Would it hurt you if the Star Wars franchise would stop right now?

[Faefrost]

Star Wars might just move their business to, dare I say, Mega Bloks! DUN DUN DUUUNNNNNNNNNN

Megabloks would never happen. But I always worry a bit with Kree-O. There were rumors that Disney might buy out Hasbro awhile back.

[StoutFiles]

Personally I would love it. It bothers me a little buying a set knowing in 3-6 years after it's retired it will likely be reimagined with better pieces, better figures, etc. It's great they are improving and giving new generations a chance to buy the sets...but boy do my old sets look subpar compared to the new ones. It's the main reason I've moved to UCS sets (and even those are vulnerable to replacement due to the new UCS X-Wing...I'm now looking at you, UCS Falcon). If I had my way 2015 would be the last year and they'd give us the largest LEGO set ever in a new Cloud City as a send off.

I don't see it ending anytime soon though. Disney will milk this series even harder than Lucas did to get max return on the investment. Plenty of new movies coming out along with cartoons, so there will always be new content to pull from assuming Disney and TLG are both making money on the arrangement. Kind of a shame, because even though it's hard to believe, people WILL get sick of Lego Star Wars if you push the merchandise too hard for too long.

Edited January 13, 2014 by StoutFiles

[Fives]

The day that LEGO and Star Wars part ways is the day that Star Wars becomes irrelevant in society and pop culture.

However, in this hypoothetical situation, I would be both extremely upset and outraged, but also thankful for everything we have seen. While there are so many sets and figs I'd like to see updated, I wouldn't be completely ruined if it didn't happen.

Overall, I tend to not like to entertain this idea, as it takes me down a complicated train of thought.

[DonBrizzel]

The day that LEGO and Star Wars part ways is the day that Star Wars becomes irrelevant in society and pop culture.

I really really doubt this.

[DarthTwoShedsJackson]

Well, it's obviously not the end of the world, because - what is, other than the actual end of the world?

That being said, I'd be a bit sad. There's a reason why certain models are being re-made after older versions have been discontinued. That's because if they wouldn't remake them, new addicts to the lego star wars hobby wouldn't have a chance to get them. And I'm fine with that and wouldn't immediately call it recycling.

I'm middle-age-ish and grew up with the original Trilogy, and I've already build star wars vehicles with my space legos back then.

What got me back into lego last year was when I saw some lego star wars sets in a toy store and was wondering: WOW! I wished they had these back when I was a kid. And what I love are the minifigs. Overall, they are really cool. I can't stand the prequel Trilogy for reasons related to their utter failure regarding basics of movie-making alone, and I'm really sad for the talent wasted in those. The clone wars animated series has grown on me, though, and yes, I like those minifigs, too. I'm not one of those Original Trilogy fans that dismiss the new stuff outright.

What'd really shock me if Lego would stop the licence, apart from it being a suicidal move, are the missed opportunities for cool future sets and minifigs, especially with the sequel trilogy on the horizon. That'd be crazy.

Edited January 13, 2014 by DarthTwoShedsJackson

[Fives]

I really really doubt this.

That's my point. Star Wars will never lose its relevance, especially now that Disney has it under their massive umbrella. When it comes to hypotheticals like this, I can't help but have the influence of reality impact my answer.

[Tariq j]

I highly the franchise would end, and if it did it would be a whole popular Lego theme gone in an instant. It would be a big loss for both Lego and Disney. But with the first of the new series of movies coming out next year and still a fair amount of sets that haven't been made it would be both odd and a bad decision to stop here.

[Brickdoctor]

I just want to clarify: while I can't speak for HJR, it seems clear that the point of this topic was "What would happen to you if LEGO Star Wars disappeared?", not "Do you think LEGO Star Wars will disappear?". I don't think any of us believe it's actually going to be discontinued any time in the foreseeable future. The premise of the question posed in this topic is that LSW has already disappeared; assume that and then describe your response.

[Bob De Quatre]

I like to see the SW minifig and all, but I don't "play" with them. I'm a MOCer, and if LEGO ever shut down the SW line, it won't affect me.

After all, people have been making SW MOC long before the line started.

And people do Star Trek MOCs too... They shouldn't, but they do

[Fuppylodders]

but they didnt make a UCS AT-AT, nor a Death-Star type Cloud City playset

[arc]

If lego were to stop producing star wars sets, I would likely buy some of the older sets, I actually like the blocky-nes and simple nature of the older star wars sets.

[The_Chosen_1]

Great topic! For me, Lego and Star Wars have been together for almost as long as I've been collecting Lego. Not having LSW sets anymore would not only be supremely disappointing, it would be like part of my Lego fandom dying.

No matter what, if/when Lego does stop producing Star Wars sets, it will be huge news. But I have my doubts that it will ever happen.

