Peppermint_M

Future Action and Adventure Themes

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3 hours ago, Digger of Bricks said:

Seriously, what could stop Lego from doing a theme like this?! :excited:

I think such a theme would be too much of a market risk for tlg which is a shame but they'd probably need a huge marketing push to turn the eye of their target market.

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33 minutes ago, Agent Kallus said:

I think such a theme would be too much of a market risk for tlg which is a shame but they'd probably need a huge marketing push to turn the eye of their target market.

Hmm, what elements of it do you think Lego's core audience would be indifferent to? Would it simply be its period setting and themes of 1950's Americana? I think the mere goofiness of its Raygun Gothic Sci-Fi elements would at least catch most kids eyes, as it would certainly be distinct from most other toy lines stylistically.

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46 minutes ago, Digger of Bricks said:

Hmm, what elements of it do you think Lego's core audience would be indifferent to?

It something they could learn to care about but they'd need to be taught, some may already be interested or may  get interested due to the lego theme, but I doubt it would be enough to be financially viable.Anyway to be honest Its more about what I think lego thinks their core audience would be indifferent to, Its something lego might have tried in the 2000s but would more hesitant to now.

Quote

Would it simply be its period setting and themes of 1950's Americana?I think the mere goofiness of its Raygun Gothic Sci-Fi elements would at least catch most kids eyes, as it would certainly be distinct from most other toy lines stylistically.

Well not completely but partially, the majority of them would have no attachment to the setting,but of course other Lego themes would have that problem. Its a shame but it seems that  Lego themes need be recognizable whether that's with a strong a media push ( like ninjago), or something that's pretty much universally recognisable,( like city and friends ) or be something based off of a publicised brand or license license (like star wars ) in fact if I remember correctly those exemplified were all among lego's 5 top selling themes back in 2016. A majority of children aren't really aware of things like steampunk and 1950's b-movies and so they don't really fit into any of these boxes, even with a media push like a tv show ,you'd need something to get them watching, to get them hooked in the first place.

And yes you do have a point that the early sci-fi aesthetic may turn a few heads but will it be enough? I'm not saying that I think it wouldn't sell but would it sell enough I'm that afraid that from my angle I cannot see such a theme preforming well enough for TLG to consider it. Maybe I'm being to much of a pessimist but remember that themes with more initial appeal like Ultra agents got canned, and after cancelling such lines TLG is probably not prepared to take such risks in the near future fearing that events will not pan out any more favourably.But that's just my opinion and in this case I'd be pleased to be proven wrong 

And on a totally different point to counter my main argument. 

I think it was Mark Stafford who said that steampunk didn't test well with kids, and yet in 2016 we received the heavily steam punk skybound wave of ninjago sets. If you look at chima it appears to be a risky untested idea that kids wouldn't relate to but perhaps it wasn't untested at all after all the 2012 wave of ninjago sets featured anthropomorphised snakes in snake vehicles, chima had the same just with different animals. Most of the ninjago villians have been things that lego would not otherwise make, like cyberpunk droids, motorcycle gangs or the as of yet unreleased dieselnaut dragonhunters. Perhaps with such a theme as suggested by @Nerd-with-a-Pencil Ninjago could be used as a testing bed of sorts,using similar villains and brick built monsters but maybe adding a kaiju/godzilla like element to it to ninjaify it and use that wave to a) gauge interest by comparing it other waves and (b) make more of the kids familiar with this sort of thing so that if they do launch such a theme then there will be more interest from the get go.

Edited by Agent Kallus

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1 hour ago, Agent Kallus said:

A majority of children aren't really aware of things like steampunk and 1950's b-movies and so they don't really fit into any of these boxes, even with a media push like a tv show ,you'd need something to get them watching, to get them hooked in the first place.

Well, most kids' ignorance of Steampunk's Victorian sensibilities may be understandable, but I can't imagine that they would be completely out of touch with the retrofuturistic aspirations of mid-century science fiction, as it's many tropes are so engrained in pop culture to the point of being clichés. I mean, Lego did touch upon those tropes for Alien Conquest's villains, with its prevalent theme of abduction and their B-movie saucercraft. 

