Future LEGO Pirates Set Speculation

[MAB]

I think it is a fairly random thing, when they spot an opportunity to make money from an old design rather than a planned programme of releases.

 

[TomSkippy]

I only came out of my dark ages last summer, so I'm not super familiar with Lego's policies/planning. One interesting "Out of the Vault" idea (that will NEVER happen) would be releasing the small ship from the ITP. I would buy that in a heartbeat.

An interesting sidenote, I always wondered why they didn't release any other ships of that size in the Pirates line (similar to the Sea Serpent). It could've saved on the hull/unique part costs.

[chofus]

Lego published some pirates pictures on their Facebook profile. I know its International Talk Like a Pirate Day, but maybe this is some kind of hint?

[Lego David]

50 minutes ago, chofus said:

Lego published some pirates pictures on their Facebook profile. I know its International Talk Like a Pirate Day, but maybe this is some kind of hint?

Can you provide us with a link? 

[Darnok]

Arr, sadly I wouldn't read anything into this - it's just related to TLAPD, and nothing more.

Edited September 19, 2019 by Darnok

[GeorgeMendes]

I'm just getting back into Lego, reclaiming some of my childhood, and I see that the last Pirates lineup was in 2015. Right now, it seems that licensed Lego products dominate.

I'm curious, do you think we'll see another Pirates lineup anytime soon? Maybe because of nostalgia, I have a deep fondness for the actual Lego lineups more than the new stuff. I like Captain Redbeard, the blue and red coats, etc.

Where do you see the future of Lego's own IP?uc browser shareit appvn

 

Edited October 19, 2019 by GeorgeMendes

[Littleworlds]

The last proper pirate theme was quite half-heartedly executed and too <insert that tiresome argument>, while the Pirates of the Caribbean IP seems to die a quiet death... so from that perspective it does not look great for a pirate theme in the near future. It seems trends go into different directions.

Then again, Ninjago keeps coming back to piratey themes and there is a quite neat pirate roller coaster and tree-house, which keep the pirates at least coming in through the back door.

[Mister Phes]

LEGO Pirates isn't a film franchise so it isn't applicable to "rebooting".

The business strategy as of 2015 is to release a new wave of sets approximately every 6-7 years, but whether this is still the case I don't have any confirmation.

However, as LEGO Pirate's target demographic is 7-12 year old males, the 6-7 year delay enables the LEGO Group to repeat similar set concepts without the concern of marketing rehashed ideas to the same children.

In the past month, the LEGO Ideas Project, "The Pirate Bay" has been approved for production making it the only classic pirate inspired set to confirmed for future release.

[Littleworlds]

13 minutes ago, Mister Phes said:

In the past month, the LEGO Ideas Project, "The Pirate Bay" has been approved for production making it the only classic pirate inspired set to confirmed for future release

Ah right! Forgot totally that one! I get the impression that a lot of the pirate-related sets recently are released for a good part due to AFOL-nostalgia.

[Mister Phes]

4 minutes ago, Littleworlds said:

I get the impression that a lot of the pirate-related sets recently are released for a good part due to AFOL-nostalgia.

Yes, that's the LEGO Group's strategy for profiting on pirates (and other classic themes) without committing to releasing perennial waves of sets.

[chofus]

I read some informations about new PotC movies. Maybe we will see Flying Dutchman UCS :)

https://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/films/news/pirates-of-the-caribbean-reboot-new-movie-johnny-depp-craig-mazin-chernobyl-a9172131.html

 

[Aanchir]

On 10/18/2019 at 1:53 PM, GeorgeMendes said:

I'm just getting back into Lego, reclaiming some of my childhood, and I see that the last Pirates lineup was in 2015. Right now, it seems that licensed Lego products dominate.

I don't feel like licensed products "dominate" to the extent that's often imagined… while LEGO has had a lot of licensed themes in recent years, the majority tend to be small and short-lived compared to in-house mainstays like City, Ninjago, Friends, Creator, Technic, or Duplo. Those also tend to make up most of the yearly best-selling themes, with LEGO Star Wars as the only licensed theme that tends to get anywhere near the top of that list.

