Your Views On The LEGO Company

jamitjames · Post by **jamitjames** » Sun Jun 08, 2008 4:42 am

Hey All,

I host a LEGO podcast, LAMLradio. This week I'm doing a show and at one part in it I will be discussing The LEGO Company and comparing it to other large organizations. I've heard many people (myself included) suggest that the relation LEGO has with AFOL is unique and like no other.

I'm hoping to delve into this and take a closer look at LEGO's relation with fans.

So, what do you think of the LEGO company and how they interact with you? Are you satisfied with the way it is, do you think they should do more? Are you happy that fans have a say in how the sets are designed?

Any feedback would be of great help to me.

Peppermint Pig · Post by **Peppermint Pig** » Sun Jun 08, 2008 4:15 pm

Virtually every company pays close attention to what customers are buying and watches out for safety concerns. This doesn't always translate to listening to public customer opinion on products, as they often have internal testing and evaluation to determine their course of business.

Lego is the exception, becoming a better company by establishing the Ambassador program and taking an active interest in community fan-based feedback. I do not believe this reaches to the extent of fans dictating themes, particularly with which franchises Lego picks up, and there are understandable reasons why this is so...

From Lego's perspective, I imagine, the one thing that prohibits them from being more 'open' in the process comes from the issue of competitor 'spying'. Not internal corporate spying necessarily, but leaks about products early into their development where competitors attempt to beat Lego to the market with a similar product at a lower price. If I recall correctly, K-Nex released a brick mosaic set with a transparent background, not unlike Lego's own recent mosaic sets, though I believe it came out much later.

AFOL communities have a great deal to say about what they want to see, and it may seem that in some cases Lego is not listening, though it may happen to be a budgetary concern, such as using stickers for the Star Justice and Space Skulls torsos when AFOL's tend to prefer prints: Budget may limit this choice since it's a short run product.

I'm dissatisfied with Lego's efforts thus far to create products that appeal to both boys AND girls. In Town, there's too much focus on Police and Firefighter sets, but an utter lack of 'civilian' types of sets. Many parents are seeking non-violent sets, so I don't see why all these interests cannot converge into a product line/theme. Bellville is prohibitively expensive: It's a wonder that girls ever get into Lego (Is it just me, or is it sexist to just assume girls don't share interests in stuff that boys like in terms of Lego?).

I personally favor minifig-scale sets. As far as themes, I think musicians, farms and street vendors would be a nice start (professions in general). Lego should consider creating vibrantly colored sets that include something for everyone, boys, girls, AFOLS. Basically, re-invent the Paradisa line, add more useful parts in less common colors. I'd like to see more purples, dark pink instead of light pink, orange, dark orange, dark tan... In other words, sampling the spectrum of Lego colors a little more to create sets with mass appeal. Lego does a great job with its Corner Cafe, Green Grocer, etc. Perhaps in the future, smaller, cheaper sets complementing these would draw in more customers, both male and female.

More female minifigures please? More diversity.

Also from the AFOL perspective, there's some question on Lego's commitment to manufacturing quality because of color inconsistencies in the recent past, particularly noticeable with dark bley pieces. This degradation in quality seems to be tied to their manufacturing outsourcing. Though it may have more to do with economics than product quality, Lego has reasserted itself in the management of production at these plants since February of this year, (one of which is in the Czech Republic, if I recall correctly).

I personally think Lego goes too far to try and protect their trademarks, but it may simply be a consequence of intellectual property law which necessitates Lego by law to actively 'defend' itself, as in the recent news story: 'Swedish parents win legal battle to name their children Lego'.

(BTW, Why did you remove the Ian Gomm Lego song from your Podcast?)

Lastly, less franchises, more VALUE! Sets are becoming skimpier.

Count Blacktron · Post by **Count Blacktron** » Sun Jun 08, 2008 7:54 pm

As a father of three girls and one boy I have to echo Peppermint Pig's concern with the limited scope of girls interests in LEGO products. LEGO seems to cater to the "boy toy" category in much of their product. While I understand that often this is where the money is, girls could use some heroine minifigure sets. So many of the licensed sets DO include girls, but they are a sub-category to the big name of the hero (male) washed across the box cover. Gender neutrality within a theme and a random change between which gender gets to save the day would be a welcome wind of change.

