Lego Ideas 90th Anniversary Fan Vote

[Flak Maniak]

Bionicle sets feel like they (should) come in sixes! But, well, maybe Lego thinks they can sell a six-pack of Toa as an anniversary set...

[MAB]

10 hours ago, Aanchir said:

I mean, Castle and Pirates weren't well received last time either, but I doubt any Castle or Pirates fans would want LEGO to refrain from bringing back those themes because it's "risky". Especially when a lot of the complaints older Bionicle fans had about the 2015 reboot are the same complaints that older Castle and Pirates fans had about those themes' 2013 and 2015 reboots:

• They didn't have enough large or complex sets compared to smaller ones.
   
• Their small and mid-range sets were too expensive relative to their contents.
   
• Their premise, builds, aesthetics, and narrative tone were too simple and childish rather than serious and mature, and seemingly aimed at younger kids.
   
• Their choices of characters and subject matter felt too repetitive/derivative/unimaginative compared to earlier versions of the themes.
   
• They were not marketed as heavily or effectively as they should have been.
   
• They were discontinued too quickly, denying them the opportunity to develop and improve over time like earlier incarnations.
   
• Their designers/developers didn't understand or care enough about what made earlier versions of these themes so great to do them justice.
   
• TLG's corporate leadership clearly didn't value or respect the importance of these themes — if they did, they'd have invested just as heavily in their sets and marketing as they had with newer themes like Ninjago or Legends of Chima, which would have fixed ALL these problems.

I'm not saying all of these criticisms are fair, mind you — while some of them may have had a grain of truth, a lot of the comparisons made between the newest versions of these themes and earlier versions carried a lot of nostalgic bias (especially with regard to their complexity, maturity/seriousness, and pricing). And needless to say, there were a lot of baseless and unflattering assumptions made about the intent or competence of the designers and other LEGO employees, up to and including conspiracy theories that LEGO purposely botched these themes' latest reboots as an excuse to "kill them off for good".

Yes, and LEGO have not brought back Castle (aside from NK), Space or Pirates themes either. So internally LEGO could well be thinking the same thing, that kids do not want those classic themes unless they are somehow tied to a storyline/media to help sell them.

Maybe they are testing the waters with the Pirate-like POBB and the Castle-like Blacksmith and this will start a new era of similar AFOL rather than kids sets much as Cafe Corner and Market Street did.

 

It would be an interesting dilemma for Castle/Pirates/Space fans - would you prefer one AFOL set every so often or a kids range of 5-6 sets. LEGO do both, sort of, for Modulars/City but City of course is incredibly well established and a continual good seller.

[Kingriedak]

3 minutes ago, Flak Maniak said:

Bionicle sets feel like they (should) come in sixes!

Yup, That is a strong staple of the theme

4 minutes ago, Flak Maniak said:

maybe Lego thinks they can sell a six-pack of Toa as an anniversary set

I'd love that, but most likely if we got a set, it would probably by something like a UCS GSR, or a bust of Tahu, the former I'd absolutely buy, but the latter? ehhhhh

[Flak Maniak]

1 minute ago, MAB said:

Yes, and LEGO have not brought back Castle (aside from NK), Space or Pirates themes either. So internally LEGO could well be thinking the same thing, that kids do not want those classic themes unless they are somehow tied to a storyline/media to help sell them.

Maybe they are testing the waters with the Pirate-like POBB and the Castle-like Blacksmith and this will start a new era of similar AFOL rather than kids sets much as Cafe Corner and Market Street did.

 

It would be an interesting dilemma for Castle/Pirates/Space fans - would you prefer one AFOL set every so often or a kids range of 5-6 sets. LEGO do both, sort of, for Modulars/City but City of course is incredibly well established and a continual good seller.

Modular-quality castle/pirate sets I'd surely buy most of as they came out; that's an easy sell. I don't even like displaying stock sets, but man I'd be a sucker for those. (Or maybe I'd just order a lot of their distinctive parts off B&P; whatever gets me good historical/fantasy minifig parts and abundant good castle pieces.) Hopefully there can be other 1/year event sets, more than the modulars and winter village sets; I think most castle or pirates fans would be fine with "one big set per year". If it's high-quality and adult-oriented and a consistent pace of releases, it doesn't have to be abundant to have a devoted fanbase.

