LEGO Direct : 2077


LEGO Company / LEGO Direct / 2077

What Kids really want. Not Juniorization. —Mike Petrucelli

I find it very hard to belive no one had anything to comment on about this. Then I relized it was only posted to lugnet.general. (URL) certainly found my results intereting. -Mike Petrucelli (23 years ago, 3-Mar-01, to lugnet.lego.direct, lugnet.general)

Re: What Kids really want. Not Juniorization. —Tim Courtney

"Mike Petrucelli" <lordinsanity@usa.net> wrote in message news:G9Lq9C.8L0@lugnet.com... (...) As did a lot of us. I really really really would like to seriously look into doing a survey (as scientific as possible) of people who purchase LEGO in toy (...) (23 years ago, 3-Mar-01, to lugnet.lego.direct, lugnet.general)

Re: What Kids really want. Not Juniorization. —Mike Petrucelli

(...) I think a third party survey would be very good for TLC to conduct. Of course they would have to conduct a very serious survey and accept the results for it to mean anything. Maybe that Enigmatic "we lost money and will revert to our core (...) (23 years ago, 3-Mar-01, to lugnet.lego.direct, lugnet.general)

Re: What Kids really want. Not Juniorization. —Tim Courtney

"Mike Petrucelli" <lordinsanity@usa.net> wrote in message news:G9LsFJ.Cu3@lugnet.com... (...) I'm not so sure I'd be that optimistic, really. From what I've learned about the company, its hard to effect policy which is decided in Billund. The (...) (23 years ago, 3-Mar-01, to lugnet.lego.direct, lugnet.general)

Re: What Kids really want. Not Juniorization. —Rose Regner

Mike Petrucelli wrote in message ... (...) I think that it was interesting, but this topic has been discussed numerous times. One Lego employee wrote about it (URL) you might imagine, the lack of time is one of the significant factors that hinders (...) (23 years ago, 4-Mar-01, to lugnet.lego.direct, lugnet.general)

Re: What Kids really want. Not Juniorization. —Mike Petrucelli

(...) Yet this "marketing reasearch" directly contradicts that which I observed as an Assistant Manager at KB Toys. As my original post stated many parents and kids thought Mega Blocks sets were the good Lego sets. Most of the people that know the (...) (23 years ago, 5-Mar-01, to lugnet.lego.direct, lugnet.general)

Re: What Kids really want. Not Juniorization. —Tim Courtney

"Mike Petrucelli" <lordinsanity@usa.net> wrote in message news:G9qJwF.Gqu@lugnet.com... (...) an (...) kids (...) know (...) How sad, but true. (...) YES!! We *are* the ones making sense here, those who have observed the decline of LEGO products and (...) (23 years ago, 5-Mar-01, to lugnet.lego.direct, lugnet.general)

Re: What Kids really want. Not Juniorization. —A. Mark Wilburn

(...) ... (...) That pretty much sums it up, doesn't it? No, MB bricks aren't as good as LEGO. Nobody said they were... but can they be a satisfactory (and cheap) substitute? To some people, in some cases... definitely. This is especially true in (...) (23 years ago, 5-Mar-01, to lugnet.lego.direct, lugnet.general)

Re: What Kids really want. Not Juniorization. —Rose Regner

A. Mark Wilburn wrote in message ... (...) box. I have to disagree with you on this point. I have a four(almost five) year old boy and the mini set bags make it easier for him to build the sets. He gets frustrated when he can't find the parts. This (...) (23 years ago, 5-Mar-01, to lugnet.lego.direct, lugnet.general)

Re: What Kids really want. Not Juniorization. —Mike Petrucelli

(...) I fully agree with this. If the design quality is up to par I don't care how it is packaged. -Mike Petrucelli (23 years ago, 6-Mar-01, to lugnet.lego.direct, lugnet.general)

Re: What Kids really want. Not Juniorization. —A. Mark Wilburn

(...) Ok, obviously I confused you (and Doug, and Mike). No, I don't hate the bags at all; I've heard comments to the effect of some people really don't like them (I can't remember who said this, but I've seen many posts that say something to the (...) (23 years ago, 6-Mar-01, to lugnet.lego.direct, lugnet.general)

Re: What Kids really want. Not Juniorization. —Selçuk Göre

(...) I really can't understand why you (not only you but other people who also said that) are so upset with current (I mean old) way of packaging. If you just open the bags to make piles of each individual bag, instead of a big common pile, I (...) (23 years ago, 29-Mar-01, to lugnet.lego.direct, lugnet.general)

Re: What Kids really want. Not Juniorization. —A. Mark Wilburn

(...) Guess I'm weird that way; I'm almost insulted when I get a Town Junior set that's pre-seperated for me (but oh well, not like I can't just dump it all out) yet when I get a larger set I'd like some sort of sorting. Yes, you're right, if I had (...) (23 years ago, 30-Mar-01, to lugnet.lego.direct, lugnet.general)

