So why was the Lego TMNT line canceled?
 

The Lego TMNT line was canceled after about 2 years I think. But why was it canceled? Being based on the Nick cartoon I would have imagined it doing well as kids of the show would buy the sets.

What caused them to give up the license?

I read an interesting bit of speculation that I think may possibly have been a factor- That they'd have to start doing Bayturtle 2 sets but were not interested.

Really? That sounds strange. Even if they didn't want to do those why would they stop the cartoon sets?

Rumor has it that the license renewal would have to include both iterations or none at all, so they opted to back out.

Maybe they were too grossed out by the nostrils they couldn't handle it. Still, sad to see the Nick line end so abruptly.

They did make sets based on PDNT, but I don't think they sold very well. I remember a lot of people saying they ended up on clearance at many retailers. I think that's what did it in. Makes sense they didn't want to do more after those sets failed.

Personally, I bought all the Nick sets and passed on all the PDNT ones. Doesn't surprise me if many others did the same. Just another thing PD ruined. TMNT would have been perfect in LEGO Dimensions. *sigh* :tsad:

No loss. Mega Bloks has done a much better job with the property anyway.

I got a few sets from the lines being a fan of Lego myself. It's just that they didn't feel like making anymore sets so they dropped the license. At least, that's what Lego themselves said
(EDIT: Don't give up Anima, there are rumors of TMNT coming to Dimensions. It's possible because Lego is using licenses they dropped in the game, so they might use TMNT.)

If thats true then it proves how closed minded they are. Yet look at megabloks embracing all three versions. I hope megabloks can make 1990s tmnt movie sets. And the remake of the 2003 cartoon. As well as more characters in the nick and original series in the line i hope and pray for a 80s leather head...

One of the reasons for it probably was the fact that it costed too much to make new molds because Lego was the #2 toy company then. It wasn't too often then to see new molds for things and with TMNT being a very unique series then well yeah. Nowadays we see more new molds because now they are #1 but Mega Bloks is a Mattel company. Mattel was #1 before and cause they have such a widespread merchandising variety they could make unique **** just cause. At least we may get TMNT back in Dimensions.

Bayturtle lovers once again perceiving this harsh reality as a personal slight.

They sold poorly, that means they took a loss in making them. Why would they do it again? :roll:

Because people are now looking back on the theme in the Lego community and wishing it were still here (partly cause of Lego Dimensions)

Link to these rumors? I got Dimensions a few days ago actually. It's a blast.

If you look closely at this picture (between the Lego logo and the D) you can see what looks like the Party Wagon (but someone on Facebook said it might just be the Scooby-Doo Mystery Machine).

http://i255.photobucket.com/albums/h...psp4lxb5kg.jpg

Yes, that is the Mystery Machine. Look at the top left image and compare:

http://cache.lego.com/r/www/r/dimens....r2=1622046994

Unfortunately, those rumors appear to be nothing more than just wishful thinking.

The only dropped license that they brought back for Dimensions is Harry Potter, which is different from TMNT because HP doesn't have another building block company on it. TMNT in Dimensions is impossible while Mega Blocks still holds the license.

Mega Bloks and Lego have Marvel right now... I think... I'm most likely wrong...

Nope. Mega Bloks dropped Marvel... then Lego picked it up a few years back.

What is pdnt?

Platinum Dunes Ninja Turtles

Could it be cause Marvel was asking for too much money, or cause there Marvel line wasn't selling well?

Not sure. It may have been due to Marvel wanting less focus on X-Men and FF.

And Mega Bloks had a ton of X-Men figures ready to roll out before they lost the license.

http://s8.postimage.org/uvzfhigs5/hh5_vert.jpg

You can see tons of unreleased figures from their Toy Fair display. Primarily Spidey and X-Men.

The sewer set for the movie legos was pretty cool. Besides that I am missing the Nick Shredder lego set and the Nick Spider bytes set then to a lesser extent Mikey with RC shellraiser, Kraang "target practice," and the Oroku Saki figure

I personally would have just wanted a TMNT Lego game. Not a Dimensions level or whatever. I have never played Dimensions.

Imagine if for the storyline they did a Turtles Forever-esque scenario with all the different versions of characters being playable.

Well, the new Ghostbusters set for Dimension is the entire movie story, not a single level like the rest of the sets so they could do the same for TMNT.

bricklink.com

you can buy those there.

I had assumed TMNT simply decided to move to competitor Mega Bloks, and probably understandably dropped Lego in the process? Was always my guess.

This topic is covered at length over at the eurobricks forums, although the you'll have to search for the thread.

The reason why there is no LEGO TMNT game or wave 3 sets is due to licensing costs. Nickelodeon wanted more money for the brand, LEGO did not want to pay. A shame because some of the more interesting vehicles came late season 3 & in season 4. It would have been real interesting to see what LEGO would have done moving past wave 2.

That being said, Mega Bloks is KILLING it. Nick, Classic & Comic iterations... all done extremely well. There's no going back

So Nick is the nasty culprit eh? and people criticize Cartoon Network for being greedy...


It also appears that Lego has a better relationship with Cartoon Network while Nick and Mega Bloks is the same.

I should ave bought some of those sets when I had the chance, but Lego is expensive, you see.

I'm afraid Megabloks is doing a better job than Lego. Partially for including various incarnations as well as the Nick ones. Though I can assume that the reason for the inclusion of other literations is because the Lego theme did not do as well as they expected, so they branched out. Sadly a failiure was probably needed for Nick to consider allowing Megabloks to make sets for the OT and Mirage.

I actually found the Spider Bytes set at Toys R us this week and incorporated it into the Baxter Stock stuff from MegaBloks. I really like Fly Stockman perched on the Spider Bytes set.http://i105.photobucket.com/albums/m...pspojvsfx2.jpg

I hope Lego never gets it back.

It's very common for LEGO to license a theme and only keep it for a short time.

I think LEGO picked up the TMNT license when they were phasing Ninjago out. But due to demand, they brought it back and are now making a Ninjago film and are about to reboot the series. So keeping TMNT throughout that entire process would have been somewhat of a conflict because the properties are too similar.
LEGO has lots of original properties and themes that are a huge hit. Ninjago is the most obvious one to parallel with TMNT. LEGO doesn't "need" TMNT so didn't throw a huge chunk of its resources behind it to make lots and lots of sets.

MB focuses almost entirely on licensed content so they can give something like TMNT more focus and release more sets and minifigures.