Why does Playmobil still have Historic themes, but not LEGO?

[leafan]

All of this is missing the point. I said that Lego could licence a magazine and have exclusive historical minifigs on it. Just because they aren't doing that exact thing right now does not mean that it can't, or should not, happen. As MAB pointed out, it's happening on the collectible books.

My point in suggesting it in the first place was just a singular idea on how Lego could offer historical themed products today, like Playmobil are doing - and seem to be thriving doing.

[Poco Lypso]

the times have changed and lego is fully aware of that. 

hopefully lego will pick up more movies with a historic settings xD

classic lego theme are prolly incompatible with the mainstream market nowadays but lego should still cater to fans. They could produce sets/figs specifically aimed at adult historians and sell them online, far away from the shops. they could for example create different kinds of historic armies and sell battle packs and stuff. same goes for civilians, just produce enough packs and keep them available for a few years and add a few new ones each year.

[leafan]

33 minutes ago, Poco Lypso said:

the times have changed and lego is fully aware of that. 

Apparently not for Playmobil though.

I don't care where its sold - I just want Lego to make it again.

Until they do, my money goes to Playmobil.

[Lego David]

5 hours ago, Alexandrina said:

I love a good Western as much as anyone, but Red Dead seems to be an exception, with mitigating circumstances. Namely: it was an eagerly awaited follow-up to a hugely acclaimed game from a decade ago, released by a studio that had a track record of producing great games, and it was itself getting very consistent excellent press. ANY game that hyped would do just as well. (It's also a bit disingenuous to say "Western Videogames such as Red Dead" - it's just Red Dead, really, there aren't any other Western games that are making mad money.)

Well, according to some online polls I saw, a significant portion of the people who played RDR2 had never actually played the original game before (myself included). RDR1 sold 14 million copies, while RDR2 sold 38 Million... so the difference is pretty staggering, especially considering how sequels that come out a long time after the original usually tend to underperform. 

I can't speak for anyone other than myself, but I actually bought the game specifically because it was Western, having no previous connection with the original game. 

You are definitely right that circumstances do definitely play an important role. that's why if Western is to have a future, this future will probably be in the hands of already well established filmmakers/studios that have good track records. 

Going back to LEGO though, there are e a bunch of things they could do as a big D2C 18+ set. A big Fort Legoredo remake, a Western Train, or even a big Saloon like that one Bricklink designer program set we got... Any of those I think could work fine enough as a one-off Western set. 

I guess a set like that wouldn't be that popular with their current target demographic of non-AFOL adults, but I'm sure people within the LEGO community would completely eat it up. 

Edited October 9, 2021 by Lego David

[TeriXeri]

As for Western, there's Brickwest Studios in round 2 of the Designer Program, might not be the typical theme set but the parts still come from LEGO, and bricklink is owned by LEGO, so it's not like they have 100% forbidden the Western theme.

I don't expect anything depicting natives, unless it's done in some fantasy way (like the purple faced islanders from Ninjago Island season 14)

Edited October 9, 2021 by TeriXeri

[MAB]

7 hours ago, leafan said:

All of this is missing the point. I said that Lego could licence a magazine and have exclusive historical minifigs on it. Just because they aren't doing that exact thing right now does not mean that it can't, or should not, happen. As MAB pointed out, it's happening on the collectible books.

The books are typically on shelves for a few years. The magazines a month. That might be why they don't put exclusive parts in the magazine bags.

Of course they could do an exclusive figure each month. That would be like doing an extra CMF series each year, devoted solely to history. 

 

9 hours ago, Alexandrina said:

The problem with the genre (problematic tropes aside) is that recent acclaimed Western movies have tended to skew towards a much more mature audience than the children who are Lego's main audience.....

In any case, Western is undeniably not a popular genre in the UK right now. We have no TV shows and it's very rare that a film in the genre gets widely promoted here, and it's without fail the smallest genre section in HMV too.

When I was a kid, it was common to dress up as cowboys and indians. Kids frequently had cowboy and Indian birthday parties. The Milky Bar kid was a cowboy.  I have photos of me dressed as an Indian, with a homemade feather headdress and beads sewn on a suede waistcoat. Do that these days and we'd be ripped apart. Very different times.

[ArneNielsen]

On 10/9/2021 at 1:00 PM, Alexandrina said:

Films like Django Unchained, The Hateful Eight and Bone Tomahawk were widely acclaimed and very popular

Django, yes, but not The Hateful Eight - even if Tarantino claims it is his best film, it is the least liked (and seen) film of his. Personally, as much as I love Tarantino films, I felt that Hateful has so many plot-holes, that it didnt make any sence at all, and I really didnt like it. 

Even Academy Award winning films like the Unforgiven from 1992 didnt spark a renewed interest in the Western theme, at least not among kids. 

 

[Lyichir]

On 10/9/2021 at 9:30 AM, leafan said:

All of this is missing the point. I said that Lego could licence a magazine and have exclusive historical minifigs on it. Just because they aren't doing that exact thing right now does not mean that it can't, or should not, happen. As MAB pointed out, it's happening on the collectible books.

My point in suggesting it in the first place was just a singular idea on how Lego could offer historical themed products today, like Playmobil are doing - and seem to be thriving doing.

The bigger books like character encyclopedias likely have a more substantial profit margin than cheap magazines available at newsstands.

