Lego David

Themes LEGO should discontinue

Recommended Posts

26 minutes ago, Aanchir said:

With original, non-media-supported themes, there’s oftennot as much of the same incentive to redesign specific sets, because kids usually won’t have any familiarity with those exact subjects unless they already obtained the set second-hand. Ninjago and Star Wars are different in that even after the sets are retired, the popularity and widespread availability of past movies or TV seasons keeps the older stuff relevant even to fans who weren’t around when it first came out.

That’s not to say that repetition isn’t as frequent in the non-licensed themes, but it’s usually in the form of LEGO revisiting the general concepts buyers continue to respond well to… e.g. revisiting CONCEPT of a police station or a castle or a pirate ship or a space shuttle or a drilling vehicle lor a Technic race car or a Creator dinosaur, rather than redesigning specific previous versions of those things from past sets.

While remakes of original sets such as the King's Castle or the Pirate Ship used to be almost as frequent as Star Wars remakes, the problem is, well... Where are they now? We still get tons of remakes of a X-Wing or whatever, but where is a remake for the King's Castle? As long as there is the remake of an original set, I wouldn't mind having a Star Wars set remade to. But when the only thing that we have are just Star Wars remakes... you get tired of them. Also, considering that most licensed themes based on movies are based on PG 13 movies, most KFOLs would most likely not even have watched Star Wars to see where that ship comes from. But when you remake a Castle or a Pirate ship... it appeals to you even if you even if you aren't a movie fan/don't watch many movies. 

What also worries me is the growing number of licensed themes in Duplo, which is for kids which I am 100% sure that have not seen a PG 13 movie.

Edited by Lego David

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites
3 hours ago, Lego David said:

I agree with this too. The Speed Champions cars aren't really as accurate as LEGO wants you to believe.

 

How does LEGO try to make you believe they are accurate?

And of course they are not accurate. These ones are toys, much smaller than the original cars, made of plastic building blocks. They also don't have engines. Anywhere that a minifigure is involved, the scale is off.  Minifigures are not humans, their proportions are all wrong. This is true across all non-licensed ranges too. Have you ever seen passenger train carriages that take about 6-8 people, or houses or buildings that look like the modulars inside? Non-licensed cars are also inaccurate, to fit two people side by side, the cars have to be very wide compared to their length.

3 hours ago, Lego David said:

Ok, I can understand why Star Wars remakes are a thing, so new generations can get a set, right? While this sounds good at first, why doesn't this happen with Original Themes? .... but a great original set like the Power Miners Thunder Driller never gets re-released. How do you explain this?

 

It does happen with original themes.  For example:

2018

60196-1.png

 

2014

60064-1.png

Both are even named the same: Arctic Supply Plane

It happens very frequently in City, a fire truck goes and another comes.

In Castle: 2010

2519.png?1

2013

70404-1.png

Both called King's Castle. And this one led to loads of complaints here about rehashes in Castle and how this shouldn't be done. And guess what happens when LEGO stops doing it, people complain they no longer do Castle.

 

The set you complain about, Thunder Driller:

8960-1.png

It has also be done again, in non-licensed sets, such as:

70502-1.png60186-1.png

Of course, you will probably argue they are not the same, as they are not Power Miners, but Power Miners is dead.  However, what was a popular vehicle in a non-licensed theme is reimagined in other non-licensed themes such as Ninjago and City. While in SW and other licenses, when they bring back vehicles, they tend to look very similar it is because they are following the same source material. For in-house themes, there is not that restriction so even though they may bring back a style to something that worked in a past theme, it can be reimagined in another theme. In fact, they took it to another level in NK:

70354-1.jpg

although really this was just a re-imagined vehicle from Ulta Agents:

70168-1.jpg?1

To a kid, these are all essentially the same set: a big drilling machine. Different themes, but the same set re-imagined to fit in with the current theme. That is why they don't redo the exact Power Miners set, they don't need to. If kids want a big drilling machine, they can have one in the current theme of the day.

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites
15 minutes ago, Lego David said:

While remakes of original sets such as the King's Castle or the Pirate Ship used to be almost as frequent as Star Wars remakes, the problem is, well... Where are they now?

Red Beard Runner, Black Seas Barracuda and King Leo's Castle were all re-released exactly once so this is a bit of a misrepresentation.

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites
56 minutes ago, MAB said:

In Castle: 2010

2519.png?1

2013

 70404-1.png

Both called King's Castle. And this one led to loads of complaints here about rehashes in Castle and how this shouldn't be done. And guess what happens when LEGO stops doing it, people complain they no longer do Castle.

