Lego David

Built for Bio-Cup 2026, the theme being "Magic and Mysticism".

So, I have been wondering... We already do have a lot of designers working within LEGO who are fans of original themes. This is clearly felt through the fact that we keep on getting for example Castle-related CMFs, and the occasional 18+ Adult sets. So, that means that there are at least a few designers who work at LEGO who are fans of those themes and who presumably would also wish to see those themes return as fully fledged lines of sets rather than just big expensive 18+ sets. So then, why can't those designers come together and just pitch to LEGO a reboot of those themes in a modern way? More importantly... Who exactly within LEGO has the power to decide which themes and sets get produced? It is clearly not the designers, otherwise we would have had Castle return as a full line of sets long ago. Is it some kind of board of executives that only care about profit and aren't actually interested in original themes? If so, how do themes such as Dreamzzz get created? I doubt that some impartial businessmen whose primary motivation is what would be the most profitable would commission the creation of such themes. And even within new original themes that we do get sometimes, such as Dreamzzz, you can clearly sense that most of the sets are trying to copy the Ninjago style and the designers don't actually have as much freedom to explore new ideas or set concepts. So, who actually gets to decide which sets and themes get produced, if it isn't the designers? If anyone here has had the privilege to maybe speak to some designers in person at a LEGO convention or something like that, your insight would be greatly appreciated.

I think this is a pretty decent way of analyzing the divide, but as someone who would fit into what you describe as the "Keep me Young Mode" I would like to add a few nuances. I think it is mistaken to think of such AFOLs as just "using LEGO as a vehicle for personal nostalgia." Many of us have not only grown up with those Classic Themes, but have invested a big part of our money, time and energy into those themes. We do not enjoy those themes simply because they make us feel young again... We enjoy these themes because we simply find the concepts and stories in them engaging, even as adults. Our relationship with those themes isn't just a nostalgic look back... it is often a present reality, that continues to shape what we build with LEGO today. Speaking as someone who has been in the Bionicle fan community. Many of the people there have literally grown up with the theme since it started all the way in 2001 up until its end in 2010. That's en entire childhood of being invested into a particular story and world. Many of the people in that community found the mature story and themes engaging, not just when they were young, but appreciated them even more as adults, and continue to discuss the story, characters, and themes even today, more than 15 years after the original line ended. Most of them wanted to see the story continue, and when LEGO pulled the plug on it so abruptly in 2010, it left many people very bitter; almost like a part of your identity has been taken away. Although I did not grow up with Castle, Pirates, or Space myself, I can definitely see how people who grew up with those themes which lasted for decades would feel in a very similar way when those themes ended for no apparent reason. The point I am trying to get at here, is that growing up with those original themes has shaped our identity and who we are today as adults... When we look back as those themes, we aren't just looking at re-living our childhood, but rather, we are looking back at something that is still part of our identity and who we are today. We are still building MOCs, making stop motions, and creating fan-made stories about those themes, and their worlds and characters, simply because we continue to find those worlds and characters engaging even as adults. So when we barely get any sets to collect and barely any new pieces to use in our MOCs, it should come as no surprise that many of us feel so disgruntled and unhappy, because apparently our hobby and identity is not important enough for LEGO to acknowledge and respond to, even though we are more than prepared to pay a lot of money (heck, we are already paying thousands of dollars just to acquire the old sets on the second hand market, which just become more and more expensive with each passing year!)

Those small licensed themes that literally nobody wants take up the shelf space and the budget that could go towards making more original themes. I also hardly think anyone would feel "excluded" if LEGO stopped producing such licenses as Wicked or Wednesday that literally nobody asked for. And why aren't we allowed to speak about how we, as fans of original LEGO themes, feel excluded and completely ignored by LEGO, but when we speak out against LEGO's clear problem with the over reliance on licenses, this somehow means that fans of licensed themes will then be excluded in return? How does that work? We aren't asking that LEGO give up beloved popular licenses like Star Wars or Harry Potter that have tons of fans; we are simply asking to be treated with the same dignity as Star Wars and Harry Potter fans, and to also receive more sets catering to what we also want.

Thank you so much for going out of your way to actually count the exact number of sets. That is going to be very helpful. Regardless, while technically speaking and strictly in terms of set count the ration seems more even out, there is still a clear noticable lack of Original Action Adventure Themes. 2025 only had Ninjago, Monkie Kid, and Dreamzzz. I don't honestly think Monkie Kid should even count here, because it only got two sets that were excluisve to China and not widely available in Europe and America. That leaves us with only Dreamzzz and Ninjago in 2025. Going forward into 2026, with Dreamzzz confirmed to be ending, that will leave us only with Ninjago.

