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Subject: 
Re: We have come a long way, but there is further to go...
Newsgroups: 
lugnet.general, lugnet.lego.direct
Followup-To: 
lugnet.general
Date: 
Sun, 13 Jul 2003 22:41:50 GMT
Reply-To: 
JAVANREE@VANREEsaynotospam.NET
Viewed: 
2025 times
  
richard marchetti wrote:


More accessory packs of basic stuff -- {and slopes in particular}.  We
still need a lot of slopes in the basic building colors of red, blue,
black, grey, white, and yellow. I am speaking specifically of inside and
outside corner, as well as regular sloped bricks in all dimensions: 10,
18, 33, 45, 65, and 75 degrees. Capping slopes, double convex, inverted,
and even slopes that could transition from one angle to another would also
be very welcome. I am fairly pleased with the newer curved slopes that
have been released but there too we
need greater variety of available colors.  And maybe it's just me, but I
think of the curved slopes as being too modern or too stylistically
eccentric to be used in place of the traditional flat planed slopes we are
used to and that better facilitate the modeling of real world structures
(e.g. common rooftops).

We recently talked with Kate Sutch from LEGO Direct about this and the
reason for them NOT making more sets is quite easy... the staff has put a
limit on the amount of SKU's, and each division of LEGO needs to fight for
it's amount of new releases each year. It was somewhat surprising for me
too to learn this...

But as mentioned during 1000steineland, perhaps some tubs with various
slopes, one with windows/doors and one with plates, as well as the
(re)instroduction of 3033, since it wasn't availabe in parts of Europe.

Speaking of prices, I note that the new #4511 "High Speed Train" set is
$89.99
for only 333 pcs.  If I didn't already have track and a controller or
three this
set might have been a great starter set.  As it stands it seems like a
"pass" for those of us that are not willing to pay a premium of
approximately $50 USD
for tracks and a controller we don't need.  Why isn't there a collector's
version of this set priced at say $40 USD for just the train and commuter
platform alone?  I have a similar view of the #4512 "Cargo Train" set,
except that the premium on unwanted parts is even worse for that set.

Sounds good to me, however most people won't buy loads of trains, but simply
want a train for their kids to play with, so the pack with track+controller
is better for the regular public since it's ready-to-go. Remember, we make
perhaps less than 1% of the LEGO sales as AFOL's. But perhaps somebody at
LEGO can say something about this? Like how the sales of say 4560 vs 4561
played out, and if that approach was worth taking? (I'd buy several of the
new freight trains if they were without controller and track, the other
parts are very good!)

Lastly, I make a plea for more coherent advertising and packaging of sets.
I hate it when the images of sets are tampered with as they are on pgs.
30-31 of
the Summer catalogue.  Some of the images are just simply blurry, others
have "speed" lines added in. Some of the sets are regularly rendered or
photographed with strange lighting effects that make the identification of
element colors quite difficult. I understand why and how this is done, but
shouldn't there also always be a very clear image of what is included in
the set? This might seem like a minor complaint, but I have purchased some
sets thinking I was getting
elements in colors other than what ultimately turned out to be the case.
That's annoying. I should think TLC would be proud to advertise its
products with as much honesty as part of the process as possible.

Reasonable point, although I personally haven't yet noticed this very much.
--
Jan-Albert van Ree   | http://www.vanree.net/~javanree/
LEGO Santa Fe B-unit | http://www.vanree.net/~javanree/lego/f7b.html



Message is in Reply To:
  We have come a long way, but there is further to go...
 
Hey Y'all: It has been a long time since I have posted anything like the comments I am about to make. One reason for the absence of such comments is that the advent of Lego Direct has made more frequent such postings largely unnecessary -- that is, (...) (21 years ago, 11-Jul-03, to lugnet.general, lugnet.market.shopping, lugnet.lego.direct, FTX)

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