General Discussion : 8809


General / 8809

Big Brother is Watching (and reading, too!) —Mike Poindexter

Well, it only took one day after my posting and a very friendly person (who asked me to keep her name off this newsgroup) from Lego Systems called me and wanted to let me know that (this is paraphrased from memory): "You had posted something on the (...) (25 years ago, 22-Oct-99, to lugnet.general)

Re: Big Brother is Watching (and reading, too!) —Laura Gjovaag

(...) Wow! They *are* watching! Hey, LEGO folks out there! Come out to our Train Show tomorrow and Sunday in the Seattle Area! See how we promote LEGO among the train enthusiasts and their kids! Seriously, my agenda (in addition to trying to get (...) (25 years ago, 22-Oct-99, to lugnet.general)

Re: Big Brother is Watching (and reading, too!) —James Powell

Just some general comments: I. I know Larry P had something upwards of $10,000 -promised- payment for the bricks that (might have been/should have been...) ordered. If I was a company, and someone said, I have $10,000 worth of orders, IN MY HAND for (...) (25 years ago, 24-Oct-99, to lugnet.general)

Re: Big Brother is Watching (and reading, too!) —Troy Cefaratti

(...) been (...) I think that the problem may be (IMHO) that all the attempts so far that i've seen have been made by "end users" or customers. Perhaps it takes a request from an actual retailer for something like bulk order to get through to the (...) (25 years ago, 24-Oct-99, to lugnet.general)

Re: Big Brother is Watching (and reading, too!) —Ray Sanders

(...) My take on retailers.... #1 & 2 are probably WalMart and K-Mart (tied). K-Mart had some management problems a few years back, but they are cleaning up their act fast. In Florida, I believe the numbers are ~170 K-Mart stores and ~150 WalMart (...) (25 years ago, 25-Oct-99, to lugnet.general)

Re: Big Brother is Watching (and reading, too!) —Troy Cefaratti

(...) #1 Walmart #2 Target #3 K-Mart There was just an article on this in Newsweek a couple weeks ago, concentrating mostly on Target and all of the new stores they just opened up. Of course, this is just for general retail. It does not reflect (...) (25 years ago, 25-Oct-99, to lugnet.general)

Re: Big Brother is Watching (and reading, too!) —John Neal

(...) $.04 (...) $1.00 (with glass) (...) 4864 in clear and blue-tint ( (URL) ) (...) $500+ -John (...) (25 years ago, 25-Oct-99, to lugnet.general)

Re: Big Brother is Watching (and reading, too!) —Jodi Neal

(...) I don't know but that sounds like a cool ideal. But man that could be a great expense for a BO to do a trial run. They could open it up with prepaid funds tho from AFOL who know what they want and are willing to pay for the ability to buy in (...) (25 years ago, 25-Oct-99, to lugnet.general)

Re: Big Brother is Watching (and reading, too!) —Troy Cefaratti

(...) to get (...) to (...) I wouldn't mind doing something like this, it just takes the money (which I don't have yet!). But i'm getting there...I'm getting more and more money as I go along, with reinvesting all of the money I get from my auctions (...) (25 years ago, 25-Oct-99, to lugnet.general)

Re: Big Brother is Watching (and reading, too!) —Jodi Neal

(...) I like the idea too, and it could be set up as a member type thing to help you get the kitty up, so each person who wants to buy joins in. That would allow you greater buying power, and I'd be willing to look for sets here at some of those (...) (25 years ago, 25-Oct-99, to lugnet.general)

Re: Big Brother is Watching (and reading, too!) —Adrian Drake

(...) here (...) This is all starting to sound like an elaborate version of Auczilla combined with Jambalaya. Now, instead of Todd buying sets and parting them out, someone would be collecting everyone's bricks they don't want (for a price), and (...) (25 years ago, 25-Oct-99, to lugnet.general)

Re: Big Brother is Watching (and reading, too!) —Larry Pieniazek

Not sure what you're proposing exactly but based on details I would be willing to be lead partner in a VC to get something off the ground. We could just dust off the consortium mailing list to see who else is in. Tell me more. Jodi Neal said: (...) (25 years ago, 25-Oct-99, to lugnet.general)

Re: Big Brother is Watching (and reading, too!) —James Brown

(...) I *think* what's being proposed is a consolidation of the various efforts into a more professional setup. Approach TLG with a list assembled of parts people want, and that we have the money (or the backing) for, right now. I think (correct me (...) (25 years ago, 25-Oct-99, to lugnet.general)

Re: Big Brother is Watching (and reading, too!) —Troy Cefaratti

James Brown <galliard@shades-of-night.com> wrote in message news:FK5zGK.B9I@lugnet.com... (...) into (...) people (...) buy (...) that (...) 2 (...) off (...) idea (...) quantity of an existing set, say one of the current buckets, and parting it (...) (25 years ago, 25-Oct-99, to lugnet.general)

