Changing themes. Who has done it?

[Paul B Technic]

Ok. Am I crazy...

I am thinking of dumping Technic and buying in to the monster fighters theme. Can anybody talk me in to it / out of it?

[Robianco]

Well I've never actually bought or built a Technics set so I can't say anything from that point of view but Monster Fighters had some nice builds... especially the Haunted House.. and I like the hearse although it's hugely oversized when parked next to anything.

Most of the sets are reduced now so it would probably be a good time to pick them up... except for the Zombie Cemetery... that's just going up and up after being retired very early.

[HawkLord]

I've never "changed" themes... just added new ones. Since Technics and MF are very different, I would suggest collecting both. If anyone was interested in the MF line, I'd also recommend acting soon because I can't see it being around much longer.

[Lyichir]

I've never been preferential to one theme, but the themes I've collected have shifted over time.

When I was a kid in the mid '90s, I collected all sorts of themes. Space, Aquazone, Castle, Adventurers, Western, Paradisa, you name it.

As I approached 10 I started getting into things like Technic, Mindstorms, and Throwbots. Those fed directly into Bionicle, which became my "primary" theme during the beginning of my teenage years, superseding themes like Star Wars (which I stopped collecting as consistently after the shift to "fleshies") and many other System themes.

In my mid-teens I started being drawn back into System themes, starting with themes that could contribute to my Bionicle collection (like Knight's Kingdom II and Exo-Force). By the time I went to college I was a fervent fan of "action themes" like Agents, Power Miners, Atlantis, and Space Police. When Bionicle ended I was glad to be done with it, but I got sucked back in to constraction when Hero Factory introduced the amazing new building system. But that was about it. At college it helped to limit myself to about three themes per year (plus the Collectible Minifigures, of course) since it helped to have consistency among my parts when I only had a portion of my collection.

Now that I'm out of college, my primary themes are Ninjago and Hero Factory, but I'm much more free to branch out. I've dabbled in Chima, Alien Conquest, and Friends, and am set to dive into the Lego Movie theme headfirst. I just started building the Unimog (my first big Technic set in years). But a lot of themes have fallen by the wayside. Notably, I haven't gotten any Castle sets since the first year of Knight's Kingdom II. And while my little brother occasionally gets a set from a licensed theme, I personally haven't gotten very many in ages (the only exception in the past two years was the newest Podracer set, which I couldn't resist due to perfectly updating a set from my childhood). I've still dabbled in themes I don't get on LDD, and can tell how far themes like Castle have come since the days I collected it; but with a finite budget, I mostly stick to the story-based themes I love.

As for the original poster's question? I say go for it. Stepping out of your comfort zone can be awesome, and while I haven't gotten any Monster Fighters sets save for the Haunted House (which I haven't even built yet), I can confirm that it's an excellent theme.

[Paul B Technic]

Thanks for the replies.

I have been doing Technic for a long time now (on and off since 1989) and I think I am to the limit of what I can do with it / get out of it. I am never going to be to the level of the people you see building huge RC cars or things with huge levels of detail.

I saw MF as a way to get in to another theme fairly cheaply, buy a few of the HH (One to keep as standard, the rest to MOC) and do something different.

It is a space / $$$ question.

[Freddy Bricker]

Wow, I own no Monster Fighters sets or Technic, but I would say go for it, large Technic sets tend to be HUGE and hard on anyone's budget, whereas Monster Fighters has great minifigures, great looking sets (unsure about the builds though) and it all just fits well with each other, it's one of those themes that can feel complete with all sets, but would do just as good with only 3.

[Junpei]

I'm planning on changing themes this year- when I get time to sort all my LEGO, I'm going to ditch TECHNIC too and go into Castle and Sci-Fi building.

I don't think it's that weird, but I think you might want to continue with TECHNIC; your MOCs are getting better and better, and I wouldn't want that to go to waste.

TLH

[parksroad]

I can definitely relate to the posters who have said they keep it down to a few themes for space/money constraints. MF is a great theme; one of my favorite in a long time and I'd recommend the Vampyre Castle as well--lots of surprises in the build, tons of attractive details, although the wheel with the moonstones annoys me so I take it off and build a crazy scientist lab there instead. But as others have said, that theme is not long for this world...

[Hrafnblod]

I can't really imagine only focusing on one theme! Granted, I was never big into Technic. I had some sets back before my dark ages, but I probably only ever got 6-7 Technic sets as a kid. Otherwise when I was a kid, though, I had some of everything. Space, Castle, Pirates, Town, Adventurers, Aquazone, Wild West... If it was a theme I probably had some of it. Since coming back from my dark ages I started off focusing mostly on Castle/LotR/The Hobbit sets, but now I've been bit by the Superheroes bug and have picked up a fair number of those.

That said, I wouldn't advise ditching anything (as in getting rid of all your parts from some theme or another)-- but, I'm a packrat. Either way, you can never have too many parts, even if they're from 'incompatible' themes.

Edited January 17, 2014 by Hrafnblod

[naf]

I honestly didn't think I would be buying any new Lego when I got back into it, I thought I would be happy just messing around with what I had as a kid. Then I started buying some older classic space, castle, and pirate sets that were out when I was a kid and always wanted, but never had. So at that point I was going to cut it off at vintage Lego. After my dark age ended, I wasn't fond of the licensed sets, flesh colored minifigs, and some of the other changes that Lego has made to the product. Well, then the kids started getting into Lego themselves, so it kind of forced me to look at Lego's new offerings again since I'd be shopping for them. Let's just say that I'm now an avid collector of Monster Fighters, Star Wars, Lord of the Rings, Hobbit, and Kingdoms. Monster Fighters was the real oddball for me. I did not like the theme at all when I first saw it, but I loved the Haunted House so I bought that. Then I bought some of the smaller sets so I could fill the house with more creatures. Then it was just all downhill from there, it really is a very nice original theme.

Town is the one I've been resisting lately. I'm highly impressed with the modular buildings, and would have probably collected them if I had been out of my dark age sooner. But, I don't have the space or money to get into that now. Also, I know myself and I'm a completionist, so I'd have to eventually get the retired modulars which would be a pretty big financial commitment. I was never really into town as a kid, mostly being a space and castle fan, so I don't feel as connected to the current city/modular theme as I do with some of the other ones.

[Robianco]

I started with Star Wars... then added LOTR/Hobbit... then SuperHeroes (Lego just let's the kid in me go nuts)... a smidgeon of Monster Fighters... and possibly on to Modulars this year.

[BrickG]

When I was a poor student I focused almost entirely on Castle.

Later I switched to Super Heroes and Ninja Turtles.

Now since I have some money I'm most everything...

[KringlesBricks]

I was originally into just collecting Tecnic sets before the modular buildings came out since it seemed to be more of an adult theme and more of a challenging interesting build with the gears and stuff - nothing else really grabbed my interest at that time (and this was back in 2006) But, once I saw the Cafe Corner and Market Street came out, I was like COOL, I gotta have that!! It was the new "era" of lego houses that got me t switched from tectonic to city and train. I saw all my technic sets just sit on shelves whereas I could make an actually city if I switched to City and Train

So, I've geared away from technic and moved into City/MOCing (where I buy certain non-city sets for the pieces only).

Usually when I see sets...I ask myself, can I build better, does that fit into a city or train layout, or do I just need those pieces to make my own Mocs. I never pass up a modular building including the Haunted House.