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The LEGO Ambassadors have been asked to provide some suggestions to the LEGO
Shop at Home people about what types of things we AFOLs would like to see
offered or available from S@H. This is a good opportunity for you to make a
serious suggestion that will get passed on to those who are in charge of S@H. Of
course, this in no way guarantees that any of the suggestions will necessarily
bear fruit, but you never know until you suggest. I’ll collate the results by
the end of the weekend, although that doesn’t necessarily mean later posts will
be excluded.
This is a theoretical discussion, so there are no limitations on suggestions. Of
course, things like “free bricks for everyone” and other implausible suggestions
are likely to not make it through the review, if you get my drift. But as far as
topics go, this is a “sky’s the limit” discussion.
- What do you think LEGO would never do that you’d love to see?
- What types of themes/concepts should LEGO stay away from?
- Are there any community projects/products (Moonbase? Great Ball?) that you’d like to see turn into a LEGO set?
- (And as a follow-up to the last question – are there any projects/products that LEGO should stay away from?)
- What types of products/themes/concepts do you think are missing from the assortment over the years?
- Are there things missing in general? On box? In the instructions? In the box materials?
Thanks for your contribution!
Kelly McKiernan
LEGO Ambassador
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In lugnet.general, Kelly McKiernan wrote:
| |
The LEGO Ambassadors have been asked to provide some suggestions to the LEGO
Shop at Home people about what types of things we AFOLs would like to see
offered or available from S@H. This is a good opportunity for you to make a
serious suggestion that will get passed on to those who are in charge of S@H.
Of course, this in no way guarantees that any of the suggestions will
necessarily bear fruit, but you never know until you suggest. I’ll collate
the results by the end of the weekend, although that doesn’t necessarily mean
later posts will be excluded.
This is a theoretical discussion, so there are no limitations on suggestions.
Of course, things like “free bricks for everyone” and other implausible
suggestions are likely to not make it through the review, if you get my
drift. But as far as topics go, this is a “sky’s the limit” discussion.
|
Well first and foremost THANK YOU for asking and providing a positive thread on
lugnet.
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- What do you think LEGO would never do that you’d love to see?
|
- Additional % off on bulk packs- up to 25% would be preferable for 50+ packs
- New metal rail train track geometry!!!!!!!!!!!! stubbies, crossovers, half/ 1/4 sections of straight track...
- 10-15-color mosaics
- A steam engine with drive rods! novel concept I know =)
- Anything remotely resembling a structure bulk pack “windows doors detail elements...”
- The reintroduction of the old grays for remade sets i.e. classics
- The return of any classic space set
- The reintroduction of technic sets with more than 10 studded beams in them
- Dark green brick and plate bulk packs
- I have to say it .......AN 8-WIDE TRAIN ENGINE even if it’s only a display piece
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- What types of themes/concepts should LEGO stay away from?
|
Anything that disconnects from the core of the Lego building system i.e. bricks
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- Are there any community projects/products (Moonbase? Great Ball?) that you’d like to see turn into a LEGO set?
|
- castle system “CCC” has tons of promise and could become a great theme that’s expandable.
- BBB wheels!
- Improved geometry train track - I’m good at making them but I would rather buy them.
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- (And as a follow-up to the last question – are there any projects/products that LEGO should stay away from?)
|
Unfortunately I have to say the moonbase because to truly appreciate the concept
you need a lot of modules and they all have to be different. Not to mention the
price point would likely be well over $50 per module.
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- What types of products/themes/concepts do you think are missing from the assortment over the years?
|
UCS anything that isn’t Starwars. A fire truck or a globe would be cool.
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- Are there things missing in general? On box? In the instructions? In the box materials?
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In general I think the company is doing better than previous years but as with
all company’s there is room for improvement. Quality is becoming an issue. More
and more parts are showing up with defects. Now this could just be information
traveling faster due to the Internet or it could be a molding issue.
As for the boxes the images are almost too detailed and some customers have
problems distinguishing what is actually in the box.
Instruction quality has all but disappeared. Dark gray and black are frequently
hard to distinguish and the images in some cases are blurry and or pixilated.
The large mars rover set is a great example.
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Thanks for your contribution!
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your welcome =)
ondrew
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Kelly McKiernan
LEGO Ambassador
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Not really shop@home specific, but I thought it was worth commenting on:
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As for the boxes the images are almost too detailed and some customers have
problems distinguishing what is actually in the box.
|
I agree .. it’s very difficult to tell the difference between the model and the
background on some sets. Often I don’t notice smaller parts of the set because
they get lost in the background image. Bring back simple backgrounds. You seem
to have the right idea on designer sets (4888 has a very nice box design, for
example) and some of the most recent sets (such as 8801 and 8802) are starting
to have reasonable backgrounds.
| |
Instruction quality has all but disappeared. Dark gray and black are
frequently hard to distinguish and the images in some cases are blurry and or
pixilated. The large mars rover set is a great example.
|
The worst instructions are the CAD ones which use “realistic” lighting. Stop
that! Having every surface a different shade makes it impossible to figure out
what color a part is, as it’ll show up different depending on its orientation.
Go back to flat colors, with no shading. Also, I liked the mid-80s convention
of printing black bricks with white outlines. That worked really well, and I
think you should bring back that idea in today’s world of dark grey bricks where
black and dark grey are indistinguishable in many instructions. Also, some
instruction manuals have distracting backgrounds which make the parts hard to
discern.
S@H-specific stuff:
More castle and pirate legends. You know how well those sell. You seem to sell
out of them fast enough. So do more of them.
Perhaps some legends sets which are made up of an assortment of small sets. For
example, a selection of different small classic space sets. You could even
choose them such that they draw from a common assortment of parts, like the
designer sets, to reduce the part count. (People who want all of the models
built simultaneously could just buy multiple copies of the set.)
Trains: new track and stuff which others have mentioned would be cool, but what
I’d most like to see would be the ability to buy all of the train sets without
the track and speed regulator. That cargo train set looks really cool, but I’d
rather be able to buy it w/o the track and speed regulator and run it on the
track I already own. I understand why you need to include all that stuff in
retail boxes, but couldn’t S@H get a stripped-down version? Even better would
be if you sold all the cars and engines separately, but I can see how that would
take up too many SKUs.
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In lugnet.general, Ondrew Hartigan wrote:
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In lugnet.general, Kelly McKiernan wrote:
|
SNIP (big time)
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The LEGO Ambassadors have been asked to provide some suggestions to the >
* Are there any community projects/products (Moonbase? Great Ball?) that
|
Unfortunately I have to say the moonbase because to truly appreciate the
concept you need a lot of modules and they all have to be different. Not to
mention the price point would likely be well over $50 per module.
|
Maybe S@H could offer a moonbase part pack which would allow the fan to make
several connections. or one generic modules that could be easily connected
Alternatively the factory could include some base module parts as models
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On Fri, 23 Sep 2005, Kelly McKiernan wrote:
> The LEGO Ambassadors have been asked to provide some suggestions to the
> LEGO Shop at Home people about what types of things we AFOLs would like
> to see offered or available from S@H.
When I think of S@H specifically, I think of service packs. I generally
find the service pack selection from S@H to be bizarre. 10046? 10007?
10047? I suppose that there is some business case for those sets, but
some systemization and consistency would be nice.
For instance, in the 'basic element' category, I would have the
"perennial" sets: 10145 (bricks) and 10148 (plates) in the ten basic
colors (red, blue, yellow, black, white, green, gray (mdstone), dkgray
(dkstone), brown (redbrown), and tan); the three basplates; and slopes
(10160+10161+gables) in black. Then offer explicitly limited-run versions
of all of those in other colors (possibly even pre-selling) to get the
other colors (sandgreen, sandred, dkred, dkorange, orange, purple,
dkgreen, navyblue, etc.) out to consumers while not filling a wherehouse
with slow-moving bags.
In the "specialized element" category, perennials would include the
sorely-missed 3507 (and perhaps other colors, most obviously smoke), train
track and accessories, tile packs, Technic bricks and beams, electrical
elements, and "generic town stuff" (roadplates, fences, roadsigns(!!!),
windows). Limited-run items could include jumpers in various colors,
tiles in odd colors, minifig theme accessories, . . .
(Note that the following don't really, to me, seem to have anything to do
with S@H.)
> * What do you think LEGO would never do that you’d love to see?
A minifig WWII theme.
> * What types of products/themes/concepts do you think are missing from the
> assortment over the years?
Stability. Except for a few instances---Space 1978--1987, Castle
1984--1992, etc., consumers can't come to the stores and find sets similar
to those sold a year previously. (Bionicle comes closest today, but with
a completely new product line every six months and a new island every two
years it doesn't quite fit.) This doesn't matter to AFOLs, who have
already realized that all themes are spare parts for Castle. I cannot
think, however, of a more effective way of discouraging casual (especially
young) consumers from becoming fans of the Brick.
> * Are there things missing in general? On box? In the instructions? In the box
> materials?
In-set catalogs. My rant is already written.
http://news.lugnet.com/general/?n=50590
Thank you,
--
TWS Garrison
http://www.morfydd.net/twsg/
Remove capital letters in address for direct reply.
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In lugnet.general, Kelly McKiernan wrote:
| |
The LEGO Ambassadors have been asked to provide some suggestions to the LEGO
Shop at Home people about what types of things we AFOLs would like to see
offered or available from S@H. This is a good opportunity for you to make a
serious suggestion that will get passed on to those who are in charge of S@H.
Of course, this in no way guarantees that any of the suggestions will
necessarily bear fruit, but you never know until you suggest. I’ll collate
the results by the end of the weekend, although that doesn’t necessarily mean
later posts will be excluded.
This is a theoretical discussion, so there are no limitations on suggestions.
Of course, things like “free bricks for everyone” and other implausible
suggestions are likely to not make it through the review, if you get my
drift. But as far as topics go, this is a “sky’s the limit” discussion.
- What do you think LEGO would never do that you’d love to see?
|
I’d like to see detailed models of current production vehicles. We have the Enzo
Ferrari, but not everyone can afford a real Ferrari. Perhaps team up with
automakers when they launch new vehicles and launch a Lego version of it at the
same time. I don’t mean every new vehicle that is designed, but perhaps those
that are most popular. Chrysler 300C, Nissan Titan, Ford Mustang, Dodge Ram,
Hummer H1 (or at least H2) etc. come to mind.
I’d also like to see modern military sets. I know Lego has a stance against
this, but machines of war from centuries ago are no different than machines of
war today. Catapult vs. ICBM. Only thing different is one of them can go
farther in distance than the other.
| |
- What types of themes/concepts should LEGO stay away from?
- Are there any community projects/products (Moonbase? Great Ball?) that you’d like to see turn into a LEGO set?
- (And as a follow-up to the last question – are there any projects/products that LEGO should stay away from?)
- What types of products/themes/concepts do you think are missing from the assortment over the years?
|
| |
- Are there things missing in general? On box? In the instructions? In the box materials?
|
Colors in the instructions are hard to differentiate. Black and dark grey look
too much alike, as do some of the transparents. I think it should be switched
back to the old style. Also, I like how in the larger complex sets, there is a
quantity and picture of what elements are going to be used in that step. If
they would implement this throughout almost every set, I think it would be
easier for new and younger users to build.
Scott
Member 718
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Thanks for your contribution!
Kelly McKiernan
LEGO Ambassador
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"Kelly McKiernan" <kelly@anagrafyxx.com> wrote in message
news:In950L.H11@lugnet.com...
> This is a theoretical discussion, so there are no limitations on
> suggestions. Of
> course, things like "free bricks for everyone" and other implausible
> suggestions
> are likely to not make it through the review, if you get my drift. But as
> far as
> topics go, this is a "sky's the limit" discussion.
Wow! And here I was thinking that somebody would never ask this kind of
question! Guess I was wrong! ;)
> * What do you think LEGO would never do that you'd love to see?
Bring back elements that are out of production which they don't have the
molds for. I'd love to see a retooled monorail track version, perhaps they
could make a better track system for it while they're retooling it. They
may want to reconsider bringing back the LEGO Legends line. Particularly of
interest would be whether they could do a Classic Space set, or perhaps they
would be better off seeing if they could package a set of elements that
would build a lot of Classic Space type vehicles, as quite a few of them
were quite small by today's standards. I'd like to see a return to simpler
printed patterns which have the older computers and monitor screens on them,
and of course some simple good old radiator grille bricks for the space
fans. I would like to see them go and do Classic Space in new colors and
themes, and not just revisit M-Tron, etc.
> * What types of themes/concepts should LEGO stay away from?
Anything death and destruction, IE wars - much as they are currently doing
now. I've read that a lot of people from WW2 would just like to forget it
ever happened and not see anything like it in their lifetimes again. I
honestly agree with their POV.
> * Are there any community projects/products (Moonbase? Great Ball?) that
> you'd
> like to see turn into a LEGO set?
It would be lovely to see some sets geared towards easier production of GBC
modules, a large problem though is that to get a lot of modules you need a
lot of bricks, and a lot of designs - say at least 6-8 different kit types
to start with.
Some GBC contraptions can use up large numbers of bricks especially if there
is going to be more than one way through a module, or if the module wants to
do anything fancy with the balls it receives. I would recommend that they
investigate changing part quantities of existing sets (RIS, Technic part
packs, etc) to be better suited to GBC style contraptions. I would
especially recommend that they continue molding of and releasing more larger
packs with Technic link tread elements in them. ;-)
> * (And as a follow-up to the last question - are there any
> projects/products
> that LEGO should stay away from?)
Mostly anything that would cause injury to small children who might try to
aim LEGO parts at their friends/relatives. Other than that, they should
stay away from BURP parts and juniorized pieces, as they are really hard to
integrate into most MOCs.
> * What types of products/themes/concepts do you think are missing from the
> assortment over the years?
I'd like to see them expand with the Educational elements they have bought
over to the retail line from the Educational sets, and perhaps even release
some elements usually only in the educational line into the RIS or Technic
systems.
I am also really missing seeing a town lineup, they did have a really good
town building assortment a while back, but what puzzles me is why they
didn't adapt some of their bulk element packs to this idea and keep the
concept alive - I'd sure like for some of my minifigs to have homes to go
back to, instead of a cramped cardboard box or plastic bag!
I could probably scrape together parts myself, but a high-rise building with
modular flooring concepts would be an exceptional idea!
> * Are there things missing in general? On box? In the instructions? In the
> box
> materials?
One thing I really miss seeing are alternate model concepts for the models
on the box! And for once I'd like to see them put instructions for
alternate models into the instruction booklet itself, where practical. They
could even release alternate model instruction sets as a web-based concept
and host an archive somewhere so nobody needs to feel left out of finding
the joys of an alternate model idea.
> Thanks for your contribution!
You're welcome, hope this gives them some ideas!
--
Cheers ...
Geoffrey Hyde
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In lugnet.general, Kelly McKiernan wrote:
| |
- What do you think LEGO would never do that you’d love to see?
|
Bulk packs of light grey (bley) 2x2 tiles (and more of the earth tone colors as
tiles)
If they can do black, red & white, why not light grey (bley)? All these
magnificent train layouts, virtually flawless (IMO) with one exception: white
tiled sidewalks.
I have confidence that a run of bags of 100 2x2 light bley tiles would sell very
quickly.
Also, the bulk section in general: Thin offerings of late. (I know PAB exists,
but it isn’t accessable to all, and it really doesn’t offer much beyond the core
colors/elements.)
Dark red, Dark tan, Dark green, Dark orange: bulk packs of plates, tiles &
bricks would be fantastic.
Thanks very much for opening the door and asking for input.
