Action and Adventure Themes Discussion

[Peppermint_M]

Here's the thread for any questions, concerns, comments or discussion on the Action and Adventure Themes Forum itself.

Got a review or MOC you want added to the index?

Want to ask a question on Past, Present or Future Action and Adventure Themes?

Would you like to nominate someone for a tag for a great achievement?

Have a query on if your MOC belongs in this subforum? 

Ask, comment and discuss all that here.

[x105Black]

You should probably move Nexo Knights to a Sci-Fi header...

[TeriXeri]

13 hours ago, x105Black said:

You should probably move Nexo Knights to a Sci-Fi header...

I don't agree.

The good guys do use a lot of tech/robots/computers, and the 2018 wave did push the theme way more into a pure technology direction, but the Lava and Rock monsters still have a strong "Magic/Fantasy" feeling.

Especially in their artwork/show representation it's clear that the Lava and Rock monster waves aren't mechs, and that's still 80% of the bad guys of the entire theme.

Some of the Lava and Rock sets do have a control panels and exhaust flames, but in my eyes it's still not 100% tech vehicles but part creature, part magic. 

Lava monsters mostly summoned from a magic book, and Rock monsters zapped to life by a magic evil cloud. Magic books, and forbidden powers also are very Fantasy in my eyes.

There's also reference to the Yellow Castle in one of the episodes, and mentioned as something that existed long ago in the same world.

Overall there's still Castle/Fantasy elements in the theme if you include the media as well, the sets don't show the civilians/farmers, but there's a lot of it in the show/comic/books/game.

And it's even less related to a LEGO Space theme, only in some looks of the vehicles themselves with the colors and canopy having a distant familiarity to like Ice Planet 2002. Flying vehicles are shown plenty of times, but nothing related to space outside of maybe a reference of the Classic Space logo on a Nexo Power that doesn't even appear in toy-form.

Chima and Nexo Knights being on the same header makes sense. 

Now I'd personally would have rather have seen the Forest and Underwater monsters instead of the Tech 2018 wave, but so be it.

Just my opinion.

Edited October 1, 2018 by TeriXeri

[Holodoc]

Wow....

That must have taken ages to put together!
Great job and fantastic work!   Now we'll find everything in one place. Bravo!

[Peppermint_M]

Thanks Holodoc! I have long wanted to have a place for everything and now people can find all of the excellent creations members have shared over the years.

If you take a look at some of the index thread dates, I have been working away since July, and that's just on the threads. There are 77 pages of threads here in Action and Adventure themes (Except when I change my topics per page...) and I had to check every MOC to see if the photos were still live and to see which theme they belonged to! Then sort them into some kind of accessible order. 

Hopefully people will enjoy hunting for treasure here in Action and Adventure Themes. 

 

[Aanchir]

Yeah, I agree that Nexo Knights makes more sense in Action/Adventure. Like Ninjago, it's very much a collision of myth-and-magic rich fantasy (magic tomes, necromancers, vampires, occult monsters), high-tech science fiction (laser cannons, holograms, hover technology), and modern-day cultural references (movies, video games, TV news networks).

Purely based on definitions, I would be sooner to question whether Aquazone belongs here, since it has no obvious fantasy elements like monsters, magic, or strange superpowers. The closest it comes is its oxygen-providing Hydrolator crystals, which aren't too much more fantastical than the energy-providing crystals in various Space themes, and the inclusion of modern-day Earth creatures like sharks, rays, and octopus despite the setting being neither blatantly Earth-based NOR obviously extraterrestrial. At the same time, I understand the value of keeping the underwater themes together aside from the licensed or real life based ones.

[Peppermint_M]

@Aanchir He was poking at the index.

I have made an index of all the action and adventure themes, they are a diverse bunch and I wanted to make things accessible, so I grouped themes. If you take a look at the pinned index, you'll see what I mean. I split the discussion from the index to avoid getting depressed.

Aquazone is Action and Adventure. It has been since the inception of the forum, before we added Adventure to the title of the forum. In fact, Adventure is the most recent addition to the title (See my Moderator Rank tag), put in place when Historic did not want Elves and we were unsure if Elves was going to be action packed.

 

[Digger of Bricks]

So, where and when does everyone think the next System based Action/Adventure theme will plausibly take place? Do you personally expect to see any smaller-scaled themes of yore make any reappearance in some form; or, do you rather think that the Ninjago/Chima/Nexo Knights "big bang" model will be the rule of the day for awhile here?  

[Peppermint_M]

Honestly, I don't expect to see much for a while. 

Harry Potter is taking up the fantasy slot, for as long as it lasts as a theme again. That is probably what did for Elves (along with sales figures) as it takes the market space and target consumer. 

With Overwatch coming along and all the more Superheroes, the market is packed with action story themes. There might not be any need for LEGO to put out more offerings other than Ninjago.

Alongside the fact that City has had the more Explorer niche filled (Undersea, Volcano, Jungle, Mining and now Arctic) there is only a chance at the Action and Adventure style of story series turning up in those themes. Unlikely since these are pretty recent products.

Of course, something entirely left-field might arrive for x105 Black to hate. No one expected Elves or Nexo Knights, but they did happen and they were actually quite different and "off pattern" as it were.

But the cynic that I am believes that Licensed products are taking up all the product slots, so we're at Ninjago or nuthin for the time being!

