Why Most LEGO Unlicensed Themes Fail

[@andrewtaylor940]

To make things worse, Vidyo was actually a licensed theme. Just nobody realized it. It was made in conjunction with Universal Music Group. As for why unlicensed classic settings aren’t doing well anymore? Blame the loss of Saturday afternoon tv. For decades, before that advent of streaming, local stations tended to fill Saturday afternoon broadcast schedules with tons of old classic (reasonably kid safe) movies. You would randomly get Errol Flynn Robin Hood or Pirate movies. SciFi movies other than Star Wars. Giant Monster movies. John Wayne Westerns, etc. So kids had some exposure to the baseline settings. Enough to build a play pattern around them. Now all they get is wall to wall manufactured current year IP. So that’s all they want to play with.

[@ComicBoy750]

Man, it’s a shame there aren’t as many unlicensed themes now, those were my favorites! I loved Lego Agents, Agents 2.0, Galaxy Squad, Lego Dino & Dino Attack, Lego Hero Factory, Monster Hunters, & maybe some others too. Since coming back to Lego now 5-6 years later I’ve noticed a lack of good unlicensed sets besides Ninjago which is still going on. Now it’s just a lot of licensed sets like Minecraft, (which is still somewhat decent) Star Wars, Marvel, and some others. I can understand from a business standpoint that it makes them more money. A similar thing happened with Fortnite where in Season 15 & forwards the game has been a lot more saturated with collabs which makes the company more money than original skins. It just stinks that there’s not that many original themes now since I’ve come back to LEGOs all this time later & can actually afford these expensive sets I never could when I was younger.

[@n_ex13]

Space police 3 bionicle, Vikings power miners, fantasy era, and exo force are amazing themes And I really love some of the old school peaceful Lego space themes Like imagine something like M-tron done to day it would look amazing

[@wadewilson3296]

To me, ninjago has essentially become another licensed theme, with how long it’s been going, and the shows and movie. The 2007-2016 era of unlicensed themes was perfect with my favorite being power miners

[@keytarnerd]

honestly it feels like Ninjago, monkie kid, lego city and lego friends are the only ones going strong at this point

[@pringleaddict5827]

This will be legos downfall. They are producing that much kinds of themes , we are being spoiled. Like it’s losing its impact and there is simply too much choice

[@davidcranfill3097]

A very well-written video. I never even thought of City having Jungle and Underwater already.

[@BatFlightBuilds]

Thank You!

[@BuildLego]

One flaw of chima was getting a minifig body and then just sticking an animal head to it. You get that every year on the minifig series about every 4-6 months. The star wars theme has gotten very lame with re-releases of the same and the prices keep going up.

[@legodavid9260]

The lack of unlicensed themes really killed my interest in LEGO to be honest. Especially the end of Constraction themes like Bionicle and Hero Factory.

[@Zawaito]

Hero factory had the sickest designs fr... And the fact that they were fully articulated... Chefskiss

[@TheOmegazerox]

Well for me I buy sets for parts and create my owne builds. I colected lotr' hobbit and now hpcause I have an interest in fantasy but Made my owne charecters and storie customs. I grewup in the mid 80s so I can remember those creative times and I recreate that creativity in legos even with lisenced themes.

[@valdirberbert9361]

I think Monkie Kid is a step in a right direction, it feels like an original and passionate project even if some new sets aren't as unusual as some of the first wave ones were, they just need to do some cheaper sets too, but we need more projects with that same feeling and care into their builds, and I'm not even talking about the quality of the animation from the show itself (some of my favorites are Team Secret HQ, King Warrior Mech, the Legendary flower fruit Mountain and City of Lanterns)

[@GreyTheGamer06]

The problem with Monkie Kid is that you can only find the sets online and they’re too expensive.

[@sirfijoe450]

@@GreyTheGamer06 Monkie Kid mostly exists for the Chinese market. It's really popular over there. In other places you can only find it in Lego stores or online.

