Opinions on stuff we need, and stuff that is destroying LEGO

[-Carson Haupt-]

You kow, I remember that too now!

[Faefrost]

Just looking at all the Fantasy Era stuff. Some day I want to get every single set and display em together. Absolutely incredible toy design.

I think I'm just sick of all the shelf space being devoted to SW ships. I don't care if they exist, I just LEGO would put more effort into the more "artistic" or "creative" endeavors like all the things I've mentioned, stuff like Atlantis, Fantasy Era, new historic theme etc. I give LEGO huge props for their modulars and collectible minifigs. The two best things they've ever done IMO.

Third vote for "are you high?"

No seriously, I'm not in any way grasping what few, tenuous or simply insane points you may have? You say you want more artistic or creative endeavors? Quality sets over licensed? Have you ever truly looked at or better yet built Helm's Deep? How about Bag End? Arkham Asylum? Hogwarts? How about any of the current or recent Star Wars ships? While an obscure and pricey subject the Sith Fury is one of the most unique, detailed and amazing designs to come out in the past decade.

Do you know what Legos three highest profit lines have been? Star Wars, Harry Potter and City. Look at the vast improvements in the Lego owned IP and designs in the past few years. City sets with not just trucks, but purpose. Buildings on fire, robberies in progress, boaters needing rescue. The wonderful detail of some of the Chima sets. The stunning success of Ninjago. And some of the great designs of Galaxy Squad. (Like you I preferred AC, but my preferences are no reason to demand Lego drop a good line.) All of these great new advances came about because of he licensed sets, not in spite of them. Not in competition with them. The licenses funded better and better designs and designers. Whining about the licensed lines is really just being more than a bit if a narcissistic nitwit. This is a forum for AFOLs. Adults. In a word, grow up.

[Tereglith]

I predict Lone Ranger sets will be a bigger bomb than Prince of Persia. And I like the western themes in general.

All the sets have been VERY high up on shop.lego.com's top sellers page in the past couple weeks, and the stagecoach is still way up at number four all this time after its release. The advantage that the Lone Ranger sets have is that, unlike Prince of Persia, it's entirely possible to ignore the intellectual property associated with them and pretend that they're just Western sets. In addition to that, the designs of the sets are great on their own terms, not just as recreations of movie scenes. They were selling like hotcakes at the Lego Imagination center in downtown Disney too.

[Faefrost]

I remember you now, Cardinal. You had the topic that said Galaxy Squad was intentionally designed to fail by Lucasfilm moles within LEGO, and then got upset when Rick locked it and a bunch of us pointed out you were being sensationalist.

That's why the conspiracy sounded so familiar. You've posted it before.

I thought you quit because of the "moral issue" of your "freedom of speech" being impeded by moderators?

Apparently he recycled the conspiracy theory over in the Castle thread that the new Castle theme is designed to fail in favor of LotR. I believe the technical term is "Troll". Which could explain why he likes Fantasy Era so much.

[Cardinal]

Yes that was me! I come crawling back to Eurobricks. It's the best LEGO forum on the web.

And to you Faefrost I simply say no! I refuse to grow up and I think you do too!

[Drachmyre]

Maybe keep your theory to a single thread and it will be better received, at least so far as people listening.

[PenPlays]

Wonderful...

Another genius who thinks he understands everything from the get go...

Every theme mentioned in the destroy list has more potential then anything on that "need" list at the moment. Especially since those themes have no real end for the rest of the year... I suggest you re-read Faefrost's first post on this page for probably the best defense I have seen in this situation since I joined the FOL part of cyberspace as I truly would fail to back myself up trying to do the same.

Yes that was me! I come crawling back to Eurobricks. It's the best LEGO forum on the web.

And to you Faefrost I simply say no! I refuse to grow up and I think you do too!

So you openly admit that you are recycling your methods?

Good grief!

And yes, a fourth for being high.

Edited May 1, 2013 by Penkid11

[Faefrost]

[rubberninja]

5 for being high. People like this dont add anything to the community and just pander bs so they can have some attention. King Troll indeed.