Jonathan
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In lugnet.general, Kelly McKiernan wrote:
| |
- What do you think LEGO would never do that you’d love to see?
|
-An animal accessory pack(s). Something like a zoo builder with each one having
an assortment of animals in standard and new colors with perhaps some new
animals. Maybe on for each continent. NA: brown bear, black bear, tan owl,
lightgrey wolf/dog, skunk (black cat with white stripe), puma (new mold),
brown snake, etc. SA: yellow snake, black panther (same mold as puma), teal
bird, spider, black monkey, etc. AF: elephant, lions (same mold as puma,
male would need a “hair” piece), cheetah (same as puma), zebra (horse),
brown monkey, etc. AU: kangaroo (don’t know how they could pull of this
first three), koala bear, emu, white bird, tasmanian devil (dog), etc. And
so on. There should also include amphibious and water animals. I would
think 20+ animals for each pack would be nice. Maybe even by animal type
instead of by continent, creepy critters (snakes, rats, spiders, scorpions,
frogs, bats), big predators (bears, many of the new big cat mold in various
patterns, wolf, etc), sea creatures (sharks, dolphin, star fish, crabs,
clams, octopus, rays, fish of some kind a new mold maybe), birds (owls,
falcon, tropical birds, eagle/hawk (new mold), gulls (new mold), etc). You
get the point I think. I must stress though that these must have variety.
We don’t need more and more black scorpions, bats and snakes. We need
variety in colors or at least printed patterns for things like tigers, panda
bears, tropical birds and so on.
-Minifig accessories. I loved building things as a child but I was always
jealous at the great accessories my sisters barbies had. Everthing
from food, bowls, hats, furniture and more that I didn’t have in LEGO.
Some more variety in this area would be great. A food pack with
chicken legs, a turkey, sausages, ice cream, cherries, bananas, apples,
bread and everything else LEGO has made for food. I loved the town
hat/hair pack. Maybe a new pack every couple of years with new hair
types and new colors. I would like to see the pigtails return in
brown, or the long braided hair in grey or tan. It is all about
variety.
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- What types of themes/concepts should LEGO stay away from?
|
-Post 1900’s military, flesh colored minifigures (let everyone be bright
unrealistic yellow and equal), sports!!!!!
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- Are there any community projects/products (Moonbase? Great Ball?) that you’d like to see turn into a LEGO set?
|
-Vigs, small $3-5 set on a 8x8 plate that has a few figures and expresses a
specific scene. It would be great to have a master model that all of
them can combine into. Like having nine of them to form a large square
that was the whole picture where as each vig is just a part. These would
have to be detailed and eye catching.
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- (And as a follow-up to the last question – are there any projects/products that LEGO should stay away from?)
|
-As much as I like other projects costs can be prohibitive. Most things near
the $100+ range should not be made. Though something like a globe or really
nice large set would be nice in moderation.
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- What types of products/themes/concepts do you think are missing from the assortment over the years?
|
-Minfigure packs for all themes. Large Minifigure packs for all themes but
town.
-Accessory packs, ninja, rock raiders, harry potter, star wars, and many others
never got one. Older castle, pirates, space, and town had them but
they didn’t continue with them. Life on mars and spaceport had one
but they were wierd, not as good as the previous standards.
-Mythology series. Greek, egyptian, indian, norse, chinese, native american,
british would all be great as a series.
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- Are there things missing in general? On box? In the instructions? In the box materials?
|
Boxes are looking better than ever. I do miss the little cardboard tray that
used to be in sets. It made building much easier. It would be nice to have the
alternate model ideas always in the instructions as many people do not keep the
boxes.
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Thanks for your contribution!
|
No, thank you! I tried to be brief but when the sky is the limit, whew!
-Dan
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In lugnet.general, Dan Thompson wrote:
| |
In lugnet.general, Kelly McKiernan wrote:
| |
- What do you think LEGO would never do that you’d love to see?
|
-An animal accessory pack(s). Something like a zoo builder with each one
having an assortment of animals in standard and new colors with perhaps
some new animals. Maybe on for each continent. NA: brown bear, black
bear, tan owl, lightgrey wolf/dog, skunk (black cat with white stripe),
puma (new mold), brown snake, etc. SA: yellow snake, black panther (same
mold as puma), teal bird, spider, black monkey, etc. AF: elephant, lions
(same mold as puma, male would need a “hair” piece), cheetah (same as
puma), zebra (horse), brown monkey, etc. AU: kangaroo (don’t know how
they could pull of this first three), koala bear, emu, white bird,
tasmanian devil (dog), etc. And so on. There should also include
amphibious and water animals. I would think 20+ animals for each pack
would be nice. Maybe even by animal type instead of by continent, creepy
critters (snakes, rats, spiders, scorpions, frogs, bats), big predators
(bears, many of the new big cat mold in various patterns, wolf, etc), sea
creatures (sharks, dolphin, star fish, crabs, clams, octopus, rays, fish
of some kind a new mold maybe), birds (owls, falcon, tropical birds,
eagle/hawk (new mold), gulls (new mold), etc). You get the point I
think. I must stress though that these must have variety. We don’t need
more and more black scorpions, bats and snakes. We need variety in
colors or at least printed patterns for things like tigers, panda bears,
tropical birds and so on.
-Minifig accessories. I loved building things as a child but I was always
jealous at the great accessories my sisters barbies had. Everthing
from food, bowls, hats, furniture and more that I didn’t have in
LEGO. Some more variety in this area would be great. A food pack
with chicken legs, a turkey, sausages, ice cream, cherries, bananas,
apples, bread and everything else LEGO has made for food. I loved
the town hat/hair pack. Maybe a new pack every couple of years with
new hair types and new colors. I would like to see the pigtails
return in brown, or the long braided hair in grey or tan. It is all
about variety.
|
I have to say, I think these are excellent suggestions. I like the LEGO animals
I have, but it’s an odd assortment. If i were to build a zoo, there would be an
elephant, a pair of polar bears, about 50 brown monkeys, and a huge herd of
horses. Other than an arctic base, a zoo, or an minifig reenactment of “Lost”,
the polar bear is little hard to use :)
In addition to wild animals, it would be nice to have pets (dogs and cats of
various colors) and farm animals available (especially a new mold for cows to
complement the horses).
Andy
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In lugnet.general, Kelly McKiernan wrote:
| |
- What do you think LEGO would never do that you’d love to see?
|
I would love to see Lego develop a true bulk parts mail order system.
Currently, certain lucky AFOLs can go to nearby Lego stores or parks and visit
the “Pick a Brick” section to buy bulk parts. I would love to see this expanded
to a large scale mail order system. A large warehouse would house ALL currently
produced parts in all available colors. Orders taken from an online catalog
would go to this warehouse and would be subsequently filled and shipped.
| |
- What types of products/themes/concepts do you think are missing from the assortment over the years?
|
The bulk brick or parts packs section of Shop at Home should be greatly expanded
in several ways.
One thing I would like to see is bulk packs of newly created parts. Many a time
I get a new set with a new part inside and wish I could have about 30 more of
this part to add to my collection.
I would like to see a permanent addition to Shop at Home: consumables. I think
anything that is consumed to make a Lego set, such as pneumatic tubing, string,
rubber bands, and most importantly, STICKERS, should be made available for
purchase online at any time.
Since I have mentioned stickers, I would like to suggest putting 2 sheets or
sets of stickers in each Lego set that uses them. Then it would be possible to
build the set with stickers attached and later disassemble the set knowing you
have a spare set of stickers to re-build the set at a later time.
One small item, that I know Lego just recently produced a LOT of, that I would
like to see as a REASONABLY PRICED bulk item is the technic caterpillar tread
link. Anybody who purchased the Lego Star Wars sandcrawler knows Lego has been
churning out a huge pile of this element. A parts pack of this would be nice.
Here is a mini-fig scale theme I think Lego should pursue (when I say “pursue” I
mean over the course of several years like the classic themes space, castle, and
town.): Lego Farm. This theme would be a generic theme (no licensed products)
and would consist of many sets over many years. The possibilities of this theme
could be limitless. Imagine tractors of all sizes, colors, and types, from
large 4-wheel-drive monsters to small lawn mowers. Imagine numerous implement
sets sized to fit any of the afore mentioned tractors. Imagine farm houses,
barns, workshops, animals, trucks, combines … the list goes on and on!
Daniel
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| |
|
"Daniel Wayne Poole" <dwpoole@conninc.com> wrote in message
news:In9v5E.1y5F@lugnet.com...
> In lugnet.general, Kelly McKiernan wrote:
>
> > * What do you think LEGO would never do that you'd love to see?
>
> I would love to see Lego develop a true bulk parts mail order system.
> Currently, certain lucky AFOLs can go to nearby Lego stores or parks and
> visit
> the "Pick a Brick" section to buy bulk parts. I would love to see this
> expanded
> to a large scale mail order system. A large warehouse would house ALL
> currently
> produced parts in all available colors. Orders taken from an online
> catalog
> would go to this warehouse and would be subsequently filled and shipped.
They'd have to limit the quantity one person could order at a time to a
small percentage of the total bulk stock, or they'd wind up with complaints
that popular items are selling out too quickly.
> > * What types of products/themes/concepts do you think are missing from
> > the
> > assortment over the years?
>
> The bulk brick or parts packs section of Shop at Home should be greatly
> expanded
> in several ways.
>
> One thing I would like to see is bulk packs of newly created parts. Many
> a time
> I get a new set with a new part inside and wish I could have about 30 more
> of
> this part to add to my collection.
I don't know what it costs to mold them, but I'd *love* to see bulk-packs of
10 pneumatic cylinders, 10 switches (new style), T-joiners, etc.
> I would like to see a permanent addition to Shop at Home: consumables. I
> think
> anything that is consumed to make a Lego set, such as pneumatic tubing,
> string,
> rubber bands, and most importantly, STICKERS, should be made available for
> purchase online at any time.
I'd like to see a feature where you can specify the hose color (from
available palettes)length you want and it will automatically custom-cut it
to length for you. I'd also like to see 1-metre, 3-metre, and 5-metre rolls
of pneumatic flexible hose in all colors available for production, including
clear. I'd also like to see the stiffer tubing available in lengths up to
30L, if it's practical for LEGO to do so.
> One small item, that I know Lego just recently produced a LOT of, that I
> would
> like to see as a REASONABLY PRICED bulk item is the technic caterpillar
> tread
> link. Anybody who purchased the Lego Star Wars sandcrawler knows Lego has
> been
> churning out a huge pile of this element. A parts pack of this would be
> nice.
This would be radical, but how about investigating some alternate colors for
it? Silver/metallic chrome (are these even available in pellet form?)
maybe? For more realistic excavator treads, as excavators rarely have black
treads on them.
Also would like to suggest they keep up the supply of Technic link chain -
no realistic GBC can go without it to lengthen the distance betweeen
treads!!
> Here is a mini-fig scale theme I think Lego should pursue (when I say
> "pursue" I
> mean over the course of several years like the classic themes space,
> castle, and
> town.): Lego Farm. This theme would be a generic theme (no licensed
> products)
> and would consist of many sets over many years. The possibilities of this
> theme
> could be limitless. Imagine tractors of all sizes, colors, and types,
> from
> large 4-wheel-drive monsters to small lawn mowers. Imagine numerous
> implement
> sets sized to fit any of the afore mentioned tractors. Imagine farm
> houses,
> barns, workshops, animals, trucks, combines . the list goes on and on!
Hmmm - I wonder if they can be persuaded to make a R/C version of the
lawnmower one so I don't have to get someone in to cut the wilderness we
call the lawn around here? *grins*
--
Cheers ...
Geoffrey Hyde
| | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |
The ability to specify LEGO to ‘ship complete order’, instead of sending me
stuff in multiple shipments.
I’ve had orders where part of the order was shipped right away, and part of the
order was back-ordered - so it was shipped later. And, because I had spent over
‘n’ dollars, I got a freebie -- which was shipped separately from the other two!
Why spend to pack and ship three boxes, when I would have been perfectly happy
to wait for everything to arrive in one box?
| | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |
| |
|
"John Gerlach" <gmltc_j1@nospam.yahoo.com> wrote in message
news:In9v6o.1ytG@lugnet.com...
> The ability to specify LEGO to 'ship complete order', instead of sending
> me
> stuff in multiple shipments.
>
> I've had orders where part of the order was shipped right away, and part
> of the
> order was back-ordered - so it was shipped later. And, because I had
> spent over
> 'n' dollars, I got a freebie -- which was shipped separately from the
> other two!
>
> Why spend to pack and ship three boxes, when I would have been perfectly
> happy
> to wait for everything to arrive in one box?
Actually, it means a logistical quandary for LEGO - where do they store your
order while waiting for the rest of it to arrive or be manufactured, and if
they've already got part of it anyway, why woudn't you want it right away?
A lot of places don't have a very large shipping department, this is because
they don't want to spend money maintaining a vast and mostly empty space.
I do agree though that they could save money and pack the freebie with the
second box. ;)
--
Cheers ...
Geoffrey Hyde
| | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |
I second this.
In lugnet.general, John Gerlach wrote:
| |
The ability to specify LEGO to ‘ship complete order’, instead of sending me
stuff in multiple shipments.
I’ve had orders where part of the order was shipped right away, and part of
the order was back-ordered - so it was shipped later. And, because I had
spent over ‘n’ dollars, I got a freebie -- which was shipped separately from
the other two!
Why spend to pack and ship three boxes, when I would have been perfectly
happy to wait for everything to arrive in one box?
|
| | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |
| |
|
**Real** bulk ordering.
- Keeping the basic colors and sizes available ALL the time (last time I
looked, I couldn't buy white 1x4's any more!)
- A full range of sizes of bricks, plates, slopes and tiles in all the
basic colors
- A price point cmparable with other sources eg PAB or Brcklink (even if it
only gets there when you order above a certain quantity)
Improvements to Factory
- being able to order more than 1 factory item, in qty more than one
- a full pallette of bricks to build from
- improving the brick picking method so that a 100 piece set doesn't come
with 1000 extras - with a price to match!
- file conversion from LDraw format to LDD format, (so we don't have to use
LDD at all, ideally)
Packaging for shipping / Catalogs
- better padding than a piece of crumpled up brown paper!
- a catalog in every package (I used to give my extras away to interested
kids, but they have been very sparse recently)
- More frequent Canadian catalogs (just matching the US frequency would be
fine!)
Thanks for asking!
Kevin
| | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |
In lugnet.general, Kevin Wilson wrote:
> - file conversion from LDraw format to LDD format, (so we don't have to use
> LDD at all, ideally)
Good one Kevin! I will Paypal ten bucks to the first person who comes up with a
way to do this.
Apologies to the authors, but LDD has one of the worst and most frustrating
interfaces of any 3D assembly/drawing/modeling program I've ever seen (and I've
seen many). Heck, TLG should have just endorsed LDraw as the official way to
build for this, since they don't charge for LDD anyway.
.Steve Coallier
"Attack life, it's going to kill you anyway!"
| | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |
In lugnet.general, Steven Coallier wrote:
> In lugnet.general, Kevin Wilson wrote:
>
> > - file conversion from LDraw format to LDD format, (so we don't have to use
> > LDD at all, ideally)
>
>
> Good one Kevin! I will Paypal ten bucks to the first person who comes up with a
> way to do this.
We're going to work on this with LEGO.
> Apologies to the authors, but LDD has one of the worst and most frustrating
> interfaces of any 3D assembly/drawing/modeling program I've ever seen (and I've
> seen many). Heck, TLG should have just endorsed LDraw as the official way to
> build for this, since they don't charge for LDD anyway.
I disagree. For the same reason LUGNET should stay independant from LEGO, so
should LDraw. I don't want corporate suits telling us how to run our project.
-Orion
| | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |
In lugnet.general, Orion Pobursky wrote:
> In lugnet.general, Steven Coallier wrote:
> > Heck, TLG should have just endorsed LDraw as the official way to
> > build for this, since they don't charge for LDD anyway.
>
> I disagree. For the same reason LUGNET should stay independant from LEGO, so
> should LDraw. I don't want corporate suits telling us how to run our project.
I agree with your sentiment.
OTOH, I wouldn't have any problem with LEGO using LDraw tools in place of/as
well as LDD. Especially if they'd contribute to the parts library...
Steve
| | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |
In lugnet.general, Orion Pobursky wrote:
> I disagree. For the same reason LUGNET should stay independant from LEGO, so
> should LDraw. I don't want corporate suits telling us how to run our project.