[@thecreativeducky5781]

@@sirfijoe450 no wonder I've never seen the sets in stores, I was confused

[@Se-du7sh]

I swear... Castle, Western, Pirates and Adventures NEEDS to come back. They were so good!

[@paladin3784]

Adventures did come back in 2017 as a city subtheme about exploration of the amazon and India somehow

[@VestedUTuber]

If LEGO were to back off a bit from their "all or nothing" big bang theme strategy, we could see some of those themes come back. But I don't think they'll just come back verbatim, they'll inevitably have to have some sort of detailed storyline to them with specific characters, LEGO would never release a "generic" theme under their current business philosophy.

[@reistsolardown]

A counter point is that the licensed themes are also limited to their respective universe. Whereas the unlicensed themes have more freedom for sets

[@catblob]

Really good analysis - I've not looked at themes and subthemes in this way.

[@quenter1392]

I think it is interesting what lego does when it has to work under constraints. There can be more interesting designs and tradeoffs when lego space has to do the newest star wars show, whereas in unliscenced themes they can take the path of least resistance. This leads to much more interesting building techniques.

[@Bnkl-f2h]

We live in a society where Ninjago lasted longer than Bionicle

[@ThatSmolivGal]

And that's a good Society

[@bataitez6983]

and ninjago is better

[@Minhjago]

Dude don’t bring WW2 into this😰😰😰

[@sirfijoe450]

@@ThatSmolivGal 99% chance you weren't born yet when Ninjago first came out.

[@plundering_knight]

Pirates and castle: Are we a joke to ye?

[@thesteelsquid863]

Nexo knights got fucking screwed over. It was a really cool new take on a pretty generic theme. I don't get why people hated it over classic Castle. I mean, dear lord, how long do you want them to release the exact same medival castle set?

[@TheOmegazerox]

I'm not a fan of the sciance fantasy mix theme so I did not like nexo knights -or more spacificley I didn't like the scifi castles and such-however thier wer elements and builds I liked on the villion sets. The monsters and and villion vehickles wer cool.

[@n_ex13]

I hope they do a bit more with creator just release one or two set from old IP ever year Like this year has a classical space set A new Vikings set And a new aquaraider set This year I think is pretty nice in terms of unlicenses theme, the only thing I really really miss are the clever small sets doing whatever with 10-20$ Now this niche is exclusively filled by battle packs, these minfig packs and small ninjago mech/bike

[@JamesNerdMan85]

I just want Power Miners and Space Police to come back.

[@BatFlightBuilds]

Space Police is one of my favorite unlicensed themes

[@gone9820]

I want Chima to come back.

[@wadewilson3296]

Power miners is my favorite theme of all time and always will be. Those builds and figures are just so unique and awesome

[@TheOmegazerox]

Space police 3 was awsome with the sets and alian molds. Would love to see that theme redone with modern pieces and molds. Sadley lego puts all thier space theme idias into starwars. Agents could be seen as a super hero theme and with marvel and dc that sort of theme is unlikeley in annything besides. Alot of themes have bin taken over by lisence like space by starwars but power miners and severall uther themes wer just pushed aside not replased by something else so I sometimes wonder what lego has not tried to bring back some old themes. With vehicles being such a big thing now power miners would do great and mechs would easily fit into pm making it even better.

[@Kelis98]

I hate how they stick stuff into existing themes than making new theses and how there are barely and original themes

[@SaturnineXTS]

I'm personally exclusively interested in unlicensed themes, since licensed ones come with necessary connections to their respective franchises, so it stifles both rebuilding possibilities and imaginative play, since at the back of your head there's always going to be that original story telling you what's "supposed" to happen. I never felt that kind of restriction in unlicensed sets. Maybe that's just me, and I definitely understand how much money LEGO make on licensed sets and that they need them to stay afloat at this point, but I'm drawn pretty much exclusively to original LEGO IP's

[@michaelyoung7261]

It’s really sad when themes that are so much fun and really do have a spark of creativity die out because poor choices from higher up

[@elmaarseb]

all of ur videos are so hard-worked, you deserve WAY MORE subs good job man!

