TOP 5 DISCONTINUED THEMES THAT NEED TO COME BACK! (Least to best)

Brickchap · January 2019

A) Minidolls are legos attempt at barbie dolls. All people in Lego are minifigures. Minifigs are a creation of Lego themselves and both represent lego and play well for humans of both genders. The only thing 'lego' about a minidoll is that it can fit a bar sized piece in its hand and connect onto studs with its feet. I am sure the average girl wanting to play with lego would prefer a female minifig and have a separate barbie doll for when she plays with dolls, not a mix mash of the two.

B) The reason your son would most likely be interested in elves is because you encourage it. Thats the reason we have sooooo much stupid Star Wars and so little historical themes since the average parent is around 20-40 years of age and thus relates to and encourages SW over say pirates. I also think youll find your son is an exception. If he wants to play with Elves then good for him but he is not a good example of the vast majority of the young male population.

C) Society and marketing are reflections of what people think. The reason lego for example does Friends and Elves in pink, purple and teal is because thats what almost all little girls like (namely at the target age range), lego doesnt simply decide "right, we want to make all girls like pink and all boys like blue so lets release sets around that" And it doesnt matter whether your daughter likes blue and your son is ok with a pink blanket (what the hell is a pygmy?? and as an adult I would think you would have a better argument for it other then just 'its awesome') Elves is a theme directly targeted at girls and thus is meant for girls especially through the use of the colours and characters. Castle (whether more historic or fantasy based) leans more towards boys, thats not to say girls cant play with those sets but trying to force each theme to become 'gender neutral' is just daft. Let them be.

D) When I used the examples of boys playing knights and girls playing shops they were merely examples of what the two genders do I didnt mean that the only thing they do but the idea of a boy sitting down and playing with princesses and a girl sitting down and playing, basically, military/soldiers/war with medieval weapons (which is what you appear to suggest and encourage) is far more laughable.

O and by French chateau I meant overally decorative castles which have been the basis for princess castles especially in regards to disney. A regular castle is a military fortress which (in real life) probably would have been a 'home' but was at the same time a defensive military installation. Below the first image is instantly recognisable as what has always been portrayed as a fantasy princess castle while the image below that is Alnwick Castle in Northumberland, England which was, essentially, a military base of the Middle Ages. I had better mention that the original castle would not have featured windows, these have been added in modern times. Castles like Alnwick are what we lego fans want for a castle/medieval theme. Whether that castle gets attacked by neighboring knights, 'barbarian' tribes or dragons and trolls is up to lego.

E) Firstly, if none of this matters, why did you bother commenting in the first place? Secondly, there have been heaps of people (most notably Aanchir) on this forum who have commented about this issue and yet you do not ridicule them, so I wonder whether this issue only ceases to matter when someone posts a different opinion to you?

SprinkleOtter · January 2019

TheBigLegoski said:

@Aanchir
How wonderful, yet another haughty bitter resentful comment full of vitriol by your hand, consisting primarily of empty rhetoric, refuting nothing, but rather just confirming my previous post.
I don't feel like spending much more of my time on you, when all I seem to be doing is squandering it.
I gladly concede if only you wrote something true. You are right about one thing though, trying to engage in a discussion with you is just as fruitful as the scientific validity of those gender studies is void.
https://quillette.com/2018/10/01/the-grievance-studies-scandal-five-academics-respond/
By all means it is an interesting read, and if you don't want to read it all at least have some fun watching the embedded youtube video: Academics expose corruption in Grievance Studies.
You are just an expert in espousing a load of post-modernist cockamamie.
A.k.a. NPC PC SJW

(that youtube link is entirely hilarious...)

The_Stud · January 2019

The only them I particularily want back is good ol’ Indiana Jones. I’ve been rewatching through the movies for the first time in years and I really wish I had gotten more of the Lego sets when they came out. I don’t know if it could be an evergreen theme like Star Wars, but I’d like to see it come back when Indiana Jones 5 is released. Imagine sets like the #7623 Temple Escape done today with modern Lego standards. They brought back Harry Potter recently, let’s hope that Indy gets the same treatment.

