Does fandom influence your Licensed preferences?

[Clone OPatra]

This is something I've been thinking about lately - how much does your being a fan of material that is made into a LEGO line influence whether or not you like the line?

There are a whole lot of Licenses out there. When I read through the discussions, for the most part I notice a trend: people that like the source material are interested in the sets, while people that don't like the source material aren't interested. It really applies to almost every license.

But I find myself not going that way. I didn't care much for Prince of Persia the film, but I loved the LEGO line and bought all but one of the sets. I don't like Batman in nearly any his comic or TV iterations, but I bought (and love) the Funhouse and I love the minifigures even though I don't like the characters they're inspired by. There's also the flipside. I absolutely loved The Avengers the film, but I still don't want any of the sets. I love Lord of the Rings, but none of those sets are really getting me excited either.

And with Star Wars, I still love it, but I burned out on buying much Star Wars LEGO a long time ago.

So, I'd like to see how people feel about this topic. Do you like certain licenses because you like the source material? Is liking the source material just an added bonus? Is it more about the sets? Do you buy whatever sets have good parts and interesting figures no matter what the license? Leave your thoughts!

[LEGOman273]

I think that it goes both ways. I got into Star Wars because I liked the sets, but now I may be inclined to buy a meh set because it has 'Figs that I want because of the source material. Being a SW fan makes the sets even better, as I recognize things that I have seen on-screen. (The Falcon is awesome as a set, but after seeing it in action, it becomes even more so.)

[Flipz]

I'm much the same way, though my specific tastes are a bit different; I really like Batman as a character, but the LEGO sets just don't appeal to me. On the flip side, I liked the Prince of Persia film well enough (it's no film "great", but it was above average), but I didn't buy many of the sets (though I'm regretting that now...). And to top it all off, I didn't watch ANY of the Avengers movies (and was apathetic about the movie itself)...until I saw the LEGO Sets, prompting me to watch all of the movies I could get my hands on AND to budget for most (if not all) of the Avengers sets.

And, like you, I've been a Star Wars fan for years, but am burned out on set-buying.

Edited May 7, 2012 by Flipz

[ZO6]

Great topic, Cloney!

For me, I'm in the camp of buying sets for what they are, not for the theme they belong to. If the set has all the elements that appeal to me - design, play functions, neat pieces, and to a lesser extent reasonable price and cool figs, then I'll pick it up.

There are some exceptions though. For example, when the Indiana Jones sets first came out, for whatever reason they didn't really appeal to me. Eventually I decided that if I didn't pick up at least one of them, I'd really regret it one day (I'm a huge fan of the Indy movies). I fell in love with the set that I picked up, and later went on to get the rest in the line and loved the rest of them too.

Overall though, theme loyalty and minifigs don't have much influence on me. I buy Lego as a fan of Lego, not as a fan of the licenses (for the most part at least).

[meyerc13]

If I'm a huge fan of a license, I'll buy the sets - example being Lord of the Rings. I'm definitely buying all of those.

However, I'm also a Star Wars fan, but haven't really bought many of the sets because the few my son has are all looks and no function. They're fragile, and the interior is filled with technic in order for the outside to attain the proper shape. For me, the set has to have play value and many of them are lacking in that regard. So I'm very picky about which sets I pick up.

As for licenses that I'm not a fan of, I still may buy them if the set has interesting parts. I bought quite a few PotC sets because they had lots of parts that would be useful for building castles. I bought some Prince of Persia sets because they had useful pieces and animals (camel, ostrich).

I guess to sum all of this up, if the set is built well with useful pieces, I'll definitely buy it if I'm a fan and may buy it if I'm not, but if the set is built poorly I may pass even though I'm a fan. So fandom does influence me, but not completely.

