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Well spoken! (do you write for something published?) I've only been in
computer since mid-eighties, with dark ages for years after Amiga died....
And I hate MS as well. Problem is that like so many others I'm stuck with
them because of the company I work for.... Hate McD too, for that matter...
Anyway, TLC have problems. I think we can all agree on that.
One of their problems is us, AFOL's. I'm no expert on this, but I guess
we're a group that they haven't been aware of for long. We're not their
prime target, but do spend bucketloads of bucks on their products. And we're
tough critics. We've been around. We've seen a number of incarnations of
certain sets. I mean, it must be hard for them to come up with a better
technic helicopter every few years. Or a town fire-engine.
What they're best at, is also their problem now: making durable toys. Those
brick just last forever. So to keep us buying sets they have to come up with
new pieces all the time. I think they've made nearly all universal bricks by
now, so they're doing specialised bricks. Not as versatile as they old 2x4,
but they provide easier building, more detail or both. And we complain about
juniorisation.
Look at instructions. We're complaining (yes, I'm guilty myself) that the
instructions (especially for Technic) are becoming too long and
oversimplified; almost down to one piece per step. Yet look at the number of
AFOL's saying that the destroyer droid or the Shuttle are challenging sets
to build. Imagine being 10 and Santa buys you the destroyer droid as your
second Technic set.....
In a way we're buying stuff that's not designed for us. LEGO is a great toy
for all ages, but marketing is aimed at children. I think TLC are slowly
beginning to direct some of their marketing (and thereby set-design) effort
and budget towards us. Look at the X-wing elite-version for example. You
have to be 20+ to remember the X-wing, and you need a steady job to afford
it. But let's face it: we don't need their marketing. We're already
convinced. We're buying anyway to meet our ever-rising demand. Remember
Johnny Five? Input, need more Input. Bricks, need more Bricks....
What we do need is a steady supply of the basic bricks, and that's where
(IMHO) things hurt most at the moment. Specialised parts are great for
modelling, but you only need so many of them, whereas you need more and more
basic bricks as your projects get more ambitious. The junioriazation problem
isn't in the specialised parts (however much you hate them), but in the lack
of the basics. And that's where TLC are trying to ease the pain with Bulk
packs. Now for some the bulk packs will never be big enough, but they can't
cater for small fractions of the customer base. I mean, surely some people
would love a bulk pack with 100 windows, or 2000 white 2x4's, but how many
people would actually buy them? And how many of those would be happy enough
to pay the extra dollar and buy 5 packs of 20 windows?
For some people the perfect LEGO shop would be like an electronics shop:
thousands of drawers, you just hand in your shopping list and get exactly
what you want (For those people that's probably what their basement looks
like anyway...). Don't waste money on instructions or fancy boxes, just get
us the bricks! But let's get real here: That's a minority of LEGO buyers,
eventhough they spend big bucks.
One last point: What's the one thing we need for our hobby to survive? TLC
to survive. Now I'm sure they're more than happy with us AFOL's, but to
survive as a company we're not enough. They need young children. And like it
or not (I don't) but children these days have shorter attention spans. Now
you can be very idealistic about this (I was when I was a teacher. Didn't
last long. Neither the idealism nor me as a teacher) and say that TLC should
make challenging sets they take long enjoyable hours to build, but it won't
work. You'd have to change the world for that. I mean: dump MTV, ban
Microwaves, erase Transformers from history. You can't. Sad but true. So we
need that cursed juniorisation for winning new souls, then slowly convince
them that it's fun if building a space shuttle takes all sunday.....
Duq
Sorry for the length of this, I guess I rambled on a bit. Shouldn't drink
when writing.....
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Message has 1 Reply:
 | | VERY well said Duq
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| all of your post was so true, so true, but not changing the world just because its hard? that's an easy road to take. remember yoda? the dark side is easier, more seductive. If humans are going to have anything more than a 2 second attention span (...) (24 years ago, 12-Jan-01, to lugnet.dear-lego, lugnet.general)
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Message is in Reply To:
| | Re: What would it take?
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| (...) Hey, I resemble that remark :-) Actually, my groan isn't knee-jerk at all. I've been programming computers since about the time Microsoft bought MS-DOS and then foisted it upon the world. They got where they are on IBM's name, not their own, (...) (24 years ago, 12-Jan-01, to lugnet.dear-lego, lugnet.general)
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