Lego Ideas 90th Anniversary Fan Vote

[MAB]

4 hours ago, Stuartn said:

I'd say that is spot on. Someone made the point that if what Lego does is a failure, then how come TLG is a multi-billion dollar successful business.

LEGO can afford to try new things and fail in them (Life of George, Fusion) simply because most of their product is so steady and reliable. Anything new from LEGO is typically very minor compared to their whole output. It is not like they are ending Star Wars, City, Ninjago, Friends and Technic to have a go at Vidiyo,  for example.

[Skulls_Eye_Schooner_Sailor]

On 1/29/2021 at 1:41 PM, Aanchir said:

I think that in the very least the idea for those would have been SOME sort of throwback style. There's a lot more ways of making a set look 'retro' than just reducing the level of detail. I think a good comparison is the Pirates of Barracuda Bay set. Certainly, it has a lot of modernized, parts, colors, graphics, and building techniques. But compared to Brickbeard's Bounty from 2009 or The Brick Bounty from 2015, it's a much more direct homage to old-school Pirates sets like Black Seas Barracuda. It very carefully recreates the Barracuda's color scheme, general structure, and even several of its specific decorative elements.

Similarly, if Town or Trains had won, it wouldn't be too hard for the designers to create a set that specifically called back to the aesthetics of those old-school Town and Train sets, even while maintaining the higher standards of complexity, detail, and authenticity that would be expected in a modern, AFOL-targeted set.

For instance, for Trains, they could create a much more detailed passenger train that retains the 1990s Amtrak-inspired style and livery of the Metroliner and Railroad Club Car, or a train station in the ornate early 20th century style of Metro Station. And for Town, it would not be too hard to create a modernized version of sets like Big Rig Truck Stop or Sail & Fly Marina, maintaining familiar aspects of the structure, color schemes, and graphics, but with much more detailed and modernized parts and building techniques.

Some of these sorts of builds that would be highly unlikely in a theme like City, which typically tends to focus on much more modern vehicles and architecture that kids of the 21st century are likely to be familiar with. And even in cases where City sets DO recreate the same sort of subject matter as Town or Trains sets of the 80s and 90s, it tends to end up looking very different from earlier renditions of that subject matter, not just more detailed. The mere intent of creating a modernized rendition of an older set or theme (not just a new set which happens to depict similar subject matter) makes a big difference to the eventual outcome.

Also, with regard to your comments about the Crocodile Locomotive and Barracuda Bay, keep in mind that whatever set we get as a result of this poll would come out in 2022. It's not weird at all to get AFOL-targeted exclusives from the same theme just two years apart — after all, the Emerald Night, Maersk Train, and Horizon Express came out in 2009, 2011, and 2013, respectively. The only reason this feels any different is that using a public poll to help decide on a 2022 anniversary set has got us thinking much further ahead than we're used to as fans, and so exclusive sets from 2020 still seem a lot more recent than they will by the time any sets based on this poll actually get released.

That is a good point.  What I was saying is to keep the current level of detail of modern sets, but how to represent a vintage set that represents the modern contemporary world the way Town does.  For me the big difference is the scale of the vehicles and buildings, and their style.  It wouldn't feel like a Town set to me if they used the same style as they do for City, only except used the old Octan logo or whatever.  The old police sets used black and white for their color schemes, with red accents on certain parts.  I'm not sure LEGO has done that at all recently.  I could be wrong.  So the color schemes and logos, would be part of it, but also design and scale.  Then again I'm not sure if they have all the parts to still make 4-wide trucks and whatnot.  I think a lot of the old canopy parts for planes and helicopters are gone too, which was a big part of the aesthetic.  LEGO has trended towards more realistic and smooth and less angular over the years, in general, and that might be tough to reproduce if they decided to do any aircraft.  I will say I much prefer the old planes and helicopters using multiple pieces for the nose, and looking more like LEGO, than those giant nose and cockpits they use nowadays.

Though I am not sure if the pictures used here were just to give a good feel of the theme, or are possible sets that might be remade?  I don't think LEGO is remaking the specific sets shown for the poll.  If they had said that I would have voted Pirates in a heartbeat, if I thought they would remake the Skulls Eye Schooner!  That's my favorite pirate ship, as you can probably tell from my username, and seeing the great job they did on the Barracuda remake, I can only imagine what the Skulls Eye would be like.  I wonder if they would do that for its anniversary in 2023.  The Barracuda already got reissued in the early 2000s, had easter egg and mini-build renditions in multiple sets over the years, and was remade fully in 2020.  It would be nice if Skulls Eye could be revisited sometime, as it's a great pirate ship and set in its own right.

