The LEGO Creator theme consists of a variety of subthemes that revolve around sets that focus on buildings, creatures, vehicles, robots and recently more specialized sets such as botanical and even the Chinese New Year. Many of these sets have fallen under the 3-in-1 label which include instructions in a single set to provide multiple alternative models. Originally created in 2001 with a focus on larger bucket sets, the LEGO Creator theme has expanded outside just bricks to later include minifigures.
2011 LEGO Sets
For collectors, 2011 was a significant year in that LEGO released the first Internal sets Moulding Machines (4000001) and LOM 2011 Moulding (4000002) which have paved the way for high value future collections. A few notable themes introduced in 2011 were Ninjago, Winnie the Pooh, SpongeBob SquarePants, Alien Conquest and LEGO Master Builder Academy. Of course LEGO Ninjago set the stages for a decade of collecting. However, in 2011 LEGO also discontinued a number of themes which included Ben 10, Power Miners, Toy Story, Prince of Persia, Space Police III, BrickMaster and the loved Trains theme.