Ideas for Lego sets - the more 'out of the box' the better!

Matthew

Lego have a policy on not making any conflict related sets unless in is in fantasy (ie: Star Wars), so you're going to be waiting a long time for those.

veedubguy83

I would love a Ghostbuster Theme based off of the real ghostbusters cartoon of the 80's! I think that would be the best!

aplbomr79

As I see it, the common consensus seems to be more city buildings and sets. I think that TLG could make a good run on small shops (butcher, grocery, theaters, strip mall, manufacturing plants and power plants, etc.

In short - MORE CITY!

aplbomr79

I also think that it would be wise for TLG to put some of the concept builds (by their master designers) up for a vote. I think that the most avid collectors would have a field day voting on a 'Master Builders' series - and I think that it could do quite well in the market place. LEGO has so many outlets now, and so many strands that they can tap this could be a great revenue source.

aplbomr79

One last area that I think TLG can and is building on is the seasonal buildings. I have watched as my dad has collected Dept 56 over the course of 15 years (and now has a collection of over 500 pieces). And then he saw my Winter Toy Shop last year, he hunted it down for $75.00... there is a market for this type of venture (he was pretty ticked when it came back online for $59 this year). I am pretty sure that TLG already has mined this and realized that it can be a money-maker as long as they keep it as 'seasonal' and releasing 1-2 sets per year.

50missioncap

@veedubguy83... great call on Ghostbusters!!! Would so love that! Perhaps if another movie comes out... Number 3 is supposed to be in the works... fingers crossed.

Cortez

A high-end Space theme with better sets than currently offered. The current City sub-theme range is awful - particularly the Shuttle and Moon Buggy. "Shuttle Adventure", despite its minor flaws, is a masterpiece and I'm disappointed that Lego haven't capitalised on this well-designed item by expanding a space range with other high-end models.

Nelson-era Royal Navy battleship. Victory? One day son, one day......

F1-themed sets with truck, pit vignettes etc - preferably Ferrari. 8673 and and 8185 were cool. Can we have more on this riff? But none of the incoherent, angular designs like 8168.

More Winter holiday sets. Winter Toy Shop rules.

A full mini-city theme including mini road plates.

BACK TO THE FUTURE DELOREAN. Come on Lego, there are plenty of excellent MOC designs out there, for inspiration.

madforLEGO

----------------TLG had a longstanding policy to not produce models of any historic war machines (with the exception of Sopwith Camel, Red Baron), so this one doesn't seem likely.

----------------- I know, but look at the Indiana Jones series with Nazi minifigs and army vehicles, and the Toy Story jeep - they've effectively ditched that rule long ago!


First of all, they were not Nazi's.. they were German army guys... there is a difference.. Lego had licensed products for those, which happen to be military, as I understand it it is also the reason why there were only two series for this and Batman... Army men toys are a matter of debate.
So chalk it up to money talks, I do not believe they will be doing this as a regular line of Lego any time in the future though.

I was going to build a lego minifig version of a unimog, but if they want to do it for me I would not complain.

As for LoTR Lego, well The Hobbit film is in Development. I guess Lego could grab another license from someone who previously had it (like PoTC) and run a line of LoTR.
Especially if, by the time Hobbit comes out, the licensed sets are in a lull.

brickmatic

^ The Indiana Jones set is depicting a scene from Raiders of the Lost Ark, which includes Nazi operatives. Thus the set does indeed include Nazi operatives, which also happen to be military trained Germans. However, the focus of the set is not a military machine per say, or even traditional army operations, and just happens to include military machinery incidentally.

The Toy Story set Army Men does not directly represent soldiers. Instead it is a representation of another toy, which represents soldiers. It is rather meta. Also, it it not intended to represent actual soldiers, but characters from a children's movie.

Steve_J_OM

It's been mentioned already, but license-themed collectable minifigures would be the business. Can you imagine how successful Star Wars CMs would be? I'm not sure we'd see it while the current CMs are in production though.

ParkGrades

Ancient China, Ancient Rome, Ancient Greece themes.

Various native peoples of the Americas (e.g., Aztec, Maya, Inca, Inuit, Navajo, Iroquois, etc.)

legoDad

Besides wanting (like many others), a WWII themed line (tanks, planes, ships, etc), Ancient Rome (armies, chariot race, Rome itself, etc), and a LOTR line (god the fun that would be)...I've always thought about a great artists series. Like, let's say Michelangelo minifig with a brick built David (or other famous sculpters), or Shakespeare and a theater set with figs from one of his plays...even a cool Andy Warhol or Lichtenstein figs. with mosaics of their pop-art....Just thinking out loud.
Oh, wait...how about scenes from famous sci-fi novels...or even Ray Harryhausen movie scenes and his wonderful creatures.