[@BatFlightBuilds]

I appreciate it, thank you!

[@TheOmegazerox]

It is easyer to make something based on something that already exists and if it is already popular it will get atention faster. Creating something new requires brainstorming the ideas and the risc that it may not do so good. I get that lego has tried adding digital features like in hidden side to atract people who are getting into digital entertainment today but I never cared for the hidden side app or the dots music or whatever. I just wanted the sets and figures. My main interest in non lisence themes is pretty much based on my expieriance with the 80s and 90s theme legos I grewup with like time cruisers or rock raiders when lego thought up new themes and didn't base things too much on movies like today (I'm not trying to make that sound bad) I am getting a bit tired of lisence themes hogging the spotlight and hope lego creates a new theme that ls sucsessfull.

[@MJ-uk6lu]

Lego had paranoia of going out of fashion in era where everyones addicted to phones and internet. I'm still convinced that this is the only reason for weird themes like Hidden Side, Vidiyo, their AR projects and their digitalisation.

[@TheOmegazerox]

@@MJ-uk6lu I can understand lego's resons for trying digital features but for me - and I'm sure uthers would agrey- it has added two things I don't want in lego. Added features like electronic figures is not my idia of lego. At least with hidden side it was an added option but mario had it intrigrated into the figures so It put me off. And two it has pushed the price up. I would have preferred the digital features wer a dlc sort of thing and if we wanted it we paid extra to get it rather then pay full price for a set and features some of us won't care much for.

[@MJ-uk6lu]

@ And the reason is that Lego can only live if it appeals to masses and now it's obvious that everyone is on social media, they spend basically all free time on there and then Lego fans that are for actual plastic bricks, builds and Lego lore get a second place. But unlike many companies, Lego still tries to give some crumbs to Lego plastic fans. Many other companies actually abbandon completely their "original core" audience. And the weird part isn't digitalization, but it's like they took it so literally, so alien like and went so deep into it, but it ended up being so awkward, weird and clumsy that many of those attempts alienated both groups of people. It truly tis a moment of autistic company trying to communicate with allistic people and and trying so hard only to tragicomically fail so hard. And yet accidentaly those ideas were so usual and original, that Lego might have actually started to appeal to third audience. I actually really like this era of Lego, not because builds were annoying, but because Lego was very volatile and original company and acted like no other.

[@TheOmegazerox]

@ Good point. They are puting in a good efort I just wish it was more optional or intragrated diferantley. If you could take the big electronic figures apart for custom builds mario would have apealed to me more. Mario kart looks like a better middle ground between electronic and imaginitive builds.

[@MJ-uk6lu]

@ I ain't gonna lie, but I still think that Mindstroms should have stayed. That was truly a toy like no other. IMO the most mature Lego effort to become relevant in digital age, but they just foolishly made a sequel and killed it. And even in 2025 even the first one would have been unique enough to sell. I'm just frankly baffled by such decision and salty. To me that's probably the biggest unforgivable sin from Lego. At least they were nice enough to keep Creator 3 in 1, Creator Expert and Technic, but still even that 800 dollar Liebherr contraption isn't as cool and unique as Mindstorms.

[@gotterdammerung5527]

They need to go back to the roots is the problem... Space without Star wars, ninjas without Ninjago, castles without Lord of the rings or Hobbit. I mean I don't know how they used to stay pumping out complete original stories like rock raiders, aquazone, blacktron, OG space police... They honestly did it to themselves by allowing themselves to become reliant on those licenses to keep them afloat because they used to just be one-offs with the only constant licensed theme truly being Star wars.

