 | | End of Year Thoughts —John P. Henderson
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| | | Hi all, Okay I am about to ramble endlessly again. Everything I am about to spout forth is indeed my own uneducated opinion. Feel free to educate me on any points that are off-base (just do it nicely, pretty please)... Also, forgive me if .general (...) (23 years ago, 28-Nov-01, to lugnet.general) !
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| | | | | Re: End of Year Thoughts —John P. Henderson
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| | | | | <snip> Jeepers. All that, and I spelled "philosophy" wrong! ;P -H. (23 years ago, 28-Nov-01, to lugnet.general)
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| | | | | | | Re: End of Year Thoughts —Maggie Cambron
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| | | | | | (...) That's all right, it was an obvious typo. What should bother you is the way you spelled "occasional"! ;-) Maggie C. (23 years ago, 29-Nov-01, to lugnet.general, lugnet.off-topic.fun)
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| | | | | | | | Re: End of Year Thoughts —John P. Henderson
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| | | | | | (...) DOH! Just goes to show you, "Det bedste er ikke for godt" !! 8-) -H. (23 years ago, 29-Nov-01, to lugnet.off-topic.fun)
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| | | | | Re: End of Year Thoughts —Aaron Gershon
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| | | | | Is Lego going in the right direction? I don't know. I like the Star Wars and Harry Potter themes. Seems like there will be no new Arctic stuff. Is Adventurers dead? Will we see more of LoM?; doubt it. I don't get Bionicle but I guess many people (...) (23 years ago, 29-Nov-01, to lugnet.general)
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| | | | | | | Re: End of Year Thoughts —Richie Dulin
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| | | | | | | (...) Indeed it is - to most of us, but I know several 3-4 year olds who love it (although possibly not more than any other police truck/fire truck toy, with a poseably action figure and some pull it apart and put it together functionality) and they (...) (23 years ago, 29-Nov-01, to lugnet.general)
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| | | | | | | | | Re: End of Year Thoughts —Allan Bedford
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| | | | | | | | (...) And apparently Bionicle is selling like crazy. But does that make it right for the company to abandon its sense of reason and pursue only fad toys? (...) If they read the instructions at all. From what I've heard from some parents, the (...) (23 years ago, 29-Nov-01, to lugnet.general)
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| | | | | | | | | | Re: End of Year Thoughts —Erik Olson
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| | | | | | | | | When I go back into the stores I'm just going to ask the parents what they think. Beats helping them with Bionicle. (23 years ago, 29-Nov-01, to lugnet.general)
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| | | | | | | | | | Re: End of Year Thoughts —Jeromy Irvine
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| | | | | | | | | (...) If you think it's bad that kids don't mix the Bionicle parts in with the rest of their LEGO collection, you'll just love this: I asked an 8-year-old kid that I know what his favorite toys were. His answer: "LEGO, G.I. Joe, and Bionicle." He (...) (23 years ago, 29-Nov-01, to lugnet.general)
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| | | | | | | | | | Re: End of Year Thoughts —Richie Dulin
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| | | | | | | | (...) Abandon it's sense of reason to sell something that is "selling like crazy", they are a toymaker not some benevolent institution. (...) I could assemble may 651 tow truck set without instructions in 1972... clearly that was simplistic and of (...) (23 years ago, 29-Nov-01, to lugnet.general)
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| | | | | | | | | | Re: End of Year Thoughts —William R. Ward
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| | | | | | | | | (...) It's risky. bit like day trading - when you're hot, you're hot, but when things aren't going so well, you can be ruined easily. What if Lego plowed millions into a new fad toy that never went anywhere? (...) I keep my Expert Builder pieces (...) (23 years ago, 30-Nov-01, to lugnet.general)
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| | | | | | | | | | Re: End of Year Thoughts —John P. Henderson
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| | | | | | | | | (...) Heehee. Interesting POV. And perhaps I will be there one day too. Although currently, I am not one extreme or the other. I'd like to see some focus, yet not so much so that we only have basic bricks in five colors either. I like having Themes (...) (23 years ago, 30-Nov-01, to lugnet.general)
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| | | | | | | | | | Re: End of Year Thoughts —Allan Bedford
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| | | | | | | | (...) Perhaps I should clarify. I don't mean to suggest that they stop selling Bionicle. But rather that they not drop other core lines and design values for the sake of jumping on a fad product. The problem becomes... what happens when they follow (...) (23 years ago, 30-Nov-01, to lugnet.general)
