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This is the text of Jake's speech. It is not verbatim, it is his speaker notes (shared with me per preagreement) but he didn't say this word for word. However it's what he said, in essence: - start - What an amazing event! Once again, you’ve pulled (...) (21 years ago, 16-Feb-04, to lugnet.events.brickfest) !!
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| | General session Q&A
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Here are the first few questions Colors: A: Jake is answering the color qiuestion: We had to (see text) but we did not communicate right. They are NOT coming back. but... we are going to try to produce some old colors in bulk... 10000 bags of each (...) (21 years ago, 16-Feb-04, to lugnet.events.brickfest)
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Grr. I lost the rest of the questions that I was going to post and we are out of time.... this was a pretty short question time. (21 years ago, 16-Feb-04, to lugnet.events.brickfest)
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(...) [...a lot of positive things...] • We lost some of the primary building colours. (...) A "leap off the cliff", in some regards. (...) Regardless of how honest your answer (and the whole affair) was, it was communicated in a way that left way (...) (21 years ago, 16-Feb-04, to lugnet.events.brickfest)
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(...) (all snipped) Thanks for your efforts, Larry! Always extremely kind of you to spend time bringing this to everyone unfortunate enough not to be able to attend. --Dave (21 years ago, 16-Feb-04, to lugnet.events.brickfest)
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Hello! (...) Huh? Never heard about this before. (...) That I am aware of :) Though the 1000steine-Land in Berlin has not been the first event. But that's a different story. (...) In my case it's a relationship over 25 years, if I count Duplo in ;) (...) (21 years ago, 16-Feb-04, to lugnet.events.brickfest, lugnet.general, FTX) !
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(...) (URL) (...) (21 years ago, 16-Feb-04, to lugnet.events.brickfest, lugnet.general, FTX)
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(...) One thing to add to this, Jake passed around a couple of the new Harry Potter minifigs. This was the extent of the "new set revealing" that was done. I suspect we will not see as much of the new set revealing. In one way it's a bummer to not (...) (21 years ago, 16-Feb-04, to lugnet.events.brickfest)
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(...) That is a let-down. It might mean less incentive to go to the Brick Convention, especially for those who are sitting on the fence on whether to go or not (if they haven't been to one already). However, (having been to two Brickfests already), (...) (21 years ago, 16-Feb-04, to lugnet.events.brickfest)
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(...) Ack! Did not expect this... Previous unveilings at similar conventions: Santa Fe Super Chief MOC Santa Fe Cars Wright Bros. Plane Train Engine Shed Designer Sets Space Shuttle Discovery Lunar Lander Cloud City etc. etc. Brickfest PDX: a couple (...) (21 years ago, 16-Feb-04, to lugnet.events.brickfest)
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(...) Had I beed at BF PDX, I would have wanted to ask the following questions: 1. How many staffers lost or will will lose their jobs as a result of this color chage fiasco?? I know if I were KKK, I would discharge the entire marketing team, the (...) (21 years ago, 16-Feb-04, to lugnet.events.brickfest)
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(...) Well, at least we'll all have a chance to get at those 10,000 bags. One question I've been wondering of and no mention was made of it(?) was what will happen to 9V track? Will they also be of the "when they are gone they are gone"? Adr. (21 years ago, 16-Feb-04, to lugnet.events.brickfest)
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<snipped> (...) this (...) I would be willing to bet not a single one. The ones that will lose their jobs are the line workers. The first to go when a company runs into a financial downturn. (...) research (...) mistake (...) Could not agree with (...) (21 years ago, 16-Feb-04, to lugnet.events.brickfest, lugnet.lego)
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In lugnet.events.brickfest, Kevin Salm wrote: snipped (...) Maybe public events are what we need to do most. As you said, LEGO is doing a rather poor job getting word out to the public of this color change. I have told many of my cousin's kids if (...) (21 years ago, 16-Feb-04, to lugnet.lego)
