Subject:
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Re: TLG Does Listen to us. (if not officaly)
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Newsgroups:
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lugnet.dear-lego
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Date:
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Tue, 8 Aug 2000 19:49:21 GMT
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Viewed:
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1548 times
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In lugnet.dear-lego, Nathan McDowell writes:
> While that would be kinda neat, I hope they don't get too caught up in
> licensing other people's ideas, though. <SNIP> I'd much rather see something
> they came up with on their own than someone else's ideas put in brick form. • <SNIP>Get back to the brick, LEGO. Get back to doing your own thing and get
> back to what made you what you are today.
I totally agree.
If not for licensing they wouldn't now be faced with these issues of race
depicted in "yellow" tones, or those involving whether the lego version of a
thing or character actually manages to convey the idea of said thing or
character in brick form.
With today's fast-paced market and low attention spans, TLC needs to show some
patience with their product lines. I see many lines of the past not given
their full due -- I mean, why of all things are there only five sets in the
original Blacktron I line? Why was it immediately diluted with Blacktron II?
As a long-time fan with two dark ages behind me, I want to point out that I
only really noticed the existence of Blacktron I a few months ago! It's a tiny
line of products and worth SO much more.
Patience, TLC, patience...
And when you think about marketing tie-ins, even without licensing it would
have made sense to get a Dinosaur theme out right after the first Jurassic
Park film, maybe even right after the second film if they had to move that
slowly. While I like the theme now, I can see children being totally blasé
about it -- who cares now after several years of Dinosaur everything? It
wouldn't surprise me at all to find out that the current adventurer line isn't
doing that well.
Potter is hot now, not a year or two from now. If I am guaging it correctly,
Potter will not have the staying power that TLC may hope. I believe that
Potter is the flavor of the month and we are already into the fourth (?) book
with it. It just won't last, mark my words. A year or two from now people
will smile about it like "Where's Waldo?" I see a lot of plastic action
figures in TRU marked down from some crazy price like $12 down to $2 all the
time. Look at the bath that Mattel is taking over the overexposure of the
long-lived Barbie line. They tried to break the New Media barrier too and
flopped! Mark my words...failure looms!
Now the SW license was smart in that SW has staying power that even the likes
of an epically huge flop like Episode I cannot kill -- AND we all know it!
Smart as a license, dumb in relation to agreeing not to produce other space
themed products. Something of a bargain with the devil, if you ask me.
If TLC wants to win in the current market they have to maintain quality and
drop prices at least a little. Then they have to do the critically important
work of rebuilding the damage that makers of lesser quality bricks, or
clones, have done to the market. If your only experience is Best-Lock, or
Mega Bloks (insert the usual plug about the fast improving quality of these
bloks here), then your price expectations are just not going to be met with
TLC's products. Additionally, if your only experience is Best-Lock then you
might never buy another plastic construction toy in your life...bad news for
TLC!
But this will not happen without TLC pointing up the differences between
themselves and other companies THROUGH ADVERTISING! They MUST advertise about
it. This is the Coca-Cola v Pepsi advertising that we always see that I am
talking about here -- but unlike the CC v Pepsi thing, TLC can win decisively
if they drop price and maintain quality control. They clearly have the better
product by a large margin -- but who knows about this difference save for
ourselves and TLC?
Anyway, I am through giving away free advice worth probably millions that will
more than likely be ignored anyhow. I think someone else has already and
astutely compared TLC to a glacier for its slow moving ways and ability to
take hits and still keep moving. What's sad is how that is no way to run a
company nowadays. Just because you can survive debacles like Rock Raiders
doesn't make you a business savvy company. The question then merely becomes:
How many debacles CAN YOU SURVIVE and still keep moving?
-- Richard (powering down rant mode)
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Message has 1 Reply:
 | | Re: TLG Does Listen to us. (if not officaly)
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| In lugnet.dear-lego, Richard Marchetti writes: **snip of stuff with which I generally agree re: licensing** (...) I don't think EP1 was a good piece of drama, but how, exactly, do you define it as "an epically huge flop"? Certainly not in box office (...) (24 years ago, 8-Aug-00, to lugnet.dear-lego)
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Message is in Reply To:
| | Re: TLG Does Listen to us. (if not officaly)
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| (...) While that would be kinda neat, I hope they don't get too caught up in licensing other people's ideas, though. They'd be losing the LEGO 'brand' that they've been working hard to establish. I'd much rather see something they came up with on (...) (24 years ago, 8-Aug-00, to lugnet.dear-lego)
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