[natelite]

same here, though i mostly get the set if it has interesting mf parts. e.g. sw sets are getting very boring because of the rehash, but i am still going to get jabba palace and the desert skiff because of the interesting mfs and parts - like lando's headgear which doubles as a samurai's. can't ever get enough of those since the other alternative is mia's from samurai x. all extremely pricy options. also the gammorean guard is so much better than the 2006 version from the sailbarge. it's a great addition to any medieval fantasy world, or sci-fi world, etc. it's just so useful.

on the other hand, i'm not that keen on LotR sets or PoP sets. none of the new torsos are interesting at all. the new super heroes - i'll probably get one set of each figure to complete my collection but the torsos aren't interesting to be used as mocs. thor's for e.g. looks weirdly like he has 6 mammal glans. i like prints which are bright in contrast to the part color. e.g. white on black, etc. if it's too detailed and not visible, then i'd lose interest - and most license themes fall in this category.

edit: oh and... "i hate fleshies...wah!!!" heheh - just gotta add that bit in to annoy you! but seriously, i hate fleshies coz the facial expressions suck. the yellow heads usually have much better prints. e.g. LotR orcs look hedious compared to fantasy castle orcs. yeah - i know those aren't fleshies vs yellow (more like dark tan vs sand green), but it kinda highlights what's wrong with most licensed themes. the faces have to fit the movies and most of the time, it takes away from the normal lego esthetics and make the heads look extremely weird and ugly. and it's mostly a bad thing because you can't sub these parts - like wonder woman for e.g. you can't sub the head because the torso is printed in flesh tone.

[Darkdragon]

A little of both for me. When I first got back into LEGO, not being a Star Wars fan, I was actually against buying and Star Wars sets. So in that case it was a "I don't like the license so I don't like the sets" situation. If I do like a license like PoP, PotC, and LotR then I am likely to buy (or plan to buy) all the sets without even looking to see what they are like.

My goal of having as many minifig building options as possible probably contributes to it. I consider most sets as a parts-pack anyway, but getting some faces for actors is really fun to me (like Johnny Depp, Elijah Woods, etc etc). If the set itself is good and/or the parts are great then I will buy multiple copies of the set.

Now days, even though I'm not a huge fan of Star Wars, I buy a lot of the SW sets. They will get unique colors and parts a lot of times that can be used anywhere. Some of the best designed minifig parts (torsos) are found in the SW sets. I've learned that passing up something just because I don't like the license it is based on is just rediculous. It's like cutting off your nose to spite your face.

[thornie]

I would say no. I am as big of LoTR fan as anyone, having read all 4 books including The Silmarillion and The history of Middle Earth, and I happen think the new LoTR sets are lame. I'm also a big comic book fan and only like a few of the DC Heroes sets and none of the Avengers sets. Funny enough, I've never read a single Harry Potter book and I love the HP sets. So I guess it works both ways as well. :)

[Brickdoctor]

I went with 'Somewhat', because Star Wars sets are the ones I'm initially most interested in, but when it comes down to purchase, the quality of the set as a whole is usually what determines whether or not I buy it, and it's usually the pieces and the value that I'm looking at. (notable exception being the upcoming Jabba's Palace, which I plan to get just for the 'figs) I guess that's because I'm a builder, not a collector. I don't really care what theme it's from if I can use the pieces, because if I want to own a model from a certain theme, chances are I'm just going to build it myself.

[ZCerberus]

I don't care about the license at all. I buy if the price is reasonable (easier here in the US I've heard) and I like the parts/minifig accessories. I might buy all of PotC or LotR because those themes' parts fit in to my MOCing style better than Star Wars or Disney. I have tons of Harry Potter and Toy Story figs I would LOVE to get rid of because I got the sets on clearance for the parts and have no need for the figs as they really are the "licensed" part of those sets. I even bought a few friends sets (I know they aren't a license) for the parts.

[CMP]

Hmm....my first Star Wars set, even though it was from Star Wars, I just wanted a LEGO lightsaber. I'm pretty sure I just got a Spider-Man set for Doc Ock, and I had every PoP set before I saw the movie.