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I wouldn't hold my breath for this to actually happen. This sounds like something to make us AFOL think they care about our concerns, but it will never materialize. I seem to remember something a while back about Lego having too many SKU's already. (...) (21 years ago, 16-Feb-04, to lugnet.events.brickfest)
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Problems is that if AFOL's took this approach, it would then be our fault Lego continued to have a financial decline. No doubt in my mind that is how it would go down. Clearly TLC has no intention of admitting the severity of the color changes. Greg (...) (21 years ago, 16-Feb-04, to lugnet.lego)
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(...) This is actually a very valid point. We can make our own "marketing" campaign at any public display. We (as AFOLs) can raise the issue that Lego has created. Be as negative as you want to be. Tell kids that their old sets no longer are (...) (21 years ago, 16-Feb-04, to lugnet.lego)
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(...) Even if they made 10k bags of various parts, I can still see a small number of people buying up HUGE quantities of the bags. So we are still left wanting more of the original colours. Either way, the problem will be un-resolved. *sigh* -Bryan (21 years ago, 16-Feb-04, to lugnet.events.brickfest)
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You are absolutely right Bryan. Look at what happened to the 4400 tubs that came on S@H for a VERY short time. A few BrickLink sellers were able to order tons and many that would have liked a few missed out. Availability of classic grey and/or brown (...) (21 years ago, 16-Feb-04, to lugnet.events.brickfest)
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(...) I completely agree. I don't think anyone at LEGO will lose their job for this. I also don't think "that Lego was trying to sneak the color change in the back door". This statement implies that they actually thought the color change was (...) (21 years ago, 16-Feb-04, to lugnet.events.brickfest, lugnet.lego, FTX)
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It would be more accurately stated: Nobody goes home happy! How could anyone possibly go home happy when the answer is TOUGH, maybe we will offer some limited availability elements but after that too bad we could are less. It is wholly and (...) (21 years ago, 16-Feb-04, to lugnet.events.brickfest, lugnet.lego)
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(...) what EuroBricks is about: (URL) it as a kind of knowledge center platform where newer LUG's can profit and share the experience from the longer established LUG's, for instance in the field of participating with events. It's an initiative by (...) (21 years ago, 16-Feb-04, to lugnet.events.brickfest, lugnet.general)
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(...) Now THAT would be a pleasant surprise. I've brought up such an idea briefly before, but like you said, it won't be very likely. Even if they had a minimum order amount, that wouldn't be too much of a problem when groups can combine their (...) (21 years ago, 16-Feb-04, to lugnet.events.brickfest)
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(...) I can see how the new colours may be more appealing, but I don't buy that as a valid excuse and I am sick of reading it here. As if this would ever happen: Mom: "Hey son, do you like this new LEGO Star Wars set?" Son: "No, the tone of the (...) (21 years ago, 16-Feb-04, to lugnet.events.brickfest)
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(...) This is a very good idea and it does work. I have informed many people in the Lego aisles of many stores about the color change. Many of them leave without purchasing anything, or they just decide to buy the MB. Not all of them care. But I (...) (21 years ago, 16-Feb-04, to lugnet.lego)
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| | Confronting the public in the aisles (was Re: General session Q&A)
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(...) Do you find that they they just nod politely, smile feebly, and then start to back away slowly, without making any sudden moves which might alarm you? Cheers Richie Dulin (21 years ago, 16-Feb-04, to lugnet.lego)
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In lugnet.events.brickfest, Larry Pieniazek wrote: <snip> (...) For all who might hear: In a recent talk with a very nice (and honest) person at Customs Service, this person told me that the major reason for this color change was to match Mega (...) (21 years ago, 17-Feb-04, to lugnet.events.brickfest)
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(...) I wouldn't like to see TLC going down but, what else would it take to them to go back on this issue?? (Once they can't hear us...) Paulo Renato (21 years ago, 17-Feb-04, to lugnet.lego)