But yes, if it is remaking specific set, or possibly various sets together, it would be much easier to make it look like an old Town set, than just, here is a set representing Town in general.  It definitely would be interesting to see, whatever form it might take.

I always did want that Metroliner and that train station.  I still don't know if LEGO has ever made a better train station than that one.  It's amazing, I always loved trains and LEGO but never had a LEGO train until Emerald Night.  I'm guessing cost probably prevented that when I was a kid.  I have a great idea, let's take two expensive hobbies, model trains and LEGO, and combine them!

You are right, it would be a while until we see this set.  Barracuda Bay and Crocodile Locomotive wouldn't be as recent then.  Old sets used to only be on sale for around 3, or 4 years, at the most?  I'm not sure how long sets are out these days.  I do know that stuff like the Death Star which was on sale for years and years, was an exception.  Then they retired it and made a new one for $100 mark-up, which looked bad because the original set never changed its price to account for inflation over all the years it was out, haha.

Edited February 2, 2021 by Skulls_Eye_Schooner_Sailor

[Lego David]

18 hours ago, Aanchir said:

Honestly, I wouldn't even assume that kids today aren't interestsed in Pirates and Castle just because specific themes based on those categories have been scarce lately. I mean, plenty of kids in the 80s and 90s were interested in ninjas, space aliens, dinosaurs, globetrotting adventurers, superheroes, or secret agents, but it wasn't until the late 90s that sets based around any of that sort of stuff started coming out. Even then, a lot of those sorts of themes tended to spring up intermittently and only last for a short stretch of time before being discontinued.

In fact, I'd even argue that the current kid interest in any of those genres doesn't matter at all when it comes to a LEGO theme. Ninjas weren't a particularly popular genre when Ninjago came out, yet the line defined all expectations and become one of LEGO's most popular themes. Why? The answer is simple. It had a good story.

Bionicle was an outstanding hit that saved the company because it had a good story. Ninjago also became an outstanding success that still goes strong to this day because it has a good story told through a TV show. If LEGO were to try out doing a Castle or a Pirate theme with a good TV Show, I can almost guarantee that kids are gonna be into it.

Chima and Nexo Knights also had TV Shows, but the quality of those TV Shows was significantly worse than what Ninjago got. And thus, those lines may have been successful for a short time, but couldn't match the popularity of Ninjago. 

So, if LEGO were to reboot Castle or Pirates with a good TV Show (keep in mind, the TV show must be of quality), I see no reason why those themes couldn't be successful. 

Ninjago kind of got lucky with it's TV Show because it got actual good writers (Kevin and Dan Hagemen, acclaimed children's TV writers), but Chima and Nexo Knights greatly suffered from not having the same level of writing quality. As a fan who's been following the series ever since it first premiered, I can't even say it's the best TV Show ever, but it's still good. And just with a TV show that is "good" look how far they've gotten. Just imagine what they could accomplish they created a genuinely great TV Show, like for instance, something in the veins of Avatar: The Last Airbender. The potential for more decade-long LEGO hits is certainly there, as long as there is genuine love and passion put into the product. 

 

[Roebuck]

20 hours ago, danth said:

CLASSIC. THEMED. CREATOR. SETS.

I know beggars can't be choosers, but no thanks it is not for me unless you mean "creator expert"

55 minutes ago, Lego David said:

In fact, I'd even argue that the current kid interest in any of those genres doesn't matter at all when it comes to a LEGO theme. Ninjas weren't a particularly popular genre when Ninjago came out, yet the line defined all expectations and become one of LEGO's most popular themes. Why? The answer is simple. It had a good story.

Bionicle was an outstanding hit that saved the company because it had a good story. Ninjago also became an outstanding success that still goes strong to this day because it has a good story told through a TV show. If LEGO were to try out doing a Castle or a Pirate theme with a good TV Show, I can almost guarantee that kids are gonna be into it.

