New Theme Ideas?

[Evergrey: Toa of Music]

Anyone have ideas for any new Lego Themes? Not reboots of past themes or things like that; more along the lines of movies/shows you'd want lego sets of or just ideas you have that you'd like to see as a full on line?

 

As for me, I'd kinda like to see some Greek Mythology lego sets; Mt. Olympus, Greek architecture, that sort of thing. If that's not "marketable enough" Just slap the name Percy Jackson on it and add those characters in haha. That should fulfill that wish!

 

But I'm curious to hear other peoples' ideas!

[Rahkshi Lalonde]

I have one, a big one, but i'm kinda keeping it under wraps in hopes they'll do a shoutout for theme ideas again. :T

 

I did also have a "just for fun" theme idea that i was making LDD mockups for, 'cause it'd be cool to have one about like, more "folk-legend" kinda woodsy monsters as far as "creepy" themes go.

 

but then i figured it's hard to make something based on scary monsters that exist to terrify kids in a way that doesn't... well yeah.

 

still, got that big idea that i'll at least say is about bugs. that's all i'll say for now though. :u

[fishers64]

Good guy Minifigs in towers vs. huge constraction monsters. 

 

Towers and constraction. Best theme ever. No humanoid constraction. Actual bricks. Exclusive minifigs. Maybe throw in a boat or plane in there somewhere.

[UnderscoreChronix]

Perhaps a line of large-ish system based robotic action figures with detailed builds, and removable or opening panels to view their internal details. They could use those nice ratchet joints from Exo-Force and similar themes, maybe with some balljoints mixed in for high levels of articulation. They could come with display stands and whatnot too. 

[Ghidora131]

A theme of space, done well.

 

Most now it's been so stereotypical, but I'd like to see a HALO-esqe theme.

[Evergrey: Toa of Music]

I did also have a "just for fun" theme idea that i was making LDD mockups for, 'cause it'd be cool to have one about like, more "folk-legend" kinda woodsy monsters as far as "creepy" themes go.

 

but then i figured it's hard to make something based on scary monsters that exist to terrify kids in a way that doesn't... well yeah.

I mean, they've done halloween themed sets and what not. I see no problem with legendary monsters & such

[Naota Takizawa]

Can we please get westerns to trend among kids so lego can make sets with the Wild West theme?

[Evergrey: Toa of Music]

I do miss seeing wild west lego sets...

[Rahkshi Lalonde]

i think the problem with wild west, is doing it in a way that doesn't have the.... unfortunate implications that come with the wild west setting. (notably, the "indians" that inevitably end up in them...)

 

i'd be up for a well-constructed old-west theme though, love the aesthetic. o:

[Naota Takizawa]

I thought the problem with westerns was that they were too cliche to be taken seriously and the heavy use of guns led to them getting pulled off TV.

[Rahkshi Lalonde]

"historical" guns, like flintlock revolvers and the like, are allowed by Lego terms, as are unlabeled alchoholic beverages in "historic" settings.

 

yeah i know, it's kinda a funky rule.

[Hidron Nuva]

Fantasy elves
With castles and tree-towers, fighting Orcs, Dark Elves and Dragons, using magic and ancient relics.

[aldero]

Good guy Minifigs in towers vs. huge constraction monsters. 

 

Towers and constraction. Best theme ever. No humanoid constraction. Actual bricks. Exclusive minifigs. Maybe throw in a boat or plane in there somewhere.

 

Yep. Yep. Would totally recommend. Sounds a lot like the old Vikings theme though.

 

I guess there's two time periods for this and therefore different stories. One set in the Middle Ages would follow some hunters and soldiers fighting off creatures such as trolls and ents and another set in a sci-fi universe would follow some hunters planet-hopping to destroy the source of a monster infestation. Basically a fusion of Metroid and Evolve. 

 

Either way, it would be a pretty fun theme.

Edited August 2, 2015 by Professor Turnip

[Evergrey: Toa of Music]

Fantasy elves

With castles and tree-towers, fighting Orcs, Dark Elves and Dragons, using magic and ancient relics.

I'd be down for that one haha. But I think they partially have that...didn't lego make Hobbit themed sets?

[fishers64]

 

Fantasy elves

With castles and tree-towers, fighting Orcs, Dark Elves and Dragons, using magic and ancient relics.

I'd be down for that one haha. But I think they partially have that...didn't lego make Hobbit themed sets?

 

Yes, they did. They also have a girl-oriented fantasy theme called Elves, which includes Magic and ancient relics. Maybe we'll see Orcs and Dragons later, although they might be too dark for a girl-oriented theme. 

 

 

Good guy Minifigs in towers vs. huge constraction monsters. 

 

Towers and constraction. Best theme ever. No humanoid constraction. Actual bricks. Exclusive minifigs. Maybe throw in a boat or plane in there somewhere.

