Discussion Should LEGO make a Military Theme?

[A2L]

Hmm...military theme - yes, actual armies - no. Cannot be that difficult. Come on. Think that alien invaders attack the world 10 days from now. What will you use to defend them? Aircrafts - Fxx, Sukhoi, Rafale, assortment of tanks and rocket launchers and missiles from different countries coming together. How about translating this to a military theme - World Force vs Aliens or something.

[DPrime]

Hmm...military theme - yes, actual armies - no. Cannot be that difficult. Come on. Think that alien invaders attack the world 10 days from now. What will you use to defend them? Aircrafts - Fxx, Sukhoi, Rafale, assortment of tanks and rocket launchers and missiles from different countries coming together. How about translating this to a military theme - World Force vs Aliens or something.

I really like this idea...

[The Deleter]

Personally, I think military sets would perfectly suit the Technic subseries. You get the detailed, historic models that all the army fanatics want, yet keep actual people and "sides" (minifigures) out of the whole mess. Plus, it would help kids get even more interested in the Technic line, while also having large enough builds to cater to the adult Lego fans. Not to mention it would shake up the Technic line quite well after so many years of generic construction and pedestrian machines.

[DPrime]

They shouldinclude a Top Gun style fighter pilot in a future CMF line, at least. They could get away with that.

Drill Instructor would probably be benign enough, too... Though it's a bit funny thinking of a DI as benign! Now that I think of it, if they can do a British soldier in ceremonial guard attire, why not a US Marine in dress blues?

[Strelki]

Sorry to come up with the only idea, but I think you can make a decent modern military MOC with what's availible. Here are some military sets you can use. You can't get them in LEGO stores, only in ebay.

Kashyyyk Troopers. The camo color on these guys is very good quality. Only the helmet is a bit too futuristic for a modern military scene but I'm sure it can be replaced in your MOC.

Army Men on Patrol. This is a nice army builder set. The color scheme is more clean on the guy's torsos . Truck, helmets, and accessories are good too. Only there is one problem. The heads are green and of bad quality. So just replace them with regular lego minifigure heads, and replace the hands. Also get rid of the plate that they are standing on, it makes no sense.

Battle of Endor. Two of the guys in this set have nice, light green army clothing. They are lighter than the outfits of the previously mentioned ones. Helmets are acceptable.

Endor Rebel Trooper & Imperial Trooper battle pack. Same with these two guys here.

River Chase. Includes great military gear and two soldiers. Their uniform is the same color as the rebel troopers. These are soviet soldiers, and I always wanted to make a soviet army. I also like the Russian stickers (?) on the vehicles.

Jungle Cutter. This is basically an army set. The vehicle could be modified into a tank or APC. It includes two soviet soldiers and a high ranking officer military personel.

Temple of the Crystal Skull. An old temple with traps and treasure, least where you expected soldiers to be and they are there! Includes one soviet soldier and Irina Spalko, whose grey military uniform could easily be used for male soldiers too. Also it includes a small military tank/truck/buggy...I don't know what it is but it looks great, and you can buy it on ebay seperately from the main temple complex. That's about it for this set.

Peril in Peru. This set has another soviet soldier, Irina Spalko, and the colonel from the jungle cutter set. There is also a military truck with soviet design on it!

Jungle Duel. What I like about this set is that it has a tent for a military camp or base.

Race for the Stolen Treasure. Here is a military transport truck and jeep with gun machine. Included three german soldiers. I don't think they really look like german soldiers, because german army wears grey or black uniform with swastika print on the arm, but that's also good because they can be just used as any generic soldiers. Their uniform is a nice tan color. I have this set, and it's pretty good one with nice quality. The vehicles are well designed and they look better in real life than in the image.

Motorcycle Chase. This set has a german soldier and some other nice stuff as well.

Fight on the Flying Wing. This is basically an army set. There is a big bomber plane, a truck, and another one of them german soldiers.

Sphinx Secret Surprise. Here is another army tent, but in a black color. Torso of Johnny Thunder and Baron von Barron may be used for soldiers, because the tan uniform is the same color as german soldiers.

Steel Sprinter. This is basically an army set. I have it and it looks nice. There is a soldier with tactical troops uniform. He has a small car and a bazooka.

Rebel Trooper Battle Pack. Uniforms of the soldiers in this set are the same color as uniforms of german soldiers.

