Opinion: Don't Put All Your Chi in One Bucket

[Hapori Tohu]

Oh, hey Pohatu. Poor guy, you don't see much action. Of course, Onua has it even tougher--there's not even a Reference Team anymore. I suppose that's just another thing to tease him about next time he brags about his March Madness bracket. Anyhow, your triumphant return comes as I, BZPower Reporter LewaLew, present my concerns over the risks taken by LEGO with the videogames and TV series LEGO has made based on Legends of Chima. Unfortunately, due to the fact that news stories are unviewable right now, you're going to have to go to my blog, The BaseBlog, in order to read. Once the news stories are viewable again, you will be able to read this as you normally would. The entry's comments will be locked--to comment, post in the talkback. I will provide a link in my blog when the talkback is posted by Hapori Tohu.View the full article

[Nathan Evo]

You do realize Ninjago is returning in 2014, right?Or did they change their minds and say that wasn't going to happen? I generally don't keep track of these things.

[fishers64]

"Lego is doing something radical, a departure from the norm. They are building a kiddish TV show that no one wants to watch but the kids, a video game, and an MMOG. They are doing this on an untested theme, replacing a theme that had a lot of support. Uh...this doesn't sound like a good move.""Lego is doing something radical, a departure from the norm. They are building a line of action figures, with a story as the primary marketing tool, and funding a line of comics and video and online games. They are doing this on an untested theme, replacing a theme that had a lot of support. Uh...this doesn't sound like a good move."Top: Legends of ChimaBottom: 2001 Bionicle. Given that we are sitting here as a testimony to Bionicle, one of Lego's other sucessful experiments, I'm not sure we have a leg to stand on. Lego is a creative company and has a $14.6 billion or whatever. Let them experiment. And it is not that Lego is throwing everything into Chima - if the theme/experiment failed, they could probably recover intact IMO. This is coming from someone who doesn't exactly like the Chima experiment much, and the direction Lego might go if it suceeds. But if it does suceed, Lego will have more money and stuff and might be able to give more treats to older fans of all its themes. That's probably a nice consolation, I think. And if it doesn't suceed, Lego will be able to learn from its mistake and not do something so crazy again. There's really no way the for company or us the fans to really lose here. Except for the loss of the Ninjago TV show, which I garner some fans of that are really miffed about.

[Gatanui]

I'd like to see more of those. I think it would be nice to have other member's interesting blog entries be features on the front page as well.You make interesting points, but you are forgetting a few. First of all, Ninjago got a video game in its first year as well, namely LEGO Battles: Ninjago, released for DS and 3DS. Also, although the decision certainly was to quit Ninjago in favor of Chima originally, it's been confirmed that Ninjago will continue next year. In fact, composer Jay Vincent has confirmed at least eight new TV episodes will be produced and aired in late 2013 and early 2014.I think and hope LEGO has done enough research and testing to know what they're doing by pushing Chima so hard. I remember I predicted Ninjago would fail because of the spinners' outrageous prices. Boy, was I wrong. -Gata

Edited March 14, 2013 by Gatanui

[Hitoshura]

Chima as a replacement for Ninjago? I don't really see that happening. I don't think Chima will last too long, but Ninjago seems to be failing recently.

[LewaLew]

You do realize Ninjago is returning in 2014, right?Or did they change their minds and say that wasn't going to happen? I generally don't keep track of these things.

 

I've seen some sources that say it is confirmed, others that say it's just a rumor.

 

"Lego is doing something radical, a departure from the norm. They are building a kiddish TV show that no one wants to watch but the kids, a video game, and an MMOG. They are doing this on an untested theme, replacing a theme that had a lot of support. Uh...this doesn't sound like a good move.""Lego is doing something radical, a departure from the norm. They are building a line of action figures, with a story as the primary marketing tool, and funding a line of comics and video and online games. They are doing this on an untested theme, replacing a theme that had a lot of support. Uh...this doesn't sound like a good move."Top: Legends of ChimaBottom: 2001 Bionicle.Given that we are sitting here as a testimony to Bionicle, one of Lego's other sucessful experiments, I'm not sure we have a leg to stand on. Lego is a creative company and has a $14.6 billion or whatever. Let them experiment. And it is not that Lego is throwing everything into Chima - if the theme/experiment failed, they could probably recover intact IMO.This is coming from someone who doesn't exactly like the Chima experiment much, and the direction Lego might go if it suceeds. But if it does suceed, Lego will have more money and stuff and might be able to give more treats to older fans of all its themes. That's probably a nice consolation, I think. And if it doesn't suceed, Lego will be able to learn from its mistake and not do something so crazy again. There's really no way the for company or us the fans to really lose here.Except for the loss of the Ninjago TV show, which I garner some fans of that are really miffed about.