Re: Big Brother is Watching (and reading, too!) —James Brown

(...) To an extent I agree with you, but I posit that this proof of concept has already been done. Julie Krenz, and several others routinely buy and part out buckets via eBay, and Todd (and others) also do it in large-scale parts auctions. The scale (...) (25 years ago, 25-Oct-99, to lugnet.general)

Re: Big Brother is Watching (and reading, too!) —Troy Cefaratti

(...) It's done all the time. I have one running now on BRICKS for 3033 tubs. But the scale isn't anything that would get TLG to notice. (It's only 10 tubs sorted out). Nor were the tubs purchased wholesale from TLG (on sale at Kmart). I htink that (...) (25 years ago, 25-Oct-99, to lugnet.general)

Re: Big Brother is Watching (and reading, too!) —James Brown

(...) I disagree. :) Like Larry, I think that a business case for exactly what we want needs to be developed. If we go to TLG asking for wholesale purchases, they will simply treat us like a small-scale retailer, and that is (IMHO)a road that leads (...) (25 years ago, 25-Oct-99, to lugnet.general)

Re: Big Brother is Watching (and reading, too!) —Jodi Neal

(...) Larry, what is VC???? (...) and the sales base that we have in our local stores. Just like Todd and Suzanne do in buying 10 sets and auctioning them off, we will be running a large base for bulk buying from the LUGNET community. If we find (...) (25 years ago, 25-Oct-99, to lugnet.general)

Re: Big Brother is Watching (and reading, too!) —James Brown

(...) Well, I'm not Larry, but I think he's talking venture capital. Or venture consortium. Probably the second, actually, looking at context. (...) As I mentioned in my other post there are easily 8 or 9 people I can think of, just off the top of (...) (25 years ago, 25-Oct-99, to lugnet.general)

Re: Big Brother is Watching (and reading, too!) —Mike Stanley

(...) Ditto. I've done this, so have many others. Rather than buying a bunch of buckets to part out to make money to try to come up with enough to try to persuade TLG into doing this (which is what I THINK I'm hearing Jodi suggest) I'd say we draw (...) (25 years ago, 25-Oct-99, to lugnet.general)

Re: Big Brother is Watching (and reading, too!) —James Brown

(...) Right. I don't care whether its a TLG direct or a third-party service. Just so long as the service exists. James (URL) (25 years ago, 25-Oct-99, to lugnet.general)

Re: Big Brother is Watching (and reading, too!) —Ray Sanders

One thought I will inject here... Perhaps we should concentrate on 'known active parts' first. Look at the current year sets as soon as they become available. Look at the colors available. Do you see something in there that you would like a large (...) (25 years ago, 25-Oct-99, to lugnet.general)

Re: Big Brother is Watching (and reading, too!) —Mike Stanley

(...) That may or may not be true, though. I remember reading several accounts that indicate that TLG makes just enough of a part to fill the need for that year's sets. So just because a certain Model Team truck has a couple of train doors in it (...) (25 years ago, 25-Oct-99, to lugnet.general)

Re: Big Brother is Watching (and reading, too!) —Troy Cefaratti

(...) I would think that there is some lead time on the sets, so knowing what is currently available might not help us that much. Knowing what is coming NEXT is probably where we would need to be, since those are the sets that are currently in (...) (25 years ago, 25-Oct-99, to lugnet.general)

Re: Big Brother is Watching (and reading, too!) —Gary R. Istok

(...) Thanks Mike! Hope someone at TLG is reading this..... what does it say? If we can't get things from TLG, then eventually we will get them elsewhere. Gary Istok (25 years ago, 25-Oct-99, to lugnet.general)

Re: Big Brother is Watching (and reading, too!) —John Neal

(...) Exactly, Gary- A few pitchforks today, which can obviously be ignored by TLG as insignificant, but the IDEA will be planted-- in *our* heads. And once our silly blind loyalty/pure LEGO dazement is over, then the real trouble for TLG will (...) (25 years ago, 25-Oct-99, to lugnet.general)

Re: Big Brother is Watching (and reading, too!) —Larry Pieniazek

I won't use MegaBlocks. But if some HOBBYIST produces parts I want, and does it in a way that is non infringing of TLG intellectual property, just tell me where to send my money. I'd rather buy them from TLG. But... (25 years ago, 26-Oct-99, to lugnet.general)

Carpe who? (Was: Big Brother is Watching (and reading, too!)) —Jeremy Sproat

(...) Carpe DM...Sieze the Dungeon Master... Cheers, - jsproat (25 years ago, 26-Oct-99, to lugnet.off-topic.pun)