Pitfall69 · January 2019

^Indy is in the NFL Playofffs; what more do you want? ;)

oldtodd33 · January 2019

SprinkleOtter said:

oldtodd33 said:

^ I actually really liked the old Universal sets like the #404. That's where you could really build what you wanted to.

As long as it's yellow and black, Mr. Ford?

I like black and yellow. Maybe I'm biased, the Steelers were my favorite team when I was a kid.

tamamahm · January 2019

I would also say, besides the ones I listed, there are not a ton of themes I would wish back.
What I would prefer is that Lego continued with a few less licenses and a few more original themes.
They do not need to be repeat themes or necessarily bring back discontinued themes, just more unique new themes.

PJ76uk · January 2019

SprinkleOtter said:
As long as it's yellow and black, Mr. Ford?

Batman!

Baby_Yoda · January 2019

@The_Rancor That theme idea sounds awesome. Basically Exo-Force but the humans use nature instead of mechs. Also, the idea of the robots looking for the "power crystals" and the humans attacking their HQ is an interesting spin on the traditional setup. Trans-red/pink and grey/black would look great, especially in contrast to lighter, natural colours. I wonder if they could sneak minidolls in there too, used to represent the humans, and minifigures for the robots (or perhaps the inverse). Lego have shown they're willing to cross the two designs over. That inconsistency might be a turn-off for buyers, however...

Odeinoichus · January 2019

I don't have a lot, however I would certainly like to see something... Perhaps I'm showing my age, but...

Fright Knights and Majisto should be resurrected in a new combined Castle Theme where the evil Bat Lord and his Witchy companion are fighting the anti-heroic Majisto and his Dragon Knights.

Blacktron and M-Tron need to return in a Classic Space based Theme the likes of which includes Magnetic bricks returning.

And last, but certainly not least, Lord Vortech could be released from LEGO Dimensions in a brand new twist on a very niche and limited run Theme known as Time Twisters... Where whacky builds akin to The LEGO Movie could be used to hodgepodge time traveling heroes and villains from across the LEGO Universe to protect or deconstruct the world of LEGO. As a bonus we could get the Foundation Elements and those nifty shield prints re-used from the Gateway set in a larger and more detailed build akin to Stargate or something.

OOOOOH YEAH! Ahem, one final, final Theme. AQUANAUTS. And I'm not talking about that silly attempt to bring in more aqua based sets from a while back. I want my Aquanauts, Aquasharks and Aqua Raiders duking it out for control of the Underwater Crystals of Power.

KLOKRIECHER · January 2019

Top 5 discontinued themes which I would like to see again in the future:

#5: Space

#4: Adventurers

#3: Sports

#2: LEGO Island

#1: Trains

Aanchir · January 2019

Brickchap said:

@tamamahm

A) Minidolls are legos attempt at barbie dolls. All people in Lego are minifigures. Minifigs are a creation of Lego themselves and both represent lego and play well for humans of both genders. The only thing 'lego' about a minidoll is that it can fit a bar sized piece in its hand and connect onto studs with its feet. I am sure the average girl wanting to play with lego would prefer a female minifig and have a separate barbie doll for when she plays with dolls, not a mix mash of the two.

Err… have you ever SEEN a Barbie doll? Because they look nothing like mini-dolls other than being roughly person-shaped.

gratefulnat · January 2019

looks 'roughly' like the average persons & their 'shapes' that I know....

Image: https://us.v-cdn.net/5015319/uploads/editor/65/scb36iyx37r7.png

**yawn**

prevere · January 2019

KLOKRIECHER said: no

Top 5 discontinued themes which I would like to see again in the future:

#5: Space
#4: Adventurers
#3: Sports
#2: LEGO Island
#1: Trains

Trains is so long overdue. It's got to be frustrating for so many that Lego offers such a limited selection and expensive trains. A lineup of engines and cars at $30-$50 would be amazingly popular.

Think Speed Champions but for the railroad.

TheBigLegoski · January 2019

To be or not to be, That is the question.....

How about a set or series of sets targeting adults and teenagers that focus on plays, such as e.g.: Shakespeare's Hamlet.

