Wow, this is an interesting topic, glad that I found it! I skimmed through the whole discussion and saw a lot of great ideas.

Some things I read that I quite like are Neo-Classic Space, a steampunk theme and many (uncommon) historic genres. Also, plenty of licenses are mentioned, a lot of which sound really cool to get, but I prefer a original Lego theme over a licensed Lego theme. I think that Lego already has so many licenses, on verge of having too many, imo. But there is room for at least one other license, someone suggested it already: Lego Universe. It would be so awesome! (full opinion in this topic).

Something that I would absolutely adore is a hardcore fantasy theme (as Lind Whisperer mentioned in the beginning of this topic): something that incorporates all the good stuff from popular (MMO)RPGs, fantasy/supernatural/mythology genre movies and anime, but as a original theme. That includes:

• Tons of awesome new minifig armour and weapons, preferably bulky, extravagant, magical. Who wouldn't like to have some kind of armour with a polarizing finish that makes it look enchanted?
  
• A range of new moulded creatures (articulated!), such as lions, elephants, phoenixes, trolls, minotaurs, etc... you name it!
  
• New yellow elves, because many of us have been waiting for variation!
  
• Cool new parts that represent magic. Think of magic circles on the ground or spells that are fired out of the caster's hand/staff. Something that minifigs can hold in their hand properly, instead of a 4x4 dish or whatever. It will make building and playing magical scenes it a lot easier, especially for kids.
  
• Uncommon minifig styles: ancient scandinavian, greek mythology, ancient middle-eastern, south-american, ancient Japanese. Not in a stereotypical way, but in a fantasy-enhanced way.
  
• So yeah... Hardcore. Fantasy.
  

Something that would be great too imo, is a manga/anime minifigure style, similar to (but better than) Exo-Force. Manga and anime are both loved and hated, so making a theme incorporating this style is risky. Instead of making licensed sets from all kinds of anime (with all the cool characters), it is probably safer to make a few different parts packs. These packs would be similar to a concept that Lego has used in the past with Bionicle: a bunch of masks in a blind bag or bin, a few different designs, a lot of possible colours per design. A quick search on Google gives some fantastic examples of it's collectablility. Using the 'Bionicle pack'-concept, it is possible to create hundreds of characters, without a single license!

I tried to come up with a few iconic, yet generic, manga/anime hair designs. I'm not a graphical designer so it may look crappy :

Anime inpired Lego hair pieces by Exetrius, on Flickr

Imagine these in the colours of the Lego spectrum, like Earth Blue, Bright Green, Dark Red, Black, White, Reddish Brown, Bright Pink, Medium Azure, etc....

The heads should have different styles of eyes (oval eyes, 'sharp' eyes, big and small eyes) in different colours. All heads double-sided, male and female, different expressions (happy, sad, angry, blushing). I think that would be fantastic!

So yeah, this is what kind of themes I would really love to see

Anime inpired Lego hair pieces by Exetrius, on Flickr

Your drawing skill are good and better than me. My favorite will be number 1 and number 7. The design is great and it will nice to see wig parts that designed like this.

I don't have any problem with the design of the Speed Champions cars. You may think that the design of the Speed Champions cars are lackluster, but you need to know that AFOL like us are not the main target audience. I agree that some of the sets look very lackluster like the Mclaren P1, but some of the set like the Porsche 918 are beautiful design consider the limited parts palette. Speed Champions sets are mainly sold at children's and teenagers at 7-16 years old. You may think that TLC can just make a new bumper, new wing spoilers and new side skirts molds for every set, but the decisions for making new molds in every Speed Champion set will increase the costs and make the sets been too expensive for children's and teenagers at between 7 to 16 years old to buy.

Ok,the limited parts restrain the level of detailing(and since their target audience is not we,Afols it's a justified decision).But they had to include at least opening doors(to give some functionality to the cars).If their audience are these ages,then why not to increase playabillity(functionality for us)...?Why to make some cars so unreal-looking(children and teenagers will probably prefer diecast,diecast miniatures of these cars in 1/18 scale are in the same price with Lego).Anyway the series has great sets like the ferrari truck or the McLaren pitstop(which are nice because they are detailed,even if the truck hasn't opening doors but we are mocers...and because formula 1 cars can be built nicely with a limited number of pieces.I have these sets and they have also great pieces such as the new mudguards and rims...but they aren't the modular car theme I have in my mind(this theme will include more detailed mid-sized,functional and more expensive car and truck sets and it will also have small sets/packages with spoilers,hoods and other accessories which will be interchangable(you will buy separate the car and separate the accessories packs )

Edited September 17, 20159 yr by Brick Car

Agreed. They got a good start on this with the Exo-Suit. Unfortunately, I don't think it sold very well, so the possibilities of a solid Neo-Classic Space theme may not be too good.