>
> -Orion
EXTREMELY valid point. I wouldn't want that either...I was thinking of a
one-way relationship. The only thing TLG could do, perhaps, is supply new .DATs
for new parts.
.Steve
| | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |
| |
|
In lugnet.general, Kevin Wilson wrote:
> **Real** bulk ordering.
People on Lugnet always ask for **Real** bulk. But, I don't think there would
be that much demand for huge bulk quantities even on a worldwide level. Sure,
there are some people that would buy several units at 5,000 parts each for
example, but on the grand scale I am sure sales of true bulk would be dismal.
How many kids want to buy 1,000 white 1x4 bricks and nothing else? Remember
that to most kids, even 100 of the same brick is an enormous amount.
If an item is available in a typical bulk pack with quantity = 25 or 50 there is
no reason people cannot purchase 1,000 units if they want. Sure, that's a lot
of hassle and packaging to deal with, but the option would exist.
Face it, it is easier to sell huge numbers of low-quantity parts packs than it
would be to sell as true bulk.
In my opinion, if LEGO came out with true bulk, I would consider them a bunch of
damn fools. It just seems like financial suicide.
If true bulk did exist, sure I would drool over 5,000 count units of 2x4 bricks,
but I doubt I would buy more than two or three units. Price would be
prohibitive, probably, and then I would have to deal with the huge quantities of
stuff all at once. I think I prefer the option to buy in smaller quantities
with the knowledge that I can still purchase 5,000 or 50,000 pieces if and when
I am ready to do that.
____
| | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |
"Kevin Salm" <kdsalm@dreamscape.com> wrote in message
news:InB4Mz.MyH@lugnet.com...
> In lugnet.general, Kevin Wilson wrote:
> > **Real** bulk ordering.
>
> People on Lugnet always ask for **Real** bulk. But, I don't think there
> would
> be that much demand for huge bulk quantities even on a worldwide level.
> Sure,
<snip>
This was in reply to a "tell us your wish list, no matter how far-fetched"
post, you know Kevin. I'll let LEGO decide whether they could do it and how,
"real bulk" to me, doesn't mean packs of 5000 pieces. It means you can buy
as many as you want of a specific piece (weighed out, perhaps, instead of
pre-packed) for a decent price from a decent selection. Parts packs with
multiple different pieces in, some of which I need and some I don't, are not
bulk. A color selection (in the latest CN S@H catalog) which consists only
of black and brown (current available 2x2's), or green (1x4's), or
transparent (1x2's) is not bulk.
Kevin
| | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |
| |
|
In lugnet.general, Kevin Wilson wrote:
> "Kevin Salm" <kdsalm@dreamscape.com> wrote in message
> news:InB4Mz.MyH@lugnet.com...
> > In lugnet.general, Kevin Wilson wrote:
> > > **Real** bulk ordering.
> >
> > People on Lugnet always ask for **Real** bulk. But, I don't think there
> > would
> > be that much demand for huge bulk quantities even on a worldwide level.
> > Sure,
>
> <snip>
>
> This was in reply to a "tell us your wish list, no matter how far-fetched"
> post, you know Kevin. I'll let LEGO decide whether they could do it and how,
Kevin, you are correct. I guess I missed the part in the original message about
"the sky's the limit" and I should not have stomped on your suggestion in any
case. And you are also correct that it is up to LEGO to decide if and how, not
me, regarding bulk product offerings (or any product offerings).
And you are also right that today's offerings of bulk packs leave a lot to be
desired, both in part and color selection. I guess that means things can only
improve -- or at least we can all hope.
____
| | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |
| |
- What types of themes/concepts should LEGO stay away from?
|
I appreciate that LEGO stays away from warfare that is based on 20th century
technology. Warfare/Violent based themes, e.g. castle, ninja, pirates that are
pre-20th Century still seem okay.
Things to add/change:
- new track geometries
- bulk bags of basic bricks should have a more complete selection. I would like to see individual bags of the following types of pieces: Plates: 1x1, x2, x3, x4, x6, x8 2x2, x2 Corner (L), x3, x4, x6, x8, x10, x16
Bricks:
1x1, x2, x3, x4, x6, x8, x10
2x2, x2 Corner (L), x3, x4
I would much rather buy a bag of X of Piece Y than to buy the assortment bags
that in the end give me more pieces than I will ever use. I know what I am
building and what pieces I need; the assortment bags just don’t fill that need.
- Offer the bulk packs from DACTO on S&H. Its a nuisance to have to go to two different places to get different elements produced by the same company.
- Pick a standard set of wheels. It seems that with each new theme or set the wheel geometry is different. The downside is that if you buy a single set and get 4 wheels the same; in the future if you like would like to build something that takes advantage of those specific wheels your options are limited because
I don’t mind changing the wheels - but do we really need a different set of
wheels for each model of the same style or scale?
- Related to wheels - work on a decent suspension system. I actually thought the suspension developed for the 8880 Super Car was really good. But again, like the wheels, it was a one-of. If you come up with a decent suspension system, use it and exploit it.
It just seems like there is a lot of churn in the product offering just for the
sake of churn. I would be more selective about what parts of the product
offering are churned. The beauty of LEGO is that given an appropriate set of
starting building blocks, you should be able to build whatever you want. Why do
some things like wheels need to be reinvented ( pun intended ) for each new
model that comes along. Auto makers don’t do this - why does LEGO?
Churn the output ( the finished model ) not the input ( the elements ). I think
LEGO is starting to get this with the Designer Sets.
- I would like to see the Model Team theme brought back - but maybe with a slightly larger scale, e.g. Miniland scale. Also, some models using the 1:13 scale with the X-Large Technic Wheels would be sweet.
| | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |
| |
|
In lugnet.general, Kelly McKiernan wrote:
> The LEGO Ambassadors have been asked to provide some suggestions to the LEGO
> Shop at Home people about what types of things we AFOLs would like to see
> offered or available from S@H. This is a good opportunity for you to make a
> serious suggestion that will get passed on to those who are in charge of S@H.
> Of course, this in no way guarantees that any of the suggestions will
> necessarily bear fruit, but you never know until you suggest. I'll collate
> the results by the end of the weekend, although that doesn't necessarily mean
> later posts will be excluded.
>
> This is a theoretical discussion, so there are no limitations on suggestions.
> Of course, things like "free bricks for everyone" and other implausible
> suggestions are likely to not make it through the review, if you get my
> drift. But as far as topics go, this is a "sky's the limit" discussion.
Lots of good ideas already!
> * What do you think LEGO would never do that you’d love to see?
I'd like to see a "Roaring 20's" town theme:
Steam locomotive train set (both passenger and freight)
"Model A" style vehicles
Corner Drugstore with soda fountain
Gas station w/ 1920's style gas pumps
Victorian-style house
Town square with park benches, central fountain, push-carts selling stuff
I'd also like to see better track geometry, especially switches. And maybe a
~30° crossover.
The farm theme idea proposed elsewhere in this thread is also an excellent idea.
I've been wanting that one since I was a kid!
> * What types of themes/concepts should LEGO stay away from?
Anything that doesn't involve the basic brick
> * Are there any community projects/products (Moonbase? Great Ball?) that
> you’d like to see turn into a LEGO set?
BBB train wheels
> * (And as a follow-up to the last question – are there any projects/products
> that LEGO should stay away from?)
Bonktron. :-)
> * What types of products/themes/concepts do you think are missing from the
> assortment over the years?
I too would like to see bulk backs of light grey tiles.
> * Are there things missing in general? On box? In the instructions? In the
> box materials?
I too miss the alternate models on the boxes, and the in-box catalogs.
> Thanks for your contribution!
Thanks for asking!
> {Kelly McKiernan¬
> LEGO Ambassador}
--
Brian Bacher
Lugnet Member #399
| | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |
| |
- What do you think LEGO would never do that you’d love to see?
|
- LEGO/The Sims sets: Minifigs and expandable homebuilding sets, including road baseplates.
- Bring back the classic greys.
- REALLY let customers buy whichever bricks they like. The choice of availability at S&H (and PAB, for that matter) is very puzzling. Who actually thinks it’s a useful assortment? Come up with a system to pool pre-orders or limit it to sufficient bulk so that it makes sense financially.
- Bring back Mosaic but make it larger/expandable.
| |
- What types of themes/concepts should LEGO stay away from?
|
Sets with too few parts (too many one-use parts)...LEGO is about building
things, let people build! Let the knockoff products go in that direction.
The people that answered “War/Violent Themes” crack me up: what the heck is star
wars about? Knights? Cowboys and Indians? Ninjas? LEGO is already there,
admit it.
| |
- Are there any community projects/products (Moonbase? Great Ball?) that you’d like to see turn into a LEGO set?
|
Brickquest...figuring out how to make this into a collectible/expandable play
set could be a great potential product line for Lego (like HeroClix, etc.)
| |
- (And as a follow-up to the last question – are there any projects/products that LEGO should stay away from?)
|
Sports. If LEGO fans want sports, they’ll go watch or play them. I think
(judging by clearance sale content) TLG has conclusively proven that
non-LEGO-fan sports fans are not going to buy LEGO just because of a sports
theme...drop it and move on.
| |
- What types of products/themes/concepts do you think are missing from the assortment over the years?
|
- Architecture
- More Model Team (Realistic cars, planes, dioramas)
- Technic models that aren’t “skeletal”
- Look seriously at the “brick wish list” for new elements. Many would be great, and useful for LEGO to design their own stuff as much as it would for LEGO fans.
| |
- Are there things missing in general? On box? In the instructions? In the box materials?
|
I do agree with the other post about discerning the colors in the instructions.
Black vs. dark grey just doesn’t read!
.Steve Coallier
“Attack life, it’s going to kill you anyway!”
| | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |
In lugnet.general, Kelly McKiernan wrote:
| |
- What do you think LEGO would never do that you’d love to see?
|
1 pound color packs - simply one pound of any color, assorted and random.
| |
- What types of themes/concepts should LEGO stay away from?
|
Changing themes every 3 seconds. Bonktron.
| |
- Are there any community projects/products (Moonbase? Great Ball?) that you’d like to see turn into a LEGO set?
|
More house sets such as 4886, and in stores!
| |
- (And as a follow-up to the last question – are there any projects/products that LEGO should stay away from?)
|
Anything that’s too large and complicated.
| |
- What types of products/themes/concepts do you think are missing from the assortment over the years?
|
There is no town worth speaking of, and shipping is down. Pirates must return in
minifig size.
| |
- Are there things missing in general? On box? In the instructions? In the box materials?
|
There should be a theme exposition in each box, like in the 90s, showing all the
sets in that theme in a large setup.
| |
Thanks for your contribution!
Kelly McKiernan
LEGO Ambassador
|
| | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |
In lugnet.general, Kelly McKiernan wrote:
| |
- What do you think LEGO would never do that you’d love to see?
|
Create and sell plans to the Miniland boats (!!) and land vehicles. Buildings
and freighters are too big, but the small boats and cars/trucks could be
analyzed and plans created. Espcially the sailboats and the Combine Harvester
| |
- What types of themes/concepts should LEGO stay away from?
|
Junior / +4 sets as the only representation of a theme (i.e. 2004 pirates)
| |
- Are there any community projects/products (Moonbase? Great Ball?) that you’d like to see turn into a LEGO set?
|
I don’t think Moonbase should become a theme of Lego, but I can see designing
sets compatible with it. I think that GBC is a fantastic concept for the
educational division, and I’d like to see plans made available.
I’d love to see “Minifig Museum of Modern Art” sets or even a contest - vig size
abstract works, as Ashley Glennon and Eric Brok have done
| |
- (And as a follow-up to the last question – are there any projects/products that LEGO should stay away from?)
|
20th century war.
| |
- What types of products/themes/concepts do you think are missing from the assortment over the years?
|
I agree with calls previouslky expressed for:
Lego Farm (though I’ve created one already)
Model Team (no skeletal vehicles! - 55xx series ROCKED)
Roaring 20s (though lots of the suggested ideas are available from GoB folks)
Ancient architecture (Greco-Roman-Byzantine)
Paul Sinasohn
LUGNET #115
BAYLUG / BAYLTC
| | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |
In lugnet.general, Paul Sinasohn wrote:
| |
In lugnet.general, Kelly McKiernan wrote:
| |
- What do you think LEGO would never do that you’d love to see?
|
|
Adding to my own post -
I think a series of casino sets would be great, similar to what Tim did for
Brickswest 2003. But they’d never do that.Of course, there WAS the Paradisa fun
faire, with a wheel of furtune thing....but think of the options:
Roulette table/wheel. Slot machines - all sizes. craps table. Big Spin wheel.
Fan Tan tables. 21 tables. Wall of TVs for Keno / betting room.
| |
| |
- What types of products/themes/concepts do you think are missing from the assortment over the years?
|
|
I’ll add a circus / amusement park theme - probably Model Team or Technic
complexity (a WORKING carousel) but minifig sized. I know that carousels have
been done, but...
Paul Sinasohn
LUGNET #115
BAYLUG / BAYLTC
| | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |
| |
- Are there things missing in general?
|
Foliage
http://www.bricklink.com/catalogItem.asp?P=2423
http://www.bricklink.com/catalogItem.asp?P=2417
These parts should be among the most common, as they can be used in nearly every
single theme. I can not for the life of me figure out why they are rare to the
point it is impossible for most people to afford any usable quantity.
Of course my fantasy request would be to see them offered in fall and spring
colors as well as green.
| |
Thanks for your contribution!
|
Thanks for listening.
| |
Kelly McKiernan
LEGO Ambassador
|
-Mike Petrucelli
| | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |
| |
|
Jake has mentioned that old greys would be scattered here and there in
sets. I'd like to see a S@H "grab bag" of misc grey parts, available at
a price point equal to the buckets.
That I'll never see ;-)
Kelly McKiernan wrote:
> The LEGO Ambassadors have been asked to provide some suggestions to the LEGO
> Shop at Home people about what types of things we AFOLs would like to see
> offered or available from S@H. This is a good opportunity for you to make a
> serious suggestion that will get passed on to those who are in charge of S@H. Of
> course, this in no way guarantees that any of the suggestions will necessarily
> bear fruit, but you never know until you suggest. I'll collate the results by
> the end of the weekend, although that doesn't necessarily mean later posts will
> be excluded.
>
> This is a theoretical discussion, so there are no limitations on suggestions. Of
> course, things like "free bricks for everyone" and other implausible suggestions
> are likely to not make it through the review, if you get my drift. But as far as
> topics go, this is a "sky's the limit" discussion.
>
> * What do you think LEGO would never do that you’d love to see?
--
Tom Stangl
*http://www.vfaq.com/
*DSM Visual FAQ home
*http://www.vfaq.net/
*Prius Visual FAQ Home
| | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |
"Tom Stangl, VFAQman" <talonts@vfaq.com> wrote in message
news:InAIAG.1LIF@lugnet.com...
> Jake has mentioned that old greys would be scattered here and there in
> sets. I'd like to see a S@H "grab bag" of misc grey parts, available at a
> price point equal to the buckets.
>
> That I'll never see ;-)
I think a lot of people would like it if LEGO would make available a bulk
light yellowish grey (old grey) parts pack. Like an earlier suggestion in
this thread, "assorted and random" would be the way to go.
--
Cheers ...
Geoffrey Hyde
| | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |
In lugnet.general, Kelly McKiernan wrote:
SNIP
| |
- What do you think LEGO would never do that you’d love to see?
|
1) LEGO Factory with a huge palette of parts and colors that lets you buy a
model exactly to the piece, without having to buy any extra pieces.
2) Mindstorms creations with realistic-looking details. An extreme example to
make my point: imagine RCX on the inside but UCS styling on the outside.
| |
- What types of themes/concepts should LEGO stay away from?
|
Anything with a lot of large, limited-use, special-purpose pieces. Occasional
special pieces are okay and could probably be justified.
| |
- Are there any community projects/products (Moonbase? Great Ball?) that you’d like to see turn into a LEGO set?
|
I already see LEGO Factory as having great potential to aid all community
projects in a general way without having it seem like TLG is trying to come in
and take control of a community endeavor.