I don't think TLG would ever release a minifig scale Globe Theatre, because that would be way too big. But a set that looks like a castle or a historical building from the Jacobean era of the early 1600s, that has an elaborate detailed facade on one side, and when you turn it around has a theatre stage with backdrops you can hoist up and exchange, made of mosaic'ed Lego tiles, and includes all the characters from Hamlet as minifigures (well over 30 minifigs is perhaps a bit much to expect, but I would not mind) in their historical costumes. Seems pretty epic to me.

----------

Another epic idea is urge TLG to get a license to Asterix the Gaul.

prevere · January 2019

I would also like to see the sports theme back merged with architecture delivering stadiums from across the world.

SumoLego · January 2019

Pitfall69 said:

"You guys make me laugh; if Matrix was here, he'd laugh too."

Ah, this makes more sense in this thread.

SumoLego · January 2019

Pitfall69 said:

All this talk about assigning colors to boys and girls got me thinking about the "color" scene in "Reservoir Dogs"

I don't want to be 'Mr. Brown'.

pharmjod said:

This whole thread is practically TL;DR

It's more disappointing when you read the thread, but then realize it would have the same effect if you didn't read the thread.

Aanchir · January 2019

gratefulnat said:

looks 'roughly' like the average persons & their 'shapes' that I know....

**yawn**

That's why I said "roughly". Both the mini-doll and barbie dolls are heavily stylized, but in almost entirely opposite ways. Compared to real human proportions, Barbie looks exaggeratedly tall, with a pinched hourglass waist and an undersized head, hands, and feet. Mini-dolls, on the other hand, are exaggeratedly short, with straight sides and oversized heads, hands, and feet. A Barbie doll is around eight heads high, similar to fashion illustrations, while a LEGO mini-doll is closer four heads high, not unlike the traditional LEGO minifigure.

If anything, the mini-doll can be more fairly compared to Polly Pocket in terms of both scale and proportions.

Brickchap · January 2019

@Aanchir

Thats an interesting point about harbour. This years fire does seem rather leanent towards a harbour setting.

Your probably (and hopefully!) right about construction cycle. Its just strange that Lego did not do a regular construction theme last year as opposed mining. (it just seems to make more sense construction-mining-demolition-construction-mining-demolition, cycle continues. Rather then construction-mining-demolition-mining.

I was never arguing that historical themes are 'a thing of the past', I certainly dont want that, I just merely re stated the general gist of the comments on that discussion which was that as far as normal, realistic historical themes are concerned, Lego wont do them again. Plus one compares that to the 'psyche' of 2019 society which is that kids hate history (unless maybe if its a huge fantasy license i.e LOTR) and parents dont encourage it at all. It would also help if reading was encouraged since you dont learn much history from apps and social media.

The same is with trains since as someone (might have actually been you) pointed out the parents of today recall real trains as annoying, late and dirty as opposed to the 'romance' of the age of steam and early diesel era, plus model railways are now viewed as something for 'boring old men' so companies like Hornby are having huge decreases in sales and thus Lego is very hesitant at releasing trains. (interestingly this would explain if Lego City trains stopped being released but my discussion was more about Creator Expert trains which is definitely [sadly] dead, despite the fact that Creator Expert is for AFOLs who are that same market who still buy model trains.)

You are sort of right about lego releasing themes based on past sales. I will say though that for example the 2015 Pirates line felt like it was just there, put on shelves for the sake of 'the historical cycle' and had such a small amount of sets it had no impact. What Lego needed (and needs) to do is encourage these historical sets. If there could be a TV show, merchandise, trading cards etc. for Nexo Knights, why couldnt that happen for a normal Castle theme? Now Im not arguing that Lego didnt give Castle, Pirates, Western a chance, its just that it certainly feels like every theme that isnt 'classic' (except town/city) is promoted while the rest (such as galaxy squad for classic space, pirates, the most recent normal castle theme) are somewhat ignored by the company itself, so obviously the general public will ignore them as well.

Btw, some people say that Lone Ranger was Lego giving Western another chance but that is not fair since the film itself was a flop so obviously sets based on the movie werent going to sell as well either. But I understand if Lego doesnt do Western anymore due to the lack of interest and controversy with Native Americans and all that.