I believe Pirates was the first Lego theme with a story, it had a comic book and several named characters

I do not think that kids today would not like Pirates or Castle. The issue is probably that Lego only can make a limited number of themes at any given time and there are no free spots available. Say there is 40 themes and a 8 year old boy have 3 favourites that he collect sets from. If Lego where to make 400 themes the same boy would not get 10 times the number of sets from 30 themes. To many themes to choose from and they will just fight among themself so Lego have some evergreen themes and others that stay around from 1-3 years. 
That is why I think it would be a good idea to make bigger sets in those themes aimed at adults like the Barracuda Bay set

[Lego David]

35 minutes ago, Roebuck said:

I believe Pirates was the first Lego theme with a story, it had a comic book and several named characters

That comic book was an oddity at best. It wasn't advertised anywhere, and I assume most people who grew up with LEGO Pirates didn't even know about the existence of that comic book at the time. 

35 minutes ago, Roebuck said:

I do not think that kids today would not like Pirates or Castle. The issue is probably that Lego only can make a limited number of themes at any given time and there are no free spots available. Say there is 40 themes and a 8 year old boy have 3 favourites that he collect sets from. If Lego where to make 400 themes the same boy would not get 10 times the number of sets from 30 themes. To many themes to choose from and they will just fight among themself so Lego have some evergreen themes and others that stay around from 1-3 years. 
That is why I think it would be a good idea to make bigger sets in those themes aimed at adults like the Barracuda Bay set

That's what kind of perplexes me... There seem to be plenty of free spots in LEGO's catalog currently, but it seems like LEGO is foolishly filling them up with random one-off licenses that nobody cares for, like Trolls and Minions. That's a thing that really bothers me about LEGO's current marketing strategy. 

Edited February 2, 2021 by Lego David

[Lyichir]

29 minutes ago, Lego David said:

That comic book was an oddity at best. It wasn't advertised anywhere, and I assume most people who grew up with LEGO Pirates didn't even know about the existence of that comic book at the time. 

That's what kind of perplexes me... There seem to be plenty of free spots in LEGO's catalog currently, but it seems like LEGO is foolishly filling them up with random one-off licenses that nobody cares for, like Trolls and Minions. That's a thing that really bothers me about LEGO's current marketing strategy. 

I wouldn't really consider that "foolish". I know they might not be the most popular among AFOLs, but both franchises seem to me like they're big "gets" for Lego—they're both extremely popular brands with kids, and not only does Lego profit from them by making sets based on them but they also "lock out" competitors from doing the same. And having a variety of smaller licenses (and not just the huge tentpole franchises like Star Wars and Super Heroes) helps to diversify risk, and ensure that Lego doesn't end up in a situation like they did in 2003 (when their three major franchises took a gap year between movies, vastly reducing the popularity of their respective themes). I expect that the introduction of Trolls and Minions licenses last year was partly meant to compensate for the reduced profile of the Marvel and Star Wars franchises, both of which went without major movie releases last year after wrapping up massive, multi-year sagas with Avengers Endgame and Rise of Skywalker. And in the case of Trolls in particular, Lego's choice to license it probably paid off after COVID knocked theaters for a loop and movies like Black Widow ended up delayed while Trolls World Tour was made into a surprise streaming hit.

Don't get me wrong, I personally prefer original themes over licenses in almost all cases, including the two aforementioned themes. But even "one-off" licenses like you describe have their place and a strategic purpose in Lego's portfolio—not "random" at all.

Edited February 2, 2021 by Lyichir

[pombe]

3 hours ago, Lego David said:

...but Chima and Nexo Knights greatly suffered from not having the same level of writing quality.

Yes.  It hurts so much.  Especially for Nexo Knights which I thought had great sets.  If only it was well written...

[Lira_Bricks]

3 hours ago, Lego David said:

Just imagine what they could accomplish they created a genuinely great TV Show, like for instance, something in the veins of Avatar: The Last Airbender. The potential for more decade-long LEGO hits is certainly there, as long as there is genuine love and passion put into the product.

Such a shame there were only two sets, one of which was just a lot of basic bricks stacked in the shape of a ship.

I do not think the themes are really diverse nowadays. We have East-Asia Ninjago, East-Asia Monkey kid which is basically also ninjas as far as I understand, East-Asia New Year, Panda's,.... Even the minions had a set with the theme of East-Asia.

I know China is a new market, but geez...

[Kit Figsto]

21 hours ago, danth said:

 mean, besides overarching main themes (like Space or Town or Creator), what themes have ever lasted more than a few years? Licenses like Star Wars and Marvel. But for in-house? Ninjago is like the only one. I don't think a theme has to be the next Ninjago to be considered a success.

