Aanchir

I think projects not based on a very specific concept struggle a lot on Ideas. That's part of why licensed projects tend to be so successful — they're based on specific things that lots and lots of people perceive in more or less the same way. But even the non-licensed projects that have passed have had a very specific focus. The maze is based on a popular real-life game in a style as authentic as possible. The Birds are based on their real-life counterparts in a realistic style at more or less actual size. The Hayabusa and Shinkai 5000 are both authentic likenesses of real vehicles. The broadest non-licensed concept that's ever reached and passed review was the female scientists/research institute, but even that stayed pretty true to the original concept presented in the project: a female chemist, archaeologist, and astronomer. And it succeeded by trying to seeking a niche that had rarely (at that time) been seen in LEGO — not by trying to emulate a concept that had been routinely touched on by theme after theme. But non-licensed LEGO themes do not tend to be so specific. They're broad archetypes. There are a thousand ways to create a castle or a pirate ship or a spaceship. But just because a person is a fan of those things doesn't mean they'll like YOUR castle or YOUR pirate ship or YOUR spaceship. One person might prefer their castles and pirate ships and spaceships to be more fantastical, another might prefer them to be more realistic. One person might like them to use really modern colors and advanced techniques, while another person might prefer colors and techniques more like the classic sets they grew up with. One person might want them to be really playable while another person is more concerned with display and shelf presence. And so on and so forth. Getting something based on such a broad, ubiquitous concept to appeal to as many people as possible (particularly as many ADULTS as possible) is tough work! Honestly, that's something I think a lot of people underestimate about the internal design process at the LEGO Group. Designers are VERY concerned with figuring out what works. Some of the most recent castles have been criticized for being conventional. Outside, four re-arrangeable gray walls, a catapult, a few towers, and a gatehouse, and some splashes of color to keep things from being too dour. Inside, a dungeon, a throne room, and a treasury. It definitely IS formulaic, but LEGO doesn't just release sets like this based on what they've done before. They look at what's WORKED before. Trolls' Mountain Fortress, Vladek's Dark Fortress both had really daring and novel designs, but if they aren't as popular with kids as the usual $40–50 Evil Black Prison Tower or $100 Heroic Grey King's Castle, then they probably shouldn't be headlining the first wave for a new version of LEGO Castle. And in fact, they didn't — both those sets were released as follow-up to mix things up after taking a year or two to power through the more conventional fare. The notion that maybe LEGO Castle in general should be aimed at a higher age range so it can be more daring is not a new one. It's true that kids develop a taste for less familiar fare as they get older, which is part of why unfamiliar themes like Nexo Knights, Ultra Agents, Legends of Chima, and Ninjago tend to be designed for seven and up while the more familiar classic themes like City, Pirates, and Castle tend to be designed for ages five and up. These sorts of unfamiliar concepts (which tend to be classed as "action/adventure themes" here on Eurobricks, due to not falling strictly into one conventional genre or setting) are risky, because LEGO doesn't have as much precedent to fall back on, so it's harder to tell whether a theme will be a long-lasting craze like Ninjago or more of a flash-in-the-pan like Power Miners, Atlantis, and Ultra Agents. Once you get into teens and adults things get even trickier, because not only are you dealing with a much smaller demographic for toy sales in general, but also a pickier demographic that might have seemingly contradictory tastes (which gets back to the problem facing Castle-themed Ideas sets). For every adult Castle fan who in 2010 hated how conventional Kingdoms was and wanted Castle to go back to having a more fantastical setting and designs, there's an adult Castle fan who in 2007 thought skull-shaped towers and reanimated skeleton warriors were contrived and wanted Castle to go back to more realistic architecture and human vs. human conflict. All things considered, if AFOL-oriented castle sets like the Medieval Market Village and Kingdoms Joust could sell well enough on their own to support an ongoing series like the Winter Village or Modular Buildings, LEGO would probably have already at least taken one step deeper into that territory. But evidently sets like that are still a big enough risk that LEGO has only been comfortable releasing them as supplementary follow-ups to already successful Castle themes. So… yeah. I want to wrap this up by proposing some solution for LEGO Castle to break out of its shell and start to become more daring, or for Castle fans to create an Ideas project they can all rally around. But after all this reflection I don't really have one. Even at its most daring, LEGO Castle's risks have generally been fairly measured and calculated, and tend to take place after at least a brief period of more conventional fare. Meanwhile, themes like Nexo Knights and Elves have been doing a pretty good job satisfying MY cravings for what I want in a LEGO castle (i.e. colorful characters and livable spaces), and while I'd like traditional Castle to take some of those same steps, I don't know what it would take to get to that point. If anybody else has any ideas of what steps it might take for a Castle theme to not just satisfy AFOLs individually but really bring people together, I'd love to hear them.

