Why the Obsession with Story Based Themes?

What you forget is Mars Mission, Aqua Raiders, Power Miners, ECT. did have stories. Very simple stories, but stories all the same. Also, I say the “obsession” over sorry based themes is any form of story is also advertising. Kids want to buy characters they like and things they see, why do you think movie themes do so well?

3 Likes

I think clarifications need to be made on what constitutes a “story”. Themes like Exo Force, Mars, Aqua Raiders, Power Miners, Adventure, etc, didn’t so much have STORIES, as in, a cohesive narrative that progresses from one thing to another, as much as they had a premise. A premise is just a vague outline of the what the story is about such as “Enter the world of BIONICLE, where six heroes have arrived to save the Island of Mata Nui from the evil Makuta and his Rahi”. Sure, there were little comics and stuff for themes like Adventure and Exo Force, but that just adds a little more flavor to the premise so kids can understand that Johnny Thunder is the good guy and who the bad guys are. Their imaginations can go from there and make whatever they want.

BIONICLE and NinjaGo have only been successful story themes because the worlds were so fleshed out. We have characters that are well defined and interesting stories for our constraction figures and spinning Ninjas to reenact in the living room floor as we watch the movies or TV shows. Just as good as a theme from yesteryear that had a premise but little story to it. Both stimulated imagination. Then we come to themes like Chima and Nexo Knights. They were certainly story driven themes, but neither was thought out as well as Bonkle or NinjaGo, and so they exist in some middle realm between the great story themes and the premise based themes. They got their three years, and now they’re done. There were some cool ideas and sets for kids to explore, but at the end of the day they were just ok except Chima, Chima was just bad .

Licensed themes don’t detract from original story themes, as they actually fit more into the premise category of themes. Everyone knows Star Wars, so it’s going to be easier for LEGO to focus on good builds, and for new LEGO fans to start with that and then discover NinjaGo through their new found love of interlocking brick systems. And then they can have their new 2019 Droid Gunship chase Lloyd’s Ultra Dragon around for new and exciting stories that they create.

That’s part of the beauty about The LEGO Movie. Emmet is an ordinary construction worker from the LEGO City theme that Finn then combined with his own cast of colorful characters and Batman to create a story to help him deal with his distant father. ANY LEGO minifigure can be that for any child around the globe. It doesn’t matter if it’s Jay from NinjaGo, Rowan Freemaker from LEGO Star Wars, Craggar from Chima, or a Mini-Doll from Friends. They can make their own story to suit their play needs no matter the theme or story.

That’s the crux of what LEGO is. It’s not the stories they tell us, but rather the tools they give us to make the stories we want to tell. How many people are learning how to make better stories by complaining about the lackluster story in BIONICLE G2 or the NinjaGo movie? Even when LEGO fails, the fans win (well… I guess not all the time, because if they fail too much they could go out of business, but you get the point). Star Wars partnering with LEGO is one of the greatest combinations in the whole of human history, right up there with macaroni and cheese. A really imaginative world brought to life through a building system where your LEGO Millennium Falcon could literally be any vehicle you want to make it. Then, you can have Lord Voldemort get sucked into another dimension and fly around in a TIE Fighter as he tries to help Lord Garmadon conqueror NinjaGo City that may or may not include some of the characters from Disney/Pixar’s Cars 2.

We can gripe and complain about how LEGO stories turn out all day long, but in the end, the stories don’t matter, the system and CCBS! is what matters. LEGO Star Wars will always be around, but so will City, Creator, and Technic. And whether or not they’re great successes, LEGO will also forever more have story based themes thanks to those Bio Mechanical island dwellers and teenage Ninja. We may also get some premise themes again like Pharaoh’s Quest or Monster Hunters in the future. There may be some gaps between new original story themes like it looks like we’re going to get this year (although to be fair The LEGO Movie 2 is coming out, so why flood your own market with competition?), but LEGO will always make sure we play well.

13 Likes

I agree with you. But there are a few problems I have personally:LEGO is about creativity, I know. Kids can play with both Bionicle and Star Wars at the same time if they want. But there is a little problem… The sets sell… but people don’t really play with them! The UCS Star Wars sets are a prime example. They are meant for display rather then play. People could easily just take them apart and make their own UCS model, but do they do it? As far as I have seen, not very often. They are kept as collector’s display pieces rather than toys, the thing that they really are. While everything you just said is absolutely true, not many people would really dare to do this. (at least as far asI have seen).

