Subject:
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Re: Say it ain't so...
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Newsgroups:
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lugnet.general
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Date:
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Sun, 11 Aug 2002 16:05:07 GMT
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Viewed:
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2162 times
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In lugnet.general, Matt Hein writes:
> In lugnet.general, Michael Hassall writes:
> > In lugnet.general, Matt Hein writes:
> > > Whatever happened to sets like Spyrius and Unitron with distinct story lines?
> >
> > I am technicaly still a kid and had loads Spyrius and Unitron sets. They had
> > Loads of cool modles and as somone did point out, why the hell didnt people
> > like the colors. when i go the sets i was incredibally young (6-7) and only
> > saw the modles that where in the instrutions, and even then i saw really
> > cool distinct story lines and made my own up to go with them.
>
> Yeah, cool color schemes are hard to find in todays models, and the harry
> potter sets had the worst scheme I could imagine (tan and dary grey, a
> little too rustic for my tastes.)
Have you noticed that you are posting in lugnet.castle? Hmmm... I'm
building Castle creations right now and the best thing that EVER happened to
my MOC stuff has been the Harry Potter line and the colors available in it.
Thank god that Wal Mart and others decided to clearance all Harry Potter
merchandise right after X-Mas (down to 80% off!) in my area and then stock
right back up on the same sets 2 months later. As far as Castle goes, HARRY
POTTER ROCKS!!! The only thing that would make it perfecto! would be MORE
SUITS OF ARMOR AND GHOST KNIGHTS!!!
If you want to build anything with LEGO, certainly colors are important, but
Castle has zero use for trans blue windows! ALSO, I was a LEGO buyer back
when Unitron was available and what I remember was that most stores had many
Space sets to chose from at the time. I ALWAYS passed on Unitron because
the price per part was too high, and the sets seemed forced. Did not float
my boat, so to speak, primarily because it was competing (at my house) with
the new Aquazone releases that had a much higher WOW factor. They are only
popular NOW in retrospect, at the time they were not long term money makers
for LEGO. Possible reason that Space lost steam is that LEGO introduced new
worlds/themes that caught kids imaginations more strongly. Remember that
kids have a limited budget and love "new" things.
LEGO can only have so many product molds and assortments running before they
stretch themselves too thin. The reason LEGO Direct can offer us
re-released old sets or new items is because of the available assortment
from the parent company and the small product run. LEGO Direct uses our
AFOL, online, catalog and LEGO Club member purchase data to creat sales
history facts to present to the central management for the release of new
items or themes. Rereleases are still in their infancy, but I expect that
the data they are collecting will eventually allow TLC (LEGO parent company)
to be able to present that data to stores such as Wal Mart for new product.
I have marketed my own product before and let me tell you, you CANNOT just
call Wal Mart and ask if they want to buy your item. You have to test
market it yourself and have all kinds of business data and spreadsheets and
reports proving that it is a winner. My guess is that LEGO Direct has all
that in mind with their "Great Experiment". Any AFOL who refuses to buy the
cream of the crop LEGO selection available from LEGO Direct because they
can't impulse buy at the store is a fool. Why, becasue you miss the best
items and you aren't using your purchasing power to send the message of what
product you prefer. They collect NO data from whinning and lamenting "what
ever happened to (blank) setrs".
> As for the Story lines, yeah the whole purpose was to expand them. People
> who irked about the whole "relevancy or distinctness" thing never actually
> tried to understand them or implement them into their creations. Didn't it
> say on the end of each story introduction on the sets "only you, the lego
> maniac can determine what happens next..." So, in my theory, this actually
> stimulates imaginativity and some intelligence into expanding the story. It
> can go any way you want.
>
> > And why the hell isnt there and good lego sets anymore,
>
> Lego is trying to expand their market to new boundaries by launching into new
> comcepts, such as the action figure continguincy. (which is bold, yet unstable
> category for leg, dominated by much larger specialist firms.) I think by the
> time the Bionicle fad rolls over, (which even my younger cousin hates, and
> he sticks to every fad) Lego will hopefully stop in their tracks and reverse
> this trend.
