LEGO minifigure signs major record deal

I have no clue what dimension or timeline we've fallen into, but this is definitely an interesting one.

I don’t know what I just watched.

My 10 year old son will absolutely love this. I have to admit I'm a little bemused, but at least it's not TikTok.

Edit: after watching the video, I did laugh when he starts riding the giant llama head. It's a vibe.

I'm getting 'Never-ending Story' vibes here . . .

This seems very like The Masked Singer and I wonder if they will bring out a Badger character after this?!

They ought to include a copy of this song with 43105. I like what I'm hearing, although I'm sticking to drivers license.

If the merchandise on the emerging artists website is anything to go by, the rabbit singer also has some music in the works.

Might be outside the target market, but I’d like to hear a collaboration with Iggy Pop.

And here I was thinking we were about to get a Pirates or Castle theme again...LOL

Riiiight.

*checks calendar*

*checks calendar again*

Did I somehow time travel and it's 1st of April?

So another song which resembles a thousand of others... That might work!

@thehornedrat said:
"Number one in the Billboard charts will be the ultimate advertisement."

I read that as ‘number one in Billund’, which is probably a more feasible achievement.

THE FIVE STAGES OF BUSINESS DECLINE

STAGE 1: Hubris born of success.
STAGE 2: Undisciplined pursuit of more.
STAGE 3: Denial of risk and peril.
STAGE 4: Grasping for salvation .
STAGE 5: Capitulation to irrelevance and death.

Well done TLG - rarely does a company manage to wedge 3 or 4 stages into a single new product line.

If this song is a hit the folks that did the auto-tuning and post production should get the most credit.

Should it not read "don't buy it to avoid disappointment"? :D

wow, after reading some of the comments here...
some people are really cynical and dead inside.

sure, I don't have any interest in this theme, but come on.
AFOLs are not the target audience for this theme, isn't that clear as day!?

some AFOLs really need to grow up, and enjoy things more.
this mekes me think that if something like Bionicle was released today,
people would criticize it to no end! Just let things be, give them a chance to grow.

Was the song written by the Llama Guy?

Because he's not the singer in the video and all we see him do is a couple of half hearted dance moves... is that all it takes to secure "a major record deal with Universal Music" these days?

Interesting... If TLG managed to tie in each of the beatbox characters to a 'hit' song that was getting radio air time and/or tiktok milage, then it may be a saving grace for the VIDIYO theme which seems destined to flop- not because of the concept or even delivery, but because of the absurd prices...

I guess only time will tell if this is a one off for 'L.L.A.M.A' or we will see similar releases for the other figures!

"It's not clear exactly what he's contributed to the song," : he's the DJ putting the tune & mix together. This is standard fare for DJ-produced dance music. Looks like they're releasing this to try and hit the summer holiday dance market. If holidays resume, this could be a big hit. Seems upbeat, fairly inoffensive & with a decent hook - perfect for kids parties.
Actually, this kind of tie-in seems to be just what the theme needs. Certainly this kind of virtual performer model has been shown to be successful.

So that was Non Sequitur: The video!
So the great 'Hype Men' of history now has L.L.A,M.A added to the likes of Bez in the Happy Mondays and Flava Flav in Public Enemy - they don't contribute that much musically but add to the vibe.
I like the way Llama gets top billing too.

LEGO is sure going all out to promote a theme that, most likely, will end up in the clearance bin by this time next year. At least Dimensions explored IPs LEGO hadn't touched at the time, and Hidden Side had real sets to go with it.

That being said, I do like the minifigures this theme has. But, it is so expensive compared to regular LEGO sets, parents likely will pass on them and just buy something from a regular theme.

So how long before this Llama guy discovers drink and drugs and ends up on the front page of the news after being arrested whilst partying with some megabloks? :)

Neyo? I haven’t heard that name since 2006. Someone’s desperate to be relevant again. I should’ve expected that new music would come out of this partnership, but somehow I’m surprised. I wonder if they will do more songs with the other characters, they’ve gone all in on this theme so it’s definitely on the table. Is it too much to hope for the Punk Pirate to do a collaboration with Alestorm?

I do question the lyrics of the song considering the target audience of the theme, you would’ve thought they’d try to write something a bit more on the nose, but at least it’s more tongue in cheek than a lot of the other songs out there. If I had to guess, this song was written with no intention to be used in this manner and some executive business decisions brought it here.

I ... really don't understand what's happening here.

@Synthia1980 said:
"I just watched the video, sorry VIDEYO, and I didn’t spot a single piece of Lego. Am I completely missing something here? How does this promote Lego, or has it got nothing to do with at all? "

It’s a character from the theme

There is obviously code embedded in the initials of the headline of Llama Signs Deal.

This theme is not my thing, and that is ok. I don't completely understand why others hate it so. I don't care for minidolls either, but many others love them. Is it not possible for a product to be unappealing to some, but also hold appeal for others?

Besides, the video made me chuckle, and the world could use a bit more laughter these days.

