What licensed theme should return?

I would love for a lot of these to return, especially Avatar The Last Airbender (and some Korra too!). With the new Netflix show starting soon, who knows?

Wow I didn’t think it would be that much of a blowout.

Doctor Who, for sure! Would be great to have official versions of all the Doctors, a Dalek Emperor, a Cyberman tomb, Bessie, maybe a micro-Gallifrey, who knows what else - there are so many possibilities!

I went with back to the Future. I'd like a redesign of the car as well as a model of the time traveling locomotive :D the theme I'd like brought back that wasn't on the list though would be speed racer. I'd like some updated models of the cars with all the new parts we've been getting over the years since those launched

I've been meaning to watch Avatar: The Last Airbender at some point, so it would definitely be neat to see some more sets based on it for when I do get around to doing that thing... particularly since the first wave only had two sets. Got my vote ^^

Otherwise, I guess my second choice would be LotR, as I became interested in those books / movies just within the last year or two. Although I think, as usual, any of the sets from that theme I'd be interested in would be WAY above any price point that was affordable for me, given how big and detailed all of the locations are xD

I didn't know thay even had a James Bond. Turns out it was the Aston Martin DB5 of course. I see some potential in this theme ....

I would a stadium series similar to the soccer stadium set that got released last year. Yankee Stadium would be amazing

Lotr
Tron
Pirates of the Caribbean

Personally I’d love to see more Sonic. I love the games and would love to see more mini figures of the cast. The variety of locations would also make for some interesting sets, and maybe even some useful parts packs for MOCs.

Okay, but honestly it’s because it feels kinda weird having Sonic without his buddies or even a Dr. Eggman. I’m happy we got a LEGO Sonic at all, but it still feels weird.

Tough choice between LOTR and IJ, had to go with the latter though ...

@DRGreene said:
"Also, it's absurd to me that we never received a non-wraith Witch King nor an armoured Sauron (I think Reinhardt's helmet could work quite well here)."

Agreed! In fact, in the absence of an official Sauron minifigure, I MOCed one using that helmet: http://www.brickshelf.com/gallery/AmperZand/Fantasy/sauron_lego_w.jpg

Classic Space! Sorry, reflex. Still, it has the bonus of not actually requiring a license.

I would like to see LotR come back, if only so we could get a Minas Tirith. That was conspicuously missing before the short-lived theme ended.

When was James Bond ever a theme? I'm trying to imagine what kid-appropriate play sets would even look like for that as a theme. EDIT: @TeriXeri I stand corrected!

No brainer for me: Indy.

I missed out (or rather didn't have the funds to purchase) the first time, and the second hand prices are way too much.

None of these lol

I'd be most happy with the return of the Pirates or Wild West themes.

Looking strictly at untapped potential, Back to the Future has the most. Indiana Jones and LOTR were awesome series and I would love their return, but they each had several sets featuring most of the beloved scenes and characters. BTTF has soo much to go off, with all 3 movies. The set ideas and new minifig options are far above the other options. Again, untapped potential. I would love to add Biff and his gang to my Modular Downtown Diner, or better yet the retro 80s Diner from BTTF 2. There could be 4 different clock tower sets ( Wild West, 50s, 80s, Future) The 50s High School Dance. Biff’s manure car accident. Hover board dual over the water. Redesigned Delorean. Imagine a set for the flying Train! This series would be awesome!

As a huge classic Simpsons fan, I'd love to see a return of the theme.
There's so many important characters we never got: Principal Skinner, Moe, Barney, Sideshow Bob, Kent Brockman, Mayor Quimby, Kang & Kodos, Superintendent Chalmers, Lenny & Carl, Otto, Sherri & Terri, Jimbo, Dolph, Kearney, and more.

I went with Back to the future! I would be interested in what they could do with Tron apart from the one set they done!

I'm biased, but Doctor Who.

https://bit.ly/2VSQu4R and https://bit.ly/2Ktqzvh

Definitely Avatar! Such a wonderful series that got completely mistreated in the sets. Most of the other options on the list have had fairly high-quality sets released not too long ago, but not Avatar. They could do SO much better with that theme these days and there are so many great sets they could make. It's sad to see that it's so low in the poll right now, probably because a lot of people still haven't seen it. If you haven't, do yourself a favor and watch it. It's coming to Netflix on May 15.

Dr. Who, LOTR and Indiana Jones were hard to choose from for me.
I made my choice, and I'll keep that to myself.
But I am happy to see that my top three made the top three.

