Subject:
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Re: Holy Mackerel! LEGO survey...
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Newsgroups:
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lugnet.general, lugnet.lego
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Date:
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Tue, 19 Apr 2005 07:33:15 GMT
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Viewed:
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7060 times
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> * Would you buy LEGO toys for children 0-11? Y/N
If I had them, I would, but I'm my own child!
> * Why / Why not?
Lego is simply the best toy a child can have. 'Nuff said!
> * What feature(s) would you add if you were the marketing director of
LEGO?
I'll start with features I would delete?
Rocco J. Carello hit the nail on the head; fads die. The Star Wars line is
great, as is Harry Potter, but they will eventually fade away and you'll be
back where you started. Your product is already the coolest toy on the
planet. You don't need George Lucas or J.K. Rowling hawking it for you. It
stands on its own.
Lose the noisy barrage of cluttered box graphics. Simple, well-lit
photographs sell your product much better than a lot of cartoony "action"
lines. Kids have WAY more imagination than many people think. Believe me,
if the set builds a wicked cool race car, the child will turn their whole
house into the Indy 500!
Jack Stone needs to be stopped right now. You are not Playmobil, you are
Lego.
Features I would add:
The flip-top box was invaluable to me as a selling point. Being able to get
a closer look at the pieces in the set was often what tipped the balance in
me pulling out my wallet. Sometimes even good photographs just don't
provide the inventory information that I want.
Bring back the Mini-figure box sets that you made for Castle and Space.
Those of us who want to build armies of spearmen or platoons of space
rangers LOVED these sets as an inexpensive way to increase the population.
Don't forget Town as well!
Speaking of which, we desperately need more Town sets that aren't police,
fire, or car repair stations. Are the citizens of Lego City all criminals,
pyromaniacs, and car abusers? How about an amusement park theme with all
kinds of sets designed like different rides? The smallest set could be a
cotton candy stand and the biggest could be a rollercoaster!
Expand the 9V electric system with cool stuff like smaller battery boxes
(say 2x4 or 2x2 size) that can run off camera or calculator-sized batteries.
I'd love to be able to build a big spaceship that had working landing lights
on it! Oooh! Oooh! How about longer fiberoptic cables? Then you could
have little pinpoints of light flickering all over the model! My favorite
electric piece is the backlit 2x2 medium-slope computer panel from #6781
SP-Striker. Pretty please can we have another one of those?
The X-pods are one of your best products in years. Not only is the carrying
case for the pod very useful as a part, but most importantly the sets teach
the value of creativity and inventiveness using recombinations of a small
selection of parts. I've had a blast trying different configurations of the
Monster Pod. It rocks!
Overall, make more sets like the Designer line that encourage rebuilding.
Most of the sets you produce now are more like toys that you build and then
just play with as opposed to toys that be rebuilt and then rebuilt and then
. . .
> * How would you change existing LEGO products if you wanted to sell them • for
> more money?
Heh. Wanna make more money? Look at the product line in the late 80's.
You put out sets like that again and you'll bankrupt me. Everything about
the 80's product line was awesome. Look to your history to find a clearer
path to the future.
Bring back Castle sets that could be linked together.
Make new, awesome Space sets with great action features that DO NOT require
specialized and therefore limited-use pieces.
Town sets that don't involve cops, firemen, or car repair shops (oops, said
that already!)
Technic sets that AREN'T cars, trucks, or other such vehicles. Technic has
WAY more potential than just churning out yet another 4x4 off-road vehicle.
Oh, and lose the faring and other limited-use pieces. You take that
distracting eye candy off and the models look crappy. Lego is about the
bricks, so use more of 'em.
> * What new products would you launch?
More realistic Castle sets. KK2 looks WAY too much like a Power Rangers
knockoff. Remember, fads die.
Space sets without the silly color scheme of Life On Mars.
As for Town, see above.
> * What should LEGO be doing that it isn't now?
Colors in a much larger selection of pieces as opposed to new pieces in a
wide variety of colors. New pieces are great and new colors are great, but
too much of either results in a building system that is extremely limited
because of the limited selection of parts in too many colors. If you create
a new color, make it a priority to produce as many different pieces as
possible. Likewise, if you create a new mold, make it a priority to produce
that piece in as many colors as possible. If the Lego System is going to
live up to its promise, then the parts selection needs to be as complete as
possible. For example, handfuls of light yellow 2x4 low-slope bricks don't
do me much good if I don't have the roof peaks and 3x3 corners to go with
'em.
Bring back old gray, dark gray, and brown (you knew it was coming!). The
backwards compatibility of the Lego product in THE cornerstone of its appeal
for me. This compatibility applies just as much to color as it does to
"clutch." You say the kids liked the new colors better, however I don't buy
that. Every time I've looked at the pictures of things kids have built in
the Lego magazine, I see rainbow after rainbow. Kids (your target market)
don't seem to give a hoot about color. They just grab the bricks and build.
You also say the new colors better balance the existing color palette. That
may well be, but from most of what I've heard and read in the AFOL
community, you're the only ones who care. If you want customers for life,
then you need to return the commitment with the same consistency. Old gray
was rockin' hard for 40 years. If it ain't broke, don't fix it!
> So dangerous questions, to be sure, but the office of the CEO has asked • them, so
> you know the responses will be listened to!
>
> Thanks again, everyone. This incredible response has made my week.
>
> Jake
> ---
> Jake McKee
> Community Liaison
> LEGO Community Team
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Message is in Reply To:
 | | Holy Mackerel! LEGO survey...
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| All, I know that some of you have attempted to fill out the survey announced yesterday on LEGOfan.org, only to be turned away with a message about the survey being complete. After some late night phone calls and early morning emails, I've been to (...) (19 years ago, 16-Apr-05, to lugnet.general, lugnet.lego) !!
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