Re: Carpe who? (Was: Big Brother is Watching (and reading, too!)) —John Neal

(...) After all of this talk in .general about no more service packs, I'm having a crappy diem. -John (...) (25 years ago, 26-Oct-99, to lugnet.off-topic.pun)

Re: Big Brother is Watching (and reading, too!) —Mike Stanley

(...) I'll be posting pics and my opinions of them when they become a reality. For things like this, minifig weapons I'll probably never see produced again, I don't have a problem at all with "artificially" creating them. (25 years ago, 25-Oct-99, to lugnet.general)

Re: Big Brother is Watching (and reading, too!) —Troy Cefaratti

(...) I think that if we got enough want lists like this, we could put something together buying just current sets. With a cross reference of set parts lists, we could determine which sets would have the mix of parts most requested by fans, and then (...) (25 years ago, 25-Oct-99, to lugnet.general)

Re: Big Brother is Watching (and reading, too!) —Mike Stanley

(...) Well, people already ARE doing things like this. I buy sets that have some parts I want but also parts others want. But I'm getting tired of it. If you want to keep doing the buy/sort/auction/sell thing that's up to you, but you'll never be (...) (25 years ago, 25-Oct-99, to lugnet.general)

Re: Big Brother is Watching (and reading, too!) —Troy Cefaratti

(...) Yes, I know. I'm one of them! :) (...) Yes, I know this too. My point was to use a large scale "bulk set" purchase as a means of getting enough parts to show as a proof-of-concept that something like this could work. The idea would be to then (...) (25 years ago, 25-Oct-99, to lugnet.general)

Re: Big Brother is Watching (and reading, too!) —James Powell

(...) Why to pitch some un forkunate person like you around :) JP (25 years ago, 25-Oct-99, to lugnet.off-topic.fun)

Re: Big Brother is Watching (and reading, too!) —James Powell

(...) This is what I would propose. If we are looking for spicific parts, the first one on my list (and Larry's too I guess) would be a train window and door. I -don't- care what colour (I'd prefer gray, but...as long as I can get 200-300 of the (...) (25 years ago, 25-Oct-99, to lugnet.general)

Re: Big Brother is Watching (and reading, too!) —Jodi Neal

This sounds something like the other message that I posted last night. (...) there (...) send (...) you (...) Remember that to get TLG to work with us, we need to be flexible. And we need to start getting a group want list with alternatives. Jodi (25 years ago, 25-Oct-99, to lugnet.general)

Place you bulk order here.. (Was Re: Big Brother is Watching (and reading, too!)) —Jodi Neal

Here is a rough rough draft of the revised letter to Lego. I figuresd I'd just throw out my company name to see it if helps. Who know. ;-) Please take a look, add thoughts, critize it, laugh at it, fill in your wants, or just ignore it. I've alsawy (...) (25 years ago, 25-Oct-99, to lugnet.general)

Re: Big Brother is Watching (and reading, too!) —Troy Cefaratti

(...) parts, (...) I think that if we got something like this off the ground, that we would be able to provide this service. Atleast for parts that are currently available in sets from TLG. Lets say that you want 1,000 of part X Now lets say that (...) (25 years ago, 25-Oct-99, to lugnet.general)

Re: Big Brother is Watching (and reading, too!) —James Brown

(...) There is one obvious drawback to this option: I want 5000 2x4 light blue bricks. Another drawback is that I want 2000 2x2 orange tiles. That would be a $90,000 investment on your part to be able to fill my entire order. I just don't think very (...) (25 years ago, 25-Oct-99, to lugnet.general)

Re: Big Brother is Watching (and reading, too!) —Troy Cefaratti

(...) just (...) this (...) Yes, this will obviosly not work in such extreme cases as this. I am sure that there are plenty of cases for which it WILL work though. And my point was to build it up to the point where it COULD order your parts directly (...) (25 years ago, 25-Oct-99, to lugnet.general)

Re: Big Brother is Watching (and reading, too!) —Mike Stanley

(...) Yeah, but like Steve said, I don't think you'd be building up to that point. I think you'd be building up a relationship as another small-time Lego retailer who would have little if any better chance getting them to switch to bulk ordering (...) (25 years ago, 25-Oct-99, to lugnet.general)

Re: Big Brother is Watching (and reading, too!) —James Brown

(...) Neat! I've transmogrified! Wow. I'm being mistaken for intelligent people. That hasn't happened before. ;) James (URL) (25 years ago, 25-Oct-99, to lugnet.general, lugnet.off-topic.fun)

Re: Big Brother is Watching (and reading, too!) —Troy Cefaratti

(...) If I had the $50k, i'd probably try this route. I could even come up with a business plan (My best friend graduates in december with a business/marketing degree). But as I don't have the money, I think that what has been discussed here is a (...) (25 years ago, 25-Oct-99, to lugnet.general)