Okay, fair enough. But this still doesn't address the central problem that is driving so many people to complain about the lack of original themes: The lack of diversity when it comes to original themes. There may be a lot of Ninjago or Friends sets, but most people who are into original themes don't care about those two particular themes, outside the occasional set that may have pieces that they could use in their MOCs. On the flip side, just a quick glimpse at the list I posted earlier reveals a shocking variety of licensed themes currently on offer, ranging from popular kids cartoons (Bluey) to Anime Shows (One Piece, Pokemon) to popular video games (Fortnite, Zelda), and various 18+ Icons sets based on properties from more adult oriented Shows (Stranger Things). Basically, if you are an adult pop culture fan, there is more than enough for you to choose from. The same cannot be said for fans of original LEGO themes at all.

That's kind of what @MAB has been implying with his comments. However even if we take it from that perspective and count it purely based on the number of sets, the balance wouldn't look that much better, because themes such as Icons which are counted on this list as a single license get a tone of sets, while some of the original themes such as Dreamzz barely got a few new sets this year to close the theme out. I don't have the time to do a formal counting of all sets right now, but even if I did, I would bet the results wouldn't be that much different.

Noted. I edited my original message and moved Icons, Ideas, Architecture, and Art in the hybrid category, thanks for the feedback. I would still count DC and Marvel as two separate themes because although they do have the same design team they are still two different licenses coming from two different license holders. If you're going to count it based on the design team, I think technically the same team that worked on Ninjago worked on Dreamzz also (correct me if I am wrong) but that doesn't mean we should count Ninjago and Dreamzz as only one theme.

I wholeheartedly disagree. While you may be right to point out how times have changed since the 1980s, have they really changed so much since the early 2010s, when we were still getting plenty of original Castle, Pirates and Space themes? I was a kid of that era, and I loved those themes just as much as the older people loved the versions of those themes that came out in the 1980s and 1990s. I personally loved Kingdoms and Castle 2013 and would have loved to get more sets from lines like that as a kid. But after 2013 those lines completely disappeared without a trace, and without any clear reason as to why they couldn't have continued. More often then not, it isn't that Castles cannot be popular among modern kids. Ninjas were not particularly popular in the early 2011s when Ninjago came out, nor are they particularly popular today, yet here we are, with Ninjago still running. It's that LEGO actually bothered to create a proper story for Ninjago in the form of a well written TV show with compelling characters, engaging world building, and interesting plots, and now the kids who watch that show want to buy all the sets. LEGO could have done the exact same thing with Castle, or Pirates, or Space, but they chose not to, not because those concepts don't have potential to be just as popular, but because LEGO are too comfortable in their own current success to actually want to bother with taking any risks. It's the same reason Disney declined so much in quality in terms of their movies, and now all they do is sequels and love action remakes of their old classics; It's because they are now a greedy corporation that only cares about profit and not about actually innovating and being creative.

I am so confused by the people in this thread who are trying to deny that Licensed Themes vastly outnumber original themes. They clearly do, that is literally an undeniable fact. I went to Brickset and I looked at all the themes listed in 2026. For the sake of the argument, I will be generous and also list unlicensed non-minifigure based themes such as Creator and Botanicals. Here is the result: Licesned Themes: Animal Crossing Bluey Brickheadz DC Super Heroes Disney Editions Fortnite Gabby's Dollhouse Harry Potter Jurassic World Kpop Demon Hunters Marvel Superheroes Minecraft One Piece Pokemon Sonic the Headgehog Speed Champions Star Wars Super Mario The Legend of Zelda Hybrids (Themes that have both Licensed and Unlicensed sets) Technic Collectable Minifigures Duplo Icons Ideas Architecture Art Fully Original Themes (no licensed sets at all) Ninjago Dreamzzz (confirmed to retire soon) City Creator Friends Botanicals That's 20 Licensed themes in total, plus 7 hybrids, which makes 27 in total, versus 6 Original themes in total. If we exclude non-minifigure themes, we are only left with Ninjago, City, and Dreamzz, three original themes in total, and if you don't count Dremzzz because it is confirmed to retire soon, you are only left with City and Ninjago. No Matter how you try to spin it, Licensed Themes outnumber original themes almost 20 to 2. That is absolutely insane, and the imbalance is absolutely undeniable.

