Subject:
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Re: The Refocusing of LEGO
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Newsgroups:
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lugnet.dear-lego
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Date:
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Wed, 14 Mar 2001 04:25:05 GMT
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Viewed:
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2130 times
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In lugnet.lego.direct, Lou Zucaro writes:
> snip
> Most of all, though, the juniorization of the LEGOLand sets and the addition
> of many pieces that replace flexibility with single-purpose elements has
> hurt the LEGO brand.
> snip
> By contrast, the catalogs of the ‘80s and early ‘90s were so rich with the
> themes that we all grew to love…Town, Space, Castle, and Pirates. Sets like
> 6390 Main Street, 6383 Public Works Center and 6372 Town House allowed us to
> create the wonderful environments pictured on the pages of your catalogs.
> Each set, no matter how small or large, contributed to expanding the
> possibilities of the theme and of the LEGO system of play as a whole.
I totally agree with everything you said Lou. My name is Nick and I am 17
years old. I remember in the late 80's and early nineties when I would buy a
set and look through the catalogs. The way that LEGO used almost every type
of theme and make a gigantic scene with every model amazed me. I remember in
particular one catalog that had the introduction of the M-Tron theme. I
stared at that picture for hours. They always had funny little scenes inside
themselves, like the M-Tron spy underneath the Blacktron base, or even a
bicycle at the bottom of a lake on the boat page. Just looking at the
catalogs inspired my imagination to build. Even the front of the old shop at
home catalogs from the early 90's inspired me. Like the one from summer of
'95 with all the construction workers on the front. "Now, I know that I
don't have many buildings in my town, but I could get the construction
workers and put them in my town will make it look really cool..." Or the one
catalog (forgot the year) that had the Hot Rod jumping off a highway
on-ramp. I loved that freeway they built, and tried to build one myself.
Even the Brick Kicks magazines inspired me. Just looking at that LEGO King
Tut helmet and chest made me tingle. Heck, you even got a free Lego kit if
you joined! But, alas, times have changed. The front of the catalogs are all
computer generated. Nothing to inspire you. The sets are shown by
themseleves in little scenes if they're lucky. Just think of all the scenes
the could have made with the Adventurers line!!! I noticed in this seasons
Mania Magazine that the cartoon is even computer generated. Usually the
building instructions are not very good either, in my opinion. In the old
Brick Kicks, they had step by step building instructions that required
multiple sets for you to make the model. Remember the one comic where the
Lego Maniac made a sled using the King's trasnsport chariot and some other
sets? Now THAT was cool.
The Juniorization of town is horrible. In the new town theme, to make a
building, it takes you 4 pieces: two of those huge wall/window pieces, a a
flat plate for a roof, and a door. I could look at the old catalogs for ages
wishing about getting the train station, or the metroliner. Now, all that I
am doing is wishing that I had gotten the train station and the metroliner.
Instead of eagerly looking through the Lego catalogs until the pages fell
out, I am eagerly looking through eBay to see what deal I can get on a 80's
town house using the 'buy it now' utility. Even some of the sets aren't that
imaginative. Like with the new Alpha Team. The headquarters has the almost
exact skull seen on the islanders/pirates sets. LEGO, please think of
something new. The way you make those huge town pieces and truck
undercarriages makes everything look the same. Who wants a firetruck that
you make using only 25 pieces, and 12 of those are just for the tires? I
have never experiences the "dark ages" with Lego yet, but if you keep on
going in this direction, you may just lose a customer Lego, and the only
person to blame is you. I haven't even bought a new Lego set in over a year.
What's the point? Dear Lego: Please change your ways. I love your product
more that you will ever know, but I cannot help but walk right past the same
Lego aisle that I could spend hours looking at just 6 years ago. No Lego,
it's not just the AFOL's that dislike what the product has become. I can't
even vote yet... Lego I hope you change soon, I am barely hanging on to not
falling into the terrible dark ages... I'm sorry, but I can't help it....
~Nick
http://members.aol.com/swatlego
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