Oky

The Lego Movie and canon

Lego Movie Canon  

138 members have voted

  1. 1. In your opinion, how does the Lego Movie affect the Lego canon?

    • All themes exist in the same world like in the movie.
      36
    • It doesn't affect it. It exists in its own universe.
      36
    • I don't care. It's just a movie.
      66


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It would be hilarious if some Galidor figures turned up in the movie. Maybe in a nightmare sequence.

Or Emmet gets trapped in Modulex world and freaks out at all the 1:1 ratio.

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I find the very idea of Lego "canon" bizarre, forcing any sort of rules on how to play seems so fundamentally un-Lego like. I know that, as a kid, my Pirates fought with Knights and Spacemen and it never once occurred to me that they shouldn't.

Imagination should be the only thing that dictates how you can play with Lego and long may that continue.

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My opinion is reflected in the following 2 comments.

In my opinion, there is no LEGO canon. Each LEGO theme has its own storyline that it can play as loosely or strictly as it wants to be, and there is also room for crossovers that aren't constrained by any canon. Time Cruisers played with the idea that LEGO themes were largely on the same planet at different points in time, Clutch Powers set Castle, Space, and City on different planets, and the LEGO Movie is now appearing to take an entirely different approach.

Prior to BIONICLE, LEGO did not have any fully-organized "intellectual properties" with a thorough story bible explaining the rules of each particular theme. Rather, the producers of the themes' marketing materials could basically take products and premise handed to them by LEGO HQ and present them in their own marketing materials however they liked. And even after BIONICLE, plenty of LEGO themes have played fast and loose with the concept of "canon", as evidenced by Clutch Powers, which took the established themes and once again interpreted them however the creators liked.

I think trying to even ESTABLISH a unified "canon" for LEGO themes ruins the spirit of open-ended playfulness that defines the LEGO brand. Certainly there is room to say certain story-driven themes relate to each other in specific ways, but it is not a mandate. The Mars in LEGO Mars Mission doesn't have to be the same Mars in LEGO Life on Mars, nor does the Governor Broadside from the 2009 LEGO Pirates reboot have to be the same as the original one from 1989. This essay written over a decade ago shows just how stupid it is to try and impose a unified canon across TV shows that happen to cross over — it's just as silly to try and do the same thing for LEGO themes instead of just letting them intermingle according to whatever rules particular stories demand, and letting fans draw their own connections between non-continuity-driven themes however they please.

I find the very idea of Lego "canon" bizarre, forcing any sort of rules on how to play seems so fundamentally un-Lego like. I know that, as a kid, my Pirates fought with Knights and Spacemen and it never once occurred to me that they shouldn't.

Imagination should be the only thing that dictates how you can play with Lego and long may that continue.

The middle bit from Aanchir sums up the "existing canon", they just made it up as they went.

For this movie, they're just making it up as they go, and things that some wouldn't think go together will be put together. That's how kids play anyway. I converted a space base for my pirates, to fight against the "other" castle factions...

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Thanks for all your detailed thoughts, everyone! :sweet: I'll try do address all the points made so far.

Mind if I nitpick for a moment? :tongue: Captain Indigo comics from the 80s Bricks 'n Pieces magazine involved classic space, Futuron, town, Black Knights, Crusaders, and Forestmen (with time travel involved in the castle bits), and LU only took place on a single planet (Crux) which had been shattered into various fragments, without much mention of other planets in the universe. That's what I'm going with.

Ah, thanks for correcting me on that. I haven't actually read those comics or played LU, so I apologize if I got my facts wrong.

Well, if we're going to nitpick. The 1980 Idea book showed Town, Castle, and Space were all in the same universe. No need for time travel, just a space ship. And I would love Bill and Mary to show up in the Lego movie.

I haven't read that book either, so I can't really judge how it fits into canon, but maybe TC is right, maybe that all took place inside Bill and Mary's imagination. But if it is canon, perhaps it is part of the Clutch Powers theory that each theme exists on its own planet.

Oky, you forgot about Lego Island ,where Pepper Roni had to go to different themes to stop the Brickster.

