Plastic packaging redesign

[vexorian]

This is something that has been bugging me since roboriders days. Even in 2010 sets, mini creator sets and small hero factory sets come in canisters / plastic packages which are supposed to aid when storing the sets.

Although the canisters can store sets and also other bricks/pieces, they are not very useful during construction. Note that in the current design, the cap is used at the smaller face of the canister's prism, rather than the larger face. I would dare to say that most people find the opposite to be more useful. If you take a look at this thread: http://www.eurobricks.com/forum/index.php?showtopic=26213&st=0 People that use Tupperware prefer containers in which the cap replaces the larger face of the canister. From my own experience, I think this is because besides of storing the bricks we often need some place in which bricks could be kept while we look for the correct one.

When the container's height is too large, we cannot search for bricks easily, so if we used the mini creator or HF containers to store the bricks, we would have to move the bricks to another space before searching for a brick inside the containers.

As of now, even though I own plenty of bionicle canisters, I do not use them for storage of pieces because the 'horizontal' design of my purchased Tupperware makes them a lot more practical during building as I don't have to throw the bricks from a container to a different flat surface when I intend to use the bricks inside the container to build.

So, my entry on a wish list would be to change the orientation of the cap in these containers so that instead of throwing them I would be able to use them to actually store my pieces and save up a little on purchases of new containers. Just in case the point is not clear enough, the following picture should explain what I am suggesting:

Edited August 8, 2010 by vexorian

[prateek]

Interesting article. I agree with you that these canisters are inferior in terms of storing pieces, but I don't think that's what Lego wanted to make. I think they wanted some sort of way to distinguish Bionicle and Creator mini sets, etc.. from other sets. Also, they have to think about shelving at the stores. A tall can with small shelf space is much more efficient than a big flat box, where it covers a lot of space. If you go to a store, you never see sets stacked on top of each other on the shelves.

[vexorian]

Interesting article. I agree with you that these canisters are inferior in terms of storing pieces, but I don't think that's what Lego wanted to make. I think they wanted some sort of way to distinguish Bionicle and Creator mini sets, etc.. from other sets. Also, they have to think about shelving at the stores. A tall can with small shelf space is much more efficient than a big flat box, where it covers a lot of space. If you go to a store, you never see sets stacked on top of each other on the shelves.

It can be both a storage aid and something that calls attention, can't it? While sealed the canister could keep the 'vertical' orientation so that it is almost the same when on shelves.

I do remember TLG showing that you can store the sets on their canisters for easy transportation so storage is one of the objectives, most likely the lower priority, but still.

[Fugazi]

I'm absolutely all for this idea, I wish there would be a way to design those plastic boxes so that they could be displayed upright in the stores while having large lids that make them more useful for part storage. I'm sure it can be done, and it's possibly just a matter of letting TLG know that such a change would reduce the number of boxes ending up in the recycling/rubbish bin. It's a good thing you are bringing this up vexorian!

[Blondie-Wan]

vexorian, that is a great idea. I hope someone from TLG is reading this and agrees.

A tall can with small shelf space is much more efficient than a big flat box, where it covers a lot of space. If you go to a store, you never see sets stacked on top of each other on the shelves.

I actually do see them stacked sometimes, and if one looks at the designs of the tops and bottoms of most of LEGO's canister-style packages, it's clear they're actually designed to be stackable. Most of them aren't terribly stable when stacked, though, and this idea would actually help with that.