Also, Chima wasn’t bad in any means. I personally loved it…[quote=“prentice1215, post:25, topic:47900”]
from Disney/Pixar’s Cars 2.
[/quote]

Huh, I thought I was the only person who liked that movie. Most people seemed to hate it…

3 Likes

There’s definitely some interesting questions and thoughts expressed here, and I have many of my own to contribute, so I’ll get right into it.

Bionicle and Ninjago are the most successful of the Lego-original Story-Driven Themes (SDT), and I feel few would argue with that.

Bionicle’s complex story was, to my understanding, designed to capitalize on the success experienced by similarly lore-filled Star Wars, and it worked. Bionicle lasted 10 years, and undoubtedly the storyline contributed to this commercial success. Star Wars is another line that fits within your definition of a Story Based Theme, and it has year-after-year been a top seller. Ninjago, of course, came afterward, and the primary media focus of the theme rested on its TV show, which is a medium that naturally lends itself to SDT’s such as NInjago, Chima, Nexo Knights, and Hero Factory. Perhaps now would be the time to consider that the new influx of story driven themes was due to other factors, such as lego’s conclusion around this time that TV shows are an effective way to advertise their products.

I believe it began with Star Wars in 1999, which is now 20 years ago. The company was in the dirt and things changed. To address any qualms one might have about the inclusion of Star Wars in the SDT category, here is my rationale: [quote=“Kini_Hawkeye, post:1, topic:47900”]
Life on Mars/Mars Mission, Rock Raiders/Power Miners, Johnny Thunder, Alpha Team. Knights Kingdom… Exo-Force… These are all examples of themes that had “A story” in the sense that maybe things progressed year over year, but I don’t remember them ever being story driven like Bionicle or Ninjago are/were.
[/quote]

Star Wars is driven by its story in a way unlike Knights Kingdom, Exo Force, et.al., and very like Bionicle and Ninjago. I feel it should be included as the story is a primary selling point of the sets, similarly to Ninjago and Bionicle.

And another thing: is it really younger fans? Star Wars fans are surely above the average lego fan in age, and Bionicle’s as well (Or, if you take issue with that, I’ll say present day Bionicle fans are far older). I don’t feel that wanting a complex story iin a lego theme is a good indication ofage or maturity. Lego doesn’t need to claim things to do them. Older Lego fans than you were probably similarly confused when Lego began producing [quote=“Kini_Hawkeye, post:1, topic:47900”]
Mars/Mars Mission
[/quote]

or[quote=“Kini_Hawkeye, post:1, topic:47900”]
Knights Kingdom
[/quote]
, the former of which is a far cry form classic space, and the latter from old Castle. Even if Star Wars, Bionicle, and Ninjago are compromising Lego’s morals and ideals, ultimately, If they make enough money they will remain. And, notably, all three have lasted llonger than any of the old, story-less themes you mentioned:[quote=“Kini_Hawkeye, post:1, topic:47900”]
Life on Mars/Mars Mission, Rock Raiders/Power Miners, Johnny Thunder, Alpha Team. Knights Kingdom… Exo-Force…
[/quote]

Naturally, the counterargument would be to mention that many story-less themes such as creator, city, etc, have lasted longer than Hero Factory, Chima, Nexo Knights, Ninjago, etc, and that many SDT’s have failed such as some of those I just mentioned above. However, my argument is not that SDTs are good and story-less themes are bad, or that one is inherently more successful than the other. The Success of a theme cannot be reduced to something so simple as that. However, I would argue that Well-crafted Storylines for SDTs are more likely to increase the success of the line than poor Stories such as those in Chima and Nexo Knights.[quote=“Kini_Hawkeye, post:1, topic:47900”]
I understand Bionicle was the theme that saved Lego, but outside of Bionicle and now Ninjago I never heard people raving about how amazing the story of Insert-Theme-Here was.
[/quote]

This, I argue, is because there is only an “obsession” over particular SDTs; only lines with well crafted characters and stories such as Bionicle or Star Wars have people raving about them. Even Ninjago held a certain charm for my 2011 self that Hero Factory and Chima did not, and it’s demographic is predictably younger than those of Bionicle and Star Wars. Humans have always been drawn to good storytelling, which is why, outside of Lego, franchises such as Harry Potter and Lord of the Rings are so supremely popular. It seems to be a natural evolution of the Lego Company to embrace such an idea, for their products are so fit to piggyback of off the successes of Non-Lego stories. Why shouldn’t they make their own?

