Hello, just2good here,
and today's LEGO list will be taking a look
at the worst selling LEGO themes since 2014 in the United States.
How I came up with these choices was based on various factors -
insiders, market analysis, and just what I saw from my own experiences.
Keep in mind none of the facts here are set in stone and are all based on judgement.
You may see a subtheme or two on this list,
but two themes you won't see are Hero Factory and Legends of Chima.
Surprisingly, after all was considered,
both weren't as bad sellers as I previously imagined.
Hero Factory gained a lot of sales and traction at the end of the line,
partly due to Invasion from Below,
and Chima did its job - with traction at the start of the line,
it ran its course of a three years theme.
Either way,
without further ado, let's get into this.
[intro music]
Starting off the list is the Bionicle reboot which lasted two years,
from 2015 to 2016.
The problem came with bringing in new fans,
which is sad since it had a lot going for it -
a certain level of nostalgia,
and a well made animated series.
The advertising tried capitalizing in on the nostalgia,
targeting fan sites but leaving out the new core it needed to build -
the children.
This tied in with a problem of lacking a selling a point to new fans -
Hero Factory had a primary selling point of building your own hero,
inspiring the creativity.
The original Bionicle series had the selling point of collectibility.
The reboot just banked on familiar characters.
The response wasn't there by early 2016
and LEGO limited production drastically,
making the final wave a Toys"R"Us exclusive.
[transition music]
While I loved LEGO Scooby Doo,
we never got a second wave, for a reason.
The sets were very hard to sell after Christmas 2015.
Everyone wanted they Mystery Machine and the whole Mystery Gang,
but very little people wanted the other sets
especially with the Mystery Mansion set,
which was the only one to include Velma.
There was a lot that needed to sell
hence why it looked like they were always on shelves.
This was the opposite of what happened with Jurassic World,
where the Raptor Escape set sold so well
and was never on shelves until they restocked it
and even that restock sold pretty quickly.
[transition music]
The LEGO Star Wars Buildable Figures is eighth
and overall just a strange case.
The popular characters sell pretty good.
However, where it earns its spot on this list
comes with the more human characters,
especially those that aren't popular.
For example, I just picked up a Baze Malbus
for a total of five bucks at Toys"R"Us dot com.
There's little demand for a Chirrut Imwe, and Jyn Erso.
This mirrors Hasbro,
in which LEGO produces way too many of these figures
for lesser popular characters.
They're also pretty pricey,
compare it to the prices of Bionicle sets
and you can see they're DRASTICALLY more expensive for less.
The quality on them is great,
but these do not justify a base twenty five dollar price point.
Either way, the figures eventually sell,
and the theme will continue with the success of the more popular characters,
with a lot more just getting introduced -
like a Boba Fett.
[transition music]
The LEGO Adventure Time Ideas set,
which I'll reluctantly count as a subtheme,
had a clear reason for its poor sales.
People want the minifigures of Adventure Time,
not brick built figures in this style no other characters are in.
Those who voted for it wanted LEGO Adventure Time to exist,
and it was revealed three months after the initial announcement
of the Ideas set that LEGO Dimensions would be releasing minifigures
for Adventure Time before the release of the Ideas set.
This made the Ideas set undesirable,
left to warm the shelves with its late release in January 2017.
[transition music]
For the fifth spot is the Master Builder Academy
from 2011 which lasted until 2013.
This was a less than stellar seller due to The LEGO Group's confusion
on what it should be.
Part of it wanted to be a subscription service,
but another part wanted to be a learning tool,
which upped its price drastically.
Everyone was confused on what it was,
especially kids and parents.
I know all about LEGO
and I'm still not sure what this theme was all about.
In the end, while it was meant to be a replacement for Brick Master,
it ended up lasting for a shorter time than that theme.
[transition music]
The regular LEGO Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles sets
were a slow mover but still sold decently.
However, the LEGO Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Movie theme sold terribly.
LEGO should've skipped on this iteration.
The designs, while I liked them,
were definitely more mature with mutated colors
and blander builds unappealing to the target demographic,
and the designs weren't recognizable to justify such.
Even when the sets were on sale with heavy discounts,
the sets still warmed the shelves of LEGO Stores,
Walmarts, and Targets nationwide.
[transition music]
The LEGO Angry Birds line is higher on the list
than the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles movie theme
because it had double the number of sets.
The movie came at the wrong time
and it was only a minor success domestically -
something that is problematic for LEGO.
The sets came at a time where the IP was very irrelevant,
despite the advertising.
At first,
it may have looked like these were constantly restocked,
but rather, LEGO had so much stock left over,
they warmed the shelves until the sets were put on heavy clearance.
I found the whole wave at my Barnes and Noble the other week half off,
and they're still at all of my Toys"R"Us stores.
[transition music]
The runner up worst selling theme in the United States
since 2014 is LEGO Fusion.
Honestly, they should've called this theme LEGO CONFUSION.
Eh, get it?
It would be deserving of that name
because much like Master Building Academy,
its detriment was that nobody knew what it was.
My experience with the theme was augmented reality that barely worked,
and consumers weren't interested to take a risk
paying twenty bucks for a mediocre app game with some LEGO bricks.
The functionality of the Augmented Reality wasn't explained on the packaging.
Additionally, the app only worked with bricks included with the set,
limiting the playability of the theme.
All of that considered,
the augmented reality integration may have been ahead of its time,
but it didn't catch on with the core demographic,
and the sets quickly disappeared from shelves.
The Racing set only lasting a mere three months
due to complaints about the app's functionality.
[transition music]
And, the worst selling theme of recent years in the United States
would have to be DC Super Hero Girls.
One of the more recent themes of the list,
and a worse seller than any of the other choices here.
The main conflict comes in how inaccessible the show is -
it's a small series of animated shorts appearing on YouTube.
which leads to the target demographic,
girls ages 7-12, left to buy the set
for just which recognizable characters are in it.
But here's the problem.
Little girls don't just want the recognizable female characters alone,
they want the recognizable male characters as well.
Wonder Woman AND Superman.
Batgirl AND Batman.
Well, how many have male characters?
Two sets.
This small one with Harley Quinn, which contains Steve Trevor,
a b-tier DC character on popularity,
and then the most expensive set which has the Flash, no cowl,
just the symbol on the shirt.
The smaller two of the summer wave retired after four months on shelves,
and I constantly see the first
and most of the second wave on sale at Target stores.
A third wave, releasing in 2018,
was planned and even appeared as preliminaries in retail catalogs,
containing two other sets of Batgirl and Supergirl,
but also a set with Starfire rescuing Wonder Woman.
These may be cancelled, or at least put on hold
until the show becomes more widely available.
Apparently, a full TV show will start airing in 2018,
so perhaps that will be the rebirth of LEGO DC Super Hero Girls.
Either way, I hope you guys enjoyed this list,
and I definitely want a discussion going on in the comments.
I'm so thankful for ALL of you guys,
who have given me great support throughout this amazing year of LEGO.
A special thanks to my Patreon supporters,
who have given me more of a drive to release Top 10s list as of recent days.
Either way, I'll see you guys later.
Peace out.
Bye.
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