42113 Bell Boeing V-22 Osprey

[Dylan M]

"2 guy protester"? And only now LEGO realizes that they about to sell a MILITARY 'assistance' Vehicle? 

What a Kind of promotion to Boost the Sell...Bravo???

[TeriXeri]

13 minutes ago, vectormatic said:

I think part of the problem is also that this licensed product means a defense company now makes money off of kids indirectly. In that case, pretty much every license ever is now tainted, and Boeing is off the table 100%

Exactly, there are tons of companies who make both civilian and defense products, and where Defense is only a fraction of it's total revenue.

Examples include companies like Airbus, Boeing, Kawasaki, Mitshubitsi are much more known for it's Airplanes / Motorcycles / Cars and not it's Military Jets / Submarines / Tanks.

It's a bit silly to find every military connection to a license, and of course the V22 is an actual mainly military used vehicle, but I'm sure some people would complain to LEGO no matter what.

Edited July 20, 2020 by TeriXeri

[JaBaCaDaBra]

56 minutes ago, hjxbf said:

All licence partners for the Technic line have defense revenue

How about Liebherr?
Surface coalwinning is the most environment unfriendly business there is.
Although models like 42055 and 42100 are there

[efferman]

14 minutes ago, JaBaCaDaBra said:

How about Liebherr

Armored cranes and recovery vehicles.

 

[JaBaCaDaBra]

I should have known

[J_C]

3 minutes ago, efferman said:

Armored cranes and recovery vehicles.

 

Lynx - powered by Leibherr :-)

 

[hjxbf]

1 hour ago, vectormatic said:

As for not buying sets, i entirely agree that the community should make itself heard in cases like this, but just stopping buying unrelated sets isnt a clear message, we need to reach out and voice our problems

Anybody fancy setting up a petition to release the set, or something like that? I'd sign it in a heartbeat.

[offroadcreations]

It feels like a case of too little too late to me. Why didn't this DFG-VK group call out Lego in the past over liscences with companies that have military ties?  

In my opinion, its not up to DFG-VK to make the decision for consumers if they want to buy the set and support Bell or not.

[mahjqa]

4 minutes ago, offroadcreations said:

It feels like a case of too little too late to me. Why didn't this DFG-VK group call out Lego in the past over liscences with companies that have military ties?  

In my opinion, its not up to DFG-VK to make the decision for consumers if they want to buy the set and support Bell or not.

Ya gotta draw the line somewhere, I suppose. So far, I don't think Lego messed up this much in a single model. 

[hjxbf]

A cool thing for Bell or Boeing to do would be to publicly waive any possible licence income from this set; this could let TLG off the hook re: economically supporting arms companies. The income is probably negligible anyway.

[1gor]

Ladies and gentlemen this is our reality with NGO; taking out of content every letter they want and with mainstream media manipulating whatever they want and if you say anything like you already posted sooner or later you will be accused to be hater, fascist, etc... Welcome to chaos...you know even companies who produce screws are connected to military in that way 

Edited July 20, 2020 by I_Igor

[JaBaCaDaBra]

25 minutes ago, hjxbf said:

Anybody fancy setting up a petition to release the set, or something like that? I'd sign it in a heartbeat.

I'm in.

[Lipko]

31 minutes ago, I_Igor said:

Ladies and gentlemen this is our reality with NGO; taking out of content every letter they want and with mainstream media manipulating whatever they want and if you say anything like you already posted sooner or later you will be accused to be hater, fascist, etc... Welcome to chaos...you know even companies who produce screws are connected to military in that way 

Nice generalization.

 

 

not.

[Rudivdk]

- reading this topic while coincidentally listening to (remix of) 'mad world' by R.E.M. -

It really is a mad world...

[hjxbf]

Can't really leave this topic be...

Did a brief search, and I couldn't find ANY single example of a modern SAR helicopter in use which is exclusively civilian, or utility helicopter at that. In other words, most helicopters ever depicted by TLG in their sets have a military connotation... 

Hence, this set being an Osprey should in itself not be an unacceptable factor for TLG. however, the licensing may be. In other words, and as mentioned previously, nulling out any profit to the license holders, or donating similar or exceeding amounts towards charity, should in theory be enough to mitigate any potential brand backlash from selling the set.

This smells more and more like knee jerk reaction, made exponentially more difficult to manage by brand and marketing dept's. 

Ask Kodak how it works letting brand weight matter more than sensible business decisions...

[howitzer]

47 minutes ago, hjxbf said:

A cool thing for Bell or Boeing to do would be to publicly waive any possible licence income from this set; this could let TLG off the hook re: economically supporting arms companies. The income is probably negligible anyway.

