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In lugnet.general, Andy Lynch writes:
> Has anyone done a study to determine what is so appealing to the buyers
> of Bionicle? And I don't mean the AFOLs as much as the rest of the
> buyers...
>
> Is it:
> - Because they are robotic/action figures?
> - Because they have a full online story behind them, with characters and
> a specific storyline?
> - The online game, which is different from just a storyline, I guess.
> - Because they are "combat" based? ( The idea of "knocking masks off" to
> "cure" infected or evil enemies)
>
> any other ideas?
I think the very fact that we have Bionicle today is due
to the past success of the Throwbot/Slizers and Roboriders
sets.
Whenever LEGO has a runaway best-seller (e.g. the Aquanaut
sets), they run the idea into the ground trying to replicate
that success (e.g. all the subsequent underwater sets).
Throwbots must have sold very well for LEGO to continue
tweaking and reintroducing the idea of the collectable
little robot action figures.
So, what makes them popular? Here's my guess.
1. They're cheap.
Since they're only a handful of parts, LEGO can sell them
for $5-$7. This puts them perfectly in the range of
impulse buy, and since they come in a fairly substantial
package, the casual buyer can feel good that they're getting
a fair amount of toy for their money.
2. They're the right size.
For the price, you get something about the size of a he-man
action figure, at at least in the range of scale between a
star-wars figure and a he-man figure.
This is apparently a good size for toys.
3. They're robotic, and vaguely combat-oriented.
This could be listed in several different points, but robots
sell, and combat sells, as toys since at least the 1950s show.
But they're not toooo menacing or dark, so I think that they
slip under the radar of parents who might nix overt war-toy
purchases.
4. They are anthropomorphic and cute. At least to my
eyes. They're fun to pose and are successful as "action
figures." (I don't count Roboriders as a success in this
category.)
5. They're interchangable. You can mix and match the parts.
(Duh, obviously, with LEGO, but you couldn't easily mix and
match parts of He-man figures.)
6. They're collectable - part of a tangible line. "Buy all
six!" Combined with #4, this makes them very desirable.
The price makes them tempting to buy as an impulse or as a gift,
and then factors 5 and 6 prompt the acquisition of the rest of
the sets.
Obviously LEGO is throwing in a bunch of new wrinkles to try
to push Bionicle way over the top as a successful fad. A
pokemon-type card game. A story, a web-site, computer games.
My guess is that the card game isn't going to be a huge hit.
I could be wrong.
My second guess is that purchases of the card game will not
drive increased sale of the Bionicle toys, but that the toys
could drive enormous sales of the cards, and I bet that that's
what LEGO is praying for. Pokemon redux. Out of all of the
pokemon-licensed things, I think the cards were the huge
money-makers.
Once someone has all six (or all 12, or all 18) bionicles, they're
not likely to want to buy multiples of the toys. There's a
limit to how many of the toys a kid will want (one of each).
Of course, LEGO could then introduce six more toa, or whatever.
However, there's conceivably no limit to the number of card
sets someone will purchase in order to acquire a large collection
of cards.
Whether the card game is well-designed enough to be a hit along
the lines of Magic or Pokemon, I dunno. I just sort of doubt it.
But you never know.
I've never really caught on to the idea that computer games are
a way to sell more LEGO. If the games are fun, they may be hits,
but, again, I doubt they will drive the sale of many more toys.
Perhaps a slight synergistic effect. LEGO would be hoping that
people who buy the computer game will gravitate towards the card
game, I think.
> The thought I was having was that whatever the reason, it CAN be applied
> to traditional Lego system sets, if Lego wanted to... i.e. Hype the
> minifig, leave less storyline to the imagination (UGH), etc.
Well, we already see some other LEGO toys being marketed in a way
as to take advantage of several of my six points listed above.
Those "Racers" come to mind. I think those are too cheapo
happy-mealesque to be a hit, though.
I could see LEGO doing something like this with a minifig-based line
of toys. Come up with six or so small vehicles, put a different
exclusive minifig in each set, package them unusually. I'm surprised
we didn't see something like that with Harry Potter. But, instead,
LEGO followed its usual plan of offering a range of sets, small to
large. Since the sale of a large set makes LEGO so much more money
than the sale of small sets, I think that they will continue to try
to gear their minifig-based sets in this fashion - offer some small
sets to get kids interested, and then offer the huge outrageously priced
castle or whatever as the top-of-the-line money-maker.
You can see LEGO trying to do this with Bionicle - with the larger
"bad guy" sets. My expectation is that those sets will sell modestly
in comparision to the cheaper ones - the "collecting hook" isn't
as sharp with the larger sets. You really don't need to buy the big
spider or whatever to feel like you have a complete set of toa.
The discontinuity of form factor will work against the larger sets.
Just a guess.
Anyway, yes, if Bionicle is a runaway success, it will shape
some future LEGO developments. But you can't always strike gold
with fads. I don't know how many times LEGO could try to get kids
psyched up about a card-game-computer-game-toy combo. If Bionicle
sells in huge numbers, they may try again and again to repeat that
success.
I don't see traditional minifig-based LEGO going away, though. Star
Wars must've sold a lot, and the lessons that LEGO seemed to
learn from that (get a good license, and make reasonably non-juniorized
models) seems to show up in the Harry Potter line.
--
jthompson@esker.com "Float on a river, forever and ever, Emily"
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