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In lugnet.lego.direct, Richard Noeckel writes:
> Very nicely said Allen!
>
> I kinda feel sorry for the Lego development team who create Jack Stone.
> Cause everybody seams to be targeting their irritation towards this
> particular line. Although this angst is justified and has merit, it appears
> that Jack Stone is the culmination of everything that is wrong with Lego today.
> Perhaps the Jack Stone creators forgot the original Lego credo of ‘a system
> of play without boarders.’ When they created a specialized new line that
> doesn’t integrate well into the collective. But this could be easily
> remedied if TLG just listened to a few AFOL who appear to have
> some really good suggestions.
Let me take a stab at defending the Jack Stone line, and maybe we can get to the
real issue at hand.
First of all, I don't see or hear anyone ripping on the Duplo line as
"juniorized", or "doesn't integrate well" into System. Why not? Because we
realize that Duplo *is targeted* at a younger audience. It's *supposed" to be
juniorized.
So don't you see? That is the same intention of the Jack Stone line. TLC *is
targeting* very specifically kids who are too old for Duplo but not ready for
System. They saw a gap between Duplo and System and decided it needed bridging.
It's not a bad strategy-- trying to hook kids at a younger age *before*
(hopefully) they reach video games, MTV, etc.
The problem is that while TLC was busy filling that gap, they *created* one in
System by abandoning the types of sets we would characterize as "legends" when
they started pursuing the younger market.
Why did they abandon the 8-12 market? Perhaps they felt they couldn't compete.
Maybe they felt that they needed to pursue the 8-12 market with stuff like
Mindstorms, Studios, Bionicle, and <shudder> software instead. I don't know.
So the real problem isn't the existance of Jack Stone, just the absence of more
themes in the same vein as the Star Wars one.
And lo and behold, along comes LD to fill that niche vacated by TLC. Hopefully,
the success of LD will show Billund that that niche is still worth pursuing with
new themes and major investments.
-John
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Message is in Reply To:
 | | Re: What makes a legend?
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| Very nicely said Allen! I kinda feel sorry for the Lego development team who create Jack Stone. Cause everybody seams to be targeting their irritation towards this particular line. Although this angst is justified and has merit, it appears that (...) (23 years ago, 24-Oct-01, to lugnet.lego.direct, lugnet.general)
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