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Old Lego Themes


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Sup everyone!

 

I'd like to open up discussion on which old lego themes (let's say old is anything before this decade started) do you think could be revamped for today's kids?

 

For example: Without the presence of Indiana Jones, I think a similar theme to Adventurers/Orient Express could do well in today's audience.

 

I also think a Rock Raiders or Power Miner's theme would do also do well.

 

What are ya'll's thoughts? Any other ideas ya'll have? Agree or disagree with my ideas?

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Some of the recent City subthemes have fit that Adventurer vibe. You've got the jungle explorers, as well as the mining theme, which is a more realistic stand in for Rock Raiders. We haven't had a standard Western theme recently either, the last one that would really fit the bill would've been the Lone Ranger sets from a few years back. It's been a few years since we've had a non licensed space theme too.

 

While we've had a couple of subthemes that fit in with Egyptians, we've never really had a Greek / Roman theme, and there's plenty of mystical creatures from folklore that could be used to populate the sets. Or even something that focused on Japanese or Chinese folklore. (It might be a tough sell next to Ninjago tho, even if that theme isn't exactly historically based.) Of course, for historical themes like that, it would be tough to make sure that cultural appropriation doesn't become an issue, because there's a fine line between honoring and cashing in on something like that.

 

:music:

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Some of the recent City subthemes have fit that Adventurer vibe. You've got the jungle explorers, as well as the mining theme, which is a more realistic stand in for Rock Raiders. We haven't had a standard Western theme recently either, the last one that would really fit the bill would've been the Lone Ranger sets from a few years back. It's been a few years since we've had a non licensed space theme too.

 

While we've had a couple of subthemes that fit in with Egyptians, we've never really had a Greek / Roman theme, and there's plenty of mystical creatures from folklore that could be used to populate the sets. Or even something that focused on Japanese or Chinese folklore. (It might be a tough sell next to Ninjago tho, even if that theme isn't exactly historically based.) Of course, for historical themes like that, it would be tough to make sure that cultural appropriation doesn't become an issue, because there's a fine line between honoring and cashing in on something like that.

 

:music:

 

 

Actually, when I was thinking to myself about what kind of new original theme Lego could make to fill the Constraction void left by Bionicle that isn't a reboot nor licensed, and I think something about the mythologies of dead cultures and religions would work really well, especially with large pantheons as you'd have your "factions" and characters pre-made for them.  Like ancient Greek gods vs ancient Egyptian ones. They could continue with the ccbsXtechnic cross/integration we saw more of in the 2016 Bionicle sets. I know that the two pantheons share some gods, such as Serapis, which could add some kind of "traitor" element to the storyline with a turncoat character or something.

 

OT: 

 

Back in the day, I really liked Orient Expedition. Did any other theme incorporate cards and boardgame elements into regular sets like that? It was so odd, but also interesting at the same time. Another thing I like was that Technic sub-theme with futuristic combat vehicles, a teal human "good" pilot and a purple cyborg "evil" pilot, back when they used those posable technic figs.

 

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I just want another Exo-Force-like theme. We got something like that with Invasion From Below, but that just didn't feel the same. Man vs. Machine on mountain, plus a fusion of tech and nature, just like in Bionicle, is what really got me into that. I think that CCBS has evolved enough in its piece variety to the point where something like that could be possible. Without the crick-crank of the Knight's Kingdom sets.

 

I'm not sure why Exo-Force bit the dust before it finished its story, but I really hope that Lego won't be afraid to try something like that again. 

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I just want another Exo-Force-like theme. We got something like that with Invasion From Below, but that just didn't feel the same. Man vs. Machine on mountain, plus a fusion of tech and nature, just like in Bionicle, is what really got me into that. I think that CCBS has evolved enough in its piece variety to the point where something like that could be possible. Without the crick-crank of the Knight's Kingdom sets.

 

I'm not sure why Exo-Force bit the dust before it finished its story, but I really hope that Lego won't be afraid to try something like that again. 

I completely forgot about Exo-Force! I would love to see another story along those lines (tho that too might be hard to do along side Ninjago). 

 

And Greek/Roman or Egyptian Gods would be really cool! Lego already partners with Disney; they could try to do Percy Jackson sets to cover that? Or just do mythology in general. It would be really cool to have a parthenon set.

 

Also (I don't really keep up with the current Lego catalogues these days), how long has it been since we've had pirate sets?

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Also (I don't really keep up with the current Lego catalogues these days), how long has it been since we've had pirate sets?