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| | Re: Confronting the public in the aisles (was Re: General session Q&A)
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(...) Actually, most of them have given me that"huh? Why would the Lego company do something so stupid after all these years" look. Some do just give that "yeah, whatever" look. But no one has ever fainted from the disbelief after being told. Well, (...) (21 years ago, 17-Feb-04, to lugnet.lego)
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(...) My thinking on this was even broader than just AFOL's. I was thinking of the lack of marketing to the masses. When laundry detergent or toothpaste or automobiles or shampoo or razors or pizza are changed, the marketing departments and (...) (21 years ago, 17-Feb-04, to lugnet.events.brickfest, lugnet.lego, FTX)
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(...) ~~snip~~ It is NOT my intention or goal to be negative. TLC does NOT need my help to ruin their brand image. They have proven they can do it all by themselves. As evidence, TLC threw out a perfectly good 25-year old trademark when they stopped (...) (21 years ago, 17-Feb-04, to lugnet.lego)
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That is just it Kevin, nobody at Lego got any sense. They just responded to the one and only thing that corporate robots instantly respond to. The loss of money, especially on the scale that Lego did last year, is a powerful thing. It will likely (...) (21 years ago, 17-Feb-04, to lugnet.lego)
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(...) I think it would be interesting to know just how much each and every AFOL spends each week/month/year on Lego. Just to try to gauge how much in potential lost sales the company would incure. Would it be significant? Have any Bricklink stores (...) (21 years ago, 17-Feb-04, to lugnet.lego)
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(...) See... I disagree with you on this point. The poor sales of 2004 will have nothing to do with color change. We, the AFOLs may cease buying because of this fact, but that is a drop in the bucket of problems, a mere 5% loss in a world of hurt (...) (21 years ago, 17-Feb-04, to lugnet.lego, FTX)
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(...) This isn't necessarily true, but it's got some good parallels. Popular wisdom holds that Coca-Cola pretended to change their formula to be more "Pepsi-like," then staged giant well-publicized "protests" against themselves. They got a couple (...) (21 years ago, 17-Feb-04, to lugnet.events.brickfest, lugnet.lego)
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(...) a few idle remarks from the peanut gallery Many (most ?) AFOLs buy at clearance. Because certain AFOLs stop buying at clearance, doesn't mean that the stuff will just sit there and go unsold forever. Some clearanced stuff moves back up the (...) (21 years ago, 17-Feb-04, to lugnet.lego, FTX)
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(...) lol. (assuming not already mentioned) even the official 'light pink' color got a bright-n-clean update, back in the days of Paridisa sets. (I for one was disapointed because the older pink had a nice warm creamy color to it.) -Suz (21 years ago, 17-Feb-04, to lugnet.events.brickfest)
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(...) Wow. You mean all of a sudden the bricks stopped fitting together? You mean all of a sudden the new dark gray can't be used with the old blue, red, and black? Do the new gray bricks actually REPEL the old gray colors? Amazing! I didn't know (...) (21 years ago, 17-Feb-04, to lugnet.lego)
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(...) Accusing someone of lying is serious. TLC and the people of Lego Direct do not have a history of lying. Everything I have seen in the last 2 years shows that Brad and Jake to be honest and straightforward. When they can't answer a question, (...) (21 years ago, 17-Feb-04, to lugnet.events.brickfest)
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(...) I am so with you on this one Kevin. AFOLs with big collections and intentions of building very special MOCs are a totally different consumer to the average kid or parent buying Lego. A lot of the AFOLs here are annoyed about losing the (...) (21 years ago, 17-Feb-04, to lugnet.lego)
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(...) It only sounded like that because you were so upset about losing the colors. Seemed totally reasonable to me. (...) They did communicate it! The thread is still there! But people disbelieved them! (...) Oh Christian, what about the new (...) (21 years ago, 17-Feb-04, to lugnet.events.brickfest)