 

The bottom one could also describe Exo-Force, which had a successful first year, but sharply declined after that so that the third year was cut short with no conclusion. It's true, however, that this is the biggest amount of multimedia LEGO has thrown at a theme, even more so than 2001 BIONICLE. (although part of the reason for that is that the first BIONICLE console videogame was shut down. At the same time, BIONICLE didn't get a TV series or MMOG, either.)

 

This editorial isn't meant as some sort of Doomsday prophecy for LEGO anyway. As big as they are, LEGO can and should take risks, but with every risk, there should also be some voices of caution. This editorial serves that purpose.

I'd like to see more of those. I think it would be nice to have other member's interesting blog entries be features on the front page as well.You make interesting points, but you are forgetting a few. First of all, Ninjago got a video game in its first year as well, namely LEGO Battles: Ninjago, released for DS and 3DS. Also, although the decision certainly was to quit Ninjago in favor of Chima originally, it's been confirmed that Ninjago will continue next year. In fact, composer Jay Vincent has confirmed at least eight new TV episodes will be produced and aired in late 2013 and early 2014.I think and hope LEGO has done enough research and testing to know what they're doing by pushing Chima so hard. I remember I predicted Ninjago would fail because of the spinners' outrageous prices. Boy, was I wrong. -Gata

I'm not counting portable games--particularly ones like Battles Ninjago,which was a sequel to a different videogame. Portable games aren't on the same level as LEGO console games. And as I mentioned before, I've seen conflicting sources all over on whether the TV show is coming back or not. Jay Vincent is probably the most important source, however, I'm simply hesitant to lock in an answer yet.

 

It's curious that LEGO would start fiddling around with another story-based theme and giving it such a hard push when there are already two other story based themes. Like I mentioned in the article, this sort of theme has failed before with Exo-Force (and come to think of it, the second Knight's Kingdom), but also succeeded with BIONICLE. I hope they proceed with caution.

Edited March 14, 2013 by LewaLew

[Legolover-361]

I must agree with most of the points presented in the article. I think this is something of a risky move, especially because of its obvious focus on a narrow and young age range.The great thing about Bionicle was its appeal to young teens as well as kids, thanks to a story that took itself seriously and sets that offered a fair degree of complexity. Legend of Chima, on the other hand... Well, I'm not very familiar with the story behind the sets, but from what I've heard, it's no Bionicle; it probably won't offer LEGO that same breakthrough success.I'll probably try to acquire some of the sets nevertheless, but I'll wait to see how the story fares.

"Lego is doing something radical, a departure from the norm. They are building a kiddish TV show that no one wants to watch but the kids, a video game, and an MMOG. They are doing this on an untested theme, replacing a theme that had a lot of support. Uh...this doesn't sound like a good move.""Lego is doing something radical, a departure from the norm. They are building a line of action figures, with a story as the primary marketing tool, and funding a line of comics and video and online games. They are doing this on an untested theme, replacing a theme that had a lot of support. Uh...this doesn't sound like a good move."Top: Legends of ChimaBottom: 2001 Bionicle.Given that we are sitting here as a testimony to Bionicle, one of Lego's other sucessful experiments, I'm not sure we have a leg to stand on. Lego is a creative company and has a $14.6 billion or whatever. Let them experiment. And it is not that Lego is throwing everything into Chima - if the theme/experiment failed, they could probably recover intact IMO.

I don't think the comparison works because making comics and video and online games for a toy series is different than making a TV series, video game, and MMOG. Every LEGO theme I know gets at least one complimentary online game. In contrast, Bionicle, one of LEGO's most successful themes to date, never got a TV series or an MMOG; Hero Factory got a TV series but not an MMOG; LEGO Star Wars got a video game and some TV shorts, but only after its success had been proven.That said, I'm sure you're right in that the LEGO Company probably won't suffer much financially if Legend of Chima doesn't meet expectations.

[Gatanui]

 

You do realize Ninjago is returning in 2014, right?Or did they change their minds and say that wasn't going to happen? I generally don't keep track of these things.

I've seen some sources that say it is confirmed, others that say it's just a rumor.