I was really torn between SpongeBob and Back to the future I missed out on both those themes but I would rather have a Krusty Krab than a Delorian

My kids just spent the last week watching Avatar. It’s such a good show and so much potential. We found an appa Ideas set that we may end up copying. Also, I don’t believe I saw it on the list but I would agree with another that TMNT should come back too.

I'm all for LOTR and Indiana Jones but I voted for James Bond. TeriXeri from Netherlands above did a fine job of explaining why that could be good - this would obviously not work very well if sets are juniorized, accuracy is key: AFOL sets. I think that could bring something new but as I said, would be mightily happy with LOTR and Indy developed with new parts and building techniques.

I'm probably on the unpopular side but I regret missing out on both waves of Spongebob sets, I really wanted to have one of the Krusty Krab sets at the very least.
I don't know how well the new seasons of the show are doing now but I assume it's still popular enough to be relevant for a batch or two of sets.

There is no doubt that LOTR and Indiana Jones are high in demand. Many fans that built the community and keep the community together are huge evergreen fans of castle or space etc. Castle in 2007 has to be the best castle theme ever made.

Pirates of the Caribbean- if only for a Flying Dutchman set, been a dream of mine ever since the Black Pearl and Queen Anne’s Revenge sets came out

Would love LOTR but they make huge expensive sets i really wouldn't get ,my vote for Indy ,missed last offering but the music is in my head now and there's probably going to be some remake soon

The potential for TRON is enormous! Going back to the 1982 movie first, I could see a lot of really cool sets just built from that, let alone the newer movie. As someone who was 10 years old back then, the movie made quite an impact on me and the LEGO Ideas set is great - but it's only the tip of the iceberg!

Would love to see a CMF run or two of past Doctors and companions, altohugh might need a UCS version of the TARDiS to hold them all :)

You call him Dr. Jones!

Indiana Jones or BTTF

The was one option left out: All of the above.

Would like to split my vote between LOTR and the Simpsons, please...

I was torn with my vote I tapped Indiana Jones but I,d love to see lord of the rings return it had so much to offer like the harry potter theme... and they are still being produced!
Another good theme was The hobbit!!

Please, allow multiple choice.

Lord of the rings, pirates and then sports.

At last the people see sense.... LotR.......loads of scope still there........pretty please.

However tiz a travesty that Discworld came last on the previous poll

How about Racers?

HOW DO I CHOSE BETWEEN DOCTOR WHO AND AVATAR?

Lord of the Rings is definitely a theme I want more from in Lego form. But at least that theme got a few years. TRON only had one set, and a darn cool one at that. I would love to see more! Plus, I love both those movies and the show TRON Uprising. Count me in for the underdog! End of line.

Monster fighters, Galaxy Squad and the Simpsons were great themes too..

Marcos Bessa definitely developed sketch models of several other Simpsons structures (I asked him) and I would love to expand my Springfield layout and minifigure collection.

As much as I love Doctor Who and would be interested in minifigures of other incarnations beyond 11 and 12 as well as characters such as the Silence and Sontarans, most episodes contain unique locations which aren't revisited as much as the Comic Book Store or Springfield Elementary.

TRON no question. Huge fan and would LOVE more sets.

This is easy...LotR(with Hobbit preferably).

Even though I would love to see Lego sports sets and minifigures, I had to choose Indiana Jones. Boy, I sure hope new sets return soon due to the new movie coming out in the next year or too! Please Lego. Please!

@WemWem said:
"Lord of the Rings probably has the most unmined material. No Gondor, for example. And any castle-related theme would be welcome to have back.

I voted for Indy, though, because I'd love to see some Creator Expert sets from the films. "

I had the exact same dilemma but ultimately went with indy. Imagine a 2000+ peice Al Khakneh facade (where the grail is housed). Would appeal to those who purchase the landmark type sets as well as Indy fans. One of many many options for that theme. I feel like we won't see it unless they release another movie.

I voted LOTR as I am a huge Middle Earth fan, but I'd also love POTC and Avatar the Last Airbender.

of course, if they did re-release LOTR, then I would get upset at myself for having spent about $500 dollars to get a bunch of the figures on the second-hand market...

