Optimus Prime teased!

Interesting

Yes! I was about to start a G1 OP MOC a while back when I saw these rumors. Very much looking forward to this.

Finally I can't wait :D

YEEEEEEEEEEASS

Any clue about the size of the set?

Bue will it come with a sound brick xD

Optimum Pride! U-eh-a-uh-A!

As a kid I used to build transformers from lego to add to my G1 collection to play with. Mostly they were jets I could easily transform to robots. So this a most buy for me because of nostalgic emotions. The G1 transformers I gave away to a cousin in the nineties. Nowadays I regret that decision because Lego and transformers were the toys that defined my childhood growing up in the eighties.

shut up and take (more of) my money!

Does this mean they bought hasbro or just made a deal?

(Spinning Autobot/Decepticon logo sound)

Really looking forward to it, 170€ for 1500 pieces, this better be a good transformation! Voltron had 2300 pc. for 180€.

YESSSSSSS!!!!!!

I actually cannae believe this is real. Is it April 1st already?

Hope they also do Bumblebee etc., but the main question will they still be able to transform in Lego otherwise just more licensed vehicles?

A surprise to be had but a welcomed one.

This is unbelievable! My two favorite toylines finally bridged... this is going to be a dream come true.

Fingers crossed for Megatron.

Oh, this is not good...

@Mirakle said:
"Any clue about the size of the set?"

My understanding is that it will be about 1ft (30cm) but take that with a pinch of salt.

@cody6268 said:
"I hope LEGO figures out a way to make the robots able to be transformed, instead of 2-in-1 sets like most of the KREO ones were. "

My understanding is it will transform rather than having to be reassembled but take that as unconfirmed.

@CCC said:
" @Zander said:
"Interesting that LEGO is cooperating with its rival Hasbro. Could that signal further Hasbro IP in LEGO form? Anyone for a LEGO Dungeons & Dragons set?"

There is quite a big jump between the two. If Hasbro/WOTC sanction official LEGO D&D minifigures then they could kill off their some of their miniatures business as people start to create customs from non-D&D LEGO parts instead of buying other D&D miniatures."
I don’t see D&D minifigures cannibalising the sale of D&D miniatures much. It’s already possible to play D&D with minifigures - and some people do - but it’s not terribly common.

I suspect a much larger effect of a LEGO D&D line would be to draw KFOLs who are entering their DAs to D&D. If that sounds like a bad outcome for LEGO, I reckon that LEGO D&D would (re)introduce adults to LEGO turning them into AFOLs. So a win-win situation: Hasbro/WotC gains Gen Zers, while LEGO gains Millennials and Gen Xers.

It should be noted that many toy companies license their IP to other toy companies. Funko may be the most obvious example, with multiple Hasbro and Mattel characters. The issue isn't if the companies compete, but if the products do. As others have mentioned, Kre-O is a dead brand, and Hasbro doesn't make construction sets. There's no reason they shouldn't make money off a a Lego set.

Another big year for creator Expert vehicle's 10300, DeLorean, 10302, Optimus prime, 10304, Camaro z/28, and another half of the year to go.

Couple of reviewers have launched their reviews too early

I think TBB put their review up a little early haha, looks like they just took it down.

I dont know why I had high hopes for this thing. It looks very... G1 toy. And I dont mean that in a good way. Nevertheless it at least introduces some good parts for fans to do a better job, most notably the face plate.

The BB review was very positive... I am a huge Transformers fan, and I was skeptical about this one... But I think this is what I'll ask my family for for father's day.

@cody6268 said:
"While KREO/Oxford wasn't as bad as MEGA, I could still tell the quality wasn't there (I picked up the version of Ratchet they made a few years back, since LEGO didn't have an ambulance on tap at the time). .

Guess Hasbro realized--if you want Transformers building sets done right, you go to LEGO.

I hope LEGO figures out a way to make the robots able to be transformed, instead of 2-in-1 sets like most of the KREO ones were. "

I have to disagree. Kre-o/Oxford is FAR worse in quality than Mega, especially by the time Kre-o was on shelves.

@melkor23 said:

Kre-O is dead since 2017

LOL! Did not know that. You learn something new everyday! Thanks.

Reviews are already out, super awesome that it transforms

Also, hoping for a devastator at some point that would be awesome

RIP Kre-o lol, I had some of those

That’s…not something I expected to read, unless it was 40 days ago. Masterpiece-style Soundwave, please? And not a car or a satellite. A portable cassette player, like his original design.

@cody6268:
Hasbro has had a few attempts to muscle in on LEGO turf. Built to Rule was a really terrible system, where “Transformers” had to be disassembled to loose parts and rebuilt into the alt mode. Kre-O was designed by a Korean company and Hasbro handled their distribution, they couldn’t decide if they wanted the Transformers line to focus on models or kreons (minifig-style characters) of the Transformers, and I’m not sure how well the models transformed. I keep thinking they were involved with C3, which I believe got shut down for ripping off brand new part designs within the first year they were appearing in LEGO sets, but that was an Art Asylum brand, and I’m not finding anything that mentions a tie to Hasbro.