"Lego is doing something radical, a departure from the norm. They are building a kiddish TV show that no one wants to watch but the kids, a video game, and an MMOG. They are doing this on an untested theme, replacing a theme that had a lot of support. Uh...this doesn't sound like a good move.""Lego is doing something radical, a departure from the norm. They are building a line of action figures, with a story as the primary marketing tool, and funding a line of comics and video and online games. They are doing this on an untested theme, replacing a theme that had a lot of support. Uh...this doesn't sound like a good move."Top: Legends of ChimaBottom: 2001 Bionicle.Given that we are sitting here as a testimony to Bionicle, one of Lego's other sucessful experiments, I'm not sure we have a leg to stand on. Lego is a creative company and has a $14.6 billion or whatever. Let them experiment. And it is not that Lego is throwing everything into Chima - if the theme/experiment failed, they could probably recover intact IMO.This is coming from someone who doesn't exactly like the Chima experiment much, and the direction Lego might go if it suceeds. But if it does suceed, Lego will have more money and stuff and might be able to give more treats to older fans of all its themes. That's probably a nice consolation, I think. And if it doesn't suceed, Lego will be able to learn from its mistake and not do something so crazy again. There's really no way the for company or us the fans to really lose here.Except for the loss of the Ninjago TV show, which I garner some fans of that are really miffed about.

The bottom one could also describe Exo-Force, which had a successful first year, but sharply declined after that so that the third year was cut short with no conclusion. It's true, however, that this is the biggest amount of multimedia LEGO has thrown at a theme, even more so than 2001 BIONICLE. (although part of the reason for that is that the first BIONICLE console videogame was shut down. At the same time, BIONICLE didn't get a TV series or MMOG, either.)This editorial isn't meant as some sort of Doomsday prophecy for LEGO anyway. As big as they are, LEGO can and should take risks, but with every risk, there should also be some voices of caution. This editorial serves that purpose.

I'd like to see more of those. I think it would be nice to have other member's interesting blog entries be features on the front page as well.You make interesting points, but you are forgetting a few. First of all, Ninjago got a video game in its first year as well, namely LEGO Battles: Ninjago, released for DS and 3DS. Also, although the decision certainly was to quit Ninjago in favor of Chima originally, it's been confirmed that Ninjago will continue next year. In fact, composer Jay Vincent has confirmed at least eight new TV episodes will be produced and aired in late 2013 and early 2014.I think and hope LEGO has done enough research and testing to know what they're doing by pushing Chima so hard. I remember I predicted Ninjago would fail because of the spinners' outrageous prices. Boy, was I wrong. -Gata

I'm not counting portable games--particularly ones like Battles Ninjago,which was a sequel to a different videogame. Portable games aren't on the same level as LEGO console games. And as I mentioned before, I've seen conflicting sources all over on whether the TV show is coming back or not. Jay Vincent is probably the most important source, however, I'm simply hesitant to lock in an answer yet.It's curious that LEGO would start fiddling around with another story-based theme and giving it such a hard push when there are already two other story based themes. Like I mentioned in the article, this sort of theme has failed before with Exo-Force (and come to think of it, the second Knight's Kingdom), but also succeeded with BIONICLE. I hope they proceed with caution.

 

The return of Ninjago has been confirmed by various sources, including the composer and the LMB staff. Plus, there has been teaser art as well. I think it's quite safe to assume this isn't a rumor.I don't know anything of a Chima console game. A game for iOS (and not sure if Android) was released earlier this year, another one for DS, 3DS and Vita is to come later this year and then there is only the MMO left. Unless you are counting that one as a console game? I'm pretty sure it will be an online game you can play in your browser.-Gata Edited March 14, 2013 by Gatanui

[BULiK]

I liked reading this, and would enjoy having more of these Editorial-style articles on the front page. Most other articles state the thing that happened with maybe a sly comment from the author, while this pulls informaton from various previous findings and presents itself in a more thought-provoking manner.

[LewaLew]

I liked reading this, and would enjoy having more of these Editorial-style articles on the front page. Most other articles state the thing that happened with maybe a sly comment from the author, while this pulls informaton from various previous findings and presents itself in a more thought-provoking manner.

The main reason for that is because we don't have a lot to go off of. We see something on the web, we tell you it happened, and give a quick comment on it to make it consume more space. We don't have the ability to say, actually interview someone ourselves that often, and so when something like that happens, it's better just to link to the source. Editorials give us the ability to speak our own minds, but from what I've seen, most of the staff just post stuff like that in their blogs or in the forum it's best suited for. As a reporter, though, I felt it would be a good idea to go through the seldom-used channel of the front page. Of course, thanks to the trouble with news stories right now, I ended up posting it in my blog too anyway.