More recently, though, yeah, it does. I became a fan of Tolkien right before the LotR rumors began to take shape, but even if I hadn't, I would try to get them all. It helps, but the design/price/figs of the set is what really drives me to buy them. That said, I'm much more inclined to get Loki's Cosmic Cube Escape after seeing the action the figs get in the movie...

[1980-Something-Space-Guy]

I'm too poor to buy all the sets I like. I don't have enough space either. However, in general, if I like the source material, then I like the licensed sets.

This could have to do with the fact that I am a die hard minifigure collector. I love to see figs of characters I like in Lego form. However, not all of them have been done in ways that satisfy my expectations, like the promo Hulk that is coming out in a few days.

Overall, I almost always like licensed sets of things that I'm a fan of, but I just don't have the money to buy the sets; I seldom do.

[Lyichir]

I also voted "somewhat". There's a lot of licenses I like, but don't buy; but every now and again I buy a licensed set because I love the source material (and of course if I like the set). Actually, it often works the opposite way for me: when a licensed theme comes out and I'm not already a huge fan of the property you can be sure I'll at least look into it. For instance, I was first exposed to Avatar: The Last Airbender through ads for the sets. I never got any of those sets, but I DID watch a few episodes of the show, and I've been a fan ever since.

[Brickington]

I buy the sets because of the set, not license.

[Destroydacre]

For me in some cases yes, in some cases no. I am a big fan of Star Wars so I buy many of the SW sets, however I didn't like Pirates of the Caribbean so I haven't bought a single POTC set even though I am a big fan of classic pirates. However on the other hand, I like Toy Story and Lord of the Rings, but I only bought the green army men "battle pack" and won't be buying many of the LOTR sets. Lego is expensive and you have to draw the line somewhere.

[fred67]

Yeah... like a couple of the others, sometimes I buy licensed because there is some cool stuff in it, or because I just like the set. For POP, I got some of the sets when they went on sale because I thought they had decent pieces.

I bought the imperial flagship (pirates, not SW) because I thought it was so cool, even though I'm not a big pirate fan - but that got me into ships, so I got some POTC sets (QAR, BP).

Other series I just like the series - I bought all the newer Harry Potter stuff because I'm a fan of HP, not because I thought they were particularly good (and I don't think they are - as a train fan, especially, a bit disappointing).

Then there's the biggie... I buy OT Star Wars sets because I'm a big fan. I did buy a couple of PT sets because I liked them.

IOW, it goes back and forth - there are licenses that I happen to be a big fan of, so buy the sets because of that. Other times I buy them because I truly like the set; and I love that they do licensed sets because I think we've gotten tons of interesting new pieces out of them.

[just2good]

Mostly. I was really into TS and I'm kinda into comics now. I liked PoTC, and IJ, but I didn't like PoP, even though I picked up some PoP. I'm not into LoTR, but I really like those sets. I was never really into Cars or SW, so haven't got any sets from those themes in the last six years.

[purpleparadox]

Fandom could affect my purchases, but I purposely don't let it. For example, I love SW, HP, LOTR, and Batman, but I've started only occasionally buying licensed sets. My reason for that is because I'd end up needing ALL the sets and characters from each theme, and I'd spend too much money.

With non-licenses, the story/characters aren't quite as written in stone (especially City) so I don't feel a need to buy everything.

[Vindicare]

I don't always let the Fandom take control. I like Cars, Spongebob and Toy Story, but haven't bought any from there. I've come close a few times, but never pulled the trigger. More often than not, I buy swats of movies I like.I never really got into PoP sets, even though I enjoyed the movie. I do, however have a few(got on clearance). I think that was the reason for buying them.

As a collector, not MOCer, I buy sets for the set. I'm not a completist in some cases. But, being a huge HP fan, I have to have it all. Take 4865 Forbidden Forest, for example. I didn't care much for the set...who doesn't have enough of Harry, Hagrid or Voldemort, but I really wanted Narcissa. Same goes with 6865 Captain America Avenging Cycle I bought just for Cap.