I did indiana jones due to the 1930s-1950s era therefore lots of possible old cars and old planes (another lego DC-3 PLEASE!!) plus some ww2 stuff! I dont want nazi stuff as such ("Nazis! I hate those guys!") but military stuff is good, after all, its just interesting to see what lego designers come up with for things they normally cant do, like a rifle, 1x2 plate, tile and clip for a 50 cal.

Zeppelin D2C with biplane anyone?

Doctor Who would be good, as someone mentioned its good that it could cover lots of time periods of history and provide potential minifigures of famous people! Not keen on the aliens or the politics though (i.e all sets HAVE to have the female doctor otherwise the entire Lego Group are chauvinists etc...)

LOL Im surprised James Bond got a mention. A minifig scale DB5 would be pretty cool. Lots of potential good vehicles.

Id love to see the double decker from live and let die with those modified plate rail? pieces and the modified bricks that they go into so the roof can get 'knocked' off.

Plus the car chase from goldfinger with ejector seat and machine gun granny.

I also would like the chase from Dr No, with bonds car, the hearse and construction equipment "I guess they were on their way to a funeral"

Enough LOTR. ;¬P
Bond and Doctor WHO (long time running sagas, many possibilities as someone stated above) would be awesome...
But I need more Indy!

Doctor Who all the way - with only one proper set and a couple of Dimensions releases, there’s so much more to be done! The junkyard from the first episode, Cyber tombs on Telos, giant brick built Dalek model, Logopolis, not to mention all the ‘new Who’ stuff that people might actually recognise!

I'm also going to say "none of them". They are all great entertainment but I don't want them in Lego. I want to see exciting original things like Rock Raiders, Ninjago and Monkie Kid. I want new twists on old themes like Vikings were for Castle, or Farming and UFO were for City

@Brickchap said:
"Zeppelin D2C with biplane anyone?"

Oh my heart, first when they release it, second when the loan sharks are knocking at my door after I buy it. That would be such a fantastic set, but I'm sure it would have a somewhat less fantastic price tag.

I'm also glad to see Indy and LOTR are at the top of the list, I was pretty well torn between those two.

Elves.

@waylander said:
"At last the people see sense.... LotR.......loads of scope still there........pretty please.

However tiz a travesty that Discworld came last on the previous poll"

Oh, so very yes on the Discworld.

I personally feel they should make more dr who sets, like maybe a new tardis set with a background for maybe 30 to 50 dollars and then the other sets being the inside of the tardis for ever doctor would be pretty could, with maybe in each of those sets, the corresponding doctor and one or two of their companions

Sorry to folks who didn't want to see LOTR. I voted for LOTR and if I could submit an alternate it would be for Indiana Jones. For me, LOTR is epic and sets created with modern parts could also be epic. What I don't know is to what extent younger generations embrace LOTR given that GoT took over the fantasy realm, so to speak. We know LEGO won't ever do GoT, but would LOTR sets sell well today?

I wouldn't mind seeing some of the holes filled in LotR, Indiana Jones, and PotC (Sao Feng's Empress!), and I'd be on board for a full proper theme for TRON, but I had to vote for Back to the Future.

Wow, how do you choose just one?

I was torn between Indy or Lord of the Rings, but I went with the latter. We didn’t get a lot when compared to the expanse of Middle-Earth. We really need Lothlorien, Edoras, The Dead Marshes, Amon Hen, The Inn of the Prancing Pony, Fangorn, Barad-Dur and Cirith Ungol. Most importantly though, we deserve some Gondor sets, particularly Minas Tirith and Osgiliath. The closest we got to that region was the Pirate Ship, which was pretty mediocre except for the Army of the Dead figures. I would also like a remake of Bag End and Helms Deep.

I’m not done yet! Where is Eowyn, Celeborn, The Witch King, Faramir or Denethor? Good thing a TV series is coming, however we would probably only get sets on that I think.

Meanwhile, I think we got enough to cover most of the Indiana Jones films, although I desperately want some remakes. The Tank scene from The Last Crusade is the only ‘new’ set which I think is needed. We might get some more if Indy 5 isn’t cancelled.

Also, some more Back to the Future (UCS DeLorean) or Pirates of the Caribbean (Port Royal and a new Davy Jones) would be appreciated.

@tris said:
"HOW DO I CHOSE BETWEEN DOCTOR WHO AND AVATAR?"

Same boat, but I picked Airbender because I can already imagine a lot of great builds. With the TARDIS already released, I imagine Dr. Who would best be a great collectible figure line.

I only went for the Sports. Nothing else there interested me. I would LOVE to see some new Castle items. Please bring it back!

