Unpopular Opinions about LEGO

[Alexandrina]

39 minutes ago, Yperio_Bricks said:

Also the desirable figues should be produced in greater numbers than the rest

Not everyone sees the same figures as desirable though. Take this last series as an example, as you've mentioned it: I personally couldn't care less about an orc, it's not a figure that interests me; on the other hand, the pompadour woman, on the other hand, appealed to me immensely. That's counter to your comment. The mistake would be to assume that any one person's wanted figures are guaranteed to be the wanted figures.

[Yperio_Bricks]

21 minutes ago, Alexandrina said:

Not everyone sees the same figures as desirable though. Take this last series as an example, as you've mentioned it: I personally couldn't care less about an orc, it's not a figure that interests me; on the other hand, the pompadour woman, on the other hand, appealed to me immensely. That's counter to your comment. The mistake would be to assume that any one person's wanted figures are guaranteed to be the wanted figures.

I also don't care about the Orc, neither do i care much about the Falconer. I have none of these. It was just my observation from various forums, discord channels, Youtube, etc. that the aformentioned minifigures are the most desirable and people do armybuild with them. I don't think anyone will build an army of 100 pompadour woman or newspaper boys. (The newspaper boy is my favorite minifigure from that series.)

Edited March 1, 2023 by Yperio_Bricks
typo

[MAB]

2 hours ago, Yperio_Bricks said:

But it is already known long before release which figures will be the interesting ones that everyone wants to armybuild and/or put into mocs. And these are the "history" minifigures like the Falconer and Orc or the "nostalgia" minifigures like the astronaut.

It is not always those ones, although it has become easier to spot the ones that will be popular. Series 10, the bumblebee was incredibly popular. Whereas S4 viking and S5 dwarf were not so popular at the time. In one of the minifigure guide books, LEGO said they were often surprised by which ones became popular and found it hard to predict.

 

Uneven distributions in a box seem a good idea, if they get the popular ones correct. But if they don't, then they get complaints that there are too many of a particular character.

2 hours ago, Yperio_Bricks said:

So there is no need for blindbags when it is clear to everyone what will happen after release.

I would say the opposite. If they know that a couple of figures will be much more popular than others, then putting them in blind boxes (that cannot be felt) is the best way to distribute them. It gives everyone a fair and random chance of getting one. Whereas if they were labelled then many of them would not even reach the shop floor if a store employee knows they can make an extra $10 per figure they buy, or a reseller goes in every day and removes all the popular ones.

[LegendaryArticuno]

Lego Minifigs should not be valued at $4-5 when talking about internal set budget allocations.

I see Jang do this quite often... it actually costs Lego pennies to manufacture minifigs at scale. 

[BrickG]

The fact that you or others can actively be disappointed by their blind bag of randomness purchase is dumb.

I just think it's mildly unethical (key word: "mildly" and I won't compare selling blind bags to anything ridiculous and truly unethical). It's simply to sell more product. A bit of fun can be had (I've had a party or two where we got a pile of them and would have a contest to see who guesses the most right) buuuut I think it just crosses a mild line. Especially if you consider people without much money and for whatever reason an inability to feel which figure it is.

 

I mean I won't die on this hill. There's 9,999,999,999 things that are more serious in this world. If lootboxes in Blizzard games were problematic (I don't actually agree with that when it comes to Blizzard games since they were FREE and you got them quick and it was only cosmetic) then I don't see how this stuff hasn't been attacked by the governments yet. It's the same kind of stuff but costs money. Random loot. Sometimes disappointment. $$$. I guess LEGO has no crazy "whales" buying $10,000 worth of stuff though.

[MaximillianRebo]

12 hours ago, LegendaryArticuno said:

Lego Minifigs should not be valued at $4-5 when talking about internal set budget allocations.

I see Jang do this quite often... it actually costs Lego pennies to manufacture minifigs at scale. 

You could say that about all Lego pieces though. No one is claiming a 2x4 plate or brick costs 10-15 cents to make when they're talking about PPP. It's all profit margin. As far as 4-5 dollars per fig, I think that's on the high side for a valuation (and I think Jang has said similar in his videos) but it's just his estimate of what TLG thinks they can get away with for whatever method they use to arrive at a final price for each set.

[MAB]

There is also more than the cost of the plastic. There are all the salaries, not just factory staff but also from designers to marketing to customer service, there are infrastructure and machinery costs, energy and storage costs, transportation costs, licensing and other legal costs. Sure, the family earn huge fortunes from their ancestors' investments but there are many unseen costs. When buying a minifig, you are buying more than a few grammes of ABS.