@LuvsLEGO_Cool_J:
Kre-O ended in 2017, and I don’t even remember seeing them that recently. TRU was the only chain I can think of where I ever saw them (always on the periphery of the LEGO section), and I can only remember seeing them there for maybe 1-3 years.

@Zander said:
" @Mirakle said:
"Any clue about the size of the set?"

My understanding is that it will be about 1ft (30cm) but take that with a pinch of salt.

@cody6268 said:
"I hope LEGO figures out a way to make the robots able to be transformed, instead of 2-in-1 sets like most of the KREO ones were. "

My understanding is it will transform rather than having to be reassembled but take that as unconfirmed.

@CCC said:
" @Zander said:
"Interesting that LEGO is cooperating with its rival Hasbro. Could that signal further Hasbro IP in LEGO form? Anyone for a LEGO Dungeons & Dragons set?"

There is quite a big jump between the two. If Hasbro/WOTC sanction official LEGO D&D minifigures then they could kill off their some of their miniatures business as people start to create customs from non-D&D LEGO parts instead of buying other D&D miniatures."
I don’t see D&D minifigures cannibalising the sale of D&D miniatures much. It’s already possible to play D&D with minifigures - and some people do - but it’s not terribly common.

I suspect a much larger effect of a LEGO D&D line would be to draw KFOLs who are entering their DAs to D&D. If that sounds like a bad outcome for LEGO, I reckon that LEGO D&D would (re)introduce adults to LEGO turning them into AFOLs. So a win-win situation: Hasbro/WotC gains Gen Zers, while LEGO gains Millennials and Gen Xers.

"

I do think there is also a question of where Lego would view D&D in terms of family appropriateness... I do think a lot of official WoTC material tries to aim for the PG/PG-13 feel Lego has with a lot of licensed sets, and even a blood sucking vampire like Strahd isn't that far out from what Lego has depicted in the past; and the fantasy violence of the Forgotten Realms or Dragonlance or Eberron is very in line with normal Lego stuff.

But some of the other 3rd party affiliates with D&D (and frankly probably how a lot of people play their own home games) can swing more R-rated. Take the popular Critical Role series which although a separate entity from Hasbro/WoTC, does have two official crossover books. But while the books are pretty PG-13, the original series and its animated spin off The Legend of Vox Machina have plenty of f-bombs, bloody violence, and sexual jokes. So although CR is a 3rd party partner with WoTC and not an "in house" brand, its association being perhaps the standard bearer for the hobby in a wider public sense might make Lego hesitate associating with D&D to avoid being seen associating with an R-rated property by proxy (then again Lego keeps giving us Deadpool figures and we just got the Punisher and Daredevil in a Spider-Man set, so WHO knows what they think anymore...)

LEEEEEEETSSSS GOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!

@CCC said:
" @Zander said:
"Interesting that LEGO is cooperating with its rival Hasbro. Could that signal further Hasbro IP in LEGO form? Anyone for a LEGO Dungeons & Dragons set?"

There is quite a big jump between the two. If Hasbro/WOTC sanction official LEGO D&D minifigures then they could kill off their some of their miniatures business as people start to create customs from non-D&D LEGO parts instead of buying other D&D miniatures."

WotC doesn't have a miniatures business. That's already dead. WizKids licenses with WotC to do miniatures for D&D and other WotC/Hasbro properties. Another case of Hasbro/WotC teaming up with a former competitor.

The only hold back would be whether there's any limits put in place by those existing licensing deals. Though you'd still see plenty of people who'd rather use realistically sculpted miniatures than LEGO mini figures.

@Lego_lord said:
"Oh, this is not good..."

Literally how. it's another collaboration, and due to a review accidentally coming out early we already know what it looks like, and it looks amazing.

@Zander said:
" @Mirakle said:
"Any clue about the size of the set?"

My understanding is that it will be about 1ft (30cm) but take that with a pinch of salt.

@cody6268 said:
"I hope LEGO figures out a way to make the robots able to be transformed, instead of 2-in-1 sets like most of the KREO ones were. "

My understanding is it will transform rather than having to be reassembled but take that as unconfirmed.

@CCC said:
" @Zander said:
"Interesting that LEGO is cooperating with its rival Hasbro. Could that signal further Hasbro IP in LEGO form? Anyone for a LEGO Dungeons & Dragons set?"

There is quite a big jump between the two. If Hasbro/WOTC sanction official LEGO D&D minifigures then they could kill off their some of their miniatures business as people start to create customs from non-D&D LEGO parts instead of buying other D&D miniatures."
I don’t see D&D minifigures cannibalising the sale of D&D miniatures much. It’s already possible to play D&D with minifigures - and some people do - but it’s not terribly common.

I suspect a much larger effect of a LEGO D&D line would be to draw KFOLs who are entering their DAs to D&D. If that sounds like a bad outcome for LEGO, I reckon that LEGO D&D would (re)introduce adults to LEGO turning them into AFOLs. So a win-win situation: Hasbro/WotC gains Gen Zers, while LEGO gains Millennials and Gen Xers.