By the "short lived == failure" metric, Lego is almost a complete failure and should be out of business by now.

I agree with your point overall, though the one other example (not to get back into the "should it be going up against system sets in this poll" thing) is Bionicle 1.0, but other than that, I can't really think of any other in-house themes that have lasted more than, say, 8-10 years.

[Roebuck]

1 hour ago, Lego David said:

That comic book was an oddity at best. It wasn't advertised anywhere, and I assume most people who grew up with LEGO Pirates didn't even know about the existence of that comic book at the time. 

Are you kidding It was in the Lego catalogue next to the other sets and I think maybe it was the first "pirate set" I got back in the day

[Aanchir]

1 hour ago, Lego David said:

That comic book was an oddity at best. It wasn't advertised anywhere, and I assume most people who grew up with LEGO Pirates didn't even know about the existence of that comic book at the time.

That could be true, but the named characters were still a big step forward. Aside from Fabuland, previous themes almost never had named characters, and even the named characters created for ancillary media like the Jim Spaceborn or Castle Kids comics published in Europe only vaguely corresponded to actual minifigures.

I also believe I've seen adverts for the Pirates comic and/or picture books in some European catalog and/or magazine scans from the late 80s and early 90s, so it may not be accurate to say they weren't advertised anywhere,

In my early KFOL years in the 90s, I didn't have any idea that those LEGO Pirates comic books and picture books had even existed in earlier years and/or other countries, but I still was able to identify Captain Redbeard and King Kahuka by name (after all, several of the actual set names included the names of those characters!), as well as indulge in the more jokey, less continuity-oriented comic stories and character bios from the LEGO Mania Magazines.

Plus, it's well recognized that Pirates was the first theme to take the then-groundbreakings step of giving minifigures specific printed facial features (such as facial hair, eyepatches, bangs, or lipstick) rather than just a neutral smile with no other distinguishing facial features. So I'd definitely consider the Pirates theme a major turning point, marking when the company began to take a more character-driven approach in both their product designs and marketing.

11 hours ago, Skulls_Eye_Schooner_Sailor said:

That is a good point.  What I was saying is to keep the current level of detail of modern sets, but how to represent a vintage set that represents the modern contemporary world the way Town does.  For me the big difference is the scale of the vehicles and buildings, and their style.  It wouldn't feel like a Town set to me if they used the same style as they do for City, only except used the old Octan logo or whatever.  The old police sets used black and white for their color schemes, with red accents on certain parts.  I'm not sure LEGO has done that at all recently.  I could be wrong.  So the color schemes and logos, would be part of it, but also design and scale.  Then again I'm not sure if they have all the parts to still make 4-wide trucks and whatnot.  I think a lot of the old canopy parts for planes and helicopters are gone too, which was a big part of the aesthetic.  LEGO has trended towards more realistic and smooth and less angular over the years, in general, and that might be tough to reproduce if they decided to do any aircraft.  I will say I much prefer the old planes and helicopters using multiple pieces for the nose, and looking more like LEGO, than those giant nose and cockpits they use nowadays. 

A fair number of the old aircraft pieces (or at least, slightly-updated versions of them) like 4856, 4861, 6153, 13349, 50373, and 93348 actually HAVE remained in use as recently as last year, with several showing up particularly often in 4+ sets. Moreover, even in cases where certain parts HAVE been discontinued (like 3474 or 3933) it's often still possible to at least approximate that classic geometric look using current parts, sort of like how the designer of the LEGO Trains 40th Anniversary Set approximated the original set's wheels, windows, and buffers.

The limited color palettes of old-school sets are also fairly easy to recreate in most cases, since most of those colors are either still on the LEGO color palette or have been replaced with a fairly close equivalent (like Reddish Brown and Medium Stone Grey). Honestly, color palettes might be a much a bigger obstacle to recreating certain sets of the late 90s and early 2000s, since by that time LEGO was using a bunch of rare colors like Sand Red, Royal Blue, Medium Green, and Lemon Metallic which the current LEGO color palette DOESN'T have any close equivalent for!

37 minutes ago, Lira_Bricks said:

Such a shame there were only two sets, one of which was just a lot of basic bricks stacked in the shape of a ship.

I do not think the themes are really diverse nowadays. We have East-Asia Ninjago, East-Asia Monkey kid which is basically also ninjas as far as I understand, East-Asia New Year, Panda's,.... Even the minions had a set with the theme of East-Asia.

