Themes that flop

Dato · December 2011

Toy Story. Any others?

MinifigsMe · December 2011

I love toy story :( Do you think they just over produced?

LegoFanTexas · December 2011

My 6 year old son has all the Toy Story stuff, he loves the Construct-A-Zurg, so I have no idea why it isn't selling.

Perhaps Toy Story is missing the "big set" to build everything around it? Perhaps there are too many "odd sized" sets, the above mentioned set doesn't match the others?

Side note, I don't think PoP did very well either.

Yellowcastle · December 2011

What defines a flop? Sales? Interesting builds? Longevity? I would love to see sales figures on certain themes and/or sets but I never have. And what if a theme was always intended for just one wave like PotC (presumably)?

LuciusMalfoy7 · December 2011

I think Space Police qualifies as a certifiable flop - at least with its second wave. Agents, as much as I loved both waves, experienced the same thing: success and acclaim with its first wave, and poor sales numbers in the second wave.

MinifigsMe · December 2011

Agreed that toy story doesn't have sets that make a playable area, there's vehicles, but the only building (that I recall) is woody's roundup.

Istokg · December 2011

The very first LEGO (bricks) flop was the "Mosaik" sets of 1955-56. There was a smaller 1300 set and a larger 1301 set. They were only sold in Denmark, Norway and Sweden (the only countries selling LEGO at the time), and they were only in production for 1 year.

Below is an image of the smaller 1300 box. The 2nd and 3rd image are of the brochure that came with the box. The brochure image shows LEGO Mosaik as intended for all ages... but sales said otherwise. The 4th image is from 1955, from a Goteburg Sweden department store LEGO sales stand. The 1300 and 1301 boxes are on the left side of the countertop, and a Mosaik design display is shown above the LEGO sign.

The 1300 and 1301 sets were the only LEGO sets (besides the 1223 macaroni bricks parts pack) to have ever used the rare (1955-57) 1/2 circle macaroni bricks.

Yellowcastle · December 2011

I think Space Police qualifies as a certifiable flop - at least with its second wave. Agents, as much as I loved both waves, experienced the same thing: success and acclaim with its first wave, and poor sales numbers in the second wave.

How do to quantify "success" and "acclaim" and where do you get your sales data?

Dato · December 2011

It's not that I don't like the Toy Story theme. Actually, I am a big fan of the movie franchise (I have all three movies on Blu-Ray). Furthermore, I bought a Toy Story garbage truck at full retail for my son after I saw a review on youtube that impressed me. But from LEGO's perspective, it's most likely a flop because (1) there were only 15 sets in the theme, and they all came out in 2010, (2) no new sets are planned, and (3) some sets had seen deep discount at [email protected] yet still not going anywhere (e.g. the aforementioned garbage truck).

Perhaps if one of the toys featured in the movies was a LEGO, things may be different!?

starfire2 · December 2011

Galidor!!! Biggest flop EVER!!!

LegoFanTexas · December 2011

@Dato - you just hit the nail on the head, why didn't they have a Lego "something" in the movie?

johnsbricks · December 2011

4juniors....enough said!

Si_UKNZ · December 2011

IMO the toy story theme was way too juniorised, too close to duplo. no idea if thats why it didnt do so well.

world racers?

Legoboy · December 2011

TS was a winner in my book - was able to pick up the entire theme for peanuts!

Went on to pick up many duplicates for the kids given its good playability.

Lambringo · December 2011

I seem to like the flop themes of recent times. I love the Toy Story line and World Racers is the only non licensed theme that I have all sets. I think they are flops from the perspective of TLG as the shelves are always fully stocked even with the constant/huge discounts. I think WR appeals to me so much as it takes vehicles, and adds weapons, which is exactly what I loved to build as a kid.

I think the Factory theme is a flop in most instances when sets are first released.

Time Cruisers always stuck in my mind as rubbish. It was the only theme that I never wanted when I was young

Istokg · January 2015

Well I'm reopening a 4 year old thread for a reason.... if you go back 9 posts, you see a 1955-56 MOSAIK set (as it was called in Danish).

I found out why this set was such a dud, as far as sales were concerned. Here is a copy of one of 2 known sets of the smaller 1300 set of 1955-56. This is a Billund Archive image of the contents....

If you bought this set, you got a copy of the instructions, which 9 posts previously it shows the front/back of the yellow instructions sheet. So if you bought this set... you took it home... opened it up to find that there's very few parts and that you COULD NOT build anything shown in the instructions sheet!!!

TLG back then expected you to buy extra spare parts packs of either the round, square, and macaroni bricks (3 packs!) just so that you could build what was shown on the instructions.

1/3 of this 1300 box was a cardboard insert that you could flip upside down and store additionally purchased parts.

Well I'm sure that a lot of buyers were very unhappy with this arrangement when they got home with the box... and likely returned it to the LEGO retailer... who then likely returned it to TLG. What did TLG do? They likely reused the parts in other sets or spare parts packs, and recycled the boxes for something else (or for kindling).

So this explains why this set, which was only sold in Denmark and Sweden from 1955-56, why there are only 2 known examples in existence! (TLG had to buy their example on the secondary market). Here is the 2nd known example, a MISB set found in a Dutch Museum....

These new images will be added to Chapter 4 of the next version of my LEGO Collectors Guide (download free to current owners).

