"LEGO Adaptation Game" is a catch-all term for a loosely-connected series of Multi PlatformVideo Games made by Travellers Tales, based on combining the license for LEGO with that of another work, generally a film, as tie-ins to licenced toy lines based on the same films LEGO is producing and selling around the same time. With few exceptions, the games are action platforming games with the characters and stages all consisting of LEGO interpretations of the licensed work in question, with tongue-in-cheek, often parodical Cutscenes poking fun at both those works and the fact that they are made out of LEGO bricks.In these games, death is just the character falling apart and, if it's a Player Character, reforming with just the loss of a few small round LEGO bricks referred to as studs, which are the currency in these games.The games also involve using multiple characters, using their different abilities. Replays allow you to use a pool of characters you've gained and switch them on the fly. And the games are loaded with bonuses, which can be bought with LEGO studs or by other methods.
The games are rife with numerous shout outs, much as you'd expect from a franchise affectionately parodying popular films, to the point where they have their own Shout Out page.Traveller's Tales also made the LEGO game BIONICLE Heroes and LEGO City Undercover, which adapts the general mechanics and style of the games to a Third Person Shooter and a Wide-Open Sandbox, respectively. They also produced Lego Battles and it's sequel Lego Battles: Ninjago, two DS games that apply the format to Real-Time Strategy.On May 21st, LEGO Batman: The Movie - DC Superheroes Unite was released. It essentially is a movie adaptation of LEGO Batman 2.
The LEGO Adaptation Games provide examples of the following tropes:
LEGO Star Wars: The Complete Saga and LEGO Indiana Jones: The Original Adventures — Harrison Ford's respective characters from each game appears as a Guest Fighter in the other.
The German pilot who fights Indiana Jones in Raiders of the Lost Ark is played by the same guy who plays the guy who operates the gong in Temple of Doom (the late Pat Roach). In the LEGO version, the German pilot is the guy who operates the gong.
In LEGO Indy 2, the title character is distracted while driving through the warehouse by the sight of you-know-who frozen in carbonite.
The "Shoot First" achievement for killing Greedo can be done with either Han or Indy.
Adaptational Badass: In some games, most (if not at least some) characters that never fought in their source material become capable of kicking some major plastic butt. Particularly in LEGO Indiana Jones.
LEGO Star Wars II: Who would ever think that when destroying the first Death Star, the player first has to destroy turbolaser guns connected to the exhaust port's ray shield? And in the GBA version, one of the turbolaser guns is mounted on and blocking the exhaust port itself. That defeats the purpose of it being an exhaust port!
LEGO Indiana Jones: When Indiana Jones and Marion Ravenwood escape the burning bar, they have to go across some other areas in Nepal, get rid of an enemy truck full of Respawning Enemies and drive off in one of their cars.
And the sequel gives us three new battles, Belloq obtaining power from the ark, seemingly becoming a new boss (the puzzle is probably to destroy the enemies the electricity is connecting to, though), the Assassin actually becoming competent enough to block Indy's bullets, and Mola Ram commanding a huge rock monster, none of this was in the original adaptation, but hell it if they don't look cool!
Adapted Out: Lord of the Rings noticably drops the entire Minas Tirith plotline with Denethor and Faramir. You still get to play the Battle of Pelennor Fields, but it focuses on Eowyn's and Aragorn's involvement instead.
Star Wars interestingly starts off the Attack of the Clones story with Obi-Wan going to Kamino, skipping everything involving Anakin.
Advertised Extra: Despite featuring heavily in Batman 2's marketing most of the DC heroes don't show up until the game's penultimate level, and even iconic characters like the Flash get no lines.
Affectionate Parody: Any serious moment from the series they were taken on are changed to light-hearted comedy.
Another Side, Another Story: After playing through an episode as Batman and Robin in LEGO Batman, you unlock another episode where you can play as the villains.
Anti-Frustration Features: If you're in cursor mode, you don't have to worry about any enemies harming you due to being unable to take damage at there, so you can continue your task unimpeded.
Armor-Piercing Slap: In LEGO Star Wars, Princess Leia uses slaps in close combat instead of punches. One slap can completely dismantle a stormtrooper. Getting the aptly named "Super Slap" red brick allows the other characters to do this as well.
Ascended Meme: In Lord of the Rings, when you set foot into Mordor, you get the achievement "One does not simply...: Walk into Mordor". The accompanying icon even has Boromir in the infamous pose. You also get the "Taking the Hobbits to Isengard" achievement by reaching Isengard with every playable Hobbit (See both icons here).
Badass Adorable: LEGO Darth Vader, LEGO Indiana Jones, LEGO Batman... the list goes on.
Bag of Holding: Just like in the book, Hermione gets one in Harry Potter Years 5-7. She can use it on pink pads to pull out whatever will help with the obstacle in front of her.
Bag of Spilling: Used in Harry Potter Years 5-7, as Umbridge bans most of the spells learned in the previous game.
Beam-O-War: A staple of wizard duels in Harry Potter; unlike in the books where it was a specific quirk of Harry's and Voldemort's wands. Also used in the Gandalf vs. Saruman battle in Lord of the Rings
The Big Damn Kiss: Cho Chang gives one to Harry in the middle of Order of the Phoenix; and it's ridiculously exaggerated with visual props like curtains, flowers, and a giant pair of lips coming out of nowhere.
Good thing, since some of the stuff that the characters are put through is pretty brutal. It's even lampshaded in one of the cutscenes where Killer Croc beheads Robin with a thrown manhole cover only for the Boy Wonder to put his head back on seconds later, completely okay.
