Vikings on the way out?

[phoinix]

well here in Greece at my localtoy-store almost every viking set is sold!

so i guess the line did very well here..

i am too hoping they will continue..but i dont see that happening :-(

as for the creatures and the bionicle elements..well lego gave as the creator monster set for a reason!

its like they are saying "built it your way"

and i think its a great idea!

imagine if a kid got the viking catapult along with creator-dragon! thats perfect if you ask me!

as for the sets not coming to every country..well we have the same problem and even worse!

only one sailbarge and 2 ISD made it to my local store and they were all sold before i could gather some money for them! :-(

also the store only had about 1 of each for the new trains and one airport!

sure i can search at other stores of the same chain..but i think they wont have any....

there arent many sets here after Xmas!

(not to mention batman hasnt made it here yet, thank God my brother went to UK and got me a couple sets)

and all the store has now are Harry Potter sets from 2001!!!

and as those dont sell there isnt much space in the store for new arrivals

(or at leaste for a large number of new sets)

So lego forcing every store to get the whole line isnt always a good idea

star wars,bionicle and city sell like hot cakes here...while lego-sports and Harry Potter sit in the store waitting for 5 years now! :-/

those marketers need to get their story straight if they want the company to survive....

anyhow..to get back on topic.....i dont see the viking line being reborn *sad*

[DARKspawn]

Well, as the online 2007 LEGO catalouge displays the complete viking line, I would say that it will still continue production at least until the end of the 2nd quarter of this year. I doubt we will see anything new however.

It is also true that the Viking range is only available on LEGO online & TRU or K-mart.

[Mister Phes]

The Viking line was originally supposed to be Europe only, perhaps even Denmark only if I'm recalling correctly. Then the buzz generated was so huge they sold it everywhere, but only through LEGO Shop at Home and Toys R Us.

I saw Viking sets in stores like Kmart and Target, and I'm not in Europe...

[xwingyoda]

The manager of the "Lego store" in Paris always told me that the viking line was not selling at all !! She never restocked the line, and it took forever for here to "get rid" of that theme which was filling space *wacko* The weirdest thing is that this crap Dino Line was selling way better *wacko*

Lego France was always weird IMO: remember, they were the one saying that X-POds were not selling, therefore, never an X-Pod set hit stores in Paris. Also, we are the only country which stopped the Lego magazine !! Go figure !!

*yoda*

[KimT]

The manager of the "Lego store" in Paris always told me that the viking line was not selling at all !! She never restocked the line, and it took forever for here to "get rid" of that theme which was filling space *wacko* The weirdest thing is that this crap Dino Line was selling way better *wacko*

Lego France was always weird IMO: remember, they were the one saying that X-POds were not selling, therefore, never an X-Pod set hit stores in Paris. Also, we are the only country which stopped the Lego magazine !! Go figure !!

*yoda*

Actually most stores in Denmark still has Viking sets. Perhaps the first wave sold well, then TLC upped the production and now they can't get rid of them. Most are on sale up to 50% off. |-/ I seriously hope the they won't discontinue the theme, but it surely seems like they're cutting the losses with this great theme. As for Yoda's useless comment on discontinuing the LEGO Magazine, just remember that we NEVER had it in Denmark. |-/ |-/ |-/

KimT

[xwingyoda]

As for Yoda's useless comment on discontinuing the LEGO Magazine, just remember that we NEVER had it in Denmark. |-/ |-/ |-/

Useless ?? I used it to show Lego France's weird decisions !!

And wave 2 never hit the stores in Paris !!

*yoda*

[Vader]

What a world we live in where crap sets like the dino line out sells the viking one. :'-(

[jamtf]

I have been told that the Lego Viking line will be shortened by mid March. They will discontinue 7015 Viking Warrior vs. Fenris Wolf, 7016 Viking Boat, 7017 Viking Catapult and 7019 Viking Fortress. The toy stores got the last run of sets this month and they can no longer be ordered. Some got a very short production run. Same thing happened to 7785 Batman Arkham Asylum. Introduced in 2006, already sold out and no longer part of the line.

The 7018 is the oldest set they will keep in the line together with the 7020 Viking Army and the 7021 Double Catapult. Not sure how long they will last, probabty at least until the end of this year. I do not know if they will introduce more sets but the 2007 catalogue only contains pictures of the sets they made until 2006. And of course there is still the Viking Chess Set (exclusive to Lego shop at home, Lego stores and very few exclusively chosen stores that are allowed to sell these, I located some Lego KKII Chess Sets in a Vedes toy store in Germany last year for instance).

The 7015 was on sale in the Lego store a few weeks ago. Needless to say, I am now hunting down leftovers in shops ;-)

Seems that they are still available through Lego shop at home though.

[Capn Kirk 911]

vikings were fun but sadly...they're dying out, I think every one can agree that they loved there helmets! *wub* But we all most move on...and the new castle theme is calling!!