Man though, how WOULD Lego do a Bionicle product, without making a million new molds? Just using system parts for it feels wrong. And yeah there are various currently-produced parts that use the big ball joints, but... I dunno, man, it seems rough. Hopefully they have enough of the old big-ball-joint molds still lying around, be it Bionicle ones or CCBS. It's just hard to adapt a theme that's so reliant on so many unique parts; not like castle where you do a few new minifigure prints and otherwise can just use abundant and standard bricks. (I guess you'd say pirates requires sails and hulls, and that's fair, but that's fewer unique parts than a large-ball-joint-based theme, innit?)

Surely though, for the sake of peace, we should all hope that Lego, in their grace and wisdom, decides after all to do two 90th sets, one Bionicle and one system. Obviously the Bionicle faction can't be satisfied by any of the system themes, nor the Big Three classic-theme voters by a Bionicle set, but I for example could be alright with any of castle, space, pirates (well if it's the right space color scheme), and I imagine many castle/space/pirates voters would be fine with another of the three.

Or, really, what I should say is that Lego... Should do Bionicle and Aquazone! Bring back the octagonal bricks!

[Kingriedak]

2 minutes ago, Flak Maniak said:

how WOULD Lego do a Bionicle product, without making a million new molds?

Mixel/Technic fusion. Some folks think the comic book mechs that Lego's doing right now are them poking around with the viability of Mixel centric sets, and as Aanchir pointed out a while ago, Bionicle can definitely be done in System, I just personally hope it doesn't get the ninjago treatment with minifigs, mechs, and an overreliance on shiny vehicles

[Lego David]

21 minutes ago, Flak Maniak said:

Modular-quality castle/pirate sets I'd surely buy most of as they came out; that's an easy sell. I don't even like displaying stock sets, but man I'd be a sucker for those. (Or maybe I'd just order a lot of their distinctive parts off B&P; whatever gets me good historical/fantasy minifig parts and abundant good castle pieces.) Hopefully there can be other 1/year event sets, more than the modulars and winter village sets; I think most castle or pirates fans would be fine with "one big set per year". If it's high-quality and adult-oriented and a consistent pace of releases, it doesn't have to be abundant to have a devoted fanbase

I would like to point out though, that while a few Modular-quality Castle or Pirate sets once in a while would satify a lot of people, that wouldn't really satisfy MOCists like me who are always looking for new parts. Large D2C sets very rarely include new molds, where as with a normal kid's line of 5-6 sets you are always guaranteed to get at the very least a couple of new molds (like minifigure accessories or animal molds). Castle fans really want to see the return of the Goat mold, but it is very unlikely that we'll get that in a D2C set.

[Flak Maniak]

Just now, Lego David said:

I would like to point out though, that while a few Modular-quality Castle or Pirate sets once in a while would satify a lot of people, that wouldn't really satisfy MOCists like me who are always looking for new parts. Large D2C sets very rarely include new molds, where as with a normal kid's line of 5-6 sets you are always guaranteed to get at the very least a couple of new molds (like minifigure accessories or animal molds). Castle fans really want to see the return of the Goat mold, but it is very unlikely that we'll get that in a D2C set.

That's a fair point, but we do see recolors in Modular-style sets, like the unprinted wolf heads in the police station. I can't speak to the goat specifically, but for example Barracuda Bay brought back sails in a big way, and the boat hull parts hadn't been in reddish brown in about five years. (Sure, the front-bottom part had been in 2017's Destiny's Bounty, but the other two hadn't been in that color since The Brick Bounty in 2015.) It's true that the children's play themes give us lots of good minifig accessory molds, and yes, a castle or pirates theme would give more historically-grounded, less sci fi/fantasy-ish ones. But still, D2Cs do give us existing parts in new colors, and can have new minifigure prints.

I do hope that, next time Lego does an original castle theme, we see strong brick-built dragons, that have a little stylistic contrast from the Ninjago dragons and the Creator dragons. (And I imagine you'll say you want new specialized molded dragons, which is also fair.)

Lastly, usually the big D2Cs are an enormous plastic quantity for the price; if you made a large grey D2C castle, I could easily see myself buying it just as a parts pack. As long as the colors are homogeneous enough and the part quantities ludicrous enough, you could probably sell that to me.

[leafan]

https://ideas.lego.com/blogs/a4ae09b6-0d4c-4307-9da8-3ee9f3d368d6/post/d1613450-c72c-4447-97c3-4120ce28ecbe

So the blog is out and ... we're not going know the results until the set is released in 2022. Great.

" As communicated in earlier blog posts, the second round vote will be kept a secret until the launch of the set in 2022 as we want to keep it a surprise for everyone."

I don't remember reading that on the original blog. Anyone else feel that's a little anticlimactic?

