How popular was the doctor who TARDIS set?

[LegoDW]

Looking at getting the new Idea's Flintstone set.  This is the first set I plan on getting since the TARDIS set.  Was not into Lego when it was released, reseller prices are close to MSRP (good for me, not so good for future Doctor Who sets).  Know they released a few figure packs for the Dimensions game, guess no other releases is a bad sign.  Just curious how popular the Tardis set was?

Low reseller pricing to me means not a large demand or everyone bought the set when originally released.  Would think demand for Doctor Who would exceed that for the Flintstones.  Concerned the Flintsone set will not be a good seller for TLG.  From the comments on the Flintstone threads, most are negative referencing items not included from the original designer design.  When the Tardis set was released were similar negative comments made?  If so, what where the points AFOL were disappointed with.

 

[Retro]

The Doctor Who Ideas set is great. Lovely, intricate details, colours and printing. The only thing an AFOL might quibble with would be that the TARDIS is a bit too large, and the doors don't open. But both these aspects are maybe necessary to get the unusual connection to the interior to work.

I have no idea how many they made or how many they sold. But interest in Doctor Who worldwide (oitside Ireland and UK) would have to be classified as a niche market compared to films like Ghostbusters or Back to The Future. 

[Whovastron]

Doctor Who even stopped being hot property in the U.K. around 2011. Back in 2006-8 the toyline for the show swarmed every toy shop in Britain. Now currently there is one action figure and one sonic screwdriver, and they don’t sell well. As far as I’m aware, the set under performed. Nothing like Adventure time or Big Bang. But it didn’t sell as well as they were expecting.

[MAB]

I think there was demand, but accompanied by massive oversupply. It was available for about 50% off in the UK for quite a while. I bought ten to part out on BL, and some of the parts did very well, but others were and still are in such oversupply, they are almost worthless. It is similar with the minifigures, especially Clara and the 12 Doctor.

[Whovastron]

I think a big issue with the set, atleast for me, is that there wasn’t really much value to it in terms of what you got. The 12th Doctor wasn’t in his regular outfit, they purposely put that in dimensions so you had to buy both, but even then the costume is the 11th Doctors second costume, but as it doesn’t have the bow tie you can’t even use it for him (except maybe with the blue bow tie piece from the Lego Batman Movie). 

The Daleks and Angel were great, but the TARDIS was way too tall, if the set had been the dimensions TARDIS, that would have worked great. But the size just looks weird with the figs, so isn’t even really good for display with them. The console room build is alright, but it’s not very accurate (well, the console itself is, but the column and base are all wrong).

the 11th Doctor was a good inclusion, doesn’t really make much sense in the context of the set considering his clothes, but it was nice, just a shame they didn’t include more Doctors.

2015 was an interesting time for DW merch. The hype of 2013 50th anniversary had died down, and Capaldi’s seasons hadn’t been doing well in viewership. When the set was on Ideas, a lot of the hype was still there, but that was for a Set with classic Doctors and when the set came and it was the current Doctor and not even a great representation of him, I think it turned a lot of people away.

[Dragunov2]

I bought it!

For me, this set was a must-have, but not the Flintstones one

[Scarilian]

In regards to the Doctor Who set;

• The set had little appeal to fans.
• Doctor Who was declining in popularity and we'd had little time to grow accustomed to the new incarnation.
• Winning design was not the best choice out of the multiple Doctor Who submissions and won primarily for the figures - and the character selection which arguably should have included the fan favourite David Tennant chose to focus primarily on Capaldi.
• The figure selection for the Tardis set was a bit of an odd choice, Matt Smith's 11th Doctor wearing an outfit most popular 5 years prior to the release of the set. Meanwhile we have Peter Capaldi who had only a single season prior to release and Clara who was generally disliked by the Doctor Who fanbase.
• The Daleks were 'ok', but fans had made better versions of the Daleks prior.
• The Tardis segment was great, but the lack of being able to open the doors and have characters walk through was a major turn-off - every Doctor Who fan would want a character to walk through the doors and into the Tardis and the set did not include that as a possibility.
• The main appeal of the 'bigger on the inside' is lost when you cannot look through the doors to see the scale difference between the outside and inside.
• The console itself was 'ok' but nothing special
• Weeping Angels had lost all popularity before they were included in the set.

