Has the LEGO group released too much 18+ sets this year?

[jimmynick]

1 hour ago, Peppermint_M said:

The mind boggles that there are people on a LEGO fan forum who have not watched the movie (even out of morbid curiosity).

It took Vindicare's explanation for me to notice... reading on mobile, Will Ferrell didn't look quite like Will Ferrell. Or perhaps it's just my eyes

[JintaiZ]

22 minutes ago, Vindicare said:

You should definitely watch it. In my totally not bias opinion..........you’re missing out. 

I feel differently...

[koalayummies]

Its rated Parental Guidance suggested, that's like sort of 18+.

[MAB]

11 hours ago, JintaiZ said:

Evidence. I have some friends who like playing with LEGO and only 1 out of 10 people would chose 18+ sets over fun playsets.

 

10 hours ago, JintaiZ said:

Then again, 9/10 of them is buying 16+/14+/12+ sets instead...

So what? I can make up different statistics and use them as circumstantial evidence.

LEGO is trying out 18+ sets and if they work (as in sell well) they will continue doing them. The company won't care if you think there are too many. If 9 out of 10 of your untested evidence are still buying 12/14/16 sets then LEGO won't care, they are still selling items across their product range. I still buy younger sets as I want figs or parts in them. I don't necessarily build and play with them.

in some cases the 18+ over something different. I'm some cases they offer something similar to 16/14 sets but are badged to try out if they sell better as 18 rather than 16/14. If you don't like them, don't buy them to get your anti 18+ sets views to LEGO.

[Peppermint_M]

10 hours ago, JintaiZ said:

I'm not a completist, and I only want 4 sets. But 3 of them are huge sets that will hurt my wallet

You made this thread because?

So far there is no gathering of opinions: you argue against any that are not conforming to your own. You seem to dislike the idea of 18+ sets, but you also do like them. You keep redefining the poll... 

What was the goal of this thread? 

[JintaiZ]

2 hours ago, Peppermint_M said:

You made this thread because?

So far there is no gathering of opinions: you argue against any that are not conforming to your own. You seem to dislike the idea of 18+ sets, but you also do like them. You keep redefining the poll... 

What was the goal of this thread? 

To create interesting discussions among other people.

[JintaiZ]

On ‎9‎/‎16‎/‎2020 at 5:46 AM, Peppermint_M said:

You made this thread because?

So far there is no gathering of opinions: you argue against any that are not conforming to your own. You seem to dislike the idea of 18+ sets, but you also do like them. You keep redefining the poll... 

What was the goal of this thread? 

Also, I forgot to mention that the poll gathers opinions. 39 members has kindly voted :)

[JintaiZ]

Special thanks to all that have voted!

[Vindicare]

I wonder what’s up with the hit or miss with the black backgrounds with these sets. It seems like it’s nothing new, if you’re a fan of Architecture, but it’s new to me, having just the Elf Clubhouse & Ecto-1. Speaking of just the 18+ sets, I saw the Crocodile Locomotive has it as well, but the Haunted House & NES doesn’t. I haven’t taken a look at other sets though. Just interesting.

[Lyichir]

2 hours ago, Vindicare said:

I wonder what’s up with the hit or miss with the black backgrounds with these sets. It seems like it’s nothing new, if you’re a fan of Architecture, but it’s new to me, having just the Elf Clubhouse & Ecto-1. Speaking of just the 18+ sets, I saw the Crocodile Locomotive has it as well, but the Haunted House & NES doesn’t. I haven’t taken a look at other sets though. Just interesting.

What do you mean? The sets you mention all have black backdrops on the boxes. Some of them subtly accent it—for instance, the Haunted House has a spooky glow around it and the Elf Club House has snowflakes falling, but all in all it tends to be pretty consistent.

If you're asking why they opted for that, the standardized boxart was apparently to help adult buyers recognize which sets were "for them", since previously the boxart for things like UCS Star Wars, Creator Expert, and various other adult-focused sets were all quite different. I'm not totally in favor of it since the boxart for some such sets in the past (such as the UCS Sandcrawler) was drop-dead gorgeous, while these feel like much more sterile product showcases. But then again I've seen countless AFOLs complain this year about boxart like the Hidden Side or Ninjago sets for this summer being "too busy" and "hard to make out" so I suppose there's no pleasing everyone. I will say that Lego's approach here is not entirely unlike what Hasbro does for its "Star Wars The Black Series" and "Marvel Legends" lines of higher-end action figures, and that strategy has apparently worked for them..
 

