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"Lou Zucaro" <lou@pause.com> wrote:
> Over the last few months, I have begun to come out of my second LEGO Dark
> Ages. Whereas my first Dark Ages was brought on by “growing up” and having
> “better things to do” than play with LEGO, the second one was brought on
> because of a knowing lack of interest in a product that I felt, as many do
> and have, that had changed to the point of not being what I loved so much
> anymore.
[lots of great commentary snipped]
I agree wholeheartedly - you have an excellent way of describing
"what's wrong with LEGO." I doubt very much that "maxifigs" will ever
return, but I think the Technic figures might fill that bill nicely.
Having basic LEGO sets that fit the Technic figure scale might be a
great plan.
> And LEGO should not discount the importance of its packaging. It is
> impossible to store small sets in their boxes (without using an inner back,
> etc.) because the flaps don’t stay closed and the pieces fall out. In the
> ‘70s, small sets came in a much more usable box with a traditional tab and
> slot design that actually worked and stayed closed.
>
> Medium and large sets should return to the box flap / cardboard tray scheme.
> Large sets today must be stored horizontally due to the box cover that
> doesn’t fasten to the box.
>
> Box graphics and set photography have even suffered. I could barely read the
> set name on the Alpha Team Helicopter box because the box graphics are so busy.
I actually think the biggest problem with LEGO boxes these days is the
fact that they have gotten away from the lift-up flap with clear
plastic behind that used to be the norm for larger sets (and is used
by Mega-Blocks). When I was a kid I would always look to see what
pieces it included - I never had a lot of interest in building the
set, but instead I treated every set as a source of bulk parts. The
pictures on the cover don't really show all the cool parts included -
being able to look through the clear plastic at the parts inside would
be a big help. I don't imagine it would cost more than $5 per box,
and there's not much difference between say $60 and $65.
However another packaging innovation that I wish to applaud is the
grouping of bricks by components of the set. I recently bought
<set:6575> Polar Base, which consists of four half-buildings, a
sno-cat, a helicopter, and a snowmobile with trailer. Each of those
seven components was in its own polybag within the box, and the
instruction book was broken down into seven sections. This makes it
possible to build each piece without having to rake through hundreds
of bricks.
Unfortunately the polybags are opaque - they have pretty pictures of
the final sets on them. This means that if the box had the old style
of lift-up lid with a cellophane window looking in on the polybags you
wouldn't be able to see anything. However, I think by using clear
polybags for each part (perhaps with the graphics to show which part
it is located in the corner or something) it would still work.
--Bill.
--
William R Ward hermit@bayview.com http://www.bayview.com/~hermit/
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"Those are my principles. If you don't like them I have others."-Groucho Marx
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Message has 1 Reply:
 | | Re: The Refocusing of LEGO
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| (...) Thanks Bill. Hopefully I also got across the point that it's not "too late" for LEGO, and not just "what's wrong" with the products right now. We may not like where things have gone in the last few years, but I think anybody in the business (...) (24 years ago, 13-Mar-01, to lugnet.dear-lego)
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