Are there too many licensed LEGO themes?

[TeriXeri]

Themes being branded vs themes being part of other themes, is where things fall apart.

3-in-1 has been selling a Castle and a Pirate Ship for years now, same goes for Icons / Ideas Castle / Viking / Space sets, and previous Pirates Barracuda Bay.

City having space sets that are completely unrelated to City whatsoever.

Subthemes, like City F1 being licensed or not.

 

I don't define themes based on their theme names anymore, as there's just so much cross referencing and usage going on.

There has not been a "theme" named Space, Castle, Pirates, Vikings or whatever for like 10+ years now, not that I suddenly will call the entirety of Star Wars "Space" , or Harry Potter "Castle" .

 

 

37 minutes ago, imposter said:

https://brickset.com/sets/theme-Vidiyo

This is maybe a CMF theme. Not good. I hope we get Castle theme from LEGO but probably it's only a Dream.

Stage sets weren't bad and they could've done so much more with it , like the dragon figures, zombie/monster figures, mexican/western figures, alien figures, etc could've had their own stage themes.

But only a few made, but eventually they went away quick with huge discount as the theme ended rapidly after.

https://brickset.com/sets/subtheme-Stages

Edited April 16 by TeriXeri

[imposter]

I have to say, I 100 % agree. We have HYBRID THEMES. Then fully LICENSED and IN-HOUSE themes.

(AND guess what? Today I will buy a Dreamzzz set. That horrible coloured car/motorbike. Neon Yellow. BECAUSE creativity, 2 in 1 / 3 in 1. Not some same licensed boring sets like SW, HP or Game Themes, Super-BORING-Heroes). 

Edited April 17 by imposter

[MAB]

12 hours ago, TeriXeri said:

Themes being branded vs themes being part of other themes, is where things fall apart.

3-in-1 has been selling a Castle and a Pirate Ship for years now, same goes for Icons / Ideas Castle / Viking / Space sets, and previous Pirates Barracuda Bay.

City having space sets that are completely unrelated to City whatsoever.

Subthemes, like City F1 being licensed or not.

 

I don't define themes based on their theme names anymore, as there's just so much cross referencing and usage going on.

There has not been a "theme" named Space, Castle, Pirates, Vikings or whatever for like 10+ years now, not that I suddenly will call the entirety of Star Wars "Space" , or Harry Potter "Castle" .

It does become messy. There is currently no Lord of the Rings theme as it is ICONS and Brickheadz even though LEGO has a LOTR tab in the menu. But I don't think LOTR fans mind that much although obviously having a theme of kid focused sets would mean cheaper and more variety in sets. It is the human need to classify everything in a hierarchical way that puts one badge before another. 

There has been a space sub-theme of City, with Space written on boxes along with the Classic Space logo. Yet the marketing badge for City trumps the Space badge so there is no Space theme. Last year (and still in stock this year) was very good for space sets and was essentially the year of space, yet not a single Space theme set was issued. While there is no Space theme on the website, there is a Space entry under interests leading to https://www.lego.com/en-gb/space, similar for dragons, trains, films, fantasy, gaming, etc. 

This is why I think people should concentrate on actual sets rather than themes. The thread is complaining about too many licensed themes and comparing themes as if they are equal. An easy way to reduce the number of licensed themes is to put an ICONS badge on the Zelda set, and that instantly reduces the number of licensed themes by 1 without actually changing any availability of sets. I doubt Zelda fans would care if the box had an ICONS label too. This could be repeated a number of times to further reduce themes. But what really matters is availability of sets.

[imposter]

So we have to count number of LICENSED sets and number of IN-HOUSE sets. 

For me LEGO is IN-HOUSE. Otherwise I would not do this every day. (Dreamzzz + Castle + Space).

[Peppermint_M]

1 hour ago, MAB said:

This is why I think people should concentrate on actual sets rather than themes.

I agree. Or themes should take a sub-heading type of role, so the "Banner/Title" is City/Ninjago/Friends and the theme is whatever the set portrays. The same way that LEGO.com lists by interest if you want or need to search that way.

[SpacePolice89]

5 minutes ago, Peppermint_M said:

I agree. Or themes should take a sub-heading type of role, so the "Banner/Title" is City/Ninjago/Friends and the theme is whatever the set portrays. The same way that LEGO.com lists by interest if you want or need to search that way.

I think themes are very important for both unlicensed and licensed sets. Of the three themes mentioned I am only interested in City. The other two are great themes but for several reasons I have no interest in them personally. Grouping them together only because they are all unlicensed would be bad for marketing and clarity. Grouping together licensed themes would also be bad because Star Wars is vey different from Harry Potter or Gabby's Dollhouse. 