Another game I haven't played, so I can't say much about it, but I did play the Lego Racers games, which involved Stargate-like portals, and as far as I know, Lego Island 2 had those too. Whether these portals bring you to a different island on the same planet, a different time period, another dimension, or an island on a different planet was never quite clear I think.

Ah I hoped Oky will start thread like this!

We know Heartlake city is in the same planet the "Movie city" (Called Bricksburg if I recall it correctly).

And there is Green Ninja... And Michelangelo. And Super Heroes...

I love discussing Lego Headcanons and I somewhat hate how Lego mixes the styles in their promotional contents.

For example Ninjago and Chima movies are set in "No Brick" universe, when books, games and comics are. The Friends theme in other hand are set it traditional Brick universe- Where real plants and brick plants live together in peace :) I find this pretty annoying and confusing. :sceptic:

Really? Well, I'm glad I didn't disappoint. :laugh:

True, there have been several different representations of the Lego world with varying amounts of non-Lego elements in them, but I think that these styles are really just that, different styles of fleshing out the Lego world, and don't affect the canon of the Lego universe. In the Lego Movie, it's different because there are only a few non-Lego objects, so they stick out like a sore thumb and seem like they were included for a reason, whereas in other Lego movies, games, etc. it seems more like the artists were just too lazy to design the entire world in bricks.

It is also not a storyline from LEGO directly, LEGO let the directors create their own storyline using LEGO but they also gave some creative input.

That makes sense. The fact that the story didn't come directly from Lego confirms that it is not part of Lego's own universe.

What I want to know is whether the three Lego Star Wars cartoons (Padawan Menace, Empire Strikes Out, and Yoda Chronicles) are canon with the Star Wars universe. Other than Maul surviving to the original trilogy era, there's nothing that says it can't be... (the silliness notwithstanding). :laugh:

Interesting question. I don't think they are part of the Star Wars universe, but they are part of the LEGO Star Wars universe, which are two different things. The Lego Star Wars universe is different from the Star Wars universe in that everything is a bit sillier and all the characters, vehicles, and objects are made out of Lego. Darth Maul may not be around in the OT in the Star Wars universe, but apparently he is in the Lego Star Wars universe (which makes sense since he was revived and never killed off again in The Clone Wars).

It is in the same vein that I think the universe of The Lego Movie differs from the official Lego universe. It is a parallel universe that is a bit different in nature, but still based on the official Lego universe.

As long as we're overthinking things, where do you think Fabuland fits in, considering a character from the movie wears a Fabuland shirt? Is it a theme park?

In the movie, it could be a town that is inhabited by anthropomorphic animals just like how Heartlake City is a town inhabited by minidolls in that world, or it could be a TV show or something. We can't really know for sure at this point since the movie seems to incorporate different themes in its own kind of way. In the Lego universe, I think Fabuland is a planet of its own, but that's just MOCanon.

So, now that we've opened that can of worms, I suppose that begs the question of "What about those Technic dudes?" and "What about Duplo figs?". If the discussion wants to get super technical, than there's Belville and Jack Stone and Bionicle and Galidor and and and.

Even if you want to limit it to just System themes with minifigs, then you have to allot for the weird armless figures from the early days.

This is why I think that "canon" is pretty much whatever you want it to be with LEGO themes' inter-connectivity.

When talking about Lego canon, you usually only count the System themes. The armless minifigs are largely ignored in all of Lego's canon material. Even the Lego Movie seems to limit itself to regular minifigs and a few brick-built characters.

Maybe Octan was meant for it to be evil. The Skull Twins from Space Police ||| had a Octan Jacket and they were probably told to commit crimes in the space world. Unless it could also mean that they just stole some Octan jacket and decided to wear it. I could be wrong though...

Interesting point. I always thought they just stole those jackets too, and since there was hint of Octan being evil in any of the other sets, I'm sticking to that theory.

I'm kind of afraid that the movie will taint the name of Octan, causing Lego to not represent it as much in sets anymore, but the 2014 City sets don't show any sign of this happening, so I hope this is not the case.