Yellowcastle

Modular / UCS quality sets in the Space and Castle themes.

An aquarium or zoological park. A cruiseship. An amusement park.

madforLEGO

Also, noted in the New ideas thread for Lego sets:
My idea was a 'strip mall' theme and each store would be its own like 20 dollar set, and each would be modular in the sense like the old Castle sets from the 80's, with the ability to 'stick' them together to make a bigger mall. that way kids could get cheap 'stores' that could stand alone, but you could also make them into a much bigger strip mall type of collection

aplbomr79

@madforlegos -
I agree whole-hearted. Can you imagine the possibilities as they stretched this out? But even beyond this, capture the attention addressed to the Christmas (Winter) theme...

If TLG released versions of a true 'City'/Town collection and kept the price low ($20 with one mini-fig) and then released one large set each year, I think that they would sell well.

I know that LEGO produces what only sells well and tries to capture a theme while the Iron is hot. However, if they contracted or teamed up with different companies (they already do so - i.e. Maersk, TRU, etc.) and released LEGO sets that were branded with Nike, SONY, BestBuy, Target, Walmart, Orange Julius, Macy's etc, can you imagine the possibilities?

I think that each of the aforementioned stores/brands would jump at the chance to offer this type of product in store on Black Friday or other major shopping events. It would be a benefit for the stores as it would attract new customers that would not necessarily frequent their store.

Of course, all of this is IMO.

pantenkind

I think the modular strip mall is an awesome idea, the only thing I would change about it is instead of a strip mall I would make them little boutique shops. Strip mall stores are basically cubes of different sizes, if you went the old style boutique route you could get the same effect and have more of a variety between stores. Awesome idea though.

Cortez

Does anyone know if TLG have responded directly to requests for "Back to the Future" sets?

Yellowcastle

@Cortez - TLG does not accept any set ideas whatsoever

brickmatic

I hope the people at TLG that come up with set ideas are reading this thread. I really, really hope so.

Legoboy

.......and if so, please take on board. Please?

Jasen

Kinda a bad example but practical maybe, a car yard with lots of different vehicles, something Lego has lacked unless you Mod you're own from police cars or parts from Bricklink :)
I realise it may not be the most exciting thing to build a little 'shed' but alot of various vehicles would be cool.

slinger

My idea is this: minifigs, like most of us, have to work for a living. Historically, all jobs in lego city are within the 3rd sector: services. Only recently the 1st sector is represented by the farm sets. What about the 2nd sector??? what we need is more INDUSTRY! Possibilities are wide: maybe a small aircraft or car factory, an oil refinery, a milk processing plant which produces yellow 2x1 tile packs of butter, and a large etcetera. This is what we need to make our towns more realistic!

brickmatic

^ A widget factory! More 1st sector would be fine too. The dwarves got a mine, but City can't?

Stormsworder

There were a lot of town buildings in old Lego Ideas Books that I think would have made good ideas for sets. A hairdresser, a furniture store, a windmill, an adult education centre, an office.

jagdjh

I'd like to see more 'unisex' sets. I'm an female AFOL and think it is a shame how few sets there are that appeal to girls. Recently I purchased the city Camper for an 8 year old girl who was recovering from surgery and it was one of a couple of sets that weren't completely geared towards boys. An ice cream shop, zoo or circus would interest both boys and girls equally....the possibilities are endless. Those pink sets that are just for girls are awful.

I think too that some historical sets would be awesome. A Titanic replica and steamboats. Powdered wigs and presidential minifigs would be great fun. It wouldn't be a bad thing is kids get a little history lesson while they are having fun.

Cam_n_Stu

A collaboration between LEGO and real world building materials manufacturers to make accurate minifig scale versions of their products, similar to the one LEGO did for Velux as a promo but across a whole range of products so bricks with real world colours, perhaps Ibstock?, Windows to match stock designs, Velux roof-lights to match actual models, bathrooms and so on. Once you had this you could generate accurate MOCs of houses and self-builders could even prototype their designs and get, arguably a better impression of the finished designs that 3D rendered CGI. Make them available from "PAB Pro" or similar and I suspect both those wanting accurate MOCs and those wanting a house design prototyping system would be happy to pay a premium for these items.