Unlikely, since the "LEGO Legends" series from the early naughts was decidedly unsuccessful. LEGO isn't making that mistake again. The classic minifigure sets are one thing, but sets that people are expected to buy rather than just get free with a purchase actually have to be able to make money. "Action themes" is a term Eurobricks invented, not an official category. And frankly LEGO doesn't really tend to care HOW AFOLs classify themes — they don't necessarily break things down internally along the same clear-cut lines sites like Brickset or Bricklink do. Since Dr. Pepper is better than Coke, it's actually a pretty apt comparison. (KIDDING! KIDDING! ) Note the name of the set. It's "Classic Knights Set", not "Classic Castle Set". As such, the timeline it comes with can be considered a timeline of KNIGHT minifigures, not Castle minifigures. For comparison's sake, the timelines in the Classic Spaceman Minifigure set include sets such as 1682 (a Town/Flight set), 6339 (a Town/Launch Command set), 6458 (a Town/Space Port set), 7469 (a Discovery Channel set). Even in the minifigure lineup, it includes an astronaut from 10213 (an Advanced Models/Creator Expert set, with figs categorized as Town figs on BrickLink). But even though not all of these sets are considered part of the Space theme, they all count the Classic Spaceman as part of their design heritage. Likewise, whether or not you care for Nexo Knights or consider it a Castle theme, there's no denying that minifigures like Clay Moorington takes cues from the knight minifigures that came before him. For that matter, the timelines in the instructions of the Classic Pirate Set include 70810 (a LEGO Movie set), 7070 and 7075 (4+/4 Juniors sets). If it had come out this year, then chances are it might've included one of this year's Ninjago sky pirates as well! And yet, I recall no torches and pitchforks when that set came out, no people claiming that a set paying earnest tribute to Pirates fans was mocking them. At worst, some people were disappointed that the build itself wasn't as faithful to the actual classics as the Spaceman set had been. All it takes is a cursory analysis of this series of retro sets to realize that the inclusion of Nexo Knights in this set's timeline ultimately has no bearing on what theme it falls under — just on what it traces its roots to. Or maybe they just expect grown-ups not to whine so much about not everything being all about them…

Is the sword the same soft, flexible plastic as the ones that came in sets? I wouldn't expect that plastic to look so clear/glassy — most softer transparent LEGO pieces I've seen (like certain Bionicle and Hero Factory weapons) tend to have a milkier look.

I haven't heard anything really specific about how the Nexo Knights TV show is doing with audiences, so it's probably safe to say it's not as big a hit as Ninjago. For comparison's sake, Ninjago seasons one and two were a huge and widely publicized hit for Cartoon Network… though the lack of similar boasting about Nexo Knights might also just be a sign that Ninjago and other Cartoon Network shows like Adventure Time and Steven Universe have raised the bar for their programming compared to what was considered newsworthy in 2012. In any case, if I had to guess about Nexo Knights' future I'd say it probably won't last more than three years, but then again Ninjago's longevity caught me (and for that matter, even its creators) by surprise. I've enjoyed the Nexo Knights TV show overall, and the Book of Monsters (which is written by the TV show writers) really reflects what the series' writing can be like at its absolute best. But some episodes have been underwhelming — it doesn't feel quite as consistent as Ninjago was in its first season. By comparison, Chima's first three episodes didn't totally impress me, and while I continued to enjoy the storybooks and some of the sets (mostly bought on clearance or obtained as review copies), that "meh" reaction to the show did keep me from becoming as big a fan of that theme as I was of Ninjago or now Nexo Knights.

