Interesting tidbit from TLC's annual report

[Joebot]

I was skimming through TLC's annual financial report and noticed this little sidebar on page 13:

LEGO City has become the

Group

[giorgio]

I was skimming through TLC's annual financial report and noticed this little sidebar on page 13:

After the horrible crap that we City fans were fed for the previous decade, it's very satisfying to see that TLC has learned a valuable lesson -- design great City sets and people will buy them. The City sets in the past three years have been fantastic, and the Cafe Corner-style sets were the icing on top of a giant pile of birthday cakes.

I'm a bit shocked to see City characterized as the "absolutely most important product line." Moreso than Star Wars? Bionicle?? That's surprising to me, but very, very cool.

Sure, it's a very good news. Lege has learn from its previous mistakes and now it's working !

But I'm not sure that the CC and modular houses are parts of the City Line in the Lego results ! For me the 17% are juste the regular City line

Edited March 6, 2008 by giorgio

[Hinckley]

Now

a street sweeper actually looks

like the machine sweeping the

streets.

**Bangs head against the wall**

Wow! They must have hired a physicist or something.

[hoang]

I have to say that Stars should be and remain the most important line, then comes bionicle even if i have no care for the theme, city for sure is 3rd in place for me. i'm a happy buyer of city stuff.

[gylman]

Well, actually, the question is what happened to City before the diaster of the late 1990's and early 2000's. I think that it probably dropped drastically at the time, and the rise we are seeing now is from a very low baseline.

I would sell my soul to the devil to know how the CC line did, although the fact that we are getting GG suggests that it is doing well.

City > Starwars? I find that hard to believe.

[Hinckley]

I would sell my soul to the devil to know how the CC line did, although the fact that we are getting GG suggests that it is doing well.

I'm usually pretty good with figuring out new acronyms but GG just has me stumped... 8-|

[CF Mitch]

I believe "GG" means "Green Grocer" ;-)

I find it nice to hear that the City theme is doing so good *y* :-)

Although, like others, surprised that is surpassed the SW theme :-/

[Hinckley]

I believe "GG" means "Green Grocer" ;-)

I find it nice to hear that the City theme is doing so good *y* :-)

Although, like others, surprised that is surpassed the SW theme :-/

:-D I thought he was saying Classic Castle line, but he clearly meant Cafe Corner and Green Grocer... *wacko*

Carry on... :-$

[natelite]

**Bangs head against the wall**

Wow! They must have hired a physicist or something.

:-D :-D you would have think that's quite obvious. why would anyone design a sweeper that doesn't look like a sweeper? *wacko* oh wait... two words... world city :-| :-D :-D :-D i'm glad TLC re-hired common sense! :-D

[Svelte]

I have to say that Stars should be and remain the most important line, then comes bionicle even if i have no care for the theme, city for sure is 3rd in place for me. i'm a happy buyer of city stuff.

The Annual Report did say that Star Wars was well on the way to becoming a 'classic' line, which is an interesting choice of words.

TLC obviously is interested in pursuing the SW licence past the expiration date (2010 or 2011?) but probably sensibly from a business point of view you don't want to make a licence the central pillar of your sales or you'd be in trouble if the license agreement wasn't renewed!

Thinking long-term you'd probably want a few major themes doing really well so if one experienced a major crash in one finanical year your sales would still be strong overall. I think that's what's happened with City and probably what they're trying to do with Castle at the moment.

[Lt. Veers]

After the horrible crap that we City fans were fed for the previous decade, it's very satisfying to see that TLC has learned a valuable lesson -- design great City sets and people will buy them. The City sets in the past three years have been fantastic, and the Cafe Corner-style sets were the icing on top of a giant pile of birthday cakes.

Indeed, city made a great comeback in these years. Now, they're finally doing something besides Police/Fire/Constuction, which finally gives us something else for our towns. Cafe Corner, Market Sreet, etc., also started of a great fan-designed set trend, which so far seems succesful.

I'm a bit shocked to see City characterized as the "absolutely most important product line." Moreso than Star Wars? Bionicle?? That's surprising to me, but very, very cool.

I could believe it's more important than Bionicle, however with Star Wars, it's a little harder to believe. I guess my impression of the city line has been somewhat changed by this whole thing.

[MAH4546]

New city sets are nice, but they are still garbage compared to the class LEGOLAND collection sets, especially the period between 1987 and 1994, that brought us some of the most amazing LEGO town sets ever.

[natelite]

yeah, i can't believe it is the best theme out there. i mean look at the hottest set list. it's dominated by star wars and castle sets. even if you say SW is not as profitable because of licensing fees (which i don't believe SS is charging TLC for any licensing fees), you would have thought that castle trumped city. :-P long live castle! :-D :-D

[giorgio]

yeah, i can't believe it is the best theme out there. i mean look at the hottest set list. it's dominated by star wars and castle sets. even if you say SW is not as profitable because of licensing fees (which i don't believe SS is charging TLC for any licensing fees), you would have thought that castle trumped city. :-P long live castle! :-D :-D

Sorry, but what is "SS" ?