"

I’m a teen dm at my school and I used to use minifigs as a cheap alternative to minis (seeing as I already had them), until I got given my first bulk lot for my birthday. However, I did find them quite tedious to set up on a time limit and that other guys kept fiddling with them whilst I was talking. Other than that, I’m down for D&D minifigs although I do think that they would steal younger consumers away from minis.

Too bad I only played with LEGO in my childhood in the 80s and not Transformers..

@Slobrojoe said:
" @Zander said:
" @Mirakle said:
"Any clue about the size of the set?"

My understanding is that it will be about 1ft (30cm) but take that with a pinch of salt.

@cody6268 said:
"I hope LEGO figures out a way to make the robots able to be transformed, instead of 2-in-1 sets like most of the KREO ones were. "

My understanding is it will transform rather than having to be reassembled but take that as unconfirmed.

@CCC said:
" @Zander said:
"Interesting that LEGO is cooperating with its rival Hasbro. Could that signal further Hasbro IP in LEGO form? Anyone for a LEGO Dungeons & Dragons set?"

There is quite a big jump between the two. If Hasbro/WOTC sanction official LEGO D&D minifigures then they could kill off their some of their miniatures business as people start to create customs from non-D&D LEGO parts instead of buying other D&D miniatures."
I don’t see D&D minifigures cannibalising the sale of D&D miniatures much. It’s already possible to play D&D with minifigures - and some people do - but it’s not terribly common.

I suspect a much larger effect of a LEGO D&D line would be to draw KFOLs who are entering their DAs to D&D. If that sounds like a bad outcome for LEGO, I reckon that LEGO D&D would (re)introduce adults to LEGO turning them into AFOLs. So a win-win situation: Hasbro/WotC gains Gen Zers, while LEGO gains Millennials and Gen Xers.

"

I’m a teen dm at my school and I used to use minifigs as a cheap alternative to minis (seeing as I already had them), until I got given my first bulk lot for my birthday. However, I did find them quite tedious to set up on a time limit and that other guys kept fiddling with them whilst I was talking. Other than that, I’m down for D&D minifigs although I do think that they would steal younger consumers away from minis."

There's also the question of the value of paying for a D&D license over a more valuable one like LotR, or just doing a generic fantasy line as an offshoot of Elves or Castle to build up their own IP and save the expense.

I'm just here hoping for Soundwave.

Why should LEGO make Transformers sets when they've already got their own lines of buildable robots, known as Bionicle and Hero Factory. It really feels like LEGO really hates their own original IPs, not gonna lie...

@Huw said:
"Another fan media site published its review ahead of the embargo date. It has since removed it and I've removed most of the discussion about it from above.

It's understandable why it did so: the date was changed, as seems to be more commonplace nowadays.

Our definitive review will be published later this week."

When y'all do your review, could we get a scale comparison shot with the Delorean and/or Ecto-1? Would like to see how the Optimus truck fits in with its fellow 80s vehicle icons

All Will Build, None Will Fall!

Lol it's fun when all the various collector boards I am a part of are all talking about the same thing!

ah good, another new one in which i've no interest, never got into transformers, gobots, etc. wallet continues to recover from 5/4 nicely

@xboxtravis7992:
3rd party source material is 3rd party. It requires additional licensing, it’s safely walled off by a different brand name, and the fact that open source rulesets can be used by anyone with little to no input from the company of origin. Both Marvel and DC have titles past and present that TLG would want nothing to do with, but they simply steer clear of those with official sets.

@CCC said:
" @Zander said:
"Interesting that LEGO is cooperating with its rival Hasbro. Could that signal further Hasbro IP in LEGO form? Anyone for a LEGO Dungeons & Dragons set?"

There is quite a big jump between the two. If Hasbro/WOTC sanction official LEGO D&D minifigures then they could kill off their some of their miniatures business as people start to create customs from non-D&D LEGO parts instead of buying other D&D miniatures."

I see what you are saying, but I think the people who like miniatures will still buy (and paint) miniatures. I would not see Lego as a replacement for D&D miniatures, and I would venture to say that most D&D enthusiasts would agree. On the other hand, I think there would be a huge market of people who have normally been intimidated by the skill needed for custom-painted figures who would jump at a chance to add Lego.

Every time they do a announcement like that all I can think is yep gonna be too expensive and cant justify buying it.

Hopefully we get more. I expect a Bumblebee and Megatron first, but I really want a Grimlock!

“Optimus Prime Teased”
Hahaha, loser! Decepticons will always be better!
@ToysFromTheAttic To say nothing of Hero Factory, which has zero fans and had a fraction of Bionicle’s when it was still sold.

@ToysFromTheAttic said:
" @LegoDavid said:
"Why should LEGO make Transformers sets when they've already got their own lines of buildable robots, known as Bionicle and Hero Factory. It really feels like LEGO really hates their own original IPs, not gonna lie... "

Because Transformers is one of the biggest IPs in the world, with well-known and beloved characters several generations grew up with. Not to mention a dedicated fanbase with deep pockets. Bionicle doesn't even come close to those numbers."

