Subject:
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Re: This is stupid... I can't tolerate this *juniorization*...
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Newsgroups:
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lugnet.lego.direct, lugnet.dear-lego
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Date:
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Fri, 10 Aug 2001 06:14:17 GMT
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Viewed:
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2453 times
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In lugnet.lego.direct, Jonathan Dallas writes:
> Bionicle has some interesting features to it that could make it popular with
> a different crowd. I won't say anything against it till it has had a chance.
Bionicle (and the whole Throwbot/Roborider/Droid theme) is revitalizing
Technic in the same way that 1979 space revitalized town.
I remember getting a few space sets, and I kept them in a separate
box from my police station and windmill. They were "different":
new colors ("grey"), and small useful widgets -- bricks with studs
on the side; truncated cones; angle brackets; windshields; hinges.
I had nothing like them in my other sets! Most of these new little
useful widget-type bricks developed when leadership of TLG changed,
and they grew beyond the standard brick wall and roof bricks, and
soon spread into town sets.
The Slizer bricks bring the same, only to the technic line. New
colors, full range of motion ball and socket joints, body/wing panels.
These pieces have more than the obvious initial uses, just as when a few
years after the space bricks came out, many of them were being used
for decidedly non-space functions. IMHO, Lego needs to continue to
develop the Slizer lines with more little-useful-bricks, like additional
ball and socket joint holders, maybe a socket in a more space-efficient
package, or one with two back-to-back sockets. The Bionicle torso is
a step in the wrong direction, but the legs work great as alternatives
to mix in with the throwbot legs.
Anyways, you can just open a catalog to see how the new pieces have
swept through the Technic line, and I think they've been a good, positive
influence because the pieces have been multi-use. Many of the parts
are decorative, but in the same way that a if you stick a zillion
little grey space bricks a model it begins to look and feel like a
Star Destroyer or battleship.
I think Lego tried several different new things (and spent a lot of money).
The infrastructure to crank out new parts on a whim, and sort a dozen
new colors, does not come cheaply. I think we'll look back on Bionicle
as a success. Some failures, like the RockRaiders, were necessary steps
to learn how to do the branded-theme-idea. Others, like Jack Stone, came
for free once you had all the CAD tools and mold makers needed to do
Bionicle, and help crowd out Playmobil. Some, like ZNAP, went head-to-head
with the competition and failed. And the rest, like the new dinosaurs,
are, uh, because all the good designers were working on the Star Wars
sets.
-gyug
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