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These Doctor Who-themed LEGO Dimensions and LEGO Ideas sets both feature variants of the standard Dalek.

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However, in The LEGO Batman Movie, we exclusively see the New Paradigm Daleks:

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As discussed on this site were not well-received and were intended to be forgotten about: What happened to the multi-coloured Paradigm Daleks?

There was some discussion on licensing and rights in comments on another question, and I've wondered if that has anything to do with this. These LEGO Daleks also never actually referred as anything other than "British robots" on-screen, something else that (along with the color) stood out to me as odd while viewing the film.

So, what gives? Is there a legal reason for their appearance? Or was their color scheme just better suited for a LEGO world? Has anyone involved made any comments?

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  • Marketing specific products would be my presumption.
    – Integration
    Feb 22, 2017 at 3:56
  • @Withywindle While toys is usually a solid guess, there's yet to be so much as a blurry leaked photo of a LBM set that has these villains in it. Perhaps down the line, or maybe on apparel or something, but for some reason I find that unlikely (given that they're only recognizable to Whovians and not even named in the movie). The yet-to-be-released toy I'm aware of will include The Wicked Witch and Flying monkeys, and if they follow a similar production schedule as The LEGO Movie, not much if anything is left in store for us.
    – user31178
    Feb 22, 2017 at 4:05
  • @Withywindle Please don't mind me needing out too hard here. ;)
    – user31178
    Feb 22, 2017 at 4:05
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    I don't think they're New Paradigm Daleks at all, just a different build design, and a little more colorful. As I mentioned in the already -referenced thread, I have a suspicion they may have played slightly fast and loose with the rights, and what they were allowed to do with them. The director has said i interviews that he actively wanted the Daleks in the film. I have also see reports that they're trying to get permissions to bring The Doctor into the second Lego Movie. I hope that doesn't get bollixed up.
    – VBartilucci
    Feb 22, 2017 at 17:38
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    What's interesting is that even though they are never referred to as Daleks in the movie, the captions do list their trademark calls of "exterminate" as "Daleks" so I doubt that licensing is the issue because if it was, surely the captions would have not called them that way.
    – DaveTheMinion
    Jul 4, 2017 at 3:52

1 Answer 1

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If you're still interested in why the Daleks weren't referenced as such you might want to read this article. I've been wondering myself and found this... http://www.cbr.com/director-explains-lego-batman-movie-easter-eggs-secrets/

“The BBC said we could use the Daleks, and we could’ve called them the Daleks,” he said, explaining that the scripted version of the scene – in which Joker introduces special guest villains like Sauron, the Kraken, and Lord Voldemort – featured the Clown Prince of Crime introducing the Doctor’s major adversary in a quippy way.

However, when actor Zack Galifianakis recorded the lines, one of his takes featured a joke in which “he says all the names, and he mispronounced Sauron and Voldemort, and then he said ‘British robots.’” To McKay, a fan of “Doctor Who,” the “point of view that [the Joker] didn’t understand who the Daleks were” struck him as funnier than original line.

"...But it’s still not something everybody knows, so I thought [Joker saying] ‘It’s British robots, ask your nerd friends,’ was just a great joke.”

Concerning the choice of design they made: no idea why they did that. But it's a good theory that it's mainly because they're so colourful. Maybe it's also a thing that ties this in with the DW universe as we haven't seen the paradigm Daleks after "Victory of the Daleks". Someone in the writers' room or design department might have been a hardcore Whovian and used them to deliver an answer on why they were absent from the show.

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    This definitely answers a question, but not really the question I'm asking here. Thanks for the info, though.
    – user31178
    Jul 13, 2017 at 19:19
  • I was just drafting a question as to why they didn't call them Daleks. I long believed it was an odd end run, permissions wise - I'm glad they just went for a joke.
    – VBartilucci
    Jul 19, 2018 at 22:46

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