... that is once LEGO Factory reaches it’s promise and we’re past the current
silliness of everything being either a $1000 set with 200 pieces or an
affordable set that’s nothing more than an alternate of a designer set we
already own (i.e. we’re drowning in a sea of red cars, blue planes, and white
houses with red roofs... )
| |
- (And as a follow-up to the last question – are there any projects/products that LEGO should stay away from?)
|
Sports.
| |
- What types of products/themes/concepts do you think are missing from the assortment over the years?
|
1) I’d love to see a line of miniland scale sets. Just some of the little
scenes you see in the display cases in the LEGO stores would be great. I seem
to recall one with a limo, stars, photographers, and a motorcycle cop, that I
think would make an awesome (and successful) set.
2) Sets that include full landscapes made out of bricks along with the
buildings. See many awesome examples here:
http://www.brickshelf.com/cgi-bin/gallery.cgi?m=hachi
3) UCS Non-Star-Wars (not that UCS Star Wars isn’t great, but why not stretch
the genre...)
| |
- Are there things missing in general? On box? In the instructions? In the box materials?
|
Instructions for alternate models would be great. I personally disagree with
the “if you give them instructions they won’t be inspired” sentiment. I think
it’s the opposite. When a kid sees a cool alternate on the box but can’t figure
out how it was done it just creates frustration (I experienced this a lot as a
kid...). If you include the instructions, then the kid can see how the parts
were cleverly used to create something cool from a limited parts selection. The
kid can then go and make other alternates out of his/her imagination. To not
include the alternate instructions implies that TLG is thinking “What’s on the
box is the only other cool thing that could be done with those pieces so we
better not let the cat out of the bag and spoil it for everybody.”
| |
Thanks for your contribution!
Kelly McKiernan
LEGO Ambassador
|
Thank you for this great opportunity to share our ideas!
-Paul
| | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |
In lugnet.general, Paul S. D’Urbano wrote:
snip
| |
| |
- What types of products/themes/concepts do you think are missing from the assortment over the years?
|
1) I’d love to see a line of miniland scale sets. Just some of the little
scenes you see in the display cases in the LEGO stores would be great. I
seem to recall one with a limo, stars, photographers, and a motorcycle cop,
that I think would make an awesome (and successful) set.
|
This was the second mention of miniland replicas as a suggestion. AWESOME idea.
Like a model at the park? Buy it in the Big Store or over S@H once you get
home.
I third the motion!
.Steve Coallier
“Attack life, it’s going to kill you anyway!”
| | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |
In lugnet.general, Kelly McKiernan wrote:
| |
The LEGO Ambassadors have been asked to provide some suggestions to the LEGO
Shop at Home people about what types of things we AFOLs would like to see
offered or available from S@H.
|
Great suggestions so far! I see trends happening, which I am more than happy to
report back to TLG (although my opinions won’t be reflected in the report).
After reading the comments so far, I don’t see quite as many “sets” or “themes”
suggestions as I’d anticipated. For example, think of how big a splash the ISD
set made - “LEGO would never build anything that big” indeed. What else do you
think would make a jaw-dropper set?
Here’s a sample suggestion -
“Battlestar
Galactica” (the new one). Regardless of what you think of the show, the ship
rocks, and rocks hard. I would love to see a 2.5-foot long Galactica, canted at
a rakish 35 degrees, sitting on my “big set” shelf.
So keep the comments coming, I’ll start collating responses by the end of the
weekend.
Thanks again,
Kelly
| | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |
Jaw Dropper Idea:
A 4000 piece castle set that includes:
30-40 minifigs
A big, four sided castle
A big dragon made up of lots of pieces (like one the animal sets currently out)
Ben
In lugnet.general, Kelly McKiernan wrote:
snip
| |
After reading the comments so far, I don’t see quite as many “sets” or
“themes” suggestions as I’d anticipated. For example, think of how big a
splash the ISD set made - “LEGO would never build anything that big” indeed.
What else do you think would make a jaw-dropper set? • snip
Kelly
|
| | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |
In lugnet.general, Ben Fleskes wrote:
| |
Jaw Dropper Idea:
A 4000 piece castle set that includes:
30-40 minifigs
A big, four sided castle
A big dragon made up of lots of pieces (like one the animal sets currently
out)
Ben
In lugnet.general, Kelly McKiernan wrote:
snip
| |
After reading the comments so far, I don’t see quite as many “sets” or
“themes” suggestions as I’d anticipated. For example, think of how big a
splash the ISD set made - “LEGO would never build anything that big” indeed.
What else do you think would make a jaw-dropper set? snip
Kelly
|
|
A really large castle set (4000 parts => >$200) but a coordinated set of castle
components (following the castle standard) would probably work. This could be
handled via slected models at the factory if appropriate part bags could be
available.
Also bulk packs of 10 or 20 minifigs from some theme like castle would be
great.
| | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |
In lugnet.general, Kelly McKiernan wrote:
| |
The LEGO Ambassadors have been asked to provide some suggestions to the LEGO
Shop at Home people about what types of things we AFOLs would like to see
offered or available from S@H.
* What do you think LEGO would never do that you’d love to see?
|
Globe model kit (18” - 24” diameter). Besides families puchasing these, I can
envision one in every elementary school classroom, probably being rebuilt each
year by the new class. It could even become an incentive for good behavior:
“Every student with good behavior today gets to add 5 pieces to the class LEGO
globe model”.
Color mosaics, including the capability for larger sizes with multiple
baseplates.
Sell the large store display mini figs to AFOLs.
| |
- What types of themes/concepts should LEGO stay away from?
|
Keep away from too much violence, and avoid dependance on licensed (movie)
themes.
| |
- Are there any community projects/products (Moonbase? Great Ball?) that you’d like to see turn into a LEGO set?
|
Lets reverse this idea. How about LEGO sets that can become a community project?
Envision mini fig scale model kits of 8-10 Washington DC landmarks. Each kit
would be fun to buy and build individually, but could also be combined into an
entire Washington DC layout. This concept could also work for other
cities/regions of the world.
| |
- (And as a follow-up to the last question – are there any projects/products that LEGO should stay away from?)
|
Adding mass produced Moonbase kits goes contrary to the appeal of unique
modules.
| |
- What types of products/themes/concepts do you think are missing from the assortment over the years?
|
Greater bulk part selection, particularly assorted bulk brick and plate packs in
less common colors (dark red, dark green, dark blue, etc.).
| |
- Are there things missing in general? On box? In the instructions? In the box materials?
|
Add the piece count to the cover of instruction books for reference, and protect
instructions and sticker sheets from damage when contents shift.
| |
Thanks for your contribution!
|
| | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |
In lugnet.general, John Cooper wrote:
| |
In lugnet.general, Kelly McKiernan wrote:
| |
The LEGO Ambassadors have been asked to provide some suggestions to the LEGO
Shop at Home people about what types of things we AFOLs would like to see
offered or available from S@H.
* What do you think LEGO would never do that you’d love to see?
|
Globe model kit (18” - 24” diameter). Besides families puchasing these, I can
envision one in every elementary school classroom, probably being rebuilt
each year by the new class.
|
What a great idea!!! I want one now!
JB
| | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |
In lugnet.general, John Barnes wrote:
| |
In lugnet.general, John Cooper wrote:
|
| |
| |
Globe model kit (18” - 24” diameter). Besides families puchasing these, I
can envision one in every elementary school classroom, probably being
rebuilt each year by the new class.
|
What a great idea!!! I want one now!
|
Why wait for TLG? Have
at it, compliments of Corey Sanders....
JOHN
| | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |
In lugnet.general, John Neal wrote:
| |
In lugnet.general, John Barnes wrote:
| |
In lugnet.general, John Cooper wrote:
|
| |
| |
Globe model kit (18” - 24” diameter). Besides families puchasing these, I
can envision one in every elementary school classroom, probably being
rebuilt each year by the new class.
|
What a great idea!!! I want one now!
|
Why wait for TLG? Have at it, compliments of Corey Sanders....
JOHN
|
Corey has many terrific models, including the globe. My hope for a S@H version
would include the use of plates to give better resolution to the continents, and
to refine the spherical shape. Something like the one in The Ultimate LEGO Book.
| | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |
In lugnet.general, Kelly McKiernan wrote:
| |
The LEGO Ambassadors have been asked to provide some suggestions to the LEGO
Shop at Home people about what types of things we AFOLs would like to see
offered or available from S@H. This is a good opportunity for you to make a
serious suggestion that will get passed on to those who are in charge of S@H.
Of course, this in no way guarantees that any of the suggestions will
necessarily bear fruit, but you never know until you suggest. I’ll collate
the results by the end of the weekend, although that doesn’t necessarily mean
later posts will be excluded.
|
I would like to be able to make my own order of bricks that I want from a
database. Not only the one that they offer.
| | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |
In lugnet.general, Kelly McKiernan wrote:
| |
- What do you think LEGO would never do that you’d love to see?
|
1) Bring back minifig packs for themes. I’m on my knees begging for this. What
was so wrong with 5 or 6 bucks for 4 or 5 pirates? I find it infuriating that
my KKII collection has more “named” good knights than mindless badies.
Seriously (I’ll use KKII as an example here), its great that a castle comes with
5 defenders and only 2 attackers, as long as theres a way to supplement either
side. The idea behind the town minifig packs that they have is great, but it
only appeals to town people. Any theme that they stick with for more than a
year should have at the very least a small minifig pack that is available (even
if only online).
2) Someone mentioned this already, but since we’re in a dream-state here, a
roleplaying or table top strategy game (especially one with useful collectible
elements) would rock. They’ve done random packs of things before (bionicle
masks), why not have random packs of weapons and equipment that served some
purpose in a game setting.
3) Of course, better bulk brick selection, but I think this point has been
beaten into the ground with this thread. :)
4) Strictly from a sales perspective, if they want a guaranteed bulk brick sale,
make tan slopes available (including corner slopes). Seriously, who, at one
point, hasn’t wanted to build the cliche pyramid. I know it’s overdone, but
come on, hands up. You know you have. Don’t lie.
| |
- What types of themes/concepts should LEGO stay away from?
|
Sports.
| |
- Are there any community projects/products (Moonbase? Great Ball?) that you’d like to see turn into a LEGO set?
|
Not really. Most community projects are great because they weren’t dreamed up
at LEGO.
| |
- (And as a follow-up to the last question – are there any projects/products that LEGO should stay away from?)
|
Things that aren’t based on the brick.
| |
- What types of products/themes/concepts do you think are missing from the assortment over the years?
|
More recently, a nice long lasting (non movie based) theme. Pirates, classic
castle, these were great for years because everything worked well together.
That doesn’t really exist anymore.
| |
- Are there things missing in general? On box? In the instructions? In the box materials?
|
Instructions do need to be a little clearer in regards to colors. It has
already been said, but dark gray and black are nearly impossible to tell apart.
| | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |
In lugnet.general, Kelly McKiernan wrote:
| |
The LEGO Ambassadors have been asked to provide some suggestions to the LEGO
Shop at Home people about what types of things we AFOLs would like to see
offered or available from S@H. This is a good opportunity for you to make a
serious suggestion that will get passed on to those who are in charge of S@H.
Of course, this in no way guarantees that any of the suggestions will
necessarily bear fruit, but you never know until you suggest. I’ll collate
the results by the end of the weekend, although that doesn’t necessarily mean
later posts will be excluded.
This is a theoretical discussion, so there are no limitations on suggestions.
Of course, things like “free bricks for everyone” and other implausible
suggestions are likely to not make it through the review, if you get my
drift. But as far as topics go, this is a “sky’s the limit” discussion.
- What do you think LEGO would never do that you’d love to see?
- What types of themes/concepts should LEGO stay away from?
- Are there any community projects/products (Moonbase? Great Ball?) that you’d like to see turn into a LEGO set?
- (And as a follow-up to the last question – are there any projects/products that LEGO should stay away from?)
- What types of products/themes/concepts do you think are missing from the assortment over the years?
- Are there things missing in general? On box? In the instructions? In the box materials?
Thanks for your contribution!
Kelly McKiernan
LEGO Ambassador
|
Probably the first an easiest suggestion i would have is pick a brick from s@h
then maybe copies of old and new plans for sale which would include a list of
needed components to complete the model the plans are for, ( this would increase
pick a brick sales). Then on the theme side maybe have a look at what sold well
in the 1980,s and see if lego can expand on these range’s. It may not be a huge
list but this would be simple for lego to do with minimal cost’s to get started.
michael dickinson
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In lugnet.general, Kelly McKiernan wrote:
| |
The LEGO Ambassadors have been asked to provide some suggestions...
|
| |
- What do you think LEGO would never do that you’d love to see?
|
a. I would like to see S@H sell grab bags of minifig parts.
b. I would like to see some “building big” idea books. How to build a life size
human head, for example. c. Speaking of idea books, a series of INEXPENSIVE
paperback idea books called “How to build your own LEGO...(Animals, buildings,
micro scenes, vehicles, robots, furniture, 3d sculptures, mosaics) would be well
received. d. Old grays...... blah blah blah.
| |
- What types of themes/concepts should LEGO stay away from?
|
I am not against any themes including military.
| |
- Are there any community projects/products (Moonbase? Great Ball?) that you’d like to see turn into a LEGO set?
|
No
| |
- (And as a follow-up to the last question – are there any projects/products that LEGO should stay away from?)
|
No
| |
- What types of products/themes/concepts do you think are missing from the assortment over the years?
|
I always answer Vikings to that, but now, they are almost here!
With the Viking sets, they need more castle era buildings to raid. They can’t
always be fighting dragons.
I would like to see more town sets with minifigs in stores.
Minifig packs are no longer sold.
Service packs are hard to find.
| |
- Are there things missing in general? On box? In the instructions? In the box materials?
|
I have never bought a set with missing parts. Lego has a perfect record with me.
| | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |
Hi there,
In lugnet.general, Kelly McKiernan wrote:
| |
The LEGO Ambassadors have been asked to provide some suggestions to the LEGO
Shop at Home people about what types of things we AFOLs would like to see
offered or available from S@H.
|
I was delighted to see this posting this morning. But I wanted to think about
my response for a bit to make sure it didn’t just end up as jibberish. :)
One thing did cross my mind. From the description above I wasn’t sure if
you/they were just looking for things that Shop At Home could
change/improve/offer exclusive of anything else going on in the company or
whether this was a discussion of things that LEGO itself might produce that
would then be offered via Shop At Home. So an example of the first thing might
be for Shop At Home to begin using different packaging to ship orders. That’s
something they could possibly change without having to have it affect the rest
of the company. But an example of the latter would be something like LEGO
creating new sets/parts etc. that would then become Shop At Home items, but
possibly also available elsewhere, and thus affect the entire company. Maybe
I’m overthinking the question. LOL
Given what I’ve said above my answers below are based on the idea that these
things might be new products/parts etc. that LEGO could produce and that would
then be sold via Shop At Home. These are just ideas... not demands, not rants
and are not intended to suggest that anything already being offered is wrong.
This is just some brainstorming and offering of some, “what if....” thoughts.
I also wanted to note that some of the ideas below are not completely original,
in fact I think some may have already been mentioned in this thread. So by
posting them I don’t intend to claim them as my own, but rather this is simply
my interpretation of what I think might be good ideas. And in cases where there
is repeat, then it’s a way of saying, “yes, I also think that’s a great idea!”
So let me get on with it already. :)
| |
- What do you think LEGO would never do that you’d love to see?
|
Miniland scale sets. Obviously large buildings are out of the question, but
what about cars, figures, small street scenes etc? I find it interesting that
they are the core of the models at the theme parks but they don’t really find
their way into retail sets.
| |
- What types of themes/concepts should LEGO stay away from?
|
I’m not sure that any theme is necessarily bad, so long as it is family
friendly. However, when it comes to concepts there is one thing that comes to
my mind. Wherever possible, no matter the theme, try to tie sets back to the
basic system bricks, even if specialized parts are used to create the look/mood
of the set. What does this mean? For example, when I look at the Summer 2005
Shop At Home catalog and see the Dino Attack sets I think they look pretty cool.