[MAB]

2 hours ago, Flak Maniak said:

That's a fair point, but we do see recolors in Modular-style sets, like the unprinted wolf heads in the police station. I can't speak to the goat specifically, but for example Barracuda Bay brought back sails in a big way, and the boat hull parts hadn't been in reddish brown in about five years. (Sure, the front-bottom part had been in 2017's Destiny's Bounty, but the other two hadn't been in that color since The Brick Bounty in 2015.) It's true that the children's play themes give us lots of good minifig accessory molds, and yes, a castle or pirates theme would give more historically-grounded, less sci fi/fantasy-ish ones. But still, D2Cs do give us existing parts in new colors, and can have new minifigure prints.

If they were going to do only one or the other - one AFOL set or a kids range - I think I'd go for the kids range. It would hopefully give a wider array of minifigure prints and these would be in cheaper sets. I'd either buy the sets or fig parts from B+P. For Castle parts for MOCs, I often find Star Wars sets are good value since the figures often sell for a significant proportion of the set price, leaving lots of cheap grey parts.

3 hours ago, Lego David said:

Castle fans really want to see the return of the Goat mold, but it is very unlikely that we'll get that in a D2C set.

I don't really get the love for the goat. To do it again, it would need to be new mould. I'd prefer to see a return of the cow or a new sheep mould over a goat.

[timemail]

53 minutes ago, leafan said:

https://ideas.lego.com/blogs/a4ae09b6-0d4c-4307-9da8-3ee9f3d368d6/post/d1613450-c72c-4447-97c3-4120ce28ecbe

So the blog is out and ... we're not going know the results until the set is released in 2022. Great.

" As communicated in earlier blog posts, the second round vote will be kept a secret until the launch of the set in 2022 as we want to keep it a surprise for everyone."

I don't remember reading that on the original blog. Anyone else feel that's a little anticlimactic?

It originally said that the second vote would not be released (and I don't think it said that they would use the vote to determine the winner) so the fact they will release the vote is better than what I expected.

[MatthewRC]

10 hours ago, leafan said:

https://ideas.lego.com/blogs/a4ae09b6-0d4c-4307-9da8-3ee9f3d368d6/post/d1613450-c72c-4447-97c3-4120ce28ecbe

So the blog is out and ... we're not going know the results until the set is released in 2022. Great.

" As communicated in earlier blog posts, the second round vote will be kept a secret until the launch of the set in 2022 as we want to keep it a surprise for everyone."

I don't remember reading that on the original blog. Anyone else feel that's a little anticlimactic?

If leaks on the 90th Anniversary LEGO Set show up on Instagram, we’ll find out who won.

Edited February 11, 2021 by MatthewRC

[Kit Figsto]

17 hours ago, MAB said:

It would be an interesting dilemma for Castle/Pirates/Space fans - would you prefer one AFOL set every so often or a kids range of 5-6 sets. LEGO do both, sort of, for Modulars/City but City of course is incredibly well established and a continual good seller.

I was thinking, something that might work really well is a line in the style of the winter village sets.  One release each year, something around $80-150, and they can rotate which theme the set is based off of each year.  So one year they might do a large set that's based on the old Forestmen sets, then the next year, we get something that resembles Blacktron, the next year something from Pirates, then throw in something from like Adventurers or Paradisa or something.  And they could do stuff sort of like Barracuda Bay, where they take inspiration from an old set, but it's not necessarily a direct remake of it. 

LEGO seems hesitant to bring back some of these old themes, I guess because full lines of Castle/Pirates/Space haven't been as lucrative as their main cash cows (City, Ninjago, Technic, Friends, licensed stuff), and they're never going to please everyone, since some sectors of the fandom just want basically a continuation of 80s/90s lines, while others don't care about all of that stuff and would want new subthemes and all.   This would allow them to do stuff that fans ask for in terms of bringing back old themes, but they don't have to actually launch an entire theme that only appeals to a certain sector of those nostalgic for it.  

[MAB]

5 hours ago, Kit Figsto said:

I was thinking, something that might work really well is a line in the style of the winter village sets.  One release each year, something around $80-150, and they can rotate which theme the set is based off of each year.  So one year they might do a large set that's based on the old Forestmen sets, then the next year, we get something that resembles Blacktron, the next year something from Pirates, then throw in something from like Adventurers or Paradisa or something.  And they could do stuff sort of like Barracuda Bay, where they take inspiration from an old set, but it's not necessarily a direct remake of it. 

 

Winter village is a reasonably consistent theme (it has gone from semi realisticto a but fantasy though). Releasing sets based on random old themes probably won't get as much consumer buy-in as there is no consistency. Each would essentially be stand alone. 

