Themes LEGO should discontinue

[Asajki]

Just now, OwenMistika said:

1. Hello David, nice to see you again 

2. Kids like non licensed themes, Star Wars has lasted 20 years! DC has lasted 7 years! Marvel has lasted 7 years too! Other than ninjago, no story theme is really able to say that…

1. Kinda irrelevant, but alright

2. If story themes don't sell, why do Lego keep making them?

[Asajki]

Just now, Asajki said:

1. Kinda irrelevant, but alright

2. If story themes don't sell, why do Lego keep making them?

2. Because the fans? I don’t know

[MAB]

30 minutes ago, Asajki said:

2. If story themes don't sell, why do Lego keep making them?

They do sell.

But LEGO does them for a while then moves on to another story. It would be boring if their "story" theme was Nexo Knights forever, or Chima for ever, or Monster Fighters, or Atlantis, or Agents, or any of those type themes. They let their in-house theme run for a year or sometimes up to three years, then move on to the next before it gets too boring.

I hope we see a return to the one year themes like around 2010-2015. We had so much variation back then and if you didn't like a theme it didn't matter as another would be along the next year.

[Asajki]

30 minutes ago, MAB said:

 I hope we see a return to the one year themes like around 2010-2015. We had so much variation back then and if you didn't like a theme it didn't matter as another would be along the next year.

So do I, so do I...

[Lego David]

On 8/13/2019 at 9:53 PM, danth said:

Hello Aanchir. Instead of calling people's opinions absurd, why don't you share yours? Do YOU like the idea of Minions Lego sets? Are YOU excited for Trolls Lego sets?

Personally, I'm not excited. And I can't image anyone wanting Trolls sets, or even wanting to see the movie. They're ugly dolls that were a minor fad in the 80's that people only remember to ridicule.  

I can't agree more. 

 

On 8/14/2019 at 10:23 PM, danth said:

Shows how much I know. A Dreamworks movie with big name voice actors is probably going to be good, no matter what it's about.

I still think it's a weird choice for Lego, unlike Minions which seems to be pretty popular.

Same here. I mean I can sort of understand why they would do Minions, but Trolls is definitely a rather weird choice. Honesty, I don't think they have really learned from the disaster Angry Birds got into.

2 hours ago, Asajki said:

2. If story themes don't sell, why do Lego keep making them

Is there really any proof that story themes don't sell? 

[Vindicare]

1 hour ago, MAB said:

I hope we see a return to the one year themes like around 2010-2015. We had so much variation back then and if you didn't like a theme it didn't matter as another would be along the next year.

It was definitely nice getting so much content, but boy, did some of those leave me wanting more. Particularly Monster Fighters & Pharaoh’s Quest.   

[Digger of Bricks]

5 hours ago, Vindicare said:

7 hours ago, MAB said:

I hope we see a return to the one year themes like around 2010-2015. We had so much variation back then and if you didn't like a theme it didn't matter as another would be along the next year.

It was definitely nice getting so much content, but boy, did some of those leave me wanting more. Particularly Monster Fighters & Pharaoh’s Quest.  

Absolutely agreed, especially regarding those two themes you've specifically highlighted! I mean, Pharaoh's Quest should've went on to become a full-scale revival of Adventurers, and Monster Fighters could've likewise expanded its horizons in a similar such manner, as both of them had the scope and potential to take on a grand scale comparable with what Ninjago has achieved! 

Edited August 22, 2019 by Digger of Bricks

[MAB]

13 hours ago, Vindicare said:

It was definitely nice getting so much content, but boy, did some of those leave me wanting more. Particularly Monster Fighters & Pharaoh’s Quest.   

Yeah, Monster Fighters was great for the monsters, although I didn't like the heroes as much but the sets were fun. Same with PQ. I also have a similar feeling for Atlantis. I still love the fish but not the divers, but again the sets were great. And once done with them, they gave a fair amount of parts for historical buildings (especially in City of Atlantis) and also space (the underwater ships and base).

I guess each could have carried on a little longer, but I'm glad they don't continue too long. Would I prefer PQ+MF+Atlantis, or just one theme running all that time? I'd go for the mixture.

 

[Digger of Bricks]

3 hours ago, MAB said:

I guess each could have carried on a little longer, but I'm glad they don't continue too long. Would I prefer PQ+MF+Atlantis, or just one theme running all that time? I'd go for the mixture.

