LEGO Hidden Side 2020

[Lucarex]

360 videos now up... weird how the abandoned prison is the only set (so far) with any spring green elements that have been synonymous with HS. Usual teeth behind jail front door and some creepy claws inside the tower cells.

[TeriXeri]

Prison does look a little better from other angles, and did they use those Ninjago Arcade pod parts as door?

At least it looks like this, but with less studs.

 

Edited April 26, 2020 by TeriXeri

[lego_guyon02]

1 minute ago, TeriXeri said:

Prison does look a little better from other angles, and did they use those Ninjago Arcade pod parts as door?

At least it looks like this, but with less studs.

Already mentioned that but yes it does look like the arcade doors 

[AnyColourYouLike]

Well, that certainly looks like the end of Hidden Side. There's no way it's gonna sell well when compared to say, Monkei Kid. 

Heck, these sets don't even feel like Hidden Side... They're kinda missing the 'vibe'. And three of them are vehicle-focused. I doubt the Castle will save this wave. 

Well, it was fun while it lasted. 

Edited April 26, 2020 by AnyColourYouLike

[BrickJagger]

This is one of the most bizarre Lego themes in a long time. Three waves in and the aesthetics are all over the place, the villains make no sense, and the entire storyline is just wacky. Yet it's actually endearing in a way. (I.e. Slenderman? In 2020? ) Yeah, some of the sets are pretty bad, but think of Hidden Side as merely a spooky melting pot that at the very least has something salvageable in every set instead. It's a rarity that we get sets that look like this in an era where Lego is focused on making everything squeaky clean and "sellable", and the design direction reminds me of Time Cruisers. I, for one, home that this theme keeps soldiering on, whether the sets are even good anymore or not. At least it's different from the overdesigned mecha-crap that they're pumping out otherwise.

[Harkonen]

Just now, BrickJagger said:

This is one of the most bizarre Lego themes in a long time. Three waves in and the aesthetics are all over the place, the villains make no sense, and the entire storyline is just wacky. 

This kind of feels like the way Disney handled the sequel trilogy for Star Wars. 

Edited April 26, 2020 by Harkonen

[lego_guyon02]

Just now, Harkonen said:

This kind of feels like the way Disney handled the sequel trilogy for Star Wars. 

I was just about to say that lol

[zoth33]

The sets are OK.  Hopefully the castle is better.  I like the villains.  The small sets always seem to be more interesting to like this waves with the shark.  The tall slender guy in the fire truck set looks cool.  The prison is nothing special.  

[Harkonen]

1 minute ago, Guyon2002 said:

I was just about to say that lol

Let's hope Jack and Parker don't kiss in the end!  And then Jack vanishes... 

[danth]

23 minutes ago, BrickJagger said:

This is one of the most bizarre Lego themes in a long time. Three waves in and the aesthetics are all over the place, the villains make no sense, and the entire storyline is just wacky.

This is what I don't get. Who is this theme supposed to appeal to? Who's buying these sets? I just don't get it. There's no way this theme is selling well, is there? Friends is a knockout for girls, boys love Ninjago, so what's the point of this theme? Maybe angsty teens are supposed to be buying these?

I can't possibly believe some straight up non-licensed Space and Castle sets wouldn't blow these out of the water in terms of sales. If LEGO can crank out these shelf warmers, they can certainly bring back some much beloved and missed themes.

Edited April 26, 2020 by danth

[Harkonen]

9 minutes ago, danth said:

This is what I don't get. Who is this theme supposed to appeal to? Who's buying these sets? I just don't get it. There's no way this theme is selling well, is there? Friends is a knockout for girls, boys love Ninjago, so what's the point of this theme? Maybe angsty teens are supposed to be buying these?

I can't possibly believe some straight up non-licensed Space and Castle sets wouldn't blow these out of the water in terms of sales. If LEGO can crank out these shelf warmers, they can certainly bring back some much beloved and missed themes.

I think Lego knows better what sells and what doesn't. If the first hidden side wave didn't sell then it would've been dead already. Space and castle themes will never come back as we knew them so I stopped hoping for them, only way for them to return is either through a Lego movie or ninjago. 

 

I wonder if the change of the ghosts has something to do with China being against supernatural... 

Edited April 26, 2020 by Harkonen

[danth]

5 minutes ago, Harkonen said:

I think Lego knows better what sells and what doesn't.

Here's the thing though.

Every time someone asks "Why did LEGO get rid of this theme," people say "It didn't sell." And anytime someone asks "Why does this goofy theme exist," people say "LEGO knows what sells." These two answers contradict each other. Both cannot be true.

5 minutes ago, Harkonen said:

Space and castle themes will never come back as we knew them

Well, we're getting a Pirates Ideas set and a Creator pirate ship both in one year, and a Creator set with a Classic Space logo on the minifig. So you're right that they might not come back "as we knew them" but if things continue, it looks like they might come back as Creator sets.

Edited April 26, 2020 by danth

[BrickJagger]

31 minutes ago, Harkonen said:

I think Lego knows better what sells and what doesn't.

