Viking Line 2006

[xwingyoda]

Guys and Gals,

Doing the Indexes made me realize that there is not one single thread to discuss the much anticipated (at least for me ;-) ) 2006 Vikings !!

So here are 2 pics for you: pic 1 & pic 2

So here is the place to discuss those sets and the shacky future of this great line !!

The Artillery Wagon is a great army building set and has great wheels (apart from that, its not fantastic from that pic) and the Double Catapults looks pretty okie to me and have that beautifull white dragon skull *wub* Also the more I look at the Dragon, the more I think it looks weird with those big KK big figs parts ;-)

I truly love the Viking line even if its not perfect (what line is anyway ?), but I am rather pessimist on its future since 2006 only sees 2 sets !!

Enjoy !!

*yoda*

[Zane]

There may be only two sets, but I think the quality is high. It also leaves money for me to buy Avatar sets. Perhaps there are some store exclusives that haven't been shown? The fortress was an exclusive at Argos last year.

TT

[snefroe]

both are very nice and if the price is low enough they'll be used to build armies, finally, after so many years...

the wheels look great but also give a feeling of being too plastic. i guess i'll have to wait and see how they really look... Think i'll use them as engine parts...

i don't care about the monsters. i never built them for the other viking sets either... most of the parts will go straight to the crappy parts bag...

there's also a risk of having too similar lines. i mean, kk may be a castle line, essentially, i feel it's not that difficult to replace the vikings with castle knights and soldiers.... maybe that's why lego will probably not continue wave 1 with wave 2.... or perhaps we just haven't seen the rest of the sets yet...

[Mister Phes]

I truly love the Viking line even if its not perfect (what line is anyway ?), but I am rather pessimist on its future since 2006 only sees 2 sets !!

Enjoy !!

Will there only be 2 Viking sets in 2006, or can we expect more in later in the year? Could it be that The LEGO Company isn't feeding the mice? (The mice that run inside the wheels inside the heads of the LEGO designers whichgenerates electrcity to power their brainwaves) I'd say in the past 10 years those poor mice have gone hungry quite often, but at least they've been fed well enough for these two decent sets to come into existence.

[Mithrandir]

Yeah, I get the feeling that these two sets are just for the first half of the year, and we'll see more come Christmastime.

Lego would be insane to not make more of these; I remember going to TRU after I heard they were finally out in December, and every set except the fort was gone within a week. I missed out on a great deal on the small boat. Grr.

[xwingyoda]

Let me remind you that those sets are scheduled to come out in September !! I sincerely doubt there will be more sets :'-(

Unless TLC brings out a real wave in January ?? which I really doubt !!

*yoda*

[The Hordesman]

Double Trebutchet? New Rocket Weapon? Seems like very good sets, though they will go to some more reinassance-ish factions like KK1 or classics, vikings will be fine with simpler machines, though I might consider the trebutchet for some firepower they need...

The new dragon rocks, will probably make him the mount for the Black Monarch. The rocket thing also has its own little army, though Im sad they didnt came with lots of proper shields but the large ones instead.

I hope we get facehelms (hornless) next year or later this year... Here's hoping.

[Mister Phes]

I truly love the Viking line even if its not perfect (what line is anyway ?), but I am rather pessimist on its future since 2006 only sees 2 sets !!

Let me remind you that those sets are scheduled to come out in September !! I sincerely doubt there will be more sets :'-(

Unless TLC brings out a real wave in January ?? which I really doubt !!

Is there any particular reason for just 2 sets? I thought Vikings were a hit last year, so wouldn't it be logical to follow up with more sets? Or are there only 2 sets because The LEGO Company is struggling to maintain the quality and only releasing the sets that are actually decent?