[TeriXeri]

4 hours ago, MAB said:

When buying a minifig, you are buying more than a few grammes of ABS.

Definately, production time / energy / transport cost certainly count likely far more then the raw plastic cost.

In recent years LEGO magazines have increased a few times in short time, from €5 in 2021, to €6 in 2022, and now even a standard 2023 Friends or City magazine is €6,50.

Of course paper cost increasing from shortages also contribute to that overall price jump. (and I wonder if that also delayed LEGO's "Paper Bags")

Edited March 2, 2023 by TeriXeri

[Toastie]

13 hours ago, MAB said:

When buying a minifig, you are buying more than a few grammes of ABS.

As you do with every "manufactured" product in the world - even pumped crude oil flushed into barrels or tankers .

Not my point: When TLG finds enough people to buy their stuff at whatever price tag they come up with - they'll further take that route. It is the most basic concept of running a business, isn't it (the enough bit and price)? They certainly don't want to save the world. Or make everyone happy. 

Best,
Thorsten 

 

[Lyichir]

On 3/1/2023 at 7:45 AM, Yperio_Bricks said:

But it is already known long before release which figures will be the interesting ones that everyone wants to armybuild and/or put into mocs. And these are the "history" minifigures like the Falconer and Orc or the "nostalgia" minifigures like the astronaut. People want more Falconers and Orcs than the rest of the figures combined. So there is no need for blindbags when it is clear to everyone what will happen after release. Also the desirable figues should be produced in greater numbers than the rest

I disagree with this framing and have since the CMFs were new, simply because often the "less popular" figures are often the kinds of curiosities that might never be produced at all if not for the benefits of blind packaging "evening the odds" of getting them. For example, the Crash Test Dummy was generally one of the less popular figures from the first series (since it wasn't something to army build or use to augment other themes). It's also an amazingly unique idea for a figure, and one that hasn't been made before or since in any other theme. And there's been figs like that throughout the theme's lifespan—figs that don't have the army-building potential or mainstream appeal of things like knights and astronauts, but as a result have even MORE individual impact by making something that's never been seen before in Lego and wouldn't necessarily fit into an existing theme, rather than a mere iteration on a concept that's already been explored plenty of times in the past.

That's what you'd stand to lose by eliminating the randomness—if everything was individually labeled those kinds of oddball figures would lose the surprise appeal and there'd be an overall "flattening" effect on the overall variety offered. And to what end? So that figs from already well-represented themes like Castle and Space could be slightly easier for fans to stockpile? Maybe this is my own "unpopular opinion" but I don't feel like that trade-off is worth it.

[LegendaryArticuno]

I think Lego needs to seriously consider sunsetting Harry Potter as a theme. Yes, it's beloved but there's simply no growth in the IP until JK Rowling starts seriously writing again... which is most likely never. Also, imo Lego has taken theme for granted as well, there's not been much innovation in the way of sets.

Personally, I would like to see Lego partner with Riot and build sets around Arcane/Runeterra especially now that their partnership with Blizzard is effectively over.

[hsousa]

On 2/16/2023 at 3:40 PM, ks6349 said:

What's the problem of making multiple posts of the similar comments over the years? Do you just give one comment and never say something similar again in a life time? Yes, I have made multiple posts over the years whenever I wanted to raise the awareness of the issue again.

That plastic boxes ripped open in store and stolen is already a history. Plastic box has gone for many years and it was the time when in-store surveillance wasn't common. It's what I have said before, but you just ignored the key point that you can't argue. Try breaking a lego box in store today, see how fast you can get caught.

Those who speak in favor of today's Lego paper box without visible plastic cover are only the extreme environmentalists who just hate plastic no matter what, no compromise, but they keep driving and burning oil every day, or who just supports everything Lego has done or changed, regardless of the correctness.

Exactly my words, and also similar to my unpopular opinion: LEGO should bring back inlays with flaps in some collector sets and you'll see them flying off the shelves (or LEGO's warehouses) :)

 

Edited March 5, 2023 by hsousa
flaps not flags

[Vindicare]

On 2/22/2023 at 6:57 PM, LegendaryArticuno said:

Why can't we get a licensed theme where mechs actually make sense. Please Lego, Evangelion, Escaflowne, Gundam or even Pacific Rim.

Cheap mechs just screams lowest effort to maximize profit. It's when you don't want to pay your designers to spend the time needed to design something with quality.