It's closer to her 2014 redesign IMO, what with the very utilitarian look of the boots and the angular contours of the costume in general.

If Chima were an all-around flop, like the first post suggests, then it would not have lasted nearly as long as it did, not to mention would have gotten a lot smaller a lot faster. LEGO may not be able to change its plans at the drop of a hat, but they've shown time and time again that they can pare down or cancel an unsuccessful theme on much shorter notice than that. Case in point, Ultra Agents. It only lasted three half-year waves. By its third wave, which consisted of just three sets, it had been made a Toys 'R' Us exclusive in the United States and had been discontinued altogether in several other countries. By contrast, Chima lasted six half-year waves. By the end, it had shed some of its less successful categories like Speedorz and constraction/buildable figures, but its last three sets were still distributed worldwide and at general retail, and the monthly magazine in the UK still had a circulation of over 54,000 as of June 2015. Not at all what you'd expect from a theme in crisis. I can't help but notice that most of the comments here about the sets lingering on clearance are from US members. It seems to me that Chima was just a lot more popular in Europe than the US. That wouldn't surprise me, since the same thing happened with Fabuland back in the 80s. Maybe European kids are just more fond of toy animal characters than American kids? The Chima characters DO have a lot in common with European toy figures like these ones, after all. It's been confirmed that the Chima constraction series sold better in Europe than they did in America, hence the 2014 wave of those not coming to North America at all. Overall, I'm hesitant to call either Chima or Ultra Agents a flop just because they didn't live up to expectations, because chances are LEGO discontinued them before they actually stopped being profitable. So they are still decidedly more successful than themes like Galidor, Orient Expedition, and Discovery that the LEGO Group actually LOST money on.

1/5 of the set is a lot, but hardly overwhelming, IMO. And that's on the high end for Elves color palettes — for comparison's sake, Naida's ship is 28% shades of blue, 16% black, 12% brick yellow (tan), and a mere 12% shades of purple/pink. And the Magical Bakery, one of the sets from the initial wave most highly criticized for being pink, was 13% shades of yellow, 16% shades of purple/pink, 21% shades of grey, and a whopping 35% shades of orange/brown. Beyond that, what other color family would you call "too much" just for making up 20% of a set's inventory? Would you call Knights' Challenge "too red" because 28% of its parts are the same shade of red? Or Wolfpack Renegades "too blue" because 36% of its parts are the same shade of blue? If not, why would a set be "too pink/purple" for having 20% or less of its inventory in several different shades of pink and purple? It only makes sense if you believe pink or purple are less appropriate colors, somehow, than red or blue, and in a fantasy setting I can't quite figure how you'd justify that sort of claim (in a historical setting you could make an argument that purple pigment was rare and expensive in medieval times, but then again, the same could be said for blue).

Only one of the dragons has a bow, and it's easily removable. And while the sets use a lot of pink and purple compared to boy-oriented themes, that has more to do with boy-oriented themes avoiding those colors like the plague than with the Elves sets being overwhelmed by them. Just going by the Brickset database (which groups all shades of pink and purple together in the "Purple" color family): Skyra's Mysterious Sky Castle is 11% green, 16% purple, 19% yellow, 20% grey, and 34% other colors. The Secret Market Place is 12% black, 13% yellow, 14% purple, 16% green, 25% orange-brown, and 20% other colors. Ragana's Magic Shadow Castle is 10% green, 19% purple, 21% grey, 25% black, and 25% other colors. Of course, more conventional Castle themes generally have much higher percentages of orange-brown, black, and grey (sometimes with just one of these three color families comprising up to 50% of the inventory), and lower proportions of blue, green, and yellow. So while pink and purple tend to make up less than 20% of a typical Elves set's inventory, the Elves theme does tend towards brighter colors in general than a typical Castle theme's grittier color palette. This makes me wonder something: would Nexo Knights sets appeal more to Castle builders if they had a more neutral color palette, instead of so much blue and orange? Certainly it might at least make Castle builders more inclined to buy them as parts packs. The Fortrex is already 12% black and 47% grey by piece count, but a lot of that is smaller parts like its treads rather than larger parts like its wall panels. If it instead had, say, gray walls and brown treads, maybe Castle fans would have an easier time seeing it as a rolling castle rather than some sort of cyber-tank. Even a set as outrageous as Lance's Mecha Horse might be more popular with Castle fans with a brown or sand yellow "trojan horse" color palette rather than its futuristic white, blue, and orange colors. Color can elicit some very visceral reactions. Let's not forget how much antipathy many Rock Raiders fans had for the brightly-colored Power Miners sets, even though Power Miners was without a doubt the more advanced theme in terms of functions, builds, monster designs, and the general versatility of its new pieces. For that matter, a lot of the harshest reactions I remember to the Atlantis theme came from its green and red color palette, which people were not used to associating with submarines. Of course, part of the reason for these reactions is also that kids tend to love bright colors, and thus many adults automatically associate bright colors with childishness. So the same bright colors that often invite AFOL hate probably work towards the success of the action/adventure themes that wear them.