Lots of action, lots of excitement. But I also look at the two page spread of
sets and see four different vehicles, but not a single building of any kind.
What about a base or headquarters for the Dino wranglers to work out of? That
building could be made from a bunch of common basic parts which would lend
themselves to being made into.... well you know, just about anything else. :)
A similar comment was made to me by a co-worker a while ago. She said,
“Michael loves Bionicles, but he wants a fort for them to live in.” It’s
great to see that we now have the Tower of Toa, so maybe there’s hope that
Shadow, Digger, Specs and Viper will yet have a shelter to retreat to when
the Dinos are just too much! :)
The LEGO system was originally based on regular bricks, slopes and eventually
plates. Those pieces are no less useful today than they were 50 years ago. And
while I don’t dispute the need to create some new elements to add excitement,
I also feel the need for common bricks is as great today as ever. One comment I
hear time and again from parents is, “my kids love LEGO but they just never have
enough of the regular pieces to make what they want.” So rather than simply
relying on assorted buckets and tubs to provide those bricks, why not maximize
their inclusion in themed sets?
| |
- Are there any community projects/products (Moonbase? Great Ball?) that you’d like to see turn into a LEGO set?
|
I think the full-sized moon base might be fun, but would the average kid be able
to afford very many modules? The mini (micro?) moon base on the other hand...
wouldn’t that be fun? That way you could build up a collection of several
different modules and really get to enjoy the concept of connecting them
together.
| |
- (And as a follow-up to the last question – are there any projects/products that LEGO should stay away from?)
|
Licensed products/themes. While one could well argue that the Star Wars and
Harry Potter sets have been highly visible and well-received items, it also pays
to listen to parents who simply say, “that’s so expensive compared to some of
their other stuff.” And I’ve heard those comments again and again. The LEGO
system of elements is so rich and so deep that endless unique and interesting
themes are possible without renting ideas from other creative people.
| |
- What types of products/themes/concepts do you think are missing from the assortment over the years?
- Are there things missing in general? On box? In the instructions? In the box materials?
|
Rather than answer the last two questions directly, I thought I’d post a list of
a few things I think might be worth thinking about.
Call this, “Back to Basics” if you like. I think the company has already
committed to that direction, so perhaps some of these items are already in the
pipe:
1. Basic elements (One): LEGO is recognized, to this day, for the basic
elements that were there from the beginning. Where possible, focus on basic
parts in standard/classic colors. I fell that making core elements (bricks,
plates and slopes) available in the core colors (red, blue, yellow, white,
black, green, orange, grey) should be a high priority. They could be available
as bulk packs, in assorted tubs and buckets, or as part of themed sets as noted
earlier. Specialized elements, used to create new and exciting sets, are fine.
But when a child is ready to build their own creations they need to have large
quantities of standard elements available. How many mothers and fathers have
wondered, “where can I just buy basic bricks for my child?”
2. Basic elements (Two): What if... you were to bring some rare classic
elements back to being common parts in the system? ex. 4x4 elbow brick, 2x2
macaroni brick, 1x1x1 window, 2x2 concave/convex slope.
3. Basic elements (Three): It might not hurt to think about creating new
classic elements, such as the 3x3 standard brick and 3x3 standard plate. Or, the
3x3 33-degree concave slope. Elements already released, like the new 4x4
macaroni brick, would fit into this category, but the key is that these elements
need to be produced in sufficient quantities so as to be highly available and
therefore useful all builders. The criteria for declaring a new piece to be a
new classic could be asking the question, “does this piece look like it could
have been released in 1958? If the answer is ‘yes’ then the piece is a classic
regardless of how new it is.
4. Basic elements (Four): There is really only one word I would keep in
mind when considering a new element. That word is ‘reusability’. Ask the
questions, “is this part necessary?” “Does this part offer several possible
uses, or is it too specialized?” “Does this part harmonize with the core
elements of the LEGO system, or is it change for the sake of change?” “If this
is a single part doing the job of two existing parts, then why are we making
this new part?”
5. Windows and doors: I think it might be time for a major overhaul of
windows and doors for two reasons. First, to bring the designs into the 21st
century. Second, to expand the sizes and shapes available to builders. Windows
available in the early days of the LEGO system offered a wide range of building
designs. Look at what was done before and simply offer more current designs but
in a similarly comprehensive range. And even though many kids today haven’t
known a world without microwave ovens, CD players, home computers and the
internet, they still like to make houses out of LEGO bricks. I’m convinced they
really do.
6. Wheels and Tires: Although not necessarily a core set of elements, wheels
and tires are none-the-less one of the things kids (and parents) often find
lacking in the LEGO system. As with windows and doors, maybe it’s time for a
complete revisit of this subset of parts. Standardization of sizes and shapes is
essential. That doesn’t mean that there can’t be design changes from year to
year, just that the overall specifications for these parts should remain limited
so as to enhance reusability. In other words, you should be able to find tires
from today that will fit wheels made years from now and vice versa. Wheeled
vehicles aren’t going away, so why not develop a long-term strategy to enhance
ability of children to build them? I believe this item might have actually been
mentioned in one of the keynote speeches at Brickfest 05? My memory isn’t 100%,
but I think it might have been Jørgen Vig Knudstrop who noted that LEGO is
already working toward this idea, so all I can say is, “thank you!”
7. Assorted buckets and tubs: Is it possible to standardize the patterns
used to determine the contents of buckets/tubs for the long term? Could tubs and
buckets have designations like Designer sets? Could they find ways to bring
levels of skill into the assorted bucket/tub range of products. For many years
Meccano offered numbered sets that increased in part quantity and building
potential with each graduation. The plans included with each set were models you
could make with that set. When you bought a #6 set, for example, there were some
models you could make with that set. Then when you added set #6A into your
collection there were yet more models you could make with your original pieces
and the new supplementary pieces you added.
In terms of LEGO products this could translate into small sets of basic bricks,
plates and slopes with larger sets incorporating more specialized pieces like
hydrant bricks, headlight bricks, macaroni bricks and so on. The goal is to make
sure that all levels of skill (and affordability) are covered but in a planned
and sustainable way. Simply releasing ‘different’ buckets and tubs each year is
not an effective way to do this.
As a side note to this item: Would it be advisable to revisit the packaging of
assorted sets to see if any changes can be implemented that can save on
packaging and/or shipping costs? In other words, are the large plastic tubs
really the best way to deliver these goods? Can they be sold separately as a
storage item, rather than being used as a shipping container?
8. Numbers and Letters: What about bringing back lettered/numbered 1x1
bricks/tiles? Give kids the opportunities afforded by the early system bulk
packs. They can spell their own names, the names of buildings they create and
so on. Again, what was successful before can be used as inspiration for new
products.
9. My Own Creation Sets: I think this was a great concept that was perhaps a
bit underutilized. Would it be possible to continue with/expand releasing more
fan designed models. Or, if not fan sets, then begin to showcase the in-house
designers of new sets. The key to the success of this line is promotion. If
people know this is a fan-designed model, they may be more willing to invest.
Or, if they know this is a new set from their favorite LEGO designer they may be
excited by seeing new work from that person. Don’t be afraid to make a big deal
out of the designer.
10. Legends: Simply put: consider releasing more Legends. Not every old set
is worth re-releasing, not every old set looks modern enough to be sold again.
But looking back at the thousands of old sets in the LEGO archives, there must
be more than can live again.
Before I forget... thank you for offering us this chance to throw some ideas out
there. I doubt that many companies would ask such questions of their
customers/fans, so I just want you to know that I, for one, appreciate it.
Best regards,
Allan B.
| | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |
In lugnet.general, Allan Bedford wrote:
| |
8. Numbers and Letters: What about bringing back lettered/numbered 1x1
bricks/tiles?
|
See http://peeron.com/inv/sets/4677-1. Now, widespread availability is
another issue...
Steve
| | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |
In lugnet.general, Kelly McKiernan wrote:
| |
The LEGO Ambassadors have been asked to provide some suggestions to the LEGO
Shop at Home people about what types of things we AFOLs would like to see
offered or available from S@H.
|
My apologies for replying to my own previouse response. It may be too late to
include this suggestion, but I thought I’d offer it again anyway.
I say “again” since this is actually something I posted nearly a year ago. It
had sort of slipped my mind until just yesterday when again my co-workers began
talking about our group order that has now become an annual event in our office.
(In fact, this is our forth year.) And so people are already asking, “are you
doing the LEGO order again this year?” One person has now twice reminded me to
include her this year because for some reason she missed it last year. We’re
definitely going to include her this year. :)
The idea seemed to get a lukewarm reception here as some people felt it was
really only practical to have fans organize things on their own. However, I will
state again that if companies such as Tupperware, Avon or Pampered Chef can run
group catalog buys year after year after year, there must be something to it.
And as I think I previously mentioned, this specific idea might not be right for
LEGO. But I wanted them to perhaps think about it and see if a variation of it
might be possible for LEGO products. I can only speak for myself and the people
who participate in our group order, but I can tell you that everyone who’s
involved gets very excited about seeing the catalog, placing the order and of
course enjoying the day that the big boxes arrive! :)
So without further explanation, here is a reposting of my original message.
(The complete thread can be found here:
http://news.lugnet.com/market/shopping/?n=11884)
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Anatomy of a Shop At Home group order
A few days ago, in this thread:
http://news.lugnet.com/market/shopping/?n=11832
I mentioned the large group order that we (my co-workers & I) do every year
about this time. This was our third annual and largest order yet. I’m not sure
how many other people do this in their office/workplace or how many are
interested in how ours went, but I thought I’d post a few notes about it just in
case.
Our order is compiled and submitted by one person (who is kind enough to let
this sit on her credit card until mid next month). She emails anyone who might
be interested and they stop by with their orders. It’s important to note that
she is not a LEGO fan in any sense other than she enjoys buying it for her kids
and sometimes helping them to build. She’s a typical parent of children who
like LEGO bricks. In fact, I was the only one ordering bricks for me... all
others were normal parents.
I do my best to help out by taking an actual printed copy of the Shop At Home
catalog in to work and leaving it on my desk for everyone to see/use.
This year’s order, as noted above, was our largest yet. We had 10 people
participate and in total (before tax) we bought more than $900 (in Canadian
funds). But maybe a few people reading this are wondering, “what’s the big
deal?” Here’s a few things that might help you understand why I think this type
of activity is so great.
1) Everyone who ordered got free shipping, since we were well over the $99
minimum. This helps those people who wouldn’t have gotten free shipping since
many of the individual orders were actually below that amount.
2) In total we ordered more than 20 Advent calendars. This was one of the
items that sort of got people jazzed about this back in 2002 when we did our
first order. Each year we order even more.
3) Everyone who ordered bulk packs got the 15% discount, since we ordered way
over 15 items from that section. That includes people who ordered only 1 or 2
packs, so again this is a big incentive to join in our order.
I think it’s also worth noting that we know for certain that at least 6 or 7 of
those people who ordered would have purchased little or no LEGO on their own
since they don’t normally do so and some people just don’t change their habits.
So here’s the real point I’m trying to make with this posting. I *think* this
type of program (bulk orders placed for a group by one representative customer)
would be a positive thing for the LEGO company to implement. I hope someone is
listening and sees the numbers above. We are just a small office... only about
44 people. That means nearly 25% of the people in our office participated in
this order. Imagine if such an order were placed by a larger office or other
workplace where you have many more potential customers.
Our little group buy is completely organized by us... or rather by my co-worker
noted above. She has built an Excel spreadsheet that tracks everyone’s order
and amount owing, with discounts and taxes included. She was able to balance
her spreadsheet to the penny with the final order on the LEGO website. But what
about people/offices who for whatever reason wouldn’t go about organizing such a
thing? Should they be left out? Should those potential sales simply remain...
potential?
From what I’ve seen in the last few years, working in an office environment,
catalog sales programs (one person brings it in and places group orders) are
very popular. People sometimes buy things they wouldn’t otherwise buy simply
because it’s easy, it gets delivered, and hey... “everyone else is doing it.”
:)
I can only hope that if this idea hasn’t been explored by LEGO that they will at
least think about it. I just feel that it has the possibility of bringing in
more sales; much of that in Shop At Home items where presumably the margins are
a bit higher. Not to mention that our order is just one big order... not 10
little ones. Doesn’t that somehow save on packing/shipping costs? Maybe a
little. But add up all those little amounts over many many orders and what do
you get?
It seems to me that a simple change to the web order form (to allow for a larger
group order, broken down by individual buyer but still calculated as one
purchase) would be a good way to test the waters. Promote the fact that groups
end up with bigger savings if they order this way. If that seems to work then
explore the possibility of a more parent-friendly catalog that helps those
people (who aren’t kids or AFOL’s) understand what they’re buying. And if all
that goes well, why not even explore the idea of actual sales reps like those
used by Pampered Chef or Tupperware? Build in some incentive (free stuff,
discounts) for those folks to bring in more sales.
As noted above, 90% of those who ordered with us were just regular parents. This
is not an AFOL targeted sales program I’m talking about, but rather one that
tries to get the average parent buying more LEGO for their kids.
Am I looney? Is there a fundamental reason that even a small portion of these
ideas wouldn’t work? Is our office unique? Do you do already do this with your
co-workers? If not, would you now consider it for next Christmas, based on what
you’ve read above?
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In lugnet.general, Kelly McKiernan wrote:
| |
- What do you think LEGO would never do that you’d love to see?
|
Theme buckets and tubs, such as space and castle. The closest I’ve seen was the
not very impressive Star Wars bucket.
Truly modular castle, town and space sets. You can expand your castle, town,
space station by buying and adding the desired module sort of a plug and play.
You start with the core set and add walls, towers, stables and corners to your
castle and expand it as large as you want in the layout you want.
World arctecture theme. Famous buildings from around the world all in the same
scale, heck they don’t even have to be large sets you could do them like the
Star Wars mini sets but keep them in the same scale and they would display quite
nicely.
| |
- What types of themes/concepts should LEGO stay away from?
|
Modern Warfare
| |
- Are there any community projects/products (Moonbase? Great Ball?) that you’d like to see turn into a LEGO set?
|
It would be nice if Lego held more public set design contests, maybe an annual
event.
| |
- (And as a follow-up to the last question – are there any projects/products that LEGO should stay away from?)
|
Sports except for the race car themes.
| |
- What types of products/themes/concepts do you think are missing from the assortment over the years?
|
The type of sets that made Lego shine in the 80’s and 90’s. Parent are now
trying to find “Those Robin Hood Sets” they had. I think the lack of classic
style space sets is really evident also.
Minifig packs please!! I don’t think they’ve been pffered retail since Ninja and
Rock Raiders.
| |
- Are there things missing in general? On box? In the instructions? In the box materials?
|
Better packaging for the UCS and sculpture sets. If I’m going to spend $150 to
$300 on a great set I don’t want to store it in a cardboard box. You could use
the standard tubs for the smaller sets and a Dacta style tub for the larger
sets.
Thanks,
Daniel
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| |
|
In lugnet.general, Kelly McKiernan wrote:
> The LEGO Ambassadors have been asked to provide some suggestions to the LEGO
> Shop at Home people about what types of things we AFOLs would like to see
> offered or available from S@H. This is a good opportunity for you to make a
> serious suggestion that will get passed on to those who are in charge of S@H.
> Of course, this in no way guarantees that any of the suggestions will
> necessarily bear fruit, but you never know until you suggest. I'll collate
> the results by the end of the weekend, although that doesn't necessarily mean
> later posts will be excluded.
>
> This is a theoretical discussion, so there are no limitations on suggestions.
> Of course, things like "free bricks for everyone" and other implausible
> suggestions are likely to not make it through the review, if you get my
> drift. But as far as topics go, this is a "sky's the limit" discussion.
>
> * What do you think LEGO would never do that you'd love to see?