[BrickBob Studpants]

6 hours ago, imposter said:

Super-BORING-Heroes

The „Make a post about in-house themes without degrading licensed themes Challenge (IMPOSSIBLE)“

Also, what happened to your love for DC? Did you actually smash your beloved shadow boxes?

[Renny The Spaceman]

22 minutes ago, BrickBob Studpants said:

The „Make a post about in-house themes without degrading licensed themes Challenge (IMPOSSIBLE)“

Also, what happened to your love for DC? Did you actually smash your beloved shadow boxes?

If you need to compare this obviously different iser to the dead person known as turtle to make your argument work clearly he's objectively right in everything he's ever said 

[imposter]

I understand that Speed Champions BOSS went to CITY department. Now CITY is evolving like we have never seen before. CITY in 2030 will be MASSIVE theme. Probably 100-200 sets a year. From cars to Adventurers like things. From regular NASA Space to Sci-fi, Star Trek, Alien, The Martian like settings.

From Arctic to under water. Almost like Atlantis. Robot world rollercoaster is our world in the future. There are animals but also police, almost Agents / Ultra Agents atmosphere. Movie like sets. Under City there are coming probably 30-40 sub themes. CITY will have characters who we meet every year. They evolve. We have TV-shows and probably even a LIVE-ACTION movie. "Future City". 

Edited April 17 by imposter

[Murdoch17]

1 hour ago, imposter said:

I understand that Speed Champions BOSS went to CITY department. Now CITY is evolving like we have never seen before. CITY in 2030 will be MASSIVE theme. Probably 100-200 sets a year. From cars to Adventurers like things. From regular NASA Space to Sci-fi, Star Trek, Alien, The Martian like settings.

From Arctic to under water. Almost like Atlantis. Robot world rollercoaster is our world in the future. There are animals but also police, almost Agents / Ultra Agents atmosphere. Movie like sets. Under City there are coming probably 30-40 sub themes. CITY will have characters who we meet every year. They evolve. We have TV-shows and probably even a LIVE-ACTION movie. "Future City". 

....I don't know where to even start unpacking that. (Live action City movie? 40 sub themes? What? just WHAT?)

Edited April 17 by Murdoch17

[imposter]

Quite possible future of LEGO CITY theme 2026-2030. We won't see for example Adventurers BUT adventurers in jungle. City/Jungle.

[BrickBob Studpants]

200 City sets a year…

Turtle, I have no idea which dimension you‘re from, but it sure ain‘t the one we‘re all in

[MAB]

7 hours ago, SpacePolice89 said:

I think themes are very important for both unlicensed and licensed sets. Of the three themes mentioned I am only interested in City. The other two are great themes but for several reasons I have no interest in them personally. Grouping them together only because they are all unlicensed would be bad for marketing and clarity. Grouping together licensed themes would also be bad because Star Wars is vey different from Harry Potter or Gabby's Dollhouse. 

They are not so important if there are subthemes though. For example, City is often characterised as a lot of subthemes, so Police, Fire, Harbour, Jungle, Volcano, etc.

LEGO does have a films section under Interests rather than Themes (might be called movies on other national sites): https://www.lego.com/en-gb/categories/movies

There, they do put SW with HP, LOTR, Jaws, JP, Avengers, Home Alone, Snow White, and so on as well as Orient Express, D&D and some others.

Personally, I don't think it matters how many themes there are but it seems to upset a number of people here. It comes up every six months or so, and it is nearly always a complaint about the number of licensed themes rather than then number of licensed sets. Gabby's Dollhouse does not compare to Friends when it comes to numbers of sets, but they both count equally as one theme. And it always seems to be the argument that unlicensed themes have been cut at the expense of unlicensed themes which have grown in number. But of course the reality is different when looking at numbers of sets. 

[Agent Kallus]

 

14 hours ago, imposter said:

I have to say, I 100 % agree. We have HYBRID THEMES. Then fully LICENSED and IN-HOUSE themes.

Hybrid themes? Not sure what you mean but Well I was talking I the DC thread a while ago for my idea for a 'Hybrid' licensed them. The idea being Lego giving DC the Ninjago treatment and doing there own take as an action theme but using existing DC characters. @CloneCommando99 breathed a lot more life into the idea.

Edited April 17 by Agent Kallus

[imposter]

19 minutes ago, Agent Kallus said:

 

Hybrid themes? 

For example Icons. There are both legos own and licensed. 

For those who are so amazed about this discussion - this is not anyway new thing. Year by year more and more licensed sets. For example gaming themes. LEGO has changed almost to Super Mario, Sonic, Fortnite, Minecraft -company. That is a terrible situation if it continues like that.

[CloneCommando99]

19 minutes ago, Agent Kallus said:

@CloneCommando99 breathed a lot more life into the idea.

Huh. I almost forgot about that. Maybe I should continue? If I remember my roadmap correctly it should have been Darkseid War: Part One next.

