The Origin of Junior ization

[SpacePolice89]

I believe junior ization was a major reason alongside product diversification for the financial troubles in the late 90s and early 00s. While other decisions like allowing licensed themes have been thoroughly documented and discussed there is very little information available about why they dumbed down especially Town sets around 1997. The sets before that used to be great and every kid in my town loved them. When junior ization started many kids lost interest in the Town theme. Why did they start junior ization? Was it to sell more sets to younger kids? The age recommendation for Town used to be 6-12 with some sets even being 8+ or 9+. Junior ized Town was 5-10 with catalogs even mentioning simplified sets for five year olds as the target audience. Any information about the subject is very appreciated.

Edited August 22, 2024 by SpacePolice89

[Lyichir]

Don't have specific sources handy right now (IIRC "Brick by Brick" is generally a good resource on this period and phenomenon), but part of it came from the misconception that kids' attention spans on a general level were decreasing. This was "evidenced", in part, by the rise of video games as a hobby for kids. Later reassessment (when Lego sought to right the ship after their brush with bankruptcy) found that this connection they drew was exactly backward, and that part of what kids were enjoying about video games was the feeling of mastering a challenge.

[SpacePolice89]

12 hours ago, Lyichir said:

Don't have specific sources handy right now (IIRC "Brick by Brick" is generally a good resource on this period and phenomenon), but part of it came from the misconception that kids' attention spans on a general level were decreasing. This was "evidenced", in part, by the rise of video games as a hobby for kids. Later reassessment (when Lego sought to right the ship after their brush with bankruptcy) found that this connection they drew was exactly backward, and that part of what kids were enjoying about video games was the feeling of mastering a challenge.

Thanks for the information and insight. It's interesting to see how they gradually repaired the damage caused by junior ization by introducing World City and then City. I only regained interest in new retail sets when they released the World City Trains.

[JesseNight]

I just remember from childhood LEGO experiences (late 80s and early 90s) that catalogs had an age range set for all ages.
There was Duplo for the youngest, Fabuland a bit up, then the biggest range of LEGO containing various themes (Town, Space, Castles, Pirates, and new ones following), then Technic beginners sets, then Technic advanced sets.
I do not know what exactly is referred to, but I think with even larger sets aiming at AFOL nowadays they even expanded on that age range.

As for licensed themes and dumbing down... I think those may just be commercial interesting choices to make more money and cut costs. Something that every business would do. Although I'm not happy with the "unicorn" vomit over some beautiful AFOL aimed scale sets, but that's something that's been discussed many times over.
Some say it's necessary because of the complexity of larger models. I tend to disagree and be fine with complex model MOCs with that remove the crazy colors all over and often have more limited instructions on top of it. Again, business decision would be to go with what sells more.