I don't think there is or ever has been an overarching Lego canon. Lego Universe's canon never overlapped with other games or themes, and most magazine crossovers or the like operate on their own rules without regard to what has gone before. The Lego Movie continues this trend by inventing its own world where various themes coexist in a toy-like capacity.

I do like to look at how various themes interact in various media (especially when they do so in the sets themselves, such as the Classic Space marble statue in Space Police III or Brains from Power Miners joining the Atlantis crew in the latter theme's second year). But if you're trying to reconcile the disparate canons Lego has established in the past, or trying to judge one story's canon as "more canon" than another, you're probably overthinking things.

While I do think that there is an overarching Lego canon, you are right that some materials like the Lego Magazine crossovers (both modern comics as well as the old Lego Maniac comics) seem to make up their own canon, creating contradictions with other pieces of canon, and should therefore probably be considered less canon. I don't think that trying to sort out which of these things are actually part of Lego's official canon is overthinking things, it's just trying to make sense of the stories that Lego tells us.

I think that these references aren't there to establish any kind of official framework for the LEGO themes, but as a way for the designers to honor the themes that came before, and tell the fans, "Yes, we remember that thing you liked".

For some references, you might be right, but I don't think this is true for all references to past themes. Some of them, like the ones you mentioned, are very specific. If they say Ogel is a descendant of Vladek, it means that the two themes take place in the same universe/timeline. Same for Johnny and Josh. Why would they go through the trouble to give us this information if they didn't intend the stories to be connected? I doubt that they would do that solely for fan-pandering.

I'm straying slightly from the topic at hand, but it's important to note that, appropriately, there is no recognized LEGO canon. There are enough elements to create one or more, however: these are the characters and themes created by LEGO and its various licensees over the years: the books, movies, theme park shows, and particularly the club magazines. This is sort of akin to playing with the sets and minifigures you buy. It's fun, it's entertaining, I think it's worthwhile, but it's only a fraction of the fun of LEGO. I've seen the term headcanon used in this thread, and it's appropriate. I think something like MOCanon might be more fun to adopt, though. :)

Given that, it's less a question of how the LEGO Movie fits into canon than how much of it will fit into any particular perception of the LEGO universe.

Thank you for your detailed analysis of Lego lore, TC! And yes, MOCanon (My Own Canon) is a perfect word to describe Lego headcanon! :grin: You're right, there's unfortunately not a single Lego canon, but rather several different pieces of canon. One can try to piece them together to form a complete Lego universe, but some pieces wont fit into the puzzle since Lego has not always been consistent with their marketing materials, especially in the beginning. Still, one can put together a lot of the more consistent bits of lore that will form what I consider the official Lego canon, which is what you have been doing quite thoroughly lately with your Lego planets and timeline indexes which I appreciate greatly. I enjoy thinking about this too (you're the one who got me into it) hence my creation of this thread. In the end, it's all about what everyone's personal perception of the Lego universe is, and that's what this thread is about, to find out what those perceptions are! :sweet:

I think trying to even ESTABLISH a unified "canon" for LEGO themes ruins the spirit of open-ended playfulness that defines the LEGO brand. Certainly there is room to say certain story-driven themes relate to each other in specific ways, but it is not a mandate. The Mars in LEGO Mars Mission doesn't have to be the same Mars in LEGO Life on Mars, nor does the Governor Broadside from the 2009 LEGO Pirates reboot have to be the same as the original one from 1989. This essay written over a decade ago shows just how stupid it is to try and impose a unified canon across TV shows that happen to cross over — it's just as silly to try and do the same thing for LEGO themes instead of just letting them intermingle according to whatever rules particular stories demand, and letting fans draw their own connections between non-continuity-driven themes however they please.

Piecing together a unified canon for Lego themes and using it as a guideline for your playtime stories is certainly not mandatory, but it is fun for some people. Even the author of that essay you linked to admits that it is fun to think about these things. As TC put it so wonderfully, it is like building with your Lego bricks and seeing if you can put them together to form something that looks unified. So if you want to find out how the themes are connected according to Lego, you can do that, but if you rather want to come up with your own continuity, that's perfectly fine as well. To each their own. :classic:

I find the very idea of Lego "canon" bizarre, forcing any sort of rules on how to play seems so fundamentally un-Lego like. I know that, as a kid, my Pirates fought with Knights and Spacemen and it never once occurred to me that they shouldn't.