 

46 minutes ago, jamesn said:

Red Beard Runner, Black Seas Barracuda and King Leo's Castle were all re-released exactly once so this is a bit of a misrepresentation.

I said that remakes like those used to happen, but they don't happen anymore. 

 

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites
1 hour ago, Aanchir said:

And despite the impression people seem to be getting, I don’t just go around telling anyone who expresses negative feelings about LEGO that they’re wrong. I usually only even bother commenting when I feel like there’s actually something for me to contribute, whether it’s a hypothesis about why something is the way that it is, or a link to relevant info or quotes, or an explanation of why I agree or disagree.

I find your posts worth reading, and I appreciate the fact that you take the time to explain your arguments well, both with examples and a fair perspective which I find to be often insightful.

What I think the others are getting at is that the spirit of this discussion is that some members are looking to vent and commiserate, but you are looking to debate.

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites
1 hour ago, Lego David said:

I said that remakes like those used to happen, but they don't happen anymore.

Can you be clearer about what you mean by "remake"? Because as @MAB pointed out, there are oodles of reimaginings of concepts such as castles, police stations, drilling machines, mobile command centers, etc, but above you said

2 hours ago, Lego David said:

We still get tons of remakes of a X-Wing

which is a much more specific subject to base a set on, and TLG does remake the X-wing routinely because new children enter the Star Wars fandom every year. Are you suggesting that the fact TLG last made castle-themed castle in 2013 means "they don't happen anymore? Do you instead want a re-release of Black Falcon whatever, or Fort Legoredo?

Looking back at SW, the last system-scale Slave I before the one announced last week was in 2010. Last year, I could have bellyached  that "TLG don't remake my favourite spaceship anymore, they suck" and I would have been just as or even more justified in my complaint as you are, complaining about castles. For the sake of context, the most recent pirate ship was also released in 2010. @MAB is exactly right that the moment TLG make a new X, AFOLs complain it's been done before, and the moment they don't, AFOLs also complain that their special interest is being neglected.

Going ad hominem for a moment, I am annoyed that you come into our community just to stir megablocks up.

And anyway, it's just building bricks so you can easily kitbash your own pirate ship, so why not make a MOC instead of complaining?

Edited by jamesn

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites
14 minutes ago, jamesn said:

For the sake of context, the most recent pirate ship was also released in 2010.

@MAB is exactly right that the moment TLG make a new X, AFOLs complain it's been done before, and the moment they don't, AFOLs also complain that their special interest is being neglected.

1 - 2015, actually.

2 - This.

8 hours ago, MAB said:

And what if the zoo had lots of marketing data and this showed that the majority of their possible customers wanted to see a rhino, but some wanted to see the hippo as it reminded them of the days they used to come to the zoo as kids, back in the days before the zoo had a rhino.

And then if it was still available. LEGO dropping Star Wars would be huge news and a massive snub to Disney. If LEGO decided to drop a major license from Disney, chances are Disney would hit back and stop licensing all their brands with LEGO and move to another building block company, whose product quality is significantly better than they used to be.

You would then have LEGO's attempt at in-house space up against an alternative brand's official Star Wars. LEGO would look like the cheap imposter and an alternative brand's SW may well keep LEGO's space off the shelves.

1 - That was already part of the analogy; no need to extend the analogy.

2, 3 - A very real possibility.

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites
3 hours ago, Lego David said:

Also, considering that most licensed themes based on movies are based on PG 13 movies, most KFOLs would most likely not even have watched Star Wars to see where that ship comes from. . 

This may be a regional thing but in the UK the Original Trilogy is rated a U on DVD packagaing. Which means anyone can watch it. Regardless, even if they haven’t seen/didn’t understand the movie for whatever reasons to them, the guy with the green lightsaber - good guy. The guy with the red lightsaber - bad guy. Kids are imaginative and will create their OWN stories and adventures with the sets and minifigures. 

3 hours ago, Lego David said:

But when you remake a Castle or a Pirate ship... it appeals to you even if you even if you aren't a movie fan/don't watch many movies. 

Not necessarily, not every kid might be into Castle or Pirates. They may prefer other themes. It’s different strokes for different folks. Some like to pretend their the Captain of a ship to find treasure, others like to swoosh an X-wing around a room. 

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites
10 minutes ago, Tariq j said:

Kids are imaginative and will create their OWN stories and adventures with the sets and minifigures. 