As for some specific points:

They sell creative building toys that occassionally have an incredible story to accompany them. It doesn’t have to be one or the other, and we call them themes as a convention. Star Wars is Star Wars themed Lego, but Star Wars itself isn’t really a theme at all. Either way, this is most likely the weakest point of the original post: should the term “themes” influence how and what Lego produces?[quote=“Kini_Hawkeye, post:1, topic:47900”]
Maybe I’m just old and crotchety (I am), Maybe I just don’t care as much for Lego as I did in my childhood (I don’t), but I genuinely don’t understand where this angle of criticism spawned from when Lego Lines with stories have been the exception over the past 20 years, not the rule.
[/quote]

I’m would probably attribute it to a few things:

  1. Many fans who enjoyed story themes do not enjoy storyless themes. (Myself included)
  2. Those fans are probably not old enough to remember a time when story driven themes were not present (Myself included).
  3. There are less SDTs than there used to be, and for fans who have always known them and wish to continue collecting them, it is disheartening, regardless of the fact that they were always in the minority.

ANyway, Kini, I’d be interested to hear your take on this :slight_smile: Theres tons of posts below yours I’m tempted to repond to, but this is long enough as it is and your post inspired the discussion anyway. Cheers!
(ALso, yes SDT sounds like STD but I couldnt type “Story Driven Themes” half a hundred times)

5 Likes

This was my problem all the time. I may be in a minority, but seeing all the themes I loved so much just disappear is heartbreaking for me. For those who still want to criticize me, then go ahead! Just make my pain more playful!

I would argue though that Star Wars isn’t a story driven theme. It’s just the LEGO representation of a movie series. What I personally consider a “SDT” is a story that may have been inspired from somewhere, but which was 100% made originally by LEGO. There is a big difference when the Story already existed decades before the LEGO sets were made and when the story was made exclusively for the LEGO sets.

1 Like

If this were true, and that’s all LEGO was used for now, the company would be in financial troubles at the very least and gone at worst. You don’t see many people playing with their LEGO on the internet because as a general rule of most sites (this one included) you have to be a certain age to be on the websites. 13 is usually as low as the age gets unless the site is specifically targeted towards kids. So, no, of course you don’t see kids playing with their LEGO often, because they’re doing it in the privacy of their own home and not posting about it online. Those that do, are older, and use LEGO for other creative means. MOCing, Brickfilming, still photography. I still collect LEGO and use it for Brickfilming purposes. It may not be traditional, but I’d say I still play with my LEGO in a way even though I’m almost twenty bloody one years old.

On the topic of the UCS models like the Death Star or Cloud City, those are meant for older fans to collect. It’s one of the few times I’d say the ages listed on the box is more a rule and less of a suggestion.

Another reason why it’s sorta funny to argue about LEGO losing their creative side and purpose because of more reliance on licensed themes is that the majority of us, because of the rules of this site, are probably outside of the age range listed on the boxes we pick up in the stores. The highest the age suggestions go on LEGO boxes (as far as I’ve seen) is 16+. And that’s for the modular buildings. Star Wars, NinjaGo, and LEGO MARVEL sets are going to suggest anywhere between 5 and 14 on their boxes. While I do wholeheartedly believe that it is a suggestion, as The LEGO Movie pokes fun at, we are all probably outside of what LEGO is shooting at for their target demographic.

This is sorta a topic of discussion that I would shut down pretty quick because it’d be likely to get out of hand, but that probably depends on what constitutes a ‘fan’. It can be used as a very nebulous term, as it encapsulates those that have only seen the films and don’t care otherwise, and those like me that can go on about the Hyperspace War and the Sith Empire, two things that technically never happened in current Star Wars canon.

