As I was watching the eleven o'clock news a few minutes ago they said that LEGO has had the best year in a long time. TLG expects positive figures at the end of the year and financial experts and toy stores claim that the success is due to the return to the core of what LEGO is best at - making that fantastic little brick. For the first time in many years TLG has conquered parts of the US market from rivaling companies.

This is great news - just thought I'd share it with you guys and girls ;)

KimT

Tks Kim, lets all join hands for celebration !! Now we shall help TLG to conquor the whole world by buying lots and lots of bricks in 2006 *twisted*

Damn you Lego to produce all those great sets this year :D :P !!!

Tks Kim, lets all join hands for celebration !! Now we shall help TLG to conquor the whole world by buying lots and lots of bricks in 2006

Great news indeed! Lets hope they do even better in 2006 (and by the looks of the sets and the amount I want to buy, they will ;) )

That's great news! I have to say that Lego's product in 2005 was the best I remember in a long LONG time. My favs:

-The new Ferrari line, esp giant truck

-the enormous Technic crane

-the Creator: Xpods and building bonanza especially, but all were good

-Vikings!!!!

I am a bit worried because so far in 2006 I am not as excited about what I have seen or heard (ExoForce, Batman, Spongebob...bleh!) except a couple of the Xpods, the Ferrari Spyder, and the Creators. The Technic offerings are particularly disappointing since this is mostly what I do for my own entertainment. However, there's lots still to come that we haven't see. Still hoping for a new Adventurers line - maybe the old west - for my kids' sake.

I would love to know which lines are currently most profitable. I.E. is Creator making money, or did Lego just max out profits from Star Wars and Bionicle? Did Vikings have an impact? How much profit does Xpod generate, or is it a loss leader designed to pull people into the Lego universe.

Ahh, I would sell my soul to have 10 frank minutes with a Lego exec who knows the figures and the marketing strategy.

Anyway - way to go LEGO!!

Sweetness :oD

Go LEGO!

2006

Negative:

- Spongebob, probably (although it'll be a success with the kids)

- Exo-Force (for me at least)

Unsure:

- Batman

- Avatar the Last Airbender

Positive:

- Vikings 2 (it should be good)

- Ferrari

- CITY

- Creator

- X-Pods

So I'm thinking 2K6 looks overall good as well.

I think its way to soon to go saying what will be positive and negative for 06

I think its way to soon to go saying what will be positive and negative for 06

I'm talking about stuff we've already seen... and the stuff we haven't, I put notes by or put in the 'unsure' category. How is it 'way too early?'

Its great :)

But we must also remember that Lego have sold the Legoland parks, and that amount will help much this year... But will not be there next year....

^^^ THat's a BIG thing to consider right there.

Still, the extra income from this year will undoubtedly be put to good use for sets in 2006 and beyond.

Really, 2006 looks pretty damned good right now.

Bionicle, X-Pods, creator sets... there's a bunch of stuff I actually want coming up.

I would just like to say that my Toys 'R' Us took out a wall of Mega-Trash and put in its place LEGO! Now LEGO has 5 and Mega-Trash has 1 :D

I think the combination of consolidating back down to the core business (toys instead of parks and apparel), focusing on basic bricks, and quality licences and original themes have all come together to get LEGO back on track and if nothing else set it up for positive growth. Perhaps 2006 may not be as good as 2005, but I think it will be an imporvment over previous years.

And not to go off topic here, but I was unaware they were doing a second Vikings wave...here's to hoping it'll be avalible in the US like the first *viki*

- Vikings 2 (it should be good)

And not to go off topic here, but I was unaware they were doing a second Vikings wave...here's to hoping it'll be avalible in the US like the first

Is this confirmed, or just idle speculation?

Steve, who agrees this was one of Lego's best years in quite some time...

I saw this too, in the news. It really warmed my little heart, to hear that lego are going good :')

2005 may be a good year but 2006 is going to be better.....

2005 was a good year but also a bad year. Don't forget, they had to go thru some very painful moments this year, like selling the parks, closing plants, dismissing people,... I think the lego people see 2005 as part 1 of the operation "change the company for the future", 2006 will be the closing part.

in terms of sales 2005 has got be a good year. City sold incredibly well in Belgium, but the succes of 2005 is without any doubt the bulk buckets. We've seen more different type of buckets then ever before, in every price range, loaded with 200 to 2000 bricks of all colors and shapes! The classic brick is back, and it's here to stay!! and, thank God, the company is very much aware of this evolution, so i'm hoping they won't change the strategy again, even tho you never know with The Lego Group.

I also know from retailers that vikings is selling very well, better than the other themed sets of the passed few years, and according to lego's top 30, dino is also selling very well.

what is responsable for better sales?

1) better products

2) discounts! i've never seen so many discounts in my life! in the past, at best, you got a discount for only small sets and defenitely not more than 10%, now even the large sets are being sold with discounts of 30% or more... They're also using other strategies, they sell for instance, combined sets, like tri fighter and arc for 50

2006

Negative:

- Spongebob, probably (although it'll be a success with the kids)

- Exo-Force (for me at least)

Unsure:

- Batman

- Avatar the Last Airbender

Positive:

- Vikings 2 (it should be good)

- Ferrari

- CITY

- Creator

- X-Pods

So I'm thinking 2K6 looks overall good as well.

Exoforce is a great risk cos its sort of anime type *wacko*

i like spongebob :'(

avatar for castles :-D

batman to combine with city :-D

vikings 2?

ferrari..red...bricks..galore!

CITY's a classic and new hospital!!!

noy much a fan of creator (apart from building bonanza! :-D )

i dont like X-pods.

Well, if Avatar has good castles, I will change my mind about it. The last good Lego castle was the Dragon Fortress from Adventurers (good, not great), and before that it was 6090 from 1995.

I expect the 06 Bionicle figures to be very good.

So far, 2006 is looking like something of a mixed bag. Its going to be a decent year for collectors, but thus far things aren't looking great for builders.

Positive:

+ The Ferarri sets continue to look good. It will be hard to top the truck from last year though.

+ The Planes look good, and the city vehicles continue to be top-notch. The Rescue Chopper looks fantastic!

+ The new designer sets continue to look solid.

+ New licences (Batman etc.) which will hopefully result in interesting sets.

+ Returningl lines such as the Vikings should look great.

+ KKII year 3 maxi figs show a marked improvement over prior years. Hopefully, the minifig sets will follow suit.

Negative:

- The new Planes look good. Too bad there isn't much building potential to be had.

- The Exo Force line looks awful. A shameful attempt to capitalize on the anime trend.

- The Airport. Uninspired design. Again, a lack of basic bricks limits versatility.

- Juniorization seems to be on the rise.

Overall, 2006 does not inspire me as a builder. Too many sets are little more than snap-together models with a few exchangable elements. Exo Force is easily one of the most uninspired lines I have ever seen LEGO produce. Overall, 2006 feels like something of a disappointment when compared to the year we've just had. Still, the day is young and there may be some great sets on the horizon for the second half of 2006.

Later.

I remember back around this time last year, when we got the Viking pics and the City pics, we all said it would be a great year.. it was! :)

Let's hope the same happens again for 2006, from most of the stuff we have already seen I would say it will be another year.

Long live 2005! The year of the brick! ;) (Can anyone who is Chinese confirm that this is part of the Chinese calendar? If not.. WHY ISN'T IT!? >:( ) :P

Jon.