I’d absolutely love proper 007 minifig scale sets. I don’t think there’s any issue with the violence/sex anymore now that Lego has covered a wide range of licences. Someone had some mockups before online with sets like the Dr No Dragon Tank, and Goldfinger Aston Martin chase, and they looked fantastic.

It's gotta be Doctor Who! They've only issued a few sets and most were Lego Dimensions. We need more of The Doctor...including the (at least) 14 incarnations they haven't done yet. Plus companions.

Definitely looks like I’m in the majority being torn between LotR, Doctor Who and Indy. Indiana Jones got me out of my dark age but I think they covered all the iconic scenes perfectly the first time, apart from perhaps the Last Crusade. Doctor Who is full of iconic characters but you’d be hard pressed squeezing iconic scenes or vehicles beyond the Tardis into sets. CMF please!

Lord of the Rings is the obvious theme to be a going concern. There’s plenty of unexplored characters and scenes to add to existing sets, and the existing parts covered could easily be redone with a different spin. Not to mention more DtC sets!

LOTR of course! I had to MOC my own Minas Tirith, Edoras, Lothlorien, etc...

Indiana Jones with LOTRs a close 2nd

I’d never even heard of an Avatar theme until this poll, and I consider myself quite the AFOL! Literally only one set for sale on eBay worldwide ATM! How obscure!

SCOOBY DOO!

I was torn between Indiana Jones and Lord of the Rings, but ultimately LOTR won

Lord of the Rings edges out Indiana Jones for me, simply because there’s SO MUCH untapped potential in that theme. Indiana Jones was fortunate to have a fairly robust theme, with every movie and most major action set pieces from the films represented.

LOTR, Lego sorta dropped the ball on a bit...

I think Sonic would make a nice counterpart to the recently announced Mario theme coming out. I can also imagine several small sets based on different game locations, featuring different characters and lots of bright/new colours. The big set of the wave ought to be a Dr. Egg Mech!

LotR
There is such a huge amount of possibilities for builds in a large variety of styles

The Lord of the Rings, easily. The line was left incomplete: no Balrog, no Minas Tirith, no Mount Doom, no Pranching Pony, and tons of other key things. But we got the ghosts ship that appearead for like 1 minute in the movie...

Doctor Who has far more sales potential in my mind. LOTR and Indiana Jones are great and all, but I feel like there are far more varied things you could do with Who.

Mini-fig series are a given and you could do several of them with all the obscure villains and variant character costumes from over the years. Could easily do a variant set of Tardis too. Big sets could be a downfall with it though, given unless we get a really iconic scene, there aren't really many set locations people would be interested in.

SPONGEBOB SQUAREPANTS!!!
*cue intro*

Agreed, LOTR has lots of gaps to be filled but at least it got a good start.

As someone mentioned above I think a CMF line for Doctor Who would be fantastic. It's a lot harder to make custom Judoon, Sontarans, Silurians or any other alien minifigures than it is to make a decent custom Éowyn or Denethor for example.

I voted for Avatar though because it has both a rich world of potential sets and minifigures that has yet to be properly explored. If you haven't seen the show yet, do yourself a favour!

i can't decide between Lord of the Rings, Indiana Jones, Pirates of the Caribbean and Spongebob. LEGO should return all of them and get rid of Trolls, Minions and all other themes nobody wants.

lego should return to spongebob squarepants sets

@Pekingduckman said:
"TMNT. We never got any sets based on the 80s cartoons or minifigs of classic characters like Casey Jones, Bebop, and Rocksteady."

Agreed. Ninja Turtles wins.

Also, calling Dimensions characters returning “themes” is a little incorrect. The theme was Dimensions. Sonic was never a theme. But that might be cool if they found a way to make a marble-run like series of connectable sets to have Sonic “spin” through..,

LOTR still has so much material to create from. We never got a Minas Tirith or even a Sauron! Imagine HP without Voldemort or Star Wars without Vader or The Emperor. They should at least do 1 UCS type set. I know some of the builds were lame, but the Minifigures are among the best ever done, and there are some amazing places to draw inspiration from.

I went with Spongebob, since the show is still running and there's that movie coming out. Plus the sets and minifigs would look even more amazing with all the new parts and such.

In retrospect timing was not in favor of LOTR. They tried to take an IP that is older kid/adult focus and put it into the normal “kid” range of small sets and pricing. As the last several years has shown, there is a market for large expensive “adult” sets.