1 hour ago, Agent Kallus said:

Perhaps with such a theme as suggested by @Nerd-with-a-Pencil Ninjago could be used as a testing bed of sorts,using similar villains and brick built monsters but maybe adding a kaiju/godzilla like element to it to ninjaify it and use that wave to a) gauge interest by comparing it other waves and (b) make more of the kids familiar with this sort of thing so that if they do launch such a theme then there will be more interest from the get go.

I will not lie, a wave of Ninjago sets that pit the theme's heroes against Kaiju would be awesome! :thumbup: :smug:

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16 hours ago, Digger of Bricks said:

Well, most kids' ignorance of Steampunk's Victorian sensibilities may be understandable, but I can't imagine that they would be completely out of touch with the retrofuturistic aspirations of mid-century science fiction, as it's many tropes are so engrained in pop culture to the point of being clichés. I mean, Lego did touch upon those tropes for Alien Conquest's villains, with its prevalent theme of abduction and their B-movie saucercraft.

Alien Conquest was chockful of parental bonuses. The colour scheme of the earth vehicles was a throwback to the old space sets, for example.

I think it mostly depends on the approach. Alien Conquest for example was not just nostalgia or 50s B-Movie aliens. It took inspiration from these things, but it still managed to have its own identity that clicked with the target demography.

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I just read the whole thread. :grin: I'll try to list the concepts mentioned (or implied) up to now: 

 

Plot. The protagonists are...

... exploring places, exploring time periods, hunting treasures, investigating paranormal activities, solving mysteries, executing missions, fighting monsters, fighting robots, fighting criminals, fighting exploiters of natural resources, rescuing people from disasters, rescuing artifacts, restoring the timeline, defending against invaders, resisting the oppression, living the ambiguous system (pirates), racing and stunting.

 

Setting. It all takes place in...

... space, the sky, the ocean, a natural hazard zone, the jungle, the desert, the urban area, the arctic, underground.

... England, Egypt, India, Japan, Peru, the Amazon area, North America (wild west), southern Africa.

 

Styling. It looks like...

... dieselpunk, steampunk, clockpunk, retropunk, atompunk (?), decopunk, cyberpunk, castle punk, mecha. 

... age of industrialization fiction, contemporary fiction, near-future fiction, oriental sci-fi, western sci-fi.

 

Characters. The crew consists of...

... agents, soldiers, pirates, explorers, tinkerers, detectives, emergency specialists, adrenaline junkies, hunters, superhumans, aliens, monsters, magical girls, cyborgs, teenagers, an everyday family.

 

I think that should cover just about everything. This gave me a whole lot of inspiration, hopefully TLG is reading along too! :wink:

 

Edited by Exetrius

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6 hours ago, ZORK64 said:

Alien Conquest was chockful of parental bonuses. The colour scheme of the earth vehicles was a throwback to the old space sets, for example.

Also, you could say that the theme's ADU (Alien Defense Unit) kinda took after Halo's UNSC in a way. So, vaguely, it pitted B-movie extraterrestrial invaders against modern sci-fi military troopers. Sort of a funny juxtaposition come to think of it.

3 hours ago, Exetrius said:

I just read the whole thread. :grin: I'll try to list the concepts mentioned (or implied) up to now: 

You are incredible. I really do appreciate your summarizing of all that for a recap! :thumbup: :sweet:

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10 hours ago, Hisstori said:

Any news of Agents or something similar returning yet again?

If they do, I hope they branch out of their 'generic hypertechy superspies' rut. I'm hoping for something more along the lines of 007 or Kingsmen, tuxedo-martini style agents should they pick up the idea again.

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On 26-2-2018 at 2:28 AM, Digger of Bricks said:

You are incredible. I really do appreciate your summarizing of all that for a recap! :thumbup: :sweet:

Thanks, you too! Your input in this thread has been valuable! @Peppermint_M Maybe it's an idea to get it have the summary on the front page so people know what's been suggested so far?