On the cover of LEGO Star Wars: The Original Trilogy, Chewbacca is holding up the arms he just ripped out of a stormtrooper's sockets. Which he actually does in the game. The whole point of these games is that the characters are LEGO so this trope comes with the territory.
Bane's back-breaking move does come with a "crunch" effect.
There's a cutscene in Harry Potter Years 1-4 in Borgin & Burke's where Harry loses his hand because of that one hand thing from the movie that grabs onto him, and then Hagrid finds it and sticks it back into his arm.
The final cutscene in LEGO Harry Potter Years 1-4 has Amos Diggory grieving over his son Cedric. Dumbledore comforts him by pulling out that character's LEGO instruction pamphlet so he can be brought back.
A commercial for LEGO Star Wars: The Original Trilogy game has the duel between Luke and Darth Vader in Cloud City, where after the latter cuts off the former's hand, he simply pops it back in. Vader then gets angry and tries to pull it back out, then when he does Luke falls off the platform.
Again in Clone Wars when Lieutenant Thires has his arm fall off, only for him to connect it again. In the same game, "Blue Shadow Virus" has a clone trooper "fatally" shot near his shoulder, only for Obi-Wan to peel off the wound, revealing it as a decal.
The moment where Gollum bites Frodo's finger clean off is averted by virtue of standard Lego characters not having fingers. So in LEGO Lord of the Rings, Gollum rips Frodo's hand out of its socket. Frodo's Let's Get Dangerous moment, complete with popping his hand back in, is still effective.
Well, in LEGO Indiana Jones, you've got the Nazis getting turned into a group of "Enemies". Really though, it's a very sensitive topic.
In the very first LEGO Star Wars, they changed a few of Revenge Of The Sith's scenes, Anakin doesn't murder children, but a Jedi, and doesn't force choke Padme.
Harry Potter: Years 1-4 has Voldemort take Harry's glasses instead of having Pettigrew cut Harry's arm with a knife for his blood as happens in the books and when Voldemort is in full form, Harry gets his glasses back anyway.
Lord of the Rings replaces Gollum biting off Frodo's finger with Gollum removing Frodo's hand... only for Frodo to just put it back in afterward.
TX-20 in Clone Wars; chances are, if a level includes him, you're gonna have to chop his head off in some way or another to access a panel.
Each series of games tends to have one, who will fall victim to most of the comic injuries and pratfalls. For example, Star Wars has C-3PO and R2-D2, Batman has Robin, Harry Potter has Ron, and Lord of the Rings has Gimli.
Darth Vader's helmet makes a brief appearance in Clone Wars, when Palpatine is playing golf in his office.
The UFO from LEGO Indiana Jones 2 appears in Clone Wars as a ground vehicle.
LEGO Star Wars characters and the Mos Eisley Cantina can be found in LEGO Indiana Jones. Finding them all unlocks HanSolo as a Guest Fighter.
Tom Bombadil and Radagast the Brown are available characters in LEGO Lord of the Rings. Tom even has his yellow boots.
Camera Screw: In the very last level of LEGO Batman 2, you need Superman to get a minikit just because the camera won't let you look at the gold-plated helicopter as Cyborg.
Legolas' infamous 'A diversion!' line is hilariously lampshaded when he pops onto the screen, with his arm in the air declaratively, just to say it.
Character Customization: Beginning in Star Wars: The Original Trilogy, you can mix-and-match pieces from any unlocked character to make your own creation.
Clothes Make the Superman: Both Batman games feature bat-suit powerups with different abilites (one set for Batman and Batgirl; another for Robin and Nightwing).
Color-Coded for Your Convenience: The games use visual shorthand so you know what you can do. Silver objects have to be blown up with explosives, red and black ones can only be manipulated by evil characters, and so on.
Compilation Rerelease: Combined with Updated Rerelease in the form of Lego Star Wars: The Complete Saga, which contained the first two games in a single disk, as well as some new content not found in the previous releases.
Conspicuously Light Patch: Being made of LEGO bricks is a sign that it can be destroyed or interacted with.
Continuity Lockout: The cutscenes are only occasional, usually pantomimed, and Played for Laughs. So good luck understanding what's going on without watching the movies first. Doesn't apply to either Batman game, as they're not based on preexisting stories and they provide either text bites that explain or actual dialogue. For an example of how these games look to someone unfamiliar with the source material: LEGO Harry Potter as Explained by Someone Who Has Never Read Harry Potter.
Also averted with Lord of the Rings, which uses actual dialogue from the films (albeit moved about on occasion to fit the various cutscenes).
In Pirates, the Curse of the Black Pearl levels include a few elements that weren't introduced until the next movie: Jack's compass pointing to what he's looking for (Curse only established it didn't point north), Barbossa's body being retrieved in The Stinger, and as a nice touch, a flash of green light at sunset.
Lex suspects that if he kills Batman, Robin will take up his mantle, much like he did after Final Crisis.
Cowardly Boss: The Emperor and the Imperial Spy in LEGO Star Wars: The Original Trilogy.
Curbstomp Battle: The first fight in LEGO Batman: The Movie has Batman defeat Riddler, Catwoman, Harley Quinn, several Mooks, Penguin and Two-Face in a few minutes.
LEGO Batman 2 in general. The heroes lose more than once, there's a genuine sense of danger (even a couple of Disney Deaths), Batman's personal flaws such as his refusal to accept help and paranoia of others are directly responsible for everything that goes wrong and Lex Luthor's threat is played completely straight.
LEGO Harry Potter Years 5-7 makes this trope clear right from the title screen. Given the source material, it was inevitable.
