Subject:
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Re: 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 14:03:02 GMT
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Viewed:
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902 times
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In lugnet.general, Gerhard R. Istok wrote:
SNIP
> 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.
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 creating new molds or changing
existing molds to new colors. What you're suggesting with windows will further
increase the company's losses.
>
> 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!
4886 comes with instructions for 3 models, plus inspiration for 4 others. I
fail to see the point that you're trying to make.
> 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.
The volume is 8 times larger. But for costs, we need to worry about the amount
of brick. Since the buildings are hollow, only the surface area matters (i.e.
dimensions of the walls and roofs). Which is only 4 times larger. Still, a
significant increase.
MORE SNIPPING
> 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.
The market you mention (700,000) is probably not large enough for TLG to go
after. The few adult-oriented sets that have come out (SW UCS) have
extraordinary broad appeal; the number of SW fans is staggering.
That, and I suspect that most of those people who are interested in architecture
and would build with Lego already do so. Those that don't would only be buying
the one or two sets that have great interest to them; it would be difficult to
pinpoint which set would do well.
MORE SNIPPING
I think you're missing the business case here. You're asking Lego to produce
pieces and sets that have a very limited market: almost exclusively to AFOLs,
who make up (based on the estimate that is frequently tossed around) just 5% of
Lego's sales. And architecture elements make up a small portion of that figure.
If you can somehow make the case for making windows in a widely released set
that would sell well with their core market of children, then maybe TLG would do
it. But sets like 4886 don't meet that criterion.
The aesthetic case, I understand. It would be great to see new windows, in
either scale. But the demand is just not large enough to offset the upfront
costs of producing new molds or changing the colors of existing molds.
As for marketing, well, TLG could definitely do a better job of positioning
their products. And I'm not talking about to AFOLs and hobbyists; I'm talking
about their core target market, children. But that's another post for another
time.
John
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Message has 1 Reply:
 | | Re: Lego Buildings with 4 Walls
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| (...) And you may be right. Perhaps the AFOL community (even with the addition of a smaller scale architectural line) are just not significant enough of a population to warrant ever getting special parts not produced for the general public. (...) (...) (20 years ago, 1-May-05, to lugnet.general)
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Message is in Reply To:
| | Lego Buildings with 4 Walls
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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, (...) (20 years ago, 1-May-05, to lugnet.general)
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