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The next space theme....

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You know, I think they outright told us what the next theme may be. Just look at the name of the Series 7 minifig. Galaxy Patrol.

I hope so, but I think your reading to much into it. I doubt it will be that aggressive or military a theme as you describe, and I'd bet it will have more of a deep space exploration element to it (because their due for something like that). I think it's easier to speculate what it won't be: Space Police 4, Mars, AC Aliens. It will definitely have some type of antagonist, (robot, insect, ect..). I would love to see the return of classic space/blacktron insignia in a new theme, but I wouldn't bet on it. We just have to wait and see.

It's interesting to see correlations with CMF ideas as precursors to new themes/sets:

CMF Monsters - Monster Fighters

Series 1 Ninja, Samurai - Ninjago

Gray Alien - AC

Surgeon - City Hospital

Hippie - VW van in city park garage and VW exclusive

Lumberjack - Forest Police

Elf Archer,Dwarf - LOTR

White Spaceman, Pink Space girl, Black Evil space guy, Space marine - ????

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I hope so, but I think your reading to much into it. I doubt it will be that aggressive or military a theme as you describe, and I'd bet it will have more of a deep space exploration element to it (because their due for something like that). I think it's easier to speculate what it won't be: Space Police 4, Mars, AC Aliens. It will definitely have some type of antagonist, (robot, insect, ect..). I would love to see the return of classic space/blacktron insignia in a new theme, but I wouldn't bet on it. We just have to wait and see.

It's interesting to see correlations with CMF ideas as precursors to new themes/sets:

CMF Monsters - Monster Fighters

Series 1 Ninja, Samurai - Ninjago

Gray Alien - AC

Surgeon - City Hospital

Hippie - VW van in city park garage and VW exclusive

Lumberjack - Forest Police

Elf Archer,Dwarf - LOTR

White Spaceman, Pink Space girl, Black Evil space guy, Space marine - ????

It's actually the official name of that Space Marine CMF that really makes me think that is what they at least we're planning. TLG calls him the "Galaxy Patrol" figure. That's an interesting name, that really sucks a lot of the militarism out of it. It leaves the impression of a more multirole theme more akin to a space going Coast Guard than a planetary invasion or war. As I said it is an interesting name. While the fig is clearly setup for the two sided conflict that drives so many boys toys these days, it also calls back to classic space with the name. It seems to call back to he Galaxy Explorer or the Space Cruiser and the more exploratory or civilian themes they represented.

As I said this is all speculation on our part. But it's a fun guessing game to play.

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A great theme to add would be star trek. If TLG ever got the license for it. It would offer some great figs and some cool ship designs. Or that one idea they post of cuusoo space marines would be great too.

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A great theme to add would be star trek. If TLG ever got the license for it.

Probably not for awhile... Hasbro currently has the License for Star Trek to produce Kre-o sets. Maybe some day - stranger things have happened.

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Probably not for awhile... Hasbro currently has the License for Star Trek to produce Kre-o sets. Maybe some day - stranger things have happened.

I'm suspecting that the Star Trek license fell to Kreo for a song because nobody else wanted it. I know we all love trek, but the sad truth is the license has not done that great in the toy market in decades. Mego made good money from them in the 70's and Playmates in the 80's. But anything after that has been painful. Every toy maker that had a license for the last J J Abrams StR Trek reboot movie lost money hand over fist, with almost record speed. Nobody wanted the stuff.

Trek does well in the adult collector market. But in Legos target age ranges it has a lousy recent history.

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Trek does well in the adult collector market. But in Legos target age ranges it has a lousy recent history.

Interestingly I haven't seen any Star Trek sets from Kreo. I have noticed that their transformer and Battleship sets don't seem to sell as well as Lego sets either. Star Trek would be a great theme for AFOLs, but agree that Lego's target audience wouldn't go for Trek.

I'd love to see Lego produce a new space theme. An update to the original sapce theme would be great, or he Space Marines idea on Cuusoo would be great too. Let's face it, we just want a space theme!

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what would be cool to see in the future is like Knight's kingdom but in the far future with futuristic technology. that would be something quite new and a bit of nostalgic of the Knight's Kingdom line of long ago. So like the knights and vladek with lasers and futuristic armour that looks like knight armour but from the future. There could also be futuristic castles and stuff like that! Just a crazy idea!

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what would be cool to see in the future is like Knight's kingdom but in the far future with futuristic technology. that would be something quite new and a bit of nostalgic of the Knight's Kingdom line of long ago. So like the knights and vladek with lasers and futuristic armour that looks like knight armour but from the future. There could also be futuristic castles and stuff like that! Just a crazy idea!