This 100%, making your own story and builds is what the essence of a "building toy" is about.

Now this doesn't mean that following a preset story, or just the instructions is a bad thing, there's just so much more to LEGO then that.

 

Edited by TeriXeri

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites
23 hours ago, danth said:

Yeah. Seriously @Aanchir, it's like you have a full time job defending Lego's actions against any complaint no matter how small. When I see one of your posts, it's like "Here we go again. Who has besmirched Lego's good name this time."

I mean, is there ANYTHING that Lego has EVER done, or could do, that you don't like? Can you name one thing? Are they an infallible god to you?

Anyway back on topic. Get rid of Lego Star Wars. It's the same tired designs over and over. Talk about a broken record. 

I believe this is taking it too far now and bordering on personal attack, which, I know you tried to misrepresent me as doing once. Maybe you're not being serious; it's hard to tell.

I appreciate good discussion, but I meant what I said in my last post here, which is why I haven't read the response or responded to it since.

That said, you have to appreciate someone who puts so much effort into giving thoughtful responses, even if you totally disagree with it. It takes real time to write that stuff.

Sometimes I wish I could meet the people that I disagree with in real life just to see if the venomosity carries over to RL or not. I think that most of the time, we'd all find more in common than that which we are at odds with.

Sorry for derailing. Back to discussing what we wish Lego would throw into Room 101.

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

Maybe they should just forget about these newfangled "automatic binding bricks" altogether and go back to making wooden ducks. :sarcasm_smug:

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites
Just now, Pdaitabird said:

Maybe they should just forget about these newfangled "automatic binding bricks" altogether and go back to making wooden ducks. :sarcasm_smug:

Quack!

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites
Just now, Pdaitabird said:

Maybe they should just forget about these newfangled "automatic binding bricks" altogether and go back to making wooden ducks. :sarcasm_smug:

Then we'd get "TLG should stop releasing the Mallard set", "the merganser theme is boring, LEGO should retire it", and "Why won't TLG release a red-crested pochard just for meeeeeee?"

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites
3 hours ago, Lego David said:

 

I said that remakes like those used to happen, but they don't happen anymore. 

 

Because when they did exact re-releases, apparently sales volumes were poor, and also people complained that LEGO were just bringing out old stuff and not designing new sets. Which I imagine is partly why now they re-imagine sets or designs into new themes. That way, everything is new even if it is rehashing old ideas.

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites
22 hours ago, Aanchir said:

I know my posts tend to be long and tedious. I’m bad at expressing my thoughts concisely and I’m not the least bit proud of it. It’d intensely frustrating to lapse into hyper-focus while writing a single post and lose track of time, only to realize after I’m finished that I accidentally spent a huge chunk of my free time on it.

But that said, I usually at least try to contribute facts and/or opinions that are relevant to the topic. Whereas your post, best I can tell, is just singling me out and treating me like I have no thoughts of my own because I don’t get as angry about toys as you think I should, and think that creating threads just to complain about themes I’m not a fan of is counter-productive.

I can't fault you for long posts. A good long rant or rave can be fun to read. Sorry if I got too personal. I just think you have an obvious bias in favor of TLG, and not in favor of AFOLs, that's become apparent over the history of your posts, and I don't think it's unfair to call that out. There's nothing wrong with being biased whichever way. But it's there. I'm biased too. I want Lego to do more Space sets even if they lose profits...

6 hours ago, pombe said:

I find your posts worth reading, and I appreciate the fact that you take the time to explain your arguments well, both with examples and a fair perspective which I find to be often insightful.

What I think the others are getting at is that the spirit of this discussion is that some members are looking to vent and commiserate, but you are looking to debate.

Yeah, this. Let us vent! When someone is venting, that's not a great time to tell them why you disagree. 

3 hours ago, leafan said:

I believe this is taking it too far now and bordering on personal attack

Sorry. Got a bit passionate there. @Aanchir is a good egg. With a bias opposite from mine.

Edited by danth

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites
1 hour ago, Tariq j said:

This may be a regional thing but in the UK the Original Trilogy is rated a U on DVD packagaing. Which means anyone can watch it. Regardless, even if they haven’t seen/didn’t understand the movie for whatever reasons to them, the guy with the green lightsaber - good guy. The guy with the red lightsaber - bad guy. Kids are imaginative and will create their OWN stories and adventures with the sets and minifigures.

