LEGO & Disney License (Toy Story, Cars,Prince of Persia)

Post by **architect** » Sun Feb 15, 2009 6:57 pm

As announced at the Toy Fair:

Toy Story

Children's imaginations will go "To infinity and beyond" when, beginning in 2010, they will be able to re-create the adventures of Buzz Lightyear and Woody with LEGO toys inspired by the Toy Story franchise. Toy Story-themed construction sets will be available on both LEGO DUPLO and LEGO System platforms, building the adventure and fun for children ages 2-12. LEGO System products based on Toy Story and Toy Story 2 will launch in January 2010, to be followed in May by construction sets based on the new animated feature, Toy Story 3, scheduled to hit theaters in Disney Digital 3D June 2010. Toy Story-themed LEGO DUPLO products launch in June 2010.

Cars

Lightning McQueen will rev his engine at the starting line of a DUPLO portfolio that will have young builders creating and exploring the high-octane world of the Cars franchise. The Cars-themed LEGO DUPLO line will feature iconic scenes from Radiator Springs and the Piston Cup Championship raceway and will feature favorite Cars characters like McQueen, Mater and Sally. Cars-themed LEGO DUPLO products are scheduled to launch in June 2010.

Prince of Persia

A line of LEGO System construction toys based on Walt Disney Pictures' and Jerry Bruckheimer Films' Prince of Persia: Sands of Time, produced by Jerry Bruckheimer, directed by Mike Newell and scheduled to release in May 2010 is also in development. The film, based on the best-selling video game franchise of the same name, stars Jake Gyllenhaal, Ben Kingsley, Alfred Molina and Gemma Arterton in an epic tale of Prince Dastan's struggle to stop an evil ruler from unleashing a sandstorm that could destroy the world. Prince of Persia-themed LEGO products are scheduled to launch in April 2010.

Full press release here:

http://www.sys-con.com/node/842864

Post by **architect** » Sun Feb 15, 2009 7:00 pm

I am particularly excited about the Prince of Persia sets to tie into the summer 2010 movie. Although the figures will likely be fleshies, the parts in a Prince of Persia theme should be excellent for medieval middle eastern mocs. Plus the original game is awesome

The other two themes, Cars and Toy Story, should be a big hit the first year with the younger crowd.

Ben

Sir Kohran · Post by **Sir Kohran** » Sun Feb 15, 2009 7:14 pm

Although the figures will likely be fleshies, the parts in a Prince of Persia theme should be excellent for medieval middle eastern mocs. Plus the original game is awesome

The first four games were all awesome (though curiously, only the first one was a major success); the next was just loads of swearing and sex and gore. The other two looked good but I don't think they were really in the spirit of the early games.

From a slightly selfish point of view, I'm a little dismayed by the idea of 'Prince of Persia Lego' as it will effectively wipe out the 'challenge' of building Middle Eastern MoCs; suddenly all the parts required will be 'mainstream' (before, all we had was those Orient Expedition sets). I guess the only solution to this will be to buy/build lots of Middle Eastern stuff, before 2010 and the sets come along.

I could care less about Cars and Toy Story (though given the varying size scales in the movies I will be interested to see how they pull that off).

Foamrider · Post by **Foamrider** » Sun Feb 15, 2009 7:24 pm

I am not much of a Disney fan, so my feelings are ranging from indifferent, to mild dislike.

Prince of Persia is not half bad. But that was the game... I currently do not high hopes for the film, but I guess we'll see. There is the potential for good pieces, sure.... so hopefully they will pull it off nicely.

Three new licenses. I daresay it wasn't necessary, but I suppose LEGO still wants its money.

RichardAM · Post by **RichardAM** » Sun Feb 15, 2009 7:49 pm

The Prince of Persia license sounds like a good idea- it could very easily be a continuation of the Adventurer Egypt theme, and even Indiana Jones to an extent.

I'm not sure about the film, but the game series has plenty of mythological beasties- it'll be interesting seeing how the idea comes across into the Lego universe.

plums_deify · Post by **plums_deify** » Sun Feb 15, 2009 8:04 pm

Well.

I have to say...I was totally hoping for System Cars. But I'm sure I'll get the sets anyway, cause my dad is a HUGE Cars fan. It's kinda cute.

I'm totally stoked about Toy Story and Prince of Persia, though. Those are going to be AWESOME sets.

(And since I'm totally browsing from work, thanks for posting text. I adore flickr, but it's blocked at work so I'm totally out of luck till I get to a PC that's not here. Yeah.)

Post by **Bruce N H** » Sun Feb 15, 2009 8:16 pm

Sounds really cool, especially the mid-East theme. Sir K, the key is not to be dismayed, but rather to incorporate the new elements that will come out and build something much cooler than any commercial set. It's not like the existence of the official castle lines stops the creativity of castle MOCers.