Re: What Kids really want. Not Juniorization. —Tim Courtney

"A. Mark Wilburn" <amwilburn@iname.com> wrote in message news:GB1B51.DzJ@lugnet.com... (...) Why be insulted? I think that separation is a good step for keeping kids' attention spans, and if they're separated it makes it a faster build for you too. (...) (23 years ago, 31-Mar-01, to lugnet.lego.direct, lugnet.general)

Re: What Kids really want. Not Juniorization. —Aaron West

(...) Oh, they do still. But you have to go to a specialty store for them. Examples are the Velux house, all the 2000 Shell sets and probably some others that escape me right now. The problem is not that kids want something easier to build, but what (...) (23 years ago, 31-Mar-01, to lugnet.lego.direct, lugnet.general)

Re: What Kids really want. Not Juniorization. —Michael Horvath

I don't remember caring much what kind of bags they were in. As long as they ended up looking like what was on the outside of the box when the building was done! I think I actually preferred the items sorted by type, as opposed to sub-assembly (...) (23 years ago, 12-Mar-01, to lugnet.lego.direct, lugnet.general)

Re: What Kids really want. Not Juniorization. —Rose Regner

Mike Horvath wrote in message ... (...) your (...) complicating. Lego has stated that they believe kids don't want to spend as much time building and this was a reason for Jr. sets. The separate bags also speed up the buillding process, but the (...) (23 years ago, 12-Mar-01, to lugnet.lego.direct, lugnet.general)

Re: What Kids really want. Not Juniorization. —Paul Gyugyi

There have been many times in life (College, Grad School, PhD, Jobs, Kids, etc) where I've been acutely aware that the _only_ reason I was able to persevere through and solve problems was due to the patience and methodical search approach I learned (...) (23 years ago, 14-Mar-01, to lugnet.lego.direct, lugnet.general)

Re: What Kids really want. Not Juniorization. —Roy Gal

Lou's original post, on the current state of Lego, made me pretty sad. I'm now 28, so I grew up as a kid playing with sets from ~1978-1990, a truly wonderful time for Lego. Thankfully, I saved everything I had and they are now part of my collection. (...) (23 years ago, 14-Mar-01, to lugnet.lego.direct, lugnet.general)

Re: What Kids really want. Not Juniorization. —Doug Finney

I'm a little confused here. You don't want to waste time looking for the pieces but you want them all to be the same color and if they're pre-sorted into "minisets" you'd rather dump them all out into the box? When I built the UCS sets, it was the (...) (23 years ago, 5-Mar-01, to lugnet.lego.direct, lugnet.general)

Re: What Kids really want. Not Juniorization. —Michael Horvath

(...) That's brilliant! Except, I wouldn't mind them branching into software and other material if they were as good as the Big Mac. You have to remember quality over quantity... . Or, something like that! I actually wouldn't mind buying Lego (...) (23 years ago, 12-Mar-01, to lugnet.lego.direct, lugnet.general)

Re: What Kids really want. Not Juniorization. —Rose Regner

Tim Courtney wrote in message ... (...) and (...) I guess that this comment is directed to my statement about Lego disappointing me. I didn't really mean to be so cynical, I was just trying to be realistic. The town role theme really appeals to 4-7 (...) (23 years ago, 5-Mar-01, to lugnet.lego.direct, lugnet.general)

(canceled) —Tim Courtney

Re: What Kids really want. Not Juniorization. —Rose Regner

Tim Courtney wrote in message ... (...) company (...) will (...) Fine, I'll just stop posting on LUGNET. (...) areas (...) I think you just did this by the above statement. Thanks for your input. Rose (23 years ago, 5-Mar-01, to lugnet.lego.direct, lugnet.general)

Re: What Kids really want. Not Juniorization. —Tim Courtney

(...) Very bad wording on my part... whoops. And I'm out of my room too away from the newsreader where I can cancel posts. Rose - my comment about having a filter on Richard's messages was not aimed as a slight against you. It was expressing my (...) (23 years ago, 6-Mar-01, to lugnet.lego.direct, lugnet.general)

Re: What Kids really want. Not Juniorization. —Kyle D. Jackson

(...) G'day Tim, I saw you mention this survey in passing once before, but I think I missed the original proposal. So my question about this survey is, "To what end?" I.e., what's the goal? It sounds like you would be doing work that TLC should be (...) (23 years ago, 8-Mar-01, to lugnet.lego.direct, lugnet.general)