 

Yep. Yep. Would totally recommend. Sounds a lot like the old Vikings theme though.

 

I guess there's two time periods for this and therefore different stories. One set in the Middle Ages would follow some hunters and soldiers fighting off creatures such as trolls and ents and another set in a sci-fi universe would follow some hunters planet-hopping to destroy the source of a monster infestation. Basically a fusion of Metroid and Evolve. 

 

Either way, it would be a pretty fun theme.

 

There's actually a lot of possibilities for this as a theme, a lot more than you're thinking of. I might try the concept as an Ideas set or do one of the "theme calls" with a more developed story premise. I just haven't decided what story premise I want to go with the concept yet. 

[Hidron Nuva]

Fantasy elves

With castles and tree-towers, fighting Orcs, Dark Elves and Dragons, using magic and ancient relics.

 

I'd be down for that one haha. But I think they partially have that...didn't lego make Hobbit themed sets?

 

Yes, they did. They also have a girl-oriented fantasy theme called Elves, which includes Magic and ancient relics. Maybe we'll see Orcs and Dragons later, although they might be too dark for a girl-oriented theme.

 

LotR sets about elves aren't bad, but there are so few of them and they're not fantasy enough. Also, they're super-expensive and minifigures come in flesh instead of yellow.

Still, since they made that girl-oriented Elves theme, I doubt I'll ever see what I'm asking for

Edited August 3, 2015 by Hidron Nuva

[Voltex]

I had a really cool idea for a team of secret agents known as "Alpha Team", where-

 

-oh, you mean not reboots? Fine. 

 

 

I'd really like some sort of theme that combines both the standard bricks and the constraction figures, a little like Hero Factory 2014 except better. You could have bases and vehicles and such using the regular brick builds, alongside constraction mechs piloted by minifigs.

[Evergrey: Toa of Music]

I had a really cool idea for a team of secret agents known as "Alpha Team", where-

 

-oh, you mean not reboots? Fine. 

 

 

I'd really like some sort of theme that combines both the standard bricks and the constraction figures, a little like Hero Factory 2014 except better. You could have bases and vehicles and such using the regular brick builds, alongside constraction mechs piloted by minifigs.

So...Chima?

 

Nah, I'm with you on that. I'd like something similar to what your describing as well.

[Toa Jaxus]

Not sure if this counts as a reboot or new theme idea, but I've always wanted to see a castle theme where each set was the part of a larger castle. There was no set design, just that every set could link up to build what ever castle you wants. You want an academy of magic? - Buy wizard towers and guard houses. Want a fortified town? - Fortified Houses and walls. Palace fit for a king? - Throne room and Grand Hall.

[fishers64]

Not sure if this counts as a reboot or new theme idea, but I've always wanted to see a castle theme where each set was the part of a larger castle. There was no set design, just that every set could link up to build what ever castle you wants. You want an academy of magic? - Buy wizard towers and guard houses. Want a fortified town? - Fortified Houses and walls. Palace fit for a king? - Throne room and Grand Hall.

That could be amazing as a joint brick-and-video game venture where each of the castle sections affects your performance in the game. I see $$$$.

[Irrie]

I've always wanted another story-driven castle theme after Knight's Kingdom. Preferably one with action figures like KsK. 

But alas, we've been stuck with the same "gold and blue knights vs. black and red knights" for a long time now.  

[Lyichir]

I've always wanted another story-driven castle theme after Knight's Kingdom. Preferably one with action figures like KsK. 

But alas, we've been stuck with the same "gold and blue knights vs. black and red knights" for a long time now.  

Simplifying Fantasy Castle to "gold and blue knights vs. black and red knights" does Fantasy Castle a disservice. Not only were the initial foes in that theme not just knights but reanimated skeletons, but it also branched out in later years to have additional Dwarf and Troll factions. Plus, you're forgetting the "white and red knights vs. black and green knights" of Kingdoms.

 

Another story-driven castle theme could be cool, particularly with how far set design has come since Knight's Kingdom.

[Rahkshi Lalonde]

Not sure if this counts as a reboot or new theme idea, but I've always wanted to see a castle theme where each set was the part of a larger castle. There was no set design, just that every set could link up to build what ever castle you wants. You want an academy of magic? - Buy wizard towers and guard houses. Want a fortified town? - Fortified Houses and walls. Palace fit for a king? - Throne room and Grand Hall.

 

huh, now that you mention this i completely forgot this was essentially what the "hive" structure function i based my desired future theme idea around. (with four "faction" styles.)

[Evergrey: Toa of Music]

Four faction styles...how about more Lego Airbenders? (not a reboot), maybe some Korra themed sets?