LEGO Lord of the Rings deserves some mention. While the funny is present as usual, consider that the first two levels of the game feature an epic war against the ultimate evil, an almost Survival Horror esque sequence featuring three unarmed and unprepared hobbits against the black rider, and an intense battle between two wizards, all played completely straight. And that's just the tip of the iceburg.
Cedric Diggory falls apart when Voldemort uses Avada Kedavra. Dumbledore gives Amos Diggory a do-it-yourself minifig repair manual.
Degraded Boss: In the bonus level of LEGO Pirates of the Caribbean, "The Ride", Barbossa, Davy Jones, and Blackbeard all don't have their boss abilities when you fight them.
Dem Bones: Dancing skeletons are a Running Gag in Harry Potter and Lord of the Rings.
Demotedto Extra: Pretty much every single villain in LEGO Batman (except the Joker, for obvious reasons) gets shoved into the background during the sequel in favor of Lex Luthor.
The Dev Team Thinks of Everything: When distance-tagging (the ability to tag to another character without standing next to them) was introduced, you may have thought about using this to tag yourself out of falling to your death. However, if the death has already been registered by the game, you'll lose your studs anyway and you will be left at 25% health (12.5% in LEGO Batman) as a punishment.
In the Prologue of Lord of the Rings, you can actually jump into the fires of Mount Doom as Isildur while holding the ring. Of course as Death Is Cheap in these games, you just respawn. However the Devs were clearly aware of the fact that if Isildur had managed to destroy the ring there would have been no story, and give you an achievement for trying this.
Disc One Nuke: LEGO Harry Potter contains a nice little gem. After the second level in the whole game (the first one at Hogwarts) you have the ability to get to the "Collect Ghost Studs" Red Brick powerup, before the plot takes you there. It only costs 50,000 studs, which can easily be obtained by this point, but it allows you to collect the "Ghost Studs" dropped by Nearly Headless Nick as he leads you to the next level/lesson/cutscene you can easily get the 4 million needed to get Accio (which makes a lot of the puzzles moot by just giving you potion items) as well as other spells in just an hour or so of grinding. Makes 100% Completion extremely easy. Add to this a glitch that sometimes allows you to collect ghost studs after you finish year 4 (when you shouldn't be able to) and this really edges into the territory of Game Breaker.
You can also get the same Red Brick pretty early in Years 5-7.
Distressed Dude / Distressed Damsel: Harry Potter is filled with "Students in Peril" that the player can help out of trouble for gold bricks. Batman 2 has the same, here "Citizens in Peril".
Downloadable Content: There are extra characters in LEGO Batman 2, LEGO Lord of the Rings and LEGO Harry Potter: Years 5-7 that are downloads.
Dual Wielding: Clone Wars has a Red Brick that, when activated, gives player-controlled Jedi two lightsabers.
Early-Bird Cameo: Indy appears as a secret character in LEGO Star Wars: The Complete Saga, which is the next game in the series.
Easter Egg: The character creator in LEGO Batman has the parts for four characters that exist in the comics, but aren't mentioned anywhere in the game. These four are: Huntress, Azrael, Black Mask, and Spoiler.
Electric Joybuzzer: The Joker's secondary weapon in LEGO Batman. Which is apparently strong enough to power the electrical engine of a mini Ferris Wheel. Probably justified by the fact that it kills people. Lampshaded in LEGO Batman 2, where Lex refuses to shake Joker's hand when he sticks it out for this very reason. Of course, Joker wasn't trying to give him a handshake and just wanted his watch.
Enemy Mine: Done in a very weird way in Lord of the Rings when Sam has to join up with Shagrat the Black Uruk-hai to fight Shelob. This is to make sure there's a second player character while Frodo is incapacitated. Shagrat can even wield Sting and Galadriel's phial!
Even the Guys Want Him: In LEGO Pirates, Philip's singing makes hearts appear over guy's and girl's heads alike as they swoon. Often taken to hilarious levels with characters like Blackbeard and Davy Jones.
Flanderization: Pretty much the point of the games. Many character traits are emphasized for comedy, the games don't take their worlds very seriously.
Flash of Pain: Being hit causes a character to flash red.
Fly At The Camera Ending: The ending of the Prisoner of Azkaban part of LEGO Harry Potter Years 1-4 brilliantly parodies the movie's ending by having Harry fly out into orbit on his Firebolt.
Flying Brick: Superman and Wonder Woman. In what is very likely the most literal interpretation of the trope name.
Follow the Money: In games with large hubs/world maps such as Harry Potter and Lord of the Rings, the game gives you a trail of ghostly studs to guide you to your destination. Of course, since they're ghostly, they're not actually worth any money - unless you activate a cheat.
Foregone Conclusion: In LEGO Batman, the Villain Levels show the villains setting up their bases. Because you played through the normal story as the heroes, you know that their bases aren't gonna last.
Game-Breaking Bug: There is one notorious bug in Lego Harry Potter 1-4, in which you drop into a room and the mechanism that is supposed to throw you back up fails to do so. Unfortunately there are several items in the room that, upon collection, cause the game to autosave. This means that even if you reload or exit to the hub, you're still in the room when you return.
Also in Harry Potter, exiting a level without completing it could sometimes cause the level entrance to fail to reappear in Hogwarts, making it impossible to continue on.
Likewise, moving between screens or collecting other items while the game was autosaving could make a mess of things. Future games would immobilize the character during a save to prevent this from happening.
In Lord of the Rings, there's places where you're climbing the walls as Gollum. There's some clipping issues on a number of them though, making it easy to get trapped behind the wall and stuck. Not entirely gamebreaking, as you can return to the main map, but very frustrating if said wall is a ways into a mission.
