Dream Lego Licensed Themes

[MatthewRC]

2 hours ago, jonwil said:

My top 10 most wanted licenses (that have never seen a LEGO product before and that would be a suitable brand fit and aren't owned by or licensed to some other toy company) in no particular order:

1.Looney Tunes (such a vast universe to draw on)

2.The Lion King

3.Fantastic Four (we have Marvel but not Fantastic Four at all, I want a Thing bigfig to go with my Hulk bigfig)

4.Donkey Kong Country

5.The Jetsons

6.Inspector Gadget

7.Codename Kids Next Door

8.Tintin

9.Locke & Key (they did Stranger Things and there isn't anything in Locke & Key that is worse so I dont see a brand-fit problem)

10.Anything that qualifies as Cyberpunk (there must be something that's both really cool AND a suitable brand-fit for LEGO)

 

Honorable mention to TRON (if they did more sets to go with the light cycles I would LOVE it)

 

Now, I would love to see Codename: Kids Next Door get the LEGO treatment! In fact, I made a LEGO Ideas project of brick-built Sector V Operatives that was sadly unsuccessful due to lack of popular support.

[Redroe]

4 hours ago, MAB said:

Niche source material? The movies are rated 7th, 10th and 15th on imdb. I don't think the source material qualifies as niche.

Ok, lack of context there. Clearly Tolkien is a cultural byword for generations. I mean for TLG's target audience, who will lap up Harry Potter sets, Star Wars sets, flash in the pan stuff like Minions sets, even themes like Pirates of the Caribbean will appeal more to that market than Lord of the Rings, which after 3 superb film adaptions and 3 tepid sequels a decade later has no new content. And the LotR films at the time had nowhere near the young audience that Harry Potter did. Funny that in the playground, it seemed possible to like either HP or LotR but not both. And most kids were heavily on the side of HP. Add to that: the films were 10 years old when the first sets were released, and that was 6 months before the first Hobbit was released to raise the franchise's profile. Many kids who now love the Force Awakens have never seen the Phantom Menace. It will be a similar setup for Lotr and Hobbit, I imagine.

[MAB]

I see what you mean. In context of aiming sets at kids then yes, the material is probably much more niche than movies aimed at younger kids.

I think LEGO has slowly become aware of how much product is being sold to adults. Star Wars and Super Heroes sets used to be firmly kid sets but that changed a long time ago with Star Wars and more recently with Super Heroes. Some of the sets are still clearly aimed at kids but the higher end stuff is adult targeted. It has changed more mainstream too recently with the 18+ sets - with the piano, the mosaics, FORMA. I hope if they do something like LOTR again, they'd forget the kid aspect, and go 16+ or 18+ in terms of designs, sizes and prices. Even if they did a few decent large sets (in similar size to Stranger Things for example) rather than normal range of small to large sets at multiple price points. Although the good thing about having the normal range of LOTR sets and them available widely at many retail outlets was that the prices were low, especially when on sale.

[koalayummies]

16 hours ago, MatthewRC said:

Also, LEGO being strongly against military-related objects and the cancellation of the 42113 Bell Boeing V-22 Osprey set would nix the chances of LEGO Metal Gear ever happening. Don't forget that most Metal Gear video games are rated M for Mature.

Kind of goes without saying.

But this being the "dream" thread I was addressing another aspect to the hurdle of that member's dream (the fan base being very against the owners of the license but loyal to the series creator), separate from the very well known among AFOL no military stance or mature themes.

Lego's standards have changed over time. For example TLG also used to have a no death stance and the now well established skeleton minifigure once caused quite a stir inside the company back in the day. The very idea nearly cost the designer their job. Fort Legorado wasn't a gathering of nuns in a convent etc.

[Redroe]

3 hours ago, MAB said:

 higher end stuff is adult targeted. It has changed more mainstream too recently with the 18+ sets - with the piano, the mosaics, FORMA. I hope if they do something like LOTR again, they'd forget the kid aspect, and go 16+ or 18+ in terms of designs, sizes and prices. Even if they did a few decent large sets (in similar size to Stranger Things for example) rather than normal range of small to large sets at multiple price points

Exactly this. The 12 released set selection takes a bit of stick, but they really covered everything they could without going crazy huge or lots of special molds. A 16/18+ mini range would address those problems. 

Aside from a huge Minas Tirith set which would be a special, like Orthanc, they could have fixed the biggest omissions from the line quite easily: swap in Old Bilbo for Frodo in the Gandalf arrives set, give us Gondor soldiers rather than Pirate Ship. This, and the fact that the outstanding sets (Gondor, Witch King) mostly have a RotK theme, convinces me that a third wave must have been in the works at least before being canned due to poor performance of the early releases.

