Subject:
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Re: Some disturbing news
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Newsgroups:
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lugnet.general
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Date:
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Tue, 26 Oct 1999 19:17:05 GMT
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Viewed:
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1329 times
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In lugnet.general, Todd Lehman writes:
> In lugnet.general, "Tony Kilaras" <kilaras@speedus.com> writes:
> > I would say Lego has been targeting primarily kids since the introduction of
> > the mini-fig. I can't think of even one instance (and I've been here a long
> > time) where Lego implemented something an AFOL wanted.
>
> Well, except Star Wars -- but kids probably wanted that too. Do you mean
> things which adults wanted but which kids didn't necessarily want? Yeah,
> hmmm, I can't think of any wishes-come-true either -- certainly not in
> Castle or Town, to say the least.
>
> There may be shred of hope, however -- Eric Kingsley of NELUG noted in
>
> http://www.lugnet.com/org/us/?n=92
>
> that TLG reps stopped by the NELUG table during MindFest and asked them what
> they would like to see as the next MindStorms Star Wars set. In the worst
> case, maybe they were just asking just out of curiosity, but I'll bet they
> were clearly able to see that they were talking to some very excited and
> knowledgeable adult Star Wars and LEGO fanatics whose opinion was actually
> worth something to them.
>
>
> > What's changed is that
> > Lego now thinks that kids are now simplistic, commercially driven, • attention-
> > deficit afflicted morons. Hence, rampant juniorization and tie-ins with Star
> > Wars and Disney and God knows what else.
>
> It sure seems that way. :-(
>
>
> > We can't do anything about the current situtation. Nothing. We have to wait
> > this nonsense out. I regret that Star Wars is such a success for Lego • because
> > it merely postpones the day of reckoning.
>
> I'm holding out hope for a few things:
>
> * I know there are people within TLG who understand why the Star Wars line
> is such a success -- and not just because of the name, but because of the
> non-juniorization of it. If these people can convince Marketing or whomever
> to return to non-juniorization and other traditional values, then there's
> still hope. Even if some of the product lines, not necessarily all of them,
> are course-corrected, it could be majorly helpful.
>
> * Through attrition and layoffs, gradually there will be newer and newer
> employees in the design and marketing departments at LEGO. We know from
> Jeroen Ottens's appearance and information tidbits earlier this year that
> TLG does hire adult fanatic builders occasionally, and I cannot imagine that
> not being an increasing trend as more and more adult fanatic builders become
> more connected and visible. So, I try to think of it as us adults gradually
> infiltrating LEGO over time and having a positive impact (assuming that all
> the good ideas don't get shot down). By the year 2005, nearly every new
> employee that LEGO hires for design probably will have been exposed to quite
> a bit of excellent fan-stuff on the net and probably will be fairly
> knowledgeable about what and how adult builders think.
>
> * As more and more people aggregate into clubs and user groups like PNLTC,
> GMLTC, NELUG, and BAYLUG, more and more articles about adults will begin
> appearing in the popular press. Just earlier this week in fact there was an
> article[1] in the New York Times which mentioned adults. And of course
> there was the mention in Entertainment Weekly last month, and the Forbes
> articles about reverse engineering the RCX. The stage is really set now for
> a nice steady ramp-up over the next 12 to 18 months. By 2001, it will be
> impossible for TLG to ignore the quantity of "visible" adult builders. I
> don't know what that number will be, but it will surely be in the tens of
> thousands. Someday, maybe 2005, maybe it'll be a hundred thousand.
>
> Like you say, we've gotta just wait it out. Someday the sleeping giant will
> awaken, and let's just hope that it's friendly to us.
>
> --Todd
>
> [1] http://www.nytimes.com/library/tech/99/10/biztech/articles/23lego.html
I have just stumbled upon all of this(lugnet, nelug, etc.) in the past couple
days after I started researching Lego on the net. After buying the Classic
Star Wars sets this summer I have decided to get back into Lego after 10 years
of them being stored away in a closet at my parents' house. But it seems that
there has been so much going on with TLG that I am a little disheartened at
expanding my huge childhood collection to encompass my needs as and adult
builder. I too have unfortunately watched Lego and the sets it markets go
"downhill" these past 10 years as I would "checkup" on what was new in the toy
department of local stores if I had some free time.
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Message has 1 Reply:
 | | Re: Some disturbing news
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| (...) Travis, WELCOME!! Don't let our ranting get you down. We do this every couple of months (a collective tantrum, so to speak). It's LEGO therapy on a mass scale! Yes we have our differences with the LEGO company (TLG for short), but it's "the (...) (25 years ago, 26-Oct-99, to lugnet.general)
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Message is in Reply To:
| | Re: Some disturbing news
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| (...) Well, except Star Wars -- but kids probably wanted that too. Do you mean things which adults wanted but which kids didn't necessarily want? Yeah, hmmm, I can't think of any wishes-come-true either -- certainly not in Castle or Town, to say the (...) (25 years ago, 26-Oct-99, to lugnet.general)
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