEGO would start to lose market share, not just for licensed but unlicensed too as people get more used to buying other brands and fewer designers are needed. We'd end up with 100% unlicensed but probably less choice of unlicensed sets compared to now.

Exactly my thoughts, that's why i was asking. There is no way Lego would give up, for example, Harry Potter, Disney in general, Marvel or Star Wars. These are brands famous all across the planet and cash cows. Lego would be stupid do give up any of these and it would open the door even more for the other brands.

As for new themes. Of course i'd like to see a "Lego history" theme! One year they could do a pirates wave, next year castle, western, romans, samurai, etc. But Lego works in mysterious ways and while other companies have such sets and while aliexpress is full of such minifigures, we don't even know if Lego ever considered making such theme(s) in the recent years. Playmobil always had such stuff on shelves. So clearly there is a market. But maybe it is not a big enough market for Lego. Who knows

[SpacePolice89]

42 minutes ago, Yperio_Bricks said:

There is no way Lego would give up, for example, Harry Potter, Disney in general, Marvel or Star Wars. These are brands famous all across the planet and cash cows. Lego would be stupid do give up any of these and it would open the door even more for the other brands.

While I prefer unlicensed Lego I know it's not even possible that Lego would consider going mostly unlicensed in the near to mid term future. I'm only expressing my own wishes and preferences. Of course I wish the mistakes made in the late 90s wouldn't have happened but I have to accept the realities and see Lego for what it is today. I may be a little bitter because they took away almost all themes that I like and replaced them with licensed ones.