Have you ever completely dismissed a theme, thought it absolutely pointless and have no interest, even as a parts pack, and then suddenly realise that after all it wasn't so bad, and end up buying multiple sets from said theme? I thought Fabuland with knives, guns, and drugs, aka Chima, was something that was, no offence, more for kids and completely uninteresting to me, until I got Razar for free. It suddenly occurred that these talking Lions would kind of fit into what I'm buying. It's not so far fetched, talking animals, bipedal species, evolving on a planet and eventually fighting each other with organic tech for the planets natural resources. So, my question, anybody else find themselves in the same position, having a sudden interest in a theme that they didn't like before hand?

When I came out of my Dark Ages, I felt that the I wouldn't be interested in any of the LOTR sets until I got the Weathertop set discounted on Amazon. I was instantly sold on the build details and techniques and have added more of the range to my collection. I only buy them discounted though, as I believe the licensed markup does not justify the cost in buying brand new.

Also in a kind of side note, i also bought some of the Lone Ranger stuff (I have no interest in the film or the tv series) as I really liked the quality of the buildings and the train!

For me it's being some of the city subthemes.....like last years coast guard subtheme.....I wasn't going to get any of those sets and in the end got each one. Likewise the 2011 police station.....until I found out the crooks escaped via the toilet.....that sold me on the set.

Personally, I very much dislike ninjago and chima concepts and universes (especially the latter), but I am often tempted by the interesting parts and techniques in the sets. I've managed to resist to the temptation so far

I would eat up a ninjago-similar samurai theme (without the 'mechs') tho

I was strictly into LEGO for the architecture and Technic aspects since COOMDA, recently I watched some 'Legends of Chima' on cable, now I may actual get at least some of the Legend Beast sets, as there is a certain organic appeal to the theme

I've always been a parts guy and never really cared about the themes. My son, though, got into Bionicle, then Ninjago, then Hero Factory and I ended up with a lot of those models being played with around the house. I had initially dismissed Bionicle, as the pieces were mostly too specialized for the kind of building I like to do. I changed my thinking slightly when I saw the enormous cool creatures my son made combining all his Bionicle pieces. When he got into Ninjago, he was a bit older and he just liked to build the models and play with the spinners. When he was a little older still and stopped playing with the models, he put them on a shelf for display. Now he's 14, and the other day I was talking to him about how I needed a few more tread links for something I wanted to build and he said, "there are some on one of my ninja cycle models - take any pieces you want from them." So maybe I've raised another "parts guy" after all...

I really thought Monster Fighters weren't my thing until I got some sets on clearance. Then I realized how well all of the bits on the figs fit in with my collection/story/narrative that I bought as many as I could find on sale. I agree with you on Chima...I bought a small set just to check it out and was immediately hooked by the feeling of good design and thought that had gone into it all.

Ironically - things that should be right up my alley like Galaxy Squad and Ninjago, I've mostly passed on for other offerings.

There will be themes I intentionally ignore (world racers) but I like when I'm surprised!

Mine was LOTR... I originally only ever intended to get some SW theme stuff... then I actually got a really cheap Helm's Deep that I was going to split and sell on... As soon as I built Theoden and saw the quality of the print on his helmet and chest piece I was hooked.

Since then an interest in Batman has led to me owning quite a lot of those sets and a growing mini fig collection including some very nice customs.

Basically... I think my fixation with action figures (SW) from when I was a kid has resurfaced and Lego is allowing me to live it out on a much larger scale... only now they can all sit together and have vehicles and environments to move about in.

Just on the above post... I always liked the idea of Monster Fighters but didn't pick a set up until I got the Haunted House... what a great set that is... and also appeals as there's no 'yellowies' in there (I'm a fleshy kind of chap).

I initially dismissed Mars Mission outright. It was too much darker, weirder and less friendly than Life on Mars (one of the themes of my childhood). A couple things changed my mind. The first was Lego Battles, which played up the space horror nature of the aliens through allusions to films like the Alien series, and presented the conflict as a more equivalent conflict like the Pirates theme, which had no clear good vs. evil but was rather a battle for resources between evenly-matched factions. The second was building a number of the sets on Lego Digital Designer and discovering how much they surpassed the Life on Mars theme (and for that matter, a great number of other space themes) in terms of complexity and originality. Since then I've taken to building all sorts of sets on Lego Digital Designer, since sometimes you can't appreciate a set or theme until you've built it yourself.