Anything that starts my day w/a Never Ending Story reference... can't fault that too much. So for now, I will not boo this llama. Will I spend 20.00 on the Minifigure and an overpriced oversized display case? No and nope. Will I crack a smile at a stuffed llama head being ridden as the Luck Dragon? Yes, you betcha.

@eggbert20 said:
"And here I was thinking we were about to get a Pirates or Castle theme again...LOL"

Or The Lord of the Rings.....

@ecleme11 said:
"So how long before this Llama guy discovers drink and drugs and ends up on the front page of the news after being arrested whilst partying with some megabloks? :)"

Now I'm picturing a "Rise and Fall of a Musical Icon" theme: The big mansion is the flagship set. You can get the music video shoot, the Grammy win, the lavish party... then in the next wave there's the messed-up gig, the drunk driving incident, "Paparazzi Encounter", and then finally, rehab.

I could feel villain vibes from the llama with the light up sunglasses. I will never unsee what I just saw...

I find it quite F-llama-boyant.

We all probably laughed when cryptocurrency was launched, yet here we are.

@DoonsterBuildsLego said:
""It's not clear exactly what he's contributed to the song," : he's the DJ putting the tune & mix together. This is standard fare for DJ-produced dance music. Looks like they're releasing this to try and hit the summer holiday dance market. If holidays resume, this could be a big hit. Seems upbeat, fairly inoffensive & with a decent hook - perfect for kids parties.
Actually, this kind of tie-in seems to be just what the theme needs. Certainly this kind of virtual performer model has been shown to be successful. "

Thank you for being the only person in this comments section to bother to think about what a DJ actually does instead of complaining bitterly about some inoffensive dance music.

@ac_pt said:
"wow, after reading some of the comments here...
some people are really cynical and dead inside.

sure, I don't have any interest in this theme, but come on.
AFOLs are not the target audience for this theme, isn't that clear as day!?"

I see your point, but even though AFOLs are not the target audience, we have been collecting Lego for longer than most children, and in some cases longer than Lego designers themselves. Having seen the rise and fall of Spinjitzu spinners, Dimensions, and Hidden Side, we have a good sense of which experimental products will succeed and which will fail, even the ones that are not meant for AFOLs. I have no interest in these, and I don't think my family members who are in the target demographic will either.

@ac_pt said:
"wow, after reading some of the comments here...
some people are really cynical and dead inside.

sure, I don't have any interest in this theme, but come on.
AFOLs are not the target audience for this theme, isn't that clear as day!?

some AFOLs really need to grow up, and enjoy things more.
this mekes me think that if something like Bionicle was released today,
people would criticize it to no end! Just let things be, give them a chance to grow."

I couldn't agree more. I am tired of people always trying to think up their best insults to criticize any new thing the LEGO GROUP does. Some one is fully grown up when they are not afraid to have fun.

@haldir said:
" @ac_pt said:
"wow, after reading some of the comments here...
some people are really cynical and dead inside.

sure, I don't have any interest in this theme, but come on.
AFOLs are not the target audience for this theme, isn't that clear as day!?"

I see your point, but even though AFOLs are not the target audience, we have been collecting Lego for longer than most children, and in some cases longer than Lego designers themselves. Having seen the rise and fall of Spinjitzu spinners, Dimensions, and Hidden Side, we have a good sense of which experimental products will succeed and which will fail, even the ones that are not meant for AFOLs. I have no interest in these, and I don't think my family members who are in the target demographic will either."

Spinjitzu spinners didn't fail in the same way as Hidden Side. None were produced in 2013 or 14 because Ninjago was intended to end those years, and by 2015 the molds were unavailable. The sets were popular and sold well- I was in elementary school when they came out and even kids who didn't like LEGO much still had the Ninjago spinners. They were simply a casualty of poor planning.

As overpriced as the Beatboxes are and as low functioning the app seems to be, this feels like a great marketing move. While LEGO has had their own bands in the past (like Cryoshell for BIONICLE and The Fold for Ninjago) I don't believe they've ever had a song licensed to a record label and ready to play on the radio. Hopefully even if Vidiyo is a massive flop they continue to make songs with these characters, just to get their foot into another market, and maybe this'll open the opportunity to hear Gravity Hurts or Everything Is Awesome on the radio!

That said, one big problem I've had with this app from the start is how limited the songs are. As far as I can tell, they're only using record-label songs prepped for radio broadcast, and family friendly ones at that, which is really limiting their market. There's no classical, no movie soundtracks, no videogame soundtracks, no indie bands, no television songs, it's *just* radio.

It feels like LEGO is falling into the same pitfall Quibi did. They're relying too much on star power. People have been pretty apt to point out that the insane prices of the Beatboxes are likely to cover the licensing fees of these songs, but LEGO really didn't need to do that. Traditional celebrities' aren't that popular among younger millennials and gen z. The youth have become wiser to the limitations these celebrities have and have become much more drawn to influencers, people who don't have some corporation breathing down their necks on how to create their image and who can respond more quickly to the demands of their followers.

Ask any 11 year old who Leonardo DiCaprio is and they'll give you a blank stare, but ask them who Markiplier is and they're jumping off the walls quoting Warfstache. Music is much the same. I'd imagine most children these days would be more interested in creating videos with Megalovania than U Can't Touch This, despite the latter costing nearly 10 times as much to license.