This would be cool indeed, but I don't see much incentive there for them to do that. From PR point of view, they are still an arms manufacturer so there's no win in there, and I don't think it matters really one way or another in the TLG's decision, no matter what they decide.

For me this whole debacle seems to be about virtue signaling. TLG of course should've never gotten into cooperation with Boeing unless they were willing to stick to it, and whoever were accusing TLG of letting down their principles because of this aren't obviously concerned with military toys in general, considering that they don't raise hell on Cobi or all the other numerous companies making military toys. So the reason they're are attacking TLG is just because they know they'll get a reaction and with that, get free publicity.

[deehtha]

Not sure if this will work, but in one of my Facebook groups, someone had contact TLG customer service about the Osprey. They were told to send an email through Lego.com voicing support for the set. So maybe enough of us can drown out the few people complaining, and get this set released.

[kbalage]

14 minutes ago, deehtha said:

Not sure if this will work, but in one of my Facebook groups, someone had contact TLG customer service about the Osprey. They were told to send an email through Lego.com voicing support for the set. So maybe enough of us can drown out the few people complaining, and get this set released.

Go for it, I already did it. 

[Vectormatic]

8 minutes ago, kbalage said:

Go for it, I already did it.  

Done, i know it is just a tiny drop in a medium sized ocean storm, but im hoping to be able to buy the set, if not for myself, then for my oldest kid, who i feel is ready for a bigger technic set.

[AirDolphin]

I sent Lego a message and I'm about to start a petition. Do you guys want me to type it up here. We can edit it and then post it?

[JaBaCaDaBra]

12 minutes ago, kbalage said:

Go for it, I already did it. 

What would be a correct message text?
My English is good enough for chitchat but formal might it be wrong.

[kbalage]

Just now, JaBaCaDaBra said:

What would be a correct message text?
My English is good enough for chitchat but formal might it be wrong.

Nothing formal, you can simply say something like:

I read the statement about the potential delay/cancellation of the Technic 42113 Osprey's release. This set was designed to represent a rescue aircraft and this way it should not interfere with the core values of LEGO, therefore I would like to ask you to release it according to the original plans.

[J159753]

6 minutes ago, vectormatic said:

Done, i know it is just a tiny drop in a medium sized ocean storm, but im hoping to be able to buy the set, if not for myself, then for my oldest kid, who i feel is ready for a bigger technic set.

ditto. Email sent off to TLG (UK)

[suffocation]

I wouldn't worry about the formality - or lack thereof - of the text. As long as you clearly state your disappointment with 42113 being pulled, that's more than enough. Plus, if we stick to one template it's going to come across as less organic and therefore less likely to strike a chord within the company.

[J_C]

Dear Lego, Dear TLG,
I am writing about today's hot topic when 2 (I repeat two!) guys protested in Berlin against upcoming 42113 V-22 Osprey.  Please, do not bend down in front of very vocal voice of 2 (I repeat two) self-appointed guardians of other people's life values (we get that a lot nowadays). Stand by your product.  
Release the set for public. Let the public make their own decision. People know best what is good for them and what is not. Unfortunately we live more and more in society where very tiny and often very loud groups (group of 2 in this case) claim the right to decide what is good and what is not good (or evil) for all the other people. All they actually claim is the freedom.
It is not a military aircraft, you made it civil aircraft by redesigning it for rescue service. Very similar way as you did with 42066 set, which is fighet jet, but it was redesigned to be "civil". Nobody was offended by that. You produced the Technic set that showed the cutting edge technologies from aerospace industry. VTOL capable airplane. Osprey should be same story.Bell V-22 Osprey is marvel of engineering, triumph of creativity, knowledge and skills of its designers, engineers, creators. Huge amount of brainpower went into designing such a incredible flying machine. It is the achievement of mankind, that we (as humans) can produce such a incredible machines.
I strongly believe this is something that must comply with Lego values and Technic mission. 
Dear Lego, please do not let shouting group of 2 to ruin something for thousands and thousands. We get that a lot nowadays. Cancel culture is spreading through the society like cancer and it only reminds me of guillotines that drowns initially good intention of revolution in its own blood. Do not open this Pandora's box, next time tiny group (e.g. 2) will protest mining machines quoting environmental reasons and this can continue further and further.
Please release the Osprey for public.
Thank you.

 

this is what I wrote to TLG, English is not my language, but I hope it will be one of many messages.

I will support the petition.

Edited July 20, 2020 by J_C