Unpopular Opinions about LEGO

[icm]

The function of GWPs is to substitute for discount sales so that Shop at Home, which isn't allowed to discount sets significantly until end-of-life, can compete with retailers like Amazon and Walmart, which regularly discount sets 20%. Although I don't like some sets being paywalled as GWPs with high thresholds, I do like to get a desirable GWP that's approximately 20% of the value of the set I'm buying. Otherwise there's little reason to buy at full price from Shop at Home.

[BrickBob Studpants]

21 minutes ago, Yperio_Bricks said:

That is exactly what Lego wants you to think! Of course not only Lego is using these marketing methods. Think of "cashback" or the 11th bread is for "free" at the bakery

Same thing though. The loss caused by giving away the 11th bread is covered by preventing customers from going to a different bakery, not by price-hiking. So for me as a regular customer who wouldn't go to the competition, it's still for free

Edited August 31, 2024 by BrickBob Studpants

[Yperio_Bricks]

20 minutes ago, BrickBob Studpants said:

Same thing though. The loss caused by giving away the 11th bread is covered by preventing customers from going to a different bakery, not by price-hiking. So for me as a regular customer who wouldn't go to the competition, it's still for free

See, you will always find an explanation that supports your behavior. And Lego knows that.

EDIT: It's ok, we don't have to further elaborate on this.

 

[The Island Chronicles]

I think there should be a re-release of the GWP City sandwich shop that was made in 2022.

Edited August 31, 2024 by The Island Chronicles

[BrickBob Studpants]

4 minutes ago, Yperio_Bricks said:

See, you will always find an explanation that supports your behavior. And Lego knows that.

What explanation?  GWP sets don't influence my decision to order D2C sets on s@h. I do it because I'm an impatient manchil... Ok, you may have a point there

[Lyichir]

5 hours ago, icm said:

The function of GWPs is to substitute for discount sales so that Shop at Home, which isn't allowed to discount sets significantly until end-of-life, can compete with retailers like Amazon and Walmart, which regularly discount sets 20%. Although I don't like some sets being paywalled as GWPs with high thresholds, I do like to get a desirable GWP that's approximately 20% of the value of the set I'm buying. Otherwise there's little reason to buy at full price from Shop at Home.

This is really the thing. The idea that if not for GWPs other sets would be cheaper is simply a misconception, because a huge part of the reason GWPs exist is because Lego CAN'T make those sets cheaper without undercutting the external retail partners it relies on (with the majority of their sales coming from those retail partners rather than direct sales). The benefit for Lego from producing GWPs is not simply that it gets you to pay more, but that it gets you to spend that money through a direct channel that Lego profits more from (since they're getting the full MSRP value from the consumer and not just the cheaper wholesale price retailers pay for the same sets).

So again, nobody is claiming that Lego produces GWPs for wholly altruistic reasons. But that doesn't mean their absence would benefit consumers in any measurable way.

Edited September 1, 2024 by Lyichir

[JesseNight]

20 hours ago, Yperio_Bricks said:

That is exactly what Lego wants you to think! Of course not only Lego is using these marketing methods. Think of "cashback" or the 11th bread is for "free" at the bakery

And if the first 10 breads are a lot more expensive, you might still spend more 
I for one am surprised LEGO still manages to sell from their website with how big price difference is with other retailers. Many larger sets are easily 20% cheaper and that's outside of any additional discounts or promos.

Not pointing any fingers... just being surprised.

[Yperio_Bricks]

1 minute ago, JesseNight said:

And if the first 10 breads are a lot more expensive, you might still spend more 
I for one am surprised LEGO still manages to sell from their website with how big price difference is with other retailers. Many larger sets are easily 20% cheaper and that's outside of any additional discounts or promos.

Not pointing any fingers... just being surprised.

Hehe, I've never bought a set directly from Lego. And if it is an Lego exlusive set, then i don't need it

[JesseNight]

Luckily exclusives can eventually be found on Bricklink. It's just a matter of how rare and valuable it ends up being.
I never buy from LEGO either, we have some great stores here to buy it from at good prices and still great service.