[xwingyoda]

Ahh thats a good question Phes, my Lego shop always told me that Viking didn't sell well at all in France, but its NOT representative of every market, its just a small exemple ;-)

And IF vikings were a huge hit, I think that wave 2 would have more sets (and not only 2) ;-)

*yoda*

[gylman]

Ahh thats a good question Phes, my Lego shop always told me that Viking didn't sell well at all in France, but its NOT representative of every market, its just a small exemple ;-)

And IF vikings were a huge hit, I think that wave 2 would have more sets (and not only 2) ;-)

*yoda*

I think "hit" would be a relative term. They probably sold them all, but the total numbers made I believe were quite small in comparison to more mainstream sets.

They were in my TRU once, filled the shelves, and after the shelves were depopulated, they were never restocked. The real success of a line is how it does over a period of several months on the shelves.

However, the 2005 financial statement did specifically mention that Vikings were a hit, so I predict they will push further with this line.

[xwingyoda]

Tru Gyl !!

Let me give you the exemple of my shop, the shelves are always full, because nobody buys the sets !! Unlike SW where they sometimes have problem to refurnish.

So the question remains: if the line was a success, why only TWO sets ??

*yoda*

[snefroe]

Ahh thats a good question Phes, my Lego shop always told me that Viking didn't sell well at all in France, but its NOT representative of every market, its just a small exemple ;-)

And IF vikings were a huge hit, I think that wave 2 would have more sets (and not only 2) ;-)

*yoda*

I think "hit" would be a relative term. They probably sold them all, but the total numbers made I believe were quite small in comparison to more mainstream sets.

They were in my TRU once, filled the shelves, and after the shelves were depopulated, they were never restocked. The real success of a line is how it does over a period of several months on the shelves.

However, the 2005 financial statement did specifically mention that Vikings were a hit, so I predict they will push further with this line.

1) the financial statement was peptalk. i'd like to see the sales numbers. However, i do know it didn't sell spectacularly in france and belgium. in fact, those viking sets were the only ones to stay around thru out the year. Very often, everything else was gone except vikings. Right now they're even having a discount for the viking sets, hoping to get rid of it... in my experience, it did not sell greatly...

2) this reminds me of what happened to the last alpha team: 1 wave, followed by two other sets, that was it! no 2nd wave, no follow up. i think vikings is headed in the same direction, even tho it may be nice to have a full wave. that would be a vey well kept secret!

[Mister Phes]

Master Yoda, did the fact nobody was buying Vikings sets in your area push their prices down?

[xwingyoda]

Master Yoda, did the fact nobody was buying Vikings sets in your area push their prices down?

Nope not even >:-( Imagine that !! I would have bought a second fortress and made a huge Fort :-P

When will they learn !! They have shelves full of sets they don't sell and still the price is more expensive than SAH *wacko*

EDIT: Yes Sne, Alfa Team Ice (or whatever the line is called) wave 2 consisted of only 2 sets that never made it out in shops here in France *wacko* (were they on SAH in Europe ?? Not sure !!)

Lets hope this will not be the same for vikings :-/

*yoda*

[Mister Phes]

Isn't S@H supposed to be cheaper than stores as an incentive to buy there? Presumably most stores have a "mark up" on their prices which they reduce when they need to put items on sale, but maybe it doesn't work like that with LEGO in France - I just don't know!!!

[Starwars4J]

What's the point of just two sets, anyway? Wouldn't it make more sense to just put out a full line of sets, or just cut it? Two sets...really makes no sense...

[gylman]

The sets we seen now were planned 12 months ago, at least. At the time they did not know where Vikings would go. If Vikings was truly a success that they wish to follow-up on, then we will see a full complement of sets in 2007, not 2006.

[Mister Phes]

You raise a good point Mr Glyman if what you say is accurate. Do we have official confirmation (not speculative) on exactly how long it takes The LEGO Company to plan, produce and distribute a set?

But once upon a time themes were introduced then followed on with a full compliment of sets regardless of how successful the theme was. Has The LEGO Company changed some of their marketing strategies, or was it because LEGO themes were better recieved back then?

