Subject:
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Re: A fan no more
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Newsgroups:
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lugnet.general
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Date:
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Thu, 8 Jul 2004 22:12:32 GMT
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Viewed:
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4289 times
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My complaints don't really concern the "fad" aspects of the Lego themes. I
think licensing is an awesome way to diversify a product if it's done right.
I would buy some of the new Castle, Star Wars, and HP sets regardless
because there are some cool pieces and sets there. But now the pieces I
want are rapidly disappearing for reasons of the color change and
click-hinges and set design is just taking a killer nosedive overall. Those
are my main issues.
Dave
"David Eaton" <deaton@intdata.com> wrote in message
news:I0JyAC.1t2w@lugnet.com...
> In lugnet.general, David Simmons wrote:
> > The other problem I sense is that TLG doesn't seem to have any • confidence in
> > the intelligence or imagination of their target market. Kids aren't • stupid.
> > In fact, I think in general they're much smarter than people think. ...
> > ... TLG doesn't
> > seem to believe that kids have this ability anymore, that they need to • be
> > told what to do with their Lego, that they need to be dazzled and • bombarded
> > with action-packed imagery in order to imagine what the creative
> > possibilities are.
>
> Well, I think the issue isn't that kids are any dumber or less creative • than
> they used to be-- it's just that Lego is aiming for a different market.
>
> Back when I was a kid, there were a few other kids I knew that played with • Lego.
> A few. Almost everyone had *some*, but only a few really LOVED it. The • rest of
> them all wanted Transformers, M.A.S.K vehicles, GIJoe figures, Ninja • Turtles,
> Go-Bots, Voltron and Star Wars toys. And these are the kids who don't • really
> have the willingness and/or patience to imagine something on their own. • It's not
> that they can't, it's that they can't be bothered. Not when there's • something
> more interesting beating them over the head with its super-cool laser • guns,
> power swords, turbo hovercrafts, and transforming dino-zords. The call of • less
> imaginitive toys is too great for them to ignore, and so they're lulled to • them.
>
> Certainly if you put these kids in a room full of nothing but Lego, they'd • build
> and have a great time doing so (maybe even more of a great time than with • other
> toys). But if you put them in a room with Lego AND all these other fad • toys,
> they'd gravitate towards the fad stuff.
>
> I'm not sure it's any different now. You've got these mainstream fads like • Power
> Rangers and YuGiOh, which do really well financially (although the toy • market in
> general *has* been fading in recent years), and then you've got all the • niche
> toys like Lego, Erector sets, model kits, Playmobil, and even other things • like
> Baseball Cards. Stuff that's been around for a long time, and probably • will be
> around a long time to come, but just doesn't make vast stinking wodges of • money
> like the fads.
>
> Lego has just been slowly moving towards the fad-market. They've been
> diversifying their products between the niche toys and fads. Certainly • some of
> the stuff they've got is really good, and isn't fad-driven (My Own Train,
> Designer, Creator, MOC sets, bulk offerings, Mindstorms), and some of it • is
> moreso fad-driven (Knight's Kingdom, Alpha Team, Galidor, Bionicle, HP,
> Spider-Man). But we AFOLs remember the days when almost NONE of it was fad
> driven. We're more like spoiled children who remember how good it was when
> almost all of Lego's product line catered to what we wanted.
>
> It's a shame to see that certain themes appear to be destined to *always* • be fad
> driven, and that we may never see nice generic castle or space figures • ever
> again who aren't each given a specific character, name, and backstory. But • that
> just seems to be the way Lego is going. They want to diversify their • audience
> and target both the niche crowd *and* the fad crowd. And that means • changing our
> mindset as AFOLs to *expect* that dividing line-- to know that (hopefully) • Lego
> will always continue to produce great stuff that we love, even if at the • same
> time they produce things that really aren't our cup of tea.
>
> DaveE
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Message has 1 Reply:
 | | Re: A fan no more
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| (...) Well, I was more or less responding to your bit on the fact that you thought Lego seemed to think kids were stupid and needed to be spoon fed. However, I suppose the color change and the set design issues are related to what I'm talking about. (...) (20 years ago, 9-Jul-04, to lugnet.general)
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Message is in Reply To:
| | Re: A fan no more
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| (...) Well, I think the issue isn't that kids are any dumber or less creative than they used to be-- it's just that Lego is aiming for a different market. Back when I was a kid, there were a few other kids I knew that played with Lego. A few. Almost (...) (20 years ago, 8-Jul-04, to lugnet.general)
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