2

Yep, my kids knew most Star Wars characters before they saw the movies. I regularly got Darth Vader cards for father's day, and Darth Vader PJs or T-shirts for presents, and so on. Similarly, they knew of Batman and Robin, the Joker, Superman, etc before seeing any of those movies. And I made sure the first movie they watched was the Adam West Batman. These characters are now, like it or not, part of western culture.

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites
16 hours ago, jamesn said:

And anyway, it's just building bricks so you can easily kitbash your own pirate ship, so why not make a MOC instead of complaining?

If I will just stop buying LEGO and just MOC anything I want, how would LEGO make profit? If everybody who is angry at LEGO for not making what they want and just MOC what they want, how would LEGO make money?

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites
6 hours ago, Lego David said:

If I will just stop buying LEGO and just MOC anything I want, how would LEGO make profit? If everybody who is angry at LEGO for not making what they want and just MOC what they want, how would LEGO make money?

You kinda forgot the fact that there are people who do buy sets just for the parts.

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites
17 minutes ago, JJ Tong (zfogshooterz) said:

You kinda forgot the fact that there are people who do buy sets just for the parts

Why would you buy a whole set you don't really care for just for parts when you could just use Bricklink?

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites
Just now, Lego David said:

Why would you buy a whole set you don't really care for just for parts when you could just use Bricklink?

Well, for people like me, I don't do online shopping. I always hunt at retail or third-party dealers. And I'm pretty sure not everyone has the privilege of using Bricklink.

Edited by JJ Tong (zfogshooterz)

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites
3 minutes ago, Lego David said:

Why would you buy a whole set you don't really care for just for parts when you could just use Bricklink?

That's what I thought until I tried to Bricklink the parts for a MOC myself - the individual parts are usually cheap enough (unless they're rare), but you have to buy parts from so many different sellers that the shipping fees add up fast!  I still haven't figured out how to make Bricklink affordable.  That's another reason why people buy sets as parts packs - it's a whole lot easier than Bricklinking only the parts they want, and is actually pretty comparable in price.  Plus, someone has to buy those sets with the idea of using them as parts packs in order for the parts to make it onto Bricklink in the first place.

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites
6 minutes ago, icm said:

That's what I thought until I tried to Bricklink the parts for a MOC myself - the individual parts are usually cheap enough (unless they're rare), but you have to buy parts from so many different sellers that the shipping fees add up fast!  I still haven't figured out how to make Bricklink affordable.  That's another reason why people buy sets as parts packs - it's a whole lot easier than Bricklinking only the parts they want, and is actually pretty comparable in price.  Plus, someone has to buy those sets with the idea of using them as parts packs in order for the parts to make it onto Bricklink in the first place.

Whew! I've actually forgotten about that fact until you mentioned it again. While I don't do online shopping, I do browse Bricklink sometimes checking if it's possible to get some CCBS parts and after comparing prices, realized that it's much more worth it getting the actual sets that the parts belong to.

Edited by JJ Tong (zfogshooterz)

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites
20 minutes ago, Lego David said:

Why would you buy a whole set you don't really care for just for parts when you could just use Bricklink?

The problem is though, this starts to get into “I’m not happy because he/she aren’t buying and using LEGO sets for the same reasons that I’M buying and using sets”

It’s also very likely an AFOL will buy a set, build it, then realise “actually parts X, Y and Z could be used for this MOC and parts A, B and C could be used for that MOC” and they’ll take the set apart to use the pieces for whatever MOC’s they want. 

Edited by Tariq j

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites
7 hours ago, Lego David said:

If I will just stop buying LEGO and just MOC anything I want, how would LEGO make profit? If everybody who is angry at LEGO for not making what they want and just MOC what they want, how would LEGO make money?

Let's see, they're getting my $$$ through Pick A Brick Wall at LEGO retail store,  Pick A Brick online LEGO Shop@Home, Bricks & Pieces, and sets that are good parts pack.

 

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites
10 hours ago, Lego David said:

If I will just stop buying LEGO and just MOC anything I want, how would LEGO make profit? If everybody who is angry at LEGO for not making what they want and just MOC what they want, how would LEGO make money?

LEGO would make money from the people who ARE buying sets, same as has always been the case. There are hundreds of thousands of adults who don't buy Lego—the fact that some of them stopped buying as adults instead of as children doesn't make them that much more valuable to Lego's bottom line.

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

Create an account or sign in to comment

You need to be a member in order to leave a comment

Create an account

Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!

Register a new account

Sign in

Already have an account? Sign in here.

Sign In Now

  • Recently Browsing   0 members

    No registered users viewing this page.