On 26-2-2018 at 4:52 AM, Nerd-with-a-Pencil said:

Atompunk is a style of sci-fi based around 1950's art and culture. Probably the biggest mainstream example of atompunk is the Fallout game series.

Ah, thanks. I also found an image (rather large) about the -punk's:

Spoiler

aGj9WwG_700b.jpg

 

I personally see a lot of potential in a time travel theme, it's a concept that speaks to the imagination. You have a machine that can take you to any place and any time.. endless possibilities guaranteed! 

 

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3 hours ago, Exetrius said:

Thanks, you too! Your input in this thread has been valuable!

Aw, thanks! :blush:

3 hours ago, Exetrius said:

Maybe it's an idea to get it have the summary on the front page so people know what's been suggested so far?

Given what you've already pieced together so far, it wouldn't be too hard! :sweet:

3 hours ago, Exetrius said:

Ah, thanks. I also found an image (rather large) about the -punk's:

That's a great infographic, one that I've saved on a Pinterest board of mine. Here's a comprehensive Wikipedia article on even more Retrofuturistic genres:

Wikipedia - Cyberpunk Derivatives

3 hours ago, Exetrius said:

I personally see a lot of potential in a time travel theme, it's a concept that speaks to the imagination. You have a machine that can take you to any place and any time.. endless possibilities guaranteed! 

Certainly, and such a theme can be an outlet for so many historical settings and genres that otherwise couldn't stand alone as a individual playtheme. :classic:

19 hours ago, Hisstori said:

Any news of Agents or something similar returning yet again?

For this year? I think it's too late for that; but, I do hope some new smaller scale, archetypical action/adventure themes are on the horizon for the near future! 

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I have to confess that Steampunk would be a huge turn-off for me. Despite my love for science fiction and machines, there's something about Steampunk that never clicked with me. Probably the over-abundance of copper and the whole victorian theme (and of course, the fact that it's a heavily over-used -punk theme).

 

I think Raypunk appeals the most to me, what with all this glorious 80s cheese, such as bright neon colors and this wild mix of fantasy and high-tech.

Edited by ZORK64

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4 hours ago, ZORK64 said:

I have to confess that Steampunk would be a huge turn-off for me. Despite my love for science fiction and machines, there's something about Steampunk that never clicked with me. Probably the over-abundance of copper and the whole victorian theme (and of course, the fact that it's a heavily over-used -punk theme).

I love the genre conceptually, but there are just not many fan creations built within it that I'm fond of. Like you said, many are built predominantly in only Brown and Gold, and they'll be awfully skeletal in their design with a heavy focus on exposed gears and mechanisms. Therefore, that's why I usually take more of a likening towards the more fleshed out, streamlined aesthetics of the Dieselpunk/Decopunk genre.

Now, which type of Steampunk creations do I like? Something like this mecha of Moko's, with its stockier build and presence of Earth Green to compliment those brown and metallic colors.

24425538949_cfbaeba202_n.jpg24497676180_8be2d82001_n.jpg

4 hours ago, ZORK64 said:

I think Raypunk appeals the most to me, what with all this glorious 80s cheese, such as bright neon colors and this wild mix of fantasy and high-tech.

I don't know if Raypunk evokes the 1980's exactly. It's more of a genre that takes after the pulp magazine/comic strip science fiction of the 1920's to 1940's, the kind of universe my CMF avatar would inhabit for instance. :wink:

Here's a good article which defines the aesthetics of the genre and compares it to other "Punks".

What is Raypunk?

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On 1-3-2018 at 12:59 AM, Digger of Bricks said:
On 28-2-2018 at 9:18 PM, Exetrius said:

I personally see a lot of potential in a time travel theme, it's a concept that speaks to the imagination. You have a machine that can take you to any place and any time.. endless possibilities guaranteed! 

