How Creator Killed Off LEGO's Classic Themes

Over the last year I have been very vocal on the bleak future of LEGO themes that happen to be both unlicensed/non-licensed and non-evergreen. Today though, we discover at least ONE of the culprits behind this change... LEGO Creator. This is the story of How Creator Killed Off LEGO's Classic Themes

#lego #legocreator #legocastle

[CountDoDo]

I defintely agree that some of LEGO's greatest themes like castle and pirates are very far from their former glory. What I would give to see sets again like those in the 80s and 90s, with lots of minifigures and tons of factions

[ManiacBricks]

I beg to differ that LEGO has diminished Castle, Space and Pirates. In my opinion, these themes were demolished because of licensed themes such as Lord of the Rings / The Hobbits, Pirates of the Caribbean, Harry Potter and of course, Star Wars. When LEGO released Space sets after 1978, there were examples of people building them into Star Wars vehicles after the hype of the Original Trilogy. In terms of design, LEGO finds it redundant to have 2 castle-like themes on shelves, or 2 pirates-like themes on shelves, or 2 space-like themes on shelves when one has more wide appeal, typically the licensed ones. And sadly as time marches on, the less they produce original themes like Galaxy Squad, Forestmen, or 2009 Pirates, the less people will choose them when they know licensed ones can be made.

LEGO has been in a drought for the classic trio for a long time, and their resurgences fallen under the radar, but in my opinion, Creator is EXACTLY the way to reignite interest in them. For the past 3 years, they have guaranteed us a castle set, a pirates set, and a vikings set that otherwise would be left forgotten. Which each set being a 3-in-1, it provides enough opportunity to make multiple models to expand each main build, and with the same parts. This is nothing new for Creator, as they've done this in the past for train sets in order to provide a locomotive and passenger car and sometimes a caboose as 3 models in the same set. The 2017 dinosaur set that is still on shelves offers 4 models from its pieces to make 4 different types of dinosaurs (1 is an online instruction). But I also understand that an entire theme cannot be packaged into one singular retail box, and I would enjoy the original world-building of classic themes again. I would hope that sales of the Creator 3-in-1 classic sets would prompt interest into making a full theme again for castle and space minimum, vikings is more difficult but not impossible as it has been done before.

[galvon]

I see the creator line not as a replacement but as a testing ground to if kids would like a castle line seeing how well some of these sets sell. They just cant say the old fans will buy like crazy look what happened to bionicle

[ender]

These sets being released under Creator isn't the cause of the themes' absence, it's a symptom. Corporate probably decided against releasing full themes for one reason or another and the designers decided to make these Creator sets as a sort of consolation prize for fans.

Also Castle has been undergoing a pretty big revival as an adult-oriented reboot of Classic Castle. The Lion Knights, Black Falcons, and Forestmen have all made grand returns, even if it isn't in full themes.

[definitelynot_tfol]

In my opinion, it's more likely that licensed themes are cancelling out unlicensed, as they sell better with child and adult demographics. I'm thankful that Creator atleast brings us sets like these.

[tylerferron]

From my perspective, Lego Ninjago has absorbed all original story themes (like Exo Force), City has absorbed all exploration themes (such as arctic, underwater, mining, and space) ad well as licensed sets taking the rest. Creator is the only way that Lego can release these classic themes as make money, because they simply don’t make money as they used to.

[jedisquidward]

This is a backwards way of looking at things, and I don't mean "backwards" as an insult. Saying that Creator "killed" or "replaced" the classic themes is a mentality that is very much looking at what we know now and coming to conclusions based on that. Creator didn't "kill" these themes; they ended themselves when they stopped being as profitable as they needed to be in one way or another. If anything, Creator is reviving these themes by having sets that pay tribute to them. It's not as if there's a boardroom meeting saying "We can have a Creator Castle or we can have a new full Castle theme", it's "We can have a Creator Castle or we can have nothing". Now I would love to see both of these themes come back, but if we're going to discuss it, we should be honest about how this stuff actually works and come up with ideas from there instead of making a simplified narrative with an easy solution.

Additionally, not to be mean, but maybe consider changing your editing choices. Every word you say popping up on screen, 1 to 2 words at a time is a bit obnoxious.

[lucifernebulae]

This is pissing me off, that Castle, Pirates or Wild West are no longer available and forgotten. 80% of Lego is now licensed bullshit.