I think Benny's Spaceship sales would be a better measure since 1) it's not an ideas set and 2) it has actual bricks instead of being made of random technic parts and 3) it had actual advertising in the form of the Lego Movie.

I have these sets and they have also great pieces such as the new mudguards and rims... but they aren't the modular car theme I have in my mind (this theme will include more detailed mid-sized,functional and more expensive car and truck sets and it will also have small sets/packages with spoilers, hoods and other accessories which will be interchangable (you will buy separate the car and separate the accessories packs )

I see what you mean now. A theme that similar to Racers but with interchangeable parts? Cool.

I think there should be a mythology theme. With sets of things from various mythology's. Such as Greek, Roman, Norse, Celtic, Native American etc.

Agreed. They got a good start on this with the Exo-Suit. Unfortunately, I don't think it sold very well, so the possibilities of a solid Neo-Classic Space theme may not be too good.

It sold relatively well, there were two batches , but LEGO Ideas sets, Never sell the best because it's hard to find them in stores.

I see what you mean now. A theme that similar to Racers but with interchangeable parts? Cool.

Yes,that's what I meen!Thank you for your nice words

Cowboys 'n' injuns!

Playmobil had them when I were a lad, and I always wished for the same in Lego. There's probably quite a lot of potential politics involved, but Pirates are a perennial favourite and they were a nasty bunch.

I have a single, treasured, native American MF, so I guess he/she (quite an androgynous MF) will have to do for now.

Hmmm, actually, why not modernise the Pirate theme by introducing Indian Ocean pirates of the 21st century...? ;-)

Edited October 1, 20159 yr by bananaworld

Cowboys 'n' injuns!

Playmobil had them when I were a lad, and I always wished for the same in Lego. There's probably quite a lot of potential politics involved, but Pirates are a perennial favourite and they were a nasty bunch.

I have a single, treasured, native American MF, so I guess he/she (quite an androgynous MF) will have to do for now.

Hmmm, actually, why not modernise the Pirate theme by introducing Indian Ocean pirates of the 21st century...? ;-)

LEGO has done a Western theme before. I wouldn't mind seeing that come back, because I could use all of the native figures for my own purposes!

Something that would be great too imo, is a manga/anime minifigure style, similar to (but better than) Exo-Force. Manga and anime are both loved and hated, so making a theme incorporating this style is risky.

I love anime, and that's exactly why I do NOT want Lego to cover that. Exo Force looked pathetic, and that's pretty much how it ends up when europeans try to make something manga-looking. Hey, even when the koreans do, it looks odd.

First thing I think of when I see Exo Force is "was Lego really THAT desperate?"

I even love mechs, most of my MOCs are mechs - and I think that most of the Exo Force ones looked stupid (but ok, I'm looking at them with adult eyes)

Since the castles are gone, I'd rather imagine some kind of fantasy prehistoric theme. Like wooden castles, mammoths, mud everywhere.. and less of those transparent colored parts. Think Chuck Rock or Prehistorik Man.

Of course, it's always risky with Lego. A mammoth can be this:

..or this

Edited October 3, 20159 yr by anothergol

If they did a mammoth, I'd hope it wouldn't be brick-built. They could update the old elephant:

I even love mechs, most of my MOCs are mechs - and I think that most of the Exo Force ones looked stupid (but ok, I'm looking at them with adult eyes)

Agree, the idea behind Exo-Force is great, but poorly executed. The mechs looks blocky and the minifigures are terrible

Edited October 5, 20159 yr by ArmstrongYong

Another vote for a Classical/Mythical theme.

