How is that tiny dragon winning against a longboat?

It's already made it hit rocks, and is about to finish them off with fire!

It felt like we just got a Viking set with a dragon on RSotD, but that one is already off the side-bar. Oh well, my point still stands, love the dragons in these!

I like this set but didn't get the chance to buy it. The boat is very nicely built. The shape and the size is very fitting for a Lego set. Good price on it, too.

Actually wyverns are not connected to Norse mythology - unlike the other monster creatures in this theme.

I remember passing on this one because I just thought the dragon wasn't quite up to scratch with the Fenris wolf, or the dragons in 7017 or 7018 , both of which I own and really like.

It really does feel like a good theme that went to waste. They could've done so much more with it.

The build doesn't look very sturdy. The ropes pull on the bricks, but the bricks aren't held in place by anything other than the friction of a single stud.

Other than that, it's still a set I wouldn't mind owning.

@PurpleDave said:
" @StyleCounselor said:
" @TheOtherMike said:
"I loved the way the built the longboat."

That's not a longboat! You know it's just two dinghies stiched together."

I feel like we need a Boat Of Other Boats tag, for sets like this, 79013, and 76034."

And 60368

It's a neat little ship and all but I was never entirely sold on the design of that dragon, looked a bit more thrown together than Nidhogg and Fafnir were from the other sets

Cool theme, but the set is rather ugly.

Love this set. It looks quite substantial but doesn't take up all your room like the big ship. There is something so magical about the details on it too, like the four shields, oars, rudder, hidden jewels and figurehead(s]. They Wyvern isn't perfect but it makes for a decent foe and those vinyl wings are beautiful from angles where you're not looking at the fishing rods underneath.

Oh and it's surprisingly sturdy, although some details can shed off like the side shields and the parts holding the rope. But nothing too bad, unlike many of its contemporaries.

I feel really fortunate to own one again :)

The dragon wings look like they could be adapted for a para-gliding Viking!
The mast piece had potential in other boats and Technic sets, but was not to be.

@Arnoldos said:
"The build doesn't look very sturdy. The ropes pull on the bricks, but the bricks aren't held in place by anything other than the friction of a single stud.

Other than that, it's still a set I wouldn't mind owning."

It's neither very sturdy nor too complicated. Same counts for the little dragon/wyvern. It is of course bigger than a polybag, but the time needed to build this set is maybe 10 Minutes at max.

@AndyB1 said:
" @PurpleDave said:
" @StyleCounselor said:
" @TheOtherMike said:
"I loved the way the built the longboat."

That's not a longboat! You know it's just two dinghies stiched together."

I feel like we need a Boat Of Other Boats tag, for sets like this, 79013, and 76034."

And 60368"

Does 60368 qualify? I thought those were just two large hull pieces, not two separate boats.

You can tell I haven't built mine.

@Brickchap said:
"I wish we'd gotten a proper Vikings theme.

Instead we got a crazy overpriced longboat and a lonely Viking outpost that must have had the plague or something given how few inhabitants it had....

Lego really hates historical based themes dont they?

No Castle, No Pirates, No Vikings, No Western, No Adventures, no interwar years or 1950s (there was a Town 'Prohibition/gangster theme that looks awesome but was never officially released), , No Victorian (not even steampunk), No Ancient times, not even a general time travel theme.

Over 3000 years of human civilisation, all the world's cultures, and there's NOTHING they can use as inspiration for a lego theme????"

LEGO: Best I can do is the 30th rendition of X-Wing.

It occurs to me that my entire Vikings collection has been RSotD. And since my collection consists of just this and 7017 , it went from zero to complete pretty quickly!

@StyleCounselor said:
" @AndyB1 said:
" @PurpleDave said:
" @StyleCounselor said:
" @TheOtherMike said:
"I loved the way the built the longboat."

That's not a longboat! You know it's just two dinghies stiched together."

I feel like we need a Boat Of Other Boats tag, for sets like this, 79013, and 76034."

And 60368"

Does 60368 qualify? I thought those were just two large hull pieces, not two separate boats.

You can tell I haven't built mine."

I don't have it (although I'd like to(, but looking at the hull pieces, it looks like they'd float, but were not necessarily designed to be used on their own as a complete hull. So maybe "multi-part hull" would be a better tag than "boat of other boats." And also, with regards to your first reply to my comment, they aren't stitched together, as string is only used for the rigging. They're connected by bricks and plates where it matters, so they're bolted together!

@MCLegoboy said:
"Boat likely floats."
Not at that angle!

I had this, but unlike other commenters I wasn't impressed. The boat really is just a pair of rowboats stuck together, and doesn't even have a sail. Take away the mast and the fishing-pole-and-plastic-sheet dragon wings, which I couldn't figure out how to use for anything else, and there's not a lot to it.

Man, what I wouldn't give for a return of Vikings. We really need more short, one-off themes like this. We may have gotten a few viking sets recently, but it's just not the same.

Anyway, I have this set, but it's really not that great. Fragile build. The dragon's pretty cute though.

That sword would melt!