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| | | | | | | | | | Re: End of Year Thoughts —Anders Isaksson
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| | | | | | | | "Allan Bedford" <apotomeREMOVE-THIS@...vista.net> skrev i meddelandet news:GnLEz9.FG2@lugnet.com... (...) Maybe because 20+ years ago, the Space Race was still Big News (OK, maybe 20+++ years ago), kids only had 2 TV channels to watch, no home (...) (23 years ago, 30-Nov-01, to lugnet.general)
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| | | | | | | | | | Re: End of Year Thoughts —Allan Bedford
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| | | | | | | | (...) I guess I should clarify. If you look at the three things I mentioned: 1) Strong theme 2) Consistent colors 3) Incredible design You'll note that they don't specifically relate to the Classic Space theme itself. The question wasn't, "why can't (...) (23 years ago, 1-Dec-01, to lugnet.general)
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| | | | | | | | | | Re: End of Year Thoughts —Benjamin Medinets
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| | | | | | | | | <snip> (...) for me, it was just over 2 years ago, I was doing good fighting urges to go back to collecting the lego, avoiding the toy stores, trying hard not to look in the toy advertizements. Then I made the mistake of going into a toy store, and (...) (23 years ago, 1-Dec-01, to lugnet.general)
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| | | | | | | | | | Re: End of Year Thoughts —Anders Isaksson
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| | | | | | | | "Allan Bedford" <apotomeREMOVE-THIS@...vista.net> skrev i meddelandet news:Gnn8E2.Cvq@lugnet.com... (...) I don't see any irony in that, BlockCAD is only a substitute for The Real Thing, and it _does_ have it's limitations. I'm using it to relax (...) (23 years ago, 1-Dec-01, to lugnet.general)
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| | | | | | | Re: End of Year Thoughts —Erik Olson
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| | | | | | | What Richie said. Jack Stone is not aimed at us, it's aimed at the crowd they made Town Jr. for. Now if they would give us back our Town Sr... (23 years ago, 29-Nov-01, to lugnet.general)
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| | | | | | | | | Re: End of Year Thoughts —Allan Bedford
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| | | | | | | | (...) Or.... LEGO could just aim higher. Kids today are smarter than we were 25 years ago. We used to play with steel tipped lawn darts! :) Raise the bar and kids will meet it. It's not a terribly complicated concept. There's no need for Town Jr. or (...) (23 years ago, 29-Nov-01, to lugnet.general)
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| | | | | | | | | | Re: End of Year Thoughts —Erik Olson
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| | | | | | | | | You're right. At least I think so. But with all their Focus Groups saying otherwise, for Lego it would seem a terrible risk! (23 years ago, 29-Nov-01, to lugnet.general)
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| | | | | | | | | | Re: End of Year Thoughts —Benjamin Medinets
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| | | | | | | | (...) I heartedly agree. Jack Stone and Creator lines were for younger generation. If I were them, I would have lumped both of them together, and only had one line, and subthemes for both of them....maybe that was there primary goals when they (...) (23 years ago, 29-Nov-01, to lugnet.general)
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| | | | | | | Re: End of Year Thoughts —Scott Arthur
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| | | | | | (...) HP is ~OK~. Some of the SW sets were v. good (x-wing, snowspeeder, a-wing etc etc). Others were quite dull (any pod set, the technic CP30 and Stormtropper, and the Gungan Sub) (...) We have some of the smaller sets, these are quite good. We (...) (23 years ago, 29-Nov-01, to lugnet.general)
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| | | | | Re: End of Year Thoughts —Allan Bedford
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| | | | | (...) I think .general is an acceptable place for this... though Dear LEGO would probably also have worked. :) (...) There are two similar pronouncements that come to mind: 1) Taken from Charles Fishman's article on the Fast Company website: "But (...) (23 years ago, 29-Nov-01, to lugnet.general)
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| | | | | | | Re: End of Year Thoughts —Erik Olson
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| | | | | | | John & Allan, You both have thoughtful things to say. Coincidentally last night I was reading the front page of the Ultimate Book, the one where Kjeld makes the hollow promises about what Lego will stand for in 2005. (By the way, since DK Books have (...) (23 years ago, 29-Nov-01, to lugnet.general)
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| | | | | | | Re: End of Year Thoughts —John P. Henderson
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| | | | | | | (...) Exactly! And that reminds me of another anecdote I forgot to mention in my earlier post: With pics of my Town and a few small models around my cubicle, people throught the company I work for have learned of my hobby. During the past few weeks, (...) (23 years ago, 29-Nov-01, to lugnet.general)