I wrote a letter to LEGO in 2004 concerning this topic. My eldest daughter and I looked across the Toys R Us (USA) LEGO selection and lamented that there were few to no sets featuring a female heroine. The only one we found that day was the $30 LEGO Harry Potter 4754 Hagrid's Hut and the more expensive Hogwart's Castle for $100; sets in which the girl is simply an add-in and does not even see her name upon the box front. Quite expensive for a five year old with big eyes also. Second class minifigures?

Since then there has been some improvement, yet the female is always the Damsel in Distress, a "side-kick" to the hero-male or left out in most cases for the City theme. Children role play with the minifigures, and I often must go to special lengths/budget extremes simply to include my daughters (3 remember) in the LEGO building and role play experience that I have learned to cherish as a part of my life.

Girl-(em)power minifigure heroines who can save the day on their own and only happen to have male minifigure friends. Gender neutral set themes and titles. Licensed sets that feature female characters. Girls between 4 to 11 years old need to be able to walk into a Toys R Us store with their allowance money and get as excited about LEGO as all the little boys.

I find this hard to accept as a father. Often I receive an order from LEGO with an insert pamphlet in the box printed, "It is hard to imagine a childhood without LEGO..."

Well LEGO, as far as girls go, there's little imagining going on if the girls cannot receive more focus in the minifigure sets.

DARKspawn · Post by **DARKspawn** » Sun Jun 08, 2008 11:01 pm

G'day James!

OK, so opinion is going to seem a little biased now that I get to use a LEGO logo in my sig, but James himself may well remember that I have expressed this opinion more than once on LAML in the past.

I am sure there are others, but TLG is the only company that I am aware of that has actually gone to the effort of creating a bridge between themselves and the community for the flow of ideas and feedback through a system like the LEGO Ambassadors program. It might sound corny, but we've seen the results. Most especially the new castle line, LEGO Factory & sets like Cafe Corner and others.

I am not saying LEGO is perfect, but I think it's admirable that they make a real effort to communicate with fans like ourselves & even to cater to us.

I completely agree with the comments regarding LEGO's focus on boys rather than a more gender neutral outlook. The product was always more of a "Boys toy" but the lack of cheaper civilian sets in the town theme & lack of females in general is a bit of a concern, & I know many other fans are concerned about it too.

Luke the Warrior · Post by **Luke the Warrior** » Mon Jun 09, 2008 7:54 pm

I think the sets are great, personally. Though I woud like to see a re-relese of the Pizzaria.

LORD DOOM · Post by **LORD DOOM** » Tue Jun 10, 2008 12:54 am

LEGO© For president!

Blue Head · Post by **Blue Head** » Tue Jun 10, 2008 12:59 am

As some of you have already said, LEGO has acted, so far, as a boy toy; making mainly boy figures with battles, and wars, and other "boyish" things.

Over all, though, I love LEGO, and all it has done to help us with what we want, and what is best for the children who play with the little blocks. I can agree with LORD DOOM when I say, "TLC for president!"

blue <><

Norro · Post by **Norro** » Tue Jun 10, 2008 3:43 am

For what it is worth, MACs are the only other product I have encountered that seems to fuel a group consumer feeling of community/pride (not in me personally...). Apple would probably make a good comparison though... This certainly reminded me of a Lego fan designing a set.

As too Lego itself:

Bley...Bley...Bley... but I'm a broken record that now enjoys the scratching sound ; )

God Bless,

Nathan

jamitjames · Post by **jamitjames** » Thu Jun 12, 2008 2:19 am

Thanks guys for the great feedback. And now you've given me another interesting topic that I might just have to get to as it seems more engaging than talking about TLC's fan relations.

On the same line of thought as the amount of female minifigs, did anyone happen to notice what percent of LEGO ambassadors are females?

(BTW, Why did you remove the Ian Gomm Lego song from your Podcast?)

Long story, but the short answer would be copyrights...

castlebuilder100 · Post by **castlebuilder100** » Thu Jun 12, 2008 2:45 am

jamitjames wrote: On the same line of thought as the amount of female minifigs, did anyone happen to notice what percent of LEGO ambassadors are females?

(BTW, Why did you remove the Ian Gomm Lego song from your Podcast?)
Long story, but the short answer would be copyrights...