I love Skyra's castle on a conceptual level (i.e. having a different area for each of the four elements), and it's more livable than the typical LEGO castle due to having a bath, dining area, kitchen, and study in addition to the usual throne room. But Ragana's castle is on a whole other level, what with having almost all of the trademark LEGO castle play features (throne room, dungeon, catapult/siege engine, traps) in addition to a bedroom, bathroom, foyer, and… well, I guess the area with the cauldron could arguably qualify as a kitchen. The only features it lacks that other LEGO castles generally have are a drawbridge, a portcullis, and armaments on the castle itself. Ragana's castle also has lots of detail for both the front/exterior and back/interior, whereas the design of Skyra's castle makes the back fairly bland in terms of both visuals and playability. So if we get future castles in LEGO Elves, I would hope for them to be more like Ragana's. Finally, Ragana's castle is nice and spooky, which is cool since it's been a long time since any other non-licensed theme has had an evil castle above the $50 price point. Though I suppose Nexo Knights is also breaking that same barrier this year with Jestro's Volcano Lair.

In my copy of the set at least, it was the old starched material, though it might vary between production runs?

It's possible that the popularity of LEGO Castle has been declining and needed a jump-start (after all, even though LEGO refreshes their Castle lineup every three years, lately each subsequent Castle iteration has gotten smaller both in terms of the number of waves and the number of sets per wave). But I doubt that castles as a concept are doing badly, because again, LEGO has a lot of sets out this year that could be described as castles, even if they don't fall under the "LEGO Castle" theme. Something to keep in mind is that according to Mark Stafford (Nabii), LEGO Nexo Knights as a concept has been in development since around 2009. Seven years is a pretty long development time even for a "big bang" theme (for comparison's sake, development for LEGO Ninjago began in 2008 and it was released in 2011). So LEGO has been preparing this concept for some time. It's entirely possible that rather than discontinuing Castle to make room for Nexo Knights, they instead consciously held Nexo Knights off until they DIDN'T have another Castle theme running, so they wouldn't have to worry about Nexo Knights cannibalizing Castle's sales or vice-versa.

I've seen some people manage to motorize them at a fast enough speed to cancel out or nearly cancel out their weight, but not enough to generate meaningful amounts of lift. Also, you'd need some sort of additional propeller to ensure that the main rotor spins at full speed rather than the body spinning in the opposite direction of the rotor (this is why helicopters have either a second rotor on the tail to stabilize the body of the aircraft, or a second rotor on top spinning the opposite direction of the first). Small hobbyist-oriented UAVs/drones generally have a "quadcopter" design, but this is not possible with Airjitzu propellors because you need rotors spinning in opposite directions, and Airjitzu propellers are only designed to generate lift by spinning in one direction. So a tail rotor would be your only real option for powered flight.