Gameplay and Story Segregation: The Battle of Helm's Deep repeats Gimli's "You'll have to toss me - don't tell the elf." bit from the movie, even though dwarf-tossing is a gameplay mechanic and Legolas will have probably have tossed Gimli himself by that point.
In Batman 2, Superman is able to easily fly while carrying Batman and Robin during the cutscenes because, well, he's Superman. However, in the game, he's unable to do so, making you walk as any other character.
In the first Batman game, Poison Ivy gets mad at The Riddler for stepping on flowers during a cut-scene, yet she destroys all kinds of plants during the game.
Gatling Good: The Clone Wars game has the Heavy Clone Trooper, who has a Gatling Blaster. It's quite good for combat, especially since this game finally introduced strafing. It's also the only weapon that can destroy certain objects.
A literal example in Lego Star Wars II; late in the Mos Eisley level near the Cinema, you can find pens which are full of what is clearly Dewback turds, complete with a foul green stench and flies. Shooting them causes them to explode and make flowers sprout.
On that note, there is a unlockable move called "Fertilizer", which when riding dewbacks or other animals, lets you make them poop. On top of that, the game allows you to combine this move with the unlockable "Poo Money" cheat that, as it describes, makes the animals poop pegs.
Slave-girl Leia able to do a provocative dance.
The Joker putting a gun to his head in the first Batman game (a non-lethal BANG Flag Gun, but we don't know that until he pulls the trigger).
Giant Space Flea from Nowhere: As the LEGO means not all of the story is covered, some of the bosses have this effect, notably Darth Maul in the first LEGO Star Wars.
And in LEGO Pirates during the Curse of the Black Pearl section when Barbossa backs Jack and Elizabeth off the plank and they don't notice until it's too late.
Part of a Rule of Three joke in LEGO Pirates: Anamaria slaps Jack, Cotton slaps Jack, Marty aims lower.
R2-D2 gets one in Clone Wars, despite a lack of a groin.
LEGO Batman 2: One of Batman's special attacks is to grab a mook by the shoulders, lift him up, stick out a leg under the mook, and then bring the mook down HARD. It's no wonder the mook subsequently breaks up into little LEGO pieces.
Aragorn gets one in LEGO Lord of the Rings. At the end of the "Warg Attack" level, the mortally wounded Warg captain's disembodied LEGO legs deal a low blow to Aragorn and knock him off the cliff into the river below.
Ground Pound: Jump, Then Jump again, the Attack. The Jedi have this, Batman has one in the DS version...
Characters have weapons that grow into its size when taken out and shrink when put away. When walking when either button is pressed, the weapon grows to size or shrinks away in the character's hand.
Harley Quinn's secondary attack is an actual Hyperspace Mallet that pops out when you press the command. It's taller than her.
Harmless Freezing: Mr. Freeze's ice cannon encases opponents in blocks of ice, which they can break out of by moving around really quickly. While frozen, however, they can be killed with a single hit.
Star Wars: both Original Trilogy and Complete Saga have the Mos Eisley Cantina, while the prequel-based original game uses Dex's Diner and Clone Wars has the Star Destroyer Resolute and its opponent, the Invisible Hand.
Indiana Jones is based around Barnett College. LEGO Indy 2, on the other hand, has a much larger hub that the player needs to explore and actively seek out new levels.
Batman actually has two Hubs; the Batcave for the heroes and Arkham Asylum for the villains. Batman 2 gives you all of Gotham City as a Wide-Open Sandbox.
Harry Potter uses Diagon Alley as the traditional Hub, while story mode sends you to Hogwarts between levels making it a Hub in its own right. Years 5-7 adds a wilderness Hub for the parts in Deathly Hallows when the protagonists are in hiding.
Pirates has Port Royal.
Lord of the Rings has the entirety of Middle Earth!
Humongous Mecha: In LEGO Batman 2, there's a gigantic robotic Joker.
Hyperspace Mallet: Harley Quinn has one. Press the proper button when fighting an enemy to clobber them.
Idle Animation: Surprisingly, most characters have somewhat unique ones, or at least certain types of characters do different things. For instance, in LEGO Batman 2, Lex Luthor's idle animation involves him trying on a toupee.
Idiot Ball: Invoked a couple of times in LEGO Batman 2, to keep the status quo. The most notable instance being, after destroying the Batcave, Luthor and Joker notice it's underneath Wayne Manor. Rather than realizing the obvious, Luthor just mutters "I really despise that guy." The best part? Seen from above, Wayne Manor is shaped like the Bat-symbol.
I Fell for Hours: The second to the last level in LEGO Batman 2. Wayne Tower is really, really tall. The first level of Asajj Ventress' route in Clone Wars also does one of these in roughly the same scenario. Gandalf's battle versus the Balrog in Lord of the Rings also qualifies.
Interface Screw: In Pirates getting hit by Blackbeard's projectiles in the final boss fight will reverse your controls.
Invincible Minor Minion: In LEGO Star Wars III, there are tactical droids who cannot be destroyed but if you attack them enough times they'll drop their head, which the player can pick up and use to access Separatist droid panels.
I Will Tear Your Arms Off: "Wookiees are known to do that." Given that it's LEGO, it's more humorous than horrific.
Characters without any kind of special ability, or even some of the basic abilities, including Chancellor Palpatine, the PK droid, and carbonite-frozen Han Solo. They can't even attack.
The Gonk droid is close, unable to do anything but walk around, but it's invincible; the right combination of unlockable cheats can make the Gonk a Lethal Joke Character. Respectively, Super Gonk (the gonk can now move faster and jump) and Self Destruct (Droids can self destruct.) Aww, wook at da cute widdle Gonk droi- BOOOM!
