Subject:
|
Re: TLC Train Improvements
|
Newsgroups:
|
lugnet.trains
|
Date:
|
Thu, 25 Mar 2004 01:10:28 GMT
|
Viewed:
|
1577 times
|
| |
|
|
In lugnet.trains, Jeroen de Haan wrote:
[snipped]
>
> What I understand from your post is that:
>
> a) you want TLC to produce a (decent) American engine (and American waggons)
> and
> b) you don't have a clue what TLC's target group is.
>
> For what I have understood (from some of the speeches by Brad Justus) is
> that LEGO is a kids toy and produced for kids, with kids in mind. The fact
> that there is a (large?) group of adults who "play" with LEGO is nice for
> the extra sales. He (mister Justus) also made clear that LEGO sets should be
> an inspiration to go and build more yourself. Shure, some sets are not to
> play with (some Model Team stuff and that huge grey Star Wars thing) but
> most are made for inspiration.
> I know, it hurts when my 6 year old son destroys a complete trainset to
> build his own, but that is where LEGO is for and why LEGO is LEGO. Thank God
> I don't own a Fleischmann!
> Be inspired by others; there are loads of good (American) models out there
> and for some you can even find complete instructions.
>
> Play well, be inspired and inspire others. And well, who knows what the new
> sets will look like!
>
> Jeroen
Jeroen/All,
Sadly, I fear you're right. One additional thing Brad Justus recently said (at
LEGO World) was that he didn't think LEGO Direct should be making new trains for
a while, but maybe just new track. I believe his reason was that we the fans
are good enough to make great trains on our own and don't need official sets.
Sometimes I wonder if I'm in a small minority of people who feels disappointed
by this but perhaps Erik feels similarly. I *cannot* make trains like those
Erik cited in his post. I'm not that gifted and despite having a good
collection of sets I seem to have none of the right parts. Your advice to look
at other people's designs is a great idea. There are many good designs out
there with instructions. The problem is getting the right parts to actually
build them. I know folks say to use Bricklink but I must be retarded when it
comes to doing that because I always end up frustrated trying to buy the
specific parts I need and end up giving up.
Here's an example: James Mathis is selling a book with instructions for his
Santa Fe Dome Car. James carefully designed this MOC to mostly use the parts
from set 10022, leaving only 57 parts that need to be found elsewhere. Of these
parts there are only 7 unique part/color combinations. When I saw this I was
thrilled. I thought finally I'd be able to build one of James' cool MOCs. I
went on Bricklink and was quickly frustrated. I soon realized that I couldn't
find any one Bricklink store that had the 7 unique part/color combinations and
that I'd have to split my order among multiple stores. Then I found that the
stores I was required to use all had minimum order requirements some as high as
$20. Soon I realized why when James offered the kitted parts at PDX he sold
those 57 parts for $40 per kit!!! I don't have the time to figure out, split
up, and manage how I'm going to buy these parts from multiple stores. I don't
have the income to justify spending $40+ for 57 parts on top of $10 for James'
book and $35 for a 10022 set. In the end I gave up disgusted. If I couldn't
succeed in getting 7 part types for a MOC, how in the world will I ever be able
to get the right parts to build someone's 500+ piece locomotive MOC?
Brad is right about the many gifted train designers who post their great MOCs
here in our community. They can make great trains and do not need LEGO direct
to sell them official sets. But I think Brad is dead wrong about the *average*
AFOL who likes LEGO trains. We can not build MOCs as good as the Santa Fe sets.
And worse, despite the generous instructions provided by so many of our expert
fans, the average AFOL can not easily get the parts to build other people's
MOCs. Yes, if I'm a 100% dedicated fanatic I'll find a way to do it, but I'm
not that, I'm just an average AFOL who always wishes he had more time and money
for his favorite hobby.
What's frustrating is that LEGO has shown that they're willing to make grown-up
oriented detailed sets for the direct channel. The Super Chief, Star Destroyer,
Famous Planes, UCS Snowspeeder/Naboo Fighter, Train Shed, Lunar Lander, etc. are
all examples of sets that aren't just meant for 6 yr olds. With the fantastic
success of the Super Chief I can't understand why they would stop making similar
products. I don't buy that it's because they only make little-kiddy products
for the examples I just listed. I think they're missing out on a great direct
sale product line. Hopefully the recent survey will indicate that there is
demand for these things. Until then I'll just keep grumbling and trying to find
a way to use Bricklink without going broke.
I'd be interested to hear any suggestions on how to make me a happier
train-head. If I'm being stupid about something let me know. I'd love to have
trains running on my kitchen table that look like the ones I see on Brickshelf!
Regards,
Paul S. D'Urbano
|
|
Message is in Reply To:
 | | Re: TLC Train Improvements
|
| "Erik Bush2" <erbush@gcasda.org> wrote in message news:Huo9B3.t05@lugnet.com... [snipped] (...) engine. (...) TLC (...) What I understand from your post is that: a) you want TLC to produce a (decent) American engine (and American waggons) and b) (...) (21 years ago, 16-Mar-04, to lugnet.trains)
|
7 Messages in This Thread:
  
- Entire Thread on One Page:
- Nested:
All | Brief | Compact | Dots
Linear:
All | Brief | Compact
|
|
|
|