Certainly, and such a theme can be an outlet for so many historical settings and genres that otherwise couldn't stand alone as a individual playtheme. :classic:

Precisely. Keeping an eye on existing moulds, there would be numerous options. The Romans, Egyptians, Aztecs, Mongels, ancient Chinese, Vikings and hunter-gatherers of the Ice Age, for example. Add some mythological beasts and artifacts here and there, but only to get the adventure vibe going. The theme would focus on the interaction between the time travelers and the inhabitants of the place and era they are visiting, ranging from slice of life to adventure and conflict. For example: being there and having fun, attending a local celebration, help gather medicine ingredients for a local who is ill, save a pet that went astray and got trapped, defend against a monster attack, or go on a treasure hunt. 

 

17 hours ago, ZORK64 said:

I have to confess that Steampunk would be a huge turn-off for me. Despite my love for science fiction and machines, there's something about Steampunk that never clicked with me. Probably the over-abundance of copper and the whole victorian theme (and of course, the fact that it's a heavily over-used -punk theme).

I think Raypunk appeals the most to me, what with all this glorious 80s cheese, such as bright neon colors and this wild mix of fantasy and high-tech.

12 hours ago, Digger of Bricks said:

I love the genre conceptually, but there are just not many fan creations built within it that I'm fond of. Like you said, many are built predominantly in only Brown and Gold, and they'll be awfully skeletal in their design with a heavy focus on exposed gears and mechanisms. Therefore, that's why I usually take more of a likening towards the more fleshed out, streamlined aesthetics of the Dieselpunk/Decopunk genre.

Now, which type of Steampunk creations do I like? Something like this mecha of Moko's, with its stockier build and presence of Earth Green to compliment those brown and metallic colors.

-snip-

I haven't quite warmed up to steampunk, even after seeing creations like Moko's take on the genre. Brown does not invoke excitement, it has something of reassurance, and luxury at best. There appears to be a niche that likes brown cars (https://www.carthrottle.com/post/whats-the-obsession-with-brown-cars/), but brown for a sports car would definitely not be my first pick. I love dark red, dark green and dark blue, but I think the same applies in the case of vehicles. They are good accent colours, though. 

As for the concept: steam engines, basically furnaces with boilers...  I know I am over-generalizing things, but that doesn't sound particularly exciting to me. However, it could still work as an attribute of the design style. I could imagine a fantasy land that consist primarily of metals. The society would be built upon metals and alloys, from tools and vehicles to architecture, while non-metals are the valuable substances that miners are after, necessary to sustain life. The sets would use a lot of Silver Metallic, gunmetal grey, some of the recently introduced Copper Metallic (https://brickset.com/parts/colour-Copper-Metallic) and a bit of Pearl Gold. A bit like this, but with more metal:

38116875274_80e63b3090.jpg

Rorek's Workshop by Markus  Rollbühler, on Flickr

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With maybe the exception of Adventurers, I'm surprised Lego haven't concocted more Action/Adventure themes that focus upon a singular hero as opposed to a team. Now it wouldn't necessarily be a story that featured no other friends or allies, but I think a theme with a central focus on a singular hero would be kinda cool. Think of action/pulp fiction heroes, who's theme would take on their own name or moniker, characters such as Lara Croft, Indiana Jones, Doc Savage, Flash Gordon, Jason Bourne, James Bond... You know. :classic:

And yes, I know it's most likely Lego adopts the team model since kids more likely relate to that approach with their friends, but it'd certainly be different for a change.

On 3/2/2018 at 7:16 AM, Exetrius said:

I could imagine a fantasy land that consist primarily of metals. The society would be built upon metals and alloys, from tools and vehicles to architecture, while non-metals are the valuable substances that miners are after, necessary to sustain life. The sets would use a lot of Silver Metallic, gunmetal grey, some of the recently introduced Copper Metallic (https://brickset.com/parts/colour-Copper-Metallic) and a bit of Pearl Gold. A bit like this, but with more metal:

So, Metallurgy-Punk? That sounds kinda cool, though I'd imagine it would it'd be more of a Fantasy Castle theme than a Action/Adventure theme.