[@yi_hou3092]

Honestly the only Unlicensed/Licensed Theme lego has that works is Speed Champions cause it's covered the Niche of Model Cars that you can play around or display and honestly I kinda wish Lego has an original Theme based on The Ideas pf Speed Champions Builds

[@nicofire31]

LEGO Racers

[@MJ-uk6lu]

Really? That's an awful take. Their absolute best selling theme has always been City. Botanicals, Icons, Creator and Ideas are also very well selling themes.

[@towatchvideos5592]

I will say while they do get repetitive sometimes and take up builds from other ideas that could have been their own themes, I gotta hand it to Ninjago. Somehow, against all the other original themes, its still going.

[@4cornersE]

Your such an underrated youtuber!

[@BatFlightBuilds]

Thank you!

[@jadenshappyreview6263]

Honestly if I really have 1-4 unlicensed LEGO themes I would pick Space Police, Western, Dino Attack, and Atlantis. But I think Western is a great choice because LEGO really really needs to bring it back because it’s so classic. But I really wish LEGO can bring back Dino Attack as well because the vehicles in that theme were fantastic and very close military vehicles but I don’t think LEGO won’t ever bring that theme anymore because of its violence with the guns and heavy artillery.

[@TortillaPizzeria]

Monkie Kid is unironically awesome, and the tv show animation is top notch.

[@VestedUTuber]

So, I honestly think that LEGO's "We fill our bricks with stories" strategy is the problem here. Not because it doesn't sell, it definitely does, but because it prevents LEGO from experimenting without having to commit to a "big bang" Ninjago-style theme. And those themes are a MASSIVE commitment of money, time and effort, and if it flops it's a huge loss. Thing is, when they don't do that, like with Hidden Side or Vidiyo, you instead get a tech-reliant theme that isn't guaranteed to be supported for more than a few years, sells for inflated prices to subsidize the apps, and ends up being really reliant solely on the app. At that point it doesn't matter how good your builds are. Hidden Side actually had some solid builds, and the stages for Vidiyo look fantastic (in fact I kinda want to get the punk pirate ship), but if the integration with the app or the app itself fails then that kills the theme.

[@klaus.sfc01official30]

Because lego either squeeze every theme to their last drop or try to add phone functions in the worst possible way i just want a world racers 2 or bionicle 2 please

[@MJ-uk6lu]

Bionicles is just Ninjago. Way too similar and won't happen.

[@Dob0969]

Awesome I really enjoyed this style of video

[@BatFlightBuilds]

Thanks!

[@nutterbutter101]

Yeah honestly i'm tired of city and ninjago getting so many sub themes. Where we can't even get a original theme. Also I love licensed themes but recently its really all they make.

[@MJ-uk6lu]

All licensed themes feel like fake Lego.

[@magic8bean]

I got into Hidden Side far too late and actually purchased 3 sets only a few months ago. I think the technology inclusion on that theme was way better than Vidiyo. It was an add on to the Hidden Side sets, but not completely required. Vidiyo basically did nothing without the app for most sets. It wasn’t required for Hidden Side to be cool or functional. I do agree on the box art though. If I had seen them on the shelves, I would have been a bit confused too.

[@BatFlightBuilds]

Yeah I was looking forward to Hidden Side when it was first revealed but then I stopped buying LEGO sets for awhile. When I started buying LEGO sets again it was at the end of the themes run and I only have few Hidden Side sets now.

[@jceddy113]

Pretty good video but you forgot one theme. Lego elves. This (if you didn’t know) was a unlicensed theme that got kicked out by licensed themes. It was also my favorite theme so it’s sad to bring up.

[@joshduehr2898]

Would like to see Ice Planet make a return.

[@diegodankquixote-wry3242]

Why wasn't bionicle or hero factory mentioned?

[@BatFlightBuilds]

To be honest I kinda forgot about them when making this video because those are themes I don't follow.

[@MJ-uk6lu]

Because they are awful themes?

[@loserboypro]

Castle should still come back in some way.

