CUUSOO just got sack

[Boxerlego]

Well the people at Purdue university just got there mascot PurduePete the 10,000 votes required in 36 hours. What do you think about it? Is it fair for some one with the backing of an entire school to do this when the average Lego builder works out their house.

[Hobbestimus]

I don't see why it wouldn't be fair.

It's not like the entire student body voted in some original spaceship model they'd never actually buy at retail or something. Cuusoo support is about showing Lego there's a market for the item. If you make an item with a massive fanbase, then hooray for you, right?

[Boxerlego]

I don't see why it wouldn't be fair.

It's not like the entire student body voted in some original spaceship model they'd never actually buy at retail or something. Cuusoo support is about showing Lego there's a market for the item. If you make an item with a massive fanbase, then hooray for you, right?

I wonder if it was the fanbase of Lego that made this happen.

[shadowhearth]

Maybe it got 10k votes, but I will eat my hat if it will win.

Set has to be universal and be theme which could be close to international buyer. One schools mascot maybe is important for particular school, but it means jack ****, to someone on the other side of the ocean, or even someone in the same country.

[skppo]

I think this is the wrong section.

Anyways, lego won't produce it if it won't sell. This has no market outside one school so...

[BCanilho]

I agree with Shadowheart and Skppo, although it went to the 10K goal, due to a big fan school base, i don´t believe that everyone that voted will buy the set...

About huge fan groups, that were able to put their sets in production, you have the example of Minecraft that was heavily suported by the Minecraft game fans but in that case probably TLG though that the fans would buy the set!

Edited January 2, 2013 by BCanilho

[skppo]

I agree with Shadowheart and Skppo, although it went to the 10K goal, due to a big fan school base, i don´t believe that everyone that voted will buy the set...

About huge fan groups, that were able to put their sets in production, you have the example of Minecraft that was heavily suported by the Minecraft game fans but in that case probably TLG though that the fans would buy the set!

Yeah, nearly 9 million copies of minecraft has been sold on PC/Mac alone.

I doubt the school has that many students

[timslegos]

The only problem I see with this is that I am guessing that at least half the population of the votes was from people who don't actually like Legos. TLG probably wont sell the set anyway so it wont matter.

tim

[CorneliusMurdock]

Since this has nothing to do with technic, I've moved it.

[Faefrost]

I agree with Shadowheart and Skppo, although it went to the 10K goal, due to a big fan school base, i don´t believe that everyone that voted will buy the set...

About huge fan groups, that were able to put their sets in production, you have the example of Minecraft that was heavily suported by the Minecraft game fans but in that case probably TLG though that the fans would buy the set!

Actually I am betting that this set would have a higher buy through than most. As in most of the people that voted would in fact buy the set. The problem is that no one else would. It's a very fixed focused niche product. They could easily move 10k units through the school itself. But that's the only place they could. Would it be worthwhile for Lego to make small run custom niche products like this? While I don't think it would lose money, it might not be the best use of resources. (And would probably rapidily devolve into a horrendous mission creep as every school or sports team wants one.)

Of course if they are in fact picking only one project per review period, then I think Space Troopers probably has the edge, having broad based appeal and some incredible design work.

[Hrw-Amen]

Perhaps a generic mascot figure with bits to make or even printed tiles or stickers of the most famous schools or colleagues / Uni's would sell better as it could relate to a wider fan base from numerous outlets?

[Vindicare]

It's just as fair as the Minecraft and BttF community voting those into contention too. I wouldn't just limit it to students of Purdue. I'm sure for as many students who would buy it, just as many alumni would and die hard fans. If it were a school I followed, I would buy it.

[RunnersDad]

I like the idea of building a school's mascot out of lego. It obviously wouldn't have to be specific to Purdue as Lego could subsequently manufacture sets for any school that wanted to participate. I would buy a set or 2 from my favorite college teams.