[Vindicare]

39 minutes ago, Lyichir said:

What do you mean? The sets you mention all have black backdrops on the boxes. Some of them subtly accent it—for instance, the Haunted House has a spooky glow around it and the Elf Club House has snowflakes falling, but all in all it tends to be pretty consistent.

If you're asking why they opted for that, the standardized boxart was apparently to help adult buyers recognize which sets were "for them", since previously the boxart for things like UCS Star Wars, Creator Expert, and various other adult-focused sets were all quite different. I'm not totally in favor of it since the boxart for some such sets in the past (such as the UCS Sandcrawler) was drop-dead gorgeous, while these feel like much more sterile product showcases. But then again I've seen countless AFOLs complain this year about boxart like the Hidden Side or Ninjago sets for this summer being "too busy" and "hard to make out" so I suppose there's no pleasing everyone. I will say that Lego's approach here is not entirely unlike what Hasbro does for its "Star Wars The Black Series" and "Marvel Legends" lines of higher-end action figures, and that strategy has apparently worked for them..
 

D’oh...forgot to specify the instructions.  Having them all be one or the other makes sense, but some & not others seems strange. 

As to the boxes though, I don’t mind them. I don’t keep boxes either, so that sways me a bit. Of course I enjoy looking at the box art, but once I give it a few looks I’m done with it. I did think the HS was a bit...muddy...when comparing it to other LEGO boxes. It didn’t really work for me. I haven’t given much a look at the Ninjago ones besides some glimpses & they look fine. 

The black boxes seem appropriate to me for an adult targeted toy. As your examples show & some other high end action figures have similar boxes. 

Edited September 30, 2020 by Vindicare

[MAB]

I like the black background instructions, they make the colours pop more than on a wishy-washy blue. And it makes the adult feel progress throughout the set, from box to booklet.

[Lego David]

I really do not like those black box-arts. In my opinion, having a nice looking box art is what makes a product appealing on a shelf, and those new black "adult" box arts look just lame and lazy. I really hope this trend will end sooner rather than later. 

[JintaiZ]

7 hours ago, Lego David said:

I really do not like those black box-arts. In my opinion, having a nice looking box art is what makes a product appealing on a shelf, and those new black "adult" box arts look just lame and lazy. I really hope this trend will end sooner rather than later. 

But hey, it adds a premium feel and adults probably won't care about boxes anyways.

[Wesley D]

As there have been numerous examples of nicely designed backgrounds for LEGO sets, I'm not a fan of the black boxes. I can appreciate the last one 10275 Elf Club House as it still looks a bit joyfull with the minifigures and builds on a winter night northpole setting, but I've held 10277 Crocodile Locomotive in my hands and I thought it felt plain dead.

[JintaiZ]

8 hours ago, Wesley D said:

As there have been numerous examples of nicely designed backgrounds for LEGO sets, I'm not a fan of the black boxes. I can appreciate the last one 10275 Elf Club House as it still looks a bit joyfull with the minifigures and builds on a winter night northpole setting, but I've held 10277 Crocodile Locomotive in my hands and I thought it felt plain dead.

Right. For somewhat reason black/brown doesn't blend well together...

[Wesley D]

If anything, the continuous spawning of big sets has made me more selective.

I don't feel that bad anymore about missing out on a set. It has become impossible, or rather irresponsible, to go for everything that catches my attention.

Furthermore the fast rate the sets are coming at feeds the expectation that sooner or later there will come sets that will be more advanced, better or appeal to me even more.

[JintaiZ]

On 10/2/2020 at 2:01 PM, Wesley D said:

If anything, the continuous spawning of big sets has made me more selective.

I don't feel that bad anymore about missing out on a set. It has become impossible, or rather irresponsible, to go for everything that catches my attention.

Furthermore the fast rate the sets are coming at feeds the expectation that sooner or later there will come sets that will be more advanced, better or appeal to me even more.

I feel like TLG just people to buy their products... I understand completely that many people is trying to buy all sets that catches their attention...

Well, I only have 74 sets, but many of them are huge ones...

[caiman0637]

On 9/6/2020 at 10:35 PM, jxu said:

The distinction is silly. Any set an 18 year old could build, a 16 year old could build (especially the small one, Bespin Duel). Plus the naming of 18+ makes it sound like some kind of sexually explicit or violent set only for "adults". 

Anyhow more big complex builds is always welcomed by me. (The mosaics don't count.)

I like the idea of R-rated LEGO sets. :D