Imagination should be the only thing that dictates how you can play with Lego and long may that continue.

I have heard a lot of complaints about how Lego is limiting the imagination of children these days by writing complete stories for the themes they create and thereby telling them what they can or cannot play and build with their sets, which is also why many don't like licensed themes, but I don't think that this is true. As many have pointed out in this thread, whether or not there is an established Lego canon, you still have the option to make up your own, especially if you don't like the canon you are given. This is true for any toys based on stories, and I think everyone, especially children, are aware of that. If they want to have their pirates fight their spacemen, they will, regardless of what the "official" stories of those characters are, as evidenced by your own childhood. The Lego Movie supports this idea by showing a world where all themes mix together and implying that this is how a child plays with Lego. It also tries to teach us a lesson about not taking the rules that Lego gives us too seriously. As I said before, the choice to accept the canon set forth by Lego or not is all yours. Nobody can tell you how to build or play with your Lego, not even Lego themselves.

Speaking of not taking things too seriously...

8659298658_6908abfb58_z.jpg

Young Han Solo - Canon? by Oky - Space Ranger, on Flickr

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I really hope that all elements of major themes can make appearances. Some other themes with totally different scales (Duplo, Scala and BIONICLE) have difficulties being in this movie. Since the story has to concentrate on original stories and characters, I don't see they'll gather some protagonists from the old stories (Clutch Powers, for example) to influence the storyline. I also worry about the Friends.

The most possible result is the movie only exists in its own universe, and so for any other Lego franchise. For example, the mayor of Lego City from Undercover is Ms. Gleeson, but perhaps there would be a totally different mayor in this movie, Ninjago or MMORPG. Well, TLC have rights to change things in order to make that story more interesting, but it would lead to no recognizable offical canon.When more and more themes locate in the same Lego City (except some like Heartlake City), it would become another New York city from DC Universe, where heros can only meet in crossovers but not their own story. If not, TLC would just choose some old characters that fit in this movie, while the others (Laval, Olivia, Clutch.. etc) never exist in this canon.

I've said this before, and I was only half-joking, but it would not surprise me if the final shot of the movie is a live-action scene of a couple of kids playing with piles of LEGO in the middle of a floor.

It can also be a Toy Story canon, at least I'd like to see a real sense of storyline. But the kids are really lucky to be the first to own these new sets. :grin:

Edited by Dorayaki

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I really hope that all elements of major themes can make appearances. Some other themes with totally different scales (Duplo, Scala and BIONICLE) have difficulties being in this movie. Since the story has to concentrate on original stories and characters, I don't see they'll gather some protagonists from the old stories (Clutch Powers, for example) to influence the storyline. I also worry about the Friends.

It's hard to say whether any LEGO Friends characters will show up in the movie (I certainly hope so), but we know at least that Heartlake City exists within the movie's universe, as it appears on a highway sign. That could be a good sign (no pun intended).

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IIRC (and it's open for interpretation), the Idea Book actually portrayed the Town theme as the "reality" for Bill and Mary--their travels to Castle and Space appeared to be fantasies fueled by a medieval themed fair and a sci-fi movie, respectively. On the other hand, I think a case can be made that Bill and Mary are the same characters as Captain Indigo and Polka-Dot from the Captain Indigo comics in Bricks 'n Pieces, who do travel through time and space.

TC

That is a fascinating interpretation and quite possibly correct. I actually thought the 'sci-fi movie' was a training film they had to watch before being issued a ship. But I guess that's part of the joy of that idea book. You can make of it what you like. My biggest issue with the book was the tease it gave those of us in US about castle sets while telling us inside the front cover that they weren't available to us.

-Tohst

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I've always assumed that what little cannon Lego has is best interpreted through the eyes of a child. Everything plays with everything else. It just is. Kind of like trying to make sense of Calvin from Calvin and Hobbes. There is no deep answer or deeply structured continuity. It is a system and it all works together. The story itself may completely change tomorrow.