[Taipu1]

I find it ironic that this article comes on the same day we have an article about Lego becoming the worlds best selling toy brand. Whatever risks Lego are taking, $14.6 billion dollars says they know what they're doing.

 

It's a good change to the usual articles we get on the front though, I'd like to see stuff like this more often.

[TheSkeletonMan939]

I have to agree with you, mainly because I find Chima bland and unoriginal. They're animals. Fighting each each other. How many hundreds of times has this been used? It's a bland concept.

 

Laval's Journey I think will sell well, because it's a video game. And kids like video games. And once you buy a video game you really can't get your money back later (unless you refund it).

 

Now, an MMO - to be blunt, that's really quite stupid unless there's no 'free-to-play'. LU was a huge hit - and look how well it didn't do. More people were interested in using it in free-mode than actually PLAYING it. Plus, an MMO set in Chima can't expand its world like LU did - you're always stuck in Chima as some animal, as opposed to LU where there was Ninjago and other varied themes to explore.

 

And a TV show - personally, I think the TV show will be a success only if it's written on an intelligent level as Ninjago was. If it's Hero Factory type dialogue that sounds like it was written by a six-year old, the show will bomb.

 

But heck, maybe I'm wrong. Maybe Chima will be a big hit and sales will spike. It's always hard to tell.

[Meiko]

Once again, people saying the Chima show sucks, yet it's only had 2 episodes so far. Looking at Ninjago's first two episodes, and the first two episodes only, you have the immature hot-headed know-it-all Kai, the guy with the worst jokes Jay, the socially awkward one Zane, the body-building jock Cole, the stereotypical wise old man Sensei Wu, the typical dark, evil, shadowy Garmadon, and the damsel in distress Nya, I don't see why Ninjago is that much better than Chima so far. Probably because barely anybody saw the first episodes of Ninjago, because they were barely promoted and only available on LEGO.com and [video site] in a low quality. Read some of the discussion areas of Cartoon Network's website and the kids absolutely love the show, and I've seen many times "it's so much better than the ninjas" and other similar opinions.

 

Also, don't jump to the conclusion that Ninjago won't get more shows. It quite possibly may, since that proved to be the most successful an efficient way to show the story of the theme. And the show was never "cut off". From the start, LEGO signed for a two season, 26 episode series with Wil Film.

 

Now, an MMO - to be blunt, that's really quite stupid unless there's no 'free-to-play'. LU was a huge hit - and look how well it didn't do. More people were interested in using it in free-mode than actually PLAYING it. Plus, an MMO set in Chima can't expand its world like LU did - you're always stuck in Chima as some animal, as opposed to LU where there was Ninjago and other varied themes to explore.

Again, Chima just started. The Kingdom of Chima is already huge, with many different environments (much more than the world of Ninjago). Alongside that, we have information that there is a vast world outside the kingdom, such as the Outlands. It's very likely there will be more going on than just that inside the boundaries of the kingdom.

[fishers64]

 

"Lego is doing something radical, a departure from the norm. They are building a kiddish TV show that no one wants to watch but the kids, a video game, and an MMOG. They are doing this on an untested theme, replacing a theme that had a lot of support. Uh...this doesn't sound like a good move." "Lego is doing something radical, a departure from the norm. They are building a line of action figures, with a story as the primary marketing tool, and funding a line of comics and video and online games. They are doing this on an untested theme, replacing a theme that had a lot of support. Uh...this doesn't sound like a good move."Top: Legends of ChimaBottom: 2001 Bionicle.Given that we are sitting here as a testimony to Bionicle, one of Lego's other sucessful experiments, I'm not sure we have a leg to stand on. Lego is a creative company and has a $14.6 billion or whatever. Let them experiment. And it is not that Lego is throwing everything into Chima - if the theme/experiment failed, they could probably recover intact IMO.

I don't think the comparison works because making comics and video and online games for a toy series is different than making a TV series, video game, and MMOG. Every LEGO theme I know gets at least one complimentary online game. In contrast, Bionicle, one of LEGO's most successful themes to date, never got a TV series or an MMOG; Hero Factory got a TV series but not an MMOG; LEGO Star Wars got a video game and some TV shorts, but only after its success had been proven.That said, I'm sure you're right in that the LEGO Company probably won't suffer much financially if Legend of Chima doesn't meet expectations.