[gylman]

My speculation is that the Vikings was a "trial balloon". They didn't commit too much production capacity to it, not knowing if it would be worthwhile. The 2006 sets have nothing new except the freaky wheels, frankly they are pretty ordinary, so they did not require further committment from TLC. Their role is just to keep us awake and Vikings on our minds, in case they continue the line.

I have no inside info re: time it takes from market planning to release of sets, but I vaguely recall that from the "Behind the scenes tour" were there not some "secrets" even in early 2005 that we learned about only 6 months or more later? And even these "secrets" probably took months and months from market planning to manufacture of prototype sets. These Viking set were announced a few months ago, not 6 months after TLC released the original vikings. There is no way they could have known about success or failure of the initial launch when they planned these follow-up sets.

The vikings were a pleasant surprise to all of us, but I don't see how they can make a "real" line out of them, like KK, or Alpha Team, or Batman - none of which i like anyway.

The fact that they have no cartoons, no interactive play on the web site, none of the usual Lego marketing tools, tells me that they do not have a big future. I predict they will see released in 2007, some decent sets, and then disappear into history, Bricklink and eBay.

[Mister Phes]

Its sad that a product with so much creative potential such as LEGO needs a licence or tie-in or some form of gimmick to make one of its lines successful.

Despite the limited success of Vikings I'm not overly keen on the sets. I will give them credit for being a vast improvement over most of what The LEGO Company has released in recent times, but they still fail to capture the magic of the sets from 15 years ago. I think the older sets had a simplistic charm which is comprimised in the Viking sets (and Knights Kingdom 2) by the futuristic pieces and the way they're used to ornament the sets. In some sets I find the ornmamentation somewhat extraneous to the degree it appears too peripheral. Or more simply put they have too much excessive crap that the older lets lack.

[KimT]

I'm not so sure. Yes we've seen only two sets so far. But it may be that LEGO has several more up their sleeve. Remember that the Vikings weren't meant for the wide audience. They didn't plan to release it in the US but by popular demand they did. This must mean that the Vikings theme is selling well.

My guess is that there will be a follow up wave late this year or jan - feb next year.

To Lindisfarne ATTACK! :'-)

KimT

[snefroe]

Isn't S@H supposed to be cheaper than stores as an incentive to buy there?

you'd think that, wouldn't you.... but no.... not with lego! i think they're trying to promote the s@h by giving new sets to them first, before releasing them to the regular shops. that way, the impatient fans among us would be able to buy the sets asap, but at a full price thru the lego chain, and not at tru or whatever...

they do have discounts these days, but i think in most cases, they're old sets (1-1.5 years old), just sets they're trying to get rid off anyway... so you can make good deals there if you're looking for specific sets you never really thought of buying when they were in all the shops, like the rescue HQ or the train station,...

[Cutty]

Sad thing about the 2 upcoming Viking sets is the fact that, though they are cool for those, who already own the first wave of sets, they might not be as interesting for consumers, who see these sets first. Seeing as they are more expensive than the little starters (Fenrir, Boat&Wyvern, which have a low cost threshold) and don't offer too much in return.

The Dragon might appeal to a potential buyer, though there is the cost factor, and the man-pulled battle-machine just lacks something for instant play, as it is really just a convenient army builder for wave 1 people.

In my opinion the line isn't going to be continued for long. If there is a new wave in 2007 I'd be more than happy (I have LOTS of ideas!!!) but I won't get my hopes up that soon...

[Mister Phes]

LEGO sets were once in production for 3 years so it didn't matter if someone missed the sets from the year before because they were still available. So, what's the deal with the Vikings? Does LEGO plan to release more of the 2005 Vikings sets in conjunction with the 2 new 2006 sets, or are they on their own?

[Cutty]

well seeing how the shelves are mostly well loaded with Vikings-wave1 I do not see them releasing the old sets alongside the newer ones again. Somehow I feel the market for Lego-Vikings is saturated.

If they introduced another minifig-faction to the line, which they could market as well, I bet the line would hold itself a lot better.

I do not know whether it's a good thing or not, but prices for the bigger Viking-sets are abou 10-15