This set looks incredible! I love the new faces for Lloyd and Nya, and their Airjitzu designs in general! I think they definitely fit the characters' established face designs, just with new expressions. The architecture in this set is fantastic and would look really great alongside the Temple of Airjitzu, especially since even the colors are coordinated. :) The statues that Yang's students possess also echo the Sensei Yang statue in front of the Temple of Airjitzu, albeit with much greater detail. There's all kinds of great play value here too, from two styles of Airjitzu launcher to the first version of the classic cartoon "stairs that turn into a slide" trap that I've ever seen in an official set! Overall, I can't wait to add this set to my collection!

Oh sure, I don't doubt the possibility that the villains could be the statue brought to life (after all, Yang's students bring two statues to life in the Airjitzu Battle Grounds set so apparenty that is A Thing that they do). What I doubt is that fans have uncovered any actual synopses for Season 7 episodes at this point. More likely, any fan synopses at this stage are just extrapolating from hints in the sets and webisodes, and possibly also from fraudulent info that fans are assuming to be true (because the episode list that the title "Day of the Departed" came from still seems extremely sketchy to me). I've seen a lot of fake synopses and episode titles over the years, for Ninjago as well as other LEGO shows, and when we have gotten the real episode titles ahead of their actual airing (like we did for Season 6), it's usually been from a verifiable source and not just hearsay. Some seemingly-real Ninjago screenshots leaked a few months ago, but from what I've heard, they may be connected with a future season beyond season 7, since they show the Ninja in suits other than their Season 6 or 7 suits, but with far too much unique detail on each ninja to seem like show-only designs. There definitely wasn't any confirmation of which specific episode these screenshots came from, so if one of these accompanied the video then it probably WAS just a kid trying their best to piece together all the leaks, teasers, and rumors we've gotten so far.

These not-quite-minifigure sculptures from the LEGOLAND Parks are apparently called "LEGO Friends" (no, not that LEGO Friends. Or that LEGO Friends, for that matter). They're around 3 feet tall and slightly out of proportion with minifigures and the shapes are slightly more curved to make them more in proportion with kids. I read this in The Ultimate LEGO Book, but it's been a long time since I've looked through my copy so forgive me if I have any details wrong.

I have doubts about this, just because I remember when a full supposedly leaked list of episode titles surfaced on Twitter last month or so and I never saw a source other than Wikipedia to back it up. Some of the other episodes from that list, like "Cryptal Rising", sounded pretty fake in their own right. Plus everything you just mentioned from that video could be just as easily assumed based on the "Villain Throwback" videos we've been getting on the Ninjago website (which have a museum exhibit featuring the villains with their new designs and weapons). Finally, I don't know if some kid would really be that likely to know this kind of thing before anybody else if they can't provide a source to back it up. I'm not saying for sure that it's inaccurate/made up, but right now that seems more likely than not. I've seen too many fake Ninjago episode titles and synopses in my day to really take something like this with anything less than a heaping helping of salt.

The booklets in themes like this aren't really an authoritative source on what is or isn't a part of a given theme, considering that the Classic Spaceman Set's booklet included a fig from Shuttle Adventure (which would probably not qualify as a Space set) but did NOT include figs from Ice Planet 2002, Spyrius, Unitron, Exploriens, RoboForce, U.F.O, Mars Mission, Alien Conquest, or any version of Space Police or Blacktron.

It is entirely possible that Nexo Knights might be taking the place of another Castle theme for at least the next two years. New versions of LEGO Castle tend to be launched about every three years: Knights' Kingdom II in 2004, Fantasy Era in 2007, Kingdoms in 2010, the latest Castle-branded sets in 2013. If LEGO is sticking to that cycle that could mean that Nexo Knights is the new version of Castle for the time being. Breaking from that cycle to release another Castle theme sometime in the next two years wouldn't necessarily be a great thing for Castle fans, since creating a new theme or a new version of a classic theme takes time, and I can easily see Castle fans being disappointed if the next iteration of Castle is visibly rushed to completion. Also, despite the lack of a theme that Historic Themes fans here are willing to consider "castle", this year's sets have been sort of castle-heavy. Besides Nexo Knights, this year's sets include castles in the Angry Birds, Elves, and Minecraft themes. It's safe to assume Angry Birds is one-and-done, and Minecraft tends not to repeat itself too much, but Elves certainly isn't going away in the immediate future, so Nexo Knights is not the only theme another new Castle theme would have to worry about overlapping with. The possibility of a Castle-ish licensed theme is a whole other matter, since as we saw with The Lord of the Rings/The Hobbit, those tend to operate on their own schedule that depends more on movie releases than on the LEGO Group's internal cycles. But I haven't really seen mention of any upcoming medieval fantasy movies that are obvious candidates for a LEGO adaptation. If Nexo Knights does manage extend longer than three years, then it wouldn't entirely surprise me for another Castle theme to be launched in its fourth year or later.

