Why the Obsession with Story Based Themes?

Putting all these other themes against Bionicle is a bad idea, it’ll make Bionicle seem better and the other themes seem worse.
It’s basically comparing yourself to the super famous person who does what you do. It’s gonna make you look bad.
Instead, look at the good stuff about the themes by themselves.
and stop trying to dethrone bionicle

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Films like The Room that are so bad they’re good would like to have a word with you.

Of course, strictly speaking about LEGO, they don’t really have anything of that caliber of badness.

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Robot Monster was so bad that the director tried to kill himself. It ended up being pretty popular because of how bad it was.

Because we desire relateable characters and a story to engage with

remember when Lego was mostly about using your imagination?

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Remember when Lego was mostly about producing wooden toys?

( I do realize that’s going to come off as annoying, so I’ll add that I feel this is a very weak argument against story-themes, and here’s why I think so:)
-Simply because something was a particular way in the past is not reason enough to forgo change (Which is why I said what I said at the top)
-I would call into question whether adding a story really reduces creativity and imagination? Gen 1 was full as can be with lore, but that didn’t seem to hinder imagination as much as it bolstered it; Gen 1 inspires me to write, draw/paint, create original characters and events, and daydream about. Gen 2 has nothing to offer me; the lore is shallow and so is my imagination on the subject. Obvously, G2 has other problems that probably factor into that, but it still applies to castle, creator, etc. Well crafted stories and characters are not the antithesis of imagination; in fact they are a key factor in its development. This is why Harry Potter, LotR, Star Wars, or whatever else foster more imagination in consumers than any storyless Lego line Ever has.
-Ignoring this, lets say that well-crafted stories do in fact hinder imagination. They still sell well. Lego’s morals are secondary to the survival of the business, and if well-done Story themes sell as Bioncle did and Ninjago does, they’re going to do it.

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It is, but who said that building with LEGO bricks was the only way to express your imagination. You should see the fanfics coming from these fans, if you haven’t already. In fact, I never would’ve had the desire to even read books outside of classes if it wasn’t for Greg Farshtey and crew.

It’s through making excellent characters and plot that engages the readers to invest in everything related to Bionicle and Ninjago, even to the extent of making their own MOCs, characters and stories. Even with LEGO products not story-driven, there is always a story behind what they make, whether it’s fictional or not, because of the builders’ ideas. Part of the reason it’s “play well” is because we play with ideas and imagination as best as possible, and adding story driven LEGOs is part of building, pardon the pun, on LEGO’s legacy.

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I kind of like both. It’s fun to create your own story and such, but having something that means something is cool too.

Say LEGO creates “Pink Mech,” a Creator set. I look at it, say, “Oh, that’s cool,” and move on with my life, because there is really nothing there besides a cool set and endless possibilities. Then, say LEGO creates “D.Va and Reinhardt, Without Reinhardt.” (I know, not a very good example) I go, “Wow! My second favorite character in Overwatch? That’s a must-buy,” even if they’re the same exact set.

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The way I see it, there are four broad categories of Lego Themes

-Abstract-Based: stuff like Creator, X-Pods, (Anyone else remember the X-Pods? Me neither) Mixels, Racers, Mindstorms, and (arguably) City, (before it turned more into “police” with some occasional other buildings) where the main aim is to promote creativity and building within as minimal a framework as possible. It isn’t quite the same as the classic bucket-o-bricks, as there’s at least a vague overall idea and a specific color palette you have to work within, but it’s still very very broad. And while it does feel like this has receded into the background a little too much sometimes, it’s still there, still around. I may not buy it myself very often, but I appreciate what it does, and I do think it’s still pretty popular among kids?

-Premise-Based: As mentioned above, this is the stuff sitting in the middle ground, stuff like Exo-Force, Adventurers, Spybotics, Friends, Atlantis, Life on Mars/Mars Mission, Ultra Agents, and many many many more besides, since the early to mid 90s. It’s not got a super in-depth narrative, but it has a handful of faction-based sets and an overall broad idea that serves as a framework for kids to do whatever they please with. Aside from Ultra Agents and a couple others like it, these seem to have dropped off as of late. Personally I think they worked best when there was more variety among them, so there’d be a little something for everyone, even those not necessarily interested in the mundanity of the abstract sets or the deeplore of the heavily Story-based ones. Personally there are a couple of Premises (CoughExoForceCough, CoughSpyboticsCough) that I feel could have been better served had they been fleshed out in greater detail and given a full Story treatment, but overall I think the value of these kinds as a middle ground between the story-driven and the abstract is massively underappreciated.

