Subject:
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Re: Bad Policy #2 (Why all the secrecy, LEGO Direct?)
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Newsgroups:
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lugnet.lego.direct
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Followup-To:
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lugnet.general
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Date:
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Mon, 7 May 2001 20:58:30 GMT
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Viewed:
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1298 times
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On Mon, 7 May 2001, Dave Schuler (<GCzFvv.E86@lugnet.com>) wrote at
20:35:55
> In lugnet.lego.direct, Tony Priestman writes:
> > On Mon, 7 May 2001, Dave Schuler (<GCz263.2B8@lugnet.com>) wrote at
> > 15:39:38
> > >
> > > I defy you to point to a single MegaBloks product (other than basic brick
> > > design itself, of course) that so closely mirrors a LEGO product that we can
> > > really identify a deliberate attempt at cloning.
> >
> > You may have to think slightly out of the box for this one, but have you
> > looked at Playmobil themes recently? They have excellent Castles,
> > Pirates, Space and Construction sets. So good in fact, that if I had
> > children, I would be giving them serious consideration.
>
> Good point, though I've never personally favored Playmobil. Are they
> considered direct competition of LEGO, other than in a nebulous "if my money
> goes here, it can't go there" sort of way? They don't strike me as
> construction toys, though I understand that they do have some modularity.
> Come to think of it, the Playmobil ghost is remarkably similar to the LEGO
> ghost. Hmm... Again, though, I think if Playmobil wanted to pirate LEGO's
> ideas, they wouldn't need go through LUGNET to do it.
I can't really say much myself, as pretty much the only toy I pay any
attention to is LEGO. But I noticed the uncanny similarities while
cruising the isles at TRU (they hide the LEGO in some strange places at
times :-)
I don't think you can use narrow definitions here. TLC makes toys:
Playmobil makes toys. Once you've gone through the initial assembly (and
let's face it, LEGO doesn't need much assembly these days), you've just
got a toy for kids to play with. The intellectual property would seem to
be in the play theme rather than the medium. Look at Bionicle. It almost
doesn't matter whether it's LEGO or not.
But your last point is the key one. If TLC started telling us about
*everything*, all their competitors would have to do would be to come
here.
(FUT. .general, cos there's not much related to LD in this.)
--
Tony Priestman
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