Discussion of Lego Themes

Spike I have to disagree with you here.

My kids watch a lot of Nik, and my son and I are both huge avatar fans. We ended up getting all of the avatar sets, and were disappointed when they discontinued that line. I did get a few spongebob sets, because I like them, and my daughter plays with them all the time.

I do agree that for kids the bigger draws are things like the exoforce, and more action oriented lines like batman, heck even bionicle. anything with conflict. Lets face it, it's much more fun to blow things up and put them back together than to .. drive to the store for milk say. (one reason that the belleville lines never did well.) My personal favorite is now the new castle line, but I also love the exoforce. Aqua raiders are ok, but the underwater stuff never really sold the first time around either. (the first aqauzone stuff that is), so why they brought it back .. I just don't know.

since this is brick talk, have either of you tried Cobi military sets? they are a bit cheaper than lego, but the quality is the same.. not like the megablocks at all. In fact its feel is just like lego. Plus you get a tank, a jet, or a bunker? man. cool stuff there.

since this is brick talk, have either of you tried Cobi military sets? they are a bit cheaper than lego, but the quality is the same.. not like the megablocks at all. In fact its feel is just like lego. Plus you get a tank, a jet, or a bunker? man. cool stuff there.

-Devin

Never heard of Cobi... whats the web link? I agree about the uselessness of Avatar and Spongebob. I enjoy the models that Lego makes (ex. Statue of Liberty, Boeing Jet, Star Destroyer, etc.).

Since I'm the resident over-analytical fact-checker. . . allow me to field this.

I wish lego would make sucsessful lego sets

The Lego Group has been a successful business for over 30 years. Somehow I get the feeling that they -do- make successful sets. Successful enough to keep them in business throughout enormous changes in the economy, the toy-market, and in the trends of child interest.


but i want to see something differant like superman or spider-man 3 sets

Superman sets would be lame. Spider-Man sets were lame. And I fail to see how a few cheesy, low-count sets based on superhero licenses are 'different.' Sounds pretty 'standard and unimaginitive' to me. And that's quite the opposite from 'different.'


i want to see something differant other than Avatar or Spongebob or Aquaraiders

Something other than Avatar, Spongebob, or Aquaraiders? Well not only are those themes all drastically different from one another, but they're also drastically different from LEGO's other current, past, and future endevours: Indiana Jones, Castle, Vikings, Pirates, Basic Town, Res-Q, Launch Command, Western, Aquazone (Aquaraiders is actually more in style of the Divers sub-theme than the Aquazone theme), etc, ad nauseum. LEGO has never had a problem keeping things inventive and new, and, dare I say, different.


becuse those sets are lame kids dont even buy those they all just sit on the shelfs gathering dust

And I suppose you work for the LEGO Group and can therefore speak intelligently about their sales? Or perhaps you are a buyer for Toys R' Us and, thus, have some insider information concerning LEGO sales? I thought not. Aquaraiders appears to be doing very well considering it's only brand new and some places have not even seen them yet. The new Castle theme appears to be flying off the shelves. My 7-year-old nephew loves Aquaraiders and most other LEGO themes.

Do not make the mistake of assuming that because -you- do not like something, that no one else does. You cannot speak for an entire demographic.


Starwars is the only sets kids actually like

Again, how would you know? Can you honestly say that you have polled the entire target audience of LEGO products to find out what they do and do not like? Don't make sweeping generalizations and pretend to have knowledge of something if, indeed, you do not have any factual support.


There is a huge difference between LEGO being unsuccessful or having poor sets, and you just not liking what they are producing. Personally, I wish they would stop with ALL of the licensed sets. The in-house themes have always been better in terms of quality, in my opinion. And I'd take Aquaraiders any day of the week over some lame Superman or Iron Man sets. Just because a character in a comic book is popular does not mean he needs to be LEGOized in a variety of official sets. It seems to me that you just want more pop-culture LEGO and less creative, original LEGO. And that is a desire that I not only disagree with, but I find repugnant and antithetical to what LEGO stands for.

Well, I for one like the licenses. Maybe not all of them, but a lot of them. I have no problems with them getting the license here or there. I would hate to see them only getting licenses. That would indeed be horrible. See, while I agree that their "in house" lines have indeed been better designed, licenses have brought us quite a few things that I think we wouldn't have seen otherwise. Things like handcuffs, guns, minifigs that last and last (unlike our decals). Even the fleshies are growing on me.. and I have to say I hated them when they came out. Now whether or not this is a good thing is a personal opinion.  I think its a good thing. (and I am pretty sure I can say that Damien and Enigma are on the other side of that fence ;-)  )

I doubt there is only so much creativity at TLC. you know, like five talented set designers, and if they work on licenses, the other sets will suck? Sure thats what it seemed for awhile, but somehow I doubt that was the reality. I think they can have good licensed sets (Love the bat tank - will be great for parts, and I want the minifigs) as well as having good in house sets (love the new castle line, and the mars sets are growing on me.

also - I'd probably get an Iron man set instead of an Aquaraider set.. I have too much yellow as it is. :-D (and Iron man can fly!)

I must disagree about the bat tank Legofreak. It resembles a WWI tank too much. Very unoriginal.

I didn't say it was original... I said I liked it. :-D

I like it because it looks like a WW1 tank - and will be converted to such as soon as I can get my hands on one.

 I think its a good thing.

Don't get me wrong; not all licenses are bad. Star Wars, for instance, absolutely needed to be done. There was just no good way, previously, to make Star Wars style LEGO. I'm sure all of us old-timers remember using antenna-pieces as lightsabers and Castle helmets in black for 'Darth Vader.' A simpler time and I'm glad LEGO finally got on the ball and realized the huge potential in Star Wars sets.

I'm also grateful for a lot of the unique pieces to come from licenses. Nick's Samurai just wouldn't be the same without those Green Goblin masks. But while I'm grateful for many of those parts, I also think LEGO took the success of the Star Wars license and ran with it too far by collecting too -many- licenses, many of which just aren't worth having around. Harry Potter had some great parts and Harry Potter himself has been endlessly useful to me as a way to collect lots of solid old light grey bodies for Brassoing. So I appreciate what those licenses have done for the hobby (both customizing and just collecting/building). I still think it needs to stop now, or at least be seriously curbed for a stronger concentration on in-house themes.