Video Game / LEGO Universe

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LEGO Universe was an MMOG based on the popular LEGO toys, released October 26, 2010.

Long ago, a knight, a pirate, a scientist, and a baron travel across the universe, searching for the source of imagination; they inevitably come across a perfectly cubic planet, and land on it. This source of imagination could make any idea come to life... so the baron, after going mad on the journey, creates the Maelstrom, a chaotic force that threatens to destroy the entire universe. The remaining crew call upon the help of every available person in the LEGO Universe to join Nexus Force, help ward off the Maelstrom's Stromling minions, and save imagination through their strength, bravery, wisdom, and creativity.

In August 2011, the game partially became free-to-play (the first two zones were free for all, with the rest only available to subscribers), but the change apparently failed to attract sufficient amounts of new subscribers, so LEGO ended the game on January 31, 2012.

It later received a Spiritual Successor that was shut down even faster, LEGO Minifigures Online.

This game contains examples of:

• Abnormal Ammo:
  • The Venture League (one of the in-game factions) is guilty of this trope. Specifically, their Buccaneer class. Rank 1 shoots a trident from it's pistol. Nothing too abnormal about that... But when you get to Rank 2, the pistol shoots a fish. Somewhat fishy, but... Wait! Rank 3 launches a SHARK!
  • The Ninjago update introduced the Sushi Delivery System, which is a crossbow. Guess what it fires... To make things interesting, the fish fired from the SDS also home in on the enemies targeted.
• Accordion to Most Sailors: The Pirate Camp music👁 Image
  , as well as its sped-up Cannon Cove Shooting Gallery remix👁 Image
  , features an accordion playing part of the melody of a traditional Irish jig.
• Allegedly Free Game: Eventually it comes to a point after you've gotten your own property to build on, that you have to be a Member to continue with the storyline and unlock other worlds and missions.
• All There in the Manual: The backstory is detailed on the website in The Great Minifig Mission.
• April Fools' Day: Three news articles were published on the LEGO Universe website on April 1, 2011. One revealed that Bob was actually The Mole; one was a preview of an upcoming "Red Brick" pet that was just a standard 2x4 LEGO brick; and one was showcasing a property where players had to find a brick... which was the only object on the entire property.
• Bullet Time: In the intro cutscene, a couple of shots show the world in slow motion when characters build things.
• Clothes Make the Superman: Your abilities depend on what clothes you wear, in fact due to faction gear (usually the most powerful) being earned through defeating enemies it acts as a pseudo-level system.
• The Corruption: The Maelstrom corrupts everything it touches in order to spread its influence of chaos and destruction. For example, all of the Stromlings in Avant Gardens? They were once heroic Paradox researchers.
• Collection Sidequest: Oh, so very much. Every area in the game has ten (or more) hidden flags to find, and there are more than a dozen "find the hidden chests/compasses/whatever" missions.
• Cosmetic Award: The Vailient capes are only available to those who have hit the current level cap of 40 and are very expensive but only have the powers and defense bonuses of normal level 3 shoulder gear which can be bought earlier and cheaper.
• Dark Is Not Evil: The Paradox faction uses Maelstrom-based powers, but is fighting to save Imagination like everyone else.
• Death Is a Slap on the Wrist: For the most part, the only consequence for dying is losing some of your money. The dev team also decided to include a "smash" button, which allows the player to fall apart and re-spawn at a safer area. This makes for a quicker escape plan and a smart way out of glitched areas.
• Death Is Cheap: Exploited. Since everyone is literally made from LEGO, they can be easily rebuilt if they are smashed to pieces in battle.
• Flunky Boss:
  • The three Maelstrom Dragons of Forbidden Valley - Burnshout, Torchblight, and Blastbreath - are aided by a fourth Maelstrom Dragon who spawns Dark Ronin at regular intervals.
  • The Maelstrom Spider Queen summons some of her Dark Spiderling offspring at two points during the battle.
  • With the exception of Roo Morgg and Butterscorch, any Crux Prime boss could qualify, as they spawn in the battlefield amongst many of their lesser minions.
  • Frakjaw spawns several waves of Skulkin enemies to battle against you during his battle.
• Gone Horribly Right: The Baron wanted to find the essence of pure imagination, and prove that it didn't have limits. What he ended up creating was the Maelstrom, a force of chaos without limits.
• Hoist by His Own Petard:
  • Baron Typhonus created the Spider Boss, which then turned against him and dragged him into the Imagination Nexus.
  • The whole point of the Paradox Faction is to defeat the Maelstrom with its own energy.
• Imagination Destroyer: The LEGO Universe thrives on Imagination, a mythical element that is needed to build and create (which, for a world Built with LEGO, is naturally pretty important). The villain is the Maelstrom, a force of chaos and destruction that serves as the antithesis of Imagination. The Maelstrom was created when Baron Typhonus corrupted the Imagination Nexus, and now it seeks to corrupt or extinguish the remaining Imagination in the universe.
• Intentional Engrish for Funny: When the Venture Explorer's computers interpret a coded Maelstrom message, it is mistranslated as "All your base are belong to me!"
• Kick the Dog: Upon the Maelstrom's creation, the first thing the Spider Boss did was stomp on and destroy a Robot Dog to cement itself as evil and destructive. Thankfully, it is later reconstructed.
• Non-Lethal K.O.: When your character runs out of health, they get smashed and rebuild at a safe spot. Justified because, well, you're playing as a Minifigure, and Minifigs can just be put back together again.
• Ninja Pirate Zombie Robot: Ninjas, racers, jungle explorers, pirates, robots, cowboys knights, and spacemen have all been seen to interact. A character's outfit could be a mix of all of these, and more.
• Order Versus Chaos: The battle between Nexus Force and the Maelstrom can be summed up as Imagination and Creation versus Chaos and Destruction.
• Our Dragons Are Different: While there are the typical destructive, evil, Maelstrom Dragons in the game, it is possible to find and tame smaller, nicer dragons as pets.
• Pre-Order Bonus: Preordering the game would have gotten you a Minifig wearing Nexus Astronaut Uniform, this same costume can be gotten in game by redeeming a code that would have also come with it.
• Product Placement: There is an entire world themed around the Ninjago line of LEGO Products. You can actually learn the Ninjago art of Spinjitzu there.
• Shout-Out:
  • There are many references to internet memes. For example, one shirt depicts the Three Wolf Moon.👁 Image
    
  • In the Return to the Venture Explorer mission where you need to gather data from multiple computers (whilst dodging considerably tough enemies), when you complete it, it says "All your base are belong to me."
  • One mission is called "Respect My Authority."
  • Various Stromlings are named ED-209, Muffet Bane, Kinga Hurl, and Roo Morgg.
  • After destroying six Corrupted Sentries, Epsilon Starcracker comments, "Yep, those were the mechs you were looking for! Move along."
• Shop Fodder: Gems are completely worthless to players, but they can be sold to vendors. Depending on the color of the gem, you can receive anywhere from a measly 10 coins to a grand 50,000 coins by selling these gems.
• A Taste of Power: Two missions added in the "Power of the Nexus Force" update temporarily give new players special armor that has roughly the power of level 2 faction equipment and 4 extra hearts.
• Your Reward Is Clothes: There are some rewards for achievements that make working towards them worth it, but the rest are either purely cosmetic, don't have any stat boosts (or barely any useful ones by the time), or are ugly.