Of course there are exceptions to this. Danny DeVito and Keanu Reeves are pretty popular household names among the youth, but that's more to do with their presence in meme culture than their actual performances in Hollywood. For an app like this to work you've really gotta lean into songs people already love fiddling with. They've got Happy and that's a start, but (having not seen the full track list) I don't think they've got their hands on All Star, Gangnam Style, Deja Vu, that song from the end of Earthbound I can never remember the name of. You wanna have people make memes, give 'em memes!

More expensive doesn't necessarily mean better, and it's about time bigwigs learned that.

One thing I don't understand is, when I watch this video it sounds like a-dime-a-dozen song. I don't recognize the artist(s) and if this played on the radio I would think it is a song just like any other. Nothing the least bit special or memorable about it.
And even if I thought it had any merit, how is this video supposed to make people who watch it think of LEGO? It has been rightly said that there is nothing in the video that brings up any association with the brand or the products. I showed the video to my kids (actually I had to make them watch it because they don't like this kind of music).
There reaction was "daddy, this is boring". When I told them it was by LEGO they didn't understand and were not impressed.

I dig it.

Everyone laughed at Nintendo when the Wii came out. I remember everyone cracking wise on them for the "cheap gimmick", but every house party ended up with a Wii boxing match or bowling. And by the end of the decade every major console had motion sensor controllers.

Good for LEGO for trying something new, and fun, and lighthearted. I laughed out loud when the flying Llama head appeared, and to reiterate an earlier post, its good to have more fun and laughter in the world.

It'll go well, or it wont, but for the love of Brick, you gotta admit its fun.

That tongue-chewing, severed, flying llama head is more than just a little disturbing.
Also, what’s up with the janitor, grocery shopper and waitress? Why are they there? Also, the pancakes, inflatable sea creatures and dinosaurs.
Is NOTHING sacred anymore?!?!

Isn't the 'Everything is Awesome' song from The Lego Movie making fun of this type of bland pop music

I happened to receive some backstage exclusive info for the making of this video:

Producer: I need an original new idea for a music video. What do you got?
Lackeys: Sorry, boss, but I think we’ve done everything that’s out there.
Producer: I pay you guys outrageous sums of money to come up with things. I want something new.
Lackey 1 : I mean, the ONLY thing I can think of, is getting Leonard Nimoy to sing a song about hobbits. We can get a bunch of random clueless girls wearing pointed ears doing random stuff in the background. I’ll tell you, it’ll get a lot of hits. People will be like, ‘Look it this. Can you believe anyone would come up with something this stupid?’ And everyone would be talking about it.
Producer: It’s been done.
Lackey 1 : No way. No one could think of something that random and stupid besides me.
Lackey 2 : Check youtube.
Lackey 1 : No way... Unbelievable!
Producer: I’m going to lunch. You have an hour to come up with something or you’re all fired.
Lackey 3 : What are we going to do?
Lackey 1 : I don’t know...
Lackey 2 : Dice.
Lackey 3 : No, not that random.
Lackey 1 : I think it’s time that we have to resort to the dice.
Lackey 3 : Okay, then, the dice...
Lackey 1 : So how does this work exactly?
Lackey 2 : We get my sets of 20-sided, 100-sided, etc. dice. Then we roll a number and turn to that page in the dictionary. Then we roll again and find that word. Then we put the words together and come up with something.
Lackey 1 : Okay. Let’s go for it.
Time passes...
Lackey 1 : So, what did everyone come up with?
Lackey 2 : I got LLAMA, DECAPITATION, BLEP, VOLANT, DIAPHANOUS, GLASSES
Lackey 1 : Diaphanous? What does that mean?
Lackey 2 : Like... a cloud.
Lackey 1 : Okay, so we’ll put clouds in it. What about you?
Lackey 3 : I got ABDUCTION, NIECE, PIZZA, SHARK, INFLATABLE, WEIGHT
Lackey 1 : Weight?
Lackey 3 : Yeah, you know, what a waitress does.
Lackey 1 : Well, that leaves me with SWARTHY, ORANGE, CHECKERBOARD, TRIPLETS, DINOSAUR, HAT, JANITOR
Lackey 3 : Let’s get to work then.
Lackey 2 : Wait... Aren’t you a little leery about decapitation?
Lackey 3 : The dice have spoken. We’re bound to them. So we’ll come up with something that’s attractive for children. I’m more worried about the abduction part...
Lackey 2 : Put it in a fairy tale land and have so much random stuff going on that no one will notice.
Video produced.
Producer: So, how are we going to market this? I mean, parents are going to think we’re on drugs. Children are going to be scared. Anyone else is going to wonder what they just experienced...
Lackey 1 : Search for Llama online and see what you come up with?
Lackey 2 : This is interesting... I found a secret image of Lego’s new product line, featuring a dancing llama.
Producer: But what does our video have to do with Lego?
Lackey 1: Nothing. It doesn’t hurt to ask. The worst they can say is “no.”

Viewers: The worst they can say is “yes.”