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| | | | | | | | | Re: End of Year Thoughts —Mike Petrucelli
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| | | | | | | | | (...) Ding-Ding! We have a winner. As an Assistant Manager at EB Kids, (some may recall, formerly at KB toys) at least one parent per day (usually two or three) has asked me: "Do have any Basic Lego sets? You know the kind with mostly bricks that (...) (23 years ago, 30-Nov-01, to lugnet.general)
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| | | | | | | | | Re: End of Year Thoughts —Anders Isaksson
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| | | | | | | | "Hendo (John P. Henderson)" <hendo@valyance.com> skrev i meddelandet news:GnKpA0.H5H@lugnet.com... (...) Maybe, but kids are big consumers too nowadays. They have more money to spend than we had, and they learn early to speak out their wishes, while (...) (23 years ago, 30-Nov-01, to lugnet.general)
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| | | | | | | | | | Re: End of Year Thoughts —Benjamin Medinets
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| | | | | | | | (...) I don't think I totally agree with this statement. Maybe it was me, but my family didn't have a lot of "disposable" income (I got no allowance), and I would call me family a little bit on the old fashioned, (subdued-factor), but I had ways of (...) (23 years ago, 30-Nov-01, to lugnet.general)
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| | | | | | | | | | Re: End of Year Thoughts —Allan Bedford
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| | | | | | | | (...) If you're company thinking of not concentrating on your core product, I think two words should immediately come to mind... New Coke This was a monumental disaster. (...) Or... create a generation of Bionicle fans who don't even know that it's (...) (23 years ago, 1-Dec-01, to lugnet.general)
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| | | | | | | Re: End of Year Thoughts —Jason Maxwell
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| | | | | | (...) Let's not use Disney as an example. My wife is to Disney as many of us here are to LEGO, and it appears that Disney may have even bigger problems that LEGO does in retaining it's adult market. The commercials you refer to are for events at (...) (23 years ago, 30-Nov-01, to lugnet.general)
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| | | | | | | | Re: End of Year Thoughts —Allan Bedford
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| | | | | | (...) My apologies... I should have been more clear on why I was using Disney as an example. I was giving Disney credit for the simple act of 'recognizing' their adult fan base. What they do or do not do beyond that isn't really of much interest to (...) (23 years ago, 30-Nov-01, to lugnet.general)
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| | | | | Re: End of Year Thoughts —Arne Lykke Nielsen
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| | | | | (...) In the Danish TV News this week they said, that TLC's financial performance for 2001 was saved by the tremendous succes of the Harry Potter sets. I think the issue for TLC is timing - if Adventurers had been out ten years earlier (at the time (...) (23 years ago, 29-Nov-01, to lugnet.general)
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| | | | | | | Re: End of Year Thoughts —Lawrence Wilkes
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| | | | | | "Arne Lykke Nielsen" <arln@wanadoo.dk> wrote in message news:GnJyEn.K8@lugnet.com... (...) It would be interesting to know to what extent they were 'saved by Harry Potter'. For example, would they have made another loss without HP? What lines were (...) (23 years ago, 29-Nov-01, to lugnet.general)
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| | | | | | | | Re: End of Year Thoughts —Scott Arthur
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| | | | | | (...) I agree. It would be such fun to see product-by-product, theme-by-theme & year-by-year how the company performs. I expect we shall never see that sort of data, but one can dream... The biggest turkey must be ZNAP. I expect it is too soon, but (...) (23 years ago, 29-Nov-01, to lugnet.general)
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| | | | | Re: End of Year Thoughts —Benjamin Medinets
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| | | | | let me rant in reaction to yours... (...) I agree with this assessment. I thought there were some good things with with the 2000 line-up. The adventures line, while still degenerating from its heydey in 1998 (Egyptian line), still had some nice (...) (23 years ago, 29-Nov-01, to lugnet.general)
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| | | | | | | Re: End of Year Thoughts —Tim Courtney
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| | | | | | "Benjamin Medinets" <bmedinets@excite.com> wrote in message news:GnKL1K.4ww@lugnet.com... (...) few (...) Its interesting you call this the worst year yet, and at the same time we got Legends and Classic stuff. Sad thing is, its true. (...) ones) (...) (23 years ago, 29-Nov-01, to lugnet.general)
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| | | | | Re: End of Year Thoughts —Todd Thuma
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| | | | | A general response to all that has been said in this thread. Didn't Lego Group have a terrible year in 1999 as well? It seems to me the business decisions made in 1998 lead to the terrible year in 1999. Now 2000 is bad! That would mean 1999 (...) (23 years ago, 29-Nov-01, to lugnet.general)