Fire Nation Ship. This ship looks like a modern navy ship, but you need to add cannons seperately.

Now we get to the real meat and potatoes. LEGO has a few military sets, but not a standard modern military theme. Enlighten company produces not only one military theme, but two! Century Military and Combat Zone. Sets for each theme are different, but the only real difference is that minifigures included in Century Military are yellow skin, and minifigures included in Combat Zone are flesh skin. The pieces of Enlighten company are standard LEGO pieces, and as a result their sets are of a similar good quality as LEGO sets. Minifigures are standard LEGO minifigures as well. LEGO company minifigure on the left side, Enlighten company minifigure on the right side. You can't really tell the difference.

Here is the complete set list for Century Military:

http://bricker.ru/os...entury Military

For Combat Zone:

http://bricker.ru/os...ily=Combat Zone

You can buy them on ebay.

Notable sets:

Main battle tank. It's a standard military tank. It is actually made of seperate individual pieces, not huge prefabricated pieces.

Fighter Plane. I have this set, it's good quality. The cocpit where the pilot sits is a little bit cramped and if you want to take out the pilot you have to deconstruct the cocpit. Stickers are optional, but I think it looks better without stickers. The green camo tiles are printed.

Jeep. The jeep overall well designed and a great army builder set. I like the red star printed on their hats and jeep tile piece because it makes them look like soviet soldiers.

Command barrack. I really think this set is amateurishly designed, but great for MOC, and I like the radio dish on the roof.

Small Military. The expression of this guy's face and his katana sword makes him look like a soldier of japanese army. Notice the nonstandard design of the brick built sign.

Cornets. This guy's uniform is the same color as the aformentioned german soldiers. Also included sand bag pieces, which I think are unique.

Carry Truck. Lots of great army gear and cool minifigures. There is a small base for MOC and a military transport truck.

Tanks. This set has another tank with many great pieces and accessories. I like the anti-tank barricades/traps.

Chase. Helicopter, war motorcycle, army barells. Great army builder set. Nothing more to say here.

Here pictured are just some of the great army sets they offer. You can click on the links provided above to view them all.

Brickforge company produces many minifigure accessories, among them weapons for modern military. The quality, although not the same sky high quality as LEGO company, it as good as Enlighten company sets. I've bought a few accessories from them and they look very good! Apart from that most of them are not official LEGO moulds, you can't really tell the difference when added to any lego collection. You can buy their products from their site. http://www.brickforge.com/store/

Star Diamond company also produces military sets. Although I think that Enlighten company's army sets are more interesting, the quality of Star Diamond bricks is higher. It is higher than the quality of Brickforge and Enlighten, and almost the same quality as official LEGO. You can buy these priducts on ebay too. Minifigures are also standard lego ones.

Unfortunately I do not know the name of Star Diamond sets so I will just post some images.

And now with these boats we can recreate something like a d-day.

These guys have gray uniforms

Also we need to notice some sets of Mega Blocks company. Usually the quality of Mega Blocks is mediocre, and the pieces are prefabricated. However, these sets are much better.

Air Combat. I have this set, the quality is pretty good like official LEGO sets. It is not made of several prefabricated pieces or slopes, instead it is made up of bricks, regular studded bricks. It is not tiled over, and adds to the classic lego studded feel. The helicopter is minifigure scale but it does not include minifigures, so you need to get your own pilot. The cocpit is hinged and you can easily put in or remove the pilot without deconstructing the helicopter. Only one moment. There are, in front of the pilot seat, two 2x2 slope bricks to look like consoles. However they aren't printed! So you need to get your own printed pieces. There need to be four of them. The main and small rotors also spin.

When I moved to Arizona, I stored this set on my balcony temporarily. I forgot about it, and when I came to check, some of the pieces were deformed because of the heat and sunlight! The helicopter is impossible to build now. Now never ever again leave my bricks in the sunlight! I wonder if Mega Blocks has a replacement parts service?

Assault Chopper. To me it looks like a different color version of Air Combat helicopter. I don't own it though, so I don't know for sure.

Air Striker. This is a smaller helicopter. It looks like minifigure scale but doesn't include minifigures anyways.

Bradley M2A3. It looks like a tank or APC. My idea is that it goes well with the german soldiers. It is part of the same series so I assume it has the same good quality as my helicopter.