I know China is a new market, but geez...

I don't think it's very fair to act like having three East Asia inspired themes and a few stand-alone sets based on Asian animals is somehow "not diverse". After all, you could just as easily argue that many of the Town, Trains, Castle, Pirates, Fabuland, and Seasonal sets of the 80s were overwhelmingly European-inspired. But all those themes being based on the cultural traditions of a broadly-defined geographic area hardly outweighs the differences between all those themes. The same applies to the current themes that you mentioned.

Also, for clarification, Monkie Kid has nothing to do with ninja. Rather, it is based on characters and stories from the Chinese novel Journey to the West, which was first published in full in 1592, and was based on both historical events of the 7th century and associated legends/folklore which date back to at least the 13th century. By comparison, ninja only began to emerge as a Japanese literary and theatrical stock character in the 17th or 18th century, inspired by historical figures from the 15th century and later.

Really, the only major similarity between Monkey King stories and ninja stories is that both tend to involve martial arts and supernatural abilities. But acting like that's enough to ake them basically the same thing is like saying Robin Hood stories and pirate stories are basically the same thing since they both tend to involve swordfights and bands of thieves/outlaws.

23 minutes ago, Kit Figsto said:

I agree with your point overall, though the one other example (not to get back into the "should it be going up against system sets in this poll" thing) is Bionicle 1.0, but other than that, I can't really think of any other in-house themes that have lasted more than, say, 8-10 years.

Well, the Friends theme is rapidly approaching that benchmark!

Previously, Belville also lasted 15 consecutive years, though unlike Friends, Bionicle, or Ninjago, that was not because of any outstanding success, but rather because it was modestly successful with an audience that no other themes (not even other girl-targeted themes like Paradisa or Scala) were reaching anywhere near as effectively at that time.

The Racers theme lasted 12 consecutive years, although its designs, concepts, and scale varied quite dramatically during that span of time (the 2001 Racers sets had almost nothing in common with the 2010 Racers sets besides being toy cars at fairly modest price points). It can sort of be compared to the Creator theme in that regard, since the 2001 Creator sets were basic multicolored brick assortments for early builders, along the same lines as themes like Basic/FreeStyle/Classic, while later ones were more like the "Designer Sets" of the early 2000s, with more advanced and detailed designs, and less emphasis on abstract, all-ages freeform building.

And even before LEGO Pirates, the Fabuland managed to last ten consecutive years on account of great success in Europe, although it never really caught on to that extent among American children. As much nostalgia as there is for Fabuland among AFOLs of a certain age, it often seems to get overlooked in discussions of long-running themes or LEGO's early ventures in multimedia, character-driven storytelling.

[Kit Figsto]

1 hour ago, Aanchir said:

Well, the Friends theme is rapidly approaching that benchmark!

Previously, Belville also lasted 15 consecutive years, though unlike Friends, Bionicle, or Ninjago, that was not because of any outstanding success, but rather because it was modestly successful with an audience that no other themes (not even other girl-targeted themes like Paradisa or Scala) were reaching anywhere near as effectively at that time.

The Racers theme lasted 12 consecutive years, although its designs, concepts, and scale varied quite dramatically during that span of time (the 2001 Racers sets had almost nothing in common with the 2010 Racers sets besides being toy cars at fairly modest price points). It can sort of be compared to the Creator theme in that regard, since the 2001 Creator sets were basic multicolored brick assortments for early builders, along the same lines as themes like Basic/FreeStyle/Classic, while later ones were more like the "Designer Sets" of the early 2000s, with more advanced and detailed designs, and less emphasis on abstract, all-ages freeform building.

And even before LEGO Pirates, the Fabuland managed to last ten consecutive years on account of great success in Europe, although it never really caught on to that extent among American children. As much nostalgia as there is for Fabuland among AFOLs of a certain age, it often seems to get overlooked in discussions of long-running themes or LEGO's early ventures in multimedia, character-driven storytelling.

True, I did forget Friends, and I'm actually quite surprised Bellville had a 15 year run, I forgot that it lasted that long into the late 2000s.  

While I did also forget Racers, I think you're right in that the early 2000s versions of the sets were based around a story element (Rocket Racer and the monsters, with the tie-in with the video game, quite a fun game, I might add ) whereas after around 2005, it was more of the Tiny Turbos and some playsets for them and $12-20 pull-back cars that used some Technic and some bricks.  