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I haven't read that book either, so I can't really judge how it fits into canon, but maybe TC is right, maybe that all took place inside Bill and Mary's imagination. But if it is canon, perhaps it is part of the Clutch Powers theory that each theme exists on its own planet.

We go into this a bit in the Planet index thread, but I don't think that Clutch Powers limits the interpretation of themes to each only existing on their own planet. They visit a Castle world, sure, but that doesn't mean that the main Castle theme couldn't have existed sometime in the past. At the end of the movie there's an info screen that says the next planet they will visit is 1970s themed; which would imply that the LEGO world went through a similar historical period. Star Trek had lots of planets whose histories ran parallel to Earth for various reasons; so it's not a convention that just applies to LEGO lore.

I'll admit, though, one of the reasons I put off watching the movie for so long was that it just seemed to throw all the themes together. Also, I didn't think it would be any good--turns out I was wrong on both counts! It's well worth watching, though like every LEGO story it has lots of interesting plot elements that will never be followed up on. :cry_sad:

True, there have been several different representations of the Lego world with varying amounts of non-Lego elements in them, but I think that these styles are really just that, different styles of fleshing out the Lego world, and don't affect the canon of the Lego universe.

Well put--it's just artistic interpretation, and probably due to cost issues as well. It probably takes a long time to render realistic looking LEGO bricks!

That makes sense. The fact that the story didn't come directly from Lego confirms that it is not part of Lego's own universe.

I wouldn't quite go that far--one could make the same argument about the comic stories created by writers for LEGO Publishing in the 80s, or the stuff Merlin comes up with for their LEGOLAND attractions. I think as long as LEGO is involved in some official capacity, it's fair game.

Interesting question. I don't think they are part of the Star Wars universe, but they are part of the LEGO Star Wars universe, which are two different things. The Lego Star Wars universe is different from the Star Wars universe in that everything is a bit sillier and all the characters, vehicles, and objects are made out of Lego. Darth Maul may not be around in the OT in the Star Wars universe, but apparently he is in the Lego Star Wars universe (which makes sense since he was revived and never killed off again in The Clone Wars).

We've had similar discussions in the Star Wars Expanded Universe forum I frequent. The Expanded Universe usually incorporates material and vehicles developed for toys into its continuity, but LEGO is a special case. At this point, there are even a number of LEGO Star Wars books outlining the continuity put forth in the LEGO Star Wars stories--The Padawan Menace and the Yoda Chronicles and what have you. I wish LEGO were as good about putting out guides to their own universe. :tongue:

I think Fabuland is a planet of its own, but that's just MOCanon.

I like to think it's in the Fabulox system from Hero Factory. :laugh:

For some references, you might be right, but I don't think this is true for all references to past themes. Some of them, like the ones you mentioned, are very specific. If they say Ogel is a descendant of Vladek, it means that the two themes take place in the same universe/timeline. Same for Johnny and Josh. Why would they go through the trouble to give us this information if they didn't intend the stories to be connected? I doubt that they would do that solely for fan-pandering.

This is exactly why investigating these stories is worthwhile. :classic:

Still, one can put together a lot of the more consistent bits of lore that will form what I consider the official Lego canon, which is what you have been doing quite thoroughly lately with your Lego planets and timeline indexes which I appreciate greatly.

Thank you! One of the best things about this past year or so is finding out that there are other people interested in these things--and that they're willing to do some pretty heavy lifting to bring the older material to light.

I have heard a lot of complaints about how Lego is limiting the imagination of children these days by writing complete stories for the themes they create and thereby telling them what they can or cannot play and build with their sets, which is also why many don't like licensed themes, but I don't think that this is true. As many have pointed out in this thread, whether or not there is an established Lego canon, you still have the option to make up your own, especially if you don't like the canon you are given.

