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In lugnet.lego, Jake McKee wrote:
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Wow. It’s been a week and a half since BrickFest PDX, and I’m just now
starting to get caught up. I went straight from PDX to Enfield and had some
terrific Community Development meetings with the team. Lots of good things
happening!
As mentioned in my keynote
at BF PDX, Greg Hyland and I have been working
for some time on a really cool comic book about you, the AFOL. This was
originally meant to be only for internal usage - I’ve been doing a lot of
traveling and talking within the LEGO Company lately getting colleagues
informed and pumped up about the AFOLs. Some good stuff happening, and you’ll
be hearing more soon.
But the comic was such a huge success that I was able to secure a small
amount of funding to put it into print!
As I mentioned in my keynote, I’m very interested in “Activating the
Sleepers” - those folks who just haven’t realized yet that they are AFOLs and
there is an entire community out there waiting for them. From the keynote:
For 2004, I’ve dubbed it the year of activating the sleepers. We all hear
stories all the time about LEGO builders who are fans but don’t realize it.
People who buy sets, build creations, and even have national cable networks
rebuild their LEGO themed rooms. But these folks often haven’t even had the
synapses fire that make them wonder if there are others out there like them.
I call them the sleepers.
So how do we draw them into the community? How do we pull over these
energetic new faces?
One idea is to use this comic as a “recruiting” tool. Imagine you’re out a
train show and people are asking about your hobby. Or you may have friends or
co-workers that are AFOLs who haven’t realized it yet. Or a local hobby shop
has regular customers who you are pretty certain are AFOLs at heart. Perhaps
you can get this comic in front of them to show them how much fun the
community is.
I’ve posted the draft comic on my personal site (easier that way) for you to
review.
http://www.bricksonthebrain.com/comic/AFOLcomic-small.pdf
Disclaimer: This is a first draft of an in-progress work. It will be fully
colored, and cleaned up before going to print.
Many many thanks to Greg. He’s an incredible artist and a hilarious writer.
Take a minute to tell him how cool he is!
I’ve posted this draft to get your feedback. We’d love to hear your thoughts
on the comics, or ideas for strips we may have missed. What other types of
information can we put in along with the comics to help pull in the
“Sleepers”?
And the idea - is it a good one? Do you see yourself using this?
I’m looking forward to hearing your comments!
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I love the comics. I think they are well drawn and cute. They can really help to
get the point across about adults and LEGO. The megaBlXXks one was very funny.
I am, however, rather offended that the artist feels it funny to joke about the
colour change. That’s a pretty sore spot with most of us and some of the comics
just bring back all that anger and frustration that is making some of us rethink
out LEGO habit.
But maybe this is just me.
Dean
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Message has 7 Replies:
 | | Re: AFOLs - The comic!
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| (...) I never made fun of people who are concerned about the colour change issue. I point out the problems, and then end it with a funny punchline that certainly doesn't mock or belittle the character who is annoyed by the colour change. I can't see (...) (20 years ago, 26-Feb-04, to lugnet.lego, lugnet.general, lugnet.org, FTX)
| | | Re: AFOLs - The comic!
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| (...) Oh, give me a break. People taking this, or for that matter ANY, issue *so* seriously is starting to make me rethink *my* wanting to be a part of this HOBBY. This HOBBY with TOYS. --SteveR (20 years ago, 26-Feb-04, to lugnet.lego, lugnet.general, lugnet.org, FTX)
| | | Re: AFOLs - The comic!
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| (...) I was also concerned that the comic might portray our feelings about the color change in an unfavorable light. But after reading it, I was very grateful for the message that it conveyed to TLC employees: Lots of us are angry about the color (...) (20 years ago, 26-Feb-04, to lugnet.lego, lugnet.general, lugnet.org, FTX)
| | | Re: AFOLs - The comic!
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| (...) As something that was intended primarily for an audience within The LEGO Company, I think it was entirely appropriate. There have been a lot of rabid rants on this subject, and they'll get ignored pretty quickly as soon as it's obvious what (...) (20 years ago, 26-Feb-04, to lugnet.lego, lugnet.general, lugnet.org, FTX)
| | | Re: AFOLs - The comic!
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| (...) You are right. The colour change is not a joking issue. Some of the reactions to it, on the other hand, certainly are! (...) LOL. If I had a 2x4 brick for every time someone claimed to "rethink their Lego habit" (or "buy less of your product (...) (20 years ago, 27-Feb-04, to lugnet.lego, lugnet.general, lugnet.org, FTX)
| | | Re: AFOLs - The comic!
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| (...) It is obviously me... Sigh. I didn't 'understand' the part where these comics were for the internal employees of LEGO. That would make the colour change statements as hints that the AFOLS don't like the colour change... and that's a good (...) (20 years ago, 28-Feb-04, to lugnet.lego, lugnet.general, lugnet.org, FTX)
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Message is in Reply To:
| | AFOLs - The comic!
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| Wow. It's been a week and a half since BrickFest PDX, and I'm just now starting to get caught up. I went straight from PDX to Enfield and had some terrific Community Development meetings with the team. Lots of good things happening! As mentioned in (...) (20 years ago, 25-Feb-04, to lugnet.lego, lugnet.general, lugnet.org, FTX) !!
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