Like I am a huge Bionicle fan, but I am not going to pretend it has a fandom anywhere near the size of one with multiple theatrical movies, several TV series, 30-40+ years of comics, a handful of theme park rides and appeals to Gen X nostalgia which is a very lucrative market if Ghostbusters, Back to the Future and many other Lego releases have proven already.

Like Bionicle was big for an in-house Lego IP, but Transformers is massive in comparison. At the very least I can appreciate that the TFWiki gives us Bionicle fans some shout outs in the easter eggs they hide over there. :P

@PurpleDave I think you are right that Lego can ignore of course 3rd party content if they ever wanted a WoTC deal for D&D sets. But I still think that Critical Role and the "Matt Mercer effect" might still have a chance to distort how Lego might view the D&D IP, even though CR is a 3rd party company its mass appeal means its a heavyweight in how the public perceives D&D right now. But yeah if Lego were to ignore that and focus just on WoTC owned stuff like Drizzt they could have plenty to play with. Not to mention I forgot to mention WoTC also does Magic the Gathering which has its OWN big fanbase like D&D full of potential crossover appeal if Lego and Hasbro wish to continue cooperating with each other.

If this is possible, I want Scala back, but with real Barbie dolls...

@CharzBoi said:
" @Lego_lord said:
"Oh, this is not good..."

Literally how. it's another collaboration, and due to a review accidentally coming out early we already know what it looks like, and it looks amazing."

I meant it’s not good for me. Just when I thought I’m out, Lego comes out with a great set from my childhood. This is exactly how I got Voltron and got me in trouble with Mrs.

@CharzBoi said:
" @Lego_lord said:
"Oh, this is not good..."

Literally how. it's another collaboration, and due to a review accidentally coming out early we already know what it looks like, and it looks amazing."

I meant it’s not good for me. Just when I thought I’m out, Lego comes out with a great set from my childhood. This is exactly how I got Voltron and got me in trouble with Mrs.

@xboxtravis7992:
I think you overestimate how much the public pays attention to D&D these days. Back a few decades, it was a big deal, because playing turned you into a satan-worshipper or whatever. Now, those people have found newer things to freak out over. I’ve actually played it, and I couldn’t tell you much beyond that they’ve revised it again since the edition where I’m listed in the playtester credits (ironically I played two different prerelease versions, but never played the official 3rd Edition rules for even a minute).

@AcademyofDrX:
How you respond to it is also important. When Lucas found out people were making fan-films, he helped some of the professionally publish them (I was thrilled to be able to score an official DVD of the Troops short). When Paramount found out there was an online fan community for Star Trek, they issued Cease & Desist notices to every one of them in preparation for opening their own pay-to-play site that probably didn’t offer much besides a centrally-located message board.

@darthmar said:
"As a kid I used to build transformers from lego to add to my G1 collection to play with. Mostly they were jets I could easily transform to robots. So this a most buy for me because of nostalgic emotions. "

Yes! My proudest accomplishment as a child was figuring out a transforming Optimus Prime. At least, I think it was OP, it's all hazy now and burnished by time

@Lego_lord said:
" @CharzBoi said:
" @Lego_lord said:
"Oh, this is not good..."

Literally how. it's another collaboration, and due to a review accidentally coming out early we already know what it looks like, and it looks amazing."

I meant it’s not good for me. Just when I thought I’m out, Lego comes out with a great set from my childhood. This is exactly how I got Voltron and got me in trouble with Mrs."

ohhhh my bad I thought you were complaining about it being made lol

@LegoDavid
And the fact that they have scrapped their CCBS line for the past 4 years too. They could have made brick-built models, but no. No knees guys!

@ambr
Yes, it will transform.

Rubbish Huw! You already have it in hand, built and ready to release the review ;)

I wonder how it compares to Lego Voltron? They would look fantastic if scaled together side by side.

I don't look at rumour sites so I didn't see this coming. Day one purchase for this G1 fan! Assuming simplicity of transformation is an important factor, I would expect Soundwave to be a shoo-in if this proves a hit. Starscream is an iconic Decep but his original toy wasn't great and the various "Masterpiece" versions are probably way too complex and fiddly to reproduce in Lego. Would like to see a Shockwave, too, he was v. cool.

Oh wow. Oh man.

I’m kind of speechless.

All I hear is screaming guitars and explosions and laser effects.

if you wanna see what it looks like, check the hidden replies on the tweet ;)

I have Googled for a preview or something about Optimus Prime in LEGO and I did found some Optimus Prime in LEGO. I'm not sure if that is the set, but I do like it.

"Lego is the right of all sentient beings..."
So who else did a double-take seeing the Autobot logo on Brickset?

Some triple-changers would be fun!

