Scooby-Doo, of all things, gets Lego'd... Trek STILL left out.

[Gaith]

I admit I haven't really given a damn about Legos for years, especially since they seem to have gotten wildly overpriced in the last decade (sixteen bucks for two minifigs and a tiny bit of rock? Are you goddamn kidding me?!). And yet, the news that Scooby-freaking-Doo is getting Lego'd, while Trek still gets no such love manages to suck even so.

Come on... who here doesn't want their favorite crew/all the crews in minifig form, with shuttles and accessories and bridges and s***? Yeah. We all do.

Lame.

 

[trekshark]

I'm guilty of buying some of the early star wars lego fighters
It seems like lego has gone too far into the licensed works these days though. Do they still have any of the more "generic" sets?
the space stuff started getting specialized but still not licensed off other work about the time I out grew playing with them. Space police and blacktron were out and the space guys in the colored suits got an updated look and visors. Last time I walked down the lego aisle at a big store all I saw was stuff licensed from movies and maybe one "generic" city type playset

 

[Lance]

I'm guilty of buying some of the early star wars lego fighters
It seems like lego has gone too far into the licensed works these days though. Do they still have any of the more "generic" sets?
the space stuff started getting specialized but still not licensed off other work about the time I out grew playing with them. Space police and blacktron were out and the space guys in the colored suits got an updated look and visors. Last time I walked down the lego aisle at a big store all I saw was stuff licensed from movies and amybe one "generic" city type playset

I am in complete agreement trekshark.

I can totally understand why Lego are doing it -- I don't doubt that the licenced figures/sets probably sell 10x more than their regular ones these days simply based on the licence alone -- but I do feel that the unique essence of Lego itself is being diluted somewhere down the line, as more and more of their sets become simply another 'LEGO [Insert Brand Name Here]' product.

The early Star Wars ones were a neat gimmick in their isolation, and that's why I think they sold so well. But as time has gone on, and more properties have been licenced for the Lego treatment, I'd be lying if I said I didn't have some concerns about the impact of that in the long term.

But I'mma be a hypocrite here and say if they ever licence Star Trek, then I'd have a much emptier wallet.

 

[cardinal biggles]

There were some sets put out by rival brand Kre-O for Star Trek Into Darkness, which is distributed in the U.S. by Hasbro. I'm not surprised Paramount gave them the license rather than approaching LEGO -- Hasbro is of course production partners with Paramount on the Transformers and G.I. Joe films. Gotta love that corporate synergy!

 

[Melakon]

Never watched Scooby-Doo but I see he first appeared when I was a college freshman. I always saw him as a recasting (rip-off) of Hanna-Barbera's own Astro from The Jetsons. I don't remember ever having Lego toys, it doesn't look like they reached the U.S. until I was 10, and by then I no longer played with blocks. As I remember, they were more expensive than any of my toys. All I got were wooden Tinkertoys and wooden Lincoln Logs. So I don't have the love for either of them. I wanted an Erector set by Gilbert, which was a construction toy with metal pieces, but they were too expensive.

 

[MacLeod]

There were some sets put out by rival brand Kre-O for Star Trek Into Darkness, which is distributed in the U.S. by Hasbro. I'm not surprised Paramount gave them the license rather than approaching LEGO -- Hasbro is of course production partners with Paramount on the Transformers and G.I. Joe films. Gotta love that corporate synergy!

But I suspect that Lego is the more well known brand internationally. Surely from a business sense it makes sense to work with the most well known brand if it makes business sense.

 

[Lance]

I do remember the Kre-O thing, but I will make the observation (as MacLeod already has) that outside of the United States it's got virtually zero market share. I think I may have seen *one* Kre-O Into Darkness set, a Klingon ship, in a toy shop in the Bull Ring Centre, Birmingham. But they weren't easy to find by any means. LEGO, on the other hand, are everywhere.

 

[Therin of Andor]

I loved the Kre-O mini-figures (ie. Kreons) for "Star Trek". I ordered these from eBay, and then found a mini playset (with John Harrison/Khan) at retail.
Kre-ons aliens by Therin of Andor, on Flickr
Above: Hasbro's Grasia, Keenser, Klingon, Gorn, Captain Nero and Lieutenant Sprog Kreons.

