Wild West

[Sting]

Wasn't sure if this should go here... but its the closest one I could think of...

This was a really well done line IMO, and I don't know why it only lasted one year... the possibilities were almost endless... there was the whole west to be done... they didnt have a train set... so much they could have done...

I mean, its No Pirates ( :D ) theme but its pretty damn good.

Thoughts?

[Mister Phes]

Indeed it was no pirate theme, but from looking at the LEGO catalogues it appears to have lasted 3 years (1996 to 1998). Maybe it didn't last that long everywhere though.

I put it down to LEGO's mid 90's stupidity. I.e. Lets see how many different themes we can create that go nowhere and we'll even axe some that are reasonably popular to make room for the new ones.

[WesternOutlaw]

Agree with you 100% Sting. I loved the Wild West theme as it was original and new to Lego (in mini-fig scale). I was hoping for a wild west train sub-theme with better steam train, windmill, western street, etc.

Fort Legorado, Gold City Junction, and the Old Mine/Hideout were among my favorites. I loved these sets and still do. I had a MOT Steam Train and cars circling my western town for a couple years before I decided to wreck it, but I enjoyed these sets greatly - esp. the cavalry.

I've posted this before, but I would have loved to see a Civil War or Mexican/American theme with an Alamo and a Mexican Village. Great set for the Good, the Bad, and the Ugly.

In any case, Westerns just aren't as popular any more with dragons, mythical creatures, and video games on the market.

[Mister Phes]

Western is a lot better than some other themes I could mention...

[ApophisV]

I wish the western line had been continued a little bit longer. It began a few month before I came to my dark ages, so I only got two or three of the smaller sets. I always loved the look of the sets, somehow they had this "realistic" western feeling... Let's hope TLC will bring them back one day...

[snefroe]

western sets were nicely detailed and well produced, but for some reason didn't sell. In fact, you can still buy smaller sets of the line in Belgium... But maybe there's another element in the western's commercial failure: the lines that were supposed to be strong and attract new fans, like city, were weak and not appealing... i also think lego lost a lot of fans to computer games in those years...

[Mister Phes]

Re-releases of the larger sets including Fort Legorado were quite abundant here a couple of years back.

[snefroe]

i don't think we've seen a rerelease here... i'd like a rerelease now... i was in my dark ages when wild west moved in. As a kid, i most defenitely would have loved this theme. did it really last three years? g...

[Mister Phes]

They were also available at S@H at the time. I'm not sure which countries but I think they were also available in the USA.

[WesternOutlaw]

The Fort and the Sheriff's Office was re-released in the US as well as a few of the larger Indian sets. I never liked the Indian sets as well as I did the cowboys. My only complaint was that Lego only made a few outlaws that kept re-appearing in each of the sets. I liked the traps in the sets and the exploding parts in the wagon, bank, and jail.

Maybe we'll see the Wild West sets re-appear one day.

[Sting]

Well, the first year, the Wild West line came out with all the classic sets like Fort Legorado and Gold City Junction, but a closer look shows that every set was really, really good.

I loved how in the Sherrif's Office set there was a porch with the roof overhanging it. I believe all of the Civilian buildings had this.

It was nice to see a historical theme with civilian buildings, as Lego kind of stopped doing that in the castle theme after the early 1990's, and the Pirate theme never really saw that.

The second year there was the Native Americans added, which were cool, but without them fighting the stupid white man, it just wasn't as exciting. (In most themes they will pitt 2 of the 'factions' towards each other as it creates excitement, they didn't do that in the Wild West theme). The 2nd year also brought us that amazing little "Frontier Patrol" set, which came with THREE Cavalrymen for only about $8 or $9!!

Imagine an Imperial Set with 3 Conquistadors or 3 Red/Bluecoats... I think they would fly off shelves.

Indeed, Wild West was a theme which could have been greatly expanded on.

A Civil War theme would be amazing. Enough said.

[languages]

I didnt really like this line....it wasnt as good as Pirates or Vikings...

[Norro]

Wester remains my 4th fav theme. And my top 4 are seperated from the others by a huge gulf (just think of the premiership :-D) The sheriff's office is one of my all time fav sets. A great starter set to introduce anyone to lego, great parts, cool functions, and a good price. In my experience (of local toy stores) the first year of cowboys flew off the shelves, but no one wanted the indian follow up... I think Lego killed a good theme with the indians... mind you that was an abysmal year for lego: fright knights, ufo, indians, etc...

God Bless,

Nathan

[Cpt. Blackbeard]

The last three pirate sets too :( WW was OK but I would rather get Pirate or Castle ;)

[Sting]

If I had a choice between new good Pirate/Castle sets, and new good Wild West sets, I would choose the former.

But, why can't lego have all 3?(plus good town sets too :-D )

[Mister Phes]

Imagine an Imperial Set with 3 Conquistadors or 3 Red/Bluecoats... I think they would fly off shelves.

The Imperial Armada Captains sell for upto US$15 each on BrickLink... They'd certainly fly off shelves and into my house if they were available in sets...

This leads us back to the discussion in Someone remind why Imperial Guards aren't sold?

[WesternOutlaw]

If I had a choice between new good Pirate/Castle sets, and new good Wild West sets, I would choose the former.

While I love pirates as well, and have used castle sets for port buildings, Lego has offered numerous pirate sets over the years, as opposed to Western sets.