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How about an action theme which fuses the stylistic sensibilities of European medieval chivalry with the wartime technologies of World War II?

Essentially, it would be a Dieselpunk/Sky-Fi Castle theme, where an alliance of fictional European nations defend each other's kingdoms from the mad imperialistic conquests of a lone warlock baron and his mechanical army. Sets would be made up of castle-like armory fortresses, fantastical warplanes, hyperbolically sized tanks, and flying warships, all done with a stylistic fusion of medieval and early twentieth century aesthetic sensibilities. 

P.S. One of my primary inspirations for this idea comes from the fictional backstories for each of Jon Hall's Sky-Fi warplane creations. :wink:

Flickr - JonHall18 - Albums 

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One thing I would love to see at some point is a theme set in cyberspace, sort of like Tron, MegaMan Battle Network, or Code Lyoko. This could work as a theme with minifigures, mini-dolls, action figures… you name it. It would potentially be a good opportunity to reuse some of the more cyber-influenced parts from Nexo Knights like the holographic swords and axes.

The MegaMan Battle Network games in particular really appealed to me growing up. I suspect that here on Eurobricks, a theme like that would qualify more as an action theme than a sci-fi theme on account of being heavily superhero and fantasy influenced and having to rely on figurative rather than literal representations of technical concepts (for instance, a firewall might be depicted as an actual wall of fire, computer bugs as actual bugs, etc).

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If Lego ever revisits the concept of a Racers/Action theme fusion line like they'd done with with 2010's World Racers, I'd hope to see them instead go with more over an individual racers approach next time around, as opposed to rival teams as they did with World Racers. This could therefore allow for a more colorful assortment of racers and their respective rides, instead of various vehicles in only two different color schemes.

4 hours ago, Aanchir said:

One thing I would love to see at some point is a theme set in cyberspace, sort of like Tron, MegaMan Battle Network, or Code Lyoko. This could work as a theme with minifigures, mini-dolls, action figures… you name it. It would potentially be a good opportunity to reuse some of the more cyber-influenced parts from Nexo Knights like the holographic swords and axes.

2018's cinematic adaptation of Ready Player One also comes to mind when it comes to Cyberspace, but I suppose that has too much of a fleshed out aesthetic compared to the more bare bones look of those other examples you cited. Speaking of such, I wonder what came of that rumored constraction theme we heard of earlier that was said to have a "computer world" setting. :shrug_confused:

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13 hours ago, Digger of Bricks said:

How about an action theme which fuses the stylistic sensibilities of European medieval chivalry with the wartime technologies of World War II?

Essentially, it would be a Dieselpunk/Sky-Fi Castle theme, where an alliance of fictional European nations defend each other's kingdoms from the mad imperialistic conquests of a lone warlock baron and his mechanical army. Sets would be made up of castle-like armory fortresses, fantastical warplanes, hyperbolically sized tanks, and flying warships, all done with a stylistic fusion of medieval and early twentieth century aesthetic sensibilities. 

P.S. One of my primary inspirations for this idea comes from the fictional backstories for each of Jon Hall's Sky-Fi warplane creations. :wink:

Flickr - JonHall18 - Albums 

Ugh, that sounds like taking a good thing and mashing it with something terrible.  Castle is the good thing.  And we just finished (early) a Castle mash-up theme, so maybe let Castle breathe and have a proper theme next time around...

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Given that it'll be ten years come 2019 since we saw our last underground action/adventure theme with Power Miners, I've been recently contemplating new directions such a genre could go if we ever see Lego revisit it for another new theme. So, one idea I had was to utilize the genre for a new minidoll theme for girls.

As far as a premise goes, how about a storyline focused upon a biologist traveling with an expedition which uncovers an extraordinary new ecosystem living within a monumental deep-earth cavern network, filled with fantastical bioluminescent lifeforms and organisms. Like another earlier idea I shared here for an underground action/adventure theme, their antagonist wouldn't be any individual or group of people, but the threat of some sort of degradation or collapse of the ecosystem/habitat itself, from which our heroes would be trying to save.

