MAB

Exo-suit and Research Institute were very close (Aug 2014 in the UK). Although I'd imagine they would have told us if the Ideas set was coming.

Plus the sets should be "kiddy". They are toys and they should primarily appeal to kids. Also a lot of the world doesn't get the show and yet the sets have to appeal to buyers worldwide. Many kids play with the sets without knowing about the storylines. You've moved on, yet others still play Minecraft. The kids playing it now are primarily aged 7-13, which just so happens to overlap significantly with the age range that many children play with LEGO.

Too many UCS? There are usually two and occasionally just one per year. How is that too many? As noted above, there are plenty of big sets in other themes. They just aren't UCS as UCS is Star Wars only. If you think they are too big and lack playability, then don't buy them. Buy the models designed for play instead.

There is Harry Potter though, and that is just as much Castle as LOTR or Hobbit ever was. And there WAS an active Castle range at the same time as LOTR. So the argument that they do not do Castle when a line such as LOTR is around is false.

I don't get this. While it may not be highlighted as a top 5 best-selling theme in their annual reports, it is up against some huge licenses and the high volume City and Friends. The fact that it has been around for quite some time tells us something - that it has been a good money maker. And in that sense, it is an important line for LEGO, as long as it continues to make money for them, which is why it sticks around. I doubt it costs them much to have the license either, or for the design of sets, given the somewhat simplistic builds that are common. While it may not be cool to the kids that used to play it, it is still played with a lot. By a new generation of kids. One of my kids is now 10, and he is very into Minecraft now, but wasn't even just a couple of years ago. Some kids may stop playing it after all these years, but others will start. More than any other computer game, it is like LEGO. It doesn't have to change much since what attracted kids about 10 years ago still attracts kids now. Just like LEGO hasn't gone out of fashion. There is still a lot of associated merchandise sold too - whether books, toys, T-shirts, etc. It is clearly still making money for these companies. LEGO has shown in the past that it is willing to kill a theme quickly - presumably if it is not making money. The fact that it hasn't killed Minecraft must have a reason.

Yes, but then I guess there are different ways of defining what an umbrella theme is; from Aanchir's post, I was assuming they called Ninjago an umbrella theme as it contained a very wide range of sets / styles - from classical / historical architecture, through fantasy, futuristic vehicles, etc. In fact, pretty much like Friends, where a group of named girls have a wide range of types of sets.

It hasn't been released yet or officially revealed. So they don't allow you to see or buy the parts.

It is a little weird that the Scarecrow won the Best CMF game last year, then we get another one and not a single vote for him. OK, this one is licensed, but it would pass easily enough as unlicensed if you didn't know he was from Wizard of Oz.

Yes, very true. Plus in the late 70s / early 80s when computers were becoming common in homes, it was reasonably popular to learn to program in Basic, "Basic" was quite cool. Then Pascal and C started to take over. Even then, there is damage to the brand if a parent sees the branding without looking at content. Some people have never seen GoT but from media "know" it is softcore porn, just boobs and swords. When they see LEGO is making sets based on it, they get a negative image of the LEGO brand.

Think about the subjects of even just the current waves available on lego.com: Temple / monastery - architecture / historical Various dragons - fantasy Driller and Dieselnaut - techno fantasy, callbacks to power miners Jay's storm fighter - high tech aircraft / close to space Destiny's Wing - another plane Blade cycle - motorbikes in tron / akira style Various Mechs - mechs obviously Spinjitsu Ninjago City and Docks - modular style architecture Destiny's Bounty - ships They sure do cover a very wide subject area in Ninjago.

They were given away for registering with the LEGO club online, so easy to get hold of. There are over 1000 new ones for sale on bricklink, so not very rare. If you get the 2014 version, it is significantly rarer.

Yes, good point about the link there. Personally, I would have preferred them to have branded these as BASIC sets, like in the 70s and 80s. Although I guess these Classic boxes have slightly more specialised parts than the Basic boxes (like 5529) of even about 8-10 years ago that were just traditional bricks, so they have made a distinction there.

And a whole load of LBG and DBG brick service packs. Do LEGO use the terms Classic Space, Classic Castle, etc . Aren't they fan derived terms rather than company ones.

^ But you don't have the opened polybag so there is a difference! Although as this set is licensed it must clearly be inferior to the same but slightly different coloured non-licensed version.

It is this on bricklink (without your name of course!) https://www.bricklink.com/v2/catalog/catalogitem.page?P=30144pb109&name=Brick 2 x 4 x 3 with Ninjago 2011 Pattern&category=[Brick, Promotional]#T=S&O={"rpp":"500","iconly":0}

The dual molded vs printed boots is a pain at BL. People have asked for a distinction to be made between these for a while now, but still no action has been taken.

Has anyone spotted any new fleshie heads? I've gone through about 50 sets containing fleshies and not a single head so far!