As a general rule, it seems like kids like Star Wars, and with the ever growing collection of movies, shows, etc, the bar for entry into the fandom is getting younger and younger. Kids more than anyone are probably getting Star Wars sets in larger numbers than older fans, who probably stick to the more expensive sets and UCS.

9 Likes

Unfortunately, the entire premise of the thread is nebulous (the “younger fans” are “all” “obsessed” with story based themes(Quoted from the first post))(Three rather questionable parts of the premise). But fair enough, “fan” is a nebulous term. In this case, however, I think , by nearly any metric, that fans of Star Wars are of a higher median age than fans of Lego Sets. If this isn’t the case for the metric you use to determine a fan, I’d love to hear it. All the same, I’m constantly bombarded in this community (And rightly so) with the reminder that the large majority of Lego consumers are young. I wouldn’t be comfortable with saying the same about Star Wars consumers/fans/community/whatever.

4 Likes

There are a lot of Star Wars fans in the older range, yes, but there are still a high number of kids invested in the story, characters, and merchandise. I’ve been heavily involved in the AFOL community for a number of years now, and I can say with certainty the number of adults invested in LEGO is definitely not lacking, either, although children do make up the vast majority of the target audience.

Not necessarily in my opinion, but definitely in the companies’ opinions, a fan is someone who consistently buys the product being produced with a more positive approach to the company producing it. Those who buy a LEGO product once and refuse to touch it afterwards do not make up a very noticeable percentage of the market, and thus are not considered as highly as those who buy the products consistently and those who have never bought any before.

At the end of the day, however, the topic of the topic hasn’t changed - why is LEGO’s target audience, including several members here on the message boards- no, let’s broaden it a bit more:[quote=“Kini_Hawkeye, post:1, topic:47900”]
When did everyone become so obsessed with story based themes?
[/quote]

Which I did answer, but then I recalled what Kini said when he created the topic:[quote=“Kini_Hawkeye, post:1, topic:47900”]
So, I was going to type up a lil rant in a topic before stopping myself and realizing that it could actually be a good conversation topic.
[/quote]

I’m pretty darn sure I know exactly which topic he’s talking about, who started it, and when it all occurred. And while I’ve seen evidence of this opinion being exercised beyond the message boards…

…Have you?

3 Likes

Well this isn’t a representation of whether or not a theme is good or bad. People are voting with their wallets. The themes that stick around are the ones making Lego money, since more people are buying them. Most often than not people wouldn’t spend money on something that they aren’t interested in, so the themes that stay and the themes that go are a good representation of a themes populartity.

3 Likes

Wow this kinda blew up overnight didn’t it? There’s a lot to unpack here so If I missed you… do you really want a response that bad? :stuck_out_tongue:

My opinion very much stems from my knowledge of this point. Growing up, every theme had a “story.” But I wasn’t buying into the story like I did with Bionicle, I was buying into the sets themselves.

I suppose my phrasing may have been off in that regard - Lego lines have had some form of story more often than not that progresses the line along, but I seem to be coming across more and more people who think that Lego needs to have a Bionicle-esque storyline for every single toy line they produce.

(I will also admit that this is perhaps a symptom of Echo Chambering as well)


As someone who got more into the story of Bionicle than the sets (There are a bunch of years where I only have one or two sets from that entire year) my enjoyment has always been predicated on “what can I do with this.”

My love of Bionicle was never that is was a great building system (though it was) or that the story was transcendentally amazing (it’s not) but I loved the opportunity it created to have just crazy spin offs happen.

I was a fanfic writer for years. “Finish Forsaken” isn’t Meso ribbing me for not playing enough Destiny, and I would much rather have a barebones story where, through building the sets and such, I can develop a story of my own. Full Disclosure, I only collect a select few sets nowadays, and most of my recent purchases haven’t even been Lego (Halo MegaBloks FTW) but my mentality has remained the same. So basically what @Sabretooth said.


@PakariNation99 You make excellent points as always. I admit fully that there may be a certain amount of “Echo Chambering” occurring with this in regards to the boards, but it certainly feels like something that’s become more of a thing overall.