Juggling Loaded Guns: Used with a lightsaber in The Original Trilogy: After being handed the lightsaber, Luke turns it on and Obi-Wan ducks out of the way. Luke then swings it a few times and inadvertently beheads C3PO.
Killed Off for Real: Happens in a comedic fashion for characters like Darth Vader and Qui-Gon, who are Doomedby Canon. Quite jarringly in LEGO Batman 2, Lex and Joker try to do this to Batman and Superman in unusually dark scenes for the LEGO games.
King Kong Climb: One of the achievements in LEGO Batman 2 involves recreating this scene by playing a female character, commandeering a gorilla from the zoo, and climbing to the top of Wayne Tower.
Possibly as a Shout Out to her taser-kiss to Max Shreck in Batman Returns, Catwoman can pull this off as well if she catches a Mook from afar with her whip.
Kiss of Distraction: In LEGO Batman, Catwoman kisses Batman to distract him from what her cat is doing.
Kryptonite Factor: The only thing that can hold back Superman is Kryptonite which makes him flinch and retreat. Luthor and Joker find a way to make Kryptonite a weakness for Batman by discovering that its energy can easily destroy shiny black objects like most of Batman's arsenal.
Kryptonite Proof Suit: Due to Luthor and Joker destroying most of the Bat Vehicles, Batman uses Robin's brightly-colored ones instead and Robin rebuilds the Batmobile in the same style.
Loads and Loads of Loading: On the wii version of Lord of the Rings, you're constantly going from a map, to a load screen, to a cut scene, to another load screen, to the main game, etc. Most of the time, it's faster to walk across the overworld than to try and map travel. Also, switching to a character not currently on the screen can take a while.
Any of the PSP versions of the games can fall into this.
Medium Blending: In LEGO Harry Potter Years 5-7, the art style changes for the Tale of the Three Brothers, as per the film. Here, it's reminiscent of Little Big Planet.
Merchandise Driven: All the games have been based on pre-existing building sets. Pirates had the slight twist in that the game was announced before the sets were. More than that, most games are timed to tie in with a related movie release (The first Star Wars game with Revenge of the Sith, the first Indiana Jones with Kingdom of the Crystal Skull, Batman with The Dark Knight and Batman 2 with The Dark Knight Rises, Harry Potter Years 1-4 with Deathly Hallows Part 1 and Years 5-7 with the Deathly Hallows Part 2 DVD, Pirates with On Stranger Tides, and Lord of the Rings within a couple months of The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey).
Okay, even in the context of a LEGO video game... basically, in Indy 2's Kingdom of the Crystal Skull: Part 1 hub, if you put out a fire after the A-Bomb level, the mannequins in the area come to life, and act like zombies. Oh, and they're playable characters, as well.
Heck, look at any of the games with all the visual cheats turned on!
Missing Secret: Eventually subverted for LEGO Star Wars II. In December 2006, a code was given on an old StarWars.com page (that if not for the help of Wayback Machine, would be Lost Forever) for Disguise 3. But there's no Disguise 2! ...Until March 2007, when Disguise 2's code was finally revealed. However, at the time, players had to donate to Comic Relief for Red Nose Day in order to find out.
Mission Pack Sequel: One of the major complaints is the similarity of the games aside from the license.
Mundane Made Awesome: A mission in Clone Wars has R2-D2 and R3-S6 dueling with their stun prods in a way that mirrors a lightsaber duel.
The Music Meister: Lord of The Rings game has a treasure called the "Disco Phial". Equipping it allows you to see in the dark, while causing everyone in the immediate area to dance uncontrollably - which can be a pain if you're in multiplayer mode and your partner does this.
A couple of Star Wars characters appear in LEGO Indiana Jones directly or indirectly.
Some random Jedi in the "Jedi Battle" level in the first LEGO Star Wars game have yellow skin. Long story short, minifigs in licensed sets like Star Wars used to have yellow skin just like normal minifigs but around 2004-2005 they were replaced with realistic skintones.
In the first main-game cutscene to LEGO's interpretation of The Last Crusade, some people from Raiders and Temple are briefly seen in the background. 2:35 here.
Many of the data files in Batman's Bat-Computer (which have to be bought) give tidbits of information about the general Bat-Mythos, such as Joker's previous identity as the Red Hood, Talia al Ghul's romance with Batman, and the fact that Bruce Wayne keeps around suits of armor in the Batcave.
One of Raiders levels in the first Indiana Jones game includes a hidden gag concerning the movie's production - the movie had the locals take down their TV antennas so they could get an outdoor shot, so in the Cairo game level, you can find a room filled with the removed satellite dishes.
The final levels of each section of LEGO Batman are each references to the endings of thefirstthree of the original Batman movies. Even Batman & Robin might have gotten a Shout Out with Mr. Freeze's ice cream factory hideout earlier in the game.
One of Bane's "throw" moves is pretty much this cast into LEGO form. It's only slightly less painful-seeming. As a further Shout Out to Knightfall, it's one of the few throw moves that can be performed on a non-Mook character, though only on Batman.
The console versions even have an achievement for performing it on Batman.
The final, bonus mission of LEGO Pirates of the Caribbean is a replication of the original Disney Theme Parks ride itself, but with enemies.
At one point in LEGO Batman 2, Joker mentions that Lex is running for President. Something that he's done in the comics and attempted in at least one adaptation.
At one point in the game, Vicki Vale talks about all the various villains running amok in the city causing havoc. She mentions a plan by Gotham's mayor to "Wall off a portion of the city to use as a prison," but says that he never went through with it as it would probably cause more problems.