Unfortunately... no examples of the larger 1301 Mosaik set are known to exist. And also no Swedish versions of either set have ever been found. A Swedish version would be easy enough to identify... the Danish version has "System i leg" (System of play) on the box, a Swedish version would have "System i lek".

Maybe in some attics in Denmark and Sweden these $5000 rare sets are waiting to be discovered!!

Istokg · January 2015

One could only drool over the 14-16 of the 1300 and 1301 Swedish MOSAIK boxes that are sitting on the left countertop of this 1955 Swedish department store image...

None are known in any collection today! :-(

just2good · January 2015

I know they're old posts, but there's no proof Toy Story flopped. LEGO is very cautious to make sets after the new movies are out unless they're huge sellers like Star Wars. All About Bricks wrote a great article on this: http://allaboutbricks.blogspot.com/2015/01/new-sets-from-lego-movie-well-few.html?m=1

Ondra · January 2015

Sit and read carefully
http://www.businessinsider.com/legos-worst-failures-2014-2

EddieDoesntMind · January 2015

Anyone remember Speed Racer? I remember Speed Racer.

cheshirecat · January 2015

^^ the original reddit is more interesting tbh.

http://www.reddit.com/r/lego/comments/1x6ldp/lego_franchise_infographic/cf8vdl3

TLG · January 2015

Istokg said:
One could only drool over the 14-16 of the 1300 and 1301 Swedish MOSAIK boxes that are sitting on the left countertop of this 1955 Swedish department store image...

None are known in any collection today! :-(

I always gawk over that picture, or really any picture of lego retailer displays of that time. Hopefully someone eventually finds a swedish version, and all of the different versions.

Brickman · January 2015

Znap definably a flop. Why try to create another Technic brand that is less compatible?

We all know what Galidor was "ugh lol"

dragon114 · January 2015

scala and jack stone both flopped

legomatt · January 2015

EddieDoesntMind said:
Anyone remember Speed Racer? I remember Speed Racer.

Pepperidge farm remembers... ;oP

Istokg · February 2015

Well my LEGO Collector friend Rohnny from Belgium has found a 3rd known example of the 1300 Mosaik set (a read dud).... along with a 1953-55 700/5 LEGO basic set.

http://www.bricklink.com/messageThread.asp?ID=184429&nID=892928

.. along with some rare old 1970s LEGO wheel axles in black (but without axle holes or insides, and a set of Danish printed bricks.

The irony is that dud sets should be plentiful and cheap... but this 1955 1300 set is very rare and worth about 5000 Euros!!

natro220 · February 2015

It seems with Lego, "duds" tend to be the ones that go up in value several years later, probably because nobody bought them when they were originally out. I remember my local Lego store trying to clearance out the Market Street set in 2009-2010...I thought it looked weird so I never bought one. Now I kick myself, as I now realize its worth and that unopened copies go for $500-1000.

Istokg · February 2015

Good point natro220... it's the stuff everyone ignores that over the long haul becomes valuable because no one is either collecting it or taking good care of it. It's that popular stuff (cough CMFs)... that everyone seeks and buys and stashes away... that over the long haul don't go up in value... do to the survival rate.... ;-)

ReesesPieces · February 2015

I can kind of see why a toy story line would not be as successful. General age for lego consumers is from 6-12? The toy story movies do appeal to everyone but the toys are more gear towards 3-5. 6+ year old might enjoy the movies but I can't see to many of them playing with toy story toys. They want something more action packed. Even the city vehicles, after the initial fun of the vehicle is over, most boys will create some action oriented vehicle with the pieces. Just my two cents.

matticus_bricks · February 2015

My problem with Toy Story LEGO is the lack of logic behind it. The characters are already toys, why not just sell those? Were LEGO versions really necessary?

vitreolum · February 2015

matticus_bricks said:
My problem with Toy Story LEGO is the lack of logic behind it. The characters are already toys, why not just sell those? Were LEGO versions really necessary?

What's so weird about a lego version of another toy?

blarghiflargh · February 2015

vitreolum said:

matticus_bricks said:
My problem with Toy Story LEGO is the lack of logic behind it. The characters are already toys, why not just sell those? Were LEGO versions really necessary?
What's so weird about a lego version of another toy?

What if Mattel made action figures of characters from The LEGO! Movie?

CCC · February 2015

Istokg said:
Good point natro220... it's the stuff everyone ignores that over the long haul becomes valuable because no one is either collecting it or taking good care of it. It's that popular stuff (cough CMFs)... that everyone seeks and buys and stashes away... that over the long haul don't go up in value... do to the survival rate.... ;-)

Yet CMF do go up in value, if you pick the right ones. Just like sets really, some do nothing, some drop, some go up to 10x rrp - which can be x15 price paid.

vitreolum · February 2015

blarghiflargh said:
What if Mattel made action figures of characters from The LEGO! Movie?

Nothing wrong or weird about that, if they could get the license to do it. But it's a completely different thing, an action figure from lego movie would basically be a large , maybe articulated, lego minifigure.

Action figures don't have a certain aesthetic, they basically copy the subject into a toy as closely as possible. Turning something into Lego means turning that thing into the actual lego style, which means completely changing the aesthetics, therefore turning that toy/car/house/person into something else.

So I really don't see the strangeness here, it happens all the time (eg. a toy story plushie, a toy story board game, etc). Gives lego and toy story fans the opportunity to have them in their medium.

Themes that flop

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