@Tarkur You’re not wrong, the ■■■■■ in how financials were tracked certainly contributed to the restructuring of Lego’s themes (Which were, up until that point, literally “Themes” in the sense that you had Castles, or Cowboys and Indians, or Mars). But I think the issue is that packaging a story into your theme should not automatically be the standard. Architecture is a great theme that I wish I had the money and/or space to collect. City is the same. A Themes story should excite the mind and fuel creativity to create your own adventures with the sets - NOT be the main draw to the theme. At least in my opinion. I don’t disagree with anything you’ve said but, as stated earlier, I feel like there are certainly those who miss the creative aspect of Lego entirely.


@Ghid I’m gonna level with you - you and I rarely see eye to eye just in passing, but I entirely agree. And I will concede the point about Bonk saving Lego being less a statement of fact and more a shorthand for what actually happened that is, more or less, generally recognized.


Is building not, by definition, playing? Is MoC’ing not playing? I would argue that as people mature their “type” of play certainly changed, but I wouldn’t say they aren’t playing. And as stated, those giant sets are intended for collectors. That’s why they come with display stands and cost multiple hundreds of dollars. If you’re the kid who gets a display level Lego set and plays with it, then you either have the patience of a saint or someone else built it for you. No different than how you can buy a 20 dollar lightsaber from Toys R’ Us (Still exists in Canada ;D) or a 500 dollar one meant for sparring/display from SabreForge. Same thing, different purpose.


@Styrofoam You make excellent points. I cannot and will not deny that having a good story increases sales, that’s just a point of fact. I suppose my main intent with this topic was to see where that fact (because yes, it is a fact) started becoming a negative against themes that lacked it instead of a positive for the themes that do. In my mind, a few themes with well crafted storylines is a net positive as opposed to trying to get that with every theme and having the quality suffer. Maybe I’m just old… god knows I feel it. :stuck_out_tongue:

I will admit that my phrasing of a few things was less than ideal and I wasn’t entirely awake, but I have to thank you specifically for replying and actually pointing out things where my wording didn’t convey my point. In terms of the “Obsession,” I understand that having story based themes is the natural progression, and in fact I encourage it. Twould be quite hypocritical of me not to, but I suppose in the same was that I as a G1 Bonk fan could never get the appeal of G2, I can’t understand why there seems to be this mentality of “Story above all else.” Lego should continue to make excellent and engaging stories, but I don’t think they should for every single theme and I suppose that’s where my wording missed a critical point of context.

I agree with everything here. And yes, themes are a convention and not much more, but the original basis for calling them themes is that they were quite literally just that, themes. Castle, Space, Racing… etc.

I actually fit in the camp of not enjoying storyless themes. In anything. Needs a story to make me want to pay any money towards it, and Admittedly I am in the sect of “ancient” lego fans now seeing as even all I remember is the tail end of the storyless era. I remember Lego Adventures (Thanks Likus) ending and being super sad that I wouldn’t be able to have any more Tomb Raiding Indiana Jonesing sets (in fact, I only ever got one. Johnny Thunder is tucked away in a bin somewhere with a display plate alongside the Chief from Rock Raiders). I have just as much if not more nostalgia for a lot of Themes than most people on the boards because Bionicle was my focus, but I still paid attention to everything else Lego was putting out.

I suppose my confusion/interest, as stated earlier, stems from a combination of being older and remembering those days as opposed to nowadays, and wondering why not having a ninjago level story has become a negative. I loved Bionicle because there were always gaps in the timeline where you could still explore what someone may have done without the official story telling you what happened. It’s part of why I have vehemently opposed the casual canonization of every random idea that gets thrown around. I enjoyed having a springboard for my own crazy ideas, and always felt that was the point of Lego.

As I said, I admit that my phrasing of some things was less than ideal, hopefully that clears up some!


I remember the first Lego set I ever got.

It was a Gali. But before that, I went to my best friends at the time (Now stepbrother, long story) house and played with the Lego Millenium Falcon and Tie Fighter. Both had just come out the year before, so I was about 4-5 years old. My next “real” lego set after the earlier mentioned Adventures one? The Hailfire Droid.

The big one. The Original Technic One.

You’re right that there’s a big difference between when the story existed for decades as opposed to Lego making their own: It already has a fanbase.