The news-scroll beneath one of the Vicki Vale segments says the Dog of the Year Award nominees are Krypto, Ace and Stretch-O-Mutt, the latter of whom only exists in the Krypto The Superdog cartoon.
Lord of the Rings includes Tom Bombadil and Radagast the Brown as playable characters, who didn't appear in the movies but were in the books.
Nice Hat: The Mad Hatter in LEGO Batman has one. Even his description, at the beginning of the level "Joker's Home Turf", mentions his "large and fantastic hat".
In-universe example, the "riddikulus" spell in Harry Potter is obviously used for defeating any chests with boggarts in them. So, if the LEGO games play things for laughs, what happens? Well, the characters which had their fears described in the book happen as usual (Spider with rollerskates, the moon flying as a deflating balloon, receiving failing grades, etc.). And then you have ones which didn't appear in the book:
Most minor wizarding characters have Voldemort. Casting riddikulus on him makes him fly onto his back and start sucking a dummy.
Getting terrified of the Dementors in LEGO Harry Potter? No worries, just turn on the appropriate cheat command and pop a huge pair of glasses, giant nose, and handlebar moustache on them! And the book says it's impossible to make a dementor seem funny...
The disguises cheat is made even funnier when you realise that it even happens with vehicles, and even in cutscenes. Nothing says "intimidation" like an AT-AT with a moustache!
How about Shelob wearing skates and kneepads? Or trolls with huge purple mohawks?
Ninja Pirate Zombie Robot: Such a combination for a video game was so new that many thought it was a joke when first announced, both for the first Star Wars game and then the Rock Band game.
No Fair Cheating: If you attempt to use a code to unlock any characters or red bricks, the game will lock you out of saving until the next time you play. Averted with the cheats provided by the various Red Bricks.
No OSHA Compliance: The Batcave in LEGO Batman II. Try walking as Batman to get an air vehicle. Often times you fall into the shark-infested waters of the Batcave. Also in the Republic capital ship in LEGO Star Wars III, there are no guard rails in the hub linking the bridge, brig, medical bay and fighter/assault bays.
LEGO Batman 2, in the Crawling Text of the news, they mention various Supervillain Teamups, such as Black Adam and Black Manta, and Gorilla Grodd and Brainiac. No details are given except they were pretty bad.
In an earlier cutscene, Batman mentions he and Robin have broken their legs before, after Robin said they would have broken their legs jumping off a burning building without Superman's help.
Also in the news Vicki Vale mentions that releasing mind-altering gas via a giant robot to affect the election was specifically outlawed after last year's mayoral campaign.
Another one occurs after the Man of the Year awards are interrupted at the beginning of the game. It's mentioned that this is the fifth time that the awards have been held in Gotham, and the second time that they have been interrupted by a supervillain attack.
Obvious Beta: The Nintendo DS version of LEGO Star Wars II: The Original Trilogy, which is full of Game Breaking Bugs that can render entire levels impossible to complete in Free Play (such as Jabba's Palace), Minikits that are impossible to get (such as in Speeder Bike Chase), and characters that are impossible to unlock without cheat codes even when they should be normally available (such as Slave Leia).
Oddball in the Series: LEGO Rock Band plays exactly like a regular Rock Band game, while all the rest are puzzle-platformers.
Old Save Bonus: Unlocked LEGO Star Wars characters could be transferred to The Original Trilogy.
Orgasmic Climbing: The most prominent examples can be found in LEGO Batman. Have any character grab onto a grabbable ledge, then jump repeatedly off the ledge, repeatedly grabbing onto it on the way down. Now, listen to the sound the character makes when it grabs the ledge.
In both Star Wars and Indiana Jones. All you have to do is grab an enemy character's hat to pose as from that faction. Even when you're a seven foot tall wookiee with a stormtrooper helmet hanging lopsided on your head.
Harry Potter used this quite often so that Harry, Ron, and Hermione would still be recognizable to players.
There's also a scene in Sorcerer's Stone where Harry and Ron must enter the girls' room to rescue Hermione, and it won't admit them because they're boys. Fortunately, an animated painting will briefly give them a disguise. Said disguise is just a wig.
Subverted in Deathly Hallows: Part 1 when Harry, Ron and Hermione use Polyjuice Potion to take on the forms of Ministry employees. They look noticeably different, but like older versions of themselves.
In LEGO Batman 2, Batman and Superman are able to disguise themselves as one another by simply pulling off their cowl/hair and switching them.
Eowyn's male disguise in Lord of the Rings comes complete with moustache. Subverted with Sam and Frodo's escape from Cirith Ungol- they dress up in Orc armour that looks fairly legit.
In LEGO Indiana Jones, one of the random animations when using a wrench to fix something is hitting it with the wrench.
In LEGO Pirates of the Caribbean, when fixing something with the hammer, occasionally the character will kick whatever he's repairing.
Following the installation of the new Hyperdrive after the Mos Espa Pod Race, Obi-Wan hits it to start it up.
Plot Tailored to the Party: In order to achieve 100% Completion, you have to collect different types of characters and replay the 'Free Mode' to be able to access the areas that only certain characters with certain abilities can gain access to.
Police Are Useless: Averted in LEGO Batman during the villian's half of the game. While they lose, since there would be no game otherwise, they are generally far more dangerous mooks than what Batman fights during his part of the game.
Pragmatic Adaptation: Parts are sometimes changed from the original material to allow two players in what were originally one-man scenes.
Examples from Harry Potter include:
Ginny Weasley and Cedric Diggory helping out in the final battles of years 2 and 4, respectively
The flying car bringing along a motorcycle for the escape from Aragog.
