If you could cancel a LEGO theme, what would that be?

As much as the themes isn’t trash… I HATE IT!
Instead of the cartoony playable cars that I love Racers for, we get cars based on Licensed, real life cars. The only reason it’s technically an original theme is because the minifigs have yellow faces. It could work as well with flash colored heads, since they can be real life pilots.

The Sets are so God-Overpriced that I never bought any of them, despite likening the first few sets. 15 dollars for a single car, which does nothing but be a display piece. At least the 13$ from Racers had cool features and were very fun to play with. But Speed Champions…:rage:

With the seemingly more complex build, along with inflation, and rising plastic prices I’d say it’s a fair deal

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I still wouldn’t pay that for them. For 15$ I can get like 2 Tiny Turbos instead of A single Speed Champions car. As I said, the theme isn’t trash, but is not LEGO Racers, either.

As a fan of both Racers and Speed Champions (although I haven’t bought many of the sets from either theme (I should really get on that)) and also cars in general, I feel that Speed Champions is doing perfectly fine, maybe even better than Racers. The main reason for this is the appeal to older fans as well as the younger ones. While the air stompers from Racers would definitely appeal to younger kids, they don’t really appeal to almost 20-year-old adults like myself. If I was to buy one of these, it would probably either be because I’m buying it for a child or because of nostalgic purposes. The licensed Speed Champions cars on the other hand, really appeal to me because I know the brands that are featured and the types of cars they produce. Heck, if they made some Volvos (Like the Polestar variants) or Subarus (like the regular/rally WRX or the BRZ), I would probably buy those in a heartbeat since those two are my favorite car brands. These sets also still appeal to kids for their “wooshability”, because who didn’t want to make their toy cars (whether they be lego or model) go as fast as they could around the living room as kids. It also helps that the Speed Champions sets have a great parts per price ratio (a majority of the sets are under the usual average of 10 cents per piece) which for a licensed theme is pretty impressive. While I would love the tiny turbo-esque sets to come back, with the amount of detail Lego is putting into each of the Speed Champions sets, it’s kinda hard to size the cars down any further without the proportions looking really off. Finally, compared to Racers, Speed Champions offers a lot of different licensed cars brands. So far, they’ve had Audis, Bugattis, Chevys, Ferraris, Fords, McLarens, Mercedes, and Porsches, with hopefully more on the way (Please add Volvos and Subarus Lego). Racers, on the other hand, had mainly Ferraris, a couple of Lamborghinis (don’t know why we haven’t gotten those yet in Speed Champions), and some Williams F1 cars. Racers does have one thing over Speed Champions though. If it hadn’t managed to get the Ferrari license and keep it until the very end, there’s a good chance Speed Champions may have never existed or would have just been a reincarnation of Racers without the licensed cars. Because of how well the partnership between the two companies did, other car manufacturers probably wanted in because of this success. In the end, while you may not like Speed Champions, it’s hard to argue that it’s a bad theme.

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While you may be a fan of real cars over cartoony ones, just think about it: The Racers themes was an official theme for more then Bionicle (G1) was! It started with a few remote control cars in 1998, and officially started in 2001 along with Bionicle. And it lasted until 2013, one more polybag. That for sure, surpases Bionicle (even though Bionicle will always remain my 1st favourite theme). And in all those long years, you had any kind of raceing cars you wanted. You had from Tiny Turbos to Power Racers, from Power Racers to Outdoor RC’s, from RC’s to complex Techinc Models, and you had Race Tracks, Slammers, Air Stompers, and Pull-Backs. Any kind of Raceing Toy a kid (or adult) would want! This theme is like a Hot Wheels version of LEGO, but actually better then Hot Wheels actually was.

Now, what about Speed Champions? Those cars have no playability whatsoever, despite some of them trying to be playsets. Could’t they just add at least a pull-back motor to them?

I hope you understand what I mean. Racers is a theme that is pretty underrated nowdays. And It would always be better then Speed Champions.

Yes, I understand what you mean. Also, I didn’t say it was better, I said maybe better but eh, that’s just my opinion. Now, I’ll rebuttal a couple of your points

I think Speed Champions does have some playability, it’s just both of us have grown out of the age demographic that this playability is meant for.

Per the Speed Champions website “Lego Speed Champions children’s toys feature authentic, realistic, buildable cars from iconic brands such as Bugatti, McLaren, Mercedes-AMG, and Mercedes-AMG Petronas Motorsport, plus all-new Ferrari, Ford and Porsche models. Car-mad kids will love building beautifully detailed LEGO brick replicas of classic cars, sports cars, endurance cars, iconic cars, and race cars, and then playing out their driving dreams as they compete against friends to be first past the finish line”

As Lego is trying to be authentic and realistic with these cars, a pullback motor would just ruin the look of a car and probably not want to make people buy it because of how unlike the car it looks.