While Lego themes having online games and comics and whatever is normal now, it wasn't so when Bionicle first came out. Bionicle was an experiment in multimedia-based storytelling of a Lego line (with a deep story). These days, we are quite used to story-based Lego themes, and multimedia has become the norm. But back then, it wasn't something Lego had done before. It worked.Now I hear that Lego is building video games and a TV show and an MMOG and throwing it all behind a theme. This isn't something Lego has done before. That seems to be, respectfully, the main capstone behind LewaLew's argument, and I disagree with that. Yes, doing that is a risk. Doing that might not work - but then again, Bionicle might not have worked, Hero Factory might not have worked, and so on. That's my point - that Lego should be allowed to expriment, and the fact that they "ain't never done it that way before" should not be used to criticize Lego, when moves that the company has made before that were new and untested have suceeded. Dead horse smashed into oblivion...

[Tanu Toa of Earth]

Ugh, for the Great Beings' sake, and for that of the larger part of the community here on the BZPower Forums, I think we'd better hope that LoC does fail. I admit, I did buy two Chima sets (and was almost completely satisfied with them), and I will certainly be playing the MMO, or at least its F2P portion, however I really don't want this to keep going on past summer. If it does (and succeeds), LEGO will most likely start launching more horribly cheesy themes aimed at a similar age group, which would pretty much disperse all but the most dedicated of TFOLs/AFOLs, which would be a shame considering what a great group you/we (I'm 13... not really sure if that makes me a TFOL or not) all are. We'd then have to wait for things to swing back around the other way, which may take anywhere between two and ten or so years... an amount of time that nobody will be waiting on a toy company for. Thankfully, something tells me that this won't really work out.

 

Once again, people saying the Chima show sucks, yet it's only had 2 episodes so far. Looking at Ninjago's first two episodes, and the first two episodes only, you have the immature hot-headed know-it-all Kai, the guy with the worst jokes Jay, the socially awkward one Zane, the body-building jock Cole, the stereotypical wise old man Sensei Wu, the typical dark, evil, shadowy Garmadon, and the damsel in distress Nya, I don't see why Ninjago is that much better than Chima so far. Probably because barely anybody saw the first episodes of Ninjago, because they were barely promoted and only available on LEGO.com and [video site] in a low quality. Read some of the discussion areas of Cartoon Network's website and the kids absolutely love the show, and I've seen many times "it's so much better than the ninjas" and other similar opinions.

 

Uhh, me and my little brother watched those first Ninjago episodes quite a few times on On Demand, and even my MOTHER likes them. Yes, the characters are basically what you described there, but... look at their equivalents in Chima. For instance, let's take Sensei Wu and King Lagravis, the main "wise old men" of the two series. However, Wu has certain little quirks and aspects that make him unique. If you can find ONE memorable thing about Lagravis that distinguishes him from your average garden-variety mentor/father figure, then I'd be quite surprised. And don't get me started on the main protagonists.

Edited March 14, 2013 by Tanu Toa of Earth

[TheSkeletonMan939]

If you can find ONE memorable thing about Lagravis that distinguishes him from your average garden-variety mentor/father figure, then I'd be quite surprised. And don't get me started on the main protagonists.

This would have a lot more leverage if there were more than two episodes.

[Gatanui]

Meiko, on 14 Mar 2013 - 21:01, said:Once again, people saying the Chima show sucks, yet it's only had 2 episodes so far. Looking at Ninjago's first two episodes, and the first two episodes only, you have the immature hot-headed know-it-all Kai, the guy with the worst jokes Jay, the socially awkward one Zane, the body-building jock Cole, the stereotypical wise old man Sensei Wu, the typical dark, evil, shadowy Garmadon, and the damsel in distress Nya, I don't see why Ninjago is that much better than Chima so far. Probably because barely anybody saw the first episodes of Ninjago, because they were barely promoted and only available on LEGO.com and [video site] in a low quality. Read some of the discussion areas of Cartoon Network's website and the kids absolutely love the show, and I've seen many times "it's so much better than the ninjas" and other similar opinions.Also, don't jump to the conclusion that Ninjago won't get more shows. It quite possibly may, since that proved to be the most successful an efficient way to show the story of the theme. And the show was never "cut off". From the start, LEGO signed for a two season, 26 episode series with Wil Film.