[swiatowidciesslak]

I agree. YET, I realy wish for return of different theme: Adventure. Not only it is nostalgic, not only is one of most famous themes, not only it is opportunity for different sets (vehicules, buildings, ruins, huge creatures), not only it can give us a lot of varietys (new corners of the world, characters, villains, storys) but also it is great material for tv show.

[Kelis]

I think this is also true for other themes such as space and others

But yeah we need dedicated castle and pirate themes

And there was also the creator Viking ship as well which Vikings was never as big but it’s worth mentioning

[matthew_thefallen]

I have an older friend that has kids and he noticed that Lego sets do not have the simple pieces like they used to have, like for example the classic 1x4 brick and so on, they're all weird complicated pieces for kids. He wanted to buy something for his kids but he did not find any cool set like they used to be for them. And then I realized that yes, there are so many complciated pieces that are cool to look at when everything is built but it ruins the playable factor.

[AydenTheCarrot]

As a pirates superfan, i have never heard someone spit this much facts. Ever. This is the most true video I have ever seen. The 2015 sets didn’t do it for me, and I only collect the vintage ones as the rebooted themes were mid at best (aside from the imperial flagship) and I was a baby when those 2009 sets released so my only chances of getting any pirates sets are from ebay. Amazing video!

[KingProductions]

I really really want all these themes. I’m only 13 so I did not get to experience a SINGLE ONE OF THESE themes. It’s not fair because these days, Lego is focusing too much on licensed themes, and it’s just not very creative anymore. And old sets cost WAAAAY too much. Lego IM BEGGING YOU HEAR US we NEED THESE ORIGINAL THEMES PLEASE!

[onlinegametime]

I wish LEGO can bring back "Castle/Kingdom" again, but instead of being a lot of knights vs something. I would like to see a Lego Medieval Town.
Sets examples:
1. Castle,
2. Blacksmith,
3. Tavern/Inn,
4. Tailor Shop,
5. Town Center with Street Markers, tree and well, Stables.
6. Fishing Docks with a big and small Boat.
7. Windmill with Crops. villagers.
8. Farming Barn Animals. villagers.
9. A Bank or TAX collector with a Robin hood.
10. Bandit camp.
11. Cottage Home. (I bet alot of people would by to make a big village or town.)
12. Small bridge with a watch tower.
13. A Dragon Cave with treasure and Skelton.
14. Wizard Tower or Shop.
15. Barber shop.
16. A adventure Guild.

[paulwright]

I beg to differ. The lego 3 in 1 Creator pirate ship was actually genius. Lego released a single set but actually released an entire pirate range. We had Barracuda Bay in 2020. For those that built the ship, the island was left over. Lego brought out the creator 3 in 1 and BOOM, you have the option to build an Inn, and place it on the island. If you left Barracuda Bay as the island, you had the option to add 'skull island' build from the creator set as an addition. If you built the pirate ship, you can leave Barracuda Bay as an island ship wreck and still have a decent ship. But I believe lego wanted fans to buy THREE Creator sets and make all 3 builds. Therefore, you have 4 or 5 pirate themed sets from 2 purchases. Very clever, except for the replication of minifigures, but those can be swapped around to prevent duplicates.

[MortonBricks]

Not to mention it turned them into huge expensive adult collectables.

[Gamer_Dylan_]

To me it seems like lego is just testing the waters before dropping a full castle or pirate theme. It's been shown in the past that if a set sells well enough it can be spun into its own theme. This is the case with minecraft and sonic, which both got their own themes after successful ideas sets. Considering how castle and pirates have failed in the past, this seems smarter than just dropping a full 7 set wave out of nowhere. With ninjago being rebooted this year its the perfect time for them to bring back more original themes.

[johnnytifosi]

I have to agree with other commenters. It's a pity that you blame Lego's last pure theme (Creator 3 in 1) for the demise of other classic themes. It's the last theme that provided us with original ideas and alternative builds, both core elements of Lego. If anything, licensing is to blame for this. It has sucked the soul out of Lego for the past 20 years, reducing it to unimaginative, expensive merchandise, and it is getting worse every year.

[TheItalianoAssassino]

Back in the day, Lego's original IPs went so hard and were the only thing driving sales besides Star Wars. Now, Star Wars is gutted and all the focus is on licensed themes. We need a healthy licensed/unlicensed Mix in my opinion.

[Leo.]

Agreed! Pirates and castle themes where the main atraction when I was a kid, and since I am back on lego colection recentlly (just build and collect) I would love to see a proper Pirates and Castle themes, when I was a kid I saw them only in pictures, because in my country back then those sets and lego in general was not avelaible officially at all... Cheers!