Releasing a series of scale models - hogwarts style - of famous LOTR locations should be a great win: Minis Tirith, helms deep, Rivendell, etc. Perhaps mix in some larger minifig scale sets too for other scenes/locations such as the prancing pony, bag end (they did well on that one), balrog/Gandalf

I voted for Doctor Who, but James Bond is a close second. I think it realistically has to be a ongoing media franchise to pick up enough sales to make it worthwhile. Much as I like Indiana Jones, there is little hope of there being enough fans to buy the sets in sufficient volume to justify lots of large, well designed sets.
Doctor Who has a massive backstory with loads of characters ,scenes, etc. The problem is the lack of vehicles that Lego like to include.
An alternative I'd also like to see is what they did with the Simpsons - a CMF set and a couple of large sets only. I think this might work better for the Lord of the Rings - give us a massive 3-4,000 piece Minas Tirith and minifigs for all the missing characters....

LoTR is my definite pick, but Indiana Jones and Pirates of the Caribbean were close seconds.

Related tangent: TMNT fans should absolutely pick up and build the Mega brand Technodrome. Lego blasphemy aside, it's a solid build all around. If you grew up with the TMNT comics and cartoons like I did, you'll crack a nostalgic smile or two at various points throughout the build.

As a big fan of LotR that missed all the sets, I would be glad to see it back in Lego's lineup.

I was trying to think of as many iconic sets they could create for each theme, I haven't watched a couple of them but I still chose The Simpsons. Doctor Who doesn't have lots of iconic locations as everything always changes plus the only vehicle is the Tardis so iconic sets would be difficult. BTTF might be alright for a couple of sets but with just 3 films and a handful of interesting locations I don't think it would be wise to have a full fledged theme surrounding it. The recent Spongebob ideas set I would die for however aside from his home, the Krusty Krab and a couple other locations (e.g. the chum bucket) there aren't any staple locations.

A lot of these themes would, in my opinion, have a half dozen great sets but would run out of sets to make. The advantage of star wars is a practically infinite selection of vehicles, locations and source material to create sets from.
The Simpsons still has decades of source material to choose from. Though it may not have enough for a long running theme in terms of how much they didn't cover in their first run at it there are still dozens of other sets which I would personally like to see.

Cool licenses are my favourite and I was barely born when some of these themes were out. I NEED THE IDEAS KRUSTY KRAB

LOTR is by far the best of the list. Only sets I have that I will never sell, wish I had more money back then to buy more battle packs. I need 2000 uruk hai and 200 Rohan horsed soldiers plus an army of haldir. Where is my Oliphant! So many sets still to make. They should re-release the movies in theatres this would help sell more.

I really wish that TLG would realize that the return of LOTR is in really high demand. So much potential. I wish it had gotten the same kind of treatment that HP is getting right now

The Simsons - School or School Bus

LOTR/middle-earth all the way! They have at least another couple waves worth of ideas to draw from. Plus Amazon‘s TV show will be coming out in the near future...

I would like a return of The Hobbit/Lord of the Rings theme.

@jonwil said:
"TRON no question. Huge fan and would LOVE more sets.
"

That's TRON. He fights for the users! (also my vote!)

I pick Toy Story(voted for TRON in the poll.)I'd love to see Pizza Planet(including The Claw), original Bo Peep, with her sheep, Al's Toy Barn...

We need one of these polls for unlicensed themes... (power miners)

@andygott:
I did watch the first animated series early on, but grew out of it. I still hold that the second animated series (early 00's) is by far the best of the bunch, and the one that the theme was based on (third series) is a not-so-close second. And the current series narrowly edges out the first one. So, the Technodrome, being so closely associated with the series I liked the least, holds little interest for me.

@Modeltrainman:
While it was limited to the fourth movie, Toy Story _just_got_ a revival theme, which is still available in stores (though it would probably be retired now if anyone was buying anything, which is supported by the jacked "limits" on how many you can purchase in one transaction on LEGO.com). But Pizza Planet would be awesome.

Too many choices. I missed out on Indiana Jones and most of Pirates of the Caribbean and LOTR. Those are my top choices.

I chose LOTR because I feel that has the most content to make use of but I also feel like it's pretty niche for a kids toy, Pirates of the Caribbean is a fun series but getting on a bit now and a bit redundant now that there is a new original pirate ship.

I hope avatar comes back.