What a world we live in where crap sets like the dino line out sells the viking one. :'-(

so true, I mean come on people is this wat the world has really come to!!! X-O

and if you are looking for viking sets in the U.S. toys-r-us is the way to go.

[Sir Dillon]

What a world we live in where crap sets like the dino line out sells the viking one. :'-(

Do they? Around the time both themes came out, and I was looking for a Viking Longboat, there were tons of Dino sets left, but almost all the Vikings were sold out. (Though that may have been because not that many Vikings were in stock in the first place.)

[blueandwhite]

I'm sorry to see the Viking line go, but my interests lie elsewhere. Fortunately, LEGO has produced castle-themed products for the better part of 25 years. Even though I've had to suffer a few down periods KKII, Fright Knights, Royal Knights etc..., I always look forward to the next castle line. If Vikings have to go, I'll survive so long as castle is still going.

Later.

[Hinckley]

Booo!!!!!! BOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!! >:-(

I want more Vikings sets!

That was a very mature post for me...

[Vader]

I think that most of us would like new viking sets but i do wonder what they could come up with, it seems to me most of it has been covered.

Sure they could do a new fortress but would that sell well? More boats would be an option i guess but again if youve seen one youve seen them all. :-/

[Starwars4J]

I think that most of us would like new viking sets but i do wonder what they could come up with, it seems to me most of it has been covered.

Sure they could do a new fortress but would that sell well? More boats would be an option i guess but again if youve seen one youve seen them all. :-/

A village to plunder? camps? fighting other armies? I agree it's dead now, but it could've lasted another year I think

[Vader]

Well the lack of a decent army to fight is one of the reasons why i believe this line is on the way out. As for a village would that sell? i doubt it would but a camp would of been cool.

[john cleese]

although the concept was good Lego managed to screw it up, and personally i've grown tired of it aswell. I would rather have seen it designed by the early and mid 90's designers or even the verly early 00's designers. I'm looking forward to this new castle line for sure though *y* .

[Vader]

I also believe that alot of people are unaware of what the vikings got up to and their culture, as lego is a toy it needs to appeal to kids yet the history of the vikings is overlooked in education today.

Alot more is said about the Romans, Wild West, Middle Ages etc. So as kids know more about them they can relate.

[john cleese]

Well i have to say that this whole business about how lego should have used historically accurate vikings is rather silly. I bet if the vikings didn't have horns in their helmets the theme would have sold even worse and i'm guessing if the prototypes were historically accurate the damn focus group kids (snot nosed punks) would say "you should put some horns in their helmets so they look like real vikings." and of course the outcome would be horned vikings.

I don't think the problem with the viking sets was the theme or what liberties TLC took in making their vikings, it was ,as it most always is, the set designs. The models lacked detail and weren't designed with the prowess of the early designers, they also lacked a proper viking look, especially the fort. I own the fort and its one of the most monotonous and tedious builds youll ever encounter. I think this is the problem with most sets these days, however I should say those KKII jelly bean knights were complete nonsense

[Vader]

I never said historically accurate vikings, my point was basically that kids are less interested in them as theyve heard less about them. I do agree that if the horns were not included then sells would of been lower and on that subject i also believe that proper beards would of been a help.

[Asuka]

I never said historically accurate vikings, my point was basically that kids are less interested in them as theyve heard less about them.

I think the mainproblem was the repetitiveness of that theme. Those bestias were a good idea, but

one wolf and sea serpent and dragon and catapult would be enough.... They should have produced

some sets with interior for that pretty abandoned fort like a blacksmith, a longhouse and some farming

equipment. This little grill on the longboat was neat and an attractive part of the set, even for kids I think....

There

[Vader]

Yes some detail in the fort would of helped, as it is it just looks half finished.

[snefroe]

i've always thought that the viking line was more or less a gesture to the danish public, not so much intended to be distributed worldwide, but at some point, they decided to sell it globally...

To my knoledge, it didn't sell all too well at first but sales improved during the year. However, sales had gone down again drastically by the end of last year. My guess is that the large toyshops indicated they're not interested in a second season.

Lego's way of doing business is in fact rather weird. They offer a shop the choice between two package deals. You can choose for Program 1, meaning, you'll get a fair amount of SW sets, most city sets and a few creator sets for instance; or you can choose program 2 which has all the larger sets of all themes and many smaller sets of bionicle or so... They used to have a more diversified system with 5 programs, but when Lego decreased her own profit margins in favour of the toyshops a few years back, they also restructured the system of programs, leaving only two out of five...

they're using this system to get rid of all themes/sets that are not succesfull. Otherwise the shops would only ask for large sw and city sets, and probably forget all the rest. especially these smaller sets are a nuisance, because you hardly make any profit, so nobody really wants to buy them from Lego, so Lego creates a program with highly popular sw sets and lots of crappy small sets that nobody wants... the worst thing about this is that Lego very often tells the shop they don't have enough large sw sets for you, so you get all the small crappy sets and not the sets you really want.