TheSkeletonMan939, on 14 Mar 2013 - 19:46, said:Now, an MMO - to be blunt, that's really quite stupid unless there's no 'free-to-play'. LU was a huge hit - and look how well it didn't do. More people were interested in using it in free-mode than actually PLAYING it. Plus, an MMO set in Chima can't expand its world like LU did - you're always stuck in Chima as some animal, as opposed to LU where there was Ninjago and other varied themes to explore.

Again, Chima just started. The Kingdom of Chima is already huge, with many different environments (much more than the world of Ninjago). Alongside that, we have information that there is a vast world outside the kingdom, such as the Outlands. It's very likely there will be more going on than just that inside the boundaries of the kingdom.

The first two episodes actually aired on TV. I recorded them the day they came here and I was quite pleasantly surprised. With Chima, I was actually a bit disappointed, though that's probably because of the legacy Ninjago has left. Not meaning to bash Chima in any way, I'm certainly willing to give it a chance. Personally, I don't think I'll grow to like it as much Ninjago, although that obviously doesn't stand in the way of its success.

Tanu Toa of Earth, on 14 Mar 2013 - 21:32, said:Ugh, for the Great Beings' sake, and for that of the larger part of the community here on the BZPower Forums, I think we'd better hope that LoC does fail. I admit, I did buy two Chima sets (and was almost completely satisfied with them), and I will certainly be playing the MMO, or at least its F2P portion, however I really don't want this to keep going on past summer. If it does, LEGO will most likely start launching more horribly cheesy themes aimed at a similar age group, which would pretty much disperse all but the most dedicated of TFOLs/AFOLs, which would be a shame considering what a great group you/we (I'm 13... not really sure if that makes me a TFOL or not) all are. Thankfully, something tells me that this won't really work out.

QuoteOnce again, people saying the Chima show sucks, yet it's only had 2 episodes so far. Looking at Ninjago's first two episodes, and the first two episodes only, you have the immature hot-headed know-it-all Kai, the guy with the worst jokes Jay, the socially awkward one Zane, the body-building jock Cole, the stereotypical wise old man Sensei Wu, the typical dark, evil, shadowy Garmadon, and the damsel in distress Nya, I don't see why Ninjago is that much better than Chima so far. Probably because barely anybody saw the first episodes of Ninjago, because they were barely promoted and only available on LEGO.com and [video site] in a low quality. Read some of the discussion areas of Cartoon Network's website and the kids absolutely love the show, and I've seen many times "it's so much better than the ninjas" and other similar opinions.

Uhh, me and my little brother watched those first Ninjago episodes quite a few times on On Demand, and even my MOTHER likes them. Yes, the characters are basically what you described there, but... look at their equivalents in Chima. For instance, let's take Sensei Wu and King Lagravis, the main "wise old men" of the two series. However, Wu has certain little quirks and aspects that make him unique. If you can find ONE memorable thing about Lagravis that distinguishes him from your average garden-variety mentor/father figure, then I'd be quite surprised. And don't get me started on the main protagonists.

You can be quite sure it will continue past summer.-Gata Edited March 14, 2013 by Gatanui

[ChocolateFrogs]

Exo-Force fizzle out after the first year? Hardly!

 

-CF

[dviddy]

which would pretty much disperse all but the most dedicated of TFOLs/AFOLs

AFOLs make up ~%5 of the LEGO market. And even then, from the conventions I've attended thus far, and the monthly LUG meetings, Chima seems to be a success amongst AFOLs. Cool wing pieces? Cool parts in new colours? Yes please!

[BULiK]

Exo-Force fizzle out after the first year? Hardly!

 

-CF

Agreed! It only began fizzling halfway into the second year.

Edited March 15, 2013 by Bulik

[InnerRayg]

I have to agree with you, mainly because I find Chima bland and unoriginal. They're animals. Fighting each each other. How many hundreds of times has this been used? It's a bland concept. Laval's Journey I think will sell well, because it's a video game. And kids like video games. And once you buy a video game you really can't get your money back later (unless you refund it). Now, an MMO - to be blunt, that's really quite stupid unless there's no 'free-to-play'. LU was a huge hit - and look how well it didn't do. More people were interested in using it in free-mode than actually PLAYING it. Plus, an MMO set in Chima can't expand its world like LU did - you're always stuck in Chima as some animal, as opposed to LU where there was Ninjago and other varied themes to explore. And a TV show - personally, I think the TV show will be a success only if it's written on an intelligent level as Ninjago was. If it's Hero Factory type dialogue that sounds like it was written by a six-year old, the show will bomb. But heck, maybe I'm wrong. Maybe Chima will be a big hit and sales will spike. It's always hard to tell.