[naf]

Cardinal, it seems like you have the same issue with Lego that I had when I came back into it. I have fond memories of Lego from the 80's and early 90's, when the main Lego themes were town, space, castle, and pirates. I will fully admit that I was unimpressed by what Lego had to offer the first time I walked down the Lego aisle at TrU as an afol.

It seems like Lego as a company has moved away from making "models" that look interesting and have interesting build techniques, and towards "action" toys with more play features that shoot things across the room. It must be doing well for the company, since they continue to move in that direction and those types of toys must be what the kids are into today. However, I'm glad that Lego still produces nice sets in their exclusive series. These sets get to the core of what Lego was about: a good solid building experience, and a nice looking model once you're done. The Imperial Flagship and Medieval Market Village are great examples of this. These are directed towards afol, so I feel like the company has both groups of fans in mind when creating sets.

As for licensed themes, I think they are fine if done well. Star Wars and Lord of the Rings have been great and I feel they do the source material justice. I haven't looked into the other licensed sets because I'm just not into their themes. I can't see how you can say that Lego has been neglecting their own IP by focusing on the licenses. I see tons of city, chima, galaxy explorers, etc on the shelves. Maybe, like me, you're just not into them? I don't think Lego necessarily has the adult fan in mind with those sets.

[bacem]

i'm not into licensed and superhero themes. but you know, just because you think "man, superhero themes sucks, they don't deserve to exist", doesn't mean that everybody will agree too. there are a lot of LEGO fan (AFOL and KFOL) that goes, like, "WOW!!, A LEGO SUPERHEROES! AWESOME", or "man, those Star Wars ships are so cool!". from what i see, Star Wars and LOTR (and the hobbit too. those who goes for LOTR will certainly goes for The Hobbit too) are what sells the most. And Superhero themes is still growing. seeing that there will be a lot of Superhero movies ahead, they will grow bigger certainly.

[RaincloudDustbin]

I remember you now, Cardinal. You had the topic that said Galaxy Squad was intentionally designed to fail by Lucasfilm moles within LEGO, and then got upset when Rick locked it and a bunch of us pointed out you were being sensationalist.

That's why the conspiracy sounded so familiar. You've posted it before.

I thought you quit because of the "moral issue" of your "freedom of speech" being impeded by moderators?

Oh yeah, that was you. Please can we close this thread before it alls gets out of hand again.

[Fugazi]

I thought you quit because of the "moral issue" of your "freedom of speech" being impeded by moderators?

5 for being high. People like this dont add anything to the community and just pander bs so they can have some attention. King Troll indeed.

Oh yeah, that was you. Please can we close this thread before it alls gets out of hand again.

Please leave the moderating to the moderators. If you feel that staff intervention is called for, use the Report button.

[Aanchir]

Things LEGO needs: To keep embracing the strategies and values that have brought them such tremendous success in the past decade.

Things that are destroying LEGO: whiny fans with a poor grasp on reality.

Ah, who am I kidding. The first is what TLG is already doing with their set designs in general, and the latter isn't going to destroy LEGO no matter how important or enlightened such fans think they are.

Still, it is always good for a laugh when fans start to confuse their personal likes and dislikes with sound business knowledge. Even more hilarious when it leads them to imagine absurd, improbable "conspiracies". I came into this topic expecting tiresome melodrama, not laugh-out-loud comedy. So thanks for bringing a smile to my face. Now back to reading more serious, thoughtful, and productive topics.

[Curtis]

I think I'm just sick of all the shelf space being devoted to SW ships. I don't care if they exist, I just LEGO would put more effort into the more "artistic" or "creative" endeavors like all the things I've mentioned, stuff like Atlantis, Fantasy Era, new historic theme etc. I give LEGO huge props for their modulars and collectible minifigs. The two best things they've ever done IMO.