[Sumiki]

A girl-oriented constraction line would be a good idea, I think. It's a logical expansion of LEGO's latest target market and a lot of the molds would be recolors into nice pastels and other colors not traditionally associated with constraction.

[Toa Imrukii]

A theme comparible to bionicle, but for girls, with both system and comtraction sets (kinda like chima and elves)

[Alyska]

Constraction space opera with a primarily female cast!

[Ta-metru_defender]

• Giant Robots

• Spaceships

[fishers64]

Constraction space opera with a primarily female cast!

 

• Giant Robots
• Spaceships

Put these two ideas together, and I would buy every single set in the line.

[believe victims]

I had an idea for a conflict-based story with two sides on equal moral footing, because it would be kinda nice for kids to have conflict-based play without one side necessarily being evil and the other good.

 

I don't see it happening, though, because simplified morality to some extent is a staple of storytelling in general (what was the last story you saw where there wasn't some kind of good/evil dichotomy to the sides? even films for adults will have "good guys" and "bad guys", even if they occasionally blur the lines a bit.)

[Alyska]

I had an idea for a conflict-based story with two sides on equal moral footing, because it would be kinda nice for kids to have conflict-based play without one side necessarily being evil and the other good.

 

I don't see it happening, though, because simplified morality to some extent is a staple of storytelling in general (what was the last story you saw where there wasn't some kind of good/evil dichotomy to the sides? even films for adults will have "good guys" and "bad guys", even if they occasionally blur the lines a bit.)

I definitely like this idea. I was toying with something conceptually similar for a possible constraction concept. There's a "villain" who is basically what would happen if Princess Leia was raised by the Empire- the result is a character with a strong moral conscience, determined to right the wrongs committed by her father and others, but she goes about it the only way she knows how- widespread destruction, kidnapping, psychological manipulation, and striking fear into the hearts of everyone in the known galaxy.

[fishers64]

I had an idea for a conflict-based story with two sides on equal moral footing, because it would be kinda nice for kids to have conflict-based play without one side necessarily being evil and the other good.

 

I don't see it happening, though, because simplified morality to some extent is a staple of storytelling in general (what was the last story you saw where there wasn't some kind of good/evil dichotomy to the sides? even films for adults will have "good guys" and "bad guys", even if they occasionally blur the lines a bit.)

Actually, this actually strikes me as pretty common. Stories have to have an protagonist (the person you're rooting for to win) and the antagonist (who is frustrating the protagonists' goals). These distinctions in most media have nothing to do with morality. Especially in video games, where protagonists run around killing people in order to beat the antagonists.

 

But immoral protagonists are as old as Crime and Punishment, where the protagonist was a murderer and thief. If you get into any of The Works of Great Literature, moral ambiguity is so par for the course that entire classes are spent evaluating the character's moral choices.

 

You can argue that in kid's media that this happens less often, but in fact I find that moral ambiguity/blurring happens in the other direction; the antagonist is also of good morals, perhaps even more moral, than the protagonist. Consider the first Lego Elves episode, where the main antagonist was being mean because she was just sad; it was otherwise implied that she was a good person. Or any film where the wise old character antagonizes the young adventurer, for example. Conflict points need not be, and often are not, over differing morals.

[believe victims]

Actually, this actually strikes me as pretty common. Stories have to have an protagonist (the person you're rooting for to win) and the antagonist (who is frustrating the protagonists' goals). These distinctions in most media have nothing to do with morality. Especially in video games, where protagonists run around killing people in order to beat the antagonists.

 

The person running around killing people is still usually "better" than the antagonist in some way. For example, in Bioshock, you may be running around murdering people, but you're doing it to stop the selfish sea capitalists that drove their city to its own doom. There is still an ideological battle going on between a "good" side and an "evil" side. (Of course, if you don't get the good ending, I guess things go differently. But throughout the game itself, there's still a sense of stopping the antagonist because it's the right thing to do, because they are "evil".)

 

You can argue that in kid's media that this happens less often, but in fact I find that moral ambiguity/blurring happens in the other direction; the antagonist is also of good morals, perhaps even more moral, than the protagonist. Consider the first Lego Elves episode, where the main antagonist was being mean because she was just sad; it was otherwise implied that she was a good person. Or any film where the wise old character antagonizes the young adventurer, for example. Conflict points need not be, and often are not, over differing morals.

 

I haven't seen the episode in question, so I could be completely off-base, but chances are the antagonist still held a belief we are to assume is bad. In this case, it sounds like that belief is how to express sadness. It's not as serious because it's not a massive conflict, like the kind I was alluding to (see Bionicle's conflict, or Transformers'), but we are still to assume one side is right and the other is wrong.