If they knew that with the kind of accuracy you claim they have, there would never be a Lego theme that sold poorly. Clearly that's not the case. Companies can make mistakes, or lose their way. Lego freely admits that that applied to them as recently as '04. We'll probably never know how well Hidden Side actually sold, or why it kept going and bucked the trend of short-lived action themes.

31 minutes ago, Harkonen said:

Space and castle themes will never come back as we knew them so I stopped hoping for them

That's ridiculous and defeatist.

Edited April 26, 2020 by BrickJagger

[Harkonen]

1 minute ago, BrickJagger said:

If they knew that with the kind of accuracy you claim they have, there would never be a Lego theme that sold poorly. Clearly that's not the case. Companies can make mistakes, or lose their way. Lego freely admits that that applied to them as recently as '04. We'll probably never know how well Hidden Side actually sold, or why it kept going and bucked the trend of short-lived action themes.

That's ridiculous and defeatist.

How is it defeatist? Maybe we will get a few sets in creator but I can't see Lego do, let's say another theme like Alien Conquest or Space Police III. 

Edited April 26, 2020 by Harkonen

[BrickJagger]

Just now, Harkonen said:

How is it defeatist? Maybe we will get a few sets in creator but I can't see Lego do, let's say another theme like Alien Conquest or Space Police III. 

And if we were in 2006 you would have told me the exact same thing about both Space and Castle. This forum is getting old enough to the point where it's starting to repeat itself 

I'll quote this in a few years for ya.

[Harkonen]

Just now, BrickJagger said:

And if we were in 2006 you would have told me the exact same thing about both Space and Castle. This forum is getting old enough to the point where it's starting to repeat itself 

I'll quote this in a few years for ya.

I don't think the pause between Life on Mars and Mars Mission was as long as Galaxy Squad and...now. I just lost my hope. 

[Lucarex]

Big difference between LEGO knowing what sells in hindsight and predicting what will sell before launch.

Given they develop waves/sets quite a bit ahead of time, I think it’s more likely that when sales dip, they just settle on a quick exit strategy and deprioritise the theme in terms of budget, design and time. That’s clearly what’s happened here. What’s frustrating with HS is the wasted potential.

[Dr.Cogg]

I just hope we get pictures of the castle soon, I also hope it comes with Lady E, so if Lego does decide to pull the plug on this theme we at least get the main antagonist. 

I understand where Harkonen is coming from, I was a big time Castle fan, then lego Warhammer 40k/ Nexo Knights came out and that had become the new castle theme, but at least this years Ninjago is a Castle theme and hopfully we will get a Castle Creator set like this years Pirate set.

 

[Fenghuang0296]

It’s weird, but the more I look at the Abandoned Prison, the more I like it. 

I think that’s what I’m going to miss the most about Hidden Side if this is the last wave; the potential for cute structures in the small side that don’t conform to the metropolitan aesthetic that City and Creator are obsessed with (and it looks like if/when Monkey Kid has structures they’ll be similar and simply slightly Chinese-ised) but also aren’t completely out of place in a city, like a lot of licensed sets or Action/Adventure things. 

If the Abandoned Prison is the last one like that and it looks just as good on the inside (I haven’t found the original video of it turning so I haven't seen it, if someone could point me to it that’d be great!) and I can find a good place to put it, then maybe I will get it after all?

[UberCorp]

Hopefully LEGO somehow manages to release Lady E in a future product even if this is the last HS wave. Would be fine with them just throwing her design in a future CMF under a generic name (like how we got a revamped Johnny Thunder in S19)

[TeriXeri]

3 hours ago, Harkonen said:

How is it defeatist? Maybe we will get a few sets in creator but I can't see Lego do, let's say another theme like Alien Conquest or Space Police III. 

Maybe after the whole LEGO Movie memories passed there's more room for actual Space sets.

2019 was pretty filled with Space sets however, just via City and LEGO Movie 2, so another in-house Space theme that year might not have made much sense.

But I can see while Benny's Space Squad was praised a lot from what I've seen, some other sets just disappeared real quick as if LEGO wanted to get rid of the theme as fast as possible at the end of 2019, even having their own shop having 40% discounts.

Also the City Space sets seemed overall well received.

Creator should focus on a big Castle set next year imo, to go along the IDEAS Blacksmith release.

But I also do hope we get proper themes again as well instead of workarounds like IDEAS/Creator/Ninjago to get sets of the Castle/Space/Pirates trinity again, but I also realise themes might need to end for new ones to appear.

 

Edited April 26, 2020 by TeriXeri

[AMD]

20 hours ago, Lyichir said:

Wait... in the fire truck set... is that TeeVee? Like the Alpha Team character? They certainly look similar!

Exactly. He looks like one. Updated to have the cutesy look and I love it.

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

 

[lego_guyon02]

Box of the castle leaked, it's disappointing imo (only 6 figures as rumored) but we can't really see it all that well

Boxes for the other sets too

[Takanuinuva]

Any sign of Lady-E?

[lego_guyon02]

Just now, Takanuinuva said:

Any sign of Lady-E?

Nope