PRESS RELEASE: 10276 – LEGO® Colosseum

[Captain Nemo]

I’m closing this thread, as clearly the original point of this thread has concluded and the “discussion” now is entirely off topic.

 

[Clone OPatra]

The dust has settled so hopefully people can carry on a measured discussion about the Colosseum set, like the majority were doing.

[MAB]

On 11/17/2020 at 6:39 PM, Erik Leppen said:

I can very much understand the idea of a "colosseum set". If it were about 32x32 studs, around 1500 parts, it would have been an interesting display model that is also an interesting Lego design. At the current scale, there doesn't seem to be much intelligent design in it, because it's so huge that even adding detail becomes trivial. It comes across to me as being just big for the sake of being "the biggest set ever" (again - a marketing trick I have grown tired of by now) and tries way too hard to be a realistic depiction, instead of a model that resembles the real thing.

I don't mind big models per se - I'm not a fan of Star Wars but I can really appreciate the huge millennium falcon because at that had interesting design that the smaller versions didn't offer, it had an interior that was cool, and the internal structure was mechanically interesting. I feel that this colosseum could have been half the size without losing recognizability and detailing (but would have been 80% cheaper and take up less space).

I agree here. Half the length, width and height. It would still be recognizable for what it is meant to be. It wouldn't be an accurate scale model but then neither is this one. But it would be more displayable, more affordable. Just without the biggest ever tag.

 

[Lyichir]

4 hours ago, MAB said:

I agree here. Half the length, width and height. It would still be recognizable for what it is meant to be. It wouldn't be an accurate scale model but then neither is this one. But it would be more displayable, more affordable. Just without the biggest ever tag.

 

I disagree. Part of the issue with making a smaller model of the Colosseum is that the detail is so fine—the structure, composed of a large number of arches and narrow columns, can only be reduced in size so much before you start to lose the detail that makes it recognizable.

As it is I doubt you could effectively reduce the size of this set much more before you lose the fidelity of features like the three types of columns, among other key elements of the design.

That's not to say there couldn't potentially be a smaller, more compromised version of this, but then again, this doesn't prevent such a thing either. Lego has created smaller versions of Big Ben and the Sydney Opera House in the Architecture theme, after all. There's no reason to assume this will be the last and only Colosseum set Lego will ever make.

[JintaiZ]

4 hours ago, MAB said:

I agree here. Half the length, width and height. It would still be recognizable for what it is meant to be. It wouldn't be an accurate scale model but then neither is this one. But it would be more displayable, more affordable. Just without the biggest ever tag.

 

Well... all I can say is that I heard a lot of complaints saying Sydney Opera House and the smaller version of Big Ben are a missed opportunity due to the scale. Perhaps TLG learned a lesson here...

[Lucarex]

9 hours ago, JintaiZ said:

Well... all I can say is that I heard a lot of complaints saying Sydney Opera House and the smaller version of Big Ben are a missed opportunity due to the scale. Perhaps TLG learned a lesson here...

I’d say it’s more likely they’ll learn another lesson here. A painful commercial one. The huge Falcon sold like hot cakes because it’s an iconic vehicle from an insanely popular licensed theme.

At this size and price, who exactly is this aimed at? The Colosseum should have always just been an Architecture set at less than a quarter the size and cost. 

[JintaiZ]

10 minutes ago, Lucarex said:

I’d say it’s more likely they’ll learn another lesson here. A painful commercial one. The huge Falcon sold like hot cakes because it’s an iconic vehicle from an insanely popular licensed theme.

At this size and price, who exactly is this aimed at? The Colosseum should have always just been an Architecture set at less than a quarter the size and cost. 

It's most likely targeted at owners of the previous landmark buildings...

[Alamai]

5 hours ago, Lucarex said:

I’d say it’s more likely they’ll learn another lesson here. A painful commercial one. The huge Falcon sold like hot cakes because it’s an iconic vehicle from an insanely popular licensed theme.

At this size and price, who exactly is this aimed at? The Colosseum should have always just been an Architecture set at less than a quarter the size and cost. 

i think the falcon sold like hot cakes mainly because of all the investors. the old UCS falcon got a pretty big pricetag on the secondary market over time (the reason for this is a different topic. maybe this didnt sold well in the first place and there arent simply enough in the market?) and this made big news. it was even in big newspapers and television shows, that is is so expensive. so when the second version came out, many people who never had anything to do with adult Lego jumped in and bought one or more of them, simply for investing. i know some of those people. 

the collosseum here is different. there is no such hype about it. from an investors standpoint, there are no rare and expensive pieces, no minifigs, no big license or anything. and lego could rerelease it later like they allready did with many big sets, taj mahal, UCS falcon, Star destroyer, and so on. The secondary investors market gets killed more and more by lego (if this is good or bad is a completly different topic) but this may affect the sales of the collosseum big time.

so, besides form the investors, who else buys this? this is definitly no set for a kids play room, i think we can all agree on that. so only hardcore AFOL´s who have the spare money AND the place to display it. there are a lot of those out there, at least compared to like 20 years ago, but i think its still not simply enough to make this a successful set.

but big Brands like Lego need something like this Set once in a while. its called a "halo-product". Its a Set for marketing purposes, to look good in the Lego store. Its the same like for example in the car industrie. Ford, a brand known for cheap everyday cars who sell millions of cars, doesnt realy need a supercar like the Ford GT in their Portfolio, and still they make it. yes, there are some enthusiasts who buy it, but this car is mainly to keep the brand shiny and exciting, so that more people speak about it. Its a "halo"-car. so the colloseum is a "halo"-set. and i think it works. i have seen it in the media all over the place. people who arent even interessted in lego mention it to me "hey, you are this lego guy, i heard about the new collosseum, pretty cool, huh?". this is marketing nowadays =)