The last non-licensed Pirates sets were in 2015, though there was also a Pirates of the Caribbean set last year. And of course that's not counting 2016's Ninjago sky pirates.

 

In general I think a lot of the general categories LEGO's used before could probably do well again at some point in the future. Like you mention, there's the underground, underwater, and globetrotting adventure genres that LEGO has already revisited in the past decade (Power Miners, Atlantis, Pharaoh's Quest) and might be inclined to revisit again. I'd add spy/secret agent themes to that list, which LEGO first touched on in Alpha Team and later in Agents and Ultra Agents. There's also always the classic evergreen series like Castle, Pirates, and Space. If the Jurassic World franchise burns out at any point Dino could become an option again as well. And LEGO being Danish, I wouldn't put it past them to revisit Vikings at some point.

 

Ultimately it's all just a matter of picking the right theme at the right time. One that I don't really anticipate coming around again anytime soon (excluding the possibility of some Hollywood blockbuster, anyway) is Western, because the Western genre simply hasn't been especially popular with kids in a long time from what I can tell. We even talked in my film class last semester about how the ubiquity it once enjoyed in film and TV has largely been supplanted by the superhero genre.

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Also (I don't really keep up with the current Lego catalogues these days), how long has it been since we've had pirate sets?

The last non-licensed Pirates sets were in 2015, though there was also a Pirates of the Caribbean set last year. And of course that's not counting 2016's Ninjago sky pirates.

 

In general I think a lot of the general categories LEGO's used before could probably do well again at some point in the future. Like you mention, there's the underground, underwater, and globetrotting adventure genres that LEGO has already revisited in the past decade (Power Miners, Atlantis, Pharaoh's Quest) and might be inclined to revisit again. I'd add spy/secret agent themes to that list, which LEGO first touched on in Alpha Team and later in Agents and Ultra Agents. There's also always the classic evergreen series like Castle, Pirates, and Space. If the Jurassic World franchise burns out at any point Dino could become an option again as well. And LEGO being Danish, I wouldn't put it past them to revisit Vikings at some point.

 

Ultimately it's all just a matter of picking the right theme at the right time. One that I don't really anticipate coming around again anytime soon (excluding the possibility of some Hollywood blockbuster, anyway) is Western, because the Western genre simply hasn't been especially popular with kids in a long time from what I can tell. We even talked in my film class last semester about how the ubiquity it once enjoyed in film and TV has largely been supplanted by the superhero genre.

 

Yeah, I'm honestly not surprised that Western isn't super popular. Vikings would be cool to see again at some point.

 

Remember in about 2000-2003 when they did sports? Like Basketball, Soccer, and Hockey? Do you think they'd do that again? I remember owning the big technic hockey set and I thought it was really cool! If memory serves me correctly, I haven't seen any sets like that since the '03-'04 timeframe. Were they just not very popular or more collector's items?

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Also (I don't really keep up with the current Lego catalogues these days), how long has it been since we've had pirate sets?

The last non-licensed Pirates sets were in 2015, though there was also a Pirates of the Caribbean set last year. And of course that's not counting 2016's Ninjago sky pirates.

 

In general I think a lot of the general categories LEGO's used before could probably do well again at some point in the future. Like you mention, there's the underground, underwater, and globetrotting adventure genres that LEGO has already revisited in the past decade (Power Miners, Atlantis, Pharaoh's Quest) and might be inclined to revisit again. I'd add spy/secret agent themes to that list, which LEGO first touched on in Alpha Team and later in Agents and Ultra Agents. There's also always the classic evergreen series like Castle, Pirates, and Space. If the Jurassic World franchise burns out at any point Dino could become an option again as well. And LEGO being Danish, I wouldn't put it past them to revisit Vikings at some point.

 

Ultimately it's all just a matter of picking the right theme at the right time. One that I don't really anticipate coming around again anytime soon (excluding the possibility of some Hollywood blockbuster, anyway) is Western, because the Western genre simply hasn't been especially popular with kids in a long time from what I can tell. We even talked in my film class last semester about how the ubiquity it once enjoyed in film and TV has largely been supplanted by the superhero genre.

 

Yeah, I'm honestly not surprised that Western isn't super popular. Vikings would be cool to see again at some point.

 

Remember in about 2000-2003 when they did sports? Like Basketball, Soccer, and Hockey? Do you think they'd do that again? I remember owning the big technic hockey set and I thought it was really cool! If memory serves me correctly, I haven't seen any sets like that since the '03-'04 timeframe. Were they just not very popular or more collector's items?