Licences theme wise I always would have liked to have seen the Halo license with Lego instead of "MB." But at the same time I admire Lego's "No-FPS" policy since it maintains their integrity. (I am kinda shocked MB did the Call Off Duty licence, although Halo is an FPS its story is more like a Star Wars space fantasy, while CoD's story deals with really realistic and violent themes. So in that sense I am glad Lego doesn't have FPS licenses, other than Portal...)

But for original Lego themes: I want the return of an Adventures like theme, a dedicated Train theme, and City sets which don't only depict police stations.

Edited October 10, 20159 yr by xboxtravis7992

[...] a dedicated Train theme, and City sets which don't only depict police stations.

The good old 80ies :-)

(...) I want the return of an Adventures like theme (...)

Oh, I totally agree! (It ended a few years before I became interested in System themes) I would be especially interested in a reboot of the Orient Expedition subtheme, Himalaya and surroundings. Given it has been a quite some time since Prince of Persia and Indiana Jones discontinued, it would be a good way to fill that niche again.

When I first got back into Lego a few years ago and joined this forum, I remember a very similar topic being posted. I thought it would be absolutely AMAZING if Lego did a Horror/Halloween themed set. Of course, that would never happen...

Some years later and wow, how amazing was Monster Hunters? And Scooby Doo!, close enough for me:)

TLG seems to be constantly surprising me. Whenever my interest fades, something like The Simpsons gets announced. Or another run of Pirates.

At this point it seems most of the genres and archetypes seem to be covered. Horror, action, fantasy, cities etc. I think Lego needs to dig a little deeper and start mixing genres. Perhaps mix the sci-fi and city themes and do some cyberpunk. Or a city/horror theme to do some Victorian era horror pieces. A gothic horror modular in the style of the monster hunter house would be awesome.

I think kids are more sophisticated these days and are exposed to so many genres of fiction through games, movies and tv, some themes that may have been considered a complex could be a great hit.

I think someone mentioned Fallout above, that would be a great idea. Bring the Western theme in,and add sci-fi and action elements. It could be amazing.

At this point it seems most of the genres and archetypes seem to be covered. Horror, action, fantasy, cities etc. I think Lego needs to dig a little deeper and start mixing genres. Perhaps mix the sci-fi and city themes and do some cyberpunk. Or a city/horror theme to do some Victorian era horror pieces. A gothic horror modular in the style of the monster hunter house would be awesome.

As long as they continue to produce the traditional sets as well, I'm completely behind you. The problem comes when they make a mash-up of, say, Castle and Sci-fi, but then don't have any Castle or Sci-fi sets on the shelves.

The good old 80ies :-)

At this rate, I'm getting tempted to bricklink some of the older 80's and 90's sets and clean them up, there's nothing besides fire/police/construction/vehicles in City right now. But it's quite a touchy opinion to have in the Town forum though.

As long as they continue to produce the traditional sets as well, I'm completely behind you. The problem comes when they make a mash-up of, say, Castle and Sci-fi, but then don't have any Castle or Sci-fi sets on the shelves.

Sure, I'd hate to lose the traditional sets. What I had in my was a conceptual blend, which I think could sit alongside the classic sets everyone loves. A cyberpunk theme could be run alongside the City and Space theme without any real overlap.

The more I think about it, I'd really love to see something like that. Blade Runner, The Matrix, Dark City, Ghost in the Shell, Neuromancer... So much to draw from. The girl from The Lego Movie was basically a cyberpunk protagonist anyway!

Well then I'm right there with you. I'd love to see that kind of thing as well!

I wish LEGO would have a proper Space theme, one that goes back to the legendary Space themes of the 80s and early 90s.

The Spaceship Spaceship SPACESHIP! is awesome, as is the Exo-Suit but beyond that they haven't done a GOOD space theme in years.

Alien Conquest wasn't too bad but its still not as good as the old themes.

And with Nexo Knights filling the "Sci-Fi" gap for 2016, it doesn't look like things are going to get better anytime soon :(

Lego Ancient China, and Lego Romans/Greeks. Also more Space themes.

~Insectoid Aristocrat

I wish LEGO would have a proper Space theme, one that goes back to the legendary Space themes of the 80s and early 90s.

Also more Space themes.

Are you listening Lego? Huh? Are you?

SPACE!

Are you listening Lego? Huh? Are you?

SPACE!

Here Here!

Preferably with the variety of great builds and aliens that SP3 had.