@Peeeeeeet:
I think it’s safe to say that Sir-Not-Appearing-In-This-Theme will be G1 Ironhide (and by extension G1 Ratchet). I remember being enraptured by the idea that he came with his own built-in vehicle, but when I looked him up a few years ago I realized I had apparently ignored the fact that his “head” is nothing but a clear windshield. For, um, very different reasons, G1 Megatron is also unlikely to make an appearance.

G1 Blaster is about as easy as G1 Soundwave (Masterpiece Soundwave is awesome but probably too complex to manage without making him stand 2’ tall), but the latter is by far the more popular of the two. G1 Bumblebee might be _too_ simple, besides the fact that it’s a terrible rendition of a VW Beetle, and any other version I’m familiar with is probably too complex. Grimlock is probably a shoe-in. Any version of Starscream they produce, I’d rather see as Skywarp and/or Thrust. It’d be really cool to see if they can pull off a decent motorcycle.

Of course, you know the two that need to happen the most are Ectotron and Gigawatt.

@alyxavior:
Oh, barf! They sucked in their original design, when parts could be tailor-made to serve the transformations. I can’t imagine trying to shoehorn that in to a LEGO version.

@AcademyofDrX said:
"It should be noted that many toy companies license their IP to other toy companies. Funko may be the most obvious example, with multiple Hasbro and Mattel characters. The issue isn't if the companies compete, but if the products do. As others have mentioned, Kre-O is a dead brand, and Hasbro doesn't make construction sets. There's no reason they shouldn't make money off a a Lego set."

Yeah, but LEGO has never really been interested in collaborating with other toy companies before now, AFAICT.

I kind of wish they’d turned around their stance earlier, if only so we could have gotten LEGO My Little Pony sets while MLP was still on G4.

Brother Brick leaked it early. Pictures are on reddit. It looks average. It's a pass for me.

@Blondie_Wan:
Toy Story is missing a lot of main characters because they’re owned by other toy companies. I’m not sure how the regular non-LEGO Toy Story lines resolved it, but Barbie/Ken are Mattel, The Potato Heads are Hasbro, and Slinky Dog just got sold to Just Play.

@Chilis_no said:
"Too bad I only played with LEGO in my childhood in the 80s and not Transformers.."

Might not be childhood anymore - but there's still time!

All over Twitter - has been since about 4pm GMT yesterday. Not overly impressed - apparently, his knees don't bend...

@Koend1999 said:
" @followsclosely said:
"Brother Brick leaked it early. Pictures are on reddit. It looks average. It's a pass for me."

It ticks all my "Nostalgia for 80s toys" boxes, so this will be an insta-buy. I hope it will be for sale soon so I can get that beautiful Cardboard Box GWP.

Also, I am so glad they did not do the Michael Bay version. Not only are his Transformers movies abominations to the art of moviemaking, but the only real Optimus Prime is original Optimus Prime. And that is exactly what LEGO has given me. "

While there were some fun moments, I certainly agree that those movies were not good. I'm eternally glad they went with another director when it came to Bumblebee, because that movie showed what was possible with an actual decent plot (not to mention appealing characters). Here's hoping Rise of the Beasts is a surprising gem.

@Grimlock said:
"All over Twitter - has been since about 4pm GMT yesterday. Not overly impressed - apparently, his knees don't bend..."

But they twist! :)

@stepwise: It's never too late to have a happy childhood.
@Grimlock: That just means he's accurate to the G1 toy!

@PurpleDave said:

Of course, you know the two that need to happen the most are Ectotron and Gigawatt.

Hah! I was just thinking that I will soon own crossover merch between three of my four favourite 80s things: GB / Transformers; Lego / GB and now Lego / Transformers! If they all came with Sylvester McCoy's umbrella it would be all four! :)

@MugenLazlo said:
"Fingers crossed for Megatron."

Do we actually think Lego Will make a robot that Transforms into a 'Life-size' replica (Walther P-38) gun? Given their stance on 'Weapons of War' currently?

I also think all of Megs other modes (Tanks mostly) would not be done either. Maybe his...urgh...Beastwars T-Rex mode??

Soundwave as a boombox maybe.....?

Pictures are available on Geek Culture.

I built Prime when I was a kid and long dreamed that a cross over like this could exist - and went to town building more Transformers Brickheadz in LDD than I'll ever be able to actually build!

This is a dream come true to me; I think he looks awesome and kudos to the designers for engineering such a faithful creation. Definitely has "the touch" as far as I'm concerned!

@TheBrickGuru24:
I’ve watched all of the live-action Transformers movies now (all free from TV broadcasts), and they were clearly going downhill with every “new” release. When the fourth movie came out, I read that someone is played the first three simultaneously, side-by-side-by-side, and the same plot points happened to the same characters at the same time in all three. Then I watched Bumblebee. I actually bought a copy of that one.

That said, I did like some of the designs they came up with for the Bayformers. Some were truly terrible, but there were some decent ones in there as well.

