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Hi Ben
I'm not going to answer every detail of your post, but there are a few
misconceptions that I need to address.
In lugnet.market.theory, Benjamin Medinets writes:
> Congradulations.....it is nice to see the line that finally recognizes the
> efforts of the adult lego community. I just like to reply that one hand, I
> think that the models in general from the Guild are pretty superb, (And
> that producing multiple copies of a "special model" takes a lot more time
> (not to mention printing copies of the instructions)) but on the other, I >think the kits are terribly overpriced.
I suggest you try producing a kit, Ben, and see just how much time it takes
to do a good job, and how much the right quality of Lego pieces costs you. I
know my hourly wage from doing this and believe me, I could do way better at
almost any 9-5 job. But I wouldn't have as much fun :-) We don't have any
special source of cheap Lego, so we're buying from stores on sale, S@H and
Brickbay just like you are.
As for the time, designing a kit for production takes longer than building a
single-use model (especially if you're making complete interior detail and
complete openable-ness so all that detail can be accessed); then you have to
LDraw it, split it into buildable steps, generate bitmaps of a suitable
quality for printing (not the same as screen quality), lay out instructions
(anything up to 86 pages of them in my case), print them (860 color pages is
a non-trivial print job), generate parts lists (combining multiple LDraw
files to do so), source the parts, sort the parts, make the packages, bind
the manuals, photograph the model, build the web page, market the kits....
there's more to doing this than may at first appear. Most people who start
doing it never get to production with their first kit and of those who do,
many never produce another.
> The other problem I find with having the Guild is the concept of exclusivity.
> It is your group, and you probably should have the right to decide the way
> you decide your members, but I mean its the overall concept...."I don't think
> your designs are up to the standard of the guild...etc. etc." I think
> this concept relates to a certain train club, (that I will kindly
> leave nameless), it is a "don't call us, we'll call you attitude".
Most organisations in the world which do not have a purely social purpose
(and some which do) are exclusive. Universities, businesses, many sports
teams, etc etc all require you meet their standards before you can join.
Since the GoB is a business group, not a social organisation (unlike the
certain train club) there is really no reason why we should accept all
comers. We have set ourselves a high standard, we have a reputation for that
high standard, and we plan to keep it that way.
> Now before you begin to cut me down. What is the purpose of the guild? To
> sell "quality kits" to the average consumer. I don't necessarily disagree
> with that, nor do I disagree that you should be well compensated for your
> ideas, and your time (especially directly linked to your kits).
In fact if you look at the Guild's home page, it says right there "They
[kits] are targeted at the discerning collector and hobbyist." The average
consumer really doesn't have the knowlege to evaluate the quality and
uniqueness of this type of kit: they compare directly with a TLC set on the
TRU shelf, which maks no sense. My experience of my buyers is that they are
people buying to add to the LEGO towns they are building themselves, who
appreciate quality and excellent design, and can afford it. GoB members are
not targeting the general public: we simply couldn't produce the required
volume of kits to do so! (Ask me about sorting out the parts for 10, 2000
piece kits, by hand...)
> The other consideration would have to be the blindness of the public, or may
> be their time factor. They probably don't want to spend the time building
> their own special lego designs, (or have the pieces necessary), so they
> are willing to buy the kits from the guild. Plus, some are in the E-bay
> buying mode, buy the item at all cost mentality.
Since you don't know who our customers are, or anything about them, this is
a bit insulting to them. From the pictures I have been sent of my kits in
their new homes, most of my customers are perfectly capable of designing and
building their own special Lego designs.
Kevin Wilson
Bricksmith
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Personal Lego Web page:
http://ourworld.compuserve.com/homepages/kwilson_tccs/lego.html
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Message has 1 Reply:
 | | Re: "MOC" Blacksmith Shop on lego.com
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| (...) Though I have not yet even thought about entering the kit market, I can agree with everything Kevin says. Yet, I still feel the kits are priced above the level I am willing to spend. Part of that is that with my extensive collection, I don't (...) (23 years ago, 17-Dec-01, to lugnet.market.theory, lugnet.general)
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