On a lot of levels I think one of the main functions of licensing for LEGO is as a recruitment tool… introducing fans of brands other than LEGO a tie-in to something they already like as an incentive to take a chance on the LEGO building and play experience and hopefully get hooked.

That said, most of the non-licensed themes that were mainstays in the 80s and early 90s are no longer a near-constant presence in the LEGO brand portfolio like they once were. Instead they tend to show up on a more cyclical basis, not unlike how underwater themes, underground themes, secret agent themes, dinosaur themes, spooky themes, ruins explorer themes, etc. have typically come and go more periodically.

Edited November 1, 2019 by Aanchir

[The Brick Boss]

@Aanchir I don't think he's really talking about how much they sell. I think he's talking about a talley mark situation. Like as in, how many licensed themes compared to generic themes are in Lego. 

[Aanchir]

2 minutes ago, pooda said:

@Aanchir I don't think he's really talking about how much they sell. I think he's talking about a talley mark situation. Like as in, how many licensed themes compared to generic themes are in Lego. 

Sure, but even the number of themes can be misleading if most of those themes are small and don't last long or make a big impact on sales for the year.

It's also a number that can change considerably depending on how themes are defined and labeled. After all, this year the format for LEGO Super Heroes boxes changed, so they are now labeled "LEGO Shazam", "LEGO Batman", "LEGO Spider-Man", "LEGO Spider-Man: Far from Home", "LEGO Avengers", and "LEGO Captain Marvel". But that doesn't mean that the number of superhero themes abruptly tripled between last year and this year, just that LEGO decided to brand them differently on their packaging.

Even in a tally mark situation, the number of licensed themes with new sets this year (Star Wars, Marvel, DC, Disney, Toy Story 4, Jurassic World, Harry Potter, Overwatch, Speed Champions, and Stranger Things) is less than the number of original themes with new sets this year (Duplo, Classic, Creator, Technic, City, Friends, Ninjago, Hidden Side, Architecture, BrickHeadz, Powered Up, and Xtra), regardless of which list you decide to include The LEGO Movie 2 in.

Back on the topic of speculation about the future of LEGO Pirates: not to set anybody up for disappointment, but at least a dozen LEGO designers in Billund coordinated their Halloween costumes for the work day to become a fantasy pirate crew:

https://www.instagram.com/p/B4Su4JMD0Cw/

https://www.instagram.com/p/B4SmimlJ-Ub/

Maybe they just all thought it sounded like a fun idea? Maybe they're running a pirate role-playing campaign outside of work, since that's a non-LEGO hobby many of them share? Or maybe they had pirates on the brain for some more work-related reason?

Regardless, it's neat to see some more pirate-y parts of their creative repertoire on triumphant display, and raises exciting possibilities for what imaginative contributions they might have to offer if they WERE assigned to a pirate theme in the future!

[The Brick Boss]

@Aanchir Though it's not really something we really want to happen... I think Lego simply turns down or outright discontinues those certain themes that are deemed boring, unprofitable or just plain pointless whether its targeted to kids or adults. Because believe it or not, older fans like playability too. 

I wouldn't consider Pirates pointless or boring considering how much action and playability there is. But perhaps it didn't sell well so they stopped making them. 

Edited November 16, 2019 by pooda

[TalonCard]

15 hours ago, Aanchir said:

Back on the topic of speculation about the future of LEGO Pirates: not to set anybody up for disappointment, but at least a dozen LEGO designers in Billund coordinated their Halloween costumes for the work day to become a fantasy pirate crew:

https://www.instagram.com/p/B4Su4JMD0Cw/

https://www.instagram.com/p/B4SmimlJ-Ub/

Maybe they just all thought it sounded like a fun idea? Maybe they're running a pirate role-playing campaign outside of work, since that's a non-LEGO hobby many of them share? Or maybe they had pirates on the brain for some more work-related reason?