And there's a reason LEGO does this: kids eat stories and characters up. LEGO has done a lot of research to back this up. This is why you see a lot of character-heavy themes like Ninjago and Chima. But they're careful to leave a lot of open-ended stuff too. Personally, I'd much rather know about the history behind the Dragon/Lion Knight conflict in the new Castle sets than the umpty-bazillion animal tribes in Chima, but that's the way it goes... :laugh:

The most possible result is the movie only exists in its own universe, and so for any other Lego franchise. For example, the mayor of Lego City from Undercover is Ms. Gleeson, but perhaps there would be a totally different mayor in this movie,

Ah, but Ms. Gleeson wasn't the mayor two years before LEGO City, before Chase was exiled. So it's possible she's moved on to another position if there is a different mayor. (Ms. Gleeson for governor?! ;) )

It's hard to say whether any LEGO Friends characters will show up in the movie (I certainly hope so), but we know at least that Heartlake City exists within the movie's universe, as it appears on a highway sign. That could be a good sign (no pun intended).

Nice! Whatever take this movie has on the nature of the LEGO universe, it looks like it's just going to be jam-packed with little references like these.

That is a fascinating interpretation and quite possibly correct. I actually thought the 'sci-fi movie' was a training film they had to watch before being issued a ship. But I guess that's part of the joy of that idea book. You can make of it what you like. My biggest issue with the book was the tease it gave those of us in US about castle sets while telling us inside the front cover that they weren't available to us.

I didn't realize that--it would be really annoying. When did the Castle sets become available?

TC

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Ah, but Ms. Gleeson wasn't the mayor two years before LEGO City, before Chase was exiled. So it's possible she's moved on to another position if there is a different mayor. (Ms. Gleeson for governor?! ;) )

Yes, that's one of the method to change the story setting, but it would be difficult to determine which stories are based on the same canon.

It's hard to say whether any LEGO Friends characters will show up in the movie (I certainly hope so), but we know at least that Heartlake City exists within the movie's universe, as it appears on a highway sign. That could be a good sign (no pun intended).

I personally think they could do more than it in order to market minidolls / Friends. Except that there should be a Friend representive in the Hall of Fame, they can also introduce a new minidoll character to join the main cast. (eg, Evageline, a rebellious and runaway minidoll girl that hates eveything of her hometown Heartlake City. She finds a parttime print-ad model job in Octan and wants to gain favor with the president in order to become supermodel.)

What is done is done, I'd focus on the story before the commercial parts. I'd be happy if all existed themes can have a scene.

Edited by Dorayaki

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I just had an interesting thought... As you may know, Shop @ Home has a promotion right now where you get a free The Lego Movie poster sticker to customize your Palace Cinema.

5002891-1.jpg

If this poster is canon, that means that the Lego Movie is a movie within the Lego universe! :oh: This would explain a lot as it would make the Lego Movie universe a self-contained meta universe that is still part of the Lego universe. Which means that the locations and vehicles in the Lego Movie sets are movie set pieces and props and that the minifigs are actors, kind of like in the Lego Studios sets! So, going by this canon, if you wanted to incorporate the sets in your Lego City layout, you could have the characters gather in front of the Palace Cinema for the premiere of The Lego Movie or reserve a section of your city for the sets to represent the stage where the movie is being filmed.

The promotional videos for the Lego Movie support this idea as well. Some of them show "outtakes" of Batman in a recording studio being asked by a director to perform some lines to promote the film. This obviously didn't happen in real life, and it is a minifig holding the clapperboard, so the implication is that the film is supposed to be made by minifigs and that the characters in the movie are actors. This would also explain why Batman's characterization in the movie is a bit off, because it's just a minifig playing a parody of Batman. The actor is possibly the "real" Lego Batman seeing as he acts like Batman in the outtakes as well.

This revelation blew my mind. Until we get a more official explanation, this is what I am going with. :sweet:

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I just had an interesting thought... As you may know, Shop @ Home has a promotion right now where you get a free The Lego Movie poster sticker to customize your Palace Cinema.

5002891-1.jpg

If this poster is canon, that means that the Lego Movie is a movie within the Lego universe! :oh: This would explain a lot as it would make the Lego Movie universe a self-contained meta universe that is still part of the Lego universe. Which means that the locations and vehicles in the Lego Movie sets are movie set pieces and props and that the minifigs are actors, kind of like in the Lego Studios sets! So, going by this canon, if you wanted to incorporate the sets in your Lego City layout, you could have the characters gather in front of the Palace Cinema for the premiere of The Lego Movie or reserve a section of your city for the sets to represent the stage where the movie is being filmed.