Re: What Kids really want. Not Juniorization. —Tim Courtney

Kyle D. Jackson <flightdeck@sympatic...mblock.ca> wrote in message news:G9uz3L.MH@lugnet.com... (...) Hi Kyle - The goal of a survey of this type is to show that Juniorization is not what parents and kids want. In some email I had exchanged with (...) (23 years ago, 11-Mar-01, to lugnet.lego.direct, lugnet.general)

Re: What Kids really want. Not Juniorization. —Timothy D. Freshly

"Mike Petrucelli" <lordinsanity@usa.net> wrote in message news:G9qJwF.Gqu@lugnet.com... [snip] (...) that like construction toys. [snip] Mike, you have gotten to the core of what bothers me about LEGO's marketing strategy and direction over the (...) (23 years ago, 5-Mar-01, to lugnet.lego.direct, lugnet.general)

Re: What Kids really want. Not Juniorization. —John D. Forinash

(...) I think you're missing something here. Nintendo and Sony are in the positions they're in because when someone said, back in 1982, "The lesson here is that there are already companies out there (Atari, Mattel, etc.) who will always be heads and (...) (23 years ago, 5-Mar-01, to lugnet.lego.direct, lugnet.general)

Re: What Kids really want. Not Juniorization. —Timothy D. Freshly

"J.D. Forinash" <foxtrot@cc.gatech.edu> wrote in message news:980vrg$1nq$1@y2...net.foo... (...) Actually, I think you may have missed my point. LEGO is in the position of Atari, Mattel, etc., not the other way around. LEGO is the company every (...) (23 years ago, 5-Mar-01, to lugnet.lego.direct, lugnet.general)

Re: What Kids really want. Not Juniorization. —Michael Horvath

Don't forget Fisher Price. Lego isn't the only company that these companies are gunning for. You'd be surprised how little Lego has to worry about competition. Bad management, maybe... I think it would be a bad idea for Lego to specificly target (...) (23 years ago, 11-Mar-01, to lugnet.lego.direct, lugnet.general)

Re: What Kids really want. Not Juniorization. —Michael Horvath

Wait, what do you mean by construction sets? Speaking of myself, personally, I can't stand dump trucks 'n stuff. I'm confused. (...) (23 years ago, 12-Mar-01, to lugnet.lego.direct, lugnet.general)

Re: What Kids really want. Not Juniorization. —Steve Bliss

(...) Construction Toys are toys that you build things with. This category starts with building blocks and goes on through Lego, K'nex, Meccano/Erector, Lincoln Logs, Tinkertoys, Construx, Robotix, Ring-a-Majigs, Mega-Bloks, American Bricks, (...) (23 years ago, 12-Mar-01, to lugnet.lego.direct, lugnet.general)

Re: What Kids really want. Not Juniorization. —Michael Horvath

(...) Nintendo and Sony didn't try and get into the pizza business. (23 years ago, 11-Mar-01, to lugnet.lego.direct, lugnet.general)

Re: What Kids really want. Not Juniorization. —Mark Koeberl

(...) I would like to make a suggestion to TLC: modularity. I'll explain and ramble a bit. I occasionally buy a Mega Bloks set for special colors, unique pieces, and fun. Mostly for fun. For $20US, you get a lot of fun assembling a large and (...) (23 years ago, 6-Mar-01, to lugnet.lego.direct, lugnet.general)

Re: What Kids really want. Not Juniorization. —Mike Petrucelli

I think this is a wonderful idea. I think it would be a much better item for kids to collect than Bonicle. I also think that a tub like 3033 with grey, dark grey, brown, and tan as the four primary colors would be a "bestseller." I for one highly (...) (23 years ago, 6-Mar-01, to lugnet.lego.direct, lugnet.general)

Re: What Kids really want. Not Juniorization. —A. Mark Wilburn

(...) I actually emailed LEGO with this exact same thought! ... snip of my email... What I would like to see, are new 'Blue Tub' type values: a 1200 piece plates tub would sell very well, as would another basic brick tub with some basic slopes. (...) (23 years ago, 6-Mar-01, to lugnet.lego.direct, lugnet.general)

Re: What Kids really want. Not Juniorization. —William R. Ward

(...) I totally agree that this would be a killer set - I know that those of us who do lego sculpture would gobble those unusual-color tubs up like mad. Another marketing angle they could use: make it a "Star Wars Tub" with a bunch of grey, dark (...) (23 years ago, 9-Mar-01, to lugnet.lego.direct, lugnet.general)

Re: What Kids really want. Not Juniorization. —John Neal

(...) Hmm, used that angle already: (URL) Try and keep up. (...) Why the patronization? Of course they're listening; this is where they listen. Are you paying attention? -John (...) (23 years ago, 9-Mar-01, to lugnet.lego.direct, lugnet.general)

Re: What Kids really want. Not Juniorization. —Michael Horvath

And the random Darth Vader, or something. (...) (23 years ago, 12-Mar-01, to lugnet.lego.direct, lugnet.general)