[natelite]

Sorry, but what is "SS" ?

steven spielberg but my bad here. should be george lucas. darn...i don't recall who makes what anymore.

[giorgio]

yeah, i can't believe it is the best theme out there. i mean look at the hottest set list. it's dominated by star wars and castle sets. even if you say SW is not as profitable because of licensing fees (which i don't believe SS is charging TLC for any licensing fees), you would have thought that castle trumped city. :-P long live castle! :-D :-D

I'm pretty sure that lego pay huge licence fee tu Lucasffilm (this is the firm which produced SW) !

Lego must have paid a gloabl amount for the SW licence and they must also pay a % on each set sold !

[Joebot]

yeah, i can't believe it is the best theme out there. i mean look at the hottest set list. it's dominated by star wars and castle sets. even if you say SW is not as profitable because of licensing fees (which i don't believe SS is charging TLC for any licensing fees), you would have thought that castle trumped city. :-P long live castle! :-D :-D

It does seem hard to believe, but I can't imagine why TLC would lie about it on their financial report. It's not like this is mere fan speculation -- these are hard numbers directly from TLC.

My guess (and this IS mere fan speculation) is that SW is waning a bit. It's been a few years since Episode III, and SW simply isn't in the cultural consciousness the way it was back when the license started. The set designs are getting repetitive, and TLC is now branching into video games and TV shows and other Expanded Universe sets. That stuff is going to appeal mainly to hardcore fans, not the mainstream culture, in the same way that an X-Wing Fighter or the Millenium Falcon does.

I guess that's the danger to leaning so heavily on a licensed theme. Licenses are trendy fads. Fads come and go. SW hung around longer than most (cough*Avatar*cough), but it seems to be on a downward slope.

[Freddie]

That's until the new series start up though, and I think there's a new movie on its way, too. Should certainly help a bit.

I'm not that surprised that CITY is going strong. I'm more surprised about its increase in sales, though. A 101% sales increase from '05 to '07 means that TLC sold twice as many CITY sets in '07 compared to '05. That's impressive - but then again they had twice as much, and much nicer, stuff on offer in '07. It's pretty much agreed that '07 will be difficult for TLC to improve on.

[Klaus-Dieter]

Thank you for that information, Joebot!

I'm not wondering that City sets are the most sold Lego sets.

The most popular sets at the most AFOLs of us are surely the SW sets - but at the most JFOLs and their (grand)parents it's surely City because City is the thing the most kids experience every day and it's something that really exist.

New city sets are nice, but they are still garbage compared to the class LEGOLAND collection sets, especially the period between 1987 and 1994, that brought us some of the most amazing LEGO town sets ever.

On the one hand I don't agree with you, MAH4546. TLG did a very good job with the City sets in the last three years. Mainly the harbor sets are amazing and the 10184 Town Plan is *wub* *wub* *wub* !

On the other hand I agree with you because the new vehicles (mainly the bigger cars and the plains) are much too big *n* and don't go with older sets of the late 1980th and early 1990th. I mainly miss the old styled (four stuck wide) cars with doors and some apartment houses and shops!

[Lt. Col. Thok]

Finally, TLG has learned their lesson. I hope to see more high-quality stuff in the next while!

[Hinckley]

I guess that's the danger to leaning so heavily on a licensed theme. Licenses are trendy fads. Fads come and go. SW hung around longer than most (cough*Avatar*cough), but it seems to be on a downward slope.

I bet with the new movie and the Clone Wars series, they'll be doing just fine. Besides there are at least 8 new sets this year, plus a whole slough slated for Summer. The silly Summer slough slate! :-P Since we are discussing other themes, I'll move this to LEGO news and General Discussion so we can more perspective on this news. :-)

[Joebot]

I bet with the new movie and the Clone Wars series, they'll be doing just fine. Besides there are at least 8 new sets this year, plus a whole slough slated for Summer. The silly Summer slough slate! :-P Since we are discussing other themes, I'll move this to LEGO news and General Discussion so we can more perspective on this news. :-)

"A silly summer slough slate?!?!" Sounds super!!

[wiping spittle off my screen]

Anyway ... I sure hope that the Clone Wars series and the live action series and all the other upcoming Star Wars stuff is good, but I'm skeptical that those new shows and characters will ever be as iconic as Luke and Han and Leia. The new stuff will hopefully breathe some life into the franchise, but I still say the franchise (and the Lego license) is past its peak.

City, on the other hand, as been a Lego staple for half a century. I'm thrilled that TLC is giving City the attention it deserves, and that the sales are backing up their renewed faith in the theme.

And don't get me wrong -- I'm not knocking Star Wars at all!! I've got shelves and shelves full of SW Lego sets. But I'm a long-time City guy, and I suffered through the Dark Times of the late '90's. Vindication is sweet!!