Women in armor IS unrealistic (for the time period). Now if you read my comment properly, I did say that I hate fantasy (including dragons) and would much prefer if Lego always did Kingdoms style castle themes but I understand that fantasy is the only way to get realistic castles and knights now. People know theres no such thing as dragons or wizards but they may think there was such thing as female knights which was not the case, and besides, we all know if lego included armored women in a castle theme they would give them gender specific torsos, highly reducing there usefulness.

gratefulnat · January 2019

TheBigLegoski said:
Another epic idea is urge TLG to get a license to Asterix the Gaul.

Oh man, I would absolutely love it if TLG released an Asterix & Obelix line.

They were the first comics I spent years looking at before I could read. At some point when I was five I managed to actually read my first one cover to cover - and I still enjoy them today - 43 years later!

Bumblepants · January 2019

Probably the big roadblock for Astrix & Oblelix is that it is almost completely unknown in a gigantic portion of the Lego market, North America.

TheBigLegoski · January 2019

^

That is no roadblock, just undiscovered country.

Bumblepants · January 2019

TheBigLegoski said:

^
That is no roadblock, just undiscovered country.

Yeah if a movie or TV show got made and Lego was part of the marketing tie-ins that would work great. I don't remember the most recent A&O film getting much attention if it was released in the US at all. If I didn't spend most of my time in Europe I wouldn't know it existed. Seems a shame as it is a fun IP. No idea why they don't try and get a foothold in NA with it.

gratefulnat · January 2019

Well, they could just go for an exclusive european market release ;-) like with the chinese new years sets in the asian market.

TheBigLegoski · January 2019

gratefulnat said:

TheBigLegoski said:
Another epic idea is urge TLG to get a license to Asterix the Gaul.

Oh man, I would absolutely love it if TLG released an Asterix & Obelix line.
They were the first comics I spent years looking at before I could read. At some point when I was five I managed to actually read my first one cover to cover - and I still enjoy them today - 43 years later!

It is interesting how Asterix comics hold out against the test of time. Even if you abandoned comics all together, or never cared much about comics, Asterix albums will be fun to read (at least many people I know think so). I loved them as a little kid, and then when you read them again as an adult they are still very entertaining and interesting. And it does not matter either that they were written / drawn such a long time ago. I do suppose that there are some things you may not pick up upon, as some albums also satirize French politics of the time they were first published, or someone who was once a celebrity in France etc., but then kids who read them are not aware of some of the subtexts and jokes in it either. The evocative funny characters, adventures, and all the slapstick violence just by itself is funny enough the first time you read them as a child.

Is your native language French, German, Italian, or perhaps even Romansh being Swiss? And in which language have/do you read them?

I read them all in Dutch as a kid, but I believe some 15 years ago they revised some of the names of the characters etc. and I am not sure if that was an improvement. For instance the bard who in French, and in the Dutch translations in the past as well, is called Assurancetourix is now called Kakofonix (from Nederlands: kakofonie; auch im Deutsch), English: cacophony) and that is just not as funny. They also got rid of all or much of the Latin which in the past was not translated etc. etc. If I am not mistaken the albums used to contain little footnotes in the pictures explaining some things.

TheBigLegoski · January 2019

Bumblepants said:

TheBigLegoski said:

^
That is no roadblock, just undiscovered country.

Yeah if a movie or TV show got made and Lego was part of the marketing tie-ins that would work great. I don't remember the most recent A&O film getting much attention if it was released in the US at all. If I didn't spend most of my time in Europe I wouldn't know it existed. Seems a shame as it is a fun IP. No idea why they don't try and get a foothold in NA with it.

I am curious what others think of the many Asterix (full theatre length) animated movies that have been made through out the years?

A couple of life-action films have been made too, with Gerard Depardieu as Obelix. I don't remember much about those.

Most of them were never anywhere near as good as the comic book albums themselves IMO. In the past some of them were not animated that well. Lousy voice actors or rather poor direction of them, editing, as well as script writing might have something to do with it, I am not sure. So far a film that is on par with the comics has yet to be made, unless I missed out on it and am not aware of its existence. Could that be why it has not caught on in the USA; the general public has never read the comics, and need a successful film they can go and watch in the cinema for Asterix to catch on with them?

klinton · January 2019

Bumblepants said:

Probably the big roadblock for Astrix & Oblelix is that it is almost completely unknown in a gigantic portion of the Lego market, North America.