Re: Big Brother is Watching (and reading, too!) —James Brown

(...) My point (well ok, one of them) is that I don't think this is an extreme case. If I said "who wants 500+ macaroni bricks in the color of their choice?" How many hands do you think would go up? 5? 10? I'd guess even more. (...) Again, I think (...) (25 years ago, 25-Oct-99, to lugnet.general)

Re: Big Brother is Watching (and reading, too!) —Mike Stanley

(...) Yeah, for the really popular hard-to-find parts 500+ is a small number. I'd take 1000 in gray, green, and white right now. Oh, and black. (25 years ago, 26-Oct-99, to lugnet.general)

Re: Big Brother is Watching (and reading, too!) —Mike Stanley

(...) Well, this isn't fully compatible with what a lot of us want, and as Larry pointed out, this adds more work into the process that doesn't really have any value. If you want to be the one doing the grunt work, more power to you, but most people (...) (25 years ago, 25-Oct-99, to lugnet.general)

Re: Big Brother is Watching (and reading, too!) —Larry Pieniazek

(...) Venture capital. Just so you know, a group of us put together a consortium with 20,000 USD lined up and ready to go, on the faint hope that we would be able to order a one time only glob of bulk parts from the train windows area... that's (...) (25 years ago, 25-Oct-99, to lugnet.general)

Re: Big Brother is Watching (and reading, too!) —Phillip Ogden

Correct me if I am wrong, but don't we already have a foot in the door? Didn't someone (Mike Poindexter?) post that we could get a bulk order accepted for $.06 per piece for the bricks available in the standard tub? It seems to me that that is an (...) (25 years ago, 26-Oct-99, to lugnet.general)

Re: Big Brother is Watching (and reading, too!) —Mike Poindexter

(...) Well, wrong and not wrong. Bulk order accepted at 6 cents, yes. You, no. They allowed me to make such an order, but then I was told that none of the items were available. My order was for almost 150,000 elements for a total of just under nine (...) (25 years ago, 26-Oct-99, to lugnet.general)

Re: Big Brother is Watching (and reading, too!) —Mike Stanley

(...) Logic alone would seem to dictate that it should happen, if for no other reason than you ought to be able to convince some S@H manager that you're saving them a good bit on shipping by ordering a lot of items at once. (25 years ago, 26-Oct-99, to lugnet.general)

Re: Big Brother is Watching (and reading, too!) —Mike Poindexter

(...) might (...) What would be next, common sense in web design? :-) Mike (25 years ago, 26-Oct-99, to lugnet.general)

Re: Big Brother is Watching (and reading, too!) —Phillip Ogden

Mike Poindexter wrote in message ... (...) too. (...) just (...) I (...) I would go for a 1000 2x6's at $0.06 @ piece ($60) if they were all black. :?) Ok, seriously, if they were a mix of black, blue, and yellow. I don't need red and white at the (...) (25 years ago, 27-Oct-99, to lugnet.general)

Re: Big Brother is Watching (and reading, too!) —James Simpson

(...) I'd pay upwards of .20 per brick for tan, brown, light blue, purple, and clear. The train windows don't apply to me. But, my hottest commodity is roof peaks - of all kinds. I lust roof peaks. Especially in less common colors (i.e., just about (...) (25 years ago, 25-Oct-99, to lugnet.general)

Re: Big Brother is Watching (and reading, too!) —Wayne R. Hussey

(...) company, (...) big/small (...) Just a comment for all of you trying to appeal to TLG financial interests: In a word - forget it, unless you weild the kind of money a retail chain or Bill Gates does... The TLG 1996 sales - more since then - was (...) (25 years ago, 26-Oct-99, to lugnet.general)

Re: Big Brother is Watching (and reading, too!) —James Brown

(...) <snipped some math> (...) A good point, but any company that only pays attention to their %sales is in trouble. Two other considerations: %profit, and %above average (sales) %profit. We know that TLG already has bulk(1) of the mechanisms in (...) (25 years ago, 26-Oct-99, to lugnet.general)

A change in attitude: was Big Brother is Watching (and reading, too!) —Nick Goetz

In repsone to Mike Poindexter's message ... Sure they (meaning Lego employees) read Lugnet, even if it is not in an official capacity. If you think about a corporation, many individual people are looking for ways to climb the corporate ladder. They (...) (25 years ago, 22-Oct-99, to lugnet.general)

Re: A change in attitude: was Big Brother is Watching (and reading, too!) —Mike Stanley

(...) You're entitled to your opinion. Here's mine: The people at TLG who continue to ignore the overwhelmingly huge amount of interest the AFOL has in certain things (bulk order, better service packs, etc) are fools. Period. If they're concerned (...) (25 years ago, 22-Oct-99, to lugnet.general)