I honestly doubt I would’ve ever gotten into Lego past Bionicle if it weren’t for Lego Starwars, because the combination of Star Wars universe and Lego’s playability meant that the stories and things that I had been imagining in my head could be acted out. I had lightsabers, I had blasters, I had all manner of Star Wars paraphernalia, but the ones I enjoyed playing with the most and always wanted were the Star Wars sets. To claim that Star Wars isn’t a story driven theme when, really, the only thing driving it is the story, is a bit pedantic don’t you think?

Also, as a brief aside to your “Seeing all these lines you loved disappear” line: . A lot of themes have ended (feels like far more ended between 01 and 10 than in the last 8 years but I’m almost certainly wrong about that and don’t feel like doing the math), including Bionicle. I grew up with that Theme. Most of my friends now would never have been my friends without it. I’m not going to discount the disappointment of having someone you love come to an end, but it’s certainly something you have to learn to deal with. Things end.

Now to be clear, no one is criticizing anyone for having an opinion. No one’s criticizing anyone for missing something. However, I will just say that when it seems to be all you can talk about there comes a point where people stop sympathizing.


Phew. That was long. Very long. Can you believe I spent over an hour, right after getting home from work, typing all that out? Jeez. Too much guys.

I think that sums up pretty clearly what I think, while clearing up some things that I forgot to say or definitely messed up getting across. Hopefully that explains a few things. I suppose calling it an obsession was a poor choice of words, but the truth is that while Lego has evolved and the fanbase has evolved alongside it, I feel like there is an unrealistic expectation for a toy that, in essense, is just building blocks to have some kind of crazy overarching story and explanation for every little detail.

In that sense, maybe Bionicle and Ninjago have spoiled us. Lego is supposed to be a creative toy, primarily, and the mentality of “If the story isn’t good or is nonexistant, it isn’t worth it” that seems to be cropping up is entirely counter intuitive to that end. If the story isn’t up to your standards, fix it

And if you can’t fix it with play, start writing, or art of some kind. There are more than enough talented people in the Lego community that there’s always opportunity to expand the story or your enjoyment of a theme, and I think that should be more important and more valuable than “But is the story good”

[/LongWinded]
~Hawkeye

17 Likes

I would joke about TTV trying to make a Story Based Theme with Brickonicle and not going so well but I’m not.


as for this topic, I don’t really care if a theme needs a story or even if the story is good. I mean, Story Based Theme like Bionicle and Ninjago are good but mostly Lego is about Building and Having Fun then the story they tell. Besides, you can always make your you’re own story or making a theme’s story better by fixing some parts or explaining stuff that warrant explained, that’s what I’m doing with G2.

so yeah, that’s my thoughts.

3 Likes

Why?
why not?

Realistically, though, Lego probably wants something that can be built upon and that has a story for the younger fans to enjoy and follow. Take ninjago, for example. My cousin is obsessed with the theme, and knows the entire story! The stories help build up a universe, and then the universe can be fighter expanded by the fans, with fanfiction, mocs, videos…
The stories add more depth to the sets, they add more meaning to them. They explain the significance of each set, and character, and then the story-based sets can be tied in with any shoes that may exist! Like I said, the stories create a universe for the fans to dwell in and add to.

5 Likes

So I have been watching aloot of a youtube serie’s called Lego Rewind and you would be supriced to find out that Lego has hade story based sets since the 80th, Lego space, police, alpha team and more where all created with a story behind them.
Whats more some sets even created there own universe, lego space was a theme that had diffrent name’s exempel Lego Ice planet, lego space police, lego aliens, lego Mars and more , and all theme’s had there own story with in them, but they where all still connected to the Lego Space theme.

To me having a story to a set is kinda cool, think for a second if they released say a lego chima set but just called it Lego parts 12032141 (or somthing) would you as a kid or adult buy said set? or just look up the parts online instead?
Well either way I think lego needs to have a original theme story for again, they can’t cut it with just Marvel, DC and star wars theme sets. Might be a reson why they went with Overwatch, Lego’s are running out of idea’s that can make boy’s want to buy there sets right now, most theme sets I see in store’s are Lego freinds and fairy, some Ninjago sets but they are dieing out and some marvel set and dc sets, Lego as a howl seems to be dieing here in Sweden, but that might just be in the store’s near me, I don’t know.