These are the only sets I reccomend. I do not reccomend other companies who may produce military brick sets because

-they are of a quality lower than official LEGO, Enlighten, Star Diamond, Brickforge.

-the pieces may not cling together and constantly fall apart.

-the minifigures included in the sets are not standard lego minifigures.

-they may not be made of standard ABS plastic.

have fun!

Edited June 15, 2014 by Strelki

[Faefrost]

And it's back.

Something to remind ourselves about all of this. Lego's founder was not some strange or ideological pacifist. He was not someone with a broad messages. He was simply someone who had lived through the ravages of two World Wars up close and personal. He saw the horrors and the impacts on his community his family his nation and his continent. And he made the simple basic and understandable choice to not make children's toys based on or commemorating or glorifying those events. Hence no toys specifically depicting modern warfare or military. Lego remains a family owned business, and the family respects their father and grandfathers wishes in this. It's that simple.

Think of it this way. We can debate the ethics of War Toys all day long. Whether they are harmful, harmless or actually serve a useful or important purpose. (Personally more and more I suspect that sanitizing children from learning of War in play in the end leads to War when they grow up, but that may be foolishness on my part. ) But at the end of the day I am pretty sure that we all will agree that we would have no business DEMANDING that an Iraqi or Afghan merchant make Toy Soldiers should he elect not to. I like to think that we could all understand why he would choose not to and respect that personal decision. Those who own Lego made that same personal decision, for very very understandable reasons. Reasons we can and should respect.

[Dharkan]

No, they shouldn't. You have all kind of violence available in anything from games to other toys. Just leave LEGO as it is now.

[DPrime]

No, they shouldn't. You have all kind of violence available in anything from games to other toys.

Including LEGO, too...

Just leave LEGO as it is now.

Or as it was, maybe, a long time ago? I know a lot of sci-fi fans are still clamoring for the "peaceful exploration" days of Classic Space... Seems like they can't do a space theme without conflict, anymore.

The anti-military thing is more about public relations/optics than anything else.

[Bob C]

Aren't there many custom-made minifigs for this?

[Strelki]

Aren't there many custom-made minifigs for this?

see list above please

[Al CZ]

LEGO is today most violence than in time of my childhood. I was born in "east block" and in this time - of cold war - is world of lego very peaceful, It was here a duplo, fabuland, legoland and technic. In legoland was castle - with knights - and this is all. Classic space was a sci-fi theme, red astronauts are "Russians", blue astronauts are "Americans" - and this is all. Later coming pirates... And today ? I was shocked ! Lego is really very violence. Ninjago, Chima, TMNT, Star Wars, Agents, DC and Marvel, Hobbit and LOTR, Castle.... War, war, war... In my old times City was a Police station - without crooks. I remember on World city - weirdest city of all times. It was relased in 2002 and was here a AFV in police station, newly designed policemans and LBI.... I was shocked - shadow of terrorism over Lego ? And now ? About a decade we have many actions themes.... I was really shocked with fantasy castle theme - with skeletons (zombies) and skeleton horses.... With cemetry in HP.... Horror, war.... killing... Often i hope in return of Fabuland. With its old times atmosphere... It is a hipocrisy - in Indy were Nazis. And Soviets... And in Toy Story Americans...And in Exclusives TLC made a WW I Camel fighter - naturally - with guns... It is a piece of history... Real war isn´t OK.... unreal war IS OK. I have goosebumps from spiders or scorpions in Chima... On CMF are too many warriors... I haven´t problem with historic line from Great war of WW II. Why TLC yes ?

[DPrime]

^ some good perspective, here...

[Ben C]

Personally I feel lego shouldn't produce a military theme, agreeing to what another member said about there being custom minifigs and pieces for it..

[sethmotion]

To be honest I'm rather doubtful. Because Lego is an international company, that could create problems and anger customers of other nationalities if they made a military for one specific country. Plus, since they will want to be politically correct, they will try to avoid offending children who have a father (or mother) in the military. That would be making toys about the thing that separated their family (and possibly destroyed it). Therefore, I would be shocked if Lego made this an official theme, but I can see them selling some sort of sci-fi military.