In Ben10, they were called The Forever Knights. :wink:

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I know this is an old topic, but I thought it would be fun to restart a discussion on this again

On 8/24/2013 at 8:03 AM, legofreak86 said:

what would be cool to see in the future is like Knight's kingdom but in the far future with futuristic technology. that would be something quite new and a bit of nostalgic of the Knight's Kingdom line of long ago. So like the knights and vladek with lasers and futuristic armour that looks like knight armour but from the future. There could also be futuristic castles and stuff like that! Just a crazy idea!

As one of the last posts on this thread, this is most frightening, prophetic wish! :oh3:

On 3/9/2012 at 3:07 PM, lightningtiger said:

A fresh angle could be adapting an old sci-fi comic book theme, similar along the lines of Flash Gordon or Buck Rogers....old school space ships, ray guns and an evil ruler of a alien planet wanting to rule the universe.....then a minifig hero and crew rise up to fight this evil foe. :wink:

Definitely would love to see something like this, as I have said on many other threads here! At the same time though, I have also lamented that a retro space theme would not likely coexist alongside Star Wars due to their similarities, not in aesthetic style, but their shared story themes.

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On 8/24/2013 at 9:03 AM, legofreak86 said:

what would be cool to see in the future is like Knight's kingdom but in the far future with futuristic technology. that would be something quite new and a bit of nostalgic of the Knight's Kingdom line of long ago. So like the knights and vladek with lasers and futuristic armour that looks like knight armour but from the future. There could also be futuristic castles and stuff like that! Just a crazy idea!

Apparently this wasn't such a crazy idea. :laugh:

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On 3/9/2012 at 4:07 PM, lightningtiger said:

A fresh angle could be adapting an old sci-fi comic book theme, similar along the lines of Flash Gordon or Buck Rogers....old school space ships, ray guns and an evil ruler of a alien planet wanting to rule the universe.....then a minifig hero and crew rise up to fight this evil foe. :wink:

This could be a lot of fun.

20 hours ago, BrickJagger said:

Apparently this wasn't such a crazy idea. :laugh:

That's one opinion...

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On ‎8‎/‎24‎/‎2013 at 6:03 AM, legofreak86 said:

what would be cool to see in the future is like Knight's kingdom but in the far future with futuristic technology. that would be something quite new and a bit of nostalgic of the Knight's Kingdom line of long ago. So like the knights and vladek with lasers and futuristic armour that looks like knight armour but from the future. There could also be futuristic castles and stuff like that! Just a crazy idea!

Either this guy predicted the future or this was just a hint of what was to come :look:

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41 minutes ago, Arctic_Ace said:

Either this guy predicted the future or this was just a hint of what was to come :look:

Well, this thread was resurrected after a whole year just to post this "crazy idea".

Maybe Nexo Knights was conceived around this time (August 2013), when Legends of Chima (a.k.a. Fabuland Wars) was in its second wave, and perhaps a big bang theme successor was in the works. 

So did legofreak86 know something? :distressed:

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On 5/26/2017 at 8:17 PM, Digger of Bricks said:

Definitely would love to see something like this, as I have said on many other threads here! At the same time though, I have also lamented that a retro space theme would not likely coexist alongside Star Wars due to their similarities, not in aesthetic style, but their shared story themes.

I think I'm one of the few who probably wouldn't want to see this as a theme. Unless it include aliens, then sign me up!

But I would like to see something like Space Police III again. Something along the lines of Blacktron vs the space police but he Blacktron are a mix of humans and aliens of different species. I'd love to see that happen!

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On 5/28/2017 at 5:06 PM, TheLazyChicken said:

I think I'm one of the few who probably wouldn't want to see this as a theme. Unless it include aliens, then sign me up!

But I would like to see something like Space Police III again. Something along the lines of Blacktron vs the space police but he Blacktron are a mix of humans and aliens of different species. I'd love to see that happen!

Space Police should have aliens in their ranks, too.  Unless we're likening them to the Empire...

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41 minutes ago, x105Black said:

Space Police should have aliens in their ranks, too.  Unless we're likening them to the Empire...

I agree. As much as I liked the Aliens of Space Police III, the lineup was kind of, well, speciesist.

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So, as we enter 2019, I'd like to ask y'all a question...

What direction do you think the next Space theme should take in order to coexist alongside Star Wars?