Are you sure you're not just frustrated with your local retailer's stocking decisions? Leaving you with less Original sets to chose from? The stock ratio at the Corporate LEGO Store near my house is easily 70% Original LEGO to 30% Licensed LEGO. Honestly, that's being generous to the Licensed sets because I only had to visualize the shelves for that figure (pun). If you take into account the PAB wall and the minifigure station that ratio falls even further to the Original LEGO.

So maybe you're just put off by your local big-box store?

[LEGO Guy Bri]

We need:

Statue of Liberty reissue

Boom and the bam! Both from 2012, but jokes aside, I do know what you really mean by a reissue. When the first one came out in 2000, it didn't really appeal enough to me. I couldn't see it really fitting in with my city and a $200 price tag didn't really help. Now with the Architecture line and advances in elements and building techniques, I hope she does make a return!

New Carousel, much larger than original, more detail

This set was huge, as is, with 3,263 pieces and a $250 dollar price tag. Making a bigger one wouldn't make much sense. Maybe a Ferris Wheel or other old fashion ride will come sooner.

Ewok village

I'm not a SW collector and about as big of a fan of SW as much as, say, Titanic. They're good, fun, movies to me, nothing more. I do think, however, that would be a neat set for collectors though.

City Zoo (has there ever been one?)

There has, but only in the Duplo line, I believe. I also wish there would be a City Zoo released.

The following themes and sets need to be cancelled immediately:

Lord of the Rings

Hobbit

Lone Ranger

ALL Superhero sets (it's over, just admit it to yourself)

Galaxy Squad

Star Wars ships of any kind (keep the Falcon, that's it)

Again, not a collector of these themes, I'd still have to strongly disagree. LotR & Hobbit, hugely popular movies; hugely successful line... Why on Earth should it be canceled?

Lone Ranger is more or less the new Pirates of the Caribbean, apart from being a western theme, of course. It's also a popular film with a promising line. If you do a little research, you will find many of the sets are new versions of many sets from the mid 90's Western theme.

Same goes for the Super Heroes line... Very popular and with the new Iron Man 3, I don't see why this line should be cancelled as well. And SW ships? Do you mean the UCS line or all sets with ships? Either way, why? I can't think of any good reason to stop selling them. Finally, Galaxy Squad. It's just the replacement subtheme under the Space line. It may be around for a single line release, maybe two, but it will be gone in a couple years. Everyone knows that futuristic humans battling aliens will always sell. So, no merit on canceling that... either.

The following theme needs to be revamped:

Castle (needs to be more like Fantasy era, expand on that feel)

I believe it is... Maybe not a "fantasy" style, but having a Castle line that resembles anything close to the LotR, would be counterproductive. Same goes for any original theme that also has a licensed theme running parallel.

Along with what many others have pointed out, your claims seem to be personal disgruntlements that really holds no water, financially or otherwise. Sure, TLG, has had it's bumps, generally in the recent past. After returning to LEGO, it did take me some getting used to the change from classic Town to modern City line, as I'm sure it did for many others in other lines, but I don't believe it will be near bankruptcy, ever again. Especially with licensed themes.

Maybe with some data sheets or better sited research can this be taken more seriously and seem so much as a young person's attempt at what they like/dislike about LEGO's current line-up. Much of this is and has been discussed in their own individual threads

[paul_delahaye]

This is one of the most amusing posts I've read in a long time, lots of heated debate!

I like the minifigs from the licensed sets, but I have to be honest the actual sets themselves are fairly lame, just look at the Turtles sets this year. Turtles = amazing, but the rest of the sets just appear to be making up the piece count.......

Anyway, I certainly back a Lego City Zoo, it seems a no brainer for Lego to do this, I'm not sure why they have not done this in the past, they have nearly all the required moulds. I guess we waited 30 years for a Lego farm, so anything is possible. It needs to be a collection of 6-8 sets, a theme so to speak.

Paul

Edited May 2, 2013 by paul_delahaye

[Lynx]

As a side note, I think there is credibility to the theory that LEGO is intentionally destroying their original space and medieval themes in order to clear the way for LOTR and Star Wars to permanently take over (Galaxy Squad and the new Castle sets are so bad that I think they were intentionally designed not to sell.