• Get rid of the new grays & brown and bring back the old ones
• Make some old gray pieces at least for Classic Space Legend sets
• Make all the boxes with a yellow border, like they used to in the 1980's (not
practical at all; just for sentimental reasons)
> * What types of themes/concepts should LEGO stay away from?
• Themes that aren't expandable. For instance, with the soccer sets, there
wasn't a lot that LEGO could make in Soccer's second year of production that
offered much variety over what had been made to begin with. The theme had a
very narrow scope.
> * Are there any community projects/products (Moonbase? Great Ball?) that
> you’d like to see turn into a LEGO set?
• I think that in order to make Moonbase & GBC sets right, there would have to
be lots of pieces in each set...enough pieces that each set would be too
expensive to be marketable. LEGO could make scaled down versions, but they just
wouldn't do justice to the community projects.
• I think that the best things LEGO can glean from the community, as far as
ideas for producing sets, are MOC's for the My Own Creation series. The MOC
sets that we've seen so far have been great. Sets from LEGO Digital Designer
are a good idea, but I prefer minifig scale sets, like the Blacksmith Shop.
> * (And as a follow-up to the last question – are there any projects/products
> that LEGO should stay away from?)
• PLEASE stay (get) away from making roadplate packs that have 1 crossroad and 1
straight road packaged together. You need about 6-12 straight roadplates for
every 1 crossroad that you have. I'm sure many people would agree that packs of
roadplates need to have just 1 type of plate, that way we can buy whichever kind
we need.
> * What types of products/themes/concepts do you think are missing from the
> assortment over the years?
• It depends on which years you're talking about. I think it's been at least 10
years since we've seen a Castle minifig pack. LEGO currently sells a great Town
MF pack, plus a hat & hair pack that's mostly Town themed. Space MF's are easy
to make from MF parts from other themes. Castle MF's, however, are the hardest
to make and come by. Take a look on ebay. Castle MF's sell for astronomical
prices. I realize if lots of people asked for a Viking MF pack, LEGO would have
a good reason for not making it--people who are after the MF's would buy the
smaller MF pack instead of the large Viking set. So here's my idea: LEGO could
make Castle MF packs that are a year or two behind whatever Castle sets they're
producing. A year or two isn't too long for an AFOL to wait, when they can
already get the MF in a larger set that's available now.
> * Are there things missing in general? On box? In the instructions? In the
> box materials?
• The pictures in the instructions seem to be a little overdone, as far as
quality--particularly the shading. When a set has black and dark gray together,
sometimes the color shading makes it hard to tell which color of piece you're
supposed to use. The old instructions were fine (and probably cheaper to make).
• I think many would like the opportunity to buy an entire K8/9 of a single
piece. I'm sure it would only be economically practical for LEGO to make boxes
of the pieces if they knew that several people would buy large quantities of
that same piece. Maybe they could set up some online survey or something to
gather information on which pieces have enough demand to sell well.
• There seem to be a few gaps in the types of elements that LEGO makes, like
slopes that don't have an inverted version, etc. I think there are some basic
parts that could be easily incorporated into sets, as well as be made into bulk
packs. Some things I had in mind are: 1X3 tiles, macaroni plates, 2X2X3
inverted slopes and 4X4 round plates.
> Thanks for your contribution!
Thanks for the chance to contribute!
> {Kelly McKiernan
> LEGO Ambassador}
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In lugnet.general, David Gregory wrote:
> >
> > * What do you think LEGO would never do that you'd love to see?
>
> • Get rid of the new grays & brown and bring back the old ones
One thousand times -- YES, I agree with that. Please bring back the classic
gray and brown colors.
I curse the new colors on a daily basis. I hate them now and I always will
because I don't like them, I think they suck, and I think the color changes
involved a series of very foolish decisions. I also consider the corporate
stance of "we cannot go back and un-do the changes now," to be even MORE foolish
than the color changes themselves.
____
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In lugnet.general, Kevin Salm wrote:
| |
In lugnet.general, David Gregory wrote:
| |
| |
- What do you think LEGO would never do that you’d love to see?
|
• Get rid of the new grays & brown and bring back the old ones
|
One thousand times -- YES, I agree with that. Please bring back the classic
gray and brown colors.
I curse the new colors on a daily basis. I hate them now and I always will
because I don’t like them, I think they suck, and I think the color changes
involved a series of very foolish decisions. I also consider the corporate
stance of “we cannot go back and un-do the changes now,” to be even MORE
foolish than the color changes themselves.
|
So well articulated I had to agree... I know the issue is ‘case closed’ as
far as lego is concerned but I still think...
God Bless,
Nathan
Visit my brickshelf gallery:
(pic=link)
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In lugnet.general, David Gregory wrote:
> > * What do you think LEGO would never do that you'd love to see?
>
> • Get rid of the new grays & brown and bring back the old ones
> • Make some old gray pieces at least for Classic Space Legend sets
Not to beat a dead horse, but I thoroughly agree!
| | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |
| |
| |
- What types of products/themes/concepts do you think are missing from the assortment over the years?
|
• It depends on which years you’re talking about. I think it’s been at least
10 years since we’ve seen a Castle minifig pack. LEGO currently sells a great
Town MF pack, plus a hat & hair pack that’s mostly Town themed. Space MF’s
are easy to make from MF parts from other themes. Castle MF’s, however, are
the hardest to make and come by. Take a look on ebay. Castle MF’s sell for
astronomical prices. I realize if lots of people asked for a Viking MF pack,
LEGO would have a good reason for not making it--people who are after the MF’s
would buy the smaller MF pack instead of the large Viking set. So here’s my
idea: LEGO could make Castle MF packs that are a year or two behind whatever
Castle sets they’re producing. A year or two isn’t too long for an AFOL to
wait, when they can already get the MF in a larger set that’s available now.
|
Of course the other point of view is that large sets are not worth buying unless
you can get minifig packs to help outfit them.
For example 7163 requires you to purchase two
of them just to have enough figs to man all the stations, let alone have some
for a landing squad.
-Mike Petrucelli
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| |
|
In lugnet.general, Kelly McKiernan wrote:
> * What do you think LEGO would never do that you’d love to see?
* How about some instructional and/or historical book/CD-ROM series?
* All the instruction scans from a year or set of five years...
* Master Modeler series...
* How'd they do that? - Miniland
* A David Macauley-esque look at LEGO from design through production
and distribution - I've seen these on castles, cities, and transportation, and
they're really cool. One about LEGO would be cooler.
* Microscale sets in more themes:
* Town
* Great/Classic Architecture ofthe World
* Castle
* Modular Moonbase
* Trains
* S@H Pick A Brick, changed seasonally/quarterly; I can specify that I want
between 1 and 2000 of a piece on Bricklink - shouldn't LEGO, as the producer, be
able to somehow offer this same service?
* True LEGO Factory design-to-build service - we send in a design using an
allowable pallette for a specified time period with a fixed price per piece, and
LEGO ships us the exact set we design, without all the extra parts. Prices and
pallettes would change with each time period/season/quarter.
* Buildable train track parts - break it down further than the
ties/track/turnout conglomerations already offered. Inidividual rails could be
used for monorail or combined for regular trains; laying ties and rails seems so
much more LEGO-ish than snapping whole track segments. And reduced cost for
specific pieces (as opposed to track segments) might allow greater participation
in an increasingly cooler theme.
* Ditto the themed parts packs mentioned above: animals, foods, tools,
clothing, plants, minifig heads/bodies/hair, and so on
* Ditto color mosaics.
* Collaborations like that with NASA and Ferrari should be expanded, and
might move into more Maersk-ish directions: CAT, Deere, Mack,
Boeing/Grumman/Lockheed-Martin, etc
* Factory/industry-themed sets - hoppers, piping/wiring/hoses, fabrication
machinery, walkways/ladders/stairs, conveyor belts, product
movers/trucks/carts/forklifts, etc. Several sets in a series could lead to an
entire assembly line/office/storage area, several groups to an entire facory.
Much could be done with already-existing elements.
> * What types of themes/concepts should LEGO stay away from?
* Licensed movie themes,but not as much as:
* Realistic fleshtones
> * Are there any community projects/products (Moonbase? Great Ball?) that
> you’d like to see turn into a LEGO set?
* All the modular stuff out in the community: Moonbase, Great Ball, Classic
Castle Community, Vignette
> * (And as a follow-up to the last question – are there any projects/products
> that LEGO should stay away from?)
* Nothing comes to mind
> * What types of products/themes/concepts do you think are missing from the
> assortment over the years?
* LEGO, as a plastics producer, is in an ideal position to help sort and
store LEGO elements - Matchbox, Hot Wheels, and Star Wars Figures all have had
for years parent-company storage as part of the puzzle, and a part that seems
fun for kids. Why not a compartmentalized minifig storage box, or
Akro-Mills/Plano/etc type storage bins? LEGO is expert at modularity - smaller
storage units could combine into medium and larger sized collections.
* Adult clothing sizes.
> * Are there things missing in general? On box? In the instructions? In the
> box materials?
* Maybe a skill rating (1-5), like in plastic model airplanes. This is
currently described somewhat, but I remember it being fun for me to try higher
skill level models when I was a kid, just to see if I had what it took to build
a Skill Level 3 model when I was used to Skill Level 2 models.
>
> Thanks for your contribution!
* Thank you very much for the opportunity to share my thoughts.
Peace and Long Life,
Tony Alexander
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| |
|
In lugnet.general, Tony Alexander wrote:
> In lugnet.general, Kelly McKiernan wrote:
> > * What do you think LEGO would never do that you’d love to see?
> * A David Macauley-esque look at LEGO from design through production
> and distribution - I've seen these on castles, cities, and transportation, and
> they're really cool. One about LEGO would be cooler.
The best idea I've seen here yet. I think that the 20 second flash animation
that they had on the website about how a brick is made was cute, but obviously
nowhere near the depth desired.
I want to see a brick from conception (why is it needed, how shall it look) to
design (how is a master made) to full blown manufacturing details. Then, after
we know about bricks, a set from conception to box, and all points in between.
I think that this would be something that only really appeals to AFOLs (more so
than someone looking for a present - unless the gift is for an AFOL). And in
that respect, I think they could make it hardback, full of colored pictures, and
justify a healthy pricetage (ie if it was nice and large enough I wouldn't mind
spending $40-50 on it, sorta coffee-table book style).
-Jesse
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In lugnet.general, Kelly McKiernan wrote:
| |
- Are there any community projects/products (Moonbase? Great Ball?) that you’d like to see turn into a LEGO set?
|
Moonbase for sure. But that assumes that LEGO does something else firt (see
below).
| |
- What types of products/themes/concepts do you think are missing from the assortment over the years?
|
A non-Star Wars space theme! Where has that gone?
Now that NASA is planning on going back to the moon, where is our Pre-Classic
Space theme!?! That would be a perfect way to introduce the Moonbase standard
to LEGO sets, since that’s one of the things NASA eventually wants to do.
Remember the big Lunar Landing set from the 70’s? The one with the blue LEM and
the three astronauts with the long bendy-arms built from bricks? That was the
coolest set ever! It’s the first big set of LEGO that I ever *really* wanted
and it got me hooked on LEGO.
I’d like to see a new Pre-Classic Space era set come out that’s inspiring to a
new generation of NASA astronaut wanna be’s. :-)
Jeff
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Here are some of my wishes:
- Some sort of a way to get customized emails on the new sets available on S@H and new sets on sale. There is an email that gets send but it is too generic and does not contain specifics. It would be nice to have some sort of a delta of changes (RSS feed?) that happen from one particular day to another on the S@H website.
- Discounts for folks that buy large amounts, maybe free shipping for sales of more than $200 or something like that or maybe stamps to use in a loyalty card.
- More variety in the bulk packs offered. Maybe on the lines of Lego Factory a customizable bulk bag?
- Legend sets would be nice too -- maybe even some of the older 9v train sets would be cool
| | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |
An idea not under these Qs: How about a loyalty card/scheme for shop at home?
| |
- What do you think LEGO would never do that you’d love to see?
|
Old grey/brown/dk grey!!! At least in some legends (to add some reasonability)
Failing that some random old grey/brown elements (to use with the bricks).
More realistically a lot more variety of tiles, plants, and fig packs, as well
as accessory packs (why do you think the advent calender is selling? : ) )
| |
- What types of themes/concepts should LEGO stay away from?
|
Movies, new grey : ) , non-expandable hero based themes (eg...)
| |
- Are there any community projects/products (Moonbase? Great Ball?) that you’d like to see turn into a LEGO set?
|
I would prefer lego to come up with its own themes we can adapt
| |
- (And as a follow-up to the last question – are there any projects/products that LEGO should stay away from?)
|
See above.
| |
- What types of products/themes/concepts do you think are missing from the assortment over the years?
|
There isn’t enough castle (I’m serious). I would even like to see space
back.Essentially I would like to see more of the old school.
| |
- Are there things missing in general? On box? In the instructions? In the box materials?
|
From age 4 until 2 years ago I accumulated masses of lego and was missing one
part in a new set (I can still remember that it was a red 4x6 plate, the shock
was that great!) In the last 2 years I have had to contact lego 10 times about
missing elements.
I also am finding certain shades in the instructions hard to follow. (Perhaps
returning to the old colours would solve this as well : ) )
I also (I know also,also) really miss the magazine you used to get in $20+ sets.
Please bring it back.
| |
Thanks for your contribution!
|
Thanks and God Bless,
Nathan
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In lugnet.general, Kelly McKiernan wrote:
| |
- Are there any community projects/products (Moonbase? Great Ball?) that you’d like to see turn into a LEGO set?
|
Get the rights to the Spamcake Diner™ and
produce it.
| |
- Are there things missing in general?
|
We need a “fleshy” fig pack. More fleshies in all shades.
JOHN
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In lugnet.general, Kelly McKiernan wrote:
| |
- What do you think LEGO would never do that you’d love to see?
|
Reissue 3800 “Ultimate Builders Set”, 3801 “Ultimate Accessory Set” and
(possibly) 9731 “Vision Command” as a single SKU’ed set. Folks that bought
Mindstorms back when it was new (or even have purchased sets 2nd hand recently)
really want to find those items. They have been (generally speaking) out of
stock for a good 2 years. The few 3801s that I had last year sold for redic
prices. Even today, Mindstorms is still a hot item.
thx, Ray Sanders
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In lugnet.general, Kelly McKiernan wrote:
| |
- What types of products/themes/concepts do you think are missing from the assortment over the years?
|
New foliage pieces would be good:
· Some kind of creeping ivy type stuff for attaching to buildings
· Some new type of one-piece tree or shrub
· Some new types of leaves for making trees
For Service Pack/Bulk Pack ideas:
· Tan Plates assortment
· Tan Tiles assortment
· Tan anything assortment
· Jumper plates in a new 4 or 5 color assortment
· Increased availability of colors like Sand Blue, Sand Green, Sand Red, Dark
Red, Dark Green, Dark Blue, Dark Tan, Medium Blue, Light Yellow
· a curvy bits
pack. y’know -- stuff that is curvy like #6081, 6091, etc
· a round bits pack.
again, round bricks, 1/4 disc bricks, log bricks, etc
Things to keep or supplement:
· 2x2 White window pack. White is universally useful. Other colors would be
nice, but in most cases, White works well.
· gates and fences pack. Over the
years, this type of item has been offered again and again and again, so it must
be relatively successful.
Grab-Bag or Mystery items are fun to order and receive thru mail-order. They
should offer good value (at least twice the retail value as the price) and not
include unwanted merchandise that nobody wants at any price. A Grab-Bag or
Mystery item program is a good promo to run during the slow season February thru
July, for example.
Over the years, the one thing that S@H has stood for to me is LONG-TERM
AVAILABILTY of items. Since retail product cycles are so short (a few months)
and so many LEGO items are issued each year, it is good to know that delayed
purchases of items is possible.
For example, if an item issued January 2004 is
unstocked from retail stores by August 2004, it is good to know that I can still
call up S@H and purchase the item as much as two or three years later.