 

I may have exaggerated the sparsity of a level playing field morally, but the point is that conflict-based kids stories (and a sizeable chunk of conflict-based adult stories) tend towards a black-and-white morality system where one side is "good" and the other is "evil". Even if they have a greying of morality, it rarely does more than turn morality into a gradient; we still have the good guys and the bad guys, just with people in between. What I'm proposing is conflict where neither side is inherently right or wrong.

 

Granted, what this means is that the theme of the story isn't so much about what's at war in the conflict, but the nature of conflict itself. After all, a big reason for having set good guys and bad guys is that the good guys represent the morals the authors seek to uphold, and the bad guys are defeated to show the inferiority of their morals. In a story where there are no good guys or bad guys, you can't exactly stick to that traditional method of theme.

[fishers64]

The person running around killing people is still usually "better" than the antagonist in some way. For example, in Bioshock, you may be running around murdering people, but you're doing it to stop the selfish sea capitalists that drove their city to its own doom. There is still an ideological battle going on between a "good" side and an "evil" side. (Of course, if you don't get the good ending, I guess things go differently. But throughout the game itself, there's still a sense of stopping the antagonist because it's the right thing to do, because they are "evil".)

Really? A cold-blooded murderer opposed to people who are selfish jerks is hardly a good vs. evil story. A murderer is not a good guy; the selfish capitalists aren't either.

 

I'm not anti-video-game, but they are purveyors of ambigous moral situations, often as part of the gameplay. There's some benefit to examining those - hence courses dedicated to it.

 

I haven't seen the episode in question, so I could be completely off-base, but chances are the antagonist still held a belief we are to assume is bad. In this case, it sounds like that belief is how to express sadness. It's not as serious because it's not a massive conflict, like the kind I was alluding to (see Bionicle's conflict, or Transformers'), but we are still to assume one side is right and the other is wrong.

Possibly.

 

What I'm proposing is conflict where neither side is inherently right or wrong.

Admittedly, my examples were more about both sides being wrong or both sides being right. True moral neutrality is very difficult to achieve; what I was thinking was something closer to real world where both the antagonist and the protagonist have good and evil qualities.

 

Granted, what this means is that the theme of the story isn't so much about what's at war in the conflict, but the nature of conflict itself. After all, a big reason for having set good guys and bad guys is that the good guys represent the morals the authors seek to uphold, and the bad guys are defeated to show the inferiority of their morals. In a story where there are no good guys or bad guys, you can't exactly stick to that traditional method of theme.

The alternative (in the protagonists and antagonosts both have good parts and bad parts story) is actual character development happens to allow both the protagonist and the antagonist to improve and overcome their flaws. The flaws are destroyed, not the people.

 

That pattern is terribly cliche though too. Hmm.

[believe victims]

 

The person running around killing people is still usually "better" than the antagonist in some way. For example, in Bioshock, you may be running around murdering people, but you're doing it to stop the selfish sea capitalists that drove their city to its own doom. There is still an ideological battle going on between a "good" side and an "evil" side. (Of course, if you don't get the good ending, I guess things go differently. But throughout the game itself, there's still a sense of stopping the antagonist because it's the right thing to do, because they are "evil".)

Really? A cold-blooded murderer opposed to people who are selfish jerks is hardly a good vs. evil story. A murderer is not a good guy; the selfish capitalists aren't either.

 

I'm not anti-video-game, but they are purveyors of ambigous moral situations, often as part of the gameplay. There's some benefit to examining those - hence courses dedicated to it.

 

No more morally ambiguous than, say, war. Our culture already approves of murder under certain circumstances; the violence in video games is merely the principle of jusifiable murder applied on a smaller scale.

[Bonkle]

A subtheme of Space, with two sets of unified designs. Every set is modular, and is compatible with each set from its respective faction. New figures, sleek ships and bulky cargo ships, as well as a somewhat decent story.

[Jobber]

Perhaps a dedicated Superhero theme that isn't primarily aimed at the feminine gender. 

[believe victims]

Perhaps a dedicated Superhero theme that isn't primarily aimed at the feminine gender. 

Okay, I'll bite; what's this dedicated Superhero theme primarily aimed at women?

[Alyska]

I presume it's Lego's reported involvement in the DC Superhero Girls line, which will likely be minidoll sets considering other companies are doing the dolls/action figures. I'd have liked them to make constraction sets of it, now that Lego's actually putting out decent human-looking constraction figures.

[Jobber]

 

Perhaps a dedicated Superhero theme that isn't primarily aimed at the feminine gender. 

Okay, I'll bite; what's this dedicated Superhero theme primarily aimed at women?

 

And I didn't even have bait. But what this guy said:

 

 

I presume it's Lego's reported involvement in the DC Superhero Girls line, which will likely be minidoll sets considering other companies are doing the dolls/action figures. I'd have liked them to make constraction sets of it, now that Lego's actually putting out decent human-looking constraction figures.