 

Sports could be interesting and LEGO has done plenty of sports-focused minifigure blind bags, including two entire sports-focused series: the Team GB minifigures in Great Britain and the DFB (German Football Association) in Germany. I think, like a lot of early 2000s sets, the original Sports sets probably didn't do very well by today's standards. But it might be something LEGO would be willing to try again with a renewed emphasis on building.

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A Throwbots reboot would be cool.

It'd be interesting to see for sure.

 

What about Lego Island: Extreme Stunts? I know that could technically fall under the City stuff, but I'm talking about a theme that has actual characters made by lego and a story and a game to accompany it. Maybe it's just nostalgia talking, but the Lego Island games as well as the Rock Raiders games gave me life as a kid (and if I still had a computer that could run these games, I would totally play them in my spare time)

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A Throwbots reboot would be cool.

It'd be interesting to see for sure.

 

What about Lego Island: Extreme Stunts? I know that could technically fall under the City stuff, but I'm talking about a theme that has actual characters made by lego and a story and a game to accompany it. Maybe it's just nostalgia talking, but the Lego Island games as well as the Rock Raiders games gave me life as a kid (and if I still had a computer that could run these games, I would totally play them in my spare time)

 

I think the only thing Lego Island would really have going for it at this point is nostalgia. Lego's storytelling, character design, and branding has come a pretty long way since then, and it's been almost a decade and a half since the last game.  Heck, the main character, Pepper Roni, feels like an artifact of the 90s by this point. As you mention, most subject matter covered by Lego Island has been more or less supplanted by City, and I'd even argue (perhaps controversially) that Lego City: Undercover does a better job of covering that sort of subject matter in a modern way.

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Can I just get a normal castle theme already.

I want a moat not a mech.

There will most likely be a new castle theme next year, since there's been a new castle theme every three years like clockwork for at least a decade and a half. So for impatient castle fans that's something to look forward to.

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Also (I don't really keep up with the current Lego catalogues these days), how long has it been since we've had pirate sets?

The last non-licensed Pirates sets were in 2015, though there was also a Pirates of the Caribbean set last year. And of course that's not counting 2016's Ninjago sky pirates.

 

In general I think a lot of the general categories LEGO's used before could probably do well again at some point in the future. Like you mention, there's the underground, underwater, and globetrotting adventure genres that LEGO has already revisited in the past decade (Power Miners, Atlantis, Pharaoh's Quest) and might be inclined to revisit again. I'd add spy/secret agent themes to that list, which LEGO first touched on in Alpha Team and later in Agents and Ultra Agents. There's also always the classic evergreen series like Castle, Pirates, and Space. If the Jurassic World franchise burns out at any point Dino could become an option again as well. And LEGO being Danish, I wouldn't put it past them to revisit Vikings at some point.

 

Ultimately it's all just a matter of picking the right theme at the right time. One that I don't really anticipate coming around again anytime soon (excluding the possibility of some Hollywood blockbuster, anyway) is Western, because the Western genre simply hasn't been especially popular with kids in a long time from what I can tell. We even talked in my film class last semester about how the ubiquity it once enjoyed in film and TV has largely been supplanted by the superhero genre.

 

Yeah, I'm honestly not surprised that Western isn't super popular. Vikings would be cool to see again at some point.

 

Remember in about 2000-2003 when they did sports? Like Basketball, Soccer, and Hockey? Do you think they'd do that again? I remember owning the big technic hockey set and I thought it was really cool! If memory serves me correctly, I haven't seen any sets like that since the '03-'04 timeframe. Were they just not very popular or more collector's items?

 

Sports could be interesting and LEGO has done plenty of sports-focused minifigure blind bags, including two entire sports-focused series: the Team GB minifigures in Great Britain and the DFB (German Football Association) in Germany. I think, like a lot of early 2000s sets, the original Sports sets probably didn't do very well by today's standards. But it might be something LEGO would be willing to try again with a renewed emphasis on building.

 

That's cool that they do the minifigures for sports teams! I would, though, i like to see a soccer field or a basketball court and be able to play it like some of the old sets allowed you to do. I also secretly want Lego to have an excuse to release a modern update of Soccer Mania  :happydance:

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I think a CCBS reboot of Knights' Kingdom II or Exo-Force would be lit.

Seconded, majorly.

 

Though I think an Exo-Force reboot might work better as a hybrid a-la Invasion From Below.