After Lloyd & Zane’s Titan Mechs I want a Gundam theme more than ever. And the newest one for Jay screams Evangelion to me. They’re definitely throwing us tidbits...but I would to officially have Gundam, or the other two anime ones you listed. 

Also, the new Monkey King Ultra Mech is the most like a Gundam, complete with MK dressed in a similar fashion to those of G Gundam. 

[MAB]

17 hours ago, LegendaryArticuno said:

I think Lego needs to seriously consider sunsetting Harry Potter as a theme. Yes, it's beloved but there's simply no growth in the IP until JK Rowling starts seriously writing again... which is most likely never. Also, imo Lego has taken theme for granted as well, there's not been much innovation in the way of sets.

Why do they need growth in the IP, when they have continued high volume LEGO sales every year. Star Wars did not get new material for years, but it remained a great seller. 

It could also cause huge problems with future licences if they tell Warner Bros that they no longer want to do Harry Potter. There is still big money in the franchise so Warner would license it with another brand, probably Megabloks / Construx. And once their big franchise has moved to a rival, who are they going to partner with for future movies.

[Vindicare]

18 hours ago, LegendaryArticuno said:

I think Lego needs to seriously consider sunsetting Harry Potter as a theme. Yes, it's beloved but there's simply no growth in the IP until JK Rowling starts seriously writing again... which is most likely never. Also, imo Lego has taken theme for granted as well, there's not been much innovation in the way of sets.

Personally, I would like to see Lego partner with Riot and build sets around Arcane/Runeterra especially now that their partnership with Blizzard is effectively over.

There’s been a ton of innovation in the theme. For starters, the wands. Then all the new minifig parts that help make the minifigs look more like the characters. The new locations we got/are getting. The remakes of sets we’ve seen outshine their predecessors. The new creatures. 

[Killian]

21 hours ago, LegendaryArticuno said:

I think Lego needs to seriously consider sunsetting Harry Potter as a theme. Yes, it's beloved but there's simply no growth in the IP until JK Rowling starts seriously writing again... which is most likely never. Also, imo Lego has taken theme for granted as well, there's not been much innovation in the way of sets.

I wouldn't be surprised if we get Hogwarts Legacy themed sets eventually. It's more popular than Jurassic World: Camp Cretaceous and we got sets for that.

[LegendaryArticuno]

4 hours ago, Killian said:

I wouldn't be surprised if we get Hogwarts Legacy themed sets eventually. It's more popular than Jurassic World: Camp Cretaceous and we got sets for that.

Is Hogwarts Legacy canon? I haven't played it but I've read it wasn't a game with a strong narrative/story... more of Ubisoft style open world game.

7 hours ago, Vindicare said:

There’s been a ton of innovation in the theme. For starters, the wands. Then all the new minifig parts that help make the minifigs look more like the characters. The new locations we got/are getting. The remakes of sets we’ve seen outshine their predecessors. The new creatures. 

Maybe I was a bit harsh on the theme. It's unfair to say there was no innovation, as the wands like you pointed out were a really innovative piece, and they do have some innovative sets like the HP Icons set, movable Hedwig/Phoenix/Horntail sets.

The "modular" style of the castle room sets is a very tired concept but they managed to freshen it up a bit with the newest Room of Requirement set.  

Edited March 6, 2023 by LegendaryArticuno

[FrightFlight]

On 3/4/2023 at 5:56 PM, LegendaryArticuno said:

there's not been much innovation in the way of sets.

While I worry that Harry Potter will end up falling into the trap of other evergreen themes and redoing the same few sets over and over, that hasn't quite happened yet. We're still getting scenes/locations they've not covered yet or haven't covered since 2005.
If anything Lego needs to do something besides Luke's Landspeeder for Star Wars. Aren't there like 100 of those now?

[MAB]

9 hours ago, LegendaryArticuno said:

Is Hogwarts Legacy canon?

I doubt that matters to LEGO.

9 hours ago, LegendaryArticuno said:

The "modular" style of the castle room sets is a very tired concept but they managed to freshen it up a bit with the newest Room of Requirement set.  

It is only tired if you already have all the past sets. These are not adult sets, they are sets aimed at children. The new batch of children that reach the target range each year don't care about sets that were produced two or five or ten years ago. Any new set is fresh to them.

[danth]

8 hours ago, MAB said:

It is only tired if you already have all the past sets. These are not adult sets, they are sets aimed at children. The new batch of children that reach the target range each year don't care about sets that were produced two or five or ten years ago. Any new set is fresh to them.

Kids care about Harry Potter? The last movie was over a decade ago. And don't tell me "kids still read the books", books are not selling Lego sets.