It's pretty popular here in Québec, but we're just a drop in the bucket when compared to the US market.

sweetness34 · January 2019

All this castle talk has me thinking that Game of thrones would make for a great theme for AFOLs.

Pitfall69 · January 2019

^It would, but...Never going to happen.

TheBigLegoski · January 2019

^ Dammit, why, you're sooo optimistic!

Odeinoichus · January 2019

Game of thrones fails to meet lego's strict guidelines. It's worse than The Simpsons.

CCC · January 2019

Odeinoichus said:

Game of thrones fails to meet lego's strict guidelines. It's worse than The Simpsons.

Only until there is a good business case for it. Then "strict guidelines" go out of the window.

Bumblepants · January 2019

I find it odd they haven't done an in-house GoT lite. Just make a new run of fantasy era Castle that hits the right notes but avoids infringement.

Odeinoichus · January 2019

CCC said:

Odeinoichus said:

Game of thrones fails to meet lego's strict guidelines. It's worse than The Simpsons.

Only until there is a good business case for it. Then "strict guidelines" go out of the window.

I don't think it ever will, legit isn't there straight up Incest depicted in the series? I'm pretty sure LEGO will stick to their guns and Game of Thrones would be coming from the likes of McFarland or somebody else.

CCC · January 2019

Odeinoichus said:

CCC said:

Odeinoichus said:

Game of thrones fails to meet lego's strict guidelines. It's worse than The Simpsons.

Only until there is a good business case for it. Then "strict guidelines" go out of the window.

I don't think it ever will, legit isn't there straight up Incest depicted in the series? I'm pretty sure LEGO will stick to their guns and Game of Thrones would be coming from the likes of McFarland or somebody else.

I don't think they care what is in the series, more what they are showing in the sets and their ideals at the time. Think about how they did The Simpsons - they missed out the beer drinking altogether. No Moe to serve beer. No Barney, Lenny and Carl to drink with. No Duff cans or Duffman. No Otto (drugs).

tamamahm · January 2019

Meh. It is seriously easier to just create their own castle modular theme and battle packs directed at AFOLs than licensing GoT. The advantage is no license fee. I do not think you would have that much draw from adults over the license vs non-license in this case either.

CCC · January 2019

The problem with Game of Thrones is that a reasonably decent range of minifigures has already been done by the usual Chinese clone companies. I doubt sales would be as high as they would have, they have already lost a chunk of the market to these figures.

Lyichir · January 2019

CCC said:

The problem with Game of Thrones is that a reasonably decent range of minifigures has already been done by the usual Chinese clone companies. I doubt sales would be as high as they would have, they have already lost a chunk of the market to these figures.

Even if they hadn't, I'm skeptical that the market for an adult-focused fantasy theme is even there... If Lord of the Rings and The Hobbit sets didn't sell well enough, I doubt a license based on a solely adult-targeted TV series on a premium cable network would even come close to being sustainable.

I also think that as flexible as Lego's brand standards are, a series like Game of Thrones that features not just violence and sexuality but also sexual violence and rape would go well beyond what Lego would be willing to license even if the market WAS there.

datsunrobbie · January 2019

As the only person who has never watched an episode of Game of Thrones, I'd much rather have a castle/theme based on Monty Python and the Holy Grail.

tamamahm · January 2019

^^Part of the issue with LOTR, though, is they never figured out who their audience was. Adults wanted better display pieces and yet the kid-oriented sets did not really capture the kid market. As said earlier, they either need to focus Castle towards a younger group (same age as police) or towards AFOLs (a once a year module like release) . Targeting both makes no sense, and an entire theme with multiple detailed sets at once targeted towards adults is also not sustainable. They are better off not theming a generic castle line, and I agree that GoT is a nonstarter for many of the reasons mentioned here.

CCC · January 2019

Lyichir said:

CCC said:

The problem with Game of Thrones is that a reasonably decent range of minifigures has already been done by the usual Chinese clone companies. I doubt sales would be as high as they would have, they have already lost a chunk of the market to these figures.