Hermione coming along with Harry to help in Harry's battle against Quirreldemort in Sorcerer's Stone and later on in Goblet of Fire to help in the First Task.
Shagrat teams up with Sam in the battle against Shelob.
In Star Wars, Anakin doesn't betray you until the very end of the "Darth Vader" level, in order for him to be able to help you in the level.
Red and Black and Evil All Over: Red and black objects can't be manipulated by most characters and are reserved only for those with evil powers (Sith in Star Wars, dark wizards in Harry Potter, Blackbeard in Pirates of the Caribbean, etc).
Refuge in Audacity: Some of the things that happen in the games would be incredibly intense were it not for the games' tongue-in-cheek style and everything being made of LEGO.
For instance, in LEGO Indiana Jones 2, defeating one boss requires you to fry him thrice with a rocket sled. A boss in the first Indy game is a snake at least five times the size of any of the characters.
In LEGO Star Wars, Chewbacca can rip stormtroopers' arms out of their sockets. See Bloodless Carnage. It's also a Call Back to Han's claim that wookiees, when angry, are known to rip arms out of people's sockets.
After you've gotten all of the gold bricks in Harry Potter Years 1-4, you unlock a level that takes place in 1981 where you play as Voldemort and a Death Eater as they go around London killing everyone. After that's done, Voldemort kills Harry's parents comedically.
Respawning Enemies: The Battle of Yavin (Rebel Attack) and the Battle of Hoth, at least.
A common mechanism in all of the games to pad things out a bit while the player is solving puzzles. Every fifteen seconds, like clockwork.
The one right after beating Palpatine comes close to being an exception, but not quite. When Luke didn't pull Vader in from the ramp, he just closed the ramp and the body slid in. Take into effect that the LEGO shuttle's ramp is most of the backside of the ship that flips down from the top.
Rummage Fail: A favorite gag; both Indy and Hagrid have been known to do this, and it shows up a couple times in Star Wars as well.
Running Gag: In nearly every LEGO game, there's a room which has a disco, and the disco theme in question is a remix of a piece of the soundtrack, LEGO Indiana Jones 2 takes this gag up a notch further, by putting it into an actual cutscene. Harry Potter Years 1-4, however, reduces it to only a cutscene, and mostly offscreen at that.
LEGO Indiana Jones returns the favour by featuring Han Solo.
In Clone Wars, the minikits are used to unlock certain characters, like Darth Sidious, Darth Vader, Darth Maul, Luke Skywalker, and many more, which also includes Starkiller.
LEGO Batman has Hush and Ra's al Ghul. The sequel has Brainiac.
The first LEGO Star Wars game had many different characters, but suffered from many characters being unable to build and a crippling lack of variety. The sequel added the ability to build without the Force, and riding vehicles and mounts. The third game added entire galaxies to explore, with even more characters.
LEGO Batman was mostly mission-based and had hero and villain stories. While the sequel discards the villain stories altogether, they added an open-world Gotham to explore and actual speaking.
Sequel Hook: The first Star Wars game ended with a bonus level aboard the Tantive IV, where the original movie kicked off; the characters in that level were then unlocked for the rest of the game. Similarly, The Complete Saga featured Indiana Jones as a hidden character, hinting that the series would expand beyond the Star Wars universe.
LEGO Batman 2 has Green Lantern shooting a beam off into space and cutting to Braniac in his spaceship looking down at Earth.
Brainiac: I have located it.
The original LEGO Batman game had one more file in the Bat Computer that required the maximum amount of money to be earned. The file? "The End...?". One of the previous files also involved Superman.
Vicki also wonders if the blue lights at Arkham Asylum are one of the warden's famous parties being in full swing, possibly alluding to Elvis Presley's "Jailhouse Rock".
In the level "The Next President", if you use Cyborg's magnetic powers to change the time on the City Hall clock to four minutes past ten it gets hit by lightning.
In Lord of the Rings, one of the secret areas in Cirith Ungol has you sneaking around a basement, where orcs man searchlights, there's a musical sting when you're spotted, and the best bet is to run around under a box.
Also in Lord of the Rings, two mixable items you pick up on Pelennor Fields are a green herb and a red herb.
Shown Their Work: In the Bat computer, several titbits are really thrown in. For example, they told us that Bruce's parents died at 10:47 PM, Ra's al Ghul doesn't remember his true name, and Penguin always carries an umbrella because his mother always told him to because his dad died of pneumonia. When they include that particular piece of information, you know they've done the research.
Silliness Switch: The games are silly enough already, but some of the unlockable options deliberately take it farther.
The puzzles to find the hidden minikit canisters, Power Bricks, and various other collectibles. You won't know something in the area will make those items appear until you've already done it. A good example is constructing the dollar sign in LEGO Batman's "The Face-Off." Finding these items without a guide (or the Minikit/Power Brick detector cheat) can be difficult.
There's a Power Brick in LEGO Batman's "The Riddler Makes a Withdrawal" level that requires you to park a car into a trash compactor, crushing it into an object you can break to get the item to appear, though because of the ambiguous eye candy, it could've been hard to tell it was a compactor at all.
Some have gotten very annoyed by the difficulty of finding Blackbeard (especially since he's a very important special character you need to buy in order to get 100%), the answer: You have to look near Tia Dalma's shack, where you'll find him.
Spared by the Adaptation: In many cases, a character who was killed off in the original version won't have their death scene shown and simply disappear from the plot afterward. But apart from that, Pirates has Anamaria appear in Dead Man's Chest and At World's End despite her conspicuous absence from those films.