Re: What Kids really want. Not Juniorization. —Michael Horvath

(...) I think that is a godd idea, too! (...) I kind of doubt that they are overpricing us. (23 years ago, 12-Mar-01, to lugnet.lego.direct, lugnet.general)

Re: What Kids really want. Not Juniorization. —Scott Sanburn

To All, (...) Well, I think ABS is a costlier plastic than whatever MegaBloks is made out of. That is the major difference between Lego and Megabloks / Best Lock, is it not? There are so many factors to consider also, like labor, plant costs, taxes, (...) (23 years ago, 11-Mar-01, to lugnet.lego.direct, lugnet.general)

Re: What Kids really want. Not Juniorization. —Peter White

(...) Plus the transportation costs of moving large boxes of air, only partly filled with ABS. Any need to make the boxes as large as they do ? Unless they want consumers to think there is more inside than there is. Parents buy Lego, children open (...) (23 years ago, 12-Mar-01, to lugnet.lego.direct, lugnet.general)

Re: What Kids really want. Not Juniorization. —Scott Sanburn

Pete, (...) Well, sarcasm aside, there is a marketing ploy there, and a lot of companies do it (Mattel, etc.) I don't like the packaging any better, but I think there are more important issues to take care of first. There are a lot of issues that I (...) (23 years ago, 12-Mar-01, to lugnet.lego.direct, lugnet.general)

Re: What Kids really want. Not Juniorization. —Peter White

(...) We are a critical bunch sometimes. I brought up the 'air' content, since MB boxes are reasonably 'air free', and the comparison between the two was happening. My partner bought our niece a Belville set and seriously questioned the value. TLC (...) (23 years ago, 12-Mar-01, to lugnet.lego.direct, lugnet.general)

Re: What Kids really want. Not Juniorization. —Scott Sanburn

Pter & All, (...) Yes, we are. But I think it is because of the love of the brick, as opposed to senseless bashing. I am trying to look at the better side, there are things changing, I hope it will be continuing to. (...) I have not bought any yet, (...) (23 years ago, 12-Mar-01, to lugnet.lego.direct, lugnet.general)

Re: What Kids really want. Not Juniorization. —Steve Bliss

(...) Really? I haven't looked at Mega-Bloks tubs, so I didn't realize the price was that close. Looking at the per-brick price, we get: $0.0167 for LEGO $0.0143 for Mega-Bloks Or about a 14% markdown for MB (looking at it the other way, LEGO is (...) (23 years ago, 12-Mar-01, to lugnet.lego.direct, lugnet.general)

Re: What Kids really want. Not Juniorization. —Dave Schuler

(...) Since the tubs are a bulk dump of basic bricks, they're not necessarily the best indicator of piece:price ratio. One might compare, for instance, the Mos Espa Podrace, with 894 pieces for $99 MSRP vs the MB Aircraft Carrier, with about 1700 (...) (23 years ago, 12-Mar-01, to lugnet.lego.direct, lugnet.general)

Re: What Kids really want. Not Juniorization. —Mike Petrucelli

(...) Ok you missed my original point. Bulk tub prices are an acurate reflection of material costs. Actual sets from both Mega Blocks and Lego have added printing and R&D costs. So why the huge price difference. Consider that TRU had Mos Espa (...) (23 years ago, 13-Mar-01, to lugnet.lego.direct, lugnet.general)

Re: What Kids really want. Not Juniorization. —Kevin Johnston

(...) Hmmm, I don't agree that bulk prices are an accurate reflection of pure material costs. For one thing, there's the manufacturing costs-- Lego bricks have superior (and more consistent) binding performance. There are other, less tangible costs: (...) (23 years ago, 13-Mar-01, to lugnet.lego.direct, lugnet.general)

Re: What Kids really want. Not Juniorization. —Michael Horvath

A "better" idea, but I don't think it would work. (...) (23 years ago, 11-Mar-01, to lugnet.lego.direct, lugnet.general)

Re: What Kids really want. Not Juniorization. —Bruce Schlickbernd

(...) Basically, parents and kids are seeing the piece count go down and the price remain the same (or get worse). The less of an adaptable construction toy it becomes, the less justifiable the high price. I'm less willing to buy it for my son, and (...) (23 years ago, 5-Mar-01, to lugnet.lego.direct, lugnet.general)

Re: What Kids really want. Not Juniorization. —Mark Koeberl

(...) I don't know if anyone else has seen the two new Mega Blok Pro Series sets, but the Harely-Davidson looked incredible! 1300 or 1400 pieces, all basic bricks except for a handful of specialty/accent pieces. $40. Expensive for a Ritvik set, but (...) (23 years ago, 29-Mar-01, to lugnet.lego.direct, lugnet.general)