In terms of the bad adaptation of the Flintstone set;

• Visuals are less appealing in regards to colour scheme and in regards to design
• Aspects of the asthetic have been removed for an incredibly smooth look - both in terms of design and printings
• Reduction of figures, meaning you'll likely never get a complete set of the Flitstones characters particularly the lack of the children and Dino
• The 'Welcome to Bedrock' sign is gone, which is arguably more iconic than a post box saying 'Flintstones' which the set stupidly changes to 'Flintstone' making it innacurate

 

[MatthewRC]

So, the chances of LEGO using the Doctor Who license again are slim to none, right?

[Agent Kallus]

I'm optimistic.

[MatthewRC]

Just now, Agent Kallus said:

I'm optimistic.

I'm not trying to be Mr. NegativePants, but I'm still hoping LEGO could do more Doctor Who products in the future.

[jjr_2009]

I think a lot of it will hinge on the popularity of the show in the future. Capaldi is my favorite Doctor (even if a lot of his episodes are lackluster) so I'm just glad we got him in minifig form!

[Vindicare]

I never did get around to buying it, but I did want it & be never watched the show. It looked like a great set & cool build. The pop culture factor definitely helped my wanting it. 

[MAB]

Including Capaldi made sense. The BBC wanted the set to promote the (then) current series.

The weeping angels seem to remain the most popular minifigure in the set, based on secondary market price. Presumably as an army builder.

[Dragunov2]

Dr. Who is an odd one.

I don't know if there are a lot of people really watching those episodes.

At least in our regions

Edited February 27, 2019 by Dragunov2

[Whovastron]

Just now, Dragunov2 said:

Dr. Who is an odd one.

I don't know if there are a lot of people really watching those episodes.

At least in our regions

It’s seems to be having a resurgence. The last series had the best viewing figures since the show came back in 2005

[Alpinemaps]

All good points mentioned so far.  One point not mentioned, and I think this hurt the set as well, is that there was no show to help promote it!

The set was born, lived, and died, in the wilderness time between series.

To me, Ideas is also a chance to spring board, well...Ideas!  About the only set that really did anything significant on that front was the Minecraft Cuusoo set.  Well, I'd guess Ghostbusters would fit that mold, too, since there was the Firehouse and the new movie set that also came out.

I had really hoped that this set would have launched a whole Doctor Who line.  At one point I even came up with a list of sets that would be perfect for each Doctor, along with appropriate monsters and companions.  I know I personally would love to see a whole line of at least minifigs.  But it doesn't look like that will happen anytime soon.  I was even hoping for a Doctor Who Brickheadz (especially of the 13th Doctor), but that isn't likely either.

[Whovastron]

Just now, Alpinemaps said:

All good points mentioned so far.  One point not mentioned, and I think this hurt the set as well, is that there was no show to help promote it!

The set was born, lived, and died, in the wilderness time between series.

To me, Ideas is also a chance to spring board, well...Ideas!  About the only set that really did anything significant on that front was the Minecraft Cuusoo set.  Well, I'd guess Ghostbusters would fit that mold, too, since there was the Firehouse and the new movie set that also came out.

I had really hoped that this set would have launched a whole Doctor Who line.  At one point I even came up with a list of sets that would be perfect for each Doctor, along with appropriate monsters and companions.  I know I personally would love to see a whole line of at least minifigs.  But it doesn't look like that will happen anytime soon.  I was even hoping for a Doctor Who Brickheadz (especially of the 13th Doctor), but that isn't likely either.

You’re actually not entirely correct. The set launched on Dec 2nd 2015, a week before series 9 ended. Series merchandise usually isn’t released until after the series is finished (the BBC have a rule that no action figures or merch can be released until they’ve appeared on screen, obviously the set was based on a 2013 episode so it wasn’t affected, but still worth noting). The 2015 Christmas special also aired a few weeks into this set’s lifespan. The Lego Dimensions packs were also released shortly before, so this set most certainly was not without promotion.

[Alpinemaps]

23 hours ago, Whovastron said:

You’re actually not entirely correct. The set launched on Dec 2nd 2015, a week before series 9 ended. Series merchandise usually isn’t released until after the series is finished (the BBC have a rule that no action figures or merch can be released until they’ve appeared on screen, obviously the set was based on a 2013 episode so it wasn’t affected, but still worth noting). The 2015 Christmas special also aired a few weeks into this set’s lifespan. The Lego Dimensions packs were also released shortly before, so this set most certainly was not without promotion.

Well, honestly, that's splitting hairs a bit.  That's a total of two episodes, right at it's release.  The entirety of 2016 was a wilderness year, and Series 10 didn't start until 15 April 2017.

