Robert8

HIDDEN SIDE - 2019

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Have we heard anything about animated shorts or a TV special or anything?

EDIT: Nevermind, went online and found these;

 

Edited by Feng-huang0296

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5 hours ago, Feng-huang0296 said:

Have we heard anything about animated shorts or a TV special or anything?

EDIT: Nevermind, went online and found these;

 

Well this definitely makes the theme much more sppealing and interesting.

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I went to a local store yesterday and the Hidden Side sets were advertised as "Seen on TV". Is there any Hidden Side commercial that aired on TV that I don't know of?

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So it looks like one of the orange ghosts leaked on Instagram. Looks like its still a possessed figure, but he's a lot more ghostly looking than the ghosts in the current wave. So far I'm a fan.

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7 hours ago, shadefoundry said:

So it looks like one of the orange ghosts leaked on Instagram. Looks like its still a possessed figure, but he's a lot more ghostly looking than the ghosts in the current wave. So far I'm a fan.

I agree.  Looks really good.  I like the fact that they seem to be expanding the look of the ghosts in the next wave.  Hopefully the new sets will have more ghostly parts and figs to them.  I really like this theme so far.  

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I went today to a local toy store and asked an employee about how well the Hidden Side sets have sold, and the answer was that they have sold well. That may be only in my area, but I don't think that the rumor of Hidden Side failing is real.

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6 minutes ago, Lego David said:

I went today to a local toy store and asked an employee about how well the Hidden Side sets have sold, and the answer was that they have sold well. That may be only in my area, but I don't think that the rumor of Hidden Side failing is real.

I don't see why it wouldn't sell. 

Edited by pooda

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2 minutes ago, pooda said:

I don't see why it wouldn't sell. 

There has been the rumor floating around that the theme is failing, but there isn't a whole lot that suggests that.

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I’ve seen occasional reports of deep clearance, but as a U.S. consumer I’ve seen scarcely any such clearances myself (outside the 10–20% discounts on sites like Amazon that are fairly common for a wide variety of themes).

So if anything, I sort of wonder if the sets might be selling more poorly in non-American regions. Especially considering America has a more robust and ingrained Halloween tradition than Europe, which could be driving sales more here at this time of year.

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That could be a factor, but I know for sure that the line isn't performing as Lego expected in my area (Germany/Holland/Belgium) according to my well informed sources. Not that it's selling as bad as TLM2 sets (those are shelve warmers all around the world), but they could do better. It could be a demographic thing like Lyichir says or maybe the box art isn't as appealing as others. 

In the Netherlands and Belgium the lab, boat and graveyard sets are already on 60% (!) sale plus all the other sets are 33-45% off and while a sale isn't that uncommon, most of the times it's 15-25% discount on RRP. It's also a promotion funded by Lego themselves, which means that Lego covers the difference of the discount, which hasn't happend since 2017 and at that time it was because they were clearing out retired sets. Even Nexo Knights didn't have these types of discounts.

So I'm not sure what to think of this. They're obviously not selling well, but IMO the quality of the sets is there. I'm curious to see if they continue the 2019 box art with the 2020 sets or that they use regular box art. I don't know if that helps anything, but that's one thing that's different when comparing them to the usual Lego sets. 

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12 hours ago, Hoth Rebel said:

So I'm not sure what to think of this. They're obviously not selling well, but IMO the quality of the sets is there. I'm curious to see if they continue the 2019 box art with the 2020 sets or that they use regular box art. I don't know if that helps anything, but that's one thing that's different when comparing them to the usual Lego sets. 

Must be the box art. The product can hardly be recognized from the front of the box and for the general public it is even harder to tell the sets of the line apart on a glance. 

It just so happened that my mom (a non-FOL) was browsing through the product images online and she was like "Oh, these are all beautiful sets!", but then was unable to identify the sets she had just seen in the set of box art images. That's a problem.

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18 hours ago, Lyichir said:

So if anything, I sort of wonder if the sets might be selling more poorly in non-American regions. Especially considering America has a more robust and ingrained Halloween tradition than Europe, which could be driving sales more here at this time of year.

I don't think Hidden Side's sales have anything to do with the Halloween season or anything, since LEGO hasn't marketed it as a Halloween theme.

 

18 hours ago, pooda said:

Oops. I keep forgetting that Lego is international and not just relegated to the US. 

LEGO isn't even an American company lol.

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3 minutes ago, Lego David said:

I don't think Hidden Side's sales have anything to do with the Halloween season or anything, since LEGO hasn't marketed it as a Halloween theme.

 

LEGO isn't even an American company lol.

They do in Australia; even the official LEGO Store here in Melbourne reportedly has them at a 10% off discount. (I mean ordinary retailer sales are still better, but they’re trying.) I don’t need to tell anyone how rare discounts at Shop@Home or official LEGO stores are. If these promotions are being run by LEGO, it could be related.