Even if they hadn't, I'm skeptical that the market for an adult-focused fantasy theme is even there... If Lord of the Rings and The Hobbit sets didn't sell well enough, I doubt a license based on a solely adult-targeted TV series on a premium cable network would even come close to being sustainable.

I guess it is the old argument again, what is well enough? They would probably make money but is it enough money compared to whatever else they could have done.

I don't think they'd need to go that big. Imagine if they did one or a couple of landscape/architecture style sets (no new parts). Then once the show is all over, there was an HBO tie-in, in which they re-released each series blu-ray with a couple of minifigures per series, at premium price. Or a full set of series 1-8 for £200 including a set of minifigures. That way, they are not aimed at kids. I imagine enough people would rebuy every series just to get the official figures, and at the premium price each time. If they can do short runs of figures for comic cons and business cards, I'd be willing to bet they would make money by combining minifigures into blu-ray sales. Fans would love/hate it.

oldtodd33 · January 2019

datsunrobbie said:

As the only person who has never watched an episode of Game of Thrones, I'd much rather have a castle/theme based on Monty Python and the Holy Grail.

You're not the only one. I have never been interested either. I would take a nice castle theme though.

TheBigLegoski · January 2019

Ghe, ghe, ghe!

I remember a somewhat similar discussion on this forum over 6 years ago prior to the release of LOTR Lego. A number of Lego fans argued how LOTR was not suitable for children, but how they had no problem having their kids under their supervision watch SW films (including which film they thought to be suitable at what age etc.), but were very resolute in their judgement that kids (well fortunately at least their own kids) had no business seeing Peter Jackson's LOTR films. Back then I thought: 'what is the big deal?! I'd have no problem watching that with my kids'. I am glad TLG never paid attention to these people otherwise we would have never gotten LOTR/Hobbit Lego. Those themes are great regardless of their flaws!

OK, so in GoT you see some tits and ass, and an occasional flaccid dick flop around for a second or maybe two, no big deal. I never get that puritanical attitude of certain people with regard to nudity and sex. It isn't as if that show has anything that can remotely be described as pornography. I would be more concerned over excessive violence shown to young kids as opposed to some nudity.

The incestuous relationship of the Lannister brother and sister, and their illegitimate children, how is that problematic?! You study history, take a closer look at many aristocratic dynasties, and voila! There you have it; throughout history this took place in various forms (not necessarily brother and sister). Actually this unfortunately is still rampant in many places in the world including the west nowadays. It is biologically inadvisable, and considered morally reprehensible (for good reason). However, their relationship, and their illegitimate children are what makes the show so interesting, among many other things, with all the various other claimants to the Throne of the seven kingdoms. I don't see why hypothetically this particular aspect should be problematic for a GoT Lego theme.

OK so some of GoT is a bit horrific: decayed living dead white walkers. They look a bit creepy. Much more grim are the few scenes where torture takes place. However unlike the PotC Lego theme where there is a set #4183 which contains a chest with a round brick with a Davy Jones's human heart printed on it, I do not expect (although I might find it hilarious) to see TLG release a set that contains a chest with a Lego brick with print on it that represents Theon Greyjoy's genitalia, or just some cherries, since minifigs are not equipped with such anatomical details anyway.

So there is some not so suitable for kids stuff happening in GoT. Ooh yeah, I almost forgot, the scene where Sansa get raped was totally not cool, nor very suitable for young kids indeed. Not because it was graphic, which it wasn't but its emotionally disturbing quality, regardless how old you are. Still, all in all I don't think GoT is a series that will really leave kids traumatized. The show is too varied for those aspects to dull all other themes and elements in it. Though, that does not mean I would recommend it as something suitable for young kids, but for 15 perhaps 14 (depending of course on the mental fortitude and respective relative maturity of the child) and up I would be OK with, but that is just me.

I don't expect TLG to ever do a licensed GoT Lego theme, but the idea of it as an adult is very enticing.

ps.

I just checked IMDB, and in the Netherlands the advisory age is 16. Interesting how the age varies from 15 at minimum up to 21 as maximum between countries.