Seriously, a full-scale Adventurers revival could easily encapsulate and amalgamate all three of those themes and so much more nowadays, surpassing its fantastical archaeology premise to become an evergreen 1930's Pulp-Era action/adventure line. Outside of City's annual Exploration subthemes and maybe Jurassic World, there just isn't much in Lego's product lineup currently to conflict with such a theme, not to mention that the last in-house, exploration-based action/adventure platheme we've seen from Lego was Dino about seven years ago.

Edited August 22, 2019 by Digger of Bricks

[MAB]

^ Sure, I would mind if they were badged in that way, or just completely separate themes. I guess one advantage of separate themes is that there would not be a recurrent character(s) appearing in all of them, whereas if LEGO did a longer running theme, chances are the same characters would pop up again and again. That said, often the human characters are less interesting than the "monsters" (as in MF, Atlantis, PQ).

[Karalora]

What if the recurring character........WAS A MONSTER? The same monster masterminding everything that the disparate bands of heroes have to fight? And then once every couple of years there's a big crossover set featuring all the heroes (or at least the most popular/fun ones from each individual lineup) versus said over-villain?

And maybe from time to time a heroic character could "jump the line" and join a different band of heroes for a while. It would give the concept a sense of continuity and progression.

I think maybe the human heroes in these pulp lines tend to be less interesting than the monsters because the lines were so short-lived. We didn't have much to work with in imagining their personalities and adventure specialties. Whereas with the monsters, we also had the history of more traditional media featuring those kinds of monsters informing our imaginations--e.g. Lord Vampyre is a Dracula expy, so we can import all kinds of Dracula-related lore into our perceptions of the character. There's less of a tradition of unique monster hunters or pulp adventure teams (as opposed to solo characters) that's familiar enough to all to make the same impact.

[MAB]

^ Yeah, I'd be on board with that. Especially if s/he changed clothes / skins / whatever (different torso parts) from year to year or era to era.  And you are right about the humans in MF, they had some backstory but I ignored that (I also treated them as the villians). Although the humans in Atlantis and PQ were just boring, especially Atlantis!

 

[The Brick Boss]

Oh yeah and I may face some backlash from Lego liberals for this (Yes I am a Lego conservative), but I'm gonna say it anyway. 

In terms of themes Lego should discontinue......pretty much all City Police themes except classic police should be axed. 

[DylANK]

I would get rid of Overwatch. It isn't as popular as before, and the target audience is pretty small.

[Lyichir]

1 hour ago, pooda said:

Oh yeah and I may face some backlash from Lego liberals for this (Yes I am a Lego conservative), but I'm gonna say it anyway. 

In terms of themes Lego should discontinue......pretty much all City Police themes except classic police should be axed. 

Trying to wrap my head around how "less police" is a conservative position. :P

That said, the benefit of the police subthemes is that instead of getting ordinary, interchangeable police themes year after year we're at least getting some variety. Police sets are one of Lego's biggest and most consistent sellers, so if they stopped doing "themed" police it'd most likely result in just getting standard City Police repeating itself every year, rather than some resurgence of other, less popular subthemes.

[The Brick Boss]

Just now, Lyichir said:

Trying to wrap my head around how "less police" is a conservative position. :P

That said, the benefit of the police subthemes is that instead of getting ordinary, interchangeable police themes year after year we're at least getting some variety. Police sets are one of Lego's biggest and most consistent sellers, so if they stopped doing "themed" police it'd most likely result in just getting standard City Police repeating itself every year, rather than some resurgence of other, less popular subthemes.

1. How is seeing police EVERY YEAR a VARIETY????

2. They could do what they are doing with the fire sets that are being released. Make police sets every year, but don't have them under a fixed theme. Just "extension" sets to the classic police subtheme. Everyone says that police is the best seller. But that's not exactly accurate. So if you ask me......just let police have a break for one year. 

3. I certainly wouldn't call other subthemes less popular. Those fire sets have a pretty large crowd of fans (including myself ). If explorers aren't that popular, how come they get a new explorers theme every summer? Those trains are great sellers too. Though they should lower the price a little. I really hate brick tax. Coast Guard is a great seller too. 

Fight me if you want to (I don't mean that literally), but I'm standing by my statement. We don't need a police theme every single year. People say its not really our business if City doesn't meet our need when it actually is our business. City is catering to all ages now. 

[MAB]

^ variety comes from different types of police each year, rather than just regular police every year.

 

If we're getting police every year, then variety is better than no variety.

Edited August 22, 2019 by MAB

[The Brick Boss]

@MAB Yeah! I'm saying we don't need them. Just release like one, two or three. But we don't need an entire subtheme every year. Just saying. 