[danth]

Why not just keep doing CLASSIC. THEMED. CREATOR. SETS. like they're doing right now with Pirates (2020) and Castle (2021) and keep it going with Space? I would argue it needs to be all three of those themes each year, one set each. And instead of pretending it's just a coincidence with Barracuda Bay and the Blacksmith Shop, just roll the Classic Themed Ideas sets into it. Maybe make them Creator Expert sets, since that's basically what the Ideas sets have been. 

Edited February 12, 2021 by danth

[Scarilian]

Did some rough counting of the votes and the themes voted for round 1, a lot of people seem to have voted for 3 of the 4 themes that are now in round 2, which makes judging how they could vote difficult.

I think generally we have a lot higher chance for extreme variance than people really expect as most these users could vote for any of them and still be on track with how they voted in the previous poll. I'm also curious what will happen with those who voted only for themes that did not get accepted, will they take part in the 2nd poll? and if so which would they vote for that they did not support prior.

On 2/11/2021 at 8:25 AM, Flak Maniak said:

Bionicle sets feel like they (should) come in sixes! But, well, maybe Lego thinks they can sell a six-pack of Toa as an anniversary set...

On 2/11/2021 at 8:53 AM, Flak Maniak said:

Man though, how WOULD Lego do a Bionicle product, without making a million new molds?

I think Lego has considered other options for Bionicle. They would hopefully not have included it unless they had an option of adapting it within the timeframe. Some ideas I've seen floated around, or ideas I've had about a potential 90th anniversary Bionicle set:

• Replica of the Mata Nui Island
• Mosaic
• Unity, Duty, Destiny symbol
• Head/Bust of a character from the series
• A large Voltron-style robot form of Mata Nui
• Brick built Bionicle mech (Similar to 'In Arishems Shadow')
• Something inspired by the 20th Anniversary Ideas Set
• A playset with minifigure scale figures
• Etc...

While I like the idea of a Toa Six-pack set, Lego has a lot of ways they could tackle the set

Oh, and throw in a molded new Mask Of Time & G2 Mask Of Ultimate Power to help it make G2 feel finalised.

11 hours ago, danth said:

Why not just keep doing CLASSIC. THEMED. CREATOR. SETS. like they're doing right now with Pirates (2020) and Castle (2021) and keep it going with Space? I would argue it needs to be all three of those themes each year, one set each. And instead of pretending it's just a coincidence with Barracuda Bay and the Blacksmith Shop, just roll the Classic Themed Ideas sets into it. Maybe make them Creator Expert sets, since that's basically what the Ideas sets have been. 

I think they will continue doing Classic themed creator sets like the Pirates (2020) and Castle (2021) set regardless of the poll. Space could be the next one if they continue that aspect. Most likely this poll was a method of trying to include fans never expecting it to become what it has.

Edited February 13, 2021 by Scarilian

[Roebuck]

I saw this the other day and while I have no interest in bonkle and really hopes it do not win the 90 years vote. With fans like Eljay that did a really good job explaining to the rest of us what it is all about I hope that bonkle gets some sort of new wave of sets in the future that the fans are happy about

 

[JamesBenjamin]

On 2/12/2021 at 7:07 PM, Scarilian said:

I think they will continue doing Classic themed creator sets like the Pirates (2020) and Castle (2021) set regardless of the poll. Space could be the next one if they continue that aspect. Most likely this poll was a method of trying to include fans never expecting it to become what it has.

I don't follow the news as closely as I should, but what is the 2021 Castle Creator themed set people are talking about? The blacksmith set or something else?

[Another Brick In The Wall]

18 minutes ago, JamesBenjamin said:

I don't follow the news as closely as I should, but what is the 2021 Castle Creator themed set people are talking about? The blacksmith set or something else?

Something else.... allegedly a Creator 3in1 the size of the current 3in1 Pirate Ship (31109).

Edited February 14, 2021 by Another Brick In The Wall

[Scarilian]

1 hour ago, JamesBenjamin said:

I don't follow the news as closely as I should, but what is the 2021 Castle Creator themed set people are talking about? The blacksmith set or something else?

Rumours of a 2021 3-in-1 Castle themed set, stemming mostly around the theory that set 31120 is a similar style to 31109.

[JamesBenjamin]

On 2/13/2021 at 10:41 PM, Another Brick In The Wall said:

Something else.... allegedly a Creator 3in1 the size of the current 3in1 Pirate Ship (31109).