In years past, it was not uncommon to be able to purchase items from S@H that
were issued as much as FOUR YEARS AGO. Granted, a leaner business model may not
allow for four years worth of stock on hand, but longer product availability
from S@H is definitely a Good Thing.
S@H has always done a good job of
balancing what I call ‘warehousing versus selling’ product meaning S@H does a
good job of keeping stock available for long periods of time rather than
constantly reducing the price just to make a sale. If only new items were
available from S@H then many customers would have to look elsewhere to purchase
older products and S@H would be almost obsolete or irrelevant to some degree.
Kevin Salm
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| |
- What do you think LEGO would never do that you’d love to see?
|
1. More large-sized ($150+) UCS / Model Team sets.
For example: a life-sized Darth Vader bust (like the Darth Maul). (In fact, I
was very surprised that such a set was not released this year, in conjunction
with Episode III, which was all about the transformation to Darth Vader.)
A $400-$500 UCS AT-AT like D. Eaton’s or S. Sullivan’s.
A $400-$500 UCS Millennium Falcon.
Other examples of sculptures: more sets like the Sopwith Camel and Lunar
Lander. Historic landmarks like the US Capitol.
2. A greatly expanded fan-model MOC line (e.g. like the Blacksmith Shop set).
This would actually be a perfect way to accomplish point 1 above: Make
contracts with prominent AFOLs for their models, such as Gareth Bowler’s or Reto
Geiger’s wonderful Star Wars UCS ships. The development is already done. In
many cases, the instructions are already done. To minimize costs, make online
instructions only. Maybe this can be performed through the LEGO Factory (once
pieces no longer have to be purchased in bags, which dramatically increases the
final price). Contracting AFOL models for production would also greatly
increase the community’s sense of “connection” with TLG.
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In lugnet.general, Kelly McKiernan wrote:
| |
The LEGO Ambassadors have been asked to provide some suggestions to the LEGO
Shop at Home people about what types of things we AFOLs would like to see
offered or available from S@H.
|
<SNIP>
Ideas for S@H
1. How about being able to buy piece bags from current sets, or maybe last
years’ / obsolete sets? This could be linked with the factory concept.
2. % discount / free postage for large bulk orders.
3. repackage option for postage, to stop complaints about over-sized boxes.
Also sturdier postage boxes.
4. online pick-a-brick for us unfortunates that do not have access to that
service.
5. “unusal shapes” service packs
Good luck,
Chris.
ps. keeping the discussion narrow (ie. just S@H) is a great idea. How about
other discussions like “how to improve Town” or “what piece would Technic users
like to see” or even “what new theme should Lego investigate”?? These could
generate some really usefull feedback for Lego itself.
| | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |
In lugnet.general, Kelly McKiernan wrote:
| |
The LEGO Ambassadors have been asked to provide some suggestions to the LEGO
Shop at Home people about what types of things we AFOLs would like to see
offered or available from S@H.
|
Awesome responses, thanks to everybody who took the time to pass along their
suggestions. I’m collating everything for submission early in the week.
I don’t know what (if any) response will come from LEGO about this, but I hope
we all hear back about it at some point.
Kelly
| | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |
In lugnet.general, Kelly McKiernan wrote:
| |
- What do you think LEGO would never do that you’d love to see?
|
- Put all of the Pick-a-Brick inventories online and keep them current. The stores will ship but we need to know what they have. PaBTrak is still vaporware and we AFOLs haven’t stepped up to the challenge of keeping updated inventories online for most locations, so corporate help would be great.
- Make “everything” available via S@H. I referenced the 1x1 letter tile pack (http://peeron.com/inv/sets/4677-1) earlier in this thread; there’s no mention of it on the S@H web site.
- Provide just a few key elements at true bulk prices. I’d be thrilled if just 2x4s in a bunch of colors were available at ~$0.03-$0.04 instead of the ~$0.14 we currently pay at S@H and PaB. Add 1x1s and 1x2s and we’d be golden. Really large models, extensive landscapes, etc. could be built cost-effectively with low-priced bulk of just a few brick types.
- Quickly evolve LegoFactory to the point of “no SKUs” - custom-pack every set order from the parts palette and give us true modeling flexibility.
... and the obligatory color suggestions:
- Change back to the original greys/brown. Letting the new color supply bleed out gradually over the next few years is fine.
- Failing that, reintroduce the original colors alongside the new ones.
- Failing that, introduce a single new “bulk pack” each year containing key new elements from that year in the old colors (and maybe key older pieces that were never available in the old colors). Let the aftermarket, e.g. BrickLink, handle aggregating the individual pieces at market prices. I have to admit, though, that we AFOLs shot ourselves in the foot on this one by failing to buy up the “old color” bulk packs that were already produced.
Thanks,
Steve
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In lugnet.general, Kelly McKiernan wrote:
snip
| |
- What do you think LEGO would never do that you’d love to see?
|
Bring back classic light gray, dark gray and brown.
Better yet, make a set like this (even if in the new colors):
http://brickshelf.com/cgi-bin/gallery.cgi?i=709986
-Five packs of minifigs like castle guys or vikings, for around $1 each fig.
-Bring back the previous tubs with flat top.
- some more realistic modern aircraft.
- more electric lighting... not just light sabres, more flexible.
| |
- What types of themes/concepts should LEGO stay away from?
|
Dunno.
| |
- Are there any community projects/products (Moonbase? Great Ball?) that you’d like to see turn into a LEGO set?
|
Not particularly.
| |
- (And as a follow-up to the last question – are there any projects/products that LEGO should stay away from?)
|
Not particularly.
| |
- What types of products/themes/concepts do you think are missing from the assortment over the years?
|
Echo of much of what’s been said...I can’t think much about themes or concepts..
but just based on basic product..
- architectural packs: either missing or weak. For example. The current roof pack does not have the inside corner slope.. I think.
- arches, more than one color.
- windows. How about a range of windows in at least two colors. Instead of white for some sizes and red for others and black for still others. How about white and black in a full range of sizes... or white, black and (reddish)brown?
- How about a pack of windscreens? I’m thinking that there are still some key windscreen parts that could be real useful... thinking aircraft mainly.
| |
- Are there things missing in general? On box? In the instructions? In the box materials?
|
Box materials: I liked the internal box and the plastic trays that were there
in past years. But I can imagine that costs some money, which is tight.
Box art, alternate models: I look at sets in the store, and look at them hard.
Do I want this set? What is the real part distribution like? I find it hard to
tell by looking at the picture. Virtually always I underestimate the value to
me of the contents from a reusablity perspective. If I look it up on peeron,
then I get a much better sense. So, there needs to be a better way to
illustrate the parts content. I suspect that the target audience for a harry
potter set may not care about the part content as much as the model itself. But
still, I would presume that most of these sets come apart quickly enough and
become something else. A better set of alternate models? I’ve seen AFOLS do
some amazing alternate models .. they could be employed do do this.
Or not.
-Ken
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In lugnet.general, Kelly McKiernan wrote:
| |
- What do you think LEGO would never do that you’d love to see?
|
1)A Batman License. Spider-man was ok, but Batman would rock. A Batmobile,
Batplane, Batboat, etc. A $90-$100 Batcave set. Villians’ lairs, Arkham Asylum,
GCPD HQ with Comm. Gordon and a working Batsignal. Yeah, give me Batman.
2)A ‘Lord of the Rings’ type fantasy theme. Not an actual LotR license, but a
fantasy theme ‘inspired’ by LotR (like the Adventurers theme/Indiana Jones).
Wizards, Elves, Dwarves, Goblins, Trolls, etc.
3)A Designer type set of Flora and Fauna. Green foliage pieces and brown bricks
and half arches to make trees and shrubs. Maybe some black and white 1x1 brick
and plates to make birch trees. And brick built forest animals like deer or wild
boar - all in minifig scale. Also, a companion set in which the Flora comes in
Autumn colors.
| |
- What types of themes/concepts should LEGO stay away from?
|
The new Dino theme troubles me somewhat. Dino Attack has the look and feel of a
MegaBloks theme with the modern looking weapons and premolded evil looking
dinos. I think this is deliberate as North America and Australia (where MB has a
significant presence) get the ‘violent’ sets, and Europe (where MB has little or
no presence) get a non-violent version. Now, when the general populace regularly
confuse LEGO and MB, does TLC really want to blur the line between the two
brands even further?
| |
- Are there any community projects/products (Moonbase? Great Ball?) that you’d like to see turn into a LEGO set?
|
1)A Moonbase starter kit. A set that includes specialty pieces for building
moonbase modules, plus an instruction book explaining the moonbase standard, the
history of the moonbase and a moonbase ‘idea book’ section.
2)A Great Ball Contraption starter kit (see #1)
3)Classic Castle Standard modular walls. A straight wall set. Corner wall with
round tower, corner wall with square tower, Gatehouse, etc.
4)Vignette sets. In the absence of Minifig Packs, Vignette sets could fill in.
These would be especially good in licensed products where TLC cannot sell
minifigs apart from a construction set. Star Wars Vignette sets could give fans
long desired minifigs like Queen Amidala or Nute Gunray - Cantina vigs could
contain some of the more popular Cantina aliens (sets could contain 3-6 vigs to
keep down on sku’s).
5)Fan made elements like BBB train wheels or Blasterman’s Star Wars weapons.
| |
- (And as a follow-up to the last question – are there any projects/products that LEGO should stay away from?)
|
Specific Moonbase or Great Ball sets would defeat the purpose of the community
aspect of these projects.
| |
- What types of products/themes/concepts do you think are missing from the assortment over the years?
|
1)Ancient history themes.
2)Clothing AFOLs wouldn’t mind wearing. Last year TLC produced a ballcap with
the Classic Space logo on it (which was great). Me? I’d like a blue T-shirt with
the Black Falcons’ shield design on the front.
| |
- Are there things missing in general? On box? In the instructions? In the box materials?
|
1)As others have noted - it’s difficult to tell black from dark grey in the
instruction books.
2)Not sure where to put this, but...concerning fleshtones...I had no problem
with the classic yellow fig, but when fleshtones appeared, I found I preferred
them to the yellow. However, this fleshtones for licensed figs and yellow for
non-licensed figs is frustrating. Either make all minifigs fleshtone or make
them all yellow, but choose one, please?
Ken
| |
Thanks for your contribution!
Kelly McKiernan
LEGO Ambassador
|
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Kelly McKiernan wrote:
> * What do you think LEGO would never do that you’d love to see?
Return to the original colours, fist and foremost.
How about theme- or colour-oriented bulk packs or buckets?
Colour-oriented boxes like "Nature": green and brown parts, "Earth",
with tan and greys, "Autumn", with reddish and yellowish tones.
Theme-oriented boxes like "Space" with different parts to build your own
spaceships (as an addition to a license-free space system like classic
space was), "Ships", "City", suchlike, in a way comparable to the
designer sets. but larger, suitable for minifig-sized building and
compatible to "normal" playthemes in style. And of course the box should
include minifigs, spacemen, sailors, people living and working in a city
(how log will it take Lego to notice that a city consisting of police,
rescue and firemen is somehow incomplete? Complete those theme-buckets
with a bunch of stickers and an idea book (which might even include
ideas to be build if you have this bucket _and_ this or that set.
Proper bulk-order. Lego brand stores and the Legoland builders get their
stuff in boxes of e.g. 1000pcs 2x4 bricks. Make those and other boxes
available for us to purchase. It would be no new product, just a
different path to sell them.
> * What types of themes/concepts should LEGO stay away from?
Any post-1900 military stuff. Licensed products. Single-Use parts.
> * Are there any community projects/products (Moonbase? Great Ball?) that you’d
> like to see turn into a LEGO set?
Not directly. But generally a more professional set design with less
special parts, just like the AFOLs do build, would be fine.
> * (And as a follow-up to the last question – are there any projects/products
> that LEGO should stay away from?)
Military stuff.
> * What types of products/themes/concepts do you think are missing from the
> assortment over the years?
Minifig pirates. Could still be on the market just in time to part 2 and
3 of "Pirates of the Caribian", but without the need to go licensed.
Proper town, with shops and normal houses, normal people.
A non-StarWars space line that does not need to reincarnate the
X-Wing-Fighter for the 500th instance. A theme could be "Colonisation of
Mars", with red and dark red theme colours.
A modular, classic castle line like in the '80.
Ships for the town theme, comparable in design quality to the Maersk
freighter (which was propably that good just because there was a tight
external quality control involved)
> * Are there things missing in general? On box? In the instructions? In the box
> materials?
Smaller boxes - currently, the boxes are only filled to a third or even
a quarter. Be honest to your customers!
Protect the instructions from being damaged in the box. Likewise for
stickers.
Better quality control and issue handling - The Knight Bus desaster
should have been a lesson on "lack of quality control" and "This colour
issue is not a problem! This colour issue is really not a problem!
Everything is within our quality standards! We took extra care to water
them down! If you as a customer still think it is a problem, then go
f*** yourself!"
> Thanks for your contribution!
Thanks for listening!
Yours, Christian
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In lugnet.general, Kelly McKiernan wrote:
> * What do you think LEGO would never do that you’d love to see?
http://www.brickshelf.com/cgi-bin/gallery.cgi?i=709986
Any classic theme (Space, City etc) based buckets would be nice.
> * What types of themes/concepts should LEGO stay away from?
Gambling toy - i.e. Bionicle collectables.
Yeah I know they are very common in the industry, and creates trade circles
among kids. But you know we keep kids from casinos for good reasons.
And if you can't be honest about which random, over-priced piece is stuffed
inside a sealed package, why shy away from military theme?
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| |
- What do you think LEGO would never do that you’d love to see?
|
A Greco-Roman theme. If anything, the old 1998 Erik Wilson Acropolis contest
should be an inspiration for TLG:
http://itsa.ucsf.edu/~erikred/brick/classic/ancient.html
All that TLG would need is to come up with a few column capitals (Doric Ionic
and Corinthian), perhaps a 2x2x11 base + column piece that comes in 2 types,
fluted and plain. And voila! You have the instant makings of a whole new Lego
System. Along with offering volume low sloped white bricks.
| |
- Are there any community projects/products (Moonbase? Great Ball?) that you’d like to see turn into a LEGO set?
|
Yes, in partnership with the National Trust for Historic Preservation, how about
a few streetscapes similar to #6390 Main Street. But you could have a 2
baseplate Miami Beach Art Deco streetscape, a New England 18th century style
streetscape, a Califoria Spanish Mission style streetscape, and a midwestern
Victorian Main Street style streetscape.
| |
- What types of products/themes/concepts do you think are missing from the assortment over the years?
|
From 1955-72 the Lego spare parts assortment was WONDERFUL. Then starting in
1973, TLG moved far away from parts packs and service packs, only producing a
scattering of mostly unrelated items.
Even today there are some Shop At Home items that make no sense.... example you
have sand red 2x4 roof peaks and 2x2 roof bricks. What can be done with that
combination? If there are no other parts in this color, it makes these packs
quite worthless to buy.
You need to offer a related of parts that belong to a “system”. The low sloped
black bricks (Shop at Home) are a step in the right direction. But when
offering a regular sloped pack, lets try to use the whole system (12 different
elements). What is the purpose if you offer only 9 or 10 of the 12 parts?
Also windows.... Allan Bedford said it best, we do need a whole new range of
21st century “related” windows. The 1x2x2, 1x4x3, 1x4x5 and 1x4x6 windows today
are of different styles. You really cannot use them together to achieve any
useful combination. And even if you could, the different tints on the larger
ones don’t match the untinted smaller ones.
In 1955 with the advent of the Town Plan, there were 14 different windows
produced!!!!! In the 1956-87 classic window era, there were 9 different windows
produced that actually complemented and matched each other. These could be
combined into over 100 different window designs. Windows are the weakest part
of the Lego system today. What good is it to say that LEGO is the greatest
building toy of all time, when kids (and adults) cannot even make a decent model
of their own house????
| |
- Are there things missing in general? On box? In the instructions? In the box materials?
|
There are a few item that Lego has produced in a “system” format, but that
system was never completed.... examples:
1) Log bricks, these are NOT just for fort constructions. When used in Town
buildings they offer a very nice and pleasing “terra cotta” sculpted look common
on early 20th century architecture (especiall Art Deco). This system only has a
1x2 and 1x4 brick (and a large panel piece). This system needs a 1x1 log corner
brick, a 2x2 “L” log corner brick, and a 1x1 log brick, in order to complete the
system for building architectural masterpieces.