I would like to preface this by saying that I am much younger than many of the people in this thread. Unlike some of the others here, I did not grow up with any of the themes of the "Classic Era", but rather, I was part of the late 2000s early 2010s generation, which included such themes as Bionicle, Hero Factory, Mars Mission, Power Miners, Agents, Space Police, Atlantis, Pharaoh's Quest, and so on. So my perspective on this particular topic will be very different than that of those who grew up with the themes of the 1990s. But, despite that, I still feel that I can relate to and sympathize with those older AFOLs, because the same spirit that was present in LEGO themes in the 1990s was still alive and well in the 2000s and early 2010s; although I did not grow up with any of the themes of the Classical Era, so strictly speaking I have no nostalgic connection with those, I still really admire and love those sets, and even went back and purchased some of them (I managed to get some of the smaller M-Tron and Futuron sets). With that out of the way, I would like to explain where I personally think the difference lies. For me, original LEGO themes did not feel like they were just extended merchandise meant to prop up another existing popular IP; instead, they felt like an entire new world in of themselves. Original themes to me, were not just selling you toys; they were selling you an entire new world, an entire new story, and an entire new experience; similar to what you would get from those popular IPs themselves, only through the medium of bricks rather than of a movie or a TV show. Growing up with those themes, I grew attached to the worlds and characters in those themes just as much as those growing up with Star Wars do with the worlds and characters in that franchise. The characters in Bionicle, for instance, were my own heroes, similar to how someone growing up with Star Wars, theirs might be Luke Skywalker or so on. And you can see this clearly reflected in the older original themes as well: To the generation of the late 1990s and early 2000s, their hero was probably Johnny Thunder; to those of the late 1980s and early 1990s, it was probably Captain Redbeard. LEGO used to thrive on creating their own unique worlds. They did not need to be propped up by the power of an existing IP, they already had their own worlds and stories! And that is precisely what drew me to LEGO. Because for me, I wasn't looking to buy toys based on an IP that already exists; I was looking for a new story, world, and experience that I wouldn't get elsewhere. That's why I found myself so drawn to themes like Bionicle and Hero Factory in particular, because of how unique they were; nobody was offering any experience quite like them anywhere else. Now, onto the sets themselves: I have to be honest, Original Themes simply offer much better value for money, play value, and more creative designs. With licensed themes, the designers are forced to just accurately recreate the designs of the originals from the IPs, with no room to experiment by themselves, otherwise, people will not by the sets, because they are not accurate to the source material. When given full room to be creative and experiment, that is where LEGO truly shines. Restricting LEGO to just recreations of existing models, at that point LEGO no longer feels like a toy, but like a model (this is clearly shown nowdays in the 18+ sets). Whereas with original themes, you often got amazing creative color schemes, epic functions and play features, all at much better and affordable prices than most licensed sets. This creative process is clearly reflected also in the way those original designs frequently inspire far more MOCs from people than most licensed themes do. In my experience, most fans of licensed themes just like to get those sets as display models, but rarely if ever make their own MOCs out of them. Whereas literally search up MOCs based off any of the original themes, and you'll get tons of pictures, many of them built years, sometimes even decades after those sets came out! It still amazes me how many MOCs people still make to this day based on themes like Ice Planet 2002, Blacktron, and so on. Yet I don't personally see nearly as many MOCs based off Harry Potter, or DC or Marvel Super Heroes, and the ones that are made, again, tend to just be bigger recreations of existing scenes and vehicles from their respective IPs. This to me clearly speaks to the superiority in terms of creativity that Original Themes offer. Nowdays, with their excessive emphasis on Licensed Themes and 18+ sets, it feels like LEGO has sold their soul for profit. They no longer care about creativity and putting out products that will inspire creativity, they just care about putting out whatever will make the most profit the quickest. And in the process, they have turned LEGO from a medium for creativity, into an expensive collector's item that now exists only to be built once and then left on display on a shelf to gather dust.

What about Dreamzz though? Do you have any anecdotal experience about how well Dreamzz may have performed?

Do we know anything about how well did Monkey Kid and Dreamzzz sell? Personally I was quite surprised that both of them seem to have surpassed the usual 3 year life span that is so common for Original Themes these days... Dreamzz lasted for 4 years, one year more than usual, and Monkie Kid lasted a whomping 6 years... double the usual lifespan we have come to expect of original in-house themes. Could this be a sign that both themes performed above expectations? I am curious what is the experience of the people in this thread with those themes, did you perceive them as being shelf warmers that were always on discount, or they tended to sell well in your experience? I am asking this because I think how well both those themes did could have a major impact of whether we will get any new original themes at all in the coming years, and whether what we will get will be something in a similar style, or whether we'll get something different entirely. Given how ridiculously many Licensed Themes overcrowd LEGO's product protofolio these days I wouldn't be shocked if it will be another few years before we get another proper original theme.

It is connected very securely, it won't pop out no matter how much you shake it. It is connected using part 3464 which can connect with the small hole inside the ball. For a connection that was completely unintended, it is surprisingly strong, almost like the two elements were made for each other.