Vikings gone for good or on hiatus?

[CornLegoCorn]

vikings were one of my favorite Themes, they reminded me as a savage(er) version of Rohan, you know, without the horns. It'd be great if they came back!

[jakelongdragon]

It is really too bad that they would discontinue it! I really like vikings! I am glad that the dwarves look a bit like vikings but they are a bit too nice and not as fierce looking.

I totally missing the (long) boat on the whole viking thing though (being in the US)

[KingDavid]

I've been away from the LEGO castle sets for about 20 years now and I'm still trying to catch up on all that's happened, one step at a time. I know they're not technically caste sets, but I'm currently looking into the Vikings sets. I just ordered 7020 Army of Vikings with Heavy Artillery Wagon and 7021 Viking Double Catapult versus the Armoured Ofnir Dragon. I should be getting those soon, so I'll be able to form a better opinion about them. I want to get a larger Vikings set, but I can't decide between 7018 Viking Ship challenges the Midgard Serpent or 7019 Viking Fortress against the Fafnir Dragon. I don't have the cash on hand to get both of them at the moment. Tanotrooper noted that the ship was a good parts pack, and it would be nice to have more ship parts. But a home base for the Vikings would be nice and the fortress has a ton of nice parts, as well. What do you guys think?

[Heir of Black Falcon]

KD,

That is a hard one. I like them both. If I had to choose.... I'd go with the longboat. To be fair both are well worth trying to find if you can. I have all the sets but the chess set and think they were great. Sad TLC stopped them but cannot have them verse castle and pirate crowds... too much going on at once.

Heir

[Lego_holic]

I hope not! I like the Vikings!

[outcast]

I liked the vikings. They looked cool, had great sets and despite what others are saying I think the monsters were fantastic

Vikings, we'll miss you

[Pulsy]

They were nice, cut they didn't sell well. They were in the time of Exo-Force which started out selling extremely well.

[Heir of Black Falcon]

Pulsy,

This came up before and someone posted the vikings sales up and they were in the top 5 for the year they were out. Sales had nothing then to do with the Viking's end or 90% of the lines would have been out. The fact TLC never intended them to be more than 1 year seems the reason. They gave us 2 more sets because they liked us sooo much..... and likely had loads of extra viking stuff they wanted to sell.

Heir

[Sir Kohran]

Pulsy,

This came up before and someone posted the vikings sales up and they were in the top 5 for the year they were out. Sales had nothing then to do with the Viking's end or 90% of the lines would have been out. The fact TLC never intended them to be more than 1 year seems the reason. They gave us 2 more sets because they liked us sooo much..... and likely had loads of extra viking stuff they wanted to sell.

Heir

Although it's difficult to say either way (without official statistics), I don't think the Viking line was all that successful (though given how brief the line was, I agree that Lego probably never intended it to go far anyway). Check out this old post from Chrislad77:

Being in the Lego store alot, and knowing employes it seems to me that the Viking line was not very sucessful. People like minifigures, and the viking sets weren't exactly short of them but I think the technic stuff turned off parents and kids alike. If you want technic you tend to buy it in a Technic set, no body is interested in a brick/technic mix. The lack of an enemy hurt the brand. Customers who want a medieval era set, want a castle , they want to bulid castle-ish things, I don't think TLG did a good job of presenting the Vikings as appealing.

(no idea how many times I've quoted this post now )

[Heir of Black Falcon]

Kohran,

Not to be rude but posting his little blurb here is irrelevant except as a personal opinion. Someone actually posted the sales slot from TLC they had for the year it was out (which is in my earlier post). Regardless what people think or like to think, the sales slot Vikings had is without dispute. If it sold poorly it would not have been in such a high place…. Period.

If you look up the Lego Annual Report for 2005 Viking is listed as having surpassed their profit expectations, one of only two themes (Though Bionicle declined in 2005). It is listed as one of 6 top sellers for that year as well. Pg. 8. Lego Annual Report-


If you'd read this report we would not have to see you repost it again.

Heir

[Sir Kohran]

Not to be rude but posting his little blurb here is irrelevant except as a personal opinion.

It is his opinion, yes, but he said he had spoken with Lego employees so I think his opinion on the matter holds some merit. I'm not claiming it's true, just that it might explain some stuff.

Someone actually posted the sales slot from TLC they had for the year it was out (which is in my earlier post).

I've had a look in this thread and I can't find any sales slot; could you point this out please?

Regardless what people think or like to think, the sales slot Vikings had is without dispute. If it sold poorly it would not have been in such a high place

I haven't claimed it sold poorly, merely that it wasn't a smashing success (though clearly it did a bit better than Lego expected - which makes me wonder exactly what Lego was expecting to begin with).

If you look up the Lego Annual Report for 2005 Viking is listed as having surpassed their profit expectations

Indeed (though it would be nice to have the actual statistics).

one of only two themes

The other being the Dino line.

As an aside, does anyone else find it a bit strange that both the Vikings and Dino did better than Lego thought they would, and yet both lines ended just a year after they came out?

(Though Bionicle declined in 2005)

Yeah, I remember being pretty disappointed with the set designs and theme direction that year.

It is listed as one of 6 top sellers for that year as well. Pg. 8. Lego Annual Report

Sorry, I've looked at this page but have found nothing regarding top sellers or Vikings

If you'd read this report we would not have to see you repost it again.

I'm a bit confused here too; all I have posted so far is an old post from someone on here.

[architect]

LEGO has stated that Vikings was never intended to last more than one year or be released in markets other than Europe. After fans in North America requested Vikings and fans in Europe requested DinoAttack, TLG decided to sell these themes in both markets.

It should be noted that many creature intensive themes such Aquazone, Aquaraiders, Dino Attack, and Vikings usually only sell for slightly longer than a year. They are filler themes which complete an overall portfolio of lines. Retailers like these lines which add variety and new sets to their shelves.

Many concepts of Vikings (highly decorated torsos, beards, etc) were incorporated into Castle 2007. It did not make sense to have extremely similar lines competing against each other. The various factions of castle (Knights, Undead, Dwarves, Trolls) offer many different directions for the line to grow. The Viking concept was limiting because they could only fight creatures instead of raiding villages or exploring new lands.

Ben

[timber_wolf899]

Ben is spot on

oh and while we're talking about viking concepts carried to castle, brick built gates baby!!!

[Lord Tyler II]

I'm sure they're gone, but it's a shame. I really liked those sets!

[Sir Prog]

i think the vikings would sell well if tlc has cast them as the bad guys. bad meanie rough vikings attacking helpless villagers, while the noble knights fend off these invaders. unfortunately human vs human combat would go against tlc's ethos. and as sir kohran said, big gigantic monsters aren't little kids' cuppa.

don't want to go off topic too much but i think a giant spider (constructed, not from a singular piece) would be a great addition to the trolls/skeletons faction! perhaps it could come as a mount for the troll chieftain.

YES PLEASE!

Sadly, I never purchased any of the Viking sets. I always thought they were creatively fantastic, although I was never to high on the inclusion of Dragons as adversaries. Plus, you could have TOTALLY color-coded multiple factions of Viking foes, as historically there were different tribes...they may not be gone forever. Give them time to breathe, and perhaps when they resurface, it will be as "Barbarian Tribes"!?!