Wait wait wait. back up.Animals fighting each other is bland.As opposed to NINJAS FIGHTING EACH OTHER?That's certainly not a new concept!Lego knows how to sell a line, they've had years of practice and know the pitfalls of making these things successes and failures. That's the thing everyone is forgetting. This isn't Lego releasing a new line, this is Lego building a line out of all the experience they've had selling the ones in the past. Bionicle, Exo-Force, Ninjago, all of it has streamlined how they do business. For example, these lines always have a really strong first year. Why not capitalize on that with these extras? It makes a ton of sense to go full stream out of the gate as opposed to piddling and waiting until the enthusiasm is over to make your move.

[TheSkeletonMan939]

 

Animals fighting each other is bland.

As opposed to NINJAS FIGHTING EACH OTHER?

 

Well, you've got a point. Maybe I haven't given time for the Chima world to expand, but right now it's just animal tribes fighting over a power source, whereas Ninjago's world had a lot of unique elements (Garmadon's connection to the Great Devourer, the Green Ninja, etc).

[Gatanui]

 

Animals fighting each other is bland.As opposed to NINJAS FIGHTING EACH OTHER?

Well, you've got a point. Maybe I haven't given time for the Chima world to expand, but right now it's just animal tribes fighting over a power source, whereas Ninjago's world had a lot of unique elements (Garmadon's connection to the Great Devourer, the Green Ninja, etc).

 

What was Ninjago when it started, though? An old man with four ninja collect four gold weapons to fight the old man's evil brother in the underworld. All the complexity (if it can be called like that) came later.-Gata Edited March 15, 2013 by Gatanui

[TheSkeletonMan939]

 

 

Animals fighting each other is bland.As opposed to NINJAS FIGHTING EACH OTHER?

Well, you've got a point. Maybe I haven't given time for the Chima world to expand, but right now it's just animal tribes fighting over a power source, whereas Ninjago's world had a lot of unique elements (Garmadon's connection to the Great Devourer, the Green Ninja, etc).

 

What was Ninjago when it started, though? An old man with four ninja collect four gold weapons to fight the old man's evil brother in the underworld. All the complexity (if it can be called like that) came later.-Gata

 

Yeah, I guess so. I should wait until Chima evolves more before I really have a legitimate opinion about it.

Edited March 15, 2013 by TheSkeletonMan939

[LewaLew]

If there was anything that Ninjago could be described as when it started, "original" is not it. Personally, I don't think "bland" is either. Chima and Ninjago are both colorful themes with great LEGO sets. On the other hand, so were many other themes.

 

I may do another editorial rebutting this one, because while I do believe in caution, I also believe that much of the problem with LEGO's one-year-and-done LEGO themes is that they didn't put enough into them. We'll see.

[Toaraga]

Funny enough I just watched the LEGO Story, narrated by Kjeld Kirk Kristiansen, and risk-taking seems to be how they started and one of the ways they've thrived over the years. As someone else mentioned, the fact they're still profitable (especially when imagination is eaten away by mindless entertainment) shows they know what they're doing. Of course, like any company they have setbacks and failures, but they also learn; if they didn't, they would've probably been gone a long time ago.

 

©1984-2013 Toaraga EAM

[Tanu Toa of Earth]

[offtopic]

(especially when imagination is eaten away by mindless entertainment)

Don't you mean mindless Stromlings? [/offtopic]

 

Anyway, yeah, I guess you guys are right, Chima IS still a very young theme and I suppose I'll just have to wait and see... However, unless TLG REALLY throws a curveball, it feels to me like Chima can only add a few junky plot twists or *barf* more tribes... to me, it might've been wiser for Chima to start with only three or four tribes and expand a bit from there. There are already far too many nearly-identical-in-plot-purpose tribes for it to be interesting... that factor alone may be why I consider Chima to be so much worse than Ninjago.

[Hexann]

Yeah, they ended the Ninjago series waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaay before all the sets even came out....

[Aanchir]

Yeah, they ended the Ninjago series waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaay before all the sets even came out....

No they didn't. Granted, they were prepared to before they realized just how well the theme was holding onto its audience's attention, but their plans changed at some point and there are new episodes planned to air towards the end of this year, presumably with new sets to follow in 2014.