@bigandywatson:
The only Soundwave I’ve seen that’s designed to transform into a boombox is the janky Siege version that also transforms into a base for tiny Transformers. Usually it’s a portable cassette player (Millennials, portable cassette players is what we called MP3 players when you had to load physical copies of the albums in, one at a time) (Gen Z, MP3 players is what we called smartphones when all they did was play music ,phones were permanently attached to the wall, and text messages were written on paper) (Boomers, paper is a newer version of papyrus) (Gen X…you get it).

@PurpleDave said:
" @xboxtravis7992:
I think you overestimate how much the public pays attention to D&D these days. Back a few decades, it was a big deal, because playing turned you into a satan-worshipper or whatever. Now, those people have found newer things to freak out over. I’ve actually played it, and I couldn’t tell you much beyond that they’ve revised it again since the edition where I’m listed in the playtester credits (ironically I played two different prerelease versions, but never played the official 3rd Edition rules for even a minute)."

Honestly you might be underestimating it. :P Fifth edition has been an absolute juggernaut in the TTRPG world, due to a streamlined rule set that reduced some of the crunch in D&D while also restoring some of the signature D&D quirks 4E tried to remove from the game. 5E then got boosted by D&D's mention in shows like Stranger Things (with an obligatory crossover with them along with a Rick and Morty crossover), but the explosion of the live play scene is where things really took 5E to the next level.

The ability to stream on Twitch, YouTube or other platforms let live plays particularly with professional actors (D-list celebrities) take off. I mention Critical Role because they are the most popular, but Dimmension20, HarmonQuest, and Acquisitions Incorporated all also contributed to the rise. That is also though why I point out that a large swath of the public knows D&D through these adult aimed livestreams and spin offs. Even outside of live streams a massive YouTube community of D&D content has formed (think like Matt Colville, XP to Level 3, Runesmith, JoCat, Zee Bradshaw, Dingo Doodles, etc.) With Critical Role and its fandom of "Critters" being the giant in the room its worth noting they make $167,000 monthly from their stream via Twitch, and their Kickstarter for "The Legend of Vox Machina" which was originally intended to be a one-off 30 minute animated special raked in $11.38 million dollars leading to it being picked up by Amazon Prime as a direct to two seasons order. As I mentioned previously, its a very R-rated series; but its also very good as Season 1's 100% critic score on Rotten Tomatoes professes.

So yes while Hasbro's house characters and D&D settings like Eberron or the Forgotten Realms have the age and are well known within in the hobby, ask the general public what D&D characters and worlds are most famous and your likely going to hear about the world of Exandria and characters like Vex, Percy, Pike, Scanlan and Grog... So that is the elephant in the room if Lego and Hasbro were to cooperate again, Hasbro has characters like Strahd and Drizzt and all of Dragonlance to offer, but the famous characters are 3rd party owned and in a very R-rated setting meaning Lego would be cut off from where the really iconic current D&D pop culture is. I still think Strahd has about the same popularity though, in part due to having been around since the 80's at least and still the most popular official WoTC adventure book and could see a Ravenloft castle do well in Lego form, and a generic Beholder set working as well.

@xboxtravis7992:
By “overestimate”, I mean that RPG in general is a fairly niche hobby. The average person on the street has never played any type of RPG, and couldn’t name any brand or company except “Dungeons & Dragons”. It’s something they’ve seen actors pretend to play in movies like E.T., or shows like Stranger Things, but that doesn’t mean they’re rushing out to give it a try. I’ve playtested 3rd Edition. I’ve been to GenCon at least once. I’ve had dinner with Steve Jackson while he picked my brain on how to make a LUG more active. I couldn’t have told you what edition D&D was on at this point, or what companies are using the d20 core rules. What I do know is that when I go shopping for new sci-fi/fantasy books, there’s a set of shelves in that area with a fairly basic, mostly D&D selection of RPG material, and I don’t think I’ve ever seen anyone browsing them.

@PurpleDave said:
" @Blondie_Wan:
Toy Story is missing a lot of main characters because they’re owned by other toy companies. I’m not sure how the regular non-LEGO Toy Story lines resolved it, but Barbie/Ken are Mattel, The Potato Heads are Hasbro, and Slinky Dog just got sold to Just Play."

I almost mentioned that. I remember discussions on Eurobricks back when LEGO first did Toy Story material in 2010, when the third movie came out, and those exact five characters were the ones whose absence was most keenly felt and yet who would clearly remain absent for that reason.

I mentioned My Little Pony because aside from having enjoyed the 2010 series and its spin-off material, there was at least one MLP project on LEGO CUUSOO that garnered a sizable number of votes (I think around 5k) before TLG determined there was zero possibility of it going forward because of the IP belonging to a competing toy company, and archived the project, as well as adding it to the list of IPs that could no longer be submitted. In conjunction with the then-recent notable character exclusions from the Toy Story line, I believed this meant there was zero chance of TLG doing sets from something like Transformers (or G.I. Joe, Barbie, Masters of the Universe, Bratz, Cabbage Patch Kids, etc.) - and perhaps that even really was the case then, but now, a decade later, things have obviously changed, since here’s an official LEGO Optimus Prime (and here’s an old article on this very site about the MLP project: https://brickset.com/article/3389/my-little-pony-s-been-put-out-of-its-misery ).