This is my unpopular opinion: It's adults -- by a vast majority-- that buy Marvel, Star Wars, LOTR, and Harry Potter sets. And maybe some teens.

[Murdoch17]

2 hours ago, danth said:

Kids care about Harry Potter? The last movie was over a decade ago. And don't tell me "kids still read the books", books are not selling Lego sets.

This is my unpopular opinion: It's adults -- by a vast majority-- that buy Marvel, Star Wars, LOTR, and Harry Potter sets. And maybe some teens.

What about the prequel film series (Fantastic Beasts)? Who do you think plays Hogwarts Legacy? Kids could also be introduced to the original books / films by their parents, who had read / seen them as kids. (Such as what happens with the Original and Prequel trilogy's of Star Wars, and what will someday happen to the sequel films in another decade-or-less.) Basically, things get handed down from generation to generation, long after the author has stopped writing, jumped the shark, or died.

For another example: how long has it been since "the Adventurers of Tintin" was published in print? (I'll tell you: started in 1929, ended in 1976.) Yet we got a Steven Spielberg movie about it in 2011. Why? Because it became a timeless classic.. same as Star Wars, Harry Potter, and many other things.

Should Harry Potter be a classic? (Probably not.) But is it anyway? (Yes it is!)

Sorry, but it just irks me the wrong way when everyone dogpiles on a theme saying - without fact-based evidence - that it doesn't appeal to kids. And HP isn't alone in this, not by a longshot...

...and that's MY unpopular opinion.

Edited March 6, 2023 by Murdoch17

[danth]

1 hour ago, Murdoch17 said:

What about the prequel film series (Fantastic Beasts)?

Adults.

1 hour ago, Murdoch17 said:

Who do you think plays Hogwarts Legacy?

Adults.

1 hour ago, Murdoch17 said:

Kids could also be introduced to the original books / films by their parents, who had read / seen them as kids. (Such as what happens with the Original and Prequel trilogy's of Star Wars, and what will someday happen to the sequel films in another decade-or-less.)

This is true, I think adult fans definitely try to get their kids into SW/Marvel/etc, but with varying degrees of success. I don't think kids are ever going to like the things their dads push on them (SW, Marvel), as much as they're going to like their own things and the things their friends are doing (Roblox, Minecraft, Fortnite, etc).

1 hour ago, Murdoch17 said:

For another example: how long has it been since "the Adventurers of Tintin" was published in print? (I'll tell you: started in 1929, ended in 1976.) Yet we got a Steven Spielberg movie about it in 2011. Why? Because it became a timeless classic.

Except nobody cares about Tintin.

1 hour ago, Murdoch17 said:

Sorry, but it just irks me the wrong way when everyone dogpiles on a theme saying - without fact-based evidence - that it doesn't appeal to kids.

I feel the same way when people say "these sets are for KIDS", and use that as an excuse to dismiss any legitimate AFOL criticisms of literally any aspect of a set or theme, when I never see kids at the store buying them, but I see a lot of manchildren buying them, and none of my nieces/nephews or their friends care at all about SW, Marvel, Harry Potter, etc. 

Edited March 6, 2023 by danth

[MAB]

5 hours ago, danth said:

Kids care about Harry Potter? The last movie was over a decade ago. And don't tell me "kids still read the books", books are not selling Lego sets.

This is my unpopular opinion: It's adults -- by a vast majority-- that buy Marvel, Star Wars, LOTR, and Harry Potter sets. And maybe some teens.

Kids still watch Harry Potter movies, read the books, go to theme parks, etc and play with HP LEGO. It was World Book Day last week, and here it seems to be more about dressing up than reading books. When dropping my youngest off at school, I think I saw at least six Harry Potters, two Hermiones,  a Dumbledore, a Ron and a Voldemort.

 

[icm]

1 hour ago, danth said:

Except nobody cares about Tintin.

I was such a big Tintin fan when I was a kid, 20 years ago. I had half the Tintin comics and read them over and over, and I would have killed for a complete line of Tintin Lego. 

That was twenty years ago, but no adults were pushing Tintin on me. I just found a couple of old Tintin comics in my sister's bedroom, then I found Tintin compilations at the library, then I begged my parents for the Tintin compilations at the bookstore (which were pretty prominently placed on the comics shelves) - 

But yeah, Tintin is definitely not an A-list IP right now such that Lego would have any interest in picking it up.

[LegendaryArticuno]

Lego needs to move their design HQ to Korea.

 

Edited March 7, 2023 by LegendaryArticuno