how to train your dragon Lego sets and licencing issue

3fim2

i'm a huge fan of how to train your dragon, as it combines vikings, a great story, the best animation i can think of, creativity, and the best dragon ever. but I'm just as big of a fan of Lego. so i was discussed when ionix released their sets for the movie, because they looked terrible and the characters were also weirdly able to turn into a block. that reduced the mobility an the play ability in my eyes. but also I've had a bad experience with knock off brands such as mega blocks and best lock. It destroyed my heart to see that Lego couldn't make a httyd set because ionix had the license. i learned this after i supported a Lego ideas set with toothless and hiccup. i think Lego would have done a better job at their builds and had better quality printing. i found it stupid that ionix revolves around an opening brick and felt like that just destroyed the whole theme of httyd for me. i wanted to make a petition for every one to vote for dream works to give Lego the licence, and i know i'm not the only one. so i want to know what you guys think and also what types of sets that you would buy if Lego made httyd sets. personally i would buy all the sets Lego would sell since im obsessed with httyd and Lego.

3fim2

don't be afraid to reply 

catwrangler

You've got to give people more than two minutes! :) 

I loved the first How To Train Your Dragon movie and the shorts (still need to see the sequel), so I would be a big fan of Lego sets based on it if TLG ever got the licence. I think they've shown how good they are with brick-built dragons on the Elves and Ninjago lines, so it seems like they could really go to town on Toothless and the others. The Viking village could be a lot of fun too... heck, I just want more Vikings. 

3fim2

catwrangler said:

You've got to give people more than two minutes! :) 

I loved the first How To Train Your Dragon movie and the shorts (still need to see the sequel), so I would be a big fan of Lego sets based on it if TLG ever got the licence. I think they've shown how good they are with brick-built dragons on the Elves and Ninjago lines, so it seems like they could really go to town on Toothless and the others. The Viking village could be a lot of fun too... heck, I just want more Vikings. 

i feel the same way my goal is when i become a designer ill revive the viking theme with my own twist. i've already got a plot and most of it planed out. and i would buy two of each set! i dont care if i go bankrupt. ps you wont be disappointed with the second movie

3fim2

anybody else want to talk about it? i love to read everyones thoughts

3fim2

ok this was a bad idea to post about something so specific

Dawn

Chill out, this is not a chat room, some members only check the forums once a day

3fim2

Dawn said:

Chill out, this is not a chat room, some members only check the forums once a day

sorry first time attempt

CCC

I have no interest in the franchise, and I'd prefer Lego to do their own lines with dragons and Vikings.

Huw

I've banned @3fim2 as he/she appears to be under age based on the nature and structure of their posts.

MaffyD

^ Ouch. While I have few doubts about the age of the poster, the whole concept of trying to work out who is under age versus any language issues an adult might have seems like the proverbial minefield! How do you judge it @Huw?

ecmo47

The avatar doesn't invoke a sense of maturity.

Huw

Typing style, nature and content of posts, posts reported by others suspecting the same.

The lack of capital letters is a pretty good indication, IMO.

MattsWhat

REALLY?

(I do agree though - a bit impatient for an adult too).

Xefan

I thought it was the attention deficit "You haven't responded to me in at least 10 seconds now!" bit that was the biggest giveaway, I mean, sure, adults can have ADHD too, but they generally learn not to throw it in everyone's face like that.

CCC

I looked them up ...
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CGrJCCjP0Kw

I think it is quite a neat idea how the 2x4 brick folds up, something fairly innovative not just a regular 2x4 clone.

The figures that comes form the 2x4 ... (about 2min)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-Gr3oYmcONk

they are transforming bricks: brick --> figures. I'm not a fan of the final minifig, but again at least it is something novel and fun for kids to transform them. Remember lego doesn't allow others to make minifigures exactly the same as theirs. So they either do poor quality clones that are different, or they do something like this and come up with something very different.

Dragons (about 5.15min in video above) again is transforming. It is different to lego.

I think I prefer these to direct lego style copies. The folding brick seems to be the USP of Ionix.

catwrangler

Xefan said:

I thought it was the attention deficit "You haven't responded to me in at least 10 seconds now!" bit that was the biggest giveaway, I mean, sure, adults can have ADHD too, but they generally learn not to throw it in everyone's face like that.

I think it's less about having something like ADHD and more about different generations having grown up with different communication platforms. I'm in my 30s and forums were the big thing when I first got online, so I know not to expect an instant response. Young ones now have had their default expectations set by the fast turnaround of responses on Tumblr or texting or apps like Snapchat, and it really shows when someone's on their first ever forum - I've seen a couple of other people on here get surprised by the fact people don't reply within a minute or two...

SprinkleOtter

CCC said:

I looked them up ...
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CGrJCCjP0Kw

I think it is quite a neat idea how the 2x4 brick folds up, something fairly innovative not just a regular 2x4 clone.

The figures that comes form the 2x4 ... (about 2min)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-Gr3oYmcONk

they are transforming bricks: brick --> figures. I'm not a fan of the final minifig, but again at least it is something novel and fun for kids to transform them. Remember lego doesn't allow others to make minifigures exactly the same as theirs. So they either do poor quality clones that are different, or they do something like this and come up with something very different.

Dragons (about 5.15min in video above) again is transforming. It is different to lego.

I think I prefer these to direct lego style copies. The folding brick seems to be the USP of Ionix.

Those look less like building kits and more like "put a few parts on to decorate the bases" kits. Not necessarily a bad thing, but not very creative.

Fauch

I don't really get the point of foldable bricks. it's not like you are going to use them as regular bricks anyway

CCC

Transformers type toys are still quite popular.

Fauch

they are more fun when they turn into a fire truck than into a brick

Legoboy

Huw said:

Typing style, nature and content of posts, posts reported by others suspecting the same.

The lack of capital letters is a pretty good indication, IMO.

i shall have to be more careful

Aanchir

I love the novelty of the foldable Ionix figures and creatures, but I agree that they impede the sense of authenticity for many of the licensed brands like Pokémon or How To Train Your Dragon. Useful or not, I appreciate any company that will genuinely innovate on the building brick concept instead of just imitating the LEGO Group in everything they do.

There's no telling how long the Ionix license for HTTYD will last, but then again, there's also no telling whether the LEGO Group would pursue that license if given a second chance. It's definitely a popular film series, but popularity doesn't always equate to selling power.

Shib

It's one of those licences that I'd have both loved and hated for LEGO to have. I think they could have done some great sets with it, but Dragons are becoming a bit too much of a staple for LEGO at the moment.

Just in the last few years dragons have featured in Ninjago, Elves, Castle, The Hobbit and Creator sets that I can think of of the top of my head without any research- another theme built around Dragons becomes white noise. I won't be surprised if Nexo Knights add dragons/mecha dragons at some point but it's been smart for them to avoid it so far.

CCC

Was it (the film(s)) that big a deal in the UK? It seems to have totally passed my kids by. I remember seeing lots of toys, stickers books, etc reduced but never paid any attention as the kids weren't interested in it.

leego76

First film is certainly worth watching, even as an adult. Yes, it's a fairly predictable story for kids but nicely done nonetheless. 

Legopassion8

Toothless is a pretty cool guy and all but I'd rather see Lego and Nintendo finally work together on something. I know it's probably hard trying to work with those weirdos who run Nintendo but maybe one day...