[BenderBrau]

Futurama (obviously). I know the series doesn't have too many iconic locations and vehicles, most episodes it's just the crew flying to a deifferent planet never to come back there, but I think there is enough material for two, maybe three small waves. Besides mandatory Planet Express ship and HQ, we could get Nimbus (Zapp's ship), Wong Ranch, New New York sewers, MomCorp, Elzar's restaurant, Lrr's invasion, Panucci's pizzeria, cryogenics lab. Intersperse that with buildable robot figures - Bender, Calculon and maybe Robot Santa Claus (I know Lego wouldn't produce "adult-themed" robots like Donbot, Roberto and especially Hedonismbot)

[MatthewRC]

1 hour ago, BenderBrau said:

Futurama (obviously). I know the series doesn't have too many iconic locations and vehicles, most episodes it's just the crew flying to a deifferent planet never to come back there, but I think there is enough material for two, maybe three small waves. Besides mandatory Planet Express ship and HQ, we could get Nimbus (Zapp's ship), Wong Ranch, New New York sewers, MomCorp, Elzar's restaurant, Lrr's invasion, Panucci's pizzeria, cryogenics lab. Intersperse that with buildable robot figures - Bender, Calculon and maybe Robot Santa Claus (I know Lego wouldn't produce "adult-themed" robots like Donbot, Roberto and especially Hedonismbot)

Yes! Especially now that Mega Construx has seemingly lost the Futurama license.

[MAB]

If they didn't do Barney and Moe in The Simpsons, would they do Bender? Unlikely.

[BenderBrau]

2 hours ago, MAB said:

If they didn't do Barney and Moe in The Simpsons, would they do Bender? Unlikely.

They don't have to give him a bottle. Besides Bender drinks booze to function properly, he's not actually an alcoholic. It's kinda like with pirates, everyone knows they drank rum.

Edited July 25, 2020 by BenderBrau

[jonwil]

Bender uses booze as fuel in the same way a Transformer uses Energon or the vehicles in LEGO City use Octan petrol.

 

 

[MatthewRC]

13 hours ago, BenderBrau said:

They don't have to give him a bottle. Besides Bender drinks booze to function properly, he's not actually an alcoholic. It's kinda like with pirates, everyone knows they drank rum.

Yeah, LEGO could give Bender a crowbar and a diamond instead.

[koalayummies]

I'm on board with Futurama. Sets, CMF, poly bags. Everything. Throw in five more seasons of the show as well.

Edited July 26, 2020 by koalayummies
poly bags

[MatthewRC]

10 hours ago, koalayummies said:

I'm on board with Futurama. Sets, CMF, blind bags. Everything. Throw in five more seasons of the show as well.

Another revival for Hulu, and optionally Disney+!

[MAB]

On 7/25/2020 at 1:00 PM, BenderBrau said:

They don't have to give him a bottle. Besides Bender drinks booze to function properly, he's not actually an alcoholic. It's kinda like with pirates, everyone knows they drank rum.

They didn't have to do Barney and Moe with booze either. They could have done them in other situations.

[Karalora]

Matt Groening may have invented an in-universe reason for Bender to be constantly drinking alcohol, but I think we all know the real reason was because he thought it was funny to have a hard-drinking delinquent robot as a character. I mean...his name is Bender. In the show, it's because he was built to be a construction robot bending iron girders, but insofar as "bender" is also slang for a drinking binge...yeah.

Fortunately, there is more to his character than that. Pretty much the only thing Moe and Barney have going for them is tending bar and crippling alcoholism, respectively, but as @MatthewRC points out, Bender is also a wanton criminal. The question then becomes whether TLG would be okay with a licensed theme where one of the main characters is a criminal and this is played for laughs.

[MatthewRC]

2 hours ago, MAB said:

They didn't have to do Barney and Moe with booze either. They could have done them in other situations.

 

27 minutes ago, Karalora said:

Matt Groening may have invented an in-universe reason for Bender to be constantly drinking alcohol, but I think we all know the real reason was because he thought it was funny to have a hard-drinking delinquent robot as a character. I mean...his name is Bender. In the show, it's because he was built to be a construction robot bending iron girders, but insofar as "bender" is also slang for a drinking binge...yeah.

Fortunately, there is more to his character than that. Pretty much the only thing Moe and Barney have going for them is tending bar and crippling alcoholism, respectively, but as @MatthewRC points out, Bender is also a wanton criminal. The question then becomes whether TLG would be okay with a licensed theme where one of the main characters is a criminal and this is played for laughs.

Well, LEGO Harry Potter CMF Series 2 apparently includes a martini glass, Butter Beer and references to gambling. I saw them in the CMF Series’ checklist/instructions sheet on posted on Instagram.

[MAB]

1 hour ago, Karalora said:

Matt Groening may have invented an in-universe reason for Bender to be constantly drinking alcohol, but I think we all know the real reason was because he thought it was funny to have a hard-drinking delinquent robot as a character. I mean...his name is Bender. In the show, it's because he was built to be a construction robot bending iron girders, but insofar as "bender" is also slang for a drinking binge...yeah.