 

:kakama:

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  • 2 weeks later...

 

Some kind of space, preferably classic. I love the color scheme for those sets.

Maybe they could tie it in with Benny from the Lego Movie.

 

 

The Lego Space Movie, starring Benny and his astronaut friends. Possibly with a lesson of acceptance of aliens, other spacemen, ideas, and Duplo?

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Exo-Force, obviously, because I will always campaign for giant robots and mecha.

 

What I'd love would be a crossover theme like Space and Aquazone in the '90s; where you had these different themes (Space Police, Ice Planet, Blacktron / Aquanauts, Aquasharks) which kinda cropped up in each other's space. Would be dope to see that happen again.

 

With giant robots.

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  • 2 weeks later...
  • 2 weeks later...

Blacktron 3 perhaps?

I think if LEGO were to bring Blacktron back, to really make it work they'd have to have a shared theme of Blacktron vs. Space Police. They're such iconic adversaries, and in this day and age most themes involving conflict tend to depict both sides of that conflict, so I can't think of any faction better suited to face off against Blacktron than Space Police.

 

Plus, Space Police seems to be one of the Space themes that has managed to remain the most timeless, with three different incarnations to date. It probably helps that you can immediately understand the theme's concept upon hearing its name, whereas M:Tron's role as a rescue operation is poorly understood among AFOLs, and even I don't know what exactly Unitron was supposed to be all about besides having interchangeable cockpits. It's been nearly ten years since the last take on LEGO Space Police, so I think it would still feel fairly fresh to kids as well.

 

All that said… I think it's going to be hard to get a space theme off the ground while new Star Wars movies are still coming out on a yearly basis. The toy industry is so heavily saturated with Star Wars toys that it'd be hard for an space action IP without that kind of saturation to establish a foothold. And with the Marvel movies getting more "spacey" thanks to Guardians of the Galaxy and Infinity War, that's even more stuff competing for sci-fi-loving kids' attention.

 

One direction I could perhaps see LEGO Space taking is a girl-oriented space theme, like what LEGO Elves has been for castle. It's hard to predict what exactly that would entail, though, or even if the time is right for it, because there's not a lot of heavily girl-targeted sci-fi brands trending right now.

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  • 4 weeks later...

In CCBS/technic I would like to see Elves or friends get buildable doll sets. Just imagine the new colors.

 

I also like to see LEGO create a new IP based around fantisty. Personally Elves is a great theme but it is a girl target theme. I like to see a IP targeted toward boys (please don't roast me over that statement) I like to see more castles, wizards, magic stuff. The last IP target fantisty theme I can remember was Lord of the rings and the hobbit sets. (I do not count Nexo Knights that is a weird hybrid theme that's more tech than fantisty)

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I'd love to see Exo-Force come back, or get something like it at the very least.  Personally though, I'm not a big fan of the idea of CCBS mechs.  I'd also like to see something similar to Alpha Team.

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Something that just came to mind - the whole 'early-mid 1900's scruffy archaeologist who is also an action hero' adventure themes like Orient Expedition, Pharaoh Quest and the licensed Indiana Jones theme pops up every now and then, and I really like that sort of thing. I particularly liked how Orient Expedition explored multiple locations.

 

Re-using that name would be pretty un-problematic I think. It didn't really have established lore to worry about, the name might pique the interest of old fans, and has a nice ring to it - plus the similarity to Orient Express makes it highly marketable. 

 

Orient Expedition G2, exploring new locations and cultures <-- major want

 

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Something that just came to mind - the whole 'early-mid 1900's scruffy archaeologist who is also an action hero' adventure themes like Orient Expedition, Pharaoh Quest and the licensed Indiana Jones theme pops up every now and then, and I really like that sort of thing. I particularly liked how Orient Expedition explored multiple locations.

 

Re-using that name would be pretty un-problematic I think. It didn't really have established lore to worry about, the name might pique the interest of old fans, and has a nice ring to it - plus the similarity to Orient Express makes it highly marketable. 

 

Orient Expedition G2, exploring new locations and cultures <-- major want

 

:kakama:

Tricky thing there is that Orient Expedition was a flop. In fact, practically none of the themes that year were profitable besides Bionicle and Star Wars. That's the whole reason Bionicle was able to save the company from bankruptcy.

 

I also suspect that the name and concept of "Orient Expedition" might have some cultural baggage these days as people are becoming more aware of cultural appropriation and how easily stereotypes get reinforced by presenting non-western cultures through the perspective of western outsider protagonists. No idea whether that'd be a deal-breaker, but in any case it would be something I'd hope LEGO would handle with care if they were to attempt to revisit a similar theme.