If you want cars with pullback motors, go and look at some of the $20 Technic sets, as those have basically become the new Power Racers. For example, BASH and WHACK (yes those are their names) which were just released this year are cars which each feature pullback motors and the ability to break apart slightly when they crash into one another. Then there are the two stunt vehicles from last year, Stunt Bike and Stunt Truck which also contain pullback motors and a ramp, similar to Monster Jumper from 2009. There was also a hot rod and police car in 2016 and a quad bike in 2015 which all contained pullback motors. Heck, we’re even getting another police/getaway vehicle combo again in 2019. As you can see pullback motors aren’t dead, they’ve just become a part of Technic instead.

Also, as I stated in my original post, I would really love tiny turbos to come back, but they don’t really have a place to go atm, as I don’t think they can be detailed enough to be considered Speed Champions sets, and if they’re built like they were before, they wouldn’t really fit under Technic either.

Finally, in regards to RC’s, Power Functions/Power Up is basically the modern equivalent of it, so that’s also not really dead

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As much as some of the elements that made up Racers are not dead, those new sets just don’t have that feel to it. Also some are actually truly dead, such as the Race Tracks.

Also, I have to say, weather kids have realistic cars or cartoony ones, they don’t really care. Even though Speed Champions is a kid’s line, if you ask me, they appeal rather to Teens/Adults rather then kids, since kids don’t really know very much about Car Brands and stuff. I got yesterday 2 sets from 2009 and one from 2011 for a total price of 20$, (you can check my post on “Look what I just got” topic) and my little brothers have gone mad playing with them, that I had to put them in a safe place, (with a few pieces already getting lost) since I buy them for my collection.
With a Speed Champions set… you just leave it on a shelf, for the dust to eat it… (that is what happens with sets that I bought, but not really enjoyed).

In the end, as much as Speed Champions deserves to exist, I would want to have it all back united into a single, strong theme, with fun cartoony cars, but realistic ones as well, like my beloved Racers once was. Too bad LEGO doesn’t care about the themes that made it what it is now days. Even if they do bring it back at some point, I wouldn’t expect more then just a lazy reboot, like Bionicle G2.

So, funny thing about that. This set was just revealed early this morning. So it looks like RC has become a part of Technic as well

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But they use power functions, which moves pretty slow. Of course, it might be the a newer version of power functions, so I could be wrong. Cool set though.

I was always on the fence about racers, I really liked them overall, but to say they arr way better that speed champions is just not true. The original cars, while charming, were quite simplistic. As a car fanatic, I personally enjoy speed champions. The ability to own a 1969 Ford Mustang without paying the serval hundred thousand for a real one is quite entertaining. I wouldn’t say either is better than thr other.

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While I understand your position on licensed themes, and agree with you on some points, I begin to step back when you decide who is and who is not a “true fan” of Lego, if there is such a thing. I feel that term is more accurately a slider that marks degrees of fandom, as opposed to a hard-line yes or no, and, moreover, that an individual may place only themselves on that slider, as a perception of another’s interest or love for something may not be an accurate assessment.

I never said one wasn’t a true fan if they liked licensed themes that was the other guy who said that. I personally wish License themes could take a step back for a while and let the original themes have a renaissance but if one wants more let them have more.

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It is true. The line had about 250 sets released in total and lasted for more then Bionicle did. The me, it’s like saying that Bionicle G2 was better then G1. That is how I feel when people say that Speed Champions is better then Racers.

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I personally like both Speed Champions and Racers for their own seperate merits. Racers for the more fantasy elements (especially the Bionicle esque storytelling based lines like Drome Racers) and Speed Champions and the now defunct Ferrari sets for their realism. Consisering Lego drove the imagination of Racers to the ground (pun partially intended) I think Speed Champions is a nice change of pace.

As much as Speed Champions is a good thing that LEGO has done, why can’t we still have both of them? The Racers theme was primarily focused on creative Hot-Wheels style cars, but I also had realistic brands like Ferrari and Lamborghini. I would like Speed Champions to remain, but have the cartoony, creative Racers too.

Anyway, we are getting off-topic, this topic is about themes that LEGO should cancel, not about Racers vs Speed Champions.

What if I told you that setwise, I kind of like G1 and G2 on par?

I’d also say a much more relatable comparison would be LEGO Space to Star Wars. It starts out with nothing but the set, and then evolves (or devolves, depending how you look at it) into a series embodying a non-LEGO storyline.

The same reason we can’t have both Harry Potter and Castle, or Star Wars and a long lasting Space theme, or HeroFactory with Bionicle. You shouldn’t have two products compete with each other, or you’ll lose money in both.

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I liked G2 as much as you did, almost in pair, but I have heard that some fans fave actually quit Bionicle because of G2 (I don’t know how true this is, but this is what I heard).

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It definitely had a lot of wasted potential, set wise and story wise, so if I were to cancel a theme in order to bring that back, I would. Unless it was Overwatch, Marvel, or Star Wars. I’d trade nearly anything else for a few more bonus years of G2.

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So would I. And I’l sure trade Speed Champions for more G2 :grinning:

G2, obviously wasn’t selling so you’d probably doom Lego by doing such

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Oh yeah, I totally would, but at least I could have Gali Hero of Water or something.

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