[MAB]

The problem is LEGO says we (in general as customers) do need them. So variety is better than no variety.

[The Brick Boss]

Ok! I guess in two years, Lego City will be renamed Lego Police. Since that's the "only thing that "sells" in the City theme. 

[Digger of Bricks]

12 hours ago, MAB said:

Sure, I would mind if they were badged in that way, or just completely separate themes. I guess one advantage of separate themes is that there would not be a recurrent character(s) appearing in all of them, whereas if LEGO did a longer running theme, chances are the same characters would pop up again and again.

As a longer-running theme, veteran characters foundational to the theme could just eventually take a supporting backseat role to other newer faces introduced somewhere around the middle of the theme's projected lifespan, passing the baton on to a new generation and thereby imcriminatally giving the theme new life.

12 hours ago, MAB said:

That said, often the human characters are less interesting than the "monsters" (as in MF, Atlantis, PQ).

At the very least, they could be dressed a lot more smarter than they had been in PQ and MF. For instance, I'd love to see me some figures as sharply designed as these character concepts I cited on another topic awhile back... 

On 6/23/2019 at 7:04 PM, Digger of Bricks said:

Whenever we may come to see the next successor to Monster Fighters (after Hidden Side, if that counts as such), it'd be kinda cool if such a theme took after Lovecraftian action/adventure RPGs in its style, setting, and premise (granted, it'd be a heavily watered-down take on such).

A while ago, I discovered some artwork thru Pinterest for a RPG named Cthulhu: Death May Die that piqued my interest, as I wasn't previously aware Lovecraftian fare could lean towards such pulpy tendencies!  In premise, this particular game has a League of Extraordinary Gentlemen-esque cast of heroic investigators (made up of both original characters and historical figures) pitted up against Lovecraftian creatures/entities and their cultist followers, all set during the 1920's. Now, for as intriguing and enticing as that all may sound to me, the main hook was Karl Kopinski's art of the game's protagonists, as I'd LOVE to see a playtheme from Lego with character designs such as these... 

 

[Gomek]

On 8/22/2019 at 5:28 AM, MAB said:

Yeah, Monster Fighters was great for the monsters, although I didn't like the heroes as much but the sets were fun. Same with PQ. I also have a similar feeling for Atlantis. I still love the fish but not the divers

I'm glad someone else feels the same about Atlantis. The fish figures were fantastic but the divers were all the same and so, so boring.

Monster fighter was similar but I think the monster fighters were a bit more varied. I would have definitely appreciated something more 40s/50s inspired and less robo-arms/sci-fi inspired.

[Lego David]

On 8/22/2019 at 8:06 PM, DylANK said:

I would get rid of Overwatch. It isn't as popular as before, and the target audience is pretty small.

I can't agree more. In fact, I don't think they should have even made it in the first place.

Plus the fact that it seems to be warming the shelfs... (at least in my area)'

Edited August 23, 2019 by Lego David

[MAB]

12 minutes ago, Gomek said:

 

Monster fighter was similar but I think the monster fighters were a bit more varied. I would have definitely appreciated something more 40s/50s inspired and less robo-arms/sci-fi inspired.

Yeah, the torsos were not so bad for MF humans. I like Rodney Rathbone's and Jack McHammer's makes a nice lumberjack if you replace the robo-arm. I had no use for Quinton Steele, but all my spares went to a friend who does steampunk models, so they all got reused. I had no use for Frank Rock's though. I had no use for any of the legs though as they were all a bit specialist, and sold the lot on bricklink.

[Digger of Bricks]

8 hours ago, Gomek said:

On 8/22/2019 at 4:28 AM, MAB said:

Yeah, Monster Fighters was great for the monsters, although I didn't like the heroes as much but the sets were fun. Same with PQ. I also have a similar feeling for Atlantis. I still love the fish but not the divers

I'm glad someone else feels the same about Atlantis. The fish figures were fantastic but the divers were all the same and so, so boring.

I think the uniformity of the Atlantis theme's heroes with their outfits and vehicles has some degree of crossover appeal to those who are into Lego's Space themes. If anything, pretty much all of Lego's "Aquazone" action/adventure playthemes can be seen as just that: Underwater Space Themes. 

8 hours ago, Gomek said:

Monster fighter was similar but I think the monster fighters were a bit more varied. I would have definitely appreciated something more 40s/50s inspired and less robo-arms/sci-fi inspired.

Of course, I myself would've gladly taken a Monster Fighters theme that was rather more '20s/Noir/Jazz Age-inspired.