Wild West was a short-lived theme and I saw the re-releases sitting on shelves for quite some time. Expanding this line would have been great when there are so many possibilities for the line (esp. historically speaking). We had the Northern troops but never the South. I wanted more outlaws, more buildings (church, saloon, stables, etc), and a western train with cattle car (like Playmobil had in the 80s).

A Mexican cantina or Alamo would be great additions (mini-figs with sombreros and big mustaches), and a Mexican army, gun smugglers, and a desert village with cactus - great sub-theme.

A lot of possibilities for expanding this theme. Perhaps one day.

[Sting]

You are right... I would love to see the South, and the Mexicans.

Oh, the possibilities... damn you TLG...

[Dreamweb]

Did I ever mention I had no such thing as "Dark Age"?

However, I had a time when I didn't buy almost any new sets, just reused my old parts again and again. And because of that I have only one small Western set - 6709, the Chief and his horse. I also have only one islander minifig from the Pirates line so that makes quite an unusual 2-men team of native Americans that my pirates and other sailors can encounter.

However, I must admit that all these Western sets look great, especially those from 1996.

[blueandwhite]

The problem with the Western theme was that it wasn't universally appealing. Certainly, North Americans could identify with this theme, however I'm uncertain if Europeans or Asians really care for the 'fronteer' motif. It doesn't seem to have the same broad appeal as the pirate theme, which in turn wasn't as universal as the castle theme. Simply put, I'm not sure if this theme really had an audience.

Castle has been one of LEGO's biggest themes. The pirate theme also enjoyed some popularity. I don't think the Western theme will ever be as highly regarded. LEGO is a European company. The Western theme simply seems to foreign.

Later.

[Norro]

The western theme can still be MOCed...

for example this shameless plug for my own Out Post...;)

God Bless,

Nathan

[Sting]

The problem with the Western theme was that it wasn't universally appealing. Certainly, North Americans could identify with this theme, however I'm uncertain if Europeans or Asians really care for the 'fronteer' motif. It doesn't seem to have the same broad appeal as the pirate theme, which in turn wasn't as universal as the castle theme. Simply put, I'm not sure if this theme really had an audience.

Castle has been one of LEGO's biggest themes. The pirate theme also enjoyed some popularity. I don't think the Western theme will ever be as highly regarded. LEGO is a European company. The Western theme simply seems to foreign.

Later.

This is a very possible reason. But if you look at the Pirates, its all based on the Carribean pirates - I don't recall any Asian powers being at work in that period.

Than there are Japanese Anime like Trigun which is totally Wild West influenced.

You may be right though. I disagree with you when you say this theme never had an audience, as im sure many North Americans loved this theme, and as we've seen here quite a few of us liked it. It never had a broad audience though.

Norro,(which reminds me of Zorro, which would be a VERY cool Lego Line)

Your MOC is freekin' awesome. I love the use of all the different Western Baseplates. And the waterfall work you did was amazing. I havent seen too many Western MOC's.

[blueandwhite]

This is a very possible reason. But if you look at the Pirates, its all based on the Carribean pirates - I don't recall any Asian powers being at work in that period.

Than there are Japanese Anime like Trigun which is totally Wild West influenced.

You may be right though. I disagree with you when you say this theme never had an audience, as im sure many North Americans loved this theme, and as we've seen here quite a few of us liked it. It never had a broad audience though.

Norro,(which reminds me of Zorro, which would be a VERY cool Lego Line)

Your MOC is freekin' awesome. I love the use of all the different Western Baseplates. And the waterfall work you did was amazing. I havent seen too many Western MOC's.

I'm not to familiar with Japanese culture, so I may be misinformed.

That being said, the pirate theme certainly does tie into Europe and the colonial period far more than the Western theme which is obviously post-US war of independence. Knights and castles are also firmly entrenched in western culture. I also appreciate that there is a large western following of Japanese culture, which might explain the popularity of the Ninja line (allthough it only lasted 3 years). Western themes on the other hand seem uniquely American, and while a niche may exist for Wild West products in other lands, it doesn't seem particularly strong.

I do feel that the Western theme could have been played out for a few more years, however if it was really popular, would LEGO have abandoned it so quickly? As a Canadian, fronteer themes are certainly interesting, however I would still prefer to invest in a more conventional theme such as the castle line. I'm just not convinced that a Western theme has a large enough audience to truly support it. The romanticism of the west seems to have gone the way of the Spagetti Western.

Fort Legorado did rock though!

[WesternOutlaw]

The problem with the Western theme was that it wasn't universally appealing. Certainly, North Americans could identify with this theme, however I'm uncertain if Europeans or Asians really care for the 'fronteer' motif. It doesn't seem to have the same broad appeal as the pirate theme, which in turn wasn't as universal as the castle theme. Simply put, I'm not sure if this theme really had an audience.

I think that westerns in general were more appealing during the 60s-80s when westerns were more predominant in film. Popularity, even in the U.S., has dwindled down over the years creating a very low demand for wild west themes (traditionally cowboys and indians). But I think that the Wild West was very appealing outside of the United States as well based upon popularity of movies, western heroes, and outlaws. They just aren't popular anymore (esp. among the younger generations).

I would love to see Lego re-create the theme.

[WesternOutlaw]

The western theme can still be MOCed...

for example this shameless plug for my own Out Post...;)

God Bless,

Nathan

Great outpost Nathan. I love the river/stream.