Re: A change in attitude: was Big Brother is Watching (and reading, too!) —Nick Goetz

Mike Stanley wrote in message ... (...) If you tick (...) <cut rest of message> Are you saying that if you need 20 2x2 orange tiles that come in the pod racing set for $90 a set, that TLG will not make more money selling 10 of those sets for $900 (...) (25 years ago, 22-Oct-99, to lugnet.general)

Re: A change in attitude: was Big Brother is Watching (and reading, too!) —Richard Franks

(...) Especially as that would give us even less incentive to buy their stinky sets! Ooops! Sorry Lego - Poindexter said it, not me! Richard (25 years ago, 22-Oct-99, to lugnet.general)

Re: A change in attitude: was Big Brother is Watching (and reading, too!) —James Brown

(...) For 20 2x2 orange tiles, yes, I agree. One of the many people who buy sets and part them out will be more than happy to provide that third party service for you. Unfortunately, I don't want 20. I want 2000. I don't have $90,000 laying around (...) (25 years ago, 22-Oct-99, to lugnet.general)

Re: A change in attitude: was Big Brother is Watching (and reading, too!) —Charles Eric McCarthy

(...) For me that analysis is occasionally right, but usually wrong. Take train doors, for example. I never bought any 5561 Big Foot 4x4 for the white train doors, but I would buy 20 white train doors if they were $2 each. Furthermore, your analysis (...) (25 years ago, 22-Oct-99, to lugnet.general)

Re: A change in attitude: was Big Brother is Watching (and reading, too!) —Mike Stanley

(...) No, I'm not saying that. If you're interested in learning, search for some of the arguments for and against bulk ordering we've had over the last few years - I don't have the time or the desire to reproduce them for you. But I'll tell you this (...) (25 years ago, 22-Oct-99, to lugnet.general)

Re: A change in attitude: was Big Brother is Watching (and reading, too!) —Mike Poindexter

(...) That is a very true example. Here is another one. I want 2,000 of the 1x4x6 black town jr. windows. Does this mean that they will make more money by selling me 2000 of the McDonalds sets? Yes they will, if I felt inclined to buy $22,000 worth (...) (25 years ago, 22-Oct-99, to lugnet.general)

Re: A change in attitude: was Big Brother is Watching (and reading, too!) —Gary R. Istok

(...) Nick, I agree with part of what you're saying, but if that were totally true, then why would TLG have Service Packs at all? I wouldn't care at all about bulk orders if TLG improved and expanded their Service Pack selection. As I've stated (...) (25 years ago, 25-Oct-99, to lugnet.general)

Re: A change in attitude: was Big Brother is Watching (and reading, too!) —Matthew Miller

(...) And both of which contain basically the same parts. :( (25 years ago, 25-Oct-99, to lugnet.general)

Re: A change in attitude: was Big Brother is Watching (and reading, too!) —Nick Goetz

<trimmed original> (...) true, (...) and (...) Shop-At-Home), I (...) Why TLG has services packs at all is not a question I can answer. I don't know. I could guess but I would probably be wrong. I agree if they expanded the service pack options I (...) (25 years ago, 25-Oct-99, to lugnet.general)

Re: A change in attitude: was Big Brother is Watching (and reading, too!) —Larry Pieniazek

Just a couple of points. That 20K order we had assembled was for less than 20 different parts in total, although across several colors. I agree with most everything being said, but I feel that we need tu build bridges to those in TLG that have any (...) (25 years ago, 24-Oct-99, to lugnet.general)

Re: A change in attitude: was Big Brother is Watching (and reading, too!) —Ray Sanders

I agree. Anything that actually succeeds will have to be based on a sound business model. TLG needs to make money and see a positive creative outcome as a result. Perhaps we need a buying organization. A single point of contact with TLG, or a funnel (...) (25 years ago, 24-Oct-99, to lugnet.general)

Re: A change in attitude: was Big Brother is Watching (and reading, too!) —Troy Cefaratti

(...) opinion. You may have hit on a good point here! I'm sure that this is a concern to Lego, especially if they have been reading the groups ehre and have sensed the general unhappiness with most of the current sets. This would be easy to fix with (...) (25 years ago, 24-Oct-99, to lugnet.general)

Re: A change in attitude: was Big Brother is Watching (and reading, too!) —James Powell

(...) What should they -care-? if someone makes money on a aftermaket use of pieces, then all the power to them. If TLG is loosing too much money to the person, just hire them! It's not like someone is making a copy of Lego, then selling it. (trust (...) (25 years ago, 24-Oct-99, to lugnet.general)

Re: A change in attitude: was Big Brother is Watching (and reading, too!) —Troy Cefaratti