Please read your assumption again. Now think about being in the shoes of one of TLC's managers, responsible for making a profit. Now read your assumption again. If it still makes any sense to you, I would love to read an elaboration on it because I cannot see the point. But then, I'm a biologist and never had much insight into economics, so I'm willing to listen.

[RaincloudDustbin]

Are you trailerslego? :)

Seriously though, just because you don't like a few themes doesn't mean others won't and in fact they sell the best out of anything.

Edited May 2, 2013 by RaincloudDustbin

[Drachmyre]

Maybe this thread was introduced to intentionally make us stop reading threads.... Wait... Uh. Never mind.

[BlueberryWaffles]

Oh, you were that oh that Rick guy shut me down boo hoo freedom of speech blablabla person? I remember you!

[obsidianheart]

Please read your assumption again. Now think about being in the shoes of one of TLC's managers, responsible for making a profit. Now read your assumption again. If it still makes any sense to you, I would love to read an elaboration on it because I cannot see the point. But then, I'm a biologist and never had much insight into economics, so I'm willing to listen.

His theory is that LEGO management has been infiltrated by agents from Lucasfilm/Disney/Whatever-Studio-Does-Hobbit, and that these moles are in charge of the creative decisions that are "killing" Space and Castle.

[Aanchir]

His theory is that LEGO management has been infiltrated by agents from Lucasfilm/Disney/Whatever-Studio-Does-Hobbit, and that these moles are in charge of the creative decisions that are "killing" Space and Castle.

Which is of course absolute poppycock. Film companies have plenty of more effective means of making money than infiltrating toy companies they already have healthy partnerships with, and TLG has better reasons to enter into licensing agreements than because insidious voices from the inside urge them to do so.

Really, what would Lucasfilm/Disney have to gain by eliminating non-licensed Castle and Space themes? Star Wars and other licenses are already making TLG boatloads of money, and there's no indication that TLG would make significantly MORE money off of them by dropping their non-licensed themes. If that were the case, then we wouldn't be seeing any non-licensed themes in the same genres at all, but the fact is that LEGO Space themes have been going strong for nearly six years now in perfect harmony with LEGO Star Wars. Currently, the Galaxy Squad theme has some simply stellar designs, and I see no reason why it wouldn't continue the marathon of success that TLG's Space themes have experienced as a whole since they came back from their five-year hiatus.

And from what I've seen LEGO is planning to devote just as much effort as ever towards their new Castle offerings — which, in my honest opinion, are no worse than any other castle offerings in the past ten years. Certainly AFOLs will find dozens of reasons to nitpick this latest castle iteration, just as they have pretty much every other time a new theme comes out, but chances are kids will eat it up just like they did with the Knights' Kingdom II theme which this latest castle theme is inexplicably compared to so often, or the "Fantasy Era" Castle theme which originally saw plenty of hatred itself before fans warmed up to the idea.

So overall we have a conspiracy theory based on evidence of a non-existent decline in set designs and the assumption of irrational motivations within the LEGO Group chain of command. No matter how you arrange the numbers, it simply doesn't add up.

[Leo604]

Yes that was me! I come crawling back to Eurobricks. It's the best LEGO forum on the web.

And to you Faefrost I simply say no! I refuse to grow up and I think you do too!

In what does Faefrost's post imply he 'refuses to grow up'...?

Also, before resorting to conspiracy theories (if these even top that level), think about common sense and the amount of ABS plastic TLG's invested into these 'designed to fail' themes when, like everyone else said, they wouldn't have been produced.in the first place if said fail reasons were true.

[LEGO Guy Bri]

Film companies have plenty of more effective means of making money than infiltrating toy companies they already have healthy partnerships with...

Also, before resorting to conspiracy theories, think about common sense and the amount of ABS plastic TLG's invested into these...

Dale Gribble ladies and gentleman! Remember to tip your waitresses, we'll be here all night. Sh sh sha!

Edited May 3, 2013 by LEGO Guy Bri