After coming out of my dark age, I completely dismissed most themes other than Lord of the Rings, Hobbit, and Star Wars. I bought a discounted Monster Fighters set around Halloween just to have something new to build (I think it was the Vampyre Hearse), and the theme really started to grow on me. I ended up collecting most of the rest of the theme.

Ninjago is something I dismissed as "for the kids," but after building some of the models with my kids I have a greater appreciation for the theme. I still wouldn't buy them as an AFOL (unless it's for parts), but I have fun building them with the kiddies and I can see why they like them so much. The cartoon is also surprisingly entertaining.

Monster Fighters.

Didn't have an interest in them at all. Until I started building my Winter Village. Then, my wife saw a couple and said, "those would make a great Halloween Village." Of course, that put the bug in both of us.

What makes it worse is that I saw all the MF stuff on sale at Walmart last year, but completely dismissed it.

+1 to Monster Fighters.

Didn't have any interest in the theme. Eventually, I decided I did want the Vampyre Castle. Expected it to be a one-off. I bought it, loved it, then scrambled to buy the rest of the theme, except The Zombies, which was long gone by the time I got into the theme.

Had that happen with Ninjago. I dismissed it at first. But I grabbed the Stormfighter to convert into an AQ EDF jet and slipped rapidly downhill from there.

I started big, I bought the Haunted House as my 2nd MF purchase. I had been eyeing already as a display piece for Halloween, and figured my Vampyre Hearse needed some place to park and call home. Then I bought the werewolf since I thought it would be cool to have a scary tree with a werewolf next to the haunted house. Then the swamp creature, and the crazy scientist, all for the same reason: to fill the haunted house with monsters .

I dismissed the Vampyre Castle for a long time. I actually bought it on sale, and then returned it because I already had the HH, and didn't need two big structures. Then I saw it on clearance at Toys R Us for $70, I knew I would regret it if I didn't buy so I picked it up. It's just a cool looking castle, unique from the other castles Lego has put out in the past.

The LEGO Movie theme... I'm very picky about sets that can be incorporated into the City theme. Initially, admittedly being closed-minded about them (i.e. not even considering buying sets like the Flying Ice Cream Truck and MOCing up a regular van with it's parts), I was gong to pass on them until I saw that a few had alternate builds... and the minifigs

When I first came out of my dark age, I paid attention to themes and mostly focused on Technic and Star Wars but as Technic kits became more "build redundant" over the years and Lego Star Wars started going revamp, prequel and Clone War crazy (to the point of nearly coming out with models of the napkin George Lucas wiped his mouth with the day he came up with Jar-Jar just because it was that or yet another snowspeeder/Millenuim Falcon/Tie fighter/etc.) I really started paying far less attention to theme and focused more on what was in the box rather than what inspired the box in the first place.

These days, I tend to go more on a kit by kit basis than a theme-based one. I haven't even seen the Lone Ranger and don't really have that much "western" stuff in my collection, but I knew I wanted the stagecoach the moment I saw it. I got the Constitution Train because, well, it's a train, I like trains. Monster Fighters, overall, did little for me, but I think the Haunted House was fantastic. I haven't found a Galaxy Patrol or Chima set that really clicks (no pun intended) with me yet, but I always check out what's there, just in case. I even have my eye on a couple of Friends sets (mostly for parts, but still…) and, trust me, if you saw me in person, you'd think I was about as far removed from the Friends target audience as one can get while remaining in the same species...

Still, there are some themes I do regularly consume, Architecture comes to mind. I didn't think much of the early offerings. I picked up the Empire State Building and the Space Needle on a lark; they were nice little models, but not nice enough to get me to run out and buy the others (actually, I did download the instructions and built the Sears/Willis tower and Rockefeller Center out of parts I had on hand, didn't even have to bricklink anything (and didn't bother with the custom printed nameplate)). Later kits, though, like Falling Water, The White House and the Robie House won me over.

Edited January 8, 201411 yr by ShaydDeGrai

Surprisingly, Ninjago. I thought the show was "alright" until I saw the Samurai Mech, and fell in love with the theme. I watched the show, and realized the plot had more to it than met the eye, though I still felt I didn't need to buy all the sets (I have very little to this day) since I know I may like the design of a set now, but it'll be dismissed and not "swooshed/played" with, so I only decided to go for the big ones. As some of you may know, this led to my obsession with the Epic Dragon Battle.