This revelation blew my mind. Until we get a more official explanation, this is what I am going with. :sweet:

NOW THIS is what I understand. This is the most obvious answer to all this so this is what I am going with too.

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NOW THIS is what I understand. This is the most obvious answer to all this so this is what I am going with too.

I'm glad you agree. Yes, the more I think about it, the more obvious it seems to me as well and I'm surprised I didn't think of this sooner.

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(...)

This would also explain why Batman's characterization in the movie is a bit off, because it's just a minifig playing a parody of Batman. The actor is possibly the "real" Lego Batman seeing as he acts like Batman in the outtakes as well.

Or maybe the guy is just a really intense method actor!

If all this is the case, I can see an anti-defamation lawsuit by Octan coming up...

But this theory is pretty elegant and it appeals to me in not having yet another canon. I will wait for the movie to make up mu mind though...

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One thing that would complicate the theory that The Lego Movie is a movie within the Lego universe is the heavy use of life-size real-world objects in the movie. So far, we've seen a chewed-up lollipop (Vitruvius's staff) as well as a tube of Krazy Glue and a battery (seen in the Lord Business' Evil Lair set, and likely to be key elements of the film's climax). There's nothing there that couldn't feature in a film for minifigs, but these giant household materials make far less sense in a context where "life-size" and "minifig-scale" are essentially the same thing.

I think it's far easier to just accept that the Lego Movie has its own canon just like Lego Island, or Lego Racers, or Lego Universe. I love crossovers between themes, but I'm not under the illusion that those crossovers between themes are or even can be consistent with one another, nor do I think there can only be one interpretation of a theme and how it relates to other themes.

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I think it's far easier to just accept that the Lego Movie has its own canon just like Lego Island, or Lego Racers, or Lego Universe. I love crossovers between themes, but I'm not under the illusion that those crossovers between themes are or even can be consistent with one another, nor do I think there can only be one interpretation of a theme and how it relates to other themes.

How is Racers incompatible or in its own canon...? The bit of story the original LEGO Racers had involved time travel via a portal invented by Veronica Voltage, and the sequel only involved present day/near future themes. Universe largely fits in as well, aside from the Ninjago segment added towards the end of its life. Also:

I'm straying slightly from the topic at hand, but it's important to note that, appropriately, there is no recognized LEGO canon. There are enough elements to create one or more, however: these are the characters and themes created by LEGO and its various licensees over the years: the books, movies, theme park shows, and particularly the club magazines. This is sort of akin to playing with the sets and minifigures you buy. It's fun, it's entertaining, I think it's worthwhile, but it's only a fraction of the fun of LEGO. I've seen the term headcanon used in this thread, and it's appropriate. I think something like MOCanon might be more fun to adopt, though. :)

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One thing that would complicate the theory that The Lego Movie is a movie within the Lego universe is the heavy use of life-size real-world objects in the movie. So far, we've seen a chewed-up lollipop (Vitruvius's staff) as well as a tube of Krazy Glue and a battery (seen in the Lord Business' Evil Lair set, and likely to be key elements of the film's climax). There's nothing there that couldn't feature in a film for minifigs, but these giant household materials make far less sense in a context where "life-size" and "minifig-scale" are essentially the same thing.

Well, the people in the LEGO universe could have a religious belief in giant beings that controls their lives and created their world. And the fictional writers of the LEGO movie can reflect that belief in the story or could be making it up like science fiction. Just because we know their beliefs are in fact true doesn't make it impossible for them to independently come up with those beliefs.

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I like to believe that Castle/Pirates/City/Town/Space all take place in the same universe, along with perhaps Adventurer's, Dino, Alien Conquest etc. However, Fabuland, BIONICLE, Technic, Jake Stone, Chima, Ninjago etc are all separate pocket universes/planets, Perhaps the council Chambers in the Trailers is the nexus of all Lego Reality?

Edited by Dr Leg O Brick

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Or maybe the guy is just a really intense method actor!

Yeah, that's a possibility too. :grin:

If all this is the case, I can see an anti-defamation lawsuit by Octan coming up...