@tne328 said:
"I had this, but unlike other commenters I wasn't impressed. The boat really is just a pair of rowboats stuck together, and doesn't even have a sail. Take away the mast and the fishing-pole-and-plastic-sheet dragon wings, which I couldn't figure out how to use for anything else, and there's not a lot to it."

You could use the wyvern wings as sails for the boat! Except Vikings didn’t have Bermuda-rigged sails, either.

@Brickchap said:
"I wish we'd gotten a proper Vikings theme.

Instead we got a crazy overpriced longboat and a lonely Viking outpost that must have had the plague or something given how few inhabitants it had....

Lego really hates historical based themes dont they?

No Castle, No Pirates, No Vikings, No Western, No Adventures, no interwar years or 1950s (there was a Town 'Prohibition/gangster theme that looks awesome but was never officially released), , No Victorian (not even steampunk), No Ancient times, not even a general time travel theme.

Over 3000 years of human civilisation, all the world's cultures, and there's NOTHING they can use as inspiration for a lego theme????"

How many other toys have non-IP historical options? How many movies or tv shows have non-IP historical stories?

Themes, especially non-IP ones, can't just be passion projects, they also need to be products that appeal to a reasonable amount of people. The last viking movie was The Northman two years ago, and it barely made its (small) budget back. Can you name the last successful Western? What was the last Pirate movie that 1, was popular, and 2, didn't have Johnny Depp?

If historical stuff was big in the zeitgeist, and TLG wasn't doing anything about it, that'd be weird. But historical stuff is definitely not in the zeitgeist, so doing IP-related stuff makes the most sense and doing non-IP historical waves just doesn't make sense (outside of one-offs, and BLDP which has a very different audience)

@fakespacesquid said:
"If historical stuff was big in the zeitgeist, and TLG wasn't doing anything about it, that'd be weird. But historical stuff is definitely not in the zeitgeist, so doing IP-related stuff makes the most sense and doing non-IP historical waves just doesn't make sense (outside of one-offs, and BLDP which has a very different audience)"

One could argue that Lego, being the biggest and most influential toys manufacturer in the world could create theor own zeitgeist things. Ninjago worked. And it's kind of loosely based on historical theme from Japan.

I personally would love to see Hanseatic cities and vessels to be made by Lego. A merchant theme that could be easily expanded to Silk Road or even Atlantic routes.

@fakespacesquid said:
" @Can you name the last successful Western?"

Logan. Or, if you’re meaning a traditional western set in the standard time period, the remake of The Magnificent Seven.

"What was the last Pirate movie that 1, was popular, and 2, didn't have Johnny Depp?"

Hook.

@fakespacesquid

In answer to your first question, quite a lot actually. Games as well.

You should apply for a job at TLG since you clearly have the same attiude. Who said anything about a "passion project"?
Why cant some era of history from some part of the world appeal to a "reasonable amount of people?" And what makes any other idea not a "passion project"?

You assume historical stuff has to be tied to an IP, why? I dont see that rule being applied to other lego themes.

How many "reasonable amount of people" wanted Dreamzz as a theme?? What IP is Dreamzz supposed to relate to?
Hidden Side as a theme failed, but I dont see anyone arguing that "kids dont like spooky themes".

You start with a prejudge against history and then just argue that as 'the truth'.

@thor96 Thank you for your comment. Ninjago is a good example. Indeed almost all non-IP lego themes were 'their own thing'.

I like your Hanseatic idea, including the ability of extending it to the Silk Road and so forth.

Ive previously discussed the idea of a Byzantine inspired faction/theme as a part of overall Castle which could combine elements of Ancient Roman/Greek culture and Middle Eastern culture, neither of which weve seen much of in Lego form.

This is precisely what Im talking about.

So maybe pirates arent as popular, okay whatever, how does that mean that anything at all historical from any country in the world cannot ever be used for either a basis or inspiration for any lego theme?

If Lego was "creative" (that word they love to throw around) there are plenty of ideas. Disney's Treasure Planet for example combined sci fi with classic pirates/Age of Exploration in the story of treasure island. Bionicle took ideas from New Zealand Maori culture, while the Ninja theme was a pretty good lego version of the Tokugawa Shogunate.

History is everywhere lego just for whatever reason refuses to acknowledge it.
Mediaeval fantasy is clearly in the zeitgiest (LOTR, Legend of Zelda, Clash of Clans, Minecraft to name a few).
Vikings mightn't have a huge amount of films, but general interest in Vikings is definitely there. Australia is as far away from Scandinavia as one can get yet Viking reenactments are very popular with the general public here.

There's also the concept of just a new idea. Give us something people havent seen before and they might like it. One of the problems with legos previous 'historical' themes was because it was very similar or the same sets released over and over and they only focused on specific interpretations of what a Castle, Pirates and Western theme could be. Even just within Europe and Asia there's A LOT of potential.

@Brickchap said:
"Ninjago is a good example. Indeed almost all non-IP lego themes were 'their own thing'."