>
> A lot of people have got me wrong in the sense that I think all of the sets
> now are bad. That is incorrect, I think there is a lot of great stuff on
> lego direct, but local retail outlets, where ninety percent of most people
> go to get their toys nowaday, have a considerably poor selection of parts,
> compared to lego direct. This is my irk, and I wish just to see a diverse
> selection on the shelves besides aisles of bionicle, soccer and the crappy
> new alpha team sets. We need more stuff like Ninja sets (those rocked!), and
> a cool new space series.
When a product hits a popular nerve with kids, you stick to that cash cow
until the milk dries up. Bionicle, Soccer and others are keeping LEGO
profits coming in by the millions. Everybody seemed to beat the Ninja line
to death as a bad thing while it was available. If LEGO does listen to us
on LUGNET (and they do), where was the praise for this line back then to
keep it going? Seems like LEGO can't do any thing to make a buyer happy
with the tone this thread is taking.
Star Wars was a good calculated response to 20 years of LEGO fans wishing
for LEGO to make Star Wars themes, perfect timing for the release of new hit
movies and Lucas is a very special License provider with all his
restrictions. You want to go to his camp, you have to play buy his rules
because of the contract regarding marketing and product he worked back in
the 1970s. When Star Wars runs it's course, LEGO may renew or follow their
own Sci-Fi trends.
> > and why do star wars
> > sets cost double the amount just because they have starwars on them, and why
> > the hell do no shops have loads of lego, and why isnt lego free, and why do
> > people have to act like jerks!!!!!!!!
This is NOT MATT's post but I'm tired of this kind of post.
Star Wars costs on average $1.00 to $5.00 more to pay the licensing fees to
mister Lucas to allow LEGO to make gobs more cash than I'll ever see. LEGO
is only free if you steal it, and that would be acting like a jerk.
> >
> That we will never know, perhaps it is so called "smart marketing" by lego
> to make a few extra bucks while at it, so if it has a company license, we
> pay a bit extra for that. I guess shifting costs for them works in the long run.
> That's why Galidor figures are such a rip off. (it's a shame too, those things
> are a definite waste ofr ABS plastic, that should be going to irrigation
> pipelines in china, or at least some new legends sets.) Pardon me for my
> humanitarian tendencies.
>
> People acting like jerks is unfortunately too much of a way of life these
> days, and I deal with it all of the time, let me be the first to tell you.
> No worries, anyway, I think most people feel the same about the overall
> situation for space, so take heart there.
Not me! If I see any Space now I'd have to pass on it because there are too
many good Train, Harry Potter, Star Wars and Direct sets and accessories for
me to lust after right now. I just don't have enough cash available to meet
my desires for those items and allow for Space like the old them to return.
Now if Direct made one to three re-releases I might consider it if the other
stuff dried up. Other wise build what you like, make your own Space.
>
> <<_Matt Hein_>>
>
> Guess I've been mouthing off on this subject a bit, but I guess
> that means I'm passionate on this topic, right?
Perhaps this should go to another newsgroup?
Good points are being raised here, but please lets all refrain from crying
out to god against the "crimes of your favorite company". That is not very
constructive. Thank you Matt for sticking with the topic and not taking
anything to personally. You are doing a fine discussion :)
Best y'all!
-Aaron-
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Message has 1 Reply:
 | | Re: Say it ain't so...
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| (...) Well, that's great for you, and I can definitely see we are at odds on this subject, but that doesn't matter. Yeah, It would be great to see a lot more grey walls and turrets inthe HP series (as long as I don't have to buy multiple copies of (...) (22 years ago, 11-Aug-02, to lugnet.general)
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Message is in Reply To:
| | Re: Say it ain't so...
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| (...) Yeah, cool color schemes are hard to find in todays models, and the harry potter sets had the worst scheme I could imagine (tan and dary grey, a little too rustic for my tastes.) As for the Story lines, yeah the whole purpose was to expand (...) (22 years ago, 11-Aug-02, to lugnet.general, lugnet.space, lugnet.castle, lugnet.town)
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