[Peppermint_M]

It is very funny to mention bread, as historically (in the UK at least) dough was what you purchased by weight and it was baked into bread by the baker. If a bit was left over after the standard loaves were created, an extra one had to be made (whatever the size) by law or the baker would face consequences. Hence the term "Baker's dozen" for 13 loaves/rolls. A small bonus for the shopper! (Oh, like a GWP )

Anyway, GWP is a moot point for me. They do exactly what they are meant to: Cause me to make my purchase right from Shop@Home instead of picking things up on sale as loss leaders in the Supermarket. Most of the exclusive sets do not attract me, in the LEGO bricks and mortar store, I PaB and BaM and maybe pick up something not in shops elsewhere, but the £5, £9 or even 50% (or more!) discounts the supermarkets, Smyths toys and Argos throw out makes them where I mostly purchase sets. However, if LEGO has an bonus that interests me, I will buy from the online shop.

Again, sets are not my focus as a rule. I want parts to feed my MOCs, pieces that will help me improve a build or let me create something better than last time (I am somewhat overdue a new Batcave...), so whatever a set is, I focus on the parts first, what minifigure parts are there too. Heck, that is why I buy lots of accessories from different places... 

My brother is the opposite. He buys whole waves when they release, or at least all the large Mecha Builds and the larger scale car sets. He is impatient to get them, so while I hang on to see what discounts come from the shops, he might wait a day or two for a GWP to launch before he hits checkout, but it is not a decider for him unless it is truly special (Like Blacktron or Space Babies). In this case, it is his lack of patience that costs him the money. I can wait a few months, or until a holiday period to get discounts, he wants them right away and is willing to pay that disparity in cost. 

Its like in any situation: What would you pay for convenience/speed? I land at an airport and am entirely willing to pay even $20 more to get a taxi from the terminal I am in, instead of taking internal transport to a different terminal so I can use Uber or Lyft at their most competitive prices. 

Eh, the whole thing is whatevers in the end. I don't think it creates any price changes (the licenced character tax is the true offender for that) when a GWP is released, it as a scheme to get you to buy direct for a bonus, or buy one thing more to tip over and meet the requirements; like loyalty cards and purchase prizes (Sainsbury's has had collectable coins, trading cards etc, but you only ever got them for spending a certain amount). So yes, they are getting a bit more money from you, but if you don't participate they don't affect you. All "free" gifts are rarely free; I paid for a 12 pack of beer to get a branded glass. I could have bought it for £5, but 12 beers and the glass was a better move in my opinion; I got 12 beers to drink and the nice glass! Yeah, I paid more in the end, but I get to enjoy some cold ones.

This got a bit rambly... 

[Black Falcon]

On 8/31/2024 at 10:36 PM, Lyichir said:

I mean, you say this like GWPs not existing would benefit everyone. But getting rid of GWPs wouldn't really benefit anyone—it's not like they're taking the place of other retail sets. All they do is create a little bit of benefit from buying from Lego directly (since otherwise they'd be undercut completely by other retailers), and allow more niche sets that are targeted more squarely at the kinds of people who buy direct from Lego to exist.

Exactly this. I do like GWPs. Sure you sometimes buy something you would get cheaper elsewhere. But normally I tend to buy sets you don´t normally get big discounts on - or if possible that are discounted on Lego aswell - though that often are ones I am not interested in anyways, so it doesn´t happen that often. Eitherway all this dicussion whether it are gifts or not seems to come up regulary, but doesn´t really lead anywhere. Basically, they are gifts as you would have to pay the same price without them - but of course there is a reason behind it and they do it to get more sales - and you don´t just get them, you have to buy something for it - and I think the term Gift with Purchase describes it perfectly fine and I do think everyone knows what it is about anyways.

As mentioned above I do like GWPs. But I do understand that people would rather have them for sale - there are some Sets I would have liked to buy too, or some I would have liked to get, but I didn´t want to spend 200 bucks to get them.

But everyone should know, that most of theses sets wouldn´t exist at all if they wouldn´t be made as GWPs. When I read some comments here it sounds like we would be  able to buy all of them if they were not GWPs but that is totally unrelaistic in my opinion. So yeah, I rather have them as GWPs than not having them at all. 