[Alyska]

I personally think it's good to see Lego taking bigger risks with the story-based content and marketing.

 

The question is, are they prepared to put the time and resources into maintaining their new IP? Many of their previous lines lost momentum after the first year because Lego stopped putting the effort into it after the big launch. Lego hasn't really managed to come up with any properties with the staying power of something like Transformers or TMNT because of the lack of quality story content. Bionicle came close, but I don't think the books and comics were quite enough to deliver the story to a wide audience year after year. Ninjago and Chima have the potential to last a long time, but it all depends on how Lego manages them.

[BenLuke]

 

Animals fighting each other is bland.

As opposed to NINJAS FIGHTING EACH OTHER?

 

Or ROBOTS FIGHTING EACH OTHER?

[Aanchir]

I personally think it's good to see Lego taking bigger risks with the story-based content and marketing. The question is, are they prepared to put the time and resources into maintaining their new IP? Many of their previous lines lost momentum after the first year because Lego stopped putting the effort into it after the big launch. Lego hasn't really managed to come up with any properties with the staying power of something like Transformers or TMNT because of the lack of quality story content. Bionicle came close, but I don't think the books and comics were quite enough to deliver the story to a wide audience year after year. Ninjago and Chima have the potential to last a long time, but it all depends on how Lego manages them.

Well, the issue is that maintaining a brand for the long term doesn't necessarily make the best business sense in all cases. You can't ensure a brand's longevity by just pouring additional money into marketing it for years on end. There has to be effort put into keeping offerings new and fresh, so that people who already have your previous offerings have an incentive to buy more, and people who were uninterested in your previous offerings might find something in your new offerings they like.Sometimes, this kind of variety can be created just by releasing new products within the theme year after year. LEGO City is a good example. But in the case of many themes, it often gets to the point where there's more money to be made in releasing a brand-new theme than in trying to revamp a theme to revitalize consumer interest without losing what made the theme special in the first place. And since LEGO is a building toy, this doesn't necessarily have the same tremendous cost it might have for other toy brands, which might be unable to use existing toy molds for toys within a different IP.

[Twi]

No offense to any of you optimists, but to me, Chima is just cheese on cheese. Hero Factory has this too, but fortunately Greg Farshety is there to help as much as possible with the books, and the sets for both themes are fantastic.

 

I can't say much about Ninjago, because I never got into it.

 

However, the best story themes, in my opinion, were still Exo-Force and Bionicle. The darker tones and complicated arcs were fantastic, and aside from the odd catch-phrase, the dialog was rather cheese free. And that's the way it should be.

[Meiko]

Chima doesn't have many books yet, but Greg Farshtey may end up writing some books for Chima. He did so for Ninjago, with original plots in each book, so Chima could easily have those in the future.

[Aanchir]

Chima doesn't have many books yet, but Greg Farshtey may end up writing some books for Chima. He did so for Ninjago, with original plots in each book, so Chima could easily have those in the future.

He has already written some of the books for Chima, just as he did for BIONICLE. Specifically, he wrote Attack of the Crocodiles, the first chapter book, and Beware of the Wolves, the second one which will be released in May. I believe he may also have written the stories in the activity books, but I can't remember off the top of my head — Amazon just lists "Scholastic" as the author.I always cringe whenever someone suggests that a theme has to be dark like some media in the later years of BIONICLE in order to be any good. 2001 BIONICLE was really not much darker than Chima or Ninjago at all, nor were many of the movies. BIONICLE took itself a lot more seriously, which was both a good and a bad thing. But Chima and Ninjago are lighter in tone by design and darkening them won't "improve" them. It's just as ludicrous as all the posts suggesting that BIONICLE would be better with more violence, as if somehow edgier stories inherently have more depth and nuance than more kid-friendly fare.I was less-than-impressed with the first three episodes of the Chima TV show, but their lighthearted tone has nothing to do with the flaws that bring it down. In fact, Gorzan's silly antics, Plomar's poor sense of timing, and Laval's adorableness are some of the things that make the show the most enjoyable. It's the moments where it tries to depict drama or danger that the show really suffers from stilted writing.Even Greg Farshtey's writing for the series is very lighthearted and silly, but it's also extremely enjoyable. You can read a sample on the Amazon page for the first chapter book. The stories are simple, kid-friendly... and good, just like the "Young Readers" books he wrote for BIONICLE."Welcome to the pretty flower preservation area. Detour to the left, please!" Edited April 25, 2013 by Aanchir: Rachira of Time