[@binchickenbricks2373]

A very interesting discussion

[@gone9820]

It's unfortunate... CHima had so much potential! it's depressing, honestly Lego is mostly known for it's licensed themes. I recognize lego because of it's creative, self-made themes. Unfortunately, the surviving unlicensed themes are pretty basic. Most of the builds in unlicensed themes are generic looking cars that look it would fit in almost any fantasy world, or even real life... My problem with most unlicensed legos is that they just feel out of place - either they feel like they were made just to be sold, or they feel like the story isn't told properly, either in character design or in the sets themselves (looking at you, Ninjago). Atleast we got lego masterpieces such as Lego Chima. We will never have anything like it. The worldbuilding, the sets, the character design, the show and its dark plot... CHima sets did a good job of hinting towards certain plot points to character's personality. Like Lavertus' being exiled, thus making his own base; or the fact that the Lion Tribe has the most amount of Chi, as seen in the Lion Temple, with Chi flowing out of the castle; maybe even that the Wolf Tribe live a nomad life, with their lair (aka Worriz' Combat Lair) being a tank used for combat, and the best part is that this set has storages, for food, Chi, weapons, and etc! Even if you didn't watch the show, you could piece everything together (pun intended) and understand the lore. The fact that Chi is hinted as an energy source in most Chima sets is amazing! The problem with most, if not all story unlicensed themes, is that story is almost non-existant. Ninjago for example: it has been going on for 10 years, yet the only informations I've collected using the sets are that the ninjas have a constant battle between a variety of snakes, samurais and other humanoid creatures; that they use a lot of modern vehicles, which is very weird for characters that are supposed to live in the 12th century; that the protagonists have been owning tens of dragons for almost a decade; that they live in either very old places or very tecnologically advanced places. The sets and designs fail to tell a story. I heard that certain snakes have been living more than certain others, yet this was not hinted at all anywhere in the sets. They could've put scars, dust, ANYTHING that would hint at their age! Also, the ninjas themselves give no clue about their personality or story because their designs are very bland, which made it very hard for me to be interested in the series. The protagonists are the main characters, meaning that we, the consumer, are going to see them for the rest of the series' lifespan, yet these extremely important characters look like a recolored, generic ninja!" Short example of personality/lore in character design: Sir Fangar and the other animals in the Hunter Tribe all have their bones or fl3sh exposed, meaning that they're almost undead. Their blue translucent pieces mean that they were frozen. I could ramble on and on about this, but there are more subjects to cover. Talking about lore. Chima, in my opinion, has one of the most gruesome and violent stories for a lego theme. (Trigger Warning: a lot of violent stuff...) From betrayal and manipulation, to m*rder and addiction... Chima has it. We got Cragger consuming Chi at a young age, making him go crazy.... which made him k*ll his parents because of his trauma against the lions (yes, bad writing, but atleast better than a generic story), to basically him becoming addicted and losing his parents at a young age. His sister, who if I remember was mistreated by her parents, manipulated him while he was vulnerable! And she tore apart the thousand year long peace. Chima has a lot of greed going on. All villains are always searching for power, either is it by world domination or only to consume Chi. Chima also gives us this dilemma with Chi being an energy source that NEEDS to be consumed by machines, or otherwise chaos would ensue. The problem? Consuming it incorrectly could give the user an addiction! By basically making a type of "dr*g" a necessity in this fantasy world, you get a lot of dilemmas, which was a genius play by the writer (which if, funny enough, the same writer of Ninjago.). The use of anthropomorphic animals was also genius play, because they could implement all of this without being offensive with the use of humans. Chima did what unlicensed themes didn't. It was a creative, but flawed, lego masterpiece. It pains me so much that an incredible, although violent, theme dies soon. Not even 10 years would be sufficient to successfully end a series like this. RIP Chima.

[@gone9820]

In conclusion, after watching this video, Ninjago and City are unlicensed theme monopolies. They use ideas to not make competition for themselves. I hate it so much, it kills my passion for lego!

[@wadewilson3296]

I was a big fan of chima, especially the fire v ice wave, and I feel like they could’ve continued it with the Phoenix tribe getting greedy and becoming the new villains. Unfortunately I’m selling my sets from the theme rn, since I just don’t have the space.