-----

Just a big detailed minifig scale caste set, similar to the expert modulars series in complexity and detail, might be a good idea depending on how well it will be executed. A small add-on minifig 'battle pack' set with some extra knights and soldiers would be welcome too.

Lyichir · January 2019

I guess other people perceive the series differently than me, because they’re saying they wouldn’t mind if their kids saw it whereas I wouldn’t even want to watch it as a grown adult.

As for what constitutes “selling well enough”, for most themes the answer is “enough that it justifies the resources it takes to produce.” That includes both licensing costs and production costs, and doesn’t just mean breaking even—it also means selling better than potential licensed or non-licensed alternatives. It’s the latter I’m skeptical of, especially if you want to focus entirely on the adult demographic. Architecture-style sets serve a niche demographic as is, and sets like that based on a TV series that, I emphasize, is only available on premium channels in the U.S., makes the potential audience a mere fraction of that. I find it hard to believe that there’d be any point to bending Lego’s brand standards and family-friendly reputation to the breaking point for a licensed theme with such marginal chances of success—not when there are so many more promising alternatives out there.

Baby_Yoda · January 2019

They could maybe pull off a single Game of Thrones set, but no more. Lord of the Rings is a classic in the minds of many adults and while its themes are dark in my experience that bores rather than traumatises children. On the other hand, you can't possibly argue that GoT appropriate for children in any way. It's the definition of taboo. Rape, torture and incest occur onscreen countless times. I legitimately cannot think of any televised film or series that is more adult in nature. Lego cannot simply ignore these in the case of a full-fledged theme; that would be like releasing a replica Nazi tank that shoots flowers instead of bullets. If GoT's not too R-rated for kids, then what is?

TheBigLegoski · January 2019

@Baby_Yoda

I would prefer it when TLG developed non-licensed castle theme. If there is one theme that taught Lego how to develop, market, and expand upon a line, that originally was only meant to last two or three years (if I am correct?!) it is Ninjago. Perhaps they can very well do something similar in the future with a castle theme, and apply what they have done with Ninjago that works well in a different form/format to a new castle theme. Maybe it won't rival it in terms of number of sets, and years, as well as a full feature length film released in cinema's across the world, and overall success, but it seems like a much more sensible thing to do than the most likely idle hope that TLG will release just one GoT set.

Besides some adult/teenagers were already MOC'ing GoT inspired diarama's using non-licensed castle Lego years ago, when no one (outside of those who already read G.R.R. Martin's books that were published at the time) knew how these stories would translate to the medium of cable/subscription/premium TV (or what ever HBO is called in America), to the extent that the books are as explicit as the TV series. It also seems that later seasons are more grim and contain more gory violence than the first seasons, or is that just my impression?!

Some characters on the TV series look different from the way they are described in the books, and in later seasons (season 4 or 5? I only read the first three books years ago) the story line of the TV series diverges from the books to which David Benioff stayed very faithful in the earlier seasons, as he explained in some interview. The thing is TLG can develop their own bunch of characters similar to Ninjago and any other Lego themes with named characters, write their own stories. After all G.R.R. Martin also started out basing GoT on studying English history, in particular 'the war of the roses' between the houses of York and Lancaster fighting over the English throne.

Baby_Yoda · January 2019

A Castle-inspired theme with the scale and marketing of Ninjago was probably the intention of Nexo Knights. I think they could pull off a successful GoT-inspired, kid-friendly line in similar fashion. I'm no marketing expert, so I can't say whether it would sell well, but it'd definitely satisfy those who want classic Castle/LotR/GoT as well as the kids who want story-driven fantasy beyond ninjas and spaceships.

tamamahm · January 2019

Baby_Yoda said:

A Castle-inspired theme with the scale and marketing of Ninjago was probably the intention of Nexo Knights. I think they could pull off a successful GoT-inspired, kid-friendly line in similar fashion. I'm no marketing expert, so I can't say whether it would sell well, but it'd definitely satisfy those who want classic Castle/LotR/GoT as well as the kids who want story-driven fantasy beyond ninjas and spaceships.

I think it is really tricky. I agree that Nexo Knights was supposed to take that Castle/knight theme and modernize it and bring it into the core sales age. First, I am not sure how successful that has been. Second, if they felt the need do Nexo Knights instead of a standard Castle theme for their core sales, I really wonder if that is an indication of how they thought it would sell as just Castle.

