12 replies to this topic

[Derek]

Has anyone noticed the fequency at which conflict related words such as "chase" or "ambush" are used in system sets? I mean "heist" was used in three of this summer's sets alone, two of which in the same theme (SPIII).

Here are some rough numbers (according to Brickset)-

-Race- Too many to count...
-Fight- 64
-Attack-38
-Rescue- 47
-Battle- 34
-Command- 29
-Hunt- 17
-Chase- 15
-Fortress- 15
-Defender- 10
-Ambush- 9
-Escape- 7
-Defense- 7
-Assault- 6
-Pursuit- 6

Just thought it was interesting...

[Spyder]

Wow! I knew they used those words alot, but not that much!

[prateek]

these words are the only words TLC could think of. imagine seeing a set called "................ Entanglement" or "........................ Confrontation." the kids will be wierded out

[Peppermint_M]

Yep, only a limited nuber of words that sound "snappy" and that kids understand (unless they have older sibilings that are verbose...).
How else are you supposed to convey the conflict the set has?

[Lord Admiral]

It's pretty telling when the majority of sets have the same action modifiers in the names. Set names containing the same adjective pretty much indicates that their premise revolves around the same ideas. Which isn't terribly surprising. The majority of the sets are rehashes of old sets with a new theme. It's a sound business decision to continue to put out what's tried and true while slowly testing the waters with new ideas. I think the shift from set-based sets to action-based sets (these conflict-named sets that you're currently seeing) happened in the same manner.

It's a little irritating that every set of certain themes are based on good vs. bad, but as long as TLG can produce decent models in each set, I don't think the name matters that much.

[cole]

Those are some pretty intresting numbers. I guess they just want it to be exciting and apealing to kids.

[Peppermint_M]

Lord Admiral, on Jun 28 2009, 11:19 PM, said:

It's pretty telling when the majority of sets have the same action modifiers in the names. Set names containing the same adjective pretty much indicates that their premise revolves around the same ideas. Which isn't terribly surprising. The majority of the sets are rehashes of old sets with a new theme. It's a sound business decision to continue to put out what's tried and true while slowly testing the waters with new ideas. I think the shift from set-based sets to action-based sets (these conflict-named sets that you're currently seeing) happened in the same manner.

It's a little irritating that every set of certain themes are based on good vs. bad, but as long as TLG can produce decent models in each set, I don't think the name matters that much.

Kids respond better to conflict unfortunately. Town still sells well, but everything else dating right back to Space Police and Blacktron has conflict or an end goal in mind.

[Lord Admiral]

True, but it doesn't have to be reflected in the set name. When there's only one vehicle, it really only needs the vehicle name. The action words sound "cool," but you know they're on the overused side when two separate SP3 sets have "Heist" in the name. And besides which, action words are specific descriptors of the events happening in the set. While this is good in that it creates a strong understanding in someone evaluating the set to buy of what's happening in the set, it's bad in that it puts that same person in a certain mindset of what's supposed to happen in the set, instead of what can happen.

Power miners actually, has been pretty good about staying away from conflict-based names. But then again, the rock figures don't exactly have anything to fight off the power miners, so it's not like there's a second "faction" to build upon.

[Karto]

And then they say they never produced (contemporary) military sets because of their 'anti-violence policy'...  

Scala is probably the only range not meant for violence, or... it can be used for psychological warfare against the boys.

[Tom Bricks]

Karto, on Jun 28 2009, 07:01 PM, said:

And then they say they never produced (contemporary) military sets because of their 'anti-violence policy'...  

Thats the first thing I thought when I saw this.   I don't think Robo-Picnic would work as well as Robo-Assault.

[MrTools]

just goes to show you, that we all like words like Fight, Rescue, Chase, and Pursuit    but i agree that thre arent many other things you can use, you want to stay simple. But there is the matter of two sets i own, Gold Hunt and Gold Heist. whats nex Gold Hacking

[Lord Admiral]

There are plenty of non-action words that are just as appropriate for describing sets. The somewhat ironic thing is that the more action-oriented a set's theme is, the less the set has to be marketed with action words. The point of an action-oriented name is so that people know that some kind of action is happening in the set. If a theme naturally has action in it, directions on how to play wouldn't really be needed. Though, some such sets still are marketed with action words regardless.

