Chinese LEGO fans really want more LEGO Pirates

A LEGO fan has organised a separate LEGO Ideas 90th anniversary vote in mainland China, and it looks like Chinese fans really want more LEGO Pirates.

The LEGO Ideas platform is mostly inaccessible for users in mainland China, meaning the LEGO Group’s fastest-growing market couldn’t take part in the vote to decide on a 90th anniversary set for 2022. To counter that fact, LEGO Fan Media Wooden Duck has organised a separate – but identical – poll through a Chinese survey platform.

It’s now tallied the results of that vote, which closed on Monday morning, in line with the actual LEGO Ideas poll. A total of 1,739 fans took part – and while there’s not nearly as much fondness for Classic Space in China, there’s clearly a lot of love for LEGO Pirates.

The swashbuckling theme came out on top with 692 votes, representing 39.79% of all votes cast. According to StoneWars’ latest report, Pirates has taken third place in the official poll, proving there’s a global appetite for more sets in the vein of 21322 Pirates of Barracuda Bay.

BIONICLE – which has seemingly won the official vote – has also had a strong showing in China, coming in third place with 439 votes (or a 25.24% share of the total nominations). Trains sits between them in the unofficial Chinese poll on 575 votes, while it’s apparently only managed fourth place over at LEGO Ideas.

It’s interesting to see such a similar mix of themes around the top of both lists, though, particularly given the LEGO brand is relatively new to China – and therefore doesn’t have quite the same nostalgic pull as it does in the western world.

That may explain why the obscure Model Team theme narrowly missed out on the top three in Wooden Duck’s poll, racking up 24.09% of the votes, while StoneWars’ list has it in 10th place in the official poll. And it also speaks to Classic Space’s comparatively poor performance in China, with the much-loved theme garnering just 10.7% of the fan-driven vote.

Of course, Wooden Duck’s poll won’t count towards the official LEGO Ideas vote. But China’s clear desire to see more Pirates and BIONICLE sets could well influence which of the themes the LEGO Group selects for its 90th anniversary set – particularly given how much focus it’s putting on the Chinese market at the moment.

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