So, a couple of notes on this. Ninjago, unlike Ninja, is not a historical setting. If anything, the presence of cyborgs, sentient robots, and immersive VR set it ahead of current technology levels.

"Disney's Treasure Planet for example combined sci fi with classic pirates/Age of Exploration in the story of treasure island."

And Treasure Planet, while enjoying cult status, fell $30 million short of recouping the $140 million production budget, even before you factor in marketing and the split with theaters (the fun things you discover when you have to go all the way back three decades ago to find a genuine hit pirate film that _isn’t_ part of the PotC series).

@PurpleDave said:
" @Brickchap said:
"Ninjago is a good example. Indeed almost all non-IP lego themes were 'their own thing'."

So, a couple of notes on this. Ninjago, unlike Ninja, is not a historical setting. If anything, the presence of cyborgs, sentient robots, and immersive VR set it ahead of current technology levels.

"Disney's Treasure Planet for example combined sci fi with classic pirates/Age of Exploration in the story of treasure island."

And Treasure Planet, while enjoying cult status, fell $30 million short of recouping the $140 million production budget, even before you factor in marketing and the split with theaters (the fun things you discover when you have to go all the way back three decades ago to find a genuine hit pirate film that _isn’t_ part of the PotC series)."

Lots of recent superhero movies were complete and utter flops. Doesn't mean you'd argue no one likes superheroes.

I gave it as an example of where history can be inspiration and you can combine it with ideas like sci fi if necessary. But it would be crazy to judge any historical theme whatsoever based purely on the box office of one or two films. It may come as a surprise to you and TLG but people dont usually hate films purely because they involve some historical aspect.

If TLG's flawed logic was true then kids wouldve walked out of Cars 1 and 2 movies since they both feature classic/vintage cars. (Doc Hudson, a 1953 Hudson Hornet, and Tow Mater, a 1950s Chevrolet tow truck, are probably two of the most loved characters from that franchise)

@TheOtherMike said:
"It occurs to me that my entire Vikings collection has been RSotD. And since my collection consists of just this and 7017 , it went from zero to complete pretty quickly!

@StyleCounselor said:
" @AndyB1 said:
" @PurpleDave said:
" @StyleCounselor said:
" @TheOtherMike said:
"I loved the way the built the longboat."

That's not a longboat! You know it's just two dinghies stiched together."

I feel like we need a Boat Of Other Boats tag, for sets like this, 79013, and 76034."

And 60368"

Does 60368 qualify? I thought those were just two large hull pieces, not two separate boats.

You can tell I haven't built mine."

I don't have it (although I'd like to(, but looking at the hull pieces, it looks like they'd float, but were not necessarily designed to be used on their own as a complete hull. So maybe "multi-part hull" would be a better tag than "boat of other boats." And also, with regards to your first reply to my comment, they aren't stitched together, as string is only used for the rigging. They're connected by bricks and plates where it matters, so they're bolted together!"

A stich in time makes it thine.

@Brickchap:
Lots of superhero movies have been critical and commercial successes. At least one a major Oscar. The evidence pretty clearly demonstrates that the audience has no issue with superhero movies in general, just with _bad_ superhero movies. Pirate movies in general just haven't fared well in the past three decades (maybe longer, but I didn't go back further than Hook). Even the 4th and 5th PotC movies are largely forgettable (as evidenced by how little I remember of them each time I do a complete runthru). Fans kept going back because CotBP was just _that_ good of a movie, combined with the dual performances by Depp and Rush.

Genre-bending and genre-fusion have been around for a long time, largely because (done right) they work. I cited Logan as the most recent successful western. It's also a superhero movie, and one of the few R-rated films to be a smash commercial success. The key is, it was done well.

Regarding Cars, it's important to remember that it's not a film about vintage cars. It's a buddy sports film. The second is a spy thriller. And the first Cars wasn't exactly a smash hit by Pixar standards, being the first film since A Bug's Life to fail to break $500 million (the next film to fall short of that milestone is The Good Dinosaur). The thing is, Cars is also one of the most profitable franchises in the Disney stable because they sell truckloads of those $5 die-cast Cars cars. It doesn't rely primarily on its box office haul to remain highly profitable.

Regardless, many people would probably be more likely to go see a mediocre film of a genre they love than they would be to see a great film of a genre they have zero interest in. That's where doing period films becomes a liability. Someone at the studio has to green-light every film produced, and if it's a genre than has underperformed in recent times, they are not as likely to approve a script that falls into that genre. The rare exceptions are either instances where someone with some serious clout champions a specific film, sequels to a proven success, or low-budget indie films that sidestep the big studios and their appointed nay-sayers. Incidentally, The Northman was produced by Focus Features, itself an indie film company of note. Where it failed to produce any ROI is probably just in how big the budget was. Of the 25 films they've released, it had the largest budget by a hefty margin, at a reported $70-90 million. The next four on the list all clocked in at $60 million, and all four of those (Coraline, The Boxtrolls, ParaNorman, and Kubo & the Two Strings) were also all stop-motion animation. And all four were also given family-friendly PG ratings, while The Northman pushed heavily into less-profitable R-rated territory.