On 5/28/2017 at 4:06 PM, TheLazyChicken said:

I think I'm one of the few who probably wouldn't want to see this as a theme. Unless it include aliens, then sign me up!

Who says such a theme couldn't or wouldn't include aliens? :shrug_confused:

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31 minutes ago, Digger of Bricks said:

What direction do you think the next Space theme should take in order to coexist alongside Star Wars?

There seem to be two broad options: "hard" science fiction or space fantasy.

For hard sci-fi, the best bet is probably near-distant future (think 2100s) exploration of the outer solar system with different factions (reminiscent of Blacktron/Exploriens?) competing.

Note: For the record, I will eat a bowl full of bricks if TLG ever actually does the following:

On the space fantasy side, an adaptation of CS Lewis's Out of the Silent Planet would make an interesting concept. The novel, written in the late 1930s, includes three different species of Martians. The retro "hero ship" - actually the villain's ship - is described vaguely enough to give TLG some design liberty, and it could appeal to Adventurers fans as it features 1930s British explorers in space. Again, I realize that the probability of TLG actually building a theme around such an obscure IP is basically zero - just wishlisting here.

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I've probably mentioned it here before, but I'm too lazy to check.

I would like to see a Space theme that uses a lot of the philosophies behind Classic Space / Futuron / Blacktron / Spyrius.

Multicolored minifigures like Classic Space and Futuron, with a bit of an upgrade, similar to upgrades found in the CMF line.  Kind of a Neo-Classic Space.  Nostalgic references to the original themes would be nice.  Of course, robots and aliens would be welcome, but let's not go overboard.

Anyways, that's what I imagine.

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On 12/28/2018 at 12:07 PM, Pdaitabird said:

Note: For the record, I will eat a bowl full of bricks if TLG ever actually does the following:

On the space fantasy side, an adaptation of CS Lewis's Out of the Silent Planet would make an interesting concept. The novel, written in the late 1930s, includes three different species of Martians. The retro "hero ship" - actually the villain's ship - is described vaguely enough to give TLG some design liberty, and it could appeal to Adventurers fans as it features 1930s British explorers in space. Again, I realize that the probability of TLG actually building a theme around such an obscure IP is basically zero - just wishlisting here.

Huh, I never knew C.S. Lewis delved into Sci-Fi. :shrug_confused: 

Well, upon reading the novel's synopsis over at Wiki, I would like to see its narrative element of allied extraterrestrials and antagonistic humans incorporated into an original Space theme of Lego's. Now, though it may not involve antagonistic humans, one idea I've thrown around elsewhere before is for a Space playtheme focused upon a crash-landed crew of human space explorers defending the alien planet's natives against another race of invading extraterrestrial conquerors. It'd kinda be like James Cameron's Avatar or Edgar Rice Burroughs' John Carter meets Lost in Space. :shrug_oh_well:

3 hours ago, x105Black said:

I've probably mentioned it here before, but I'm too lazy to check.

Highly unlikely, as the previous four pages of discussion here predates your own presence here at Eurobricks. :wink:

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Space bases and  vehicles that can split up are like my main interests for a  space theme atm.

 

Focus on resource gathering, or exploration,would be nice, even tho there was a time where Futuron/Blacktron 1/Space Police 1 were like good guys/bad guys/cops, and that was later continued with M-Tron/Blacktron-2/Space Police 2.

Europe never got Unitron sets which were fairly similar to Futuron in concept and color scheme. , even had a monorail as well.

Blacktron 1/2 and Spyrius were the "bad guys", while M-Tron, Ice Planet, and Exploriens were research/gatherers. 

 

Of course good color contrast with transparent elements would be great.

A notable feature of space bases was the big use of pillars or large transparent elements to make them look a lot bigger then the piece count would suggest. 

 

I don't expect the return of magnets, but it was a key feature during the resource gathering time of 90s LEGO Space and Aquazone.

I never was interested in the Mission to Mars, Alien Conquest or Galaxy Squad sets, as their designs were further off the 90s imo then like Space Police 3.

 

 

Edited by TeriXeri

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On some levels, we've already seen an attempt to return to the classic style "multicolored astronauts" vibe with Galaxy Squad. Considering how many other themes have used and continue to use characters with color-coded outfits/uniforms (e.g. Bionicle, Alpha Team, Knights' Kingdom II, Exo-Force, Ninjago, Elves, Nexo Knights, etc) I wouldn't be surprised to see Space revisit that trope in the future.