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"Kevin Salm" <kdsalm@dreamscape.com> wrote in message news:Ht7EJ5.s62@lugnet.com... [ ... snipped ... ] (...) or (...) involved (...) change (...) like. (...) [ ... snipped ... ] Did TLC make a big splash about the color change at the Toy Fair this (...) (21 years ago, 17-Feb-04, to lugnet.events.brickfest, lugnet.lego)
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In lugnet.lego, Kevin Johnston wrote: (snip) Very harsh/sarcastic tone, Kevin(1) but I have to agree with the substance. I do not like the color change one bit but I don't see myself standing in aisles telling people not to buy stuff! The bricks (...) (21 years ago, 17-Feb-04, to lugnet.lego)
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(...) Having seen the new colours for the first time when I got out here, I have to agree. Yes, the colours changed. Yes, I would prefer if they had stayed the same. No, the world has not come to a crashing halt because of it. Will I buy "new" (post (...) (21 years ago, 17-Feb-04, to lugnet.lego)
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(...) I do not, and have not, in any way, shape, or form, told people not to buy the new sets. I do not even mention compatability because that is not an issue. I simply tell them that the colors will not match previously purchased sets and leave (...) (21 years ago, 17-Feb-04, to lugnet.lego)
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(...) I had dinner with Jake Sunday night, he said there is a new set that he *really* wanted to premier at Brickfest PDX, but it didn't work out. He gave zero indications as to what type or what theme set it was, but he says it is really a great (...) (21 years ago, 17-Feb-04, to lugnet.events.brickfest)
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(...) I have to agree with you Jojo. Gray is the one color I will never have enough of. Now it is impossible to ever purchase anything but the neon pink tinted gray. I am very concerned that when the Bionicle fad dies (as all fads do) the LEGO (...) (21 years ago, 17-Feb-04, to lugnet.events.brickfest, lugnet.general, FTX)
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(...) Actually the Coca-Cola formula has changed many times over the years (for example they switched from sugar to corn syrup when sugar prices went up) and only the New Coke was advertised. (...) Just like Coke does not advertise its minor changes (...) (21 years ago, 17-Feb-04, to lugnet.events.brickfest, lugnet.lego)
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(...) Any company that disregards %5 of its customers is bound to lose money - for excample the Lego Company;) If I told my boss "ups I made one of our wells blow up, but it was only %5 of our revenues" I would be fired so fast I would not know what (...) (21 years ago, 17-Feb-04, to lugnet.events.brickfest, lugnet.lego, FTX)
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(...) snipped I really hate to say this, but rather than feeling inspired about the great future to come, Jake's speech has instead left me completely disheartened. The bottom line is this: TLG has betrayed my trust. And unfortunately, the only way (...) (21 years ago, 17-Feb-04, to lugnet.events.brickfest, lugnet.lego, lugnet.dear-lego, FTX)
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I didn't want to pollute my above post with this unpleasantness, so I'm separating it here. I closed the above post with quotes from Jake's notes that were particularly disheartening to me. The icing on the cake, however, was "I’m working with the (...) (21 years ago, 17-Feb-04, to lugnet.events.brickfest)
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(...) Where did he accuse Jake of lying? The gist I got from the post was that if that indeed was the reason for the change, then it was a stupid one and the people in the design lab need a boot up the clacker. I do know that from the perspective of (...) (21 years ago, 18-Feb-04, to lugnet.events.brickfest, lugnet.dear-lego)
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(...) I don't think anyone is accusing Jake and LEGO Direct of lying. But Jake can only tell us what he knows. He was completely in the dark about the color change when it happened. Who knows if Denmark is giving him the real story now? The best (...) (21 years ago, 18-Feb-04, to lugnet.events.brickfest)
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In lugnet.events.brickfest, Allister McLaren wrote: snip (...) I think it should also be mentioned that the color change's delta (i.e. the difference between the old color and the new color) is probably less that the delta between the actual color (...) (21 years ago, 18-Feb-04, to lugnet.events.brickfest, lugnet.dear-lego)