If you want things in one huge theme, just call them CARS. And there you have your own theme that encompasses all LEGO cars. Theming a collection is sometimes arbitrary anyway. For example, your rare polybag in the other thread, I don't think this is actually part of the Racers theme. It doesn't have the Racers logo on it like the other Racers sets. It is the same build as a Racers set but rebadged as a licensed BMW set rather than a Racers set, so it gets lumped together with them.

Completely untrue. People don't buy stuff just because it is new, they buy it because they want it. No doubt some people on youtube will buy it and review it to try to make money off the review. But how many sales does that generate? Maybe 5-10 worldwide. LEGO commission sets for retail that will sell 10,000s or 100,000s. They need people to like the source material and like the set. The reason it has to exist is because LEGO think it will sell, and sell well. And people wanting something isn't a reason for it to exist. It has to be viable for LEGO for it to exist. People want 20,000 piece Minas Tirith sets to exist, for example. Is that reason for it to exist? No, as the number of people that would buy such a set is too small to be viable.

Plus the polybag is a reissue of a common earlier one anyway (in the UK it was given away with a newspaper), so the only difference is in the licensed packaging. This is probably partly why not so many people want it. I can understand people into licensed polybags or BMW collectors wanting it, but many LEGO fans would have already have got the earlier RACERS version.

Sure, there is a market for a lot of things that are never produced. And as consumers, we think the company is missing out on sales to people like us that want such and such, without really considering how this affects their current line-up, strategy, etc. One example is adult related items, that is items that would be 18+ not for build techniques but due to content. Some people think LEGO is missing out the adult market by not doing Game of Thrones, Breaking Bad, The Walking Dead, etc, without really considering the impact that this would have on the image of the company.

Racers did change themes with time. Anything lasting a long time has to change, otherwise it becomes stale and boring. I don't mind Speed Champions at all, but chances are it will evolve then give way to another car theme. They could have called it Racers: Speed Champions, and made it part of the overall Racers umbrella, to use the word from above. As far as I can tell, the current Speed Champions is great for anyone into fairly realistic performance cars - and that will include both LEGO fans and non-LEGO fans interested in displaying the licensed brands. And that is partly what the licenses do, bring in people that might not traditionally buy LEGO.

Would they be solid selling sets though? As those are the types of things often discussed here. Everyone always seem to think if only LEGO did what I want, they'd improve the World's No. 1 toy company. Why is there no way to purchase just straight railway track pieces? Why do they no longer offer individual train cars people can buy to expand their trains? Why sell just straights when they can sell straight and flexible in one box? They used to sell individual train cars and presumably they have data to say that they don't sell as well as expected. Why are there so few Friends sets that include horses? OK, no one ever heard of small girls liking horses (apparently, they all want racing themed sets ), but still, it might be worth a try... Is this actually true though? There are already 18 different Friends style horses, although some of these will be in Elves and Disney type sets. https://www.bricklink.com/v2/search.page?q=93083*#T=A However, my daughter has a stable, a horse box, the riding camp and the horse show set. Together they are massive. Why don't we have a generic Castle or Pirates theme anymore? Because they compete with current sets or LEGO wants a break from them for a while / poor sales in past? Would you expect a company to say why they are not currently doing something? They may well have plans to bring it back in the future, so cannot say anything negative about it.

I pointed out contradictions in the previous post that you replied to. At 2:33 You say Overwatch has no real reason to exist but wouldn't be surprised if it sells well enough to stick for a long time. In other words, there is reason to exist, as it will sell. You claim you have proof that children prefer Ninjago and Nexo Knights to Star Wars, and that original themes are what sells (6:33). Then go on to say that the only reason licensed themes sell better is because of the growing number of A holes that don't like what you like. So you have proof that original themes are what sells, then complain about the number of people buying licensed sets that makes them sell better. There is also contradiction here. They kept the same price as enough people were willing to pay that price. That's what businesses do - they price goods at the price the market will pay. Why did they shut down the game? Because it was not making them enough money / not popular enough / wanted to focus elsewhere (such as Dimensions).

^ Similarly, I used to like licensed sets a lot when LOTR and The Hobbit were being produced. These days, there is not so much for me in licensed. SW is OK for the Original Trilogy stuff, but I'm not really into the new movies. I'm not really into SH, aside from maybe a few variants of the main well-known characters. Before that I was more into unlicensed, when they were doing Castle. But of course, none of this is licensed vs unlicensed. It is theme vs theme. I have no interest in Speed Champions. However, that doesn't cloud my interest in other licensed properties. I'm glad they make them too, as people that like cars and lego have something (small) to buy. Similarly, I'm also glad they make vehicles in City sets, as people that want to play everyday life have something for them, which here are unlicensed. Given the wide range of subjects covered in Creator and City sets, I am always surprised when people cannot find anything of interest in new LEGO, preferring instead the old pre-licensed sets. Although I can understand the draw of nostalgia for old sets.