Per Brickset, the set was retired Nov 2016 in the US, and Jan 2017 in the UK, still 3 months before the show would return.

I wouldn't classify one episode a couple of days after the release, and then a Christmas Special three weeks later as an active promotion of the product.  If the set had been released timed to the start of Series 9, then yes, that would be the case.  But 3 weeks of promotion, with 16 months before the next episode didn't help sales on this set at all.

[Whovastron]

1 hour ago, Alpinemaps said:

Well, honestly, that's splitting hairs a bit.  That's a total of two episodes, right at it's release.  The entirety of 2016 was a wilderness year, and Series 10 didn't start until 15 April 2017.

Per Brickset, the set was retired Nov 2016 in the US, and Jan 2017 in the UK, still 3 months before the show would return.

I wouldn't classify one episode a couple of days after the release, and then a Christmas Special three weeks later as an active promotion of the product.  If the set had been released timed to the start of Series 9, then yes, that would be the case.  But 3 weeks of promotion, with 16 months before the next episode didn't help sales on this set at all.

 There had just been an entire series of promotion when the set was released. As I said, all DW merch is released after the series, and sells fine. The action figures, back when they were a thing, release about a month after the series ended. So releasing a product whilst the series still had an episode to go is promotion enough. So it was very unlikely to be the reason for poor sales

 

Edited February 28, 2019 by Whovastron

[Alpinemaps]

21 hours ago, Whovastron said:

 There had just been an entire series of promotion when the set was released. As I said, all DW merch is released after the series, and sells fine. The action figures, back when they were a thing, release about a month after the series ended. So releasing a product whilst the series still had an episode to go is promotion enough. So it was very unlikely to be the reason for poor sales

 

Well, we're both entitled to our opinions.  I would imagine that you being in the UK, and me being in the US colors our perceptions of media push as well.  

[craiggrannell]

As I understand it, Doctor Who merch sales fell off a cliff during the Capaldi run, for all kinds of reasons. Today, the large gaps between series also make Doctor Who a tricky sell. I'll be amazed if we ever see any more Lego based on the theme. But if Lego wanted to make a chunk of change from the show, some kind of minifigs set could be the way to go. (Quite whether that would be viable, given how expensive it would be, is another matter.)

[Whovastron]

Just now, craiggrannell said:

As I understand it, Doctor Who merch sales fell off a cliff during the Capaldi run, for all kinds of reasons. Today, the large gaps between series also make Doctor Who a tricky sell. I'll be amazed if we ever see any more Lego based on the theme. But if Lego wanted to make a chunk of change from the show, some kind of minifigs set could be the way to go. (Quite whether that would be viable, given how expensive it would be, is another matter.)

In terms of toy merch, there was a big drop off in smiths era, around series 6. The action figures were their biggest merch sellers, but they just stopped selling due to bad descisions from the company, and after that they’ve tried to bring the range back, but with a lot of failure. During the 50th anniversary there was a huge spike in general merch, and it all sold very well, but as soon as matt smith left the show it dropped again. The next spike was in 2015, with Lego Dimensions, the Set, funko, the action figures even made a return. But in the gap between series 9&10, the sales dropped yet again. Series 10 had the lowest viewing figures ever, and merch was very sparse for the series; a few posters and t-shirts. But funko, Lego, action figures etc. All produced nothing.

series 11 have bright back interest in the show, and, judging by the respective toyfairs, there will be another spike in merch this year, leading up to the next series in 2020. 

[Puresh]

Since BrickHeadz are returning next year with more licensed themes, I'm hopeful that we might get one or two Doctors (maybe finally the fan favorite tenth Doctor) but even then I have my doubts. Doctor Who is probably my favorite show of all time, but I think this was really a one-and-done deal. 

[MatthewRC]

2 minutes ago, Puresh said:

Since BrickHeadz are returning next year with more licensed themes, I'm hopeful that we might get one or two Doctors (maybe finally the fan favorite tenth Doctor) but even then I have my doubts. Doctor Who is probably my favorite show of all time, but I think this was really a one-and-done deal. 

That’d be spectacular! But let’s just wait and see what BrickHeadz will be announced for 2020.

[Puresh]

Something I should probably also mention is the fact that in very early drafts of TLM2, the Doctor was supposed to be a main character. Which Doctor it would've been was never confirmed, but we were really close to getting at least another minifigure with that film's sets