Hahahah, great one- that would explain why there is frickin' Octan Logo on everything- It's the sponsor!

You both have good points. Octan being such a prominent part of the film could be due to product placement, although it does seem unlikely that they would want themselves to be represented as the bad guys.

One thing that would complicate the theory that The Lego Movie is a movie within the Lego universe is the heavy use of life-size real-world objects in the movie. So far, we've seen a chewed-up lollipop (Vitruvius's staff) as well as a tube of Krazy Glue and a battery (seen in the Lord Business' Evil Lair set, and likely to be key elements of the film's climax). There's nothing there that couldn't feature in a film for minifigs, but these giant household materials make far less sense in a context where "life-size" and "minifig-scale" are essentially the same thing.

You raise a good point, but here is how I see it: Keep in mind that those real world items are made out of Lego in the set. If we are to assume that the Evil Lair set is the movie set where the minifigs film the movie, this is how they will appear in the Lego universe's version of The Lego Movie, so they wont actually be items from our world. Why the minifigs would want to put things that resemble a giant lollipop, battery, and tube of glue into the movie is a different question. On the other hand, in a world with unicorn-kittens, why not. :tongue:

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Interesting find, Oky! I had wondered what the big deal was about the special Palace sticker. :) Of course, it does bring up the question of how aware the LEGO characters are of LEGO toys that they would make a whole movie about them. Then again, we've had multiple LEGO truck sets, even one with mini LEGO sets, so anything is possible. ;)

I'm interested in those other poster stickers too...not only do we get more in-universe LEGO titles, we also see the names of LEGO actors...we should start a whole other thread for LEGO lore tidbits from stickers and other elements; I'm sure there are more...

TC

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Interesting find, Oky! I had wondered what the big deal was about the special Palace sticker. :) Of course, it does bring up the question of how aware the LEGO characters are of LEGO toys that they would make a whole movie about them. Then again, we've had multiple LEGO truck sets, even one with mini LEGO sets, so anything is possible. ;)

I don't think that the Lego Movie in the Lego universe would be about toys, but about minifigures themselves. It is an interesting thought, but way too meta for me. :laugh:

I'm interested in those other poster stickers too...not only do we get more in-universe LEGO titles, we also see the names of LEGO actors...we should start a whole other thread for LEGO lore tidbits from stickers and other elements; I'm sure there are more...

Go for it! I'm sure it would be an interesting read just like your other lore threads! :sweet: As for the posters, you can see them nicely on the sticker sheet:

10232stk01.jpg?2

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I don't have opinions against "theater theory". There might be some people who expect "real things" and don't like the idea (from other existed films or cartoon, much like "all things happened were merely a dream"), though we can still decide to like the "story" which is created by the minifigures(dolls?).

There can also be a story within a story where the actual Lord Business sponsor this "movie" to execute his evil plan, but I don't think it would actually happen.

Edited by Dorayaki

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Alright you guys, spoilers ahead for the LEGO Movie, so if you have not seen it, stop reading now and go see it. Seriously. I thought it would be okay to be spoiled for this movie. I was wrong. Thankfully I managed to miss some of the bigger plot points.

Oky, I saw this post and had to laugh a little:

I don't think that the Lego Movie in the Lego universe would be about toys, but about minifigures themselves. It is an interesting thought, but way too meta for me. :laugh:

The LEGO Movie is about as meta a movie as it gets. :laugh: I take back everything I said about President Business--the whole megacorporation angle, while important, is not the main point of the character. It's a damn clever bit of misdirection. The makers of the movie aren't making a hamfisted attempt at satire; they're trying to say something about a certain branch of AFOLs that probably includes those of us who make detailed lists about the "official" LEGO universe. :laugh: The enemy isn't some tired old cliche; the enemy is us. Well played.

I'd like to make a more detailed analysis once I've seen the movie a couple of times, but it's clear that the filmmakers were less interested in exploring LEGO's universe(s) and more interested in the stories we choose to tell with LEGOs and what that says about us. That, I think, is the real question of "canon" at the heart of the LEGO Movie. So, why are the stories you tell with LEGO important to you?

TC

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