For example, Agents sets have artificial action in them, and hence most sets need the name. It isn't necessary at all for the "good" element to be opposed to the "bad" element. But they're placed in the same set and given an action name, so that the "good" guy has to somehow be doing something to the "bad" guy as a result of the "bad" guy  doing something bad. In reality, well, I'm still kind of baffled by what exactly the two sides in Agents have to do with each other. Let's look at the sets...

Jetpack Pursuit: a jeweler riding a snowmobile is being chased by a guy in a helicopter backpack;
Swamp Raid: some obnoxious guy on a bike barges into a treehouse in a swamp;
Gold Hunt: a fighter jet is chasing after a guy carrying a lot of gold in his trunk;
Speedboat Rescue: some guy picking up his girlfriend after she's done with...well whatever she's doing swinging from a bouy in the middle of shark-infested waters;
Turbocar Chase: a car drives by a gate and a helicopter comes out to meet it;
Mobile Command Center: exactly what it says it is;
Deep Sea Quest: there's a submarine and a ship seeking the same treasure;
Volcano Base: exactly what it says it is;
Gold Tooth's Getaway: someone trying to take a gold dinosaur from somebody else;
River Heist: after barging into the treehouse, guy tries to steal the safe inside while the owners try to escape via their airboat;
4-Wheeling Pursuit: guy knocks down gate with a bigger car;
Robo Attack: a nerd showing off his new robot toy gets harassed by the cool kids;
Aerial Defense Unit: somebody tries to sneak into volcano base via the back.

All I'm seeing is the orange guys constantly getting picked on by the agents, and considering it's happening in every set except two, one would think the leader of the orange guys stole the girlfriend of the lead agent or something. OK, I have to be fair; Robo Attack actually shows civilians getting attacked, whereas the other ones only have the agents abusing and bullying the guys in orange. Is it because their outfits are orange? Anyway, my point is that there isn't any natural emnity between the two, so the action has to be inserted through marketing.

On the other hand, pirates have natural action in the theme, and doesn't need artificial action in the sets or in the set names. Pirates can be working against the imperials, or the islanders. Or, they could be working together. Or, they could be doing completely separate things (pirates vs. pirates, red coats vs. blue coats, etc.). There's action naturally in that theme, and so it doesn't really need any direction as to what action is in the set, hence only two sets that have any action words in the name, and only one of those has any forced action. The same applies to castle. As there are multiple factions in castle, any side could be allied with, or fighting against, any other side. And it doesn't have to be explicitly stated, though it's sometimes implied.

Of course, nobody says that sets have to have action in them. But action sells well to the core demographics.

MrTools, on Jul 6 2009, 01:08 PM, said:

But there is the matter of two sets i own, Gold Hunt and Gold Heist. whats nex Gold Hacking

Gold Hijack?

Gold Harvest?

Gold Haul?

[Peppermint_M]

Lord Admiral, on Jul 7 2009, 06:31 AM, said:

All I'm seeing is the orange guys constantly getting picked on by the agents, and considering it's happening in every set except two, one would think the leader of the orange guys stole the girlfriend of the lead agent or something. OK, I have to be fair; Robo Attack actually shows civilians getting attacked, whereas the other ones only have the agents abusing and bullying the guys in orange. Is it because their outfits are orange? Anyway, my point is that there isn't any natural emnity between the two, so the action has to be inserted through marketing.

This is because you are ignoring the clear "flags" of each character.
If a man with a twirly moustache and a black cape holding a big ball marked BOMB wandered past laughing maniacly as he shopped for , well, your average child would lable him a baddie, even though he is doing average things. So a bunch of guys with mean faces in orange jumpsuits with Flaming Black Skulls on the back, whatever they are doing, are the baddies. The snappy names on sets are just 'cool' and to attract attention.

My Star Wars nerd friend likes the lego, but is really confused with the naming, mainly because the names of the sets featuring certain craft have different names on the box instead of the official names, the set names are snappier and sound better than a string of letters and numbers.

I know my example falls down when applied to "grown-ups" but then Lego is made for children, so it doesn't matter that to an adult some sets look odd the marketing execs don't care.

You have applied some very abstract "logic" to the images on the set because even kids who can't read can tell what is going on because the characters are Colour Coded For Your Convenience. These kids who the sets are aimed at.