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Subject: 
Re: LEGO Pirates! D-Day Approaches!
Newsgroups: 
lugnet.general
Date: 
Sat, 2 Oct 1999 17:24:39 GMT
Viewed: 
340 times
  
On Sat, 2 Oct 1999 12:40:05 -0400 (EDT), you wrote:

It is not my desire to purchase blocks from anyone other than The LEGO
Group.  I pointed out the competition's site to make one very good point.
They build sets that many of us would like to own...

The problem is that the lack of _high-quality_ competition really weakens
our barging power. It's not like there's anyone else to turn to.

Very true, as I have said.  I don't want to switch. No getting around
this unless we are willing to switch brands.  Most of us are not.

So you are a LEGO enthusiasts?  Mindstorms/Technic or something else?

Out power comes from the simple fact that LEGO does not like to see
there name tarnished in any fashion.  They hate bad publicity, as
other events in the past have shown.  They dropped their case against
the artist who used LEGO to depict Concentration Camps for example.

It was a huge controversy in the art world over in Europe.  Freedom of
speech, expression and censorship issues all came up.  LEGO was
horrified that their children's toy had been dragged into this mess.

Rather than fight a court battle forcing the removal of LEGO's brand
name from the sets the artist had created, because they feared yet
more bad publicity and the linking of their corporate name to these
Concentration camps; LEGO dropped the whole suit and preyed for it to
go away quietly as it eventually did.

The full article is here if you're interested.  The artist explains
his motives for using LEGO to depict the death camps.

http://users.erols.com/kennrice/lego-kz.htm

It depends on how you present your case.  I feel that dozens of people, if
not hundreds, have publicly stated the reasons they are as dissatisfied
with The LEGO Group's ability to service the adult market as I have
become.

Yes, I agree. That's why I pointed it out. "The Lego Pirates", for example,
sounds sort of goofy to me.

That is fair criticism.  I was going to suggest "The Lugnet LEGO
Pirates" but did not want to involve Lugnet by name.  I choose pirates
because it was one of the most popular themes, was canceled when it
had plenty of life in it to adults, etc...

We could can ourselves "Lego Jedi Warriors" fighting to right an
injustice.  But that sounds bloody silly as well.

Do we go the professional route and create a society called "Adult
LEGO Users of the World" and just lobby The LEGO Group.  Nothing has
been successful to this point.

What name would you suggest?

Plus, there's the perennial counter-argument: even hundreds or thousands or
tens of thousands of adult fans is insignificant compared to the number of
boys age 3-16.

True, except for one major point.  Boys age 3-16 ask their parents to
purchase a couple sets each year for their birthday &  Christmas.

Adult fans of Lego will buy hundreds of kits over a few years.  As I
said, I have spent $2000 in less than one year.  I am the tip of the
iceberg.  I cannot believe the size of so many people's collections.

We simply want LEGO to allow us do a few things.  Bulk buying of huge
numbers of every single individual part is the single most common
desire from all adult fans.

If LEGO does not want to handle this business, simply sell the parts
in huge quantities to a smaller company who wants to distribute them
to the adults and make both LEGO and themselves a good deal of profit.

Is this simple wish so hard to understand, or difficult to meet?

(They barely care about the girls in that age range (especially in the upper
edge -- why aren't any of the Technic figures women?), which surely compose
a much larger market than adult fans.)

Larger in numbers, yes.  In dollars, no way.

<ICS>



Message has 3 Replies:
  Re: LEGO Pirates! D-Day Approaches!
 
[I got this response first by e-mail, so I replied that way. I don't remember all of what I said, but here's some of it over again, plus other comments that have occured to me in the last five minutes. :) ] (...) Sure, but bad publicity isn't (...) (25 years ago, 2-Oct-99, to lugnet.general)
  Re: LEGO Pirates! D-Day Approaches!
 
(...) Ian- We all feel your pain; we all live with the frustration surrounding life as an AFOL. We are stupid; we are fiercely loyal, we keep coming back, and we won't switch. Be that as it may, I don't think an embarrassment campaign is the (...) (25 years ago, 2-Oct-99, to lugnet.general)
  Re: LEGO Pirates! D-Day Approaches!
 
Ian, A few points of thought... o The Lego Group is privately held (if I understand it correctly). There are no public traded shares and/or shareholders. That is really a shame. Shareholders meetings are a good place to sound off. o Where does TLG (...) (25 years ago, 3-Oct-99, to lugnet.general)

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