Honestly, it's kind of amusing how much more receptive Spacers are to that trope than fans of other traditional LEGO themes, since it's not as though there's any more real-life basis for color-coded uniforms on a team of astronauts than a team of secret agents, knights, or ninja.

39 minutes ago, TeriXeri said:

Blacktron were seen as bad guys, as were Spyrius, while M-Tron, Ice Planet, and Exploriens were research/gatherers.

In most countries' set names and advertisements, M:Tron was primarily associated with rescue and emergency response operations, not research or gathering. For one reason or another the US set names and advertisements relied more on cheesy rap videos and vaguely exciting buzzwords/technobabble than anything about what the M:Tron astronauts and ships were actually doing out there in space.

Advertising for M:Tron also didn't exactly downplay their heated relationship with Blacktron… I always laugh a little when I remember this European catalog page that has a bunch of M:Tron astronauts surrounding and aggressively brandishing wrenches at a pair of Blacktron spies!

Edited by Aanchir

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On 12/28/2018 at 12:07 PM, Pdaitabird said:

For hard sci-fi, the best bet is probably near-distant future (think 2100s) exploration of the outer solar system with different factions (reminiscent of Blacktron/Exploriens?) competing.

What about a true* Space Mining theme, something perhaps to act as a spiritual successor to Power Miners ten years after the fact? :shrug_oh_well:

* Not Rock Raiders, that is.

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On 12/28/2018 at 9:08 AM, Digger of Bricks said:

What direction do you think the next Space theme should take in order to coexist alongside Star Wars?

Hmm so how do you make a cool Space theme that is different enough from Star Wars to not compete with it (i.e. not piss off Disney)?

  1. Make it more exploration/space slice-of-life based
    1. Ideas: space mining (already mentioned), space rescue, robot repair/recovery, space junk removal, etc
  2. Have a mix of spaceships and other cool things like Mecha or Combiners; both of those are Sci-Fi and Spacey but not something Star Wars is really known for
  3. Have conflict not based on war
    1. possible alternatives: Pirates/Spies (think Blacktron or Spyrius), space races, rescues, mecha competitions, first to the treasure
  4. Have a cartoon with characters and a storyline -- not sure if anything can succeed these days without something like this
  5. Keep "one foot in" the Classic Space mythos; keep the Classic Space symbol with throwbacks to all the old factions and color schemes; have a likeable character from each faction in the cartoon. This strongly ties the universe to Lego's own brand and preempts any accusations of copying Star Wars.
  6. Always have colored canopies and vibrant color schemes

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7 hours ago, Aanchir said:

On some levels, we've already seen an attempt to return to the classic style "multicolored astronauts" vibe with Galaxy Squad.

Yeah, but this wasn't done in the best way.  I liked a lot of it, but disliked the over-reliance on Ender's Game / Starship Troopers bug alien concepts.  The colored astronauts could have been more color-based, and more of an homage to Classic Space.  They could have used the Classic Space logo.  But yes, I got your overall point about the color-coded minifigures.

3 hours ago, danth said:

Hmm so how do you make a cool Space theme that is different enough from Star Wars to not compete with it (i.e. not piss off Disney)?

  1. Make it more exploration/space slice-of-life based
    1. Ideas: space mining (already mentioned), space rescue, robot repair/recovery, space junk removal, etc
  2. Have a mix of spaceships and other cool things like Mecha or Combiners; both of those are Sci-Fi and Spacey but not something Star Wars is really known for
  3. Have conflict not based on war
    1. possible alternatives: Pirates/Spies (think Blacktron or Spyrius), space races, rescues, mecha competitions, first to the treasure
  4. Have a cartoon with characters and a storyline -- not sure if anything can succeed these days without something like this
  5. Keep "one foot in" the Classic Space mythos; keep the Classic Space symbol with throwbacks to all the old factions and color schemes; have a likeable character from each faction in the cartoon. This strongly ties the universe to Lego's own brand and preempts any accusations of copying Star Wars.
  6. Always have colored canopies and vibrant color schemes

This is great.  I like all of it.

The idea of Mecha and Combiners takes it further out of Star Wars, but let's not get too Gundam here either.  I feel Voltron is a good model.

The Pirates and Spies idea here works perfectly.

Adding a cartoon is a great topping to this, but let's not have it suffer from the silliness of the cartoon genre.  Some cartoons can be good without bad humor spoiling the fun.

Colored canopies are great, but I like simple transparent canopies as well.  I also like trans black.  Just me personally, though.

Anyways, I'm on board!

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