Also worth noting is that even putting the IP issue aside, the MLP CUUSOO project would have had little chance then because it called for special new character figures that would have required new molds. When LEGO CUUSOO began and they weren’t really sure what was possible with the program and what wasn’t, they initially accepted proposals for sets requiring new parts, or even just proposals for new parts in and of themselves, but it soon became clear those were well beyond the scope of CUUSOO, and when it first was transformed into LEGO Ideas one of the big changes was that new part proposals would no longer be accepted. The possibility of LEGO introducing new parts through Ideas (should they decide an approved submission absolutely required them) remained), but was unlikely for a long, long time… until it actually happened, first with a cut textile element in 21316 The Flintstones, and then with actual new molds for 21324 123 Sesame Street (note 21317 also debuted new molds, though they were ones that had actually been designed for 70124 Disney Minifigures Series 2, and a quirk of timing let the Ideas set bring the parts out slightly ahead of the release they’d been designed for). Ideas has really grown and evolved, and not just in what IPs it might or might not yield. There was a time when it seemed it would only ever yield sets of a few hundred pieces costing $50 or maybe $60 at most, and now it’s produced multiple huge sets costing multiple hundreds of dollars.

All of these are reminders that what might be off the table for LEGO at one time might not necessarily be for a different point some years later. A lot of licensed themes that at one time seemed unlikely brand fits for LEGO for one reason or another - Friends (the sitcom), The Big Bang Theory, James Bond, Gremlins, and Stranger Things, among others, now including Transformers - have become LEGO realities. To someone who’s been a fan of LEGO for decades, it feels a little bizarre.

@Blondie_Wan:
You don’t think they could have given Bullseye some updated deco and faked it? I’m also not sure the Flintstones cloth roof counts as a “new part” in TLG’s way of thinking. There’s definitely some quirky rules for what they call “fabric” parts. The Detective Office had a chromed mirror, which was only allowed because the base element was classified as “fabric”, and therefore didn’t need a new mold to accommodate chrome-plating. We also didn’t hear anything about the Flintstones set getting a new part, where we saw an explanation for why Steamboat Willie was not an exception to the rule, and we were informed that Sesame Street involved a change to the rule that allows new parts at their discretion. I hadn’t even considered the cloth roof on the Flintstones car because I never saw anyone make a fuss about it.

So, I did actually manage to MOC Mr. Potato Head and Slinky Dog (no Barbie/Ken/ Mrs. PH), but they’re scaled to normal minifigs, not Toy Story minifigs.

https://brickshelf.com/cgi-bin/gallery.cgi?i=5076065

That’s my first Pizza Planet truck MOC (it’s the only one I’ve posted photos for), from the first movie, with Buzz and Woody hitching a ride:

https://brickshelf.com/cgi-bin/gallery.cgi?i=4739672
https://brickshelf.com/cgi-bin/gallery.cgi?i=4739673

My fourth (after Todd and a Tiny Turbos scale version) is an update of this design based on the one from Toy Story 2, and has all five of the toys who took it for a joyride (Buzz, Rex, Hamm, Mr. PH, and Slinky-Dog) crammed into the cab, built in the same style as Woody in the first version (except Rex is the baby T-Rex). If I can figure out how to make Lotso’s gang look good sitting on the rear bumper, I’d like to make the TS3 version as well.

@PurpleDave :

Faked Bullseye into what?

I know no one made a huge fuss over the Flintstones car roof; I just mentioned it to be as complete / comprehensive as possible.

I was under the impression for a long time that they always reserved for themselves the option of making new parts for an Ideas set (and that the rule instituted when LEGO CUUSOO became LEGO Ideas was simply that new submissions couldn’t require them), and that they simply didn’t do that until the Sesame Street set. Did they have something formally announced prior to that saying they’d never create new molds for an Ideas set? Why create a rule for themselves and not the users?

Nice Toy Story MOCs! I’ve had a couple percolating in mind for many years, but still haven’t gotten around to them. Alas, though I collected lots of the 2010 line, I missed out on the 2019 line due to competing interests. I really wish I’d gotten those as well.

@Blondie_Wan:
Bullseye…the horse…into…My Little Pony.

Anyways, they’ve been doing pad-printed deco even back when it was still called Cuusoo, and that requires making printing pads. All that counted for was that a printed minifig part cost them a new element slot, the same as making a GitD 2x4 brick would. Cutting cloth parts may work the same way.

As for the rule, I don’t remember a time when you could ever request a new mold by way of an Ideas project submission. During the Cuusoo days, they seemed to expect these to be smaller runs, often done in a single batch, so any new element would never pay for itself within the scope of the theme. It was only when they started doing licensed IP that sales were strong enough to maybe cover costs. And in the case of a set like Sesame Street, there’s no way it would sell as many copies without molded heads as it has with them, so that was probably something they considered before allowing that to happen. Seinfeld also got a new hairstyle, if you want to be complete.