The sad thing is that I’ll probably never be able to top Season 3: Gorilla Warfare. Even my Lantern season, although fig choices were better, felt a bit less inspired. Which honestly shames me as I’m primarily a GL fan and only know the basics of Flash lore.

29 minutes ago, Agent Kallus said:

Hybrid themes?

This is kinda what LSW is doing with Rebuild The Galaxy 

[Peppermint_M]

5 minutes ago, CloneCommando99 said:

Rebuild The Galaxy 

Ah man, I loved that mini-series. I know a lot of Star Wars lore, even if I am not a fan, so I love parody (Robot Chicken Star Wars is top tier) and there was enough LEGO humour and parody to make it a fun comedy sci-fi. I just hope a few more sets at a few more price points could appear (I did get Jedi Bob's starfighter).

This kind of hybridisation embraces what LEGO is and also what the source is, so it hits just the right spot of familiar media property and LEGO goodness.

[imposter]

YEAR 2022 - I own all these sets from Icons theme:

1.) Lion Knight's Castle

2.) Galaxy Explorer

3.) Transformers Optimus Prime 

 

 

 

 

 

There are 90' anniversary CASTLE and SPACE + licensed Optimus Prime. LEGO makes a lot of amazing sets. TY <3

[Agent Kallus]

27 minutes ago, CloneCommando99 said:

This is kinda what LSW is doing with Rebuild The Galaxy 

I didn't even think about that, but you're absolutely right!!! It is a bit different as star wars only has one and a half different tellings where as DC has many.

20 minutes ago, Peppermint_M said:

This kind of hybridisation embraces what LEGO is and also what the source is, so it hits just the right spot of familiar media property and LEGO goodness.

That's very true and I suppose you also argue that D&D set was something of a hybrid as it was it's own new module and interpretation of the sorts of characters you get in D&D, of course that wasn't just Lego's interpretation though as we had the fan designer too.

32 minutes ago, CloneCommando99 said:

Maybe I should continue? 

Dew it 

32 minutes ago, CloneCommando99 said:

The sad thing is that I’ll probably never be able to top Season 3: Gorilla Warfare. Even my Lantern season, although fig choices were better, felt a bit less inspired. Which honestly shames me as I’m primarily a GL fan and only know the basics of Flash lore.

That's probably because DC gorillas is a more tight focus than lanterns?

[Peppermint_M]

6 minutes ago, Agent Kallus said:

I suppose you also argue that D&D set was something of a hybrid

Oh for sure. I am certain people have used LEGO to jazz up a D&D game since well before the Heroica sub-theme existed and creating a CMF series and set embraces that combination of hobbies.

[BrickBob Studpants]

1 hour ago, imposter said:

LEGO has changed almost to Super Mario, Sonic, Fortnite, Minecraft -company. That is a terrible situation if it continues like that.

You misspelled awesome!  Can‘t wait for the Pokémon sets next year plus the new Zelda D2C

[Tariq j]

3 hours ago, Peppermint_M said:

Ah man, I loved that mini-series. I know a lot of Star Wars lore, even if I am not a fan, so I love parody (Robot Chicken Star Wars is top tier) and there was enough LEGO humour and parody to make it a fun comedy sci-fi. I just hope a few more sets at a few more price points could appear (I did get Jedi Bob's starfighter).

This kind of hybridisation embraces what LEGO is and also what the source is, so it hits just the right spot of familiar media property and LEGO goodness.

Yeah, the Rebuild the Galaxy stuff is fun. It’s got that balance of LEGO wackiness but also uses familiar designs. 

There was a time when LEGO used to include alternate designs on the back of the Star Wars boxes - would be fun to bring those back.

[MAB]

10 hours ago, Peppermint_M said:

Ah man, I loved that mini-series. I know a lot of Star Wars lore, even if I am not a fan, so I love parody (Robot Chicken Star Wars is top tier) and there was enough LEGO humour and parody to make it a fun comedy sci-fi. I just hope a few more sets at a few more price points could appear (I did get Jedi Bob's starfighter).

This kind of hybridisation embraces what LEGO is and also what the source is, so it hits just the right spot of familiar media property and LEGO goodness.

There are also the 'Christmas jumper' characters in the SW advent calendars (and Marvel) to help parody what they get up to when not at work being a Jedi or Sith, a bit like the Star Wars Holiday Special. And the holiday diorama set they did in the same way.

[imposter]

(this might be related to this topic)

 

 

 

 

 

 

Q: Why LEGO won't bring CASTLE back?

A: LEGO is afraid of WAR sets. Even there has been hundreds of years since catapults exc.

Edited April 18 by imposter

[icm]

Of all the possible reasons why Lego hasn't had a traditional Castle theme since 2013, I'm sure that's one of the least significant/likely. That's why Lego doesn't do modern military, not why they haven't been doing a lot of Castle.