2) Low sloped bricks... the 3x3 outside corner pieces are wonderful, but they
would be even better if they made a 3x3 inside corner (as stated by others on
this thread), and a low slope half pyramid peak. Ditto for the steep slope
bricks, a 3x3x2 inside corner brick would be a wonderful addition to complete
that system in order to build Mansard type roof constructions.
3) Arches.... there are many Roman (rounded top) arches produced by TLG. How
about a few Gothic pointed arches for church construction.
4) From 1955-56 when the macaroni bricks first came out they were produced in 2
sizes (2x2 and 2x4 half circles). Each of these came with and without that
“notch” (hole) on the side of the brick). It is these “notchless” 2x2 macaroni
bricks that should be made again. Those holes in the sides of buildings with
macaroni bricks are UGLY!!! Ditto for the 4x4 curved brick. Create some
without the 2 notches on the sides for beautiful constructions. And create some
curved windows for both of these curved bricks that follows the curve.
Thanks for the opportunity to give feedback Kelly!
Gary Istok
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Oops, forgot one:
| |
- What do you think LEGO would never do that you’d love to see?
- Are there things missing in general? On box? In the instructions? In the box materials?
|
Make rubber tires non-greasy. Or failing that, package them separately from
other elements so there aren’t oil smudges on everything.
Steve
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YES! As an avid cyclist, I would love to see a bike race theme! Road race AND
cyclocross!
| | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |
| |
- What do you think LEGO would never do that you’d love to see?
|
We are still waiting on a classic space legend set (preferably with the “old”
grays; yes one more for the classic-gray vote). Personally I would love to see
a “classic-space” bucket that contains pieces and instructions to build several
of the classic space sets (one at a time) as well as newer pieces and canopies
with classic space logos & color schemes to encourage neo-classic-space mocs.
While on the topic of classic space, how about classic gray crater baseplates
and road & landing pad baseplates?
Switching gears, I would also like to see a Mini-fig based modern military
theme. I would especially like to see a WWII warbird theme. If that doesn’t
play well with Lego’s “no modern weapons” rule, warbird designs as well as more
modern military aircraft designs could be snuck in a “Reno Air-race” or air show
theme similar to the “Flight” subtheme of Town that was around in the mid 90’s
Personally, I think that the only way we will see a minifig warbird line (or any
other 20th century fighting vehicle) is if Lego releases a historical line of
sets similar to the recent discovery/NASA sets. The sets could inlcude a spec.
sheet about the aircraft or vehicle that is modeled and highlight how it was
historically significant. Maybe something in conjunction with the History
channel DVD. Whatever the theme, I don’t think it could be “play-oriented” In
other words it might be ok to do sets that study history of war vs. encourage
kids to play war.
The other idea I had was to release some warbirds and other military aircraft as
part of the sculpture/UCS scale (might be OK since it would be targeted at older
builders) It would be really cool to have a P-51/P-38 built to the same scale as
the Sopwith Camel. Or even a Spirit of St. Louis or Lockheed Vega from the
“golden years” of aviation exploration (20’s-30’s timeperiod) would be way cool.
| |
- What types of themes/concepts should LEGO stay away from?
|
As much as I would like to see an official lego Battlestar line, I think 3rd
party licensing is not good in the long run. I really appreciate the starwars
line up but it has been annoying to see so many iterations of the same vehicle.
(xwing-1, x-wing2 etc...) while the lack of any other space line.
Short-lived themes. One of the best things about classic space is that the base
theme did not change for years. White,blue,gray,trans-gold,trans-blue persisted
as the main colors of classic-space for years. It made it much easier to
accumulate a “critical” mass of pieces for my own creations without having to
buy multiple copies of the same set.
| |
- Are there any community projects/products (Moonbase? Great Ball?) that you’d like to see turn into a LEGO set?
|
Moonbase is nice as a community project but I don’t think it would translate
well into a lego theme. However, moonbase fills what has been lacking in the
space lineup since the end of classic space; space sets that depict the
necessities of life in space. Spacebases, refueling stations, research
stations, hydroponics, etc. Essentially, moonbase is “Town” in space. One of
the appeals of classic space was that it was more than goodguy/bad guy
spaceships and vehicles. There was the space command center, alpha1 rocket
base, space supply station, etc.
| |
- (And as a follow-up to the last question – are there any projects/products that LEGO should stay away from?)
|
Any fan created themes/factions.
| |
- What types of products/themes/concepts do you think are missing from the assortment over the years?
|
Town has been nothing but juniorized fire/police stations for several years.
Theme-based buckets/basic-set/designer-sets would be great.
Life-in-space themes (i.e. there is more to space than just ships & vehicles)
just like there is more to town than just fire and police trucks.
thanks for the opportunity for input,
drc
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|
In lugnet.general, Kelly McKiernan wrote:
> * What do you think LEGO would never do that you’d love to see?
Wholesale S@H: This would be a very good way to promote LEGO trains. Unlike
most toys, model trains are not sold through big box stores. Hobby and small
toy shops have a notoriously difficult time with LEGO because LEGO's retail
distribution system is optimized for Wal-Mart and TRU. How about letting S@H
handle these customers? Let them order whatever sets they want in whatever
quantities they want (with certain minimums required) and they get a wholesale
price that's not as good as what the big box stores get, but still allowing them
to sell at MSRP for profit. Let anyone with a state resale permit do this, and
keep the minimum purchase rates high enough to discourage all but the most
hardcore AFOL's from pretending to be a retailer just to get the discount.
Space: Something like classic space, but not a rehash/rerelease of the 80's
sets. Something new and science-fictionish. Or something like what NASA would
like to be doing in 20-50 years. Maybe collaborate with a famous science
fiction author to design a universe and then keep cranking out new sets in that
universe for years.
Town: More than just police & fire. Shops, houses, businesses, etc. are all
needed to make a working town. Keep down the baseplate churn (it seems like
there's a new design every year) and sell baseplates individually (one straight
road, one curve, one T road, etc.) Sell the bridge elements from the Highway
Construction set as parts packs or bridge-building kits. Sell kits to build
things like traffic signals and street lights and mailboxes and fire hydrants.
Integrate town with trains by adding train stations that look good from both the
track and road sides. Buildings should be enclosed on all sides, but with roofs
that lift off or walls that hinge open.
Castle: I think you're already doing this but mature the existing Knight's
Kingdom along with the kids, so each year they get about one year more advanced.
Provide parts packs for minifigures. Also, all the stuff I say above about town
applies to the castle theme - medieval villagers, blacksmiths, marketplace, etc.
Technic & Robotics: Mindstorms hasn't been updated in years. Let's see some new
technology! And how about selling some Mindstorms/Trains interaction kits? Or
space, town, or castle sets with robotic elements? Also, this stuff is *hard* -
so offer more in the way of books on how to design a set with robotics or
complicated gear trains, etc.
Designers: If you go shopping at Ikea they tell you the name of the person who
designed each piece of furniture. Let your LEGO designers develop a fan
following (you've done this somewhat already with trains, so just keep that up).
Any excuse to buy a set is a good one!
> * What types of themes/concepts should LEGO stay away from?
Themes that vanish after 6-12 months. I understand retailers demand churn in
the product line, but that's no reason to churn the themes. Let a product
disappear from the shelves after 6 months but replace it with new products in a
similar theme. As others have mentioned, the most popular themes lately (HP,
SW, and Bionicle) are also the longest-lasting, and that's probably no
coincidence. Kids have short attention spans, but they also have very stubborn
tastes as well. Churning sets within constant themes would fit that pattern.
> * Are there any community projects/products (Moonbase? Great Ball?) that
> you’d like to see turn into a LEGO set?
No, I think this is a bad direction to go in. However, it might be interesting
to see if LEGO could help get the word out about such things. Find a way to
endorse the moonbase standard officially, and include information about it in
the Lego Club magazine or in product inserts.
> * (And as a follow-up to the last question – are there any projects/products
> that LEGO should stay away from?)
Anything that is so specific, it can't be used for something other than its
original purpose. Many of the less popular themes (e.g. sports, dinosaurs)
failed IMHO because it's really hard to use the specialized pieces in other
ways.
> * What types of products/themes/concepts do you think are missing from the
> assortment over the years?
Consistency of themes outside of HP, SW, and Bionicle.
> * Are there things missing in general? On box? In the instructions? In the
> box materials?
Larger sets ($50 and up) should have flip-top lids with a "window" so you can
see what parts are included clearly. When I was a kid this was a very important
part of my LEGO shopping.
Catalogs would be good too, but I imagine you have a problem with your retailers
on that one. TRU probably is reticent about letting you promote S@H in products
sold off their shelves. If that's the case, how about LEGO magazines sold ($3
or so) alongside the sets in retailers? You could include different editions
for different retailers to accomodate their specific demands.
Eliminate stickers. I never used them as a kid and I never use them now. They
make it harder to reuse parts. Kids can't put them on straight, and they can
rub off and leave gluey residue. If they span multiple parts that poses lots of
additional problems. Instead of stickers invest in printed bricks more.
--Bill.
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"Bill Ward" <bill@wards.net> wrote in message news:InHMI1.147p@lugnet.com...
> In lugnet.general, Kelly McKiernan wrote:
> > * What do you think LEGO would never do that you'd love to see?
>
> Wholesale S@H: This would be a very good way to promote LEGO trains. • Unlike
> most toys, model trains are not sold through big box stores. Hobby and • small
> toy shops have a notoriously difficult time with LEGO because LEGO's • retail
> distribution system is optimized for Wal-Mart and TRU. How about letting • S@H
> handle these customers? Let them order whatever sets they want in • whatever
> quantities they want (with certain minimums required) and they get a • wholesale
> price that's not as good as what the big box stores get, but still • allowing them
> to sell at MSRP for profit. Let anyone with a state resale permit do • this, and
> keep the minimum purchase rates high enough to discourage all but the most
> hardcore AFOL's from pretending to be a retailer just to get the discount.
[ ... snipped ... ]
This already exists, it is called the "Small Retailer Program". I don't
know how successful it has been or how well known it is known but it does
exist. There is a model train store near me which carried a fair amount of
LEGO Trains for a while but earlier this summer they chose to discontinue
doing it. I don't know all of the details but the owner told me that LEGO
wouldn't let him have any of the newer train stuff (like BNSF loco) and
pushed a lot of the MyOT stuff at him. He had track and some of the
buildings along with the full sets, motors, and speed controllers but none
of the locomotives. After an initial positive experience, he got frustrated
and decided not to carry them any more. He let the members of NCLTC
liquidate his remaining stock at 50% off.
Mike
--
Mike Walsh - mike_walsh at mindspring.com
http://www.ncltc.cc - North Carolina LEGO Train Club
http://www.carolinatrainbuilders.com - Carolina Train Builders
http://www.bricklink.com/store.asp?p=mpw - CTB/Brick Depot
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In lugnet.general, Mike Walsh wrote:
>
> "Bill Ward" <bill@wards.net> wrote in message news:InHMI1.147p@lugnet.com...
> > In lugnet.general, Kelly McKiernan wrote:
> > > * What do you think LEGO would never do that you'd love to see?
> >
> > Wholesale S@H: [ ... snipped ... ]
>
> This already exists, it is called the "Small Retailer Program". I don't
> know how successful it has been or how well known it is known but it does
> exist. There is a model train store near me which carried a fair amount of
> LEGO Trains for a while but earlier this summer they chose to discontinue
> doing it. I don't know all of the details but the owner told me that LEGO
> wouldn't let him have any of the newer train stuff (like BNSF loco) and
> pushed a lot of the MyOT stuff at him. He had track and some of the
> buildings along with the full sets, motors, and speed controllers but none
> of the locomotives. After an initial positive experience, he got frustrated
> and decided not to carry them any more. He let the members of NCLTC
> liquidate his remaining stock at 50% off.
I was unaware. But as you say, there are frustrations. My plan would make the
entire S@H catalog available, and they could order it using the Web site and
have it shipped exactly the way consumer S@H works, but they would get it at a
discount with no sales tax as long as they have a valid resale permit and buy
enough per month to qualify. LEGO tries to exercise too much control over its
retailers and I think that's a mistake.
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> Technic & Robotics: Mindstorms hasn't been updated in years. Let's see some new
> technology! And how about selling some Mindstorms/Trains interaction kits? Or
> space, town, or castle sets with robotic elements? Also, this stuff is *hard* -
> so offer more in the way of books on how to design a set with robotics or
> complicated gear trains, etc.
IMO, what they need is a new RIS (call it 3.0 perhaps).
It would include the current RCX brick plus the current sensors and electrics.
It would include a set of elements built around the current technic
selection (such as the various gears in the 10076 gear wheels accessory
pack) and a new constructopedia.
I am not sure if any changes would be needed to the software (although it
should include any patches necessary to make it function on current systems).
Then, they need a set that includes all the parts in the 3.0 not present in
the 2.0 including any updated software and instructions/constructopedia.
(as to whether it would include parts present in the 2.0 in old greys and
the 3.0 in new greys, that is up to TLC/TLG although it would be ideal if
the 3.0 actually contained old greys for everything)
Then, they should make accessory packs (similar to the Ultimate Accessory
Kit and the Ultimate Builders Set) to complement the RIS 3.0 and add more
usable parts.
As for new sensors & electric gismos & such, I think that the most usefull
items would be:
1.A sensor or system similar to what robotic vacuum cleaners use to avoid
table legs and other obstacles to enable robots to be made that would be
able to move around a room but avoid obstacles.
Perhaps technology similar to what they use in the sensors for cars that
warn you that you are about to back into something might be relavent...
2.A sensor (e.g. magnetic) that can detect trains or other magnets passing
overhead
3.A system (either via a RCX library or via an external electric block that
would connect to a RCX output port) to produce various sounds (such as
level crossing gate bells, train whistles, steam train noises,
police/fire/ambulence sirens, rocket and engine noises for spaceships and
so on)
4.A method to do RCX controled level crossings (I envisage a motor unit and
flashing light similar to those used on the old 12v level crossing but
actuated via RCX such that one signal from an output triggers the gates to
open and the LEDs/lamps to come on (& flash) and another signal triggers
the gates to close and the LEDs/lamps to shut off. This could go with the
sound effects mentioned above. It would be designed so that one output port
could provide a trigger for both gates with actual power being drawn from
the output port, from an external train "accessory power supply" (if lego
created such a thing) or from the track itself (if there would be enough
juice to do that)
I am sure there are more ideas that might fit with what LEGO does but I
cant think of them right now.
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Hi
- What do you think LEGO would never do that you’d love to see?
Please make ALL sets available in ALL countries.
Trying to buy a set and finding out that it’s not available in your country is
very annoying.
Please make some of the models available that are displayed in the Legoland
parks: classic cars, recent cars, vans, trucks, motorbikes, ships, boats & other
watercrafts, trains, construction machinery, farm equipment, planes, helicopters
... even (small) buildings. You have so much great stuff in the legoland parks,
why not make it available via shop@home as sculptures?
- Are there things missing in general? On box? In the instructions? In the box materials?
Please do something about those “crappy” boxes. In the past I was able to store
my Legos in the boxes they came in, but nowadays the boxes are useless, because
once opened, they are damaged too much to use them anymore. Also the oxes are
not as rigid as before. Please go back to the old rigid boxes with inlays and an
openable top.
Please do something about the quality of the stickers. They tend to peel of the
models and break apart after a very short time. It is very annoying when you
look at your expensive UCS models in the vitrines and all the stickers are
broken. The stickers from the 70ies are still in good shape, but all the new
ones doesn’t last for long.
Andreas
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