Even if TLG were to release a Licensed theme that I didn't care for, if I like the set, I'd most likely get it.

[tafkatb]

If anything, I think LEGO licenses can make me more of a fan of something than I was before. For instance, I like Wonder Woman well enough, but I was never compelled to buy any sort of memorabilia to display until she was available in minifigure form. Same with Mies van der Rohe - by no means my favorite architect, but as soon as the Farnsworth House set came out I had to get it.

[LRDark]

For me, it's all about the set. As almost strictly a Castle/Fantasy/Pirate collector, and as a completionist, I tend to purchase every set and Collectable Minifigure that falls into that category, regardless of whether it's a Licensed set or not. When the Tolkien line comes out, I'll be sure to get it. The same is true with Zelda, should it happen, or any other Fantastical line should they be produced. I appreciate Star Wars, but I have little interest in the sets. I don't read or watch Harry Potter (aside from the Rifftrax), and yet I love their sets for the Castle and Fantasy elements. I really can't think of any interest I have that would make me purchase a set based around it, other than my main themes. Perhaps a Wild Wild West film license strictly for the steampunk cowboys, but other than that...

[Cutty]

Licensed sets are just a price/parts ratio to me. Should I find a particular set contains parts I want and it is available at a reasonable price whatever picture is on the box becomes instantly irrelevant.

Most times licensed sets thus are beyond my price range.

On the other hand TLC's in-house themes do strike my fancy, be it nostalgia or whatever. So a Monster Fighters theme is ever more appealing to me in terms of aesthetics than, say, is a LOTR set even if that might be soundly designed. The licensed competitor will always draw the short straw...

This is why I majorly facepalmed upon hearing that SW license will run another decade and thus tap resources more generic themes would profit from.

I concede to you: There are some nice exclusive elements in some licensed themes, that's almost a given seeing how much effort TLC is pouring into some of their designs lately. But then again, often they will be exlusive to big and overpriced sets. And that's were my ratio always gives me pause, thinking: "Is that really necessary?" Thus I have already missed out on many fantastic minifigure parts from the SW line (Especially those lady-jedi in black robes, reminiscent of a nun and the one with the strange tattoo in her face) and POTC (Blackbeard! Meant to get his beard for my dark dwarves' leader...).

So in short: No! There's no fandom tainting my preferences and buying decisions. More like the complete opposite, as I will gravitate to TLC's own designs all the more...

p.s.: The only licensed set that I MIGHT be getting just for what it is, would be the current Jedi starfighter with Obi-Wan and the whining Lord-No-to-be... but that would be it, really!

Be well all!

Cutty

[Endigo Vandane]

I buy LEGO because I like LEGO.

Whenever a new theme comes out, I look the sets over carefully to see what parts they use and in what colour. If there are enough interesting bits in a set, I buy the set.

Now I am also a bit of a "completist". So once I have one set of a theme, the rest automatically gets on my wanted list. But, like most people, I do have a budget so choices must be made. My prime interest being Scf-Fi and Fantasy, I naturally turn to those themes. Wether the theme is licensed or not doesn't really matter to me.

As Cutty points out, there is the whole price/parts ratio thing. That has slowed my purchase of some licensed sets, but that is a price issue. If I had to choose between two sets from new themes, one licensed and the other non-licensed, of equal price and with an equal parts count. I would pick the one with the most interesting parts for me.

[P@u!+ox]

For me, the only theme that counts is my own theme. I mostly buy only the parts I need to create my own builds. Whether they are parts from LoTR, SW or Friends, all parts I could use are welcome.

And because the licensed sets have less parts for more money, I hope the licensed sets will not overtake all the non-licensed sets.

[prateek]

I answered not at all. A really good example is PoP. Those sets were amazing. Wasn't a fan of the series though, and definitely not the movie

On the other hand, I am a big fan of SW, but that doesn't mean I get SW sets.

Edited May 8, 2012 by prateek