TalasAntares

Thoughts that occurred to me this evening...ignoring all the potential bad connotations regarding the oil industry...
How about a line of oil-related sets? Perhaps our beloved Octan Industries could have an offshore oil rig...which could offload product into an Octan tanker ship or barge (pushed by an Octan tugboat!)...which could then dock at the Octan Refinery set. Imagine all those cylindrical tanks and such that could be built...then, finished product could move to the newest version of the Octan Service Station by way of an Octan tanker truck. Could also have a land-based oil well, either the tower-style or the "grasshopper"-looking ones...
Other accessories could be a bunch of different mini-fig scale autos and trucks to consume the Octan products...
Kind of sounds fun.

skherbeck

I'd love to see a new licensed theme... The Beatles Yellow Submarine!! (And of course Sgt. Peppers minifigs!)

Matthew

^^ I would really love that too

FrodoB

They should make Lego Lord of the Rings and The Hobbit when the Hobbit movie comes out next year.

Also a POTC Flying Dutchman would be Great

princedraven

Lego Lapland would be awesome and is fairly unisex.

colethegeek

Shakespeare minifig sounds amazing, also sounds perfect for the Minifigure Series... I agree with everyone that said theater. I'd love to see a diner as well. Basically city themed stuff that isn't so police/fireman intensive. I'd love another hospital at this time. A school would certainly be amazing! I know it's a long shot, but I would love to see some Marvel themes... Prof. X in minifigure form? Awesome (besides, that would force LEGO into giving us a wheelchair).

Rogue

I would love, love, love to have a Neuschwanstein Castle set. Nanoblocks came out with one recently (http://www.amazon.com/Nanoblock-Neuschwanstein-Castle-Deluxe-Set/dp/B00436G1IM/ref=sr_1_3?s=toys-and-games&ie=UTF8&qid=1304090636&sr=1-3), but it just isn't the same. I really wish LEGO would come out with their own version of it-- I'd snatch one up in a heartbeat!

Cam_n_Stu

^ That would be nice, as would just about every other set in their Architecture series re-interpreted in LEGO!

brickmatic

^^ Agreed! The Neuschwanstein Castle is such a pretty castle. Another very pretty castle is the Hohenzollern Castle.

vynsane

There was actually a FANTASTIC version of Neuschwanstein Castle in the LEGO Castle Adventure exhibit. I don't know where else this exhibit was displayed, but we lucked upon it when we visited the 'Strong Museum of Play' in Rochester, NY.



There are a lot of other great castles in that exhibit that can be viewed in the same set.

As for 'dream themes/sets' I would second the idea of 'CITY of the Future' - like the CITY theme we have today, but envisioned as it would look in 300 years or something, along with a heaping helping of flying cars. It would sort of be the civilian side of the Space Police III theme.

Rogue

^ Looks amazing!!! Have you seen the one by Bob Carney?
http://www.carneycastle.com/Neuschwanstein/palas.htm

LuciusMalfoy7

I would like to see a new theme that I've been thinking up... It'd be called World Adventurers or something. Still working on the name. It'd be a mix between James Bond and Indiana Jones, or in more LEGO-friendly terms, Agents and Adventurers. Half of the sets - or half of each set - would be about fighting bad guys with helicopters, tech, etc. and the other half would be about finding treasure or discovering secrets and stuff like that. A good mix, you know?

wander099

I know LEGO will never use this idea as it is too adult, but I would love some Battlestar Galactica LEGO. It is my favourite TV series and to have a model of the Galactica would be awesome!

Si_UKNZ

Speaking of licenced themes, 2 more which would be fun are Asterix (roman forts, lots of funny minifigs and gaul villages) and Scooby Doo (great minifigs, haunted houses and lots of monsters).

atkinsar

^ Scooby Dooplo :-)

Johnnycogs

Already mentioned, but music icon CM's would be pretty awesome... I for one would Love to see bands like the Foo Fighters, Kiss, Jimi Hendrix Experience and the likes Immortalised in Brick world!!!

monkey_roo

As mentioned above Lord of the Rings would be nice or The Hobbit with a new movie in the offing, would be great but unlikely.

Would love to see some Marvel crossover with the Avengers coming up, Iron Man and Captain America in minature would be great.