(...) costs (...) from (...) It erodes the market for their *SETS* which is where they make the most of their money. While they CAN make money selling bulk, I doubt that it will ever be the majority of their income. Following this idea, Lego would (...) (25 years ago, 24-Oct-99, to lugnet.general)

Re: A change in attitude: was Big Brother is Watching (and reading, too!) —Peter Callaway

I've been following this group for a while, and I'd like to add my 3.059 cents worth (the exchange rate at the moment's a pain). If it is true that AFOL's requesting bulk orders would only make up a small percentage of Lego sales, then I cannot see (...) (25 years ago, 25-Oct-99, to lugnet.general)

Re: A change in attitude: was Big Brother is Watching (and reading, too!) —Troy Cefaratti

(...) parts to (...) I do not think that the concern lies in people buying the parts to make/sell official lego sets below retail. I believe the concern is that people will design their OWN sets using the bulk parts, which would undoubtedly be (...) (25 years ago, 25-Oct-99, to lugnet.general)

Re: A change in attitude: was Big Brother is Watching (and reading, too!) —Mike Stanley

(...) How much would people pay for David's AT-AT model as a kit? I'm thinking $150 minimum. Probably a lot higher. (25 years ago, 25-Oct-99, to lugnet.general)

Re: A change in attitude: was Big Brother is Watching (and reading, too!) —Larry Pieniazek

the parts in either one of the AT ATs (and I saw both in the flesh, WOW IS ALL I CAN SAY (yes I had to shout) ) would be way more than 150, I would think. There must have been 3000 elements in either one. Just guessing. I'd pay 500 for one. (...) (...) (25 years ago, 25-Oct-99, to lugnet.general)

Re: A change in attitude: was Big Brother is Watching (and reading, too!) —Matthew Miller

(...) Yeah, and I think a lot of rabid SW fans would outbid you. (25 years ago, 25-Oct-99, to lugnet.general)

Re: A change in attitude: was Big Brother is Watching (and reading, too!) —Peter Callaway

(...) I just got my tax return back (albeit in AUD), so I'm ready for some bidding. I'd even pay DaveE just for the .DAT files!! Anyone with that amount of talent deserves to be rewarded! Pete Callaway (25 years ago, 25-Oct-99, to lugnet.general)

Re: A change in attitude: was Big Brother is Watching (and reading, too!) —Mike Stanley

(...) I'd go $550 just to outbid you. :) Maybe we can talk him into an auction? (25 years ago, 25-Oct-99, to lugnet.general)

Re: A change in attitude: was Big Brother is Watching (and reading, too!) —Lindsay Frederick Braun

(...) I wonder...perhaps one could make a good profit with such models sold through eBay (or even a "Star Wars Idea CD" or something like that)? We could end up with a cottage industry of modules for building themed models, sort of a merchandised (...) (25 years ago, 25-Oct-99, to lugnet.general)

Re: A change in attitude: was Big Brother is Watching (and reading, too!) —Mike Stanley

(...) This has already been done in book-form, right? Didn't Richard do something like this for his school/class? I think a paper version could work, but I think a digital version would be easier to do. I know I'd be willing to pay for a few dozen (...) (25 years ago, 25-Oct-99, to lugnet.general)

Re: A change in attitude: was Big Brother is Watching (and reading, too!) —Troy Cefaratti

(...) Depends on the part count an physical size. I've seen pictures of two AT-ATs (don't know which one is David's) from the NELUG display at MindFest ( (URL) ) but that doesn't always give you a good impression of the actual size of the models. I (...) (25 years ago, 25-Oct-99, to lugnet.general)

Re: A change in attitude: was Big Brother is Watching (and reading, too!) —Matthew Miller

(...) Dave's original pictures might give a better idea of scale: <URL:(URL) It's huge! (25 years ago, 25-Oct-99, to lugnet.general)

Re: A change in attitude: was Big Brother is Watching (and reading, too!) —Larry Pieniazek

Hmm... (...) Is there anyone who is facile with LDraw or some compatible program and existing model copying, and who is interested in making some coin(1)? I'd be interested in getting a copy of my hopper in LDraw. If you are interested, drop me a (...) (25 years ago, 25-Oct-99, to lugnet.general, lugnet.market.buy-sell-trade)

Re: A change in attitude: was Big Brother is Watching (and reading, too!) —Steve Bliss

(...) I'd be interested. As for payment (obviously depending on how long the custom hopper takes to ldraw), can you say "blue hopper"? ;) More seriously, while reading today's messages, I started wondering about the viability of selling instructions (...) (25 years ago, 25-Oct-99, to lugnet.general, lugnet.market.buy-sell-trade)

Re: A change in attitude: was Big Brother is Watching (and reading, too!) —Christopher L. Weeks

