Subject:
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One way for Lego to improve its set designs
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Newsgroups:
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lugnet.general, lugnet.dear-lego
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Date:
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Tue, 31 Oct 2000 21:56:24 GMT
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Viewed:
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1960 times
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We all have a reasonable idea of Lego's set design process:
1. Choose, create or license a new theme/subtheme
2. Produce a range of concept models
3. Decide on new pieces to mould (eg Insectoid legs)
4. Design and manufacture 6-10 sets per release for that theme
Obviously Lego fans depend on TLC to take care of step four. But I think
there's a lot of room for much more coordinated involvement in steps one and
two, and even three.
A good example of step one is the frequently repeated suggestion to
establish a theme based on Classical Civilisations (Greece, Roman Empire,
Egypt seem obvious, possibly also Mesopotamia (Sumeria etc), India and
China). There's also room here for "parallel" subthemes: City life (baths,
temples); Battle (legions, chariots); Myth (deities, monsters); Barbarians
(better take care of that Asterix licence); Disasters (Pompeii, Atlantis).
Step two is something we could do ourselves. Let's say there's a "Trojan
War" subtheme, with six sets. The smallest could be a two minifig tent, the
largest the Trojan Horse (contains the horse, city walls, half a dozen
Greeks, half a dozen Trojans). Along the lines of Todd's "Classic Space"
contest, interested folks could develop sets that satisfy both the Lego
fan's demand for quality, and TLC's demand for marketability.
Alternatively, this is where we could help Lego develop their own new
themes. Suppose Lego is working on the "Life on Mars" range for 2002, and
they've decided that a major feature of Martian architecture is octagon
piping a la Aquanauts, in lavender. TLC has committed itself to making
tonnes of this piping. By releasing lavender piping bulk packs immediately,
there would be a great opportunity for people to contribute to the design of
the new sets.
Finally, as a result of all this free R&D, Lego would have a much better
idea of what, if any, new pieces would be useful for the new sets. I doubt
whether many of us would tell them exactly how they could better POOPify one
of our MOCs, but if a degree of POOPification was inevitable, perhaps we
could mitigate its SPUDiness.
I'll leave the questions of intellectual property/open source set design to
off-topic.debate, but what do people think? I'm actually quite keen on the
Trojan War theme: maybe we could talk about it in .castle .
--DaveL
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