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So far the 2019 sets just haven't grabbed me, despite high discounts.

While I was hyped initially, I haven't gotten any sets or magazines yet, and I might skip the theme entirely.

Doesn't mean the theme is bad, it's just that it's not 100% my thing after a long look at it.

I realize a lot of those sets certainly can be adapted for regular City/Creator styles, but right now I'm in a period of awaiting 2020 pictures and such , both Hidden Side and other themes.

Edited by TeriXeri

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The main reason for the heavy discounts should be that the app is up to now a complete failure. It doesn´t run on average smartphones children use (the percentage of children with flagship smartphones is really small, I guess.) and for grown ups the contend is too lame in my opinion.

The sets are really well done, great design, great minifigs and high playability. I like HS a lot.  But the app is an issue and the main critisism regarding to the people I talked to.    

Edited by Laddie

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8 minutes ago, Laddie said:

The main reason for the heavy discounts should be that the app is up to know a complete failure. It doesn´t run on average smartphones children use (the percentage of children with flagship smartphones is really small, I guess.) and for grown ups the contend is too lame in my opinion.

The sets are really well done, great design, great minifigs and high playability. I like HS a lot.  But the app is an issue and the main critisism regarding to the people I talked to.    

The moment the theme launched and the App didn't work (won't show up on app store if not compatible) on my fairly recent 2018 phone, that was also a part of the reason for losing some interest for me.

Edited by TeriXeri

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20 hours ago, pooda said:

Oops. I keep forgetting that Lego is international and not just relegated to the US

And you are writing this on a place called EURObricks...:pir-sweet:

Unfortunately, here in Denmark the discounts on HS is far from the ones @Hoth Rebel experiences in the Netherlands; best discount is 30% on the High School, and thats from a web-seller specialising in discounts.

But I agree, that the box-art is NOT a selling point!

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I can say that I am way more hyped for a few HS sets from the 2020 leaks than I am for 2019. The animated shorts I've seen are better than the sets. From poor box art design to there being a lot of things that don't make any sense (like the photo lab set) without having the app to fully understand it. I thought it was another Frankenstein set and realized it's a monster invading a ghost lab with 3D printing.

Add to the fact these kids (the minifig kids) use their phones to zap ghosts in the real world... it's way too Pokemon Go for me.

It's trying to be some kind of mashup of Stranger Things / Ghostbusters with a high school theme, not quite like Monster High but close. It doesn't do the trick.

For the 2020 sets to work, they must be fully independent of the app. I mean they can include the interaction sticker but don't add things to the set (like the entire back of the ghost lab) that have no explanation to someone just looking at the set.

That's why I really love the juice bar set. It stands alone great. You can leave it as a juice bar... and anyone knows it's at least a food booth. You can turn it into its haunted/spooky self... and to the lay person it looks possessed.

But the "Ghost Lab?" Is it supposed to be a room for the high school because that'll be about the only thing that made sense for it.

The graveyard doesn't even look like a graveyard. I still have the Zombies set from MF and the original Graveyard Duel from Harry Potter - those are graveyards. That is just a joke.

The high school is crammed with too much in such little space. I know it's to save money but holy cow, give me some Leo bricks with my Lego accessories.

The school bus... too bulky although I'm aware it's used to hunt ghosts.

The diner looks like a shrimp shack I ran into on the north shore of Hawaii. Not someplace you really want to stop at.

These are just a few examples of how the first wave fails.

The second wave, with finally mixing a circus theme with horror, shows promise.

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19 hours ago, kelceycoe said:

The diner looks like a shrimp shack I ran into on the north shore of Hawaii. Not someplace you really want to stop at.

These are just a few examples of how the first wave fails.

I think you’re slightly missing the point of HS locations :wink:  

Personally, I agree the app is not up to scratch, surprising given it’s the same team as the excellent NK app. I guess the AR focus is the reason for that, but it needs a serious update regardless. The compatibility/latest hardware issue is another barrier as a result of the AR. At the very least, they need to make the next wave of physical bricks themselves a lot more playable, as standalone sets, rather than relying on the app to bring to life (pun intended :laugh:).
 

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19 hours ago, Lucarex said:

At the very least, they need to make the next wave of physical bricks themselves a lot more playable, as standalone sets, rather than relying on the app to bring to life (pun intended :laugh:).

 

I've said that already... in one of the HS posts. As well as other fans.

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Just a heads-up regarding the HS magazine: the current one comes with a nice pizza delivery guy/ghost.

The next issue (out early December) has Parker, with smartphone and laptop.

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16 hours ago, Darnok said:

Just a heads-up regarding the HS magazine: the current one comes with a nice pizza delivery guy/ghost.

The next issue (out early December) has Parker, with smartphone and laptop.

Where did you find it? Supposed to be out today but nowhere near me has it yet. Can you post cover? Thanks

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