[@Eric-gw1uo]

you made me realize how weird ninjago sets are. It's strange how much fun I got from Ninjago sets after realizing they kinda suck

[@staringcorgi6475]

I think the classic themes have been merged into creator

[@JumbleJammyJokes]

Why not re-release old themes in new formats, like they’re doing with the Castle sets? I’d love to see the Alpha Team, Rock Raiders, and good ol’ Johnny Thunder make a comeback of sorts!

[@BatFlightBuilds]

I would love there to be a Legacy theme where they remake old sets.

[@StephenMeyerr]

I really liked nexo knights sucks that it got discontinued

[@BuildLego]

Nexo Knights was not supposed to be a ninjago replacement. Legos dumb idea of putting castle and space theme together, which didn't really work. What also hurt Nexo knight was coming with Ninjago and Batman movies, Nexo should have been released in 2019 instead. My only favorite license theme is LOTR because it fits in well with castle.

[@orcashamudeluxeu567]

I think Technic is a good addition here as it has lasted just like city by being something completely else and cool in its own right.

[@MJ-uk6lu]

It's pretty solid, but IMO they release same mechanisms way too much and half of the sets are too big and too expensive. The abosolitely worst ones are Liebherr sets. They are cool, but cost too much and are too big to play with, to fit in average room and have smartphone bloat instead of dedicated controller.

[@fentonneal9480]

Very good video, I 100% agree

[@davidsteward224]

Hey there’s a spelling error in the thumbnail, not being mean just wondering if you knew

[@BatFlightBuilds]

I do know and it does bother me but the way I made this thumbnail makes it not easy to fix it.

[@BatFlightBuilds]

Ok, it should be fixed now.

[@owensanfordstuff]

I miss alien conquest 😂

[@kanwarbhullar506]

Firrrrrrssssssttt oh 😞 next time baby anyways you’re back so happy 😀

[@idontusecolgate]

monkie kid isnt a ninjago replacement. it was made just for asian markets but since lego doesnt do region exclusives they sell it in other places as well.

[@BatFlightBuilds]

I know it isn't, It's just similar to those themes being an unlicensed theme with an animated show, I said that in the video.

[@MJ-uk6lu]

But Ninjago is also Asian. Monkie Kid is more targeted at China IMO.

[@JWStone-17]

Hidden side was great rip

[@TV36024]

Hidden side is awesome.

[@carlossandoval5336]

I really don’t like their new approach to subthemes, city is expensive af and Ninjago usually comes with ninja themed builds that I really don’t care about We just want castle and pirates but lego keep on spending millions and millions of dollars in ideas like vidyo

[@michu1942]

Chima was before Ninjago

[@BatFlightBuilds]

No it wasn't, Ninjago first came out in 2011 and Chima first came out in 2013

[@StaceyIsles]

Their original themes are cool though and keep the imagination in kids alive

[@pyrodontcutoffsoldiershand2746]

Putting consumers first

[@MJ-uk6lu]

Their management is simply geriatric and spineless. Fearing risks, not appreciating rewards and not rocking boat. I believe they are cynical too.

[@colindavdlee355]

to be honest i love Hidden Side

[@BatFlightBuilds]

Same!

[@mcflylarry9232]

keep making good sets 💀

[@MJ-uk6lu]

Star Wars sets suck and have always been dull garbage.

[@megasnowey7177]

I watched the nexo knights show, it had the animation quality of ninjago season 7

[@Garinovitch]

I have to admit, as much as I loved all the original themes, I'm more likely to go OH MAN LOOK AT THAT COOL NEW X-WING over that also cool original space ship

[@Liam-le5xb]

Lego really needs to do avatar the last airbender theme

[@roofkorean2459]

They did

[@Liam-le5xb]

@@roofkorean2459 I know, but lego could do a much better job nowadays, I need more😩