[Wodanis]

LEGO is today most violence than in time of my childhood. I was born in "east block" and in this time - of cold war - is world of lego very peaceful, It was here a duplo, fabuland, legoland and technic. In legoland was castle - with knights - and this is all. Classic space was a sci-fi theme, red astronauts are "Russians", blue astronauts are "Americans" - and this is all. Later coming pirates... And today ? I was shocked ! Lego is really very violence. Ninjago, Chima, TMNT, Star Wars, Agents, DC and Marvel, Hobbit and LOTR, Castle.... War, war, war... In my old times City was a Police station - without crooks. I remember on World city - weirdest city of all times. It was relased in 2002 and was here a AFV in police station, newly designed policemans and LBI.... I was shocked - shadow of terrorism over Lego ? And now ? About a decade we have many actions themes.... I was really shocked with fantasy castle theme - with skeletons (zombies) and skeleton horses.... With cemetry in HP.... Horror, war.... killing... Often i hope in return of Fabuland. With its old times atmosphere... It is a hipocrisy - in Indy were Nazis. And Soviets... And in Toy Story Americans...And in Exclusives TLC made a WW I Camel fighter - naturally - with guns... It is a piece of history... Real war isn´t OK.... unreal war IS OK. I have goosebumps from spiders or scorpions in Chima... On CMF are too many warriors... I haven´t problem with historic line from Great war of WW II. Why TLC yes ?

I do not view TLG as hypocrites. TLG has stated quite often that they will not make modern war themed toys. It is part of their ethos since the company's founding.

Licensed themes reflect the conflicts within those worlds such as LoTR and Star Wars. All stories shared by humans have in their essence conflict. Conflict progresses a story. Conflict of man vs man, man vs himself, man vs an outside force. Chima or Ninjago are a prime example of this. Have you seen any movie that hasn't had one of these conflicts? You won't find one. In these themes the conflicts are still based in fantasy. Last time I checked Classic space astronauts were not 'Red vs Blue', Russian vs American. I find that view rather insulting. Perhaps you would do well to re-read Faefrost's post as he sums it up pretty well. I would recommend that if you find conflicts distasteful play with something else.

As for the other post with all the Chinese knock offs. Who is promoting war there?

And it's back.

Something to remind ourselves about all of this. Lego's founder was not some strange or ideological pacifist. He was not someone with a broad messages. He was simply someone who had lived through the ravages of two World Wars up close and personal. He saw the horrors and the impacts on his community his family his nation and his continent. And he made the simple basic and understandable choice to not make children's toys based on or commemorating or glorifying those events. Hence no toys specifically depicting modern warfare or military. Lego remains a family owned business, and the family respects their father and grandfathers wishes in this. It's that simple.

[naf]

I don't know what Lego's "official" stance is, whether it is against violence in general, or just modern realistic depictions of war. But no one can say that Lego is a non-violent toy. It doesn't matter if you're depicting World War 2 or some imaginary war against bugs in outer space, you're still glorifying war and violence. If Lego has moved more towards conflict because that's what people buy, well that's just a sad commentary on today's society. I also think it's slightly lazy on Lego's part. If they really got creative they could create a fantastic space theme with zero violence, and it would sell.

[1980-Something-Space-Guy]

As a pacifist and a citizen of a country with no army, I have to say no.

[--Removed--]

I say Yes, and be subdivided into:

World War 1

Aircraft

Tanks

Trenches

World War 2

Aircraft

Tanks

Battles

I would love a P-51, Spitfire, ME109, and FW190.

[Gremer]

I'm against it. In every war, families are destroyed, people are killed en masse, and I just don't think it's right to profit from the deaths of millions.

[Aanchir]

If anyone's interested, Nabii describes the situation here (and also verifies that grey bricks were indeed avoided for the Yellow Castle in case kids might use them to make tanks).

Generally, I have to agree with the LEGO Group's policies. It would be rather distasteful to do a modern military theme with how serious and sensitive an issue war is for many families and communities. Of course, it would be interesting to get a better sense of where the LEGO Group draws the line. There is definitely some subjectivity involved, but with that said, the LEGO Group is totally entitled to make subjective decisions based on what they think would be more or less likely to offend their buyers. Generally, I don't expect the LEGO Group to ever make a 20th or 21st century military theme, even though some 20th and 21st century military vehicles and uniforms have appeared in sets. It's the difference between having war as a theme's subject and having it as its context, which is probably how things like the military vehicles in the Indiana Jones and Man of Steel sets have been permitted.