I think Elves shows that a strong fantasy line where you have themed characters and a story can sell. With HP center stage for fantasy, and Nexo Knights having been out for a while, I suspect that HP and Nexo Knights will need to be gone before another castle type theme happens.

Brickchap · January 2019

Definitely a big NO to GoT. Those are books that deserve to be burned. Those disgusting 'stories' are not worthy of literature or TV and certainly not Lego!

I should just like to say that the impact Nexo Knights had is very difficult to interpret as it sold well but why that was is hard to find out due to the many factors.

What I mean is, theoretically, nexo knights sold because it was the latest 'castle' theme and had the nexo knights spot been taken by a regular castle theme (I'll say exactly like the Castle theme from 2009 or whenever that one was..) it still would have sold just as well as kids just wanted knights, castles, horses and siege machinery but werent too particular about how it looked. Or were kids attracted to it because of the 'space' part of it? Would have a 'regular' space theme sold just as well? Theoretically, yes.

So what would be good to know is whether kids chose Nexo because it was castle (the same reason kids might still buy mountain police because its police but they still want normal city setting police), because it was space/futuristic, or because thats the sort of castle theme they want to buy. Sadly if one were to place a Kingdoms or Castle (the specific 2009 line) set next to a nexo knights set (probably makes more sense for me to say King's Castle from the pre 2015 medieval sets next to the Fortrex) chances are the kid would chose the fortrex because its more colourful and moves. But thats not a fair test as to whether that Kings Castle set would sell on its own when up against the usual City, Creator, SW and Friends.

Furthermore, while I'm not going to argue "historical themes werent given a chance by Lego" again, you have to admit, Nexo Knights WAS pushed a lot. The TV show, shield packs, game? (I think there was a game..) would also have hugely increased its popularity. Had Nexo been 'left on its own' simply to sit on shelves like the rest of its 'medieval' cousins, would it have sold as well? I doubt it. Nexo was a lot similar to Ninjago and as far as I'm concerned was basically just a European/Western version of Ninjago (which is obviously based in the East). If a regular medieval theme was given the same 'encouragement' as Nexo, I believe it would sell just as well, if not better. And if Lego was willing to 'push' Nexo, Ninjago and Chima (which was a flop especially compared to all other themes) then why not do that for a proper historical theme?

I dont really agree about HP stopping a castle theme. I kind of get it from a marketing perspective but firstly, Hogwarts is one castle specific to one licensed property, and most HP sets dont feature the castle in any way. If HP is fantasy, why not do another Kingdoms series? (besides I imagine a regular castle would be cheaper then the hogwarts one so parents may be more inclined to get a regular one that would be considered more 'playable') I personally dont see many similarities between medieval knights with catapults fighting evil knights or monsters and modern people with magical powers fighting other wizards (yes I know theres the giant spider and basilisk and all that but it is very different)

But most of all, if there are already 'castle' themes on shelves (personally I have never seen how a theme having a castle like structure in it immediately makes it a rival of a full medieval times theme...) then why the hell not cant lego do pirates or wild west again? Or an Adventurers/Pharaohs Quest? (since a A or PQ is very far from HP or Nexo). Pirates could have another Armada one and islanders maybe. I remember some people arguing against an adventurers theme because of City but this year is space so why not? And I also know theres Indiana Jones but 1. licensed themes should not dictate what regular themes are out, after all, we had SW the whole time the futuristic nexo knights was around and 2. again, if theres something stopping one historical theme there are other options in this case if lego were to do one in 2019 pirates would be the best bet, or another era of history. As Ive said previously, with at the very least 2000-3000 years of human history across 6 continents or whatever, surely lego could find SOMETHING historical to make sets out of?!

CCC · January 2019

Brickchap said:

Definitely a big NO to GoT. Those are books that deserve to be burned. Those disgusting 'stories' are not worthy of literature or TV and certainly not Lego!

Here's your Fahrenheit 451 set:

TOP 5 DISCONTINUED THEMES THAT NEED TO COME BACK! (Least to best)

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