Subject:
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Re: The Bar Does Not Go Down
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Newsgroups:
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lugnet.dear-lego
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Date:
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Tue, 11 May 2004 06:17:08 GMT
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Viewed:
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3830 times
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In lugnet.dear-lego, Gary Thomas wrote:
> In lugnet.dear-lego, Anthony Sava wrote:
> > Please, learn from the past LEGO. A they say, those who fail to learn from the
> > past are doomed to repeat it. I'd rather not repeat parts of the last ten
> > years.
> >
> > --Anthony
> > Lugnet Member #1312
> > http://www.ikros.net
I'll add my own $0.02 as well. When I was a kid (I'm 30 now, so this would be in
the late 70's to mid 80's), there were only a few themes - Town, Space, Castle -
that appealed to a 10-ish year old. And these themes persisted for many years,
so a child would grow up with a theme, building up his or her collection, for 7
or 8 years. Imagine that - kids and parents buying a few sets a year for nearly
a decade - now that is how you sell stuff! Today, the themes change almost every
year, or we get the same fire station, coast guard station, and police car, each
time. In the 80s, you could buy everything you needed - gas station, trash
truck, utility repair truck, stables, regular cars, hospital, main street, cargo
station...tons of buildings, that were in the line for 2-3 years, so you could
build up a city! And how awesome and playable were those sets?
Castle and space were the same too! You had armories and catapults. Research
vehicles, launch pads, and bases. These all encouraged buying more sets to build
up your collection, and since the parts were all similar, you could build your
own great looking creations in the same themes (or others) easily.
So, my parents would spend a lot of money, and I spent a lot of my allowance,
buying these great sets. And the parents, who spend most of the money, could
easily see the value in Lego - enhancing imagination, creativity, and nonviolent
play.
Instead, today, you get a giant 'Scorpion Palace' today, with parts that you can
use for other things, but a lot of them are just not that universal. And then it
goes on clearance in just 6 months, and a new theme appears to replace it. How
does TLC expect people to stick with them for the 10 or so years of childhood
when things change so rapidly? And how much does it cost to invent all themes,
make new packaging, create new parts, and introduce a few new colors each year?
I agree wholeheartedly with the previous posters - TLC should realize that
flash-in-the-pan fads are not their bread and butter. Right now, the parents who
are buying Lego ar ethe people who grew up with Lego when sets were in their
golden ages in the 80s. If they decide Lego is junk now, they won't buy it for
their kids, and those kids won't grow up into Lego buyers. Now is a very
important time to ensure Lego returns, at least partly, to its roots.
Build on,
Roy
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Message has 2 Replies:
 | | Re: The Bar Does Not Go Down
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| (...) I still remember getting the 6973 Deep Freeze Defender from Santa when I was a kid. That copy is long gone but I have since acquired enough (using parts from the secondary market plus some from the regular retail sets I have bought and also (...) (20 years ago, 11-May-04, to lugnet.dear-lego)
| | | Re: The Bar Does Not Go Down
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| I gotta say one thing in favor of flash in the pan fads: LEGO clearances at Target and Wal-Mart. I build up bigtime and don't spend as much as I would have 10-20 years ago. Good for me. :o) (20 years ago, 11-May-04, to lugnet.dear-lego)
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Message is in Reply To:
| | Re: The Bar Does Not Go Down
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| (...) I'm definitely not saying that Lego has made wise descisions lately. However, maybe what we're seeing is based on simple economics. Most of the problems I see with sets these days has to do with too few parts, which cause lame designs, etc, (...) (20 years ago, 11-May-04, to lugnet.dear-lego)
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