They didn't say specifically they were keeping it the same size. However, they did mention the size as one of the great things about it, which would be an odd thing to call attention to if they thought they'd need to change that too dramatically. They generally already have at least a first prototype to test the viability of a project before they announce it's passed review.

The style of this Lava Beast art is great, but it doesn't feel that much different to me than the style used on the covers of the G2 graphic novels to me. The biggest difference I see is that it's more accurate to the sets (with the armor shapes less stylized), and if you would've preferred the webisodes' style then accuracy to the sets can't be your concern… I will admit that some pages of the new graphic novels look REALLY rough. But many other pages look really great, as good as on the covers or better! And it's not as if the G1 comics never had bizarre art goofs. Just look at Pohatu's mask in the very last panel of issue 1, or how Kopaka's head seems to have shrunk in the same panel. Or Tahu's uncomfortable-looking hunch on page 6 of issue 3, or his mouth and nose on page 8. G1 had some great comics, but if we're only comparing the worst of G2's graphic novel pages (like "Gathering of the Toa", page 8) with the best of G1's comic pages (like the last page of 2003's "Bionicle" Issue 12) then of course G1's going to look better. If you made the same comparison the other way around (like with "Battle of the Mask Makers" page 37 versus the final page of 2007's "Bionicle: Ignition" issue 11) it'd be exactly the opposite.

I'd heard about this. It's pretty cool, but why is it in the Action Figures subforum?

When I read it, I felt it was pretty blatantly implying that

Brickset has started listing several official and unofficial books here, though take note that this part of their database is fairly new and not yet complete.

This is basically what I had in mind. Sort of like how Will Ferrell played both President Business and The Man Upstairs. :)

