Lego David

My local Stores don't have the entire line either. They only have like 2 sets from this current wave.

Hey guys, we're going kinda off-topic here. We are here to discuss Classic themes and what prevents LEGO from bringing them back, not whether Playmobil sells or not. If you want to talk about Playmobil, there are other places to do so.

Exactly! Most of the apps LEGO has released in the past 7 years or so aren't even playable anymore.

The late 90's and early 2000's are infamously known as "the dark ages" because at that time, LEGO was experimenting with all sorts of obscure products, with hit or miss (mostly miss) results. After 2005 though, this "dark age" came to an end, and LEGO stopped experimenting. Today, I feel like they have stared to enter another Experimental Era, although in a different fashion then previously. Now days, they have started to experiment with mixing Digital and Physical Play together. Ultra Agents, Dimensions, Nexo Knights, and most notably, Hidden Side, tried combing those two types of play together. Whether those attempts have been successful or not though, it's hard to tell. But, for the time being, it seems like LEGO will keep experimenting with Digital Play until either they strike a big success or a big flop. The upcoming theme "Monkey Kid" is also rumored to have an AR feature like Hidden Side, so we will see how that goes. So what do you think? Is LEGO entering in the 2nd Experimental Era?

I love the use of the Brick Separators as the roof!

Great MOC! I really like how you attached those custom capes around the body!

Things have changed a bit since then though. A few stuff that interests me has come out since then, with Hidden Side being the primary one.

Where will it be streamed? On YouTube?

No, LEGO's dark age was during the early 2000's. As far as I know, they didn't face any financial problems during the 80's and 90's. Just look online on different sites if you don't trust Wikipedia. You would probably came out with the exact same results. Excuse me? I am not going anywhere. LEGO is my hobby, and nothing is going to change that. With Classic themes or not, I am still going to be a LEGO fan. If you consider my arguments baseless, then ask other people who have posted on this topic. They would probably tell you the exact same thing.

What kind of live stream? It's the first time I hear about that.

Correction: LEGO is a billionaire company: In 2012, it was reported that The LEGO Group had become the world's most valuable toy company ahead of Mattel with a value at over $14.6 billion. (Quote from Wikipedia) Fun Fact... None of those themes were actually around during the "Dark Age" of LEGO. It wouldn't be until after that time period that those themes came back. Nah, no thanks. I quite enjoyed this topic. If you don't like it, then just don't post on it. Nobody forces you to discuss something that you don't really enjoy discussing.

I highly doubt LEGO would include them in the finalized set though... The head molds are probably out of production at this point.

Actually, they have done it before with Knight's Kingdom 1 and 2, which integrated a unique story and characters.

Which brings us back to my point: LEGO can do a Castle or Pirates theme that it's unique in it's own way, just like they did with Ninjago. They have all the resources required in order to do so.

Do you happen to know anything about when the theme will be revealed?

So... what's the appeal in that set other than the fact that it's based on a popular IP? It's just a bunch of miniscale builds and three minifigures we have gotten already. Plus, isn't Kingdom of the Crystal Skull also part of the franchise? Shouldn't that movie also be represented there?

LEGO could very easily integrate a story into a original Space theme. They did that with Bionicle, Ninjago, and so on. So I don't see how a new Space wouldn't be successful nowdays if they did that.

What do you mean by "greater risk of complete failure? As far as we know, there have been few original themes that were failures in the true sense of the word. If anything, there have been more failures with licensed themes than with original themes. And no, the fact that they are too expensive to produce isn't the reason LEGO isn't making them anymore. Licensed themes have always been more expensive because of the fees they have to pay in order to keep those licenses. That's the reason why licensed sets are often priced higher then in-house sets. Saying that modern kids prefer realistic space over sci-fi space is just ridiculous to be honest. After all, if that's the case, than why in the world is Star Wars still one of the top selling LEGO themes?

Any updates on the theme from NYTF? Or should we give up hope on the line being revealed there?

Well said! That's a very important detail that I don't see mentioned very often. LEGO has full control over what appeals to kids, even if they don't realize it. Before Ninjago, were Ninjas that popular among kids? I doubt that. But because the theme was so well executed, kids today have fallen in love with it and never stop wanting more. It became so popular in fact, that it even won the battle with the licensed competitor it had... That being the Teenage Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles theme, which was based on an IP that was far more popular than Ninjago. But, that theme only lasted for two years (2013-2014) and Ninjago kept going to this day. I firmly believe if executed well, that could happen to pretty much any LEGO theme. It's all a matter of having a proper launch and proper marketing. If you get that right, kids could end up preferring your original product over the licensed one.

So basically what what you are saying is that LEGO decides what appeals to kids based on tests they do with Danish kids that happen to live near Billund? Or how exactly does this system work?

I definitely agree. The problem lies in LEGO not knowing how to properly make those themes rather than the lack of interest from the customers. As you pointed out, Playmobil is a great example that there still is interest in those themes. I think a potential solution to that would be to hire new designers that properly understand those themes. I am pretty sure there are plenty of them out there.

Really? How many kids do you know that actively communicate with LEGO? I personally don't know any.

Well, themes like Bionicle and Ninjago have proven that it actually can be done. And the good storytelling that came with them is the reason why they became so successful. I think one of the reasons Nexo Knights wasn't as successful as it could have been was it's sub par storytelling. I think all they need to do is just hire better people in the story department. If they succeed and doing that, and Castle or Pirates receive a proper story that connects with kids, then the success of those lines is pretty much guaranteed. Not to mention, they've even done it before with Knight's Kingdom 2, so creating a story about medieval Castle shouldn't even be that difficult. I 100% agree with you. LEGO has gotten to the point where they can no longer just ignore its fanbase. Just look at something like the Sonic the Hedgehog movie... If that movie had kept the original design for Sonic, it would most likely been a flop. But because the people making it listened to the fan feedback and changed the character's design, the movie has been a success. So yeah, listening to the fans could do the difference between success and failure. And I think LEGO should take note of that.

Well... That was my point... Some of those licenses are gone by now. Like, there is no license to compate with Pirates at the moment, which means now it would be a good time to bring it back. But for some reason, LEGO hesitaes to do so.