On Toy Story, presumably this means that LEGO will be involved in the next movie. That's really cool, as LEGO was a glaring omission from the previous two movies, where it should have been in there with other classic toys like Slinky, Mr. Potato Head, green army men, etc.

Bruce

Post by **Athos** » Sun Feb 15, 2009 11:35 pm

Hmmm... not April yet, so there goes my first thought...

I thought Lego was dialing back on the licenses. Guess not... We're up to about the maximum number ever (SW, SpongeBob, Indy, Ferrari and now these three).

Not sure about Toy Story. I'm a little unclear on how that will work... Will we have Mr. Potato head figures? How about green army men?

Cars... meh... just another line of racers with eyes?

PoP. Has potential. Hopefully we'll get some nice Arabian style buildings. Seems like an awfully limited palate for sets though... Kind of like Harry Potter was...

Steve

natelite · Post by **natelite** » Mon Feb 16, 2009 12:59 am

well, toy story has been selling well for about 10 years now, so naturally i think lego is thinking of cashing in on the franchise.

it will be in duplo and lego system format. this is very interesting since i think the theme has a lot of potential. it has many protagonists but few antagonists. it will be interesting how it works out.

i hope for the system format, we get the toys in mf size. though i would think action figures (like the KK2 action figures) with click joints more likely. it'll be easy to make them in those sizes. even for a lego BARBIE doll with unrealistic proportions!

you can make a lot of interesting play features in those sizes. like a sound brick for woody. a light brick for buzz's laser gun. mechanism to open buzz's wings. mechanism to open the helmet. even incorporate a big rubber gun for woody. hopefully it will be popular like bionicles action figures!

i dont think you'll get any army men buckets or barrels full of monkeys.

i am hoping for mf size buzz and woody but i wont be holding my breath. i think mf sized play sets will be limited. kinda like bionicles playsets.

there's another alternative which is to release in belle ville format. it might be a way to get more kids into that theme/format though i think most afol will hate it if that happens.

Voran_the_Scholar · Post by **Voran_the_Scholar** » Mon Feb 16, 2009 3:19 am

Gosh, this news struck me speechless...you leave for a few days and the world goes NUTS on you.

I'm really curious to see what sorts of things they'll do with Toy Story. There are so many characters, and they all come in extremely different shapes and sizes. This is definitely intriguing.

Cars are duplo. Eh...

Prince of Persia? Hmm...I have not much of an idea what the game is about, but if it brings us more castle-ish goodies, then I can't exactly argue.

But why all of a sudden THREE new licenses? I can see one here, another there, but all at the same time? Seriously...

Karalora · Post by **Karalora** » Mon Feb 16, 2009 3:20 am

How exciting! I'm at least as much of a Disney fan as a LEGO fan, and I've been saying for some time that the two should get together. If the arrangement works out, maybe other popular film franchises will be licensed...or even the theme parks! Some of us were saying that a fairy-tale line could potentially gets more girls interested in LEGO Castle, and Disney certainly has that going for it.

Tower of Iron Will · Post by **Tower of Iron Will** » Mon Feb 16, 2009 4:35 am

Prince of Persia - Hmmm. I'm one of the few who didn't play the game but LEGO could always use more "Arabian/Persian" flavored parts. This will help me expand the Persian figures that I have through the Orient Expedition sets.
-Tower

Post by **Robin Hood** » Mon Feb 16, 2009 6:25 am

Oh joy...more licenses. Just when Lego was doing so good....they have to go and make a big deal with Disney. Granted, there are worse companies they could deal with, but still, why do they have to do this? And while I fully admit I know nothing about Prince of Persia, after reading Architect's quote I am horrified that Lego is going to be making a theme based of a video game. I am sure that there will be some cool stuff to come from this, and I am sure I will purchase some of these sets, but still, this news is not encouraging. Please Lego, enough with the licenses.

Dan

Legoist · Post by **Legoist** » Mon Feb 16, 2009 6:47 am

I am not worried about the fact that Prince of Persia is based on a video game or a movie. I think it will be a whole new good source of pieces and minifigs anyway. Should be full of tan arches and curved roofs for instance.

On the other hand, I can't see the point in the other 2 themes... Toy Story has its own style which I don't think it'll be either easy nor effective to turn into LEGO. It seems more reasonable to make them Duplo only.

Foamrider · Post by **Foamrider** » Mon Feb 16, 2009 12:47 pm

Robin Hood wrote:And while I fully admit I know nothing about Prince of Persia, after reading Architect's quote I am horrified that Lego is going to be making a theme based off a video game.

Dan

To be fair, this is based off a movie, which in turn is based off of a game of the same title. Apparently they are pretty much making a brand new story, not taking the story from the game, so the only similarity between the two will be the title- its going to be "Disneyfied". Because of that, this could really be anything.