-Story-Based; which I guiltily admit is what I personally lean toward the most. Bionicle and Ninjago are of course the standout examples, but HF, Chima and Nexo Knights also count in this category, of course, and arguably the new Lego Movie tie-ins as well. Bionicle had a book series, movies, and a ton of other stuff besides. Ninjago, HF, Chima, and Nexo Knights all had shows, actually televised on a major cartoon broadcasting network. The Lego Movie is, well, you know. Point is, these are things created by Lego themselves, but which have official story media taking arguably as much of an important role as the sets they’re meant to promote, and depending on the execution, can develop into something pretty lore-dense, detailed, and most important - emotionally investing. Three of the five have of course fallen short of the mark, but for all their problems I do feel HF and Nexo Knights had the potential there. (Chima I’m more iffy on, but still.) I don’t know as much about Elves, but it may also be in this category? Idunno.

The question of the hour is whether or not this stifles creativity in kids. Personally, my answer would be no, as long as the Abstract and Premise-type themes are still running just as strong in parallel. If everything was only story themes, then yeah, maybe it would get to be a bit too much. But given all the MOCs and things Bionicle alone generated, I feel that ultimately, even a heavy story such as that one isn’t as reductive to creativity as one would assume at first glance. And honestly, most kids aren’t concerned with keeping 110% in-line with canon anyway, so it’s kind of a moot point. As a kid, I made a red-and-green Rahkshi Of Christmas that shot strings of christmas lights from its staff to tie up the Toa, fully aware that something like that could never actually show up in the official story. Did I care? Heck naw.

-The fourth category is of course Liscense-based themes. When it comes down to it, they’re not that different from story/premise based stuff, with the main distinctions being that the story is generated from outside Lego, Lego has to pay that source royalties and stuff, (often inflating the price of the sets as an unfortunate side-effect, the so-called “Star Wars Tax”) and most if not all of the designs for the sets are based off of pre-existing content or ideas, which can be limiting in some ways but also force creativity on the part of the designers, in attempting to maintain accuracy to the source. As far as how these minute differences impact the issue, I feel that it’s honestly no more or less damaging to creativity than the Lego-original story-based themes, and I do like licensed themes as a chance to see a Lego adaptation of material I already like. (Honestly, in another timeline where this would be possible, I would be all over a non-Kreo Transformers line.)

At the same time, in terms of actual business effects on Lego, I see Licensed themes as something like a perscription drug; in small doses it can actually improve the company’s performance and fame, but if they become over-reliant on them it could get very dangerous and leave them in permanent debt to other entertainment giants. (CoughMouseCough) Plus, on a purely subjective note, I’m just kind of sick of Star Wars steamrolling everything else in the Lego section, even though I enjoy the new movies. So while I don’t hate Licensed themes, I do think they’re something best kept in check and smaller in proportion than the other three categories. I’m not opposed to them existing, just nervous about how much Lego seems to be leaning on them in recent years.

-So basically, my view is that Lego needs to downplay the Licensed themes, push the Abstract stuff more than they have been as of late, and try to diversify the Premise-based stuff back to the wide ranges of ideas we saw in the mid-2000s. The Story-Based themes should remain a small but important niche, Ninjago (or whatever may succeed it as it succeeded Bionicle) running alongside one or two other experimental lines like Chima or Nexo Knights, and maybe a constraction thing as well again, if santa decides we’ve been particularly good this year.

That’s my two cents, anyway.

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Oh my goodness, my first LEGO set was one of these. Thanks for resurfacing what they were called.

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It definitely does, it has a Netflix series

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Personally, I’d put Exo-force into the story-based category, it had a lot of online comics, a few books, and even some animations, and it had a surprisingly in-depth story.

~W12~

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That’s quite an essay. My goodness.

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Yeah, turns out I had a lot more thoughts on the subject than I thought I did. Heh.

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Finally someone who agrees with me. That is the exact problem I have. A drug can be beneficial if taken in small amounts, but with too much a lot of unpleasant side-effects might happen. LEGO should definitely work on this.

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I don’t think that’s an issue, there’s really only one in house story theme that’s currently active

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He is talking about licensed themes, of which there are many

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I still don’t think there’s any actual problem there

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Then you should search more in depth

Or maybe you’re just trying to find problems where there aren’t any.

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