(...) Is that from Harry Potter? I know I've just recently read that but I'm not sure of the source. Chris (25 years ago, 30-Nov-99, to lugnet.general, lugnet.market.buy-sell-trade)

Re: A change in attitude: was Big Brother is Watching (and reading, too!) —Christopher Lannan

(...) keeps its brain." (...) It sounds like something Larry Niven would write. I'm thinking about the Puppeteers from the ringworld 'verse. another Chris (25 years ago, 30-Nov-99, to lugnet.general, lugnet.market.buy-sell-trade)

Re: A change in attitude: was Big Brother is Watching (and reading, too!) —Ray Sanders

(...) Yes, I believe you are correct. I'm re-reading the Ringworld series right now. I started with 'Protector' since that seems the correct base point. Ahh yes, a Piersons Puppeteer. Ray (not a chris) (25 years ago, 30-Nov-99, to lugnet.general, lugnet.market.buy-sell-trade)

Re: A change in attitude: was Big Brother is Watching (and reading, too!) —Steve Bliss

(...) I don't know about Niven, but I'm quoting from "Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets". Mr. Weasley is giving advice to his daughter Ginny. Steve (25 years ago, 1-Dec-99, to lugnet.general)

Re: A change in attitude: was Big Brother is Watching (and reading, too!) —Paul Sinasohn

(...) to (...) keeps its brain." I would buy a copy! Paul Sinasohn bearitone@my-deja.com (25 years ago, 2-Dec-99, to lugnet.general, lugnet.market.buy-sell-trade)

Re: A change in attitude: was Big Brother is Watching (and reading, too!) —Larry Pieniazek

(...) I've been thinking a lot about this and I have to say that I don't think I'd contribute the black hopper into the PD... I plan instead to sell copies with instructions, but with carefully worded retention of rights by me prohibiting (...) (25 years ago, 2-Dec-99, to lugnet.general, lugnet.market.buy-sell-trade)

Re: A change in attitude: was Big Brother is Watching (and reading, too!) —Mike Stanley

(...) I look forward to being able to buy a copy with instructions, myself. (25 years ago, 2-Dec-99, to lugnet.general, lugnet.market.buy-sell-trade)

Re: A change in attitude: was Big Brother is Watching (and reading, too!) —Frank Filz

Ray Sanders wrote in message <3813510A.B54BDB9D@gate.net>... (...) But that concern can be addressed. I don't think anyone here would complain if the price per part for bulk orders was structured so that TLG had a higher profit to expense ratio (...) (25 years ago, 25-Oct-99, to lugnet.general)

Re: A change in attitude: was Big Brother is Watching (and reading, too!) —Richard Marchetti

(...) Does anyone think TLG would listen to some simple bucket or accessory pack requests? In other words, I am suggesting we actually compose a few bucket distributions, and a few accessory packs -- literally listing the part numbers and (...) (25 years ago, 25-Oct-99, to lugnet.general)

Re: A change in attitude: was Big Brother is Watching (and reading, too!) —Matthew Miller

(...) I don't know if they'd like that. Standard corporate behavior is to be very wary of stuff that is offered for free. What if they start to sell a pack based on your part list, and then you sue them, claiming that they "stole your idea for a (...) (25 years ago, 25-Oct-99, to lugnet.general)

Re: A change in attitude: was Big Brother is Watching (and reading, too!) —Mike Poindexter

In lugnet.general, Larry Pieniazek writes: [snipped] (...) Larry, the prices quoted don't mean anything. When they got the order, they said not one item was available. A price quoted for a product not available is not truly a price. I have had to (...) (25 years ago, 24-Oct-99, to lugnet.general)

Re: A change in attitude: was Big Brother is Watching (and reading, too!) —Larry Pieniazek

Mike, let me be clear in case I wasn't, I'm not disagreeing with you. A number of people at TLG DO have rose colored glasses on. I'd rather just see if a well reasoned business case NOW could avoid the hundreds of millions in losses that would wake (...) (25 years ago, 24-Oct-99, to lugnet.general)

Re: A change in attitude: was Big Brother is Watching (and reading, too!) —Ray Sanders

Everyone should pay attention to the shelf-space penetration of Mega Blocks. All the K-Marts (and to a slightly lesser degree WalMart) seem to have large quantities of Mega Blocks product available for purchase. My take is that Mega Blocks are (...) (25 years ago, 24-Oct-99, to lugnet.general)

Re: A change in attitude: was Big Brother is Watching (and reading, too!) —Mike Stanley

(...) If Mega Blocks gets their quality control and tolerances worked out to within 90% of TLG's level, AND if they offer the type of bulk ordering service we talk about, I bet a lot of people will jump on it. I know I would. (25 years ago, 25-Oct-99, to lugnet.general)