They also, notably, tend to tie in to existing themes that they promote. Which makes the whole idea of a historic Lego magazine with minifigures a bit of a catch-22—it'd make more sense for Lego to do to promote a larger ongoing Lego theme, but if there were already an ongoing historic theme a magazine would no longer be the only source of new figures in the first place. So if you're going to dream, why not dream big, continuing to hope for a Castle revival or other historic theme? A magazine on its own would be a half-measure at best and is probably even less likely than a theme revival.

[TeriXeri]

38 minutes ago, Lyichir said:

They also, notably, tend to tie in to existing themes that they promote. Which makes the whole idea of a historic Lego magazine with minifigures a bit of a catch-22—it'd make more sense for Lego to do to promote a larger ongoing Lego theme, but if there were already an ongoing historic theme a magazine would no longer be the only source of new figures in the first place. So if you're going to dream, why not dream big, continuing to hope for a Castle revival or other historic theme? A magazine on its own would be a half-measure at best and is probably even less likely than a theme revival.

Kind of strange that LEGO releases a Pirates book in 2022, with a picture of Barracuda Bay which is set to retire before 2022  , unless the set is extended due to success.

That said, Saturn V was originally IDEAS and re-launched less then a year after retirement, so if Barracuda Bay would have the same faith, it wouldn't surprise me.

Edited October 11, 2021 by TeriXeri

[Lyichir]

46 minutes ago, TeriXeri said:

Kind of strange that LEGO releases a Pirates book in 2022, with a picture of Barracuda Bay which is set to retire before 2022  , unless the set is extended due to success.

That said, Saturn V was originally IDEAS and re-launched less then a year after retirement, so if Barracuda Bay would have the same faith, it wouldn't surprise me.

That would seem a little odd, but I think those new books might be aimed slightly less at encouraging sales of specific sets and more at encouraging passion in young readers for the broader Lego brand (the market for a big, expensive set like Barracuda Bay and the audience for Little Golden Books is certainly very different).

As a side note related to historical themes discussion, there's also a similar book about knights that features a VERY cute knight in a wooden wheelchair! I doubt this is based on any specific upcoming sets (the cover also features the 2013-era dragon, and current wagon wheels are too big to comfortably fit the existing wheelchair mold shown on the cover, nor would the wheelchair fit a figure wearing armor of that sort anyway), but as a fan of disabled visibility and inclusion, I love to see that kind of character given the focus in a children's book like this.

[TeriXeri]

On 10/11/2021 at 7:47 PM, Lyichir said:

As a side note related to historical themes discussion, there's also a similar book about knights that features a VERY cute knight in a wooden wheelchair! I doubt this is based on any specific upcoming sets (the cover also features the 2013-era dragon, and current wagon wheels are too big to comfortably fit the existing wheelchair mold shown on the cover, nor would the wheelchair fit a figure wearing armor of that sort anyway), but as a fan of disabled visibility and inclusion, I love to see that kind of character given the focus in a children's book like this.

True, I know books and even comics often depict sets or parts that have retired or never made (I remember a City comic with a giant T-rex skull a while ago , which showed long retired a ship from nearly 10 years earlier , now that a printed t-rex skull is actually a part but thats just cooincidence I think).

Nexo Knight books showed a lot of things never made into sets, one book had concept art, other book showed forest/water monsters (maybe they were planned dunno).

 

 

Anyway, not wanting to go too off topic here.

Back to Playmobil, it looks like newest theme they got is Ayuma, it just released, it's like a playmobil version of Elves.

Edited October 12, 2021 by TeriXeri

[Brickander Brickumnus]

On 10/2/2021 at 2:33 PM, leafan said:

It's not: https://www.playmobil.us/shop-online/shop/history

And there are more.

OMG! 

[Mr No]

I think this has more to do with how much money can Lego make from that, I think Playmobil, which is a small toy company compared to Lego, has a different view on their sales and if their toys sell good on how they expect them they will keep producing them. But Lego got so big, if a theme doesn't perform so well for their expectations, I wouldn't be surprised if they end it soon. 

[Poco Lypso]

1 hour ago, Mr No said:

I think this has more to do with how much money can Lego make from that, I think Playmobil, which is a small toy company compared to Lego, has a different view on their sales and if their toys sell good on how they expect them they will keep producing them. But Lego got so big, if a theme doesn't perform so well for their expectations, I wouldn't be surprised if they end it soon. 

yeah, money is always the reason. cant really blame them.

maybe its also a creative problem or lego knows its mostly adult fans who want castle back but is aware that the kind of castle they would be able to produce is not what adults want and they just cant make it more adult-like, lol.

[Kim-Kwang-Seok]

Many decisions from the higher ups are not very rational or at least quite conservative - like Lego's social media communication.

But in this case; they just do what works for them/is profitable and thats it. Yes, every few years they have some kind of unique/artistic things (Lego Movie stuff, vidyo) but any other theme usually is all about appealing to the masses. Classic themes have established their ways lately in their sucessful themes (Ninjago, friends, City, Creator, Ideas) but they are also were "boarded" by the big licences. Especially Marvel nowdays kind of does everything. The daily bugle works great as a modular, they have several "art" sets, mechs, wizards, medevil, asian/oriental and so on.

Lego's approach to classic themes was burried like 6 years ago when castle, galaxy squad and pirates failed hard. I'd say those themes would still work but not at this price point. Playmobil is expensive but if you wanna castle you get a proper one for the right price. With Lego you get a colourful wall for 100 so young kids would probably rather have playmobil or cheaper Lego alternatives if available.