Also more of the Pixar stuff Monster's Inc would be fantastic (again with a new film in produciton who knows).

Love the shout about the anicent world stuff as well, Roman Lego would be fun.

dmm32552

To build on an idea in the OP's post -- not just a Zoo set but an entire zoo THEME. I think kids and adults might really get into collecting various sets that all come together as one complete zoo. I live 5 miles from Omaha's epic Henry Doorly Zoo and I think they should model an entire theme after this. We have an awesome Desert Dome, a huge indoor jungle, a Creatures of the Night exhibit, a Cat Complex, an aviary, the aquariums, the polar bear exhibit, the Skyfari which is a ski-lift type of ride that takes you high up and over the rhinos, giraffes, etc... pretty awesome stuff.

dmm32552

I also 2nd 3rd 4th 5th the idea of LOTR and Hobbit LEGO sets. This could be sold online only if they wanted to just appeal to AFOL and teens. It could easily make a killing as the first theme targeted at AFOL. But they'd be surprised at how many KIDS love those movies and would buy those sets too.

MinifigsMe

A Zoo be my number one thing to get. And the perfect way to appeal to girls with out being pink. Show me one little girl that doesn't like animals.
My 3 year old niece loves my lego animals, so I'm acquiring farm stuff for her, as well as more obscure animals in the hopes of creating a zoo for her/me anyway.
Can't wait for the goats from the mill attack :)

bluelion3

I could think about this topic all day...More ways for LEGO to take my money:

Like Yellowcastle said, "Modular / UCS quality sets in the Space and Castle themes."
I totally agree, especially for Castle! It's my number one wish. A castle should be HUGE. If they can make a $179 Imperial Flagship, can we have a castle set with similar part count? Look how many Castle MOCs there are.

How about pre-made bundles from Pick-A-Brick...
"Castle" parts pack: lots of grey bricks, windows, arches for designing your own castle or expanding an existing set. For AFOLs, not like 5929 "Knight and Castle Building Set".
"Creator cars": Build the car you want, in a certain color, with maybe two sets of wheels in different sizes, a variety of windshields, etc. You can make it MF sized or not... your choice. No instructions.
These could get people started with PAB if they haven't already.

@Rogue: The Nanoblock Neuschwanstein looks nice! LEGO Architect Neuschwanstein, please!

Also how about a LEGO Architect Cathedral with stained glass?
Minifig sized Swiss Chalet modular home...
Tudor-style house...

I know some licensed themes are not possible, but if I had to pick one it would be LOTR.
If I could pick a second it would be Marvel superheros.
I missed out on Spiderman and Batman (DC, I know) too.
Imagine superheros as part of the City theme, running amok in your LEGO city! Crash! Kablam!
It makes me want to build a city just for the superheros to have a place to make mayhem.

If A LOTR license is not possible, maybe a D&D license or similar fantasy hero based RPG.
Take Castle/Kingdoms back to the Fantasy Era, but give us Minifigs that are like little Heros, not
like the same red lions or green dragon soldiers we have now.
And more creepy monsters in addition to the trolls

Race cars! Bring back minifig size Ferrari F1 sets. Or a series of minifig sized generic but realistic race cars, (Le Mans, F1, etc). The World Racers aren't cutting it.
Although this probably won't happen with the current Cars 2 movie tie-ins.

@Belgians in general - If they make a manneken pis, it must be functional! Just kidding...

@jagdjh My one year old and I love that Camper!

bluemoose

... maybe a D&D license or similar fantasy hero based RPG ...

'Heroica' is a modular LEGO fantasy game hitting shelves very soon.
http://www.brickset.com/browse/themes/?theme=Games&subtheme=Heroica

bluelion3

^ Yeah, I'm curious about Heroica. The photos make me question how deep the gameplay would be. I was thinking more along the lines of something minifig-sized like Brickquest, which admittedly I have not tried yet. It would be so easy for TLC to pull together existing figures (skeleton, zombie, trolls, elves, dwarves) but it would be nice to have some official sets for environments (dungeons, castles) and a commonly accepted rulebook for the LEGO community.

bluemoose

If Heroica is like the other games, there will be a basic set of rules & a set of options for making it more complex.
If you want something more sophisticated & minifig scaled, take a look at 'brickquest' - http://gunth.com/brickquest/
I'm told LEGO took a serious look at it, but decided it was too brick intensive to be viable as a commercial system.