8 hours ago, x105Black said:

Ugh, that sounds like taking a good thing and mashing it with something terrible.  Castle is the good thing.  And we just finished (early) a Castle mash-up theme, so maybe let Castle breathe and have a proper theme next time around...

Technically it wouldn't really be a Castle theme, as it would be somewhat more akin to Legends of Chima than Nexo Knights. Think of it more as a fantastical Dieselpunk/Decopunk/Raypunk/Sky-Fi warfare theme, with only the bare bones structure of a Castle theme in terms of armies, kingdoms, and conflict. Solders, rulers, and civilians may have attire that would fuse chivalric garments with some Art Deco influences, but its overall superficial aesthetic would be more like Flash Gordon/Buck Rogers meets World War II.

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13 hours ago, Digger of Bricks said:

Technically it wouldn't really be a Castle theme, as it would be somewhat more akin to Legends of Chima than Nexo Knights. Think of it more as a fantastical Dieselpunk/Decopunk/Raypunk/Sky-Fi warfare theme, with only the bare bones structure of a Castle theme in terms of armies, kingdoms, and conflict. Solders, rulers, and civilians may have attire that would fuse chivalric garments with some Art Deco influences, but its overall superficial aesthetic would be more like Flash Gordon/Buck Rogers meets World War II.

Both of those themes are relative failures.  I wouldn't mind a Deco / Ray type theme, though.

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14 hours ago, x105Black said:

Both of those themes are relative failures.  I wouldn't mind a Deco / Ray type theme, though.

I’ve never seen any credible reports of Chima being a failure. Compared to Ninjago maybe, but that’s because Ninjago was a runaway success that went on to become evergreen. By that argument you could call even the Pirates theme a “relative failure”, since it never lasted as long or got as many sets as the likes of Bionicle or City. To say nothing of the many flash-in-the-pan licenses like The Lord of the Rings or Pirates of the Caribbean, whose short-lived successes are practically insignificant compared to the persistent success of the Star Wars and Super Heroes themes!

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2 hours ago, Aanchir said:

I’ve never seen any credible reports of Chima being a failure. Compared to Ninjago maybe, but that’s because Ninjago was a runaway success that went on to become evergreen. By that argument you could call even the Pirates theme a “relative failure”, since it never lasted as long or got as many sets as the likes of Bionicle or City. To say nothing of the many flash-in-the-pan licenses like The Lord of the Rings or Pirates of the Caribbean, whose short-lived successes are practically insignificant compared to the persistent success of the Star Wars and Super Heroes themes!

My understanding is that both of those themes ended before their estimated natural lifespan of 3 years was completed.  In my books, those are relative failures.  The Tolkien themes suffered a similar fate, yes.  So my point remains.

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With the recent announcement of the finalized LEGO Ideas product for the long awaited Voltron, I've been wondering about the combiner robot trope in relation to it being applied to an in-house action theme. Particularly, does anyone think that it's too exclusive of a trope to certain franchises to be utilized by Lego for an original theme of their own? In other words, can they utilize it without feeling like it's being ripped off?

Besides Voltron, the only other two toy franchises I can think of that also use it are Power Rangers, and in certain cases, Transformers. :shrug_confused:

22 hours ago, x105Black said:

Both of those themes are relative failures.  

Well, I only used Chima as an example due to its storyline structure revolving around rival tribes, as I don't believe that had ever been done before for any other in-house theme. The only difference between Chima and my proposal is that Chima had multiple tribes on either side, while my idea is instead proposing multiple fictional nations fighting against a single common enemy.

22 hours ago, x105Black said:

I wouldn't mind a Deco / Ray type theme, though.

Perhaps you might not have a particularly elaborated idea in mind immediately, but, what would you want to see from an action/adventure theme that falls within that style/genre? :classic:

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