In terms of this rule, they addressed the hats in Steamboat Willie because people freaked out. They rejected a really nice Legend of Zelda Wind-Waker boat because Link would have needed a new hat.

And for MOCs, I haven’t built much Toy Story at all. I’ve got three characters from Cars, and five models of four characters from Cars 2, but from Toy Story I’ve just got three Pizza Planet trucks (the fourth being Todd from Cars), I made an RC RC, I turned Construct-a-Buzz into a mech for minifig Buzz, and I’ve got the Green Army Men (a few dozen uniquely posed Green Army Men, a tank, and a Jeep, in an official Bucket o’ Soldiers bucket). And at this point I think I’d mostly just want to make more versions of the Pizza Planet truck. TS3 is easy, if I figure out the toys on the back bumper. A Bug’s Life would require making the mobile home, which would cover Monster’s Inc whenever the lights in the room get shut off. Monster’s University poses a problem because it’s done as a “monster” truck with six wheels, and you only ever see it from one angle. I think I can pull off Brave and The Good Dinosaur, as long as I stick to Tiny Turbos scale. Up would need a nearly full redesign to capture the stunted proportions. Wall-E and Finding Dory would only really work as dioramas. I know that Luca is a bicycle of some sort, but don’t know offhand what it looks like. And most of the rest I’d probably just skip because they’re either the standard Toy Story version without the toys (Finding Nemo, Ratatouille, etc), or just Todd with maybe some more rust (Cars 2 & 3).

@PurpleDave said:
" @Blondie_Wan :
Bullseye…the horse…into…My Little Pony."

I mean, they may both be broadly equine, but the Bullseye mold(s) definitely wouldn’t work well for MLP characters. That’s like saying if they got the Peanuts license they could redecorate the Scooby-Doo figures to make Snoopy. There are a few instances where an existing mold created for one licensed character might work well for a different character from a totally different license - I long hoped they’d recolor the headpiece mold for Nestlé Quik bunny Quicky green to make a Jaxxon from the classic early Star Wars comics - but Bullseye and the MLP characters just differ too much in their designs.

"Anyways, they’ve been doing pad-printed deco even back when it was still called Cuusoo, and that requires making printing pads. All that counted for was that a printed minifig part cost them a new element slot, the same as making a GitD 2x4 brick would. Cutting cloth parts may work the same way.

As for the rule, I don’t remember a time when you could ever request a new mold by way of an Ideas project submission. During the Cuusoo days, they seemed to expect these to be smaller runs, often done in a single batch, so any new element would never pay for itself within the scope of the theme. It was only when they started doing licensed IP that sales were strong enough to maybe cover costs. And in the case of a set like Sesame Street, there’s no way it would sell as many copies without molded heads as it has with them, so that was probably something they considered before allowing that to happen. Seinfeld also got a new hairstyle, if you want to be complete."

Oh, there’s a new hair mold in the Seinfeld set? I hadn’t realized. But yes, in the CUUSOO days they used to accept proposals for new elements - not just as sets, but on their own, with the idea that rather than get a royalty on set sales, they’d pay the creator a one-time flat fee. It never happened, though, as they determined it unworkable (and none of the just-a-new-part projects ever attained the support threshold required to enter review anyway).

"In terms of this rule, they addressed the hats in Steamboat Willie because people freaked out. They rejected a really nice Legend of Zelda Wind-Waker boat because Link would have needed a new hat.

And for MOCs, I haven’t built much Toy Story at all. I’ve got three characters from Cars, and five models of four characters from Cars 2, but from Toy Story I’ve just got three Pizza Planet trucks (the fourth being Todd from Cars), I made an RC RC, I turned Construct-a-Buzz into a mech for minifig Buzz, and I’ve got the Green Army Men (a few dozen uniquely posed Green Army Men, a tank, and a Jeep, in an official Bucket o’ Soldiers bucket). And at this point I think I’d mostly just want to make more versions of the Pizza Planet truck. TS3 is easy, if I figure out the toys on the back bumper. A Bug’s Life would require making the mobile home, which would cover Monster’s Inc whenever the lights in the room get shut off. Monster’s University poses a problem because it’s done as a “monster” truck with six wheels, and you only ever see it from one angle. I think I can pull off Brave and The Good Dinosaur, as long as I stick to Tiny Turbos scale. Up would need a nearly full redesign to capture the stunted proportions. Wall-E and Finding Dory would only really work as dioramas. I know that Luca is a bicycle of some sort, but don’t know offhand what it looks like. And most of the rest I’d probably just skip because they’re either the standard Toy Story version without the toys (Finding Nemo, Ratatouille, etc), or just Todd with maybe some more rust (Cars 2 & 3)."

@Blondie_Wan:
The Bullseye comment was tongue firmly in cheek. But it’s also the sort of thing I’d totally do if I was to ever add MLP to our club layouts. My hunger of zombies has a Zom-Bee, I’ve put Pennywise in a Pooh costume, and I recently started adding an island with a skeleton dressed like Gilligan when we have a water scene.