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| | | | | | | Re: End of Year Thoughts —John P. Henderson
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| | | | | | | (...) <snip> You bring up some valid points of view in your post... Just a couple comments though... (...) But where does this bridge to?? Without some sort of Town or City sets designed for an older age bracket (6-12), then they have simply (...) (23 years ago, 29-Nov-01, to lugnet.general)
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| | | | | | | | | Re: End of Year Thoughts —Richie Dulin
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| | | | | | | | (...) To a myriad of other LEGO products. (...) No, they've designed a way to go somewhere other than town. LEGO doesn't have to be town. Cheers Richie Dulin (23 years ago, 29-Nov-01, to lugnet.general)
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| | | | | | | | | | Re: End of Year Thoughts —William R. Ward
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| | | | | | | | | (...) Or, you could be optimistic, and say that since the Town Jr. kids are not old enough for more mature town sets, maybe LEGO is waiting a year or two, and they they will introduce bigger town sets. But I think the main thing is that little boys (...) (23 years ago, 29-Nov-01, to lugnet.general)
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| | | | | | | | | | | Re: End of Year Thoughts —Benjamin Medinets
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| | | | | | | | | | (...) One could hope!! :) (...) I walked into the dismally looking toy store (Toys R US), and saw only the "trashy" stuff (which I won't buy, not even on sale), the stuff I already have, and the stuff which is too expensive (waiting it to on a sharp (...) (23 years ago, 30-Nov-01, to lugnet.general)
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| | | | | | | | | | | | Re: End of Year Thoughts —William R. Ward
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| | | | | | | | | | (...) Even the "trashy" stuff, if sufficiently discounted, can be a great source of parts for MOCs that are more intelligently designed than Lego's own models. That has always been true. (...) If it gets 'em playing Lego instead of staring at a (...) (23 years ago, 30-Nov-01, to lugnet.general)
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| | | | | | | | | | | | Re: End of Year Thoughts —Allan Bedford
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| | | | | | | | | | (...) So what you're saying (if I may paraphrase) is that if the sets were less trashy and were better designed, you might buy more of them and at regular price, rather than waiting for blowout sales? I think the moral here is that the company needs (...) (23 years ago, 30-Nov-01, to lugnet.general)
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| | | | | | | | | | | | Re: End of Year Thoughts —William R. Ward
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| | | | | | | | | | (...) No, but they would sell more generally. (...) I don't think they ever did that. There are too many economic and marketing restrictions hampering the Lego designers' talents. But they can sure do a whole lot better than a lot of what they've (...) (23 years ago, 30-Nov-01, to lugnet.general)
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| | | | | | | | | | | | Re: End of Year Thoughts —Allan Bedford
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| | | | | | | | | | (...) Yes, my point exactly. Sorry, I meant to make the paraphrase more generic, and not speak for you directly. (...) Bill, of course they did. Look back. Look way back. During the 70's and early 80's the best sets were what was coming out of the (...) (23 years ago, 1-Dec-01, to lugnet.general)
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| | | | | | | | | | | | Re: End of Year Thoughts —William R. Ward
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| | | | | | | | | | (...) Are you sure that's not just nostalgia? I can remember even when I was a kid, back in that time frame, thinking "Man, what an ugly set - but at least it's got some good pieces"... For example, <set:6929 Starfleet Voyager> or <set:6882 Walking (...) (23 years ago, 3-Dec-01, to lugnet.general)
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| | | | | | | | | | | | Re: End of Year Thoughts —Allan Bedford
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| | | | | | | | | | (...) Definitely not nostalgia. I still have all my original LEGO sets (including boxes and all instructions) going back to the mid-1970's. I'm not looking at pics on the web, or just running old memories over and again in my head. I can sit and (...) (23 years ago, 4-Dec-01, to lugnet.general)
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| | | | | | | | | | | | Re: End of Year Thoughts —Erik Olson
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| | | | | | | | | | (...) Because they can patent new pieces? This is not a whole theory: it doesn't mean they're all basically useful inventions, just that it keeps Lego, uh, different. I guess they get a budget for theme development. Some gets spent on new parts, (...) (23 years ago, 4-Dec-01, to lugnet.general)
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| | | | | | | | | | | | Re: End of Year Thoughts —Allan Bedford