EDIT I guess Aaron answered it

P.S. aww I miss that song

DARKspawn · Post by **DARKspawn** » Thu Jun 12, 2008 8:48 pm

jamitjames wrote:On the same line of thought as the amount of female minifigs, did anyone happen to notice what percent of LEGO ambassadors are females?

As far as I know the following ladies are LAs - Tania Baixinho, Sue Ann Barber, Danila Martyakhin & Verena Schaden. There might be more, but us newbie LA's are just getting to know each other

Bandit · Post by **Bandit** » Fri Jun 13, 2008 8:06 pm

Luke the Warrior wrote:I think the sets are great, personally. Though I woud like to see a re-relese of the Pizzaria.

They did re-release the pizzaria, in 2002! I got it 4 years ago as a LEGO Legend. (please pm me if you don't believe me)

Count Blacktron · Post by **Count Blacktron** » Fri Jun 13, 2008 11:08 pm

Bandit wrote:
Luke the Warrior wrote:I think the sets are great, personally. Though I woud like to see a re-relese of the Pizzaria.
They did re-release the pizzaria, in 2002! I got it 4 years ago as a LEGO Legend. (please pm me if you don't believe me)

I don't think we can go into a discussion on thoughts about the LEGO company with a request list. The topic would degrade to rapidly into who wants what. If the past LEGO sets are your focus, discuss what it is you miss about those offerings. For instance:

Personally, I was/am a huge fan of the LEGO Imperial Guards vs Pirates theme that began in 1989. The scope and scale of the sets were impressive to the point of shock and awe. Certainly they may have been expensive, but those ships were grand. I think when I finally scraped enough cash together to get a Skull's Eye Schooner I was amazed by attention to detail, new parts to solve construction problems for a woodn ship made of blocks, minifigure content and design and above all that it was a huge brick count. It made me truly thirsty for both red-coat and blue-coat Imperial Guards to patrol and defend the high seas and ports of call.

Sets like the Pizzaria were perfect for shore buildings with minor modification, and the figures could be used nicely. Castle worked into the theme also. Minifigures were often designed well enough that they could find homes in any collection in a multitude of roles. More imagination went into each set, rather than guided play. The boxes may have been more expensive with the inserts and flaps, but it was like opening a book and delving into the story.

Pirates & Imperial Guards didn't just cross many themes together and burn a desire for more sets, it was a truly magnificent banner theme to point to and say, "LEGO is really something special and high quality." While I see many of these design lessons and thematic approaches applied to LEGO product today, IMHO they are not as tied and unified in their set approach as they once were when Pirates was king between 1989-1995. To me that will always be the silver age of LEGO.

-Aaron West-

Peppermint Pig · Post by **Peppermint Pig** » Sat Jun 14, 2008 5:33 am

Long story, but the short answer would be copyrights...

I figured as much. Extremely disappointing. PM me the story if you have the time, thank you.

Norro wrote:For what it is worth, MACs are the only other product I have encountered that seems to fuel a group consumer feeling of community/pride (not in me personally...). Apple would probably make a good comparison though... This certainly reminded me of a Lego fan designing a set.

As too Lego itself:

Bley...Bley...Bley... but I'm a broken record that now enjoys the scratching sound ; )

God Bless,

Nathan

Though non-Lego in nature, that was a great video. Thank you for posting it. Reminds me of the making of the Amiga mp3 files, which are equally entertaining if you like listening to software developers and engineers explain their adventures:
http://www.cs.tut.fi/~albert/Dev/TheGloryYears1.mp3
http://www.cs.tut.fi/~albert/Dev/TheGloryYears2.mp3
http://www.cs.tut.fi/~albert/Dev/TheGloryYears3.mp3
http://www.cs.tut.fi/~albert/Dev/TheGloryYears4.mp3

To end on a more positive light, I just want to say Lego on its own is quite fantastic, and critiques that AFOLs have are relatively minor in scale compared to the overall satisfaction and respect for what Lego has achieved over the years, and how it has survived and strived in the face of economic adversity, including the Chinese toy scare.

FirebenderDude2 · Post by **FirebenderDude2** » Sat Jun 14, 2008 11:34 am

This is going to be one of those posts that comes from someone who hasn't read a single post because their lazy and don't like to read that much.

A few weeks ago, I probably would have said I love them, but ever since this thread, viewtopic.php?t=14134, I have despised them. The thread says it all.