Re-Releasing older Lego Themes

[hassmyster]

I know Lego in the past has re-released sets from older themes. I wish to see sets released from older themes like M-tron, Black Tron, and etc. Does Lego ever consider re-releasing entire themes from the past.

hassmyster

[Iare Tosevite]

I don't think so.

It's most likely there's a mold or two that's discontinued and are too expensive to recreate just for re-release.

[Draykov]

About 7 or 8 years ago, LEGO was re-releasing sets under the "Legends" title. At one point, LEGO got fans involved and had a poll on their site to select the next LEGO legend from several different candidates. I don't remember all of the contenders, but I voted for 6941 Battrax. It was beaten out by 6285/10040 Black Seas Barracuda.

The bottom line is, I don't think you're gonna see what you're wishing for, but anything is possible. LEGO hasn't released a "Legend" in about 5 years and I don't know that they've ever re-released an entire theme, though, there are re-imaginings like Rock Raiders/Power Miners and Space Police I/II and the upcoming Space Police III to be released this summer.

[ThinkingImpaired]

Legends was a fantastic idea but now it is impossible due to color changes. So really I think the oldest sets you can ever hope for them to re-release will be sets from a few years ago.

[Draykov]

Legends was a fantastic idea but now it is impossible due to color changes. So really I think the oldest sets you can ever hope for them to re-release will be sets from a few years ago.

That may be true in the purist sense, but 10151 Hot Rod was released with click hinge elements in place of the original finger hinge elements from 5541. It was a bitter compromise in the eyes of many, but it still qualifies as a re-release of an old set if you ask me. My point being, if they can swap out retired parts for contemporary ones, doing the same with colors would be no problem.

[Firespray]

Haha I completely forgot about the Legends line. I don't see why color changes could restrict set re-releases, just replace the colors and parts, it's basically the same set, just slightly updated.

[Tyrant]

I know I would have no problem with the Legends line returning and simply using current colors. I buy primarily Castle sets. At the moment, I have a lot more bley than old grey even though I still have my LEGO from the 80s. So, for me anyway, seeing some of the older castles brought back in current colors would be nice. There was a lot I liked about the early to mid 80s castle sets and some of the parts would be nice to have back. Even if it's just parts they still have molds for, getting them in current colors would be nice.

[Jedd the Jedi]

I would love to see classic sets re-released, particularly the lovely old City sets and the wonderful Adventurers, though it's unlikely as currently similar themes are already existing. However, Lego has progressed a lot in terms of construction and the release of new elements, so while many have a soft spot for the older themes, they might look out of place compared to the modern sets.

[Flynn]

True, but there are still some sets that could still hold up to modern sets, such as the Black Seas Barracuda (or any of the old Pirates line pre-1993, for that matter), the Blacktron I base, or most of the older castles.

[roblin]

This is intresting. I was not aware there ever was sets re-released. Cool! Being a huge fan of the Classic Space Theme I can't help but fantasize what would happen if the 928 Galaxy Explorer popped up on the shelves again. I wonder what the sales figures would be on a legend like that?

/Space Rob.

[legodavee123]

I know this is old, but here's what I've heard from LEGO on the subject:

You're not likely to see any more Legends sets. The first few Legends sets seemed to sell well (7 were released from 2001 to 2002), but apparently did poorly with subsequent sets.

The market for these sets are people with nostalgia value for the old sets-- primarily collectors. However, the majority of collectors weren't interested in buying a second copy of a set they already owned. Also, the sets were fraught with slight errors. The Guarded Inn had Native American horses (rather than a white one), the Black Falcon logos were slightly incorrect on torsos, the baseplates in Main Street had the wrong number of studs on the sidewalks, the 2x14 gray crossing tiles were swapped with normal tiles, the swords were the "new" flexible ABS plastic, etc, etc.

The end result was that there wasn't much market for them. Most people seemed to agree instead that it would be great to see simply better designs of sets-- perhaps more reminiscent of the older sets, rather than direct copies.

DaveE

[speaknspell]

Dave has it right. the lack of interest was one of the main things that killed this line. in addition the price of making sets has gone up so we'd actually have to be charging more for a set from several years ago and that turned some people away as well. discontinued moulds also became a major stop gap on these sets, especially when LEGO reduced the amount of elements it was using in a year significantly.

steve