[Anonknee Muss]

1 hour ago, Peppermint_M said:

Honestly, I don't expect to see much for a while. 

Harry Potter is taking up the fantasy slot, for as long as it lasts as a theme again. That is probably what did for Elves (along with sales figures) as it takes the market space and target consumer. 

With Overwatch coming along and all the more Superheroes, the market is packed with action story themes. There might not be any need for LEGO to put out more offerings other than Ninjago.

Alongside the fact that City has had the more Explorer niche filled (Undersea, Volcano, Jungle, Mining and now Arctic) there is only a chance at the Action and Adventure style of story series turning up in those themes. Unlikely since these are pretty recent products.

Of course, something entirely left-field might arrive for x105 Black to hate. No one expected Elves or Nexo Knights, but they did happen and they were actually quite different and "off pattern" as it were.

But the cynic that I am believes that Licensed products are taking up all the product slots, so we're at Ninjago or nuthin for the time being!

As much as I agree with this I hope this isn’t the case. I hate Harry Potter with a passion, I love the vast array of pieces in new action themes so this is quite unfortunate for me. Lego pls.

[Aanchir]

Honestly I think The LEGO Movie 2 will probably play a bigger role in precluding new action and adventure themes for at least a little while than any of the licenses mentioned, particularly since so many of the new action/adventure themes in the past decade have been "big bang" properties. The whole idea of a "big bang" theme is that LEGO makes its launch one of their biggest priorities across all their departments… but to date, in years that new LEGO movies launch, those tend to take priority over any other new themes, even new licensed properties.

Also, as far as licenses go, we still have no idea how extensive the Overwatch sets will be or what demographic they'll be targeted at — just that they will encompass "a range of price points". And it's not as though we don't have existing themes leaving the scene that might free up room for additional in-house and licensed properties: Elves and Nexo Knights both seem to be ending this year, and the same can probably be assumed of The LEGO Batman Movie. The Harry Potter/Fantastic Beasts and Jurassic World lines may also diminish in size, as licensed themes have often been known to do in non-movie years.

Overall, though, the sheer variety of subject matter and marketing strategies that the Action/Adventure Themes category encompasses makes it hard to predict when or how a niche might open up for a new one. It's not a category as clearly defined as castle/knight themes, which for several years now have been released according to a more or less predictable pattern regardless of potential overlap with licensed themes, or Space themes, which have pretty consistently taken a back seat to Star Wars in the years of or between new Star Wars movie releases.

[x105Black]

On 10/6/2018 at 5:23 PM, Peppermint_M said:

Of course, something entirely left-field might arrive for x105 Black to hate.

One can dream!

[Peppermint_M]

I am laying on bets for Techno Pirates sailing the Information Super Highway. But the have teal boat hulls and spring green hats. 

[x105Black]

On 10/9/2018 at 3:55 PM, Peppermint_M said:

I am laying on bets for Techno Pirates sailing the Information Super Highway. But the have teal boat hulls and spring green hats. 

I wouldn't put it past them!

[Peppermint_M]

Ok chaps and chapettes, there are like a hundred or more of those Nexo Power things and they would look great as tags. Anyone want to nominate any for tags? Not only to use as potential rewards in contests, but also as something neat I can apply to great Nexo Builders.

I realised that I am missing any tags for a few themes and that is no good!

[Grey Magistrate]

4 hours ago, Peppermint_M said:

Ok chaps and chapettes, there are like a hundred or more of those Nexo Power things and they would look great as tags. Anyone want to nominate any for tags?

 

The five dragon shields from the first wave look best, I think, but the new gold ones (featuring the knights' weapons) are spiffy too.  You can't go wrong by dragons and gold!

[JJ Tong (zfogshooterz)]

And it would be real dope to have Forbidden Nexo Powers as tags too! 

[x105Black]

How about that Classic Space shield?

[Peppermint_M]

You know, that one is pretty awesome. I will try and get images I can turn into tag. 

[x105Black]

Here are some good ones:

 

This one is probably the best for your purposes:



Found them all here.

[Peppermint_M]

Class!

Being png assets, we can simply resize them and make them into tags.

Thanks for that 

[x105Black]

No problem.  I may not have been a big fan of the theme, but I can't say I wasn't a fan of these designs.  I particularly like the prism.

[Digger of Bricks]

Alongside Series 19's Jungle Explorer and the official Clutch Powers figure that Ninjago has given us this year, the latest LEGO Ideas set offers us Adventurers another figure that looks to be quite useful for its parts...  

10 minutes ago, Digger of Bricks said:

The Brothers Brick - LEGO Ideas 21320 Dinosaur Fossils: Assembling T. Rex & Triceratops & Pteranodon, Oh My! [Review]

[Lego David]

2 hours ago, Digger of Bricks said:

Alongside Series 19's Jungle Explorer and the official Clutch Powers figure that Ninjago has given us this year, the latest LEGO Ideas set offers us Adventurers another figure that looks to be quite useful for its parts...  

Meh, it seems to generic to fit with the Jungle Explorer and Clutch Powers.

[Digger of Bricks]

6 minutes ago, Lego David said:

Meh, it seems to generic to fit with the Jungle Explorer and Clutch Powers.

Maybe so, but one can at least upgrade their Clutch Powers with the figure's dual-molded legs if they wish!