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(...) So it's okay for fans to mock Lego's ideas (focus groups! brighter colours!), but not okay to mock the mockers (Boo hoo!) ? (...) Should know? *Must* know!. No, they *need* to know! Better yet they have a *right* to know! (...) Of course not! (...) (21 years ago, 18-Feb-04, to lugnet.events.brickfest)
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Hallo Jojo, (...) (URL) only in German regards Marmaris (Volker Draschka) (21 years ago, 18-Feb-04, to lugnet.events.brickfest, lugnet.general, FTX)
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(...) Greg Hyland works for TLC, at least part of the time. It's generally not good business practice to mock the people that pay your salary. I know we complain that TLC ignores us AFOLs, but having TLC make fun of us isn't an improvement. What is (...) (21 years ago, 18-Feb-04, to lugnet.events.brickfest)
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(...) As someone who has met with Greg on more than one occasion, that some of this is crazy. I don't really care with what Greg does on his on-line posts and stuff, but as someone who does some great stuff and is a very cool guy in person.... ... I (...) (21 years ago, 18-Feb-04, to lugnet.events.brickfest)
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(...) I have also talked to Greg in person (at last year's Brickfest), and he seemed like a swell guy. He was very humble about his outstanding artwork, and was kind of amused when I suggested that he was undercharging for it. But I find his (...) (21 years ago, 18-Feb-04, to lugnet.events.brickfest)
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(...) It doesn't offend me. I find it bizarre and hilarious. No offense at all. (...) Are you now attacking me for expressing my feelings? What do you get out of attacking Lego for expressing their feelings that the new greys are better than the old (...) (21 years ago, 18-Feb-04, to lugnet.events.brickfest)
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(...) And that's precisely why he should look here instead, for what EuroBricks is about: (URL) it as a kind of knowledge center platform where newer LUG's can profit and share the experience from the longer established LUG's, for instance in the (...) (21 years ago, 19-Feb-04, to lugnet.events.brickfest, lugnet.general)
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(...) To be 100% clear, the comic that Greg and I created was positive, humourous, and informative. We didn't make fun of the AFOLs at all. I'd be happy to email you a copy for your review if you like. Jake --- Jake McKee Community Liaison LEGO (...) (21 years ago, 20-Feb-04, to lugnet.events.brickfest)
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(...) Funny thing about Coke, Denmark, and LEGO. When they flew us over (business class) on KLM in 1992 from NY to Copenhagen, they served Coke and LEGO on board. But for the short hop from Copenhagen to Billund, the local airline served the (...) (21 years ago, 20-Feb-04, to lugnet.events.brickfest, lugnet.lego, FTX)
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(...) Hi, Jake, how about making the comic public so we all can see what kind of image of us you are spreading? This would be the easiest way to squelch rumours about "Lego making fun of us". Yours, Christian (21 years ago, 20-Feb-04, to lugnet.events.brickfest)
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(...) Uh, I'll field this question! That's exactly what we're planning to do. I'm sure we'll have it ready for BrickFest. The comics were done orignally for a presentation to illustrate a cross-section of what LEGO fans do for the folks at LEGO in (...) (21 years ago, 20-Feb-04, to lugnet.events.brickfest)
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(...) ... (...) ... (...) Greg, I'm looking forward to seeing the comic. I'm not into Castle or Space, nor am I bothered by the color change, but I still find your examples funny. I can't wait to see more, Steve (21 years ago, 20-Feb-04, to lugnet.events.brickfest)
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(...) But Jojo is German, why should he read the English explanation instead of the German one? And AFAIK, the Eurobrick-infos at De Bouwsteen are not available for the public... Leg Godt, René (21 years ago, 20-Feb-04, to lugnet.general)
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(...) Thanks for giving us the details of the comic. You did a great job of getting across our frustrations across to TLC employees. Based on your comments on FBTB, I was afraid you were going to make a less sympathetic portrayal of AFOLs and their (...) (21 years ago, 21-Feb-04, to lugnet.events.brickfest, FTX)
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