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| | | | | | | | | | (...) You're going to have to help me with this one. How does this make economic sense? Wouldn't it be better to focus on the pieces you have, the ones that are already useful and for which molds have already been created? I mean, Megablocks has a (...) (23 years ago, 4-Dec-01, to lugnet.general)
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| | | | | | | | | | | | Re: End of Year Thoughts —Erik Olson
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| | | | | | | | | | (...) It sounds absurd to me too. I said it wasn't a whole theory... it's a partial theory, postulating patenting pieces as the formal cause. Look, we know it's really expensive to make new pieces. But they keep doing it. It must be that they regard (...) (23 years ago, 4-Dec-01, to lugnet.general)
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| | | | | | | | | | Re: End of Year Thoughts —John P. Henderson
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| | | | | | | | | (...) True, in that they don't have to bridge to Town, or at least not Town as we think of it. But I fail to see the "bridge" from Jack Stone to anywhere else either. I still do not see how these themes-for-younger-children somehow lead into (...) (23 years ago, 30-Nov-01, to lugnet.general)
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| | | | | | | | | | | Re: End of Year Thoughts —William R. Ward
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| | | | | | | | | | | (...) Playing devil's advocate here: kids like to feel artificially "big". Switching from Town Jr. to Star Wars is a "big kid" kind of thing. Switching from Town Jr. to regular Town sets doesn't have that kind of prestige. A smooth transition (...) (23 years ago, 30-Nov-01, to lugnet.general)
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| | | | | | | | | | | Re: End of Year Thoughts —Anders Isaksson
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| | | | | | | | | | "Hendo (John P. Henderson)" <hendo@valyance.com> skrev i meddelandet news:GnL7E7.K3D@lugnet.com... (...) By being 'in between' when it comes to complexity, dexterity, patience and concentration needed for building the sets, maybe? (...) Ha." Or (...) (23 years ago, 30-Nov-01, to lugnet.general)
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| | | | | | | | | | Re: End of Year Thoughts —Benjamin Medinets
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| | | | | | | | (...) I don't totally agree with that assesment. Look at Life on Mars.... its Town (Jr.) in Space - with a bit of space, mecha, and aliens interwoven. Look at its predecessor....Space Port. (Same characters, same designs) Look at Alpha Team, its a (...) (23 years ago, 30-Nov-01, to lugnet.general)
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| | | | | | | RE: End of Year Thoughts —Bram Lambrecht
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| | | | | | (...) A 3 year old will still tell you that one twig she's digging in the dirt with is a shovel, and the other twig is a rake. But maybe that's just the kids I know... I'm sure there are still plenty of kids who think the cardboard box is a heck of (...) (23 years ago, 30-Nov-01, to lugnet.general)
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| | | | | Re: End of Year Thoughts —Allan Bedford
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| | | | | I'm just curious to know something... This original posting has drawn over 50 responses (both pro and con) and yet this message itself has only 1 spotlight vote for it. Doesn't any one use the Highlight/Spotlight system? Doesn't a posting like this, (...) (23 years ago, 4-Dec-01, to lugnet.general)
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| | | | | | | Re: End of Year Thoughts —John P. Henderson
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| | | | | | (...) Allen, as I kicked off the initial message that started this thread, I was wondering about that myself. But I would feel cheesy if I highlighted my own message... Thanks for the thought though! :) -Hendo (23 years ago, 5-Dec-01, to lugnet.off-topic.debate)
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| | | | | Re: End of Year Thoughts —Robert M. Dye
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| | | | | in article Gnw1yv.Kwx@lugnet.com, Hendo (John P. Henderson) at hendo@valyance.com wrote on 12/5/01 2:52 PM: (...) No. It's off topic for LUGNET, and so does not belong on the front page. I refer people with kids to LUGNET all the time, and tell them (...) (23 years ago, 6-Dec-01, to lugnet.off-topic.debate)
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| | | | | | | Re: End of Year Thoughts —Frank Filz
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| | | | | | (...) Umm, did you pay attention to the subject line and the original message... This isn't the thread you're thinking of... Frank (23 years ago, 6-Dec-01, to lugnet.off-topic.debate)
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| | | | | Re: End of Year Thoughts —Robert M. Dye
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| | | | in article 3C0EBDDF.E99FCC98@mi...pring.com, Frank Filz at ffilz@mindspring.com wrote on 12/5/01 6:37 PM: (...) Ahhh. Sorry, I thought that the poster had changed the subjest line. My mistake. Rob (23 years ago, 6-Dec-01, to lugnet.off-topic.debate)
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