Kre-on Andorian by Therin of Andor, on Flickr
Above: Hasbro's Kreon Andorian from Wave 2.

My big complaint - ever since Lego brought out its "Pirate Ship" set in 1990(?) - is that kids very rarely make any Lego models from their imagination, just make the model depicted on the box. In the 60s, the kids I knew who collected Lego could make about 20 different models from the one kit, then bought more kits to expand the range that was possible to make.

I've seen Lego models of the Enterprise, the bridge, shuttlecraft. Surely there are also free downloadable, fan-created instructions to make such models? Are licensed kits really that desirable?

 

[drt]

My little boy, who is six, loves the LEGO Star Wars stuff. He doesn't care about the traditional Star Wars action figures/toys at all. However, the non-licenced stuff still takes up about half the LEGO store (most of it is LEGO "City" and is everday police/firetrucks/garbage trucks/construction equipment). They even still sell sets of random blocks, but those are tucked into a corner (plus the whole back wall is nothing but random blocks that you can buy by the containerful).

Usually the way it goes is we get a set, I put it together for him, it lasts maybe a month intact, then is torn apart to make all kinds of crazy new things.

One other thing I've noted, for the general market, LEGOs have completely replaced plastic model kits, which now are only to be found in specialty hobby shops or online.

 

[Lance]

One other thing I've noted, for the general market, LEGOs have completely replaced plastic model kits, which now are only to be found in specialty hobby shops or online.

I've come to the same conclusion. Lego have very cleverly cornered the market in what once would have been the purview of the traditional model making hobby (it's even possible to get deluxe sets that allow the building of actual national monuments with specialty pieces, like one I saw of the Sydney Opera House that has curved bits you can't get in any other Lego set.)

 

[Gaith]

But I suspect that Lego is the more well known brand internationally. Surely from a business sense it makes sense to work with the most well known brand if it makes business sense.

I kinda wonder if part of the Star Wars/Lego agreement is that, so long as it's in effect, there shall be no Trek Legos. Too paranoid? Hey, if I'd been the guy at Lucasfilm at the time, before Lego started licensing all sorts of properties on the regular, I'd have insisted on it. (In my day, human Star Wars Lego minifigs had the regular yellow skin, not pink, and we all had to wonder what they'd ever do for Lando!)

And those Kre-O junk are no substitute. None whatsoever.

 

[Lance]

I've actually got several 'customised' Lego figurines. Like for example my Lego Duke Nukem.

Somehow, I don't think I'll ever see that one get licenced officially.

I actually customised myself a Lego Commander Riker, a Lego Data, and a Lego Worf back in my High School days. None of 'em were as good as an official set would be, however.

 

[publiusr]

Well, maybe you can make a saucer hull out of these
http://shop.lego.com/en-US/Droid-Gunship-75042
http://shop.lego.com/en-US/Cargo-Terminal-60022

 

[Bry_Sinclair]

If they came with Lego Star Trek, I would be in absolute heaven.

 

[USS Triumphant]

I kinda wonder if part of the Star Wars/Lego agreement is that, so long as it's in effect, there shall be no Trek Legos. Too paranoid? Hey, if I'd been the guy at Lucasfilm at the time, before Lego started licensing all sorts of properties on the regular, I'd have insisted on it.

My thoughts exactly, you Transformers-hater, you.

(No, I'm never letting that go. )

 

[CorporalCaptain]

We would have gotten Star Trek LEGO toys too, if it weren't for those meddling kids and their dumb dog!

 

[nonbelligerency]

There has to be a reason they haven't done it yet. Either Paramount wants a specific percentage or some other deal that LEGO won't agree to, or LEGO just doesn't see the sales being there. Right now would probably be less than back in the TNG days, in my opinion. But that's just because I don't like anything post DS9.

 

[cardinal biggles]

Also, LEGO didn't start doing licensed themes until 1999 when the first Star Wars sets hit the market; by that time, Trek had peaked while interest in Star Wars was sky-high with the release of Phantom Menace.

 

[Gaith]

My thoughts exactly, you Transformers-hater, you.

(No, I'm never letting that go. )

"And I will never ask you to."

.
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