11 hours ago, Peppermint_M said:

This got a bit rambly... 

Sounded perfectly fine to me ;).

[MAB]

On 8/31/2024 at 9:36 PM, Lyichir said:

Maybe the solution to both our issues would be to make GWP availability on a longer timetable, so that people would have less to worry about "FOMO" and it'd be easier for people to get the sets they want year-round instead of having to go through dry spells where they have things on their wishlist but no real incentive to get them right away.

I assume they make fixed numbers of these and once they are gone, they are gone. Having them available at all times would probably mean they need to be in constant production. Of course some do come back, presumably where they weren't all claimed first (or second) time around.

[Black Falcon]

26 minutes ago, MAB said:

I assume they make fixed numbers of these and once they are gone, they are gone. Having them available at all times would probably mean they need to be in constant production. Of course some do come back, presumably where they weren't all claimed first (or second) time around.

Well they have done some again, that went out of stock pretty fast like the Classic Space-Mini-GWP and the Chest from Dungeons and Dragons. So those were definitely produced again. And yes there is no way they would or could offer all GWPs for a longer time span, since the benefit for Lego of them is that they can produce them and then free the storage space from it for the next GWPs.

[LegendaryArticuno]

Marvel GWPs have been absolutely terrible. I'd rather get the VIP parts pack.

[PaleozoicBricks]

On 9/2/2024 at 5:31 AM, Black Falcon said:

xactly this. I do like GWPs. Sure you sometimes buy something you would get cheaper elsewhere. But normally I tend to buy sets you don´t normally get big discounts on - or if possible that are discounted on Lego aswell - though that often are ones I am not interested in anyways, so it doesn´t happen that often. Eitherway all this dicussion whether it are gifts or not seems to come up regulary, but doesn´t really lead anywhere. Basically, they are gifts as you would have to pay the same price without them - but of course there is a reason behind it and they do it to get more sales - and you don´t just get them, you have to buy something for it - and I think the term Gift with Purchase describes it perfectly fine and I do think everyone knows what it is about anyways.

As mentioned above I do like GWPs. But I do understand that people would rather have them for sale - there are some Sets I would have liked to buy too, or some I would have liked to get, but I didn´t want to spend 200 bucks to get them.

But everyone should know, that most of theses sets wouldn´t exist at all if they wouldn´t be made as GWPs. When I read some comments here it sounds like we would be  able to buy all of them if they were not GWPs but that is totally unrelaistic in my opinion. So yeah, I rather have them as GWPs than not having them at all. 

Man I just don't want GWP's to be what could be a $20 to $30 set that could be on shelves. The classical remake sets should have all been retail releases. The Fell Beast from LOTR should have been in barad dur set. Without the GWP that set will always feel incomplete buying it. 

[LegendaryArticuno]

The black base for the Great Deku Tree 2-1 set is a design failure; it's lazy and antithetical to Zelda's overall aesthetics.

There's so many better colours Lego could've used instead of black, i.e. olive, tan, pearl gold, or various greens/yellows/browns.

[MAB]

17 hours ago, PaleozoicBricks said:

Man I just don't want GWP's to be what could be a $20 to $30 set that could be on shelves. The classical remake sets should have all been retail releases. The Fell Beast from LOTR should have been in barad dur set. Without the GWP that set will always feel incomplete buying it. 

If they had included the fell beast set inside the Barad-Dur set, then there is no incentive to buy the set on release and you might as well put off buying it for maybe two years if you don't intend to build straight away. And even if it is exclusive to LEGO on release,  it could become more widely available later and so open to discounts. So no promo set on release would mean people waiting just to see what happens later, whereas a decent promo gives the incentive to buy early.

[neithan]

But if the feel beast was in the set, the set itself would have rised in popularity, so maybe people like me would consider to buy it, even at a later point.

[Alexandrina]

In my experience, most GWPs are a nice bonus - cool to have the extra bricks, but very rarely is a GWP something I would consider buying otherwise. (Off the top of my head, only the Forestmen's Hideout and maybe the Blacktron GWP were sets I had any interest in). That said, while actual models are cool, my favourite GWPs have tended to be the parts packs, whether that be the VIP add-ons or the 12-in-1 sets they occasionally release.