4 Likes

I think the best part of hero factory was its emphasis on making your own hero’s villains. It was designed to be expanded upon by those who bought the sets and frankly, moc makers. 2.0-4.0 made this clear.

4 Likes

I agree with all you said.

1 Like

I think you’re arguing against a belief that I haven’t really seen expressed anywhere, Kini. Not to say that you haven’t seen this opinion around the community, but I think that it’s either an INCREDIBLE minority or you’re slightly misreading the intent of the criticisms.

I don’t think there’s a predominant belief that “if a theme doesn’t have a story, then it’s bad and I don’t like it.” Again, maybe a minority of the community holds that belief, like the types of people who frequent information-based wikis ala BS01, but I think the real driving force behind a lot of discontent comes from story themes themselves; I’ll elaborate on that momentarily. Nobody cares that Technic doesn’t have a story, or Speed Champions, City, Creator, etc, as those themes are perfectly successful and loved without the need to force a story into them. Even barebones story themes like Atlantis/Power Miners/Ultra Agents work perfectly fine as the story acts as a framework to enact creative play scenarios. Few people clamor to add tons of deeplore to these themes or complain about the lack of a thought-provoking backstory for Toxicita or Invizable.

The issue stems from themes that try to implement a deep story… and either fail spectacularly at it, or fail to live up to what came prior. BIONICLE set the standard, and so everything that has come since has been compared to that storyline’s success. It’s why Hero Factory, despite having a fairly typical episodic story structure that fostered creativity and a plethora of play scenarios, was derided and hated by the community until they tried (and failed) to implement a narrative with internal continuity between the years; despite Hero Factory’s positive attributes, it lived in the shadow of BIONICLE, with its sprawling 10 year mythos and hundreds of wiki pages. The sheer mass of BIONICLE’s story dwarfed its successors, not even factoring in BIONICLE’s more nuanced tone, theming, and characterization.

Ninjago has far and above been the greatest success story, but even that took a bit of time to develop its world and characters; it had to break out of the negative stigma that “Ninjas on spinning tops fighting Skeletons on motorcycles” crafted, but once it did, it became BIONICLE’s true successor and still continues to this day. That being said… what else is there? What other great success story has there been? HF, Chima, Nexo Knights, Elves (which was pretty decent when I watched the Netflix show, to be fair)… not to disrespect any of these themes or their fans, but none of these storylines are going to leave any kind of lasting impact. We’re not gonna be talking about the legacy of Legends of Chima in a decade. When people look at these stories and compare them to BIONICLE, they’re going to draw a negative comparison and their perception of the story will be altered… ONLY because they tried to tell a story in the first place. Taking into account the fact that BIONICLE was LEGO’s pioneer story-driven IP, you realize that in the minds of most people, when a theme tries to interject a deep plot, they are “being like BIONICLE,” and since most modern themes feature simplified concepts, worldbuilding, and lore… the comparison is usually cast in a negative light because of those fans’ preconceptions.

TLDR; people don’t hate LEGO themes because they lack a story, people hate LEGO themes that have bad stories

15 Likes

Nexo Knights had a “bad” story yet I still liked it. I really enjoyed all the jokes in the episodes. Even though it didn’t have the best story, I still enjoyed the show…

He is speaking generally. It’s pretty illogical to like something that is bad.

Continuing my first post…

I think the obsession is that story themes make up their own universe most of the time, and therefore have new pieces and newer colors that the AFOLs can enjoy.

Like one or two people here on-site who spearhead the belief and constantly make topics about it

not to disrespect any of these themes or their fans, but none of these storylines are going to leave any kind of lasting impact. We’re not gonna be talking about the legacy of Legends of Chima in a decade. When people look at these stories and compare them to BIONICLE, they’re going to draw a negative comparison and their perception of the story will be altered… ONLY because they tried to tell a story in the first place. Taking into account the fact that BIONICLE was LEGO’s pioneer story-driven IP, you realize that in the minds of most people, when a theme tries to interject a deep plot, they are “being like BIONICLE,” and since most modern themes feature simplified concepts, worldbuilding, and lore… the comparison is usually cast in a negative light because of those fans’ preconceptions.
[/quote]

I absolutely agree. BIONICLE set a standard which most people tend to forget is quite high.

5 Likes