[HJR-Holland]

Thanks for the feedback everyone :-) Many would stick to LEGO, and not switch to collecting other Star Wars related merchandise, which ought to please TLG for sure ;-)

[Mr Man]

I wouldn't mind really. It might give me my pipe dream of buying them all.

[stan]

What i dont understand is how the likes of kaminoan, arealight etc get away with making these "Lego" parts.

​It is a clear infringement on Lego and whatever licence's copyright they are copying, and is clearly done to make money not as a hobby.

And as stated in op does and will make an impact on actual Lego sales.

It really does worry me as a Lego collector and rare parts collector, that these companies will devalue and compromise the integrity of collections as "fake" parts make their way into the market.

[Praiter Yed]

An interesting question that I've had to think long and hard about. On the one hand if LSW stopped now I would be a wealthier man, no longer having to obsessively collect OT sets and minifigures. It might even give me more time for MOCs which would be good, and I could happily make more custom figures without Lego producing better official versions mere months later .

But on the other hand, even though I feel absolutely no excitement about Episode VII and the SW Rebels series, these could potentially, at least, give my wallet a rest if TLG produce less OT sets in favour of those themes. Although, if a Rebels theme ended up with some minifigs based on Ralf McQuarrie's art or even a set based on a concept Y-Wing, I'd probably get drawn into buying those too . Damn.

I still can't decide.

[Brickfan]

Even though many set are being duplicated, I would have to say that I would be disappointed. My wife on the other hand would not be and my wallet would be a lot bigger.

[Orange Leader]

At the moment, I don't care about LEGO Star Wars as a fan and I'm tired of It nor I'm interested in the new movies. But at least LEGO Star Wars is a lot more fun to collect then collecting Hasbro action figures which can be very expensive and suffers from shitty pegwarmers. Currently, I'm looking for parts which LEGO Star Wars has plenty of that are versatile to my building needs.

I still love the OT movies a lot though.

[montgocloud]

The disappearance of LEGO Star Wars would hit me pretty hard. It's extremely nostalgic for me-I remember how excited I was when the initial line was released in 1999! Flash forward 15 years and on a normal day you can find me avidly waiting for whatever preliminary news and pictures might surface for classic OT goodness.

Edited January 14, 2014 by montyofmusic

[h22chen]

The only thing that would stop hurting is my wallet

[Danthebrick]

Interesting thred.... My view is that I would definitely miss it, however, I am getting a little frustrated by new sets. I collect SW sets for 2 reasons, to get the iconic ships ie Xwing, Tie Fighter etc and 2nd to get new (and hopefully one day - all of) minifigs but the more recent waves have tended to include fewer and fewer ships I really want or need and/or are very expensive to by for the sake of getting a figure I want which often means I opt for ebay or bricklink.

[Inzane]

In some respects I would breath a sigh of relief. As much as I love star wars, the "completist" in me finds the constant re-issuing of everything and expansion of the line very aggravating. When I first came out of the dark ages around 2003/04, I started snapping up sets left and right and I came very close to owning ALL the Star Wars sets. Then after a while I started to realize wait a minute why am I collecting all the PT sets when I don't even like those movies? 2006 was the last year that I collected to completion. In the 1999-2005 era, I had all sets but a mere few. 2007 and forward, I started being much more selective. The wave after wave of clone wars material made it very easy for me to just pass (on most of it), to which my wallet thanked me. But the OT re-dos started to appear.

I would've loved at one point to stop, take a step back and say "There, I own the complete collection!". Everything star wars. But its become more and more clear this isn't possible. As much as wanting complete, I would like the final, definitive version of something. However the recent trend of rehash after rehash makes that aspect of collecting impossible as well. (That goes for minifigs as well as sets).

Sooner or later I'm going to have to stop, but when?

[Galaxy Explorer]

Back in 1986 I realized there were no new Star Wars toys being made by Kenner. I was a teenager who grew up on Star Wars toys, and I remember being pretty depressed that it was over. I think that was also the first time I had felt nostalgic about something. If LEGO Star Wars were to end, I imagine I would feel the same way- I already feel nostalgic about the early sets, and I'm sure many of the new sets will become classics in the future. I also have to think about how much longer I can keep collecting. Sooner or later space will be an issue, as I collect many other themes.

[rloesberg]

If would opt for a third option: Lego should stop with all the reissues and start being creative and original again. If you watch the movies there are so many new sets to be created. The Ewok village was very welcome, but extremely expensive. There is still the (Palace of) Naboo, Coruscant, Cloud city, Mos Eisley and Mos Espa, etc. All planets with a lot of buildings and vehicles to recreate.

I would not be sad when Lego stops with Star Wars because of the lack of originality nowadays. But I will be thrilled when they start being creative again ;-)

[HJR-Holland]

Let me open a new topic for that :-)