Fortunately, there is more to his character than that. Pretty much the only thing Moe and Barney have going for them is tending bar and crippling alcoholism, respectively, but as @MatthewRC points out, Bender is also a wanton criminal. The question then becomes whether TLG would be okay with a licensed theme where one of the main characters is a criminal and this is played for laughs.

If they wanted to do Barney, they could have done him as a astronaut, Plow King, Be Sharps, or just without a beer (and maybe with his combed rather than messy hair). Same for Moe, he could have been in a Pin Pals shirt (and people would have bought four then!) or a regular suit or with an apron but with a coffee cup or with a telephone (being prank called by Bart).

42 minutes ago, MatthewRC said:

 

Well, LEGO Harry Potter CMF Series 2 apparently includes a martini glass, Butter Beer and references to gambling. I saw them in the CMF Series’ checklist/instructions sheet on posted on Instagram.

They have also done this guy serving "grape juice".

[BenderBrau]

On 8/3/2020 at 2:03 PM, Karalora said:

The question then becomes whether TLG would be okay with a licensed theme where one of the main characters is a criminal and this is played for laughs.

Gru from Minions? I know he's tame compared to Bender, but still the franchise uses a lot of "bond villain", "evil genius" etc tropes, definitely played for laughs and the movies are watched by even the youngest of viewers.

[ArneNielsen]

Lacking new LoTR sets, I would have liked a mediaval-like substitute, like the Elder Scrolls series. Skyrim in itself would be OK, but when (if?) the next game in the series surfaces, that could be the starter point.

As could a new film or series over The Three Musketeers - we already have the Musketeer from the CMF series 4, we just lack all the buildings and carriages.

Likewise, as Star Wars is pretty much exhausted in making new interesting space vehicles, another space license could be nice, like Battlestar Galactica. The problem with that is of course, that the show stopped in 2009.

The same could be said about the inspiration for Star Wars, the french comic book Valerian et Laureline. A fantastic universe, but unfortunately not present in any media now.

If the Jules Verne books/films got a revival, there would be lots of interesting builds there.

 

[jonwil]

I dont think Elder Scrolls would be appropriate for LEGO given that the last 3 games in the series (Elder Scrolls Online, Skyrim and Oblivion) all got a "Mature 17+" rating in the USA (as compared to the games LEGO has made sets of like Overwatch that have gotten a "Teen" rating at the highest).

 

[NathanR]

9 hours ago, BenderBrau said:

Gru from Minions? I know he's tame compared to Bender, but still the franchise uses a lot of "bond villain", "evil genius" etc tropes, definitely played for laughs and the movies are watched by even the youngest of viewers.

We are getting a young Gru in one of the "Rise of the Minions" sets, but the focus of the series is very much on the Minions themselves - as comedic clowns, they are probably more acceptable than the Gru himself.

I think Bender could work in Lego, just label the bottle "C++" or (for a larger brick-built Bender figure where there's more room on the bottle) "Ye Olde Fortran" so he isn't explicitly boozing - he's just imbibing "computer code" and "new programs"... Yeah, this sounds ridiculous even as I type it.

52 minutes ago, ArneNielsen said:

If the Jules Verne books/films got a revival, there would be lots of interesting builds there.

There have been some great Lego Ideas models based on the Nautilus, though the most well-known version of the submarine is the Disney version so that might cause licensing issues. 

[MAB]

59 minutes ago, ArneNielsen said:

As could a new film or series over The Three Musketeers - we already have the Musketeer from the CMF series 4, we just lack all the buildings and carriages.

I guess the problem here would be Cardinal Richelieu. Would they do a religious minifigure? I guess they have done Nazis in Indy, so maybe.

Although I'm not sure what they could really add. I bought about a dozen musketeers when they first came out, they look good as an army. But I doubt the scenery would be much of an addition. Similar in style to Lone Ranger sets, they could do some locations but they can be MOCed anyway. Stick three (or four) musketeers in almost anything and they look like The Three Musketeers.

[ArneNielsen]

No, I agree, I dont think any of my dream-licenses would ever materialise.

They stay just that - a dream...

 

[MAB]

It's a shame - I'd like a minifigure headpiece which is like a cardinal's cap. Some more torsos for the 15-16-17th century Europeans would be good too.

[Karalora]

12 hours ago, BenderBrau said:

Gru from Minions? I know he's tame compared to Bender, but still the franchise uses a lot of "bond villain", "evil genius" etc tropes, definitely played for laughs and the movies are watched by even the youngest of viewers.

It's a bit complicated. The concern is almost never "Does this audience-identification character do bad things?" but rather "Does this audience-identification character do bad things that kids can imitate?" Spoofy supervillain stuff is almost always fine in that regard, because it's too outlandish to bear on anyone's real-life behavior. We don't have to worry about kids learning that it's okay/funny/admirable to blow up the moon with an ultra-laser or steal the Tower of London. We do potentially have to worry about kids learning that it's okay/funny/admirable to smash windows with a crowbar and hot-wire cars, which is the sort of thing you get from Bender.