Subject:
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Lego Buildings with 4 Walls
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Newsgroups:
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lugnet.general
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Date:
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Sun, 1 May 2005 05:51:05 GMT
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I was looking at the #4886 Designers set in the Lugnet set database yesterday.
And there were a few things that troubled me about it. Not the design per se,
but just the whole concept of going from a "minifig" environment (3 walls,
juniorized parts, furniture and minifigs) back to an "architectural" environment
(4 walls, no juniorization, no building contents such as furniture and
minifigs).
From the very beginning in 1949 until the mid 1970's Lego was an architectural
toy for building buildings with 4 walls and no interior building contents. Then
starting in the mid 1970's until the present Lego went to becoming a building
toy with buildings that had 3 walls, and minifigs, sort of like a doll house set
(although I'm sure most AFOLs don't like that comparison).
But before I get to that discussion, there is another thing that troubled me.
That was the fact that TLG gave us a nice design (#4886) with scarce 1x4x3
windows, and lots of tiles and roof bricks. But what is more noteworthy is what
was missing. This house was SCREAMING for end gable 1x2x2 windows in black.
And two more 1x2x2 black windows for the back side of the house (instead of a
blank wall). Those vent like thingy's at the two gable ends are just plain
awful. And I don't think it was originally intended that way. I'll bet that
the set designers wanted some of those 1x2x2 black classic windows. BUT, there
is a director somewhere at the company HQ in Billund who has control of the
parts by color, and he probably said that "we have not produced those black
1x2x2 windows in over 20 years (not since Train sets of the early 80's), so they
are retired in that color and we won't be producing them again". Granted those
1x2x2 black windows are highly desired (I have 2 myself) and have been sold for
about $10-$16 on Bricklink.
It seems that TLG is very stingy when it comes to re-issuing windows in colors
that have not been produced in 20 years. This is not the same way for other
bricks. I have 4 2x2 inside corner white regular sloped bricks that I got from
2 copies of a circa 1977 Helicopter/Ambulance set (#770). These were highly
prized by me since I know that no other set had them. Until, that is, the Harry
Potter Screaming Shack came out recently. Now these same white pieces can be
purchased for less that 25 cents each on Bricklink. Why TLG doesn't do the same
thing for current production windows is very baffling to me. That is why I
blame someone in the Billund corporate beaurocracy.
OK, now to get back to the Architectural sets with 4 walls. I noticed that the
#4886 has over 650 pieces. Wow, I was surprised by that. I was just looking at
the parts count for the old 1960's Town Plan sets (#810/#725) and they also
contained about the same number of parts, but they created 7 buildings, not one!
Therein lies a problem that Lego has with new 4 wall constructions. In the
1949-75 era the Lego scale was 1:87 (door = 3 bricks tall). Today it is more
like 1:43 (door = 6 bricks tall). So doubling the scale doesn't double the
volume of a building, it makes it 8 TIMES AS LARGE!!! (2 wide x 2 long x 2 tall
= 8). And it is this minifig scale that is hindering (IMHO) TLG from producing
some nice real architectural buildings.
If for example TLG wanted to produce the Wright Brothers Cycle Shop (where they
first built their first airplane in 1903), it could cost say $80. If it were
built in the classic 1:87 scale, it probably would cost no more than $25. That
is a big difference. I could see TLG producing a Main Street set just like the
#6390, except in the classic scale (interestingly enough the road plates are
more suited to 1:87 scale than to 1:43). And there would be say 4 buildings
with 4 walls, say each 4 stories tall. The price, similar to the cost of the
#6390 (or I should say the new release version).
Why should TLG produce architectural sets in a classic scale? Because I think
that there is a large "untapped" market of folks who are not Lego fans per se,
but who are interested in architecture. I am subscriber to the "National Trust"
magazine. It is for the National Trust For Historic Preservation, and has
nearly 700,000 members. If TLG marketted some architectural sets to this
market, I bet more than a few would be interested. I am surprised that TLG
doesn't already try to market some of their already existing models, such as the
Statue of Liberty, the Sopwith Camel bi-plane, etc. to preservationists and
armchair architects. These folks would probably not be interested in Lego for
use with Minifigs (like most of you). But they could be interested in some nice
streetscapes made of Lego. And with the explosion of parts and colors now
available some new concepts could be introduced. One was on the already
mentioned Main Street theme. Imagine a Main Street Miami Beach Art Deco street,
with pastel colored buildings with curved corners, glass block windows, and
curved architectural elements. (I bet those German tourists to Miami Beach's
South Beach would gobble those up from souvenir shops!).
Granted any return to a classic scale would mean the introduction of new
window/door elements (since 9 out of 10 of the original 1:87 classic scale
windows/doors are discontinued). But as has been shown with the black 1x2x2
windows, it is easier to create new Lego elements than it is to re-introduce old
ones.
Now, I know that 95% of all AFOLs build in the 1:43 minifig scale. It sure
wouldn't seem fair to produce new windows/doors for a classic 1:87 scale, and
just have the same old "slim pickings" of windows/doors in the 1:43 minifig
scale. Well, if TLG did produce some windows/doors in the 1:87 classic scale,
they should produce the same ones (or some of the same ones) in a larger 1:43
minifig scale.
Now I know some of you are saying "what has Gary been smoking" to suggest that
TLG would even consider having 3 different window styles (current 1:43, new 1:87
and new 1:43). Well the precedence has already been set for 3 different window
systems. Lego had 3 different window systems from 1954-57. They were the early
paned windows with no glass (1949-57), the classic windows (like today) with no
glass (1954-57), and a taller version of the classic windows with glass
(1954-57).
Anyway, even though I build mainly in the classic 1:87 scale (I have 10,000
classic windows/doors to build with), I am not solely being selfish in this
regard. I just think that maybe TLG could find a new niche of AFOLs to grow the
business. And for new AFOLs, enticing folks to buy a set for $25 makes it a lot
easier than trying to get them to buy it for $80.
What say yee?
Gary Istok
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Message has 3 Replies:
 | | Re: Lego Buildings with 4 Walls
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| 4 walls was done before, see US set 560 or it's european 376 version. As for abandoning the minifig, that's the reason kids like town, it allows them to recreate things in everyday life. It's such a strong part of the brand recognition I very much (...) (20 years ago, 1-May-05, to lugnet.general)
| | | Re: Lego Buildings with 4 Walls
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| In lugnet.general, Gerhard R. Istok wrote: SNIP (...) It's not exactly stingy. Currently, windows are rarely used in the widely distributed lines (HP, SW, AT, KK). Without wide distribution, there is not always enough revenue to cover the costs of (...) (20 years ago, 1-May-05, to lugnet.general)
| | | Re: Lego Buildings with 4 Walls
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| (...) I would guess that it isn't the AFOL's that would disparage the "doll house" comparison, but I bet the 8-10 year old boys might have a problem with it. (...) Those lucky enough to live near a pick-a-brick location know that 1x4x3's aren't that (...) (20 years ago, 4-May-05, to lugnet.general)
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