Another way of looking at the Castle issue: For over a decade, LEGO has been releasing a new version of LEGO Castle every three or four years: Knights' Kingdom II in 2004, "Fantasy Era" in 2007, Kingdoms in 2010, and the latest Castle reboot in 2013. In this sense, the release pattern has seemingly not changed, and in fact we would not be due for a new take on LEGO Castle until next year or the year after that. What has changed, however, is that lately, each iteration of Castle has gotten smaller. Not counting polybags, co-packs, or battle packs, Knights' Kingdom II had 13 sets its first year, 14 sets its second, and eleven sets its third (including six constraction sets each year). "Fantasy Era" Castle picked up the very next year, with 8 sets its first year, 10 sets its second, and five sets its second. The number of non-constraction sets for the theme as a whole technically rose, but if you count constraction sets it's clear the theme unmistakably got smaller. Moving on to 2010, Kingdoms had 8 sets its first year, 4 sets its second, and only 1 its third. 2013 Castle had 5 sets its first year and didn't even get a second or third year. What this indicates to me is that not only is Castle a theme in decline, it's a theme that's been steadily declining for over a decade. And its decline can't easily be chalked up to particular strategic or design missteps, because the strategy and designs have changed with each iteration but failed to reverse the decline. Knights' Kingdom II was the closest to what we might call a "big bang" theme today, with a heavily marketed, multimedia story focusing on distinctive, colorful characters. "Fantasy Era" Castle dropped the constraction segment, the character-driven story, and some of the more outlandish colors in favor of more archetypical characters and more subdued colors, but also reintroduced dragons, introduced the Castle theme's first other fantasy races (the skeletons, dwarves, and trolls), and had some overtly fantasy-derived architecture. Kingdoms went back to having two human factions and generally dropped most of the fantasy elements, aside from one set featuring a wizard, but also introduced civilians/peasants — previously, the D2C Medieval Market Village had been their only appearance since the 80s. And finally, the 2013 Castle revival occupied a sort of a middle ground between Fantasy Era and Kingdoms, with iconic fantasy elements like an evil wizard and dragon along with castles that took design cues from their Kingdoms forerunners. Yet none of these themes seem to have sold well enough to result in more than a short spike in popularity. With this in mind, could Castle and Nexo Knights coexist? Ideally, and conceptually, yes! Despite both heavily drawing from the same medieval fantasy tropes, they have very discrete styles and design sensibilities. But realistically, if Castle were reintroduced alongside Nexo Knights it's easy to see how the latter could cannibalize sales of the former, and that's a huge risk when the Castle theme/category has already gotten so much weaker since 2004. Admitting to a decline like this is tough. I know this from experience. I'm a lifelong Bionicle fan, but sales for the Bionicle theme peaked in 2002, and nothing seems to be able to reliably reverse that decline. The constraction category's "headline act" has been through three iterations (Bionicle G1, Hero Factory, and Bionicle G2), but while these fresh approaches might have resulted in a brief uptick in popularity and sales, ever-smaller numbers of sets and ever-lower search interest indicate that they have not been able to reverse the overall trend. As of this summer, Bionicle is becoming a Toys 'R' Us exclusive line, which may help extend its profitability, but it's doubtful that any sort of "constraction renaissance" is anywhere in the immediate forecast. And it's worth bearing in mind that while it's the LEGO Group's interest to keep a category going for as long as they can squeeze a profit out of it, they are not so invested in maintaining a "hierarchy" of themes and categories. Bionicle was their bread and butter back in the early naughts, and while they obviously want to keep getting as much out of it as they can, they're not going to pour any more money into it than its current state can justify just because of what it once did for them. Same goes for Castle. Of course they're going to try and put their best foot forward with each new release, but their concern is where the theme is now, not where it was when its popularity was at its peak. Sometimes the tastes of kids just change, and investing more in something kids just don't care for like they used to isn't necessarily a realistic concern. Remember, this is the company that was prepared to bail on Ninjago and move onto the next thing after two and a half years (a fairly normal lifespan for even a successful LEGO theme), prior to realizing just how much momentum it had left. Ninjago may have been the most successful new product launch of all time in 2011, supposedly it briefly even sold better than LEGO Star Wars (!), but the LEGO Group would not invest more in it until they were assured that they were going to get more out of it — and even then, they built it back up cautiously, with the 2014 revival marking its smallest TV season and its second smallest range of sets (just eight episodes and nine sets, versus 26 episodes and 37 sets back in 2012). The LEGO Group still takes risks, but ever since coming back from the brink of bankruptcy they take calculated risks — no more huge upfront investments in a theme unless its immediate forerunners have sold well enough to justify that kind of confidence. Setting aside the question of whether or not Nexo Knights is a part of the LEGO Castle category, there's no doubt it would not be nearly as big as it is if it could not trace its bloodline back to other media-driven "big bang" themes like Legends of Chima and Ninjago which help substantiate those ambitions — and even then, the Nexo Knights launch wave of 28 retail sets is humble compared to Chima's launch wave of 37 retail sets, showing that the LEGO Group has tempered their expectations after Chima failed to live up to all of the lofty sales projections made prior to its launch. This is how it goes. Themes that sell well (like Nexo Knights) result in higher expectations and a bigger upfront investment for whatever is expected to follow in their footsteps, while themes that don't sell quite so well (like Legends of Chima) result in lower expectations and a smaller upfront investment for their successors. It can be frustrating for all of us who bear witness to the rise and fall of our preferred themes (someday even Ninjago might go the way of the LEGO Dino, though judging from its recent track record that probably won't be for several years). But how popular a theme can become often depends on factors that are out of the LEGO Group's control. Making all themes Ninjago-sized or Chima-sized or City-sized is not a guarantee that they will have similar sales — the bigger the product range, the higher the risk, and as you can see just by comparing Chima and Ninjago, a bigger risk doesn't always mean a bigger reward. Sorry for rambling. I hope I haven't bored you.