[Al CZ]

But in ´80 and ´90 Lego was primary a building toy... My both parents are M.D. and my first LEGO was a 6364 Paramedics Unit. Later i prefer a Police and Firefighter theme,castles and pirates. But still was lego a relative non -conflict toy... And stimulated my interest of history... Lion Kings-czech kings, "Eagle" (Black Falcons) - german knights...etc..., pirates (red coat-englishs blue coat - frenchmans) - but still was here a peacefully space, living city, creative basic and technic, or cute Fabuland. Every boy read a adventure books, with pirates, cowboys and indians, knights and every boy can a Robin Hood (Forestman) story... Still was it a part of collective memory of humankind and part of western culture... (R.L. Stevenson Treasure Island). This is an adventure - sea adventure, medieval adventure, space adventure... a personal desire to discover of every child... When i was a pre-scholar kid i use a part of round cheese box as "royal crown", i have a plastic sabre (not sword) and still crying - "Heeah, i was a prince !" I was a prince from fairy tails who rescue sleeping Beauty from it´s castle behind rose jungle... and maybe slaught a dragon ! And my biggest dream was a pirate ship and castle... (From Lego - naturally). I like a Space Police too, with their gorgeuous spaceships with prison pods... for Blacktron bad guys... But - and still - is LEGO a peacefuly. Today it´s not a primary a building toy, it´s a action toy. Where is my "city clinics" ? Where is a rescue theme ? Why is here a still war and ugly minifigs ? Yes, world is about conflicts, many conflicts but for kids may be a "idylic, peaceful and little didactics". In Vikings thema a decade ago were a monsters from scandinavian myths and legends, in CMF are mythic creature from ancient Greece and great figures from history (Caesar, Cleopatra, Shakesphere, Washington, Lincoln...)this can give a positive interest for school childerns... Why TLC don´t make an anthic theme ? Why make a Chima or Ninjago ? Yes, i´m fan of Batman, Ninja Turtles, Indiana Jones, but i´am AFOL... For me are this theme a parts of my life... and little nostalgic... (Most nostalgic are Ghostbusters...) But why ugly Chima with scary spiders and scorpions ? (Many peoples hates spiders...) Ninjago with undeads and snake demons.... I´m not pacifist, but for me is really in today TLC catalog too many "warriors themes". (But yes, many are probably made especialy for AFOL community (LOTR, many SW sets..etc.) And sets are primary "action" and not used for builders... When is controversy in "real war theme" why aren´t controversy with may scary and horror sets ? Many people around the world are bitten by spiders and snakes or killed by crocodiles - and we have here a Chima... And agents ? This isn´t a James Bond theme,war isn´t OK, but secret services, espionage and deadly agents are OK.... I can´t wait for Benny Spaceship and Exo-Suit - back to ´80, back to early childhood, back to space theme with exploration of distance planets... And yes, aircrafts and military styled vehicles from Lego are ugly, aircrafts are round and from LEGO looks often ugly... What you can reproduces a elegant shapes of Spitfire ?

[lightningtiger]

The truth of the matter is the Lego we all know and love was born out of a post-war country, who wish to distance themselves from such things. Now Indiana Jones was a licensed product and basically Agents and AC/GS might be the closest to army/navy/air force sets you'll ever see from Lego. But looking at the fresh list for the some of the city sets for next year......it is a police state so it can be just as bad ?

[Itaria No Shintaku]

Reading the AFOLs in this forum it is obvious that we would have more people disappointed than the ones pleased if that happened.

[Herky]

I am not sure what you are reading, the majority is for a military line, but understand TLG is not going to make one even though they have touched on it and worse already. Bottom line is that war has been a constant of my children's lives since they were born since they have relatives in the US Army who are deployed right now in Afghanistan and there are tons of war toys in the US and around the world. AI CZ and Strelki and Aanchir make great points on this page alone...Itaria you have stated several times that you say no to this topic, thanks for your opinion, others will continue to weigh in though for or against, which is great. War is a constant in our world, whether or not TLG does make an actual military theme will remain to be seen as leadership changes in the future at the company.

[Yzalirk]

I don't think there should be a military them but if it's something completely made up like a space themed military, why not? Some people just may find it offensive if there were sets dedicated to modern day military.