Indiana Jones is an interesting case. While the first game's adaptation of Last Crusade averted this by killing Elsa off like in the film, the one in the sequel played it straight: not only does she live, she's seen driving off with Indy and the others in its final cutscene.
Spoiler: The very first Star Wars game spoiled Revenge of the Sith as it came out about a month before the movie did. The lack of dialogue and changing of a few scenes did create a few deviations. The same thing goes for Pirates, which was released a couple weeks before On Stranger Tides.
Stop Helping Me!: Lord of the Rings. The Dead Marshes. Gollum, please shut up.
Stylistic Suck: When Harry, Ron, and Hermione try to get past Fluffy in LEGO Harry Potter Years 1-4, Ron pulls out a trumpet and plays the Harry Potter theme — quite badly.
The series in general. Everything is kept pretty simple and even sloppy as if to drive the point home that the game is a toy first and foremost and things aren't meant to be taken particularly seriously. Probably less "stylistic" at first as Traveller's Tales were a shovelware dev at first making licensed platformers and kart racers, then played straight from that point on due to the first LEGO Star Wars' success.
Suddenly Voiced: After eight years of muteness, characters finally speak in LEGO Batman 2.
Super Drowning Skills: In the LEGO Batman games, characters automatically drown if they swim too far away from shore, which acts as an Invisible Wall. Fine, except that it also applies to characters like Aquaman and Killer Croc who couldn't drown if they tried.
Superman Stays Out of Gotham: While the first LEGO Batman played this trope straight by featuring only Gotham characters, LEGO Batman 2: DC Superheroes averts this hard by having other members of the Justice League come into play. In fact, a major part of the story is Batman's unwillingness to call for help when he needs to until the end.
Han Solo's "double jump" animation. Lando's too. Except in LEGO Indiana Jones.
Just about every character in LEGO Batman who can't double jump does this when the jump button is tapped twice. Rather hilariously, Joker and Scarecrow land on their backs/faces when they attempt this.
Stormtroopers in LEGO Star Wars II also land on their bellies when attempting to double jump.
The Muggles in LEGO Harry Potter do this. For damage.
Any male character in LEGO Pirates, usually unsheathing their weapon in the process.
Useless Useful Spell: In LEGO Batman, Scarecrow's fear gas seems like it would be useful, since it temporarily freezes all enemy actions... except it only works on one Mook at a time, casting it on another immediately returns the first one to normal, casting it leaves him wide open to attacks, and it lasts for a ridiculously short time anyhow.
LEGO Star Wars II (and carried over into Complete Saga). When going through the Death Star hallways in stormtrooper disguises in a level based on A New Hope, there is one place where the player must, from a distance, shoot stormtroopers who are in front of Ben Kenobi so that he can build a bridge, but doing so alerts nearby stormtroopers.
There's also one part where stormtroopers are running a call center, but all of them must be killed to move on. However, after killing the stormtroopers, new helmets can be retrieved. Once the players reach the detention cellblock, stormtroopers come in and attack anyway.
Killing civilians in LEGO Batman with certain weapons results in a small amount of money being discharged. Also, you can kill your own partner to restore health.
Scarecrow, Mad Hatter, and the Riddler can mind control certain innocent civilians and force them to do things like jump into lava/toxic waste and attack their own comrades.
Beating up pretty much anyone hanging around the Batcave.
You can beat Short Round and Mutt Williams to death, repeatedly, with a shovel or wrench.
Pushing Jar-Jar into a pit again... and again... and again... In fact, if you kill him 20 times in the Complete Saga, it unlocks an acheivement called Crowd Pleaser.
Protocol droids lose limbs as they lose health. It's funny to watch 3PO hobble around on his single leg after a few punches, not to mention accessing the interface panels with his head.
In LEGO Harry Potter, levitating random NPCs into bottomless pits.
Unlocking a Dark Wizard character, then Avada Kedvraing and Crucioing NPCs. And they don't respawn. At least, unless you restart the game.
Pick up an NPC with Wingardium Leviosa, then rotate the left analog stick while they're in the air. 8 times out of 10, they start spinning ridiculously fast, and by releasing the spell button, they go flying. Oh yes, and if that's not enough, zap the teachers after you've finished a lesson! For the most part, they actually fight back.
In Jabba's palace, you can set up stereos that play a Heavy Metal remix of the "Imperial March" from Force Commander (aka the Rage Mix). The guards with axes start playing the axes like guitars.
A closet in "Pankot Secrets" contains two skeletons. Revisited in LEGO Harry Potter.
Who Forgot The Lights?: In Lego Harry Potter Years 1-4 you have to get away from Aragog while driving towards the camera with nothing but your vehicle's headlights to guide you.
Why Don't You Just Shoot Him?: Averted in LEGO Batman 2 with Lex Luthor, who simply drops a massive object on Batman without even stopping to gloat. It even catches the Joker by surprise.
Wide-Open Sandbox: LEGO Batman 2 has a rather large open Gotham City that you use to transfer between story missions, and boasts a large amount of puzzle content and collectables, as well as mini boss fights that get you new villain characters.
LEGO Lord of the Rings has all of Middle Earth as its hub!
Wolverine Publicity: LEGO Batman 2: DC Super Heroes, as opposed to LEGO DC Super Heroes or LEGO Justice League or something. To be fair to the game, the DC Super Heroes toyline is equally focused on Batman.
You Shouldn't Know This Already: Spells in LEGO Harry Potter. You can press the buttons, but they won't have any effect until you learn them and then directly select them.
alternative title(s): Lego Star Wars; Lego Indiana Jones; Lego Batman; Lego Rock Band; Lego Harry Potter; Lego Pirates Of The Caribbean; Lego Crossover Game; LEGO Adaptation Game
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