Re: A change in attitude: was Big Brother is Watching (and reading, too!) —John Neal

What is it about TLG??!! How _can_ they be so obtuse? Or, are _we_ missing something? Because *somebody* is WAY off here. _Why_ can't TLG understand this point: WE WANT YOU TO SUCCEED!!!! WE WANT YOU TO TAKE OUR MONEY!!! WE HAVE HUNDREDS OF (...) (25 years ago, 25-Oct-99, to lugnet.general)

Re: A change in attitude: was Big Brother is Watching (and reading, too!) —Mike Stanley

(...) It makes me toy with the idea of liquidating the whole shebang and moving on to something else. :/ I could get almost as much enjoyment out of a good virtual Lego building package for free, recover the use of an entire room, and spend the (...) (25 years ago, 25-Oct-99, to lugnet.general)

Re: A change in attitude: was Big Brother is Watching (and reading, too!) —Steve Bliss

(...) I don't know that that is a generally true statement. I'm sure a good number of people will continue to buy TLG products until such time as the quality of the bricks themselves goes to pot, but it's bound to be true that other people will slip (...) (25 years ago, 25-Oct-99, to lugnet.general)

Re: Name that movie, was: A change in attitude —Steve Campbell

(...) "Let's see how you like a month in solitary!" (Or something like that.) Name that movie! (25 years ago, 26-Oct-99, to lugnet.off-topic.fun)

Re: Name that movie, was: A change in attitude —Franklin W. Cain

(...) "The Shawshank Redemption" (25 years ago, 26-Oct-99, to lugnet.off-topic.fun)

Re: A change in attitude: was Big Brother is Watching (and reading, too!) —Richard Franks

(...) Comparing the quality of the two sites (lugnet and lego), I don't think that Todd would appreiciate the insinuation that he's been working for TLG ;) (...) I disagree - when companies do market research, they don't offer lolipops to people who (...) (25 years ago, 22-Oct-99, to lugnet.general)

Re: A change in attitude: was Big Brother is Watching (and reading, too!) —Mike Poindexter

In lugnet.general, Nick Goetz writes: [snipped] (...) In case you didn't notice in my first post, I _DID_ get bulk ordering. And what I was offered was not even as good a deal as full retail at Toys R Us. 6 cents a piece for bricks from the bulk (...) (25 years ago, 23-Oct-99, to lugnet.general)

Re: A change in attitude —Nick Goetz

Unfortunately I hit the send button on the post about the 20 bricks out of frustration. Yes I understand many of you, as well as myself, want large quantities of bricks that could generate lots of lots of money for TLG. I should have thought a (...) (25 years ago, 23-Oct-99, to lugnet.general)

Re: Big Brother is Watching (and reading, too!) —Kya Morden

On Fri, 22 Oct 1999 20:57:47 GMT, "Mike Poindexter" <lego@poindexter.cc> wrote: Wow, that was scary, as I was reading this message a Rock Raiders ad came on. Talk about timing, sheesh. Kya (25 years ago, 23-Oct-99, to lugnet.general)

Re: Big Brother is Watching (and reading, too!) —Kevin Loch

What they should do is not allow trivial spare parts orders, that would run them into the ground. They should allow true bulk orders, of BOX quantities (like the boxes the modelers and MIT get). They could set a reasonable market price for these (...) (25 years ago, 24-Oct-99, to lugnet.general)

Re: Big Brother is Watching (and reading, too!) —Matthew Miller

(...) [snip] (...) Totally agree. They could even require bigger orders than that -- I'm sure we could work it all out amongst ourselves. (25 years ago, 24-Oct-99, to lugnet.general)

Re: Big Brother is Watching (and reading, too!) —Jodi Neal

Call me crazy, naive, or just plain stupid, but here is a thought. There are I'd say 15-20 of you out there who really want some major amouts of certain bricks. Larry P, Tom, Tom, Doyle, John, and more of you then I can think of names at the moment. (...) (25 years ago, 25-Oct-99, to lugnet.general)

Re: Big Brother is Watching (and reading, too!) —Christopher L. Weeks

(...) Please be careful Mike. For the last couple of years, TLG has been doing business with powerful clans of ninja (you may have noticed at WalMart) and you could find a rather rude surprise if you keep pushing them. ;-) Chris (25 years ago, 31-Oct-99, to lugnet.general)

Re: Big Brother is Watching (and reading, too!) —Mike Poindexter

(...) looking (...) I am well protected by hundreds of Police, equipped with choppers, motercycles, paddywagons and 20 or so department headquarters. :-) (Too bad they don't have guns. Of course, my cowboys have guns and cannons to help) (25 years ago, 1-Nov-99, to lugnet.general)