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I've come to the impression that for a Space theme to really do well in the future there would need to be some changes to theme, and some context to back it up.

 

I'll start with context. I think that a manned mission to Mars could be an optimal time to release a new space theme. A manned mission to Mars would be truly historical and heavily impact our culture. Like with the moon, it could really re-new interest in space exploration, especially if we find something wild up there to really hold public interest (Though really what would matter is political interest. I ********* hate how space exploration and NASA are built around political cycles. :burnmad: )

 

Now onto the necessary changes; I think that any singular space theme would be absolutely fantastic, It might even do fairly well in spite of Star Wars. What we're seeing now though is an increasing importance in context (not historical context like I mentioned in the last paragraph). Star Wars sets do well because Star Wars is popular, but I would argue that LEGO Star Wars also has the benefit of each set having context in a greater universe. If you buy an Empire set you have the benefit of knowing there's someone to oppose your Rebel minifigures. Same deal with the MCU; having that sort of inter-connectedness really contributed to its immense success.

 

That's not to say that inter-connectedness is the sole deciding factor of a successful theme--but it does spell a good sign for where I think LEGO Space should go in the future. I think LEGO Space should become one singular SPACE theme. This would allow for immense diversity within individual sets and waves. LEGO already has the universe to do it; several years of space themes under its belt has created factions, alien species, and even some characters (Lookin' at you Jimbo!) that could create a really colorful and exciting theme.

 

It would have a broad appeal but one that's specifically space-oriented. Basically I'm imagining LEGO City, but with Space (not specifically citizen oriented, but rather diverse and varied like City). I can only hope that a LEGO Space theme would have the longevity and lasting appeal of City, but I think it has the diversity and open-endedness to make it potentially so.

 

The LEGO City comparison brings to mind that we could have civilian Space sets too! Perhaps they'd be less common of sets--if even full sets on their own--but you have to admit there's appeal to seeing a cosmic diner set not unlike the one in the official Space Police stop-motion films! It's exciting to think about getting hover cars and colorful citizens with retro-futurist styles and colors!

 

Perhaps the most important factor--at least to me--would be that it would allow a serious opportunity for LEGO to remedy the portrayal of Otherness in LEGO Space. It's a toy, I get it, but it's important. It's disturbing to look back at every single Space theme besides Life on Mars and see that in pretty much every instance the aliens were the villains. It would be wicked to see aliens and robots wearing updated classic space uniforms (Space Fleet!), along as being included in other factions. There could still be conflict in every box, but maybe--just maybe just enough kids will notice that aliens and Others can be the good guys too.

 

Of course the biggest question to ask about this theme would be: Can it co-exist with Star Wars? Truthfully, I have no dang clue. I definitely believe it can--in theory. The key would be to provide something different than Star Wars; offer kids something more colorful and wacky, and way more diverse stylistically.

 

The theme probably wouldn't even have to be an evergreen theme; it could come back every few years like Pirates if sales aren't consistent. But even so I feel like we've seen Pirates and City (and general themes like them) repeat themselves a lot. This is partly to get similar sets to newer waves of kids, but also because there's only so much you can do all the time. City's gotten really weird with its innovations to the point where it's not really strictly City, but even now we might be seeing some repetition in that (and I'm not just talking about new garbage truck sets).

 

 

Sorry for the long post, but I haven't been excited about anything LEGO has made in a while and I'm just spitting my dream scenario. I'm not just a LEGO Space lover but a science fiction lover and it's weird but almost nothing has managed to so fully capture and encapsulate the spirit of the genre (minus darker installments and sci-fi horror) quite like LEGO Space. It perfectly tickles that retro-futurist vibe that gives me life! :D

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  • 11 months later...

In relation to my earlier post on this topic: Woo! Despite Benny and friends not playing a crucial role in the Lego Movie 2, we got a set. A small set, but still.

 

In any case, mrblock, you posted on a thread in which the last post was May 2018, very nearly a full year ago. It's generally encouraged not to revive old threads, but to make new ones to continue discussion.

 

Welcome to the forums, by the way.

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To echo Downfall's words, welcome to BZP! Also, I shall wield my mighty Forum Powers *lightning begins crackling* and allow topics revived to be brought down, for new topics to arise!

It's like when a Toa gave of themselves to make new Toa... except, not? I dunno, I just summon the lightning.

 

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