Same with Creator, there's always been some sort of "basic brick" theme, whether it's just bulk buckets of parts or stuff that's a bit more structured to actually build models, I feel like Creator just happens to be the thing filling that niche for the past two decades.  I don't think it's Creator specifically that's a success (in the same way that Ninjago has captured a specific audience with its story and characters), its more just that it's the appeal of generic bricks/builds that people like.

Either way, though, between Town/Pirates/Space and Bionicle/Technic (another one I realized that was left off)/Ninjago/Friends/Belville and arguably Racers, that's 7-8 in-house themes out of probably hundreds that have had a ten year run or longer, but there are others that were certainly successful despite not having that kind of longevity.

[Alexandrina]

2 minutes ago, Kit Figsto said:

Either way, though, between Town/Pirates/Space and Bionicle/Technic (another one I realized that was left off)/Ninjago/Friends/Belville and arguably Racers, that's 7-8 in-house themes out of probably hundreds that have had a ten year run or longer

Surely Castle and Trains have to be in there too? Not disputing your general point, but it's worth mentioning all the same

[Stuartn]

48 minutes ago, Kit Figsto said:

Same with Creator, there's always been some sort of "basic brick" theme, whether it's just bulk buckets of parts or stuff that's a bit more structured to actually build models, I feel like Creator just happens to be the thing filling that niche for the past two decades.  I don't think it's Creator specifically that's a success (in the same way that Ninjago has captured a specific audience with its story and characters), its more just that it's the appeal of generic bricks/builds that people like.

Creator does have many very detailed models, I think the line of townhouses and street buildings, now numbering seven, is very successful and appeals on its own, as do many of the more detailed models, like the lighthouses, ubiquitous beach houses and animals, but I get your point though. Creator seems to exist to house all of the playsets, which would sell well but couldn't exist as their own theme, and hence don't introduce new moulds and rarely have new prints or recolours. Similarly there has always been something akin to Classic available.

52 minutes ago, Alexandrina said:

Surely Castle and Trains have to be in there too? Not disputing your general point, but it's worth mentioning all the same

The issue is that trains and castle have always been broken into different themes, 9v, world city, city and many more, same goes for castle. Town can be justified because city has had a sixteen year run. But they could be included as the reasons for the removal of the theme is to update technologies or new design. But these themes have always been available consecutively, so the themes are obviously popular, which is your overall argument, so I have to agree with your point.

[Lego David]

15 hours ago, Roebuck said:

Are you kidding It was in the Lego catalogue next to the other sets and I think maybe it was the first "pirate set" I got back in the day

Correct me if I'm wrong, but wasn't that comic exclusive to Europe only? I don't think it showed up in any North American catalogs.

[toastergrl]

Second stage of voting is up. Of particular note is that the Ideas team noted their mistake with splitting the Castle vote but didn't want to crowd out Pirates, so it's now a Top Four rather than a Top Three. Classy stuff!

[Lego David]

I am very glad they admitted their mistake and included Castle. It seems like everyone has a fair chance at winning now.

[UberCorp]

Was not expecting Bionicle to make it into the final vote, but it sure is a welcome surprise.

[Bricknee]

I honestly think Castle may be selected as the official set from this second vote. The three most iconic Lego sets of all time are Black Seas Barracuda, Galaxy Explorer and the original yellow castle, two of which have basically received updated remakes in the form Barracuda Bay and Benny’s Spaceship. It seems somewhat plausible that Lego will remake the yellow castle using modern techniques for the 90th anniversary set.

[Pulp Detective]

Glad they saw their mistake with castle.I was planning on voting for Pirates but Castle got my vote.

[Alexandrina]

Echoing a lot of others here to say that I've cast my vote for Castle. I was all prepared to vote Pirates, but every new Castle set increases the chance of getting good medieval civilian figures and the parts that go with them (an updated hennin would be nice, or even the CMF one in different colours) so it'd be remiss of me to vote for anything else.

[Lego David]

I think the big final battle will be between Bionicle and Castle, honestly. There is no way either Classic Space or Pirates are gonna win the vote now, to be honest. 

[Lord-Vorahk]

Predictably I went for Bionicle. 

