Cardinal

Please stop referring to LEGO pieces as LEGO. It is a box of LEGO pieces, bricks, or components, not a box of LEGO. LEGO representatives have begged you time and again to stop destroying their trademark. Thank you for your cooperation. Thank you for respecting LEGO as a company and a trademark. I will be going around the forum issuing e-tickets and virtual trademark violation citations to those who wantonly defy LEGO's policy. Sincerely, The Grammar Police (Cardinal and possibly others) PS. This is not a joke. I don't want to see LEGO's trademark destroyed. I am doing this out of respect for the company's wishes.

Eurobricks at it again. They lock my awards thread and then censor and alter my thread title for this thread. They added the word "opinions" to the title thread. I did not add the word "opinions" nor did I give anyone permission to do so. Having my thread locked is offensive and biggoted enough, but to censor and ALTER my speech is nothing short of morally criminal, a misrepresentation of my words, totally inexcusable and wrong. I will not voluntarily subject myself to this tyranny. My posts always gain huge views and replies because I have something to say and my posts strike a chord with people and carry weight. My posts are exciting and fun, and they stand out in this forum. I will now once again depart the Eurobricks community indefinitely. For those who support me, please voice your views to the owners of this website. Frankly, the moderators are once again abusing the community. Thank you, Cardinal

Yes that was me! I come crawling back to Eurobricks. It's the best LEGO forum on the web. And to you Faefrost I simply say no! I refuse to grow up and I think you do too!

I predict Lone Ranger sets will be a bigger bomb than Prince of Persia. And I like the western themes in general. Spitfire, you have to read all my posts on Star Wars in particular. It's a very special theme. I have some SW sets and figs and love them, I love SW, and yes, it is a licensed theme, but it is so entwined with LEGO and there is such a great history there with all the sets that SW has almost become an honorary in house LEGO theme. So yes, not everything is black and white, of course. BTW SW is the only licensed theme I buy.

Xboxtravis I agree with some of your points. SW LEGO has become almost an honorary in house LEGO theme if that makes sense. LEGO and SW are infused absolutely, and I do like LEGO SW. That is my one exception to the licensed stuff.

I think I'm just sick of all the shelf space being devoted to SW ships. I don't care if they exist, I just LEGO would put more effort into the more "artistic" or "creative" endeavors like all the things I've mentioned, stuff like Atlantis, Fantasy Era, new historic theme etc. I give LEGO huge props for their modulars and collectible minifigs. The two best things they've ever done IMO.

Just looking at all the Fantasy Era stuff. Some day I want to get every single set and display em together. Absolutely incredible toy design.

Someone in the Castle thread hit it on the head when they said that the LOTR minifigs are amazingly detailed while these new Castle figs are very plain. Imagine if LEGO were putting that same extraordinary effort into detailing their own medieval stuff. Really taking it to the next level. Now that would be amazing! The new Castle stuff is a huge step backwards. Look at some of the amazing, amazing sets from the Fantasy Era. Those need to be improved and expanded upon! Evolve that! The younger target age argument for the new castle stuff is the best argument I've heard. I will have to think about that. But for me, it still doesn't erase the disappointment with the new Castle stuff and my general dislike for Lord of the Rings (sorry, the theme just doesn't interest me, and I didn't like the movies either.)

Flieger, a lot of monied interests want LOTR to be to medieval what Star Wars is to Sci-Fi. And they have been fairly successful within the last 15 years or so in implementing this.

Also, about the sabotage theory, which I said seems credible but I'm not backing it 100%...According to the theory, it's unclear whether LEGO are doing it intentionally from the top down or if there is some imposter within LEGO or from another company or monied interest etc. It's a conspiracy theory with a lot of possibilities. Or you could be right and the designs were just junk. I find that so hard to believe. Go back and look at those new Castle sets posted on the front page. Something ain't right. PS. Galaxy Squad overall is still alarmingly bad, esp the minifigs. One man's opinion. The set you posted is good though, but it doesn't negate my overall arguments.

In the short term, of course chasing the hot licenses will bring more money. But it cheapens the legacy of the company and will eventually lead to bankruptcy. I haven't even mentioned this point, that if you base your company's content in large part upon licensed IP, beware that other company. If there is a hugely popular IP, other companies can compete for it, etc. Build your own IPs, nobody can touch them, they can only try to copy them. Tereglith, I'm an honest guy. I gotta say that Galaxy Squad set you posted looks pretty good.

Good argument Tereglith. However, it feels to me like Super Heroes and even Star Wars may be headed for the ash heap within the next decade. Think of all the insanely popular properties that now have only a small devoted following. The world is changing fast and faster than ever. Interest can collapse quickly in anything. And it works both ways. An odd example, but WWE was almost bankrupt and gone in the late 90's, but over the past few years is just about the biggest money maker in entertainment. And you mention the Western, a perfect example of my point.

I said discontinue Star Wars ships, not sets, and keep the Falcon. And as I mentioned, LEGO seems to be intentionally destroying space with Galaxy Squad and needs to go back to the drawing board with their space themes. I liked Alien Conquest. They can do so much better than Galaxy Squad.

I mean to say that if LEGO is relying on all these licensed themes, they will be dependent upon the companies with the rights to those themes, and if and when that goes sour, LEGO goes bankrupt. Instead LEGO should focus on things like Ninjago, Chima, in-depth redesign of Castle, taking it to the next level again and again with modulars, NEW, ORIGINAL themes, etc. And yes a CMF Statue of Liberty would be cool too! Ebay prices for that fig are already double to triple retail.

Thanks for all the great replies. As a side note, I think there is credibility to the theory that LEGO is intentionally destroying their original space and medieval themes in order to clear the way for LOTR and Star Wars to permanently take over (Galaxy Squad and the new Castle sets are so bad that I think they were intentionally designed not to sell. Sorry, I don't mean to offend, just one person's opinion.) Whether a mole from Lucas or LOTR has insidiously infiltrated LEGO to make this happen, or whether it is LEGO's intent to destroy these themes, I can't say.