For whatever it's worth, Milan Madge is clearly rocking a Redbeard-inspired costume, complete with giant-sized LEGO flintlock, a green waistcoat, black overcoat, and bicorn hat. I wouldn't mind stealing that costume idea some day!

[mon-o-mat]

On 7/30/2019 at 11:03 AM, *thomas* said:

IMHO, the 2015 had some very good builds. They look better than many of the classic wave and 2009 wave. The ship was a downer, that's for sure, but overall, the structures were quite good. I have some of the classic sets, including BSB, but often 'we' AFOLs attribute greatness to sets from the past based on pure nostalgia and not the actual build.

I hope LEGO will give us a new wave, and not just one big set. TBH, I find it more amusing collecting a few 'cheap' sets than spending all my money on one big set.

Interesting enough the designs where actually quite good in my eyes (Ok, the large soldiers fort wasn't). The problem I have with the 2015 line was the size of the sets. If I remember correctly the second largest and largest imperial set of the line (the fort) was only at 30€.

[The Brick Boss]

I personally would love to see Pirates return. If they release some good builds, I could use those. 

[Mister Phes]

On 11/2/2019 at 8:42 AM, Aanchir said:

don't feel like licensed products "dominate" to the extent that's often imagined…

They dominate in the sense there are more licenced themes than original themes developed by LEGO.

If we head over to the themes section of LEGO.com right now, there's only City, Elves, Friends, Nexo Knights and Ninjago, the rest is either a licensed theme or not dedicated to one particular thematic in the traditional 80s/90s sense.

 

[tafkatb]

So in other words, the majority of the non-licensed themes somehow magically don't "count" as themes, just so that you can adhere to the assertion that licensed themes dominate even though that is objectively untrue?

[Mister Phes]

On 11/17/2019 at 1:16 AM, tafkatb said:

So in other words, the majority of the non-licensed themes somehow magically don't "count" as themes, just so that you can adhere to the assertion that licensed themes dominate even though that is objectively untrue?

No.  But thank you for putting a bazaar spin on things.

[TeriXeri]

On 11/16/2019 at 3:16 PM, tafkatb said:

So in other words, the majority of the non-licensed themes somehow magically don't "count" as themes, just so that you can adhere to the assertion that licensed themes dominate even though that is objectively untrue?

If we just look at minifig / minidoll themes right now, there are more licensed then non-licensed themes.

Elves and Nexo Knights retired, and so far Hidden Side is the only new minifig theme that came in it's place.

Some themes like IDEAS and LEGO Movie 2 share both licensed and non-licensed sets.

Overall Licensed themes aren't even a problem as long as variation is there.

Non Licensed traditional themes : 

Pirates : 1 large IDEAS set for 2020 (first pirates set in 5 years which is good)

Space/Sci-Fi : LEGO Movie 2 (retiring soon) , City 2019 Space Subtheme , and Ninjago 2020 (Sci-Fi)

Castle : Ninjago 2019 had the Castle of the Forsaken Emperor , but for 2020 not much yet. I do hope something new for summer 2020 or 2021.

Edited November 21, 2019 by TeriXeri

[Masked Mini]

Break out your dump trucks full of grains of salt, you'll need them.

I was in a Lego store couple of weekends ago and an employee let slip that "Lego is bringing Pirates back in a big way in 2020, not just the Ideas set."
He was oblivious to his co-worker shushing him until the manager shut him up saying that has not been officially announced so he can't say that.
He was pretty excited to talk about it, the manager was too but … ah well.

Hope. The greatest of treasures!
 

[TeriXeri]

If true, releasing some new Pirate sets would make a lot of sense with the release of Pirate Bay, especially when drawing in new fans or people who were out of LEGO for a long time.

 

 

[leafan]

3 hours ago, Masked Mini said:

Break out your dump trucks full of grains of salt, you'll need them.

We're all Pirates here; we've salt in our veins!

Thanks for the speculation - I love this type of thing.