I have no doubt that Lego will keep doing Space, Castle, and Pirates sets ad infinitum. They're already doing that. Classic Space gets a throwback almost every other year, there are Pirates sets on store shelves right now, and Castle has two(?) coming in the summer. And I honestly think the "No-brainer" choices should've been left off, to give some of the smaller, more obscure themes an opportunity to return. Obviously that would need to be prefaced with a "We didn't forget the obvious choices, but we don't need to be told to keep making those. They're not going anywhere" statement, but between those three extremely obvious choices that keep getting made anyway, and Bionicle, who a lot of people are very passionate about but probably won't get the victory even if it gets the most votes, nothing else really stood a chance.

 

I do find it hilarious that Castle got wild-carded in, though. Smacks of "We expected/wanted this to come down to Space, Pirates, and Castle, but those pesky 90s-2000s kids voted for the robots so, uh... We made a fourth slot! Castle gets to join in too!"

I say that because I experienced something very similar in the Transformers fandom a few years ago, with the Power of the Primes vote.

 

For those not up on their knowledge of this particular brand of plastic crack, from 2017-2018, Hasbro ran the toyline "Power of the Primes", which closed out the Prime Wars trilogy of sublines. Hasbro have been running fan-choice polls to decide on certain new figures for a while now, which resulted in new main character Windblade, the all-female Combiner team the Torchbearers, and a bunch of other stuff. But for PotP, they decided to have the fans choose who would be the next wielder of the Matrix of Leadership. This character would then get a Leader-class toy (At the time the largest/most expensive general retail figures) and a starring role in both the IDW comics and the infamously woeful Machinima animated series.

Thing is, Hasbro had basically already picked who they wanted to win: Japanese G1 character Deathsaurus. 

The problem was that they made a complete hash of supporting him.

Deathsaurus was instead billed as "Unknown Evil", ensuring that only people already familiar with his head silhouette would even know what he was, and put in a bracket with two huge fan-favourites: Marvel G1 antagonist Thunderwing, and Beast Wars main character Optimus Primal. Predictably, Deathsaurus lost badly. So Hasbro made a Surprise Fourth Slot so they could wild card him into the finals, where he predictably again lost to Optimus Primal. Because when you put three G1 dudes against one Beast Wars character, the absolutely massive Beast Wars fandom will all vote for that one guy and win. 

Then the toys actually came out, and the Leaders had an "Evolution gimmick", being composed of a small figure representing their pre-Matrix selves (So Orion Pax and Hot Rod for the two main Autobot leaders) that armoured up into their full-size leader forms (Optimus Prime and Rodimus Prime). As such, Primal's toy had the small figure be based on his iconic Season 1 design, while the main attraction was based on the gaudy and much-less-popular Optimal Optimus. Because of its small size, Primal's regular form couldn't transform into his usual gorilla mode, and he instead turned into... a surfboard for his armour's gorilla mode.

The gimmick was almost certainly intended for Deathsaurus' rival, Autobot Leader Star Saber, who was another contender in the vote and actually made the final legitimately, but then PotP the toyline was cut in half and Star Saber never got made. Also the cartoon predictably blowed chunks and the comic role was cancelled due to IDW winding down its original universe, and Optimus Primal instead featured as a mostly-characterless evil minion of Onyx Prime.

And then this year saw the release of the Generations Optimus Primal that all those Beast Wars fans actually wanted in 2017, putting a hilarious line under the entire tragicomic saga of PotP Optimal Optimus.

I don't think Lego will necessarily make the same mistakes, but it is something I've seen before.

 

Edited February 3, 2021 by Lord-Vorahk

[JintaiZ]

10 minutes ago, Lego David said:

Classic Space

Blacktron and Space Police are all part of the general Space theme so I wouldn't be surprised if Classic Space wins. Personally, I'm hoping for either Classic Space or Classic Castle.

[BrickJagger]

1 hour ago, Lord-Vorahk said:

I do find it hilarious that Castle got wild-carded in, though. Smacks of "We expected/wanted this to come down to Space, Pirates, and Castle, but those pesky 90s-2000s kids voted for the robots so, uh... We made a fourth slot! Castle gets to join in too!"

I think it actually smacks of "More individual users voted for Castle themes than Bionicle, so it's only fair to add it to the final vote since it was really in first place by a landslide".

https://ideas.lego.com/blogs/a4ae09b6-0d4c-4307-9da8-3ee9f3d368d6/post/6c5a05b4-e29c-47ec-8841-a2bce1f8933e

I have nothing against Bionicle , but they both got enough votes to move on. If anything Pirates is the poser because it had the fourth most total votes.

Edited February 3, 2021 by BrickJagger