I feel like a lot of people's issue with GWPs would be soothed if they pivoted to having more of these sorts of sets. Maybe they could even do a themed add-on for certain sorts of set (imagine a Pirates or Castle or Space VIP add-on pack, full of cool and theme-appropriate minifigure accessories and stuff), and release the equivalent of these mid-range GWPs as a companion set to the big one. For example, if they were to do a reimagined Fort Legoredo under the current system, you might have a reimagined Weapons Wagon as the GWP. It would be better if instead, both Fort Legoredo and Weapons Wagon were available as a pair of sets on shelves together, and the GWP was a VIP pack containing assorted rifles, revolvers, cowboy hats, barrels, cacti, etc.

[Corydoras]

I feel like LEGO is doing way too many promotional or otherwise limited sets - Ideas, Bricklink Designer Program, Chinese New Year, LEGO Brand Store, Holiday and Event, Employee Gift, GWPs etc. I'm fed up that every time I go to BL to check in which sets a particular piece appeared, I'm forced to scroll through dozens of sets owned by, like, seven people around the globe.

[DonQuixote]

On 9/6/2024 at 3:36 AM, LegendaryArticuno said:

The black base for the Great Deku Tree 2-1 set is a design failure; it's lazy and antithetical to Zelda's overall aesthetics.

There's so many better colours Lego could've used instead of black, i.e. olive, tan, pearl gold, or various greens/yellows/browns.

Agreed. But the price for what you get is way worse. As a Zelda fan I have to pass. Was looking forward to it when there were rumours about a Zelda set. No Ganondorf is also a big miss! 

[MAB]

On 9/6/2024 at 3:55 PM, neithan said:

But if the feel beast was in the set, the set itself would have rised in popularity, so maybe people like me would consider to buy it, even at a later point.

And more expensive since people buying from other retailers would get tge same content. Plus then lego would beed another subject fir a GWP to make it attractive to buy early from them.

1 hour ago, Corydoras said:

I feel like LEGO is doing way too many promotional or otherwise limited sets - Ideas, Bricklink Designer Program, Chinese New Year, LEGO Brand Store, Holiday and Event, Employee Gift, GWPs etc. I'm fed up that every time I go to BL to check in which sets a particular piece appeared, I'm forced to scroll through dozens of sets owned by, like, seven people around the globe.

A lot more than seven people Ideas, BDP, Chinese NY, Lego store, holiday sets and GWP. Employee gifts and Inside Tour sets are really the only limited ones these days.

[DonQuixote]

I am amazed by the high quality of the white printing on the Dragonborn minifig of the Dungeons and dragons Cmf series.

So Lego does know how to properly print minifigs white light colors.

They should use that high standard for all their minifigs. 

Because the white printings of the Bluecoats from Eldorado Fortress are bad.

[Horation]

9 hours ago, DonQuixote said:

They should use that high standard for all their minifigs. 

If only life were that simple, to print fully in white, you need multiple layers of ink, multiple layers=multiple "frames" in the factory=they can't use those spots in the factory for part recolours or new pieces. So they only do it for CMFs, which have a lot of parts spaces in the factory every year. 

[DonQuixote]

On 9/8/2024 at 3:16 PM, Horation said:

If only life were that simple, to print fully in white, you need multiple layers of ink, multiple layers=multiple "frames" in the factory=they can't use those spots in the factory for part recolours or new pieces. So they only do it for CMFs, which have a lot of parts spaces in the factory every year. 

Ah it's you again. The alltime defender of the Lego multinational. And yes it's that simple because alternative brick companies and small third party companies who print Lego bricks, do a better job. Even Jang from Jangbricks on YouTube says it. He is an independent reviewer who sometimes does other plastic toy reviews. 

You're such a Lego loyalist. Everything Lego does, is good and the only way. 

Do you know that some companies have way better gold and silver bricks than Lego with good quality? Not that horrible pearl gold from Lego.