[Mr Copperhead]

Well, actually LEGO could start selling licensed mascots. The sets wouldn't use any unusual bricks and LEGO wouldn't have to change the sets for years. Each big school has a huge and constantly growning fan base when you take in alumni, new students, parents, fans, etc. Everyone loves LEGO, even those who don't buy it normally, but when you throw in a passion like sports or school spirit you give them a reason to buy, and for an inflated price.

On top of that there are companies that fulfill large retailers' online sports shops that carry everything in large quantities. Plus wholesalers of this stuff for all the mom and pop fan shops out there.

[ShaydDeGrai]

Well, actually LEGO could start selling licensed mascots. The sets wouldn't use any unusual bricks and LEGO wouldn't have to change the sets for years. Each big school has a huge and constantly growning fan base when you take in alumni, new students, parents, fans, etc. Everyone loves LEGO, even those who don't buy it normally, but when you throw in a passion like sports or school spirit you give them a reason to buy, and for an inflated price.

On top of that there are companies that fulfill large retailers' online sports shops that carry everything in large quantities. Plus wholesalers of this stuff for all the mom and pop fan shops out there.

As a business model, it probably makes more sense to let the colleges assume the risk. Rather than license the mascots from the schools, invest time, materials and energy into making the kits and trying to match the right mascot to the right alumni, it would be better to offer a "mascot service" where TLG makes a one-time production run and bulk sale directly to the university to do with as they please. Alumni relations and Development offices could then resell the kits at some outrageous "charitable fund raising" price point at sporting events or give them away at reunions or other events where they want to endear themselves to alumni just before passing the proverbial hat, or even just sell them at the campus bookstore. Unlike a regular LEGO kit where TLG has to worry about shelf space and when to retire a kit. Universities could sit on unclaimed kits for decades with little ill effect (the school I used to work at had an entire warehouse full of "branded" merchandise that the school used to dust off twice a year, Homecoming and Alumni Weekend, in an effort to separate alumni from their money wherever they could.

While I think putting something like Purdue Pete on the shelves at Toys R Us next to The Hobbit is just plain silly, I could certainly see Purdue University buying 10,000 kits and selling them at campus events, or MIT offering the official Mans et Manus edition LEGO Beaver at the bookstore and in the gift shop of the MIT Museum, etc. For TLG, the sale is guaranteed by the terms of the contract, they don't need to market, returns aren't their problem, and if the kits sit around gathering dust for a decade, they're not out anything. For the universities, it's a one time expense and if they don't sell, they can always give them away as promotions to big donors, gag gifts, and parts of honorariums. They write the cost off as a development expense (10,000 Lego kits wholesale is probably less than what many of these places are already spending on Wine, Cheese and Party Rentals for alumni functions anyway).

[tedbeard]

What a tease. When I read the title of this thread I assumed "sack" was being used in the Euro-English sense of "fired".

This will be another interesting test for this whole project. Nowhere does it say that you can only submit model ideas that will sell X number of units. It says you must get 10,000 supporters.

To use a sports metaphor: they keep moving the goalposts when someone they do not like scores a goal.

[Aanchir]

What a tease. When I read the title of this thread I assumed "sack" was being used in the Euro-English sense of "fired".

This will be another interesting test for this whole project. Nowhere does it say that you can only submit model ideas that will sell X number of units. It says you must get 10,000 supporters.

To use a sports metaphor: they keep moving the goalposts when someone they do not like scores a goal.

That's the reason Cuusoo is in beta. It's still an experiment in crowdsourcing, not a promise to produce whatever gets submitted and meets all the currently-in-place requirements (which are themselves fairly nebulous). Thus projects like Purdue Pete will test the currently-in-place requirements and determine what changes have to be made. And in the meantime, it's simply unreasonable to assume that TLG should put projects into production that can't stand on their own two legs as a business case just because their service's terms weren't totally clear.

It's not as though TLG hasn't covered their bases. They have made no promises or guarantees that projects that reach 10,000 and meet the requirements made known to the public will become sets. They have just offered this as a platform through which certain ideas CAN become sets, if it turns out that they are a feasible business case that doesn't conflict with TLG's brand image.