 

On 2/14/2021 at 12:07 AM, Scarilian said:

Rumours of a 2021 3-in-1 Castle themed set, stemming mostly around the theory that set 31120 is a similar style to 31109.

Thanks guys! I'll certainly watch for an official announcement. This year's pirate set was great

[Stuartn]

I think Space has won.

My reasoning: there is a competition on ideas for a space GWP:

https://ideas.lego.com/challenges/3a0cb2a7-395f-400c-8e0b-c3428041a8fe?challenge_phase=efcb2715-a636-4546-aa4e-3bb24a504cad&query=&sort=top

What other set could this be a GWP with, considering GWPs normally accompany 18+ Creator Expert or Star Wars sets. I would assume the winner would not make its way to shelves until next year so it seems logical.

I am not making a call or anything, but it seems like a massive clue.

[Flak Maniak]

That's kind of plausible but to me seems hardly conclusive.

[Lego David]

6 hours ago, Stuartn said:

My reasoning: there is a competition on ideas for a space GWP:

I mean, they also had a Castle stop motion contest going on Ideas just a few weeks back, so I don't think looking at what contests LEGO currently holds on Ideas is gonna give us any genuine clue at who won. Also, GWPs don't  necessarily always have to tie into D2Cs. 

[Stuartn]

11 hours ago, Lego David said:

I mean, they also had a Castle stop motion contest going on Ideas just a few weeks back, so I don't think looking at what contests LEGO currently holds on Ideas is gonna give us any genuine clue at who won. Also, GWPs don't  necessarily always have to tie into D2Cs. 

 

12 hours ago, Flak Maniak said:

That's kind of plausible but to me seems hardly conclusive.

I am not saying that it is definite, I agree I could be totally wrong, however GWPs normally match the product in some way (though you're right in that they don't have to or don't always), and unlike most other ideas competitions this will eventuate in a set. The castle competition tied in with the release of the blacksmith set, which could be a further indication, same way the ninjago contest tied in with teh release of the city garden and 10 year anniversary.

It is just the only clue we have had so far, and I think the progression from POBB to Blacksmith to a space set, in TLG's thinking will probably be seen as the best way to please everyone.

I am starting to warm to the idea of both a bionicle and system set, and it could be a possibility. TLG have shown by adding castle to the second vote that they listen to what people are saying about them, so it could happen.

Edited February 16, 2021 by Stuartn

[Fuppylodders]

1 hour ago, Stuartn said:

 

I am not saying that it is definite, I agree I could be totally wrong, however GWPs normally match the product in some way (though you're right in that they don't have to or don't always), and unlike most other ideas competitions this will eventuate in a set. The castle competition tied in with the release of the blacksmith set, which could be a further indication, same way the ninjago contest tied in with teh release of the city garden and 10 year anniversary.

It is just the only clue we have had so far, and I think the progression from POBB to Blacksmith to a space set, in TLG's thinking will probably be seen as the best way to please everyone.

I am starting to warm to the idea of both a bionicle and system set, and it could be a possibility. TLG have shown by adding castle to the second vote that they listen to what people are saying about them, so it could happen.

Completely see where you're coming from, and it does make sense. But also, does it not also make sense that it could be an indication that space also came second? And so it's kinda like a runner up prize while the first place gets the actual set made for it? 

Or perhaps, they make the top 2 and space came third...? 

I think there's too many potentially plausible situations that make it impossible to tell if it's relevant or not :( 

 

Also, on a slightly related note, but kinda not, someone said something in the past couple of pages (I think aanchir) about how the difficulty of pirate sets from nostalgia wasn't the same in the reboot versions of pirates etc... 

I recently got the SP2 Galactic Mediator set and the Ice Planet Deep Freeze Defender for the first time. Built the DFD couple weekends ago and the GM weekend just gone. 

Even as an adult building them, I'm extremely impressed with the playability/functions/modularity functions of these sets. There's no nostalgia to recall upon, this is a fresh experience and while for the most part there's no SNOT, they are still designed pretty well and through the eyes of an afol, I can only criticise the structural strength of them due to them being a straight forward 'this on top of that, on top of that, on top of that with nothing pinning it all in place like a sub structure of technic or bricks/plates with studs on the sides. I'd have been ecstatic as a child to have had them. 

I now get the feeling that the ultimate Batmobile from TLM was very much in a similar style. 

As a lego set, looking at it now... What makes the essence of a Bionicle set? (ignoring the back story) if they released one now, what would make you go 'yeah, that's it, they've hit the nail on the head with that!'? 

Edited February 16, 2021 by Fuppylodders