Subject:
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High praise for TLG after seeing 4288 bucket for first time
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Newsgroups:
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lugnet.dear-lego
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Date:
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Tue, 26 Oct 1999 00:48:07 GMT
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Viewed:
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755 times
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Dear LEGO,
It seems there has been a lot of TLG bashing going on lately, in several
threads, in various newsgroups. I must admit, I'm as guilty as anyone when
it comes to making complaints about the current state of LEGO. So I
thought it only fair that I make it known how very pleased I was with a
LEGO product I recently aquired.
The inspiration for this action is the new 4288 Classic red bucket. I feel
there are a number of things that were done right in designing this bucket
and I want to mention a few.
1. The price. It's very reasonably priced. It has a high number of
non-basic bricks, but without the high ticket price of a themed set.
2. The selection of parts. It's as though someone at TLG read my mind.
There are some excellent and useful parts in this bucket. Not the least of
these are the 1x1 grey cylinders, the larger black tires for 2x2 hubs, the
4x10 brick plate, the large number of slopes and inverse slopes, and of
course the plates. You can never have enough plates. The selection of
parts seems well suited for the construction of either vehicles or small
town buildings. What more could you ask for?
3. The idea book. Yes, yes, yes. This is how you do an idea book. These
are realistic, yet simple models that any young builder can understand and
accomplish on their own. Compare this idea book with any of the one sheet
posters that come in Freestyle buckets and you'll know what I mean.
4. The word 'classic' on the bucket. Yes, retro sells. Even when the new
product doesn't perfectly resemble its origins. Take a look at what
Volkswagon did with the new Beetle. It looks *something* like the
original, but sold phenominally well anyway. The same can be said for this
bucket of LEGO bricks. They certainly didn't have large plastic buckets or
tubs of LEGO when I was a kid, but the contents of this set reminded me
enough of the old #4, 5, 6 etc. sets from the 70's when I was a kid.
However......
There always has to be a 'however' doesn't there?
However, there are two small things I do want to complain about with this
set. In comparision to the previously expressed praise these are really
minuscule, but I feel they are worth noting.
1. Even though the idea book makes numerous pictorial references to a
handy green brick separator, there isn't one included with the set. This
just seems... odd. There seems to be an assumption that, "everyone already
has one, so we'll just show a picture of one". I think this could be a
cheap fix.
2. This set is not, as of right now, available in Canada. I had one
brought back to Canada for me by someone who works in the U.S. Why, oh why
hasn't this set been released in Canada yet? I simply cannot fathom a
reason. I would run out tomorrow and buy 2 or 3 more of these if they were
only available. And like the less impressive 4267 bucket I would likely
continue to buy 1 or 2 a month until either the store runs out, or my wife
insists on being able to get into the 2nd bedroom.
I hope that TLG will take a look at releasing products similar to the 4288
bucket. It's a great collection of parts, I only wish that there were
other buckets/sets that were put together with the same design philosophy.
Keep up the great work LEGO!
Best regards,
Allan Bedford
--
Expert Builder Website - The Megaproject Showcase
http://www.execulink.com/~apotome/expert.htm
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