I was also a big fan of Lotr before the sets came out, but decided to dismiss most of them and decided they would just collect dust until the day I even bothered to remember they were there. Boy do I regret that, but no one has an infinitely large house and an inconsiderable amount of money (well some have that), so I realized I couldn't have everything, and decided to move on from the theme as a whole, but I doubt I'll alienate myself from that theme for much longer.

For me it was the City theme. Fantasy and sci-fi themes are what I normally gravitate toward for everything (books, movies, etc), so the "mundane" firefighters or police sets were rather boring for me. This year, though, I got into the Winter Village sets, partially fueled by my girlfriends love of Christmas. After seeing several of those in a small layout it got me thinking about building a town, maybe a downtown area with the big modular buildings. Then I saw the Museum Break-in set, with a Lego version of a famous painting, and I had to have it. Then I thought, a cool town would have a train in it, right? So I got the Lone Ranger train set . Now I'll need some train stations, and other buildings, so I should probably mix in some of those nice-looking Creator houses... I think I'm in trouble.

I was passing on The Lone Ranger having never had any western sets until my wife brought me the Cavalry Builder set as a cheering up gift after I broke my hand a couple of weeks ago. Even this small set with the new guns got me hooked. Then a couple of shops had 40% off Lone Ranger so I bought everything except the train as it seems to be out of stock everywhere. This also negated the extra pricing of it being a licensed set. I hope there is another movie so that there are more sets or at least a new western theme of the same quality as these sets. I liked the movie too.

I have experienced this but more within a sub-theme. With LEGO Technic I used to be in to cars and now it is rubbish trucks and off-road vehicles.

Heroica

I thought all the games sets were boring and had nothing of interest until I bought Draida Bay for $4 at a fleamarket. I had bought it just for the plates since I needed them until I actually played the game with my son's. Then I fell in love with the theme. I wanted to get more sets but Heroica was already discontinued. The only other set I have from Heroica is Ilrion when I found it on discount at $10.

I almost never "completely dismiss a theme". I try my best to understand things even if they don't make sense to me at a glance, and give the LEGO Group's writers and designers the benefit of the doubt for as long as it takes to do so — even if it's a theme I have no intent of ever collecting myself. There are, however, individual sets I have completely dismissed and later realize I should have given a chance. This set seemed like a blocky mess to me for many years.

Eventually, out of curiosity, I built it on LDD (this was after becoming a huge Avatar: The Last Airbender fan — my main interest was seeing if using modern parts and building techniques I could build a better one). I realized then that despite some of the figs being poor recreations of the characters and the catapults looking ridiculous, the set was loaded with excellent and even somewhat show-accurate details and play features. Even the brick-built hull is probably the best I could ever come up with with my building ability — I had thought something using plates similar to a Star Destroyer would be better, but a Fire Nation naval vessel is a much more complex shape than a giant wedge!

Made me sad that the theme ended before it had time to cover more of the series or even get higher-quality remakes like Star Wars vehicles have been getting every five years or so. Seeing how expensive the set and minifigures are today also kind of shuts down any idea of getting one in the aftermarket.

Edited January 9, 201411 yr by Aanchir

I suppose you could saw that happened to me with Star Wars. I saw the movies in order Phantom Menace to the rest, even though I'm older than what the original prequel target audience is. I was in high school when it came out, so if that says anything. Anyway, I had very little interest in it, even though I didn't mind Space related stuff growing up.

When I came back from my DA, I still had no interest in SW LEGO, but I picked up a few sets for the pieces because they were on clearance. The figures were neat enough, then 2012 hit and they had some great System scale sets in SW, so I had to pick them up. Since then, I haven't purchased a ton of SW, but usually enough to get the free May the 4th figure.

As for the rest, I tend to only buy what is appealing to me for pieces or figures. If the figures aren't good, but the pieces are at a good price, I may consider buying that. One example would be Minecraft. I have zero interest in that theme, but I like microscale building, so some of those pieces actually would come in handy. Especially with the new sets with good colors, like dark tan/dark green 1x1 tiles.