I think lego will definitly make a smaller version of the collosseum in the future. and with the good designers they have nowadays, it will still look fantastic =)

just my 2 cents

[howitzer]

1 hour ago, Alamai said:

i think the falcon sold like hot cakes mainly because of all the investors. the old UCS falcon got a pretty big pricetag on the secondary market over time (the reason for this is a different topic. maybe this didnt sold well in the first place and there arent simply enough in the market?) and this made big news. it was even in big newspapers and television shows, that is is so expensive. so when the second version came out, many people who never had anything to do with adult Lego jumped in and bought one or more of them, simply for investing. i know some of those people. 

the collosseum here is different. there is no such hype about it. from an investors standpoint, there are no rare and expensive pieces, no minifigs, no big license or anything. and lego could rerelease it later like they allready did with many big sets, taj mahal, UCS falcon, Star destroyer, and so on. The secondary investors market gets killed more and more by lego (if this is good or bad is a completly different topic) but this may affect the sales of the collosseum big time.

so, besides form the investors, who else buys this? this is definitly no set for a kids play room, i think we can all agree on that. so only hardcore AFOL´s who have the spare money AND the place to display it. there are a lot of those out there, at least compared to like 20 years ago, but i think its still not simply enough to make this a successful set.

but big Brands like Lego need something like this Set once in a while. its called a "halo-product". Its a Set for marketing purposes, to look good in the Lego store. Its the same like for example in the car industrie. Ford, a brand known for cheap everyday cars who sell millions of cars, doesnt realy need a supercar like the Ford GT in their Portfolio, and still they make it. yes, there are some enthusiasts who buy it, but this car is mainly to keep the brand shiny and exciting, so that more people speak about it. Its a "halo"-car. so the colloseum is a "halo"-set. and i think it works. i have seen it in the media all over the place. people who arent even interessted in lego mention it to me "hey, you are this lego guy, i heard about the new collosseum, pretty cool, huh?". this is marketing nowadays =)

I think lego will definitly make a smaller version of the collosseum in the future. and with the good designers they have nowadays, it will still look fantastic =)

just my 2 cents

I believe you're onto something here, regarding the halo product aspect. It makes a great display in a brand store, and has slightly different angle to build up the marketing hype than the UCS MF.

Beside rich hardcore AFOLs, I believe rich castle builder might also buy it as a parts pack, lots and lots of good parts here. Though the big Hogwarts set might be even better for that purpose.

[MAB]

20 hours ago, Lyichir said:

I disagree. Part of the issue with making a smaller model of the Colosseum is that the detail is so fine—the structure, composed of a large number of arches and narrow columns, can only be reduced in size so much before you start to lose the detail that makes it recognizable.

As it is I doubt you could effectively reduce the size of this set much more before you lose the fidelity of features like the three types of columns, among other key elements of the design.

That's not to say there couldn't potentially be a smaller, more compromised version of this, but then again, this doesn't prevent such a thing either. Lego has created smaller versions of Big Ben and the Sydney Opera House in the Architecture theme, after all. There's no reason to assume this will be the last and only Colosseum set Lego will ever make.

Sure, but then it comes to an issue of balance of size vs what they wanted to do with the set. This set would have looked even better (having a more realistic shape) using the same scale arches and columns if they had made it with twice the number of parts. It then becomes what is important - getting the columns to look right, getting the shape/scale to look right or making a displayable set for home use. I appears the designer went for detail in the columns over other aspects. Personally, I don't think they did a very good job on the Corinthian ones. They don't look very Corinthian, they look more Doric to me. Using a flower stud instead would have given them a much more ornate look even at this scale, more characteristic of the Corinthian style. If they can recolour a roller skate and make a big deal out of it, then why not do the same with a flower and get that column right too? They also got the width of the arches badly wrong - again this could have been correct by using a much larger scale arch, coming back to the balance again - what details do they care about and what don't they care about. Or they could have had the columns stand in front of two-wide instead of three-wide supports, using jumpers for the column placement. This would have given equal width arches and supports, which would be better but still not wider arches than supports. They have sacrificed some details to enhance others.

Overall, I don't think they did a bad job of the model though, I think it looks nice and is the sort of thing that looks great in a store to show what can be built with LEGO. I don't think it is a "home" set though. Whereas one at a smaller scale (and less detail) would be received better for home display, even if not displaying two of the three column types well like this big version.

[JintaiZ]

To all the points above, I think do accuracy is very important. Well... I've heard a lot of complaints saying that the Colosseum's accuracy could have been better, but I barely heard any complaints about the Millennium Falcon.

That said, it's clear that the designers have tried their best capturing authentic details here.

Edited December 3, 2020 by JintaiZ

[Terrasher]

Just got out of the store and am heading home. Holy smokes the box is huge (and heavy)! They give you the larger cardboard box instead of the inner box with the artwork. I was ready with a big IKEA bag, but the employees at the store hand you the Colosseum in a big strong bag made specifically for this set, which was unexpected and much appreciated.

Can't wait for winter break to start and begin building this beast.

[Calvinw]

37 minutes ago, Terrasher said:

Just got out of the store and am heading home. Holy smokes the box is huge (and heavy)! They give you the larger cardboard box instead of the inner box with the artwork. I was ready with a big IKEA bag, but the employees at the store hand you the Colosseum in a big strong bag made specifically for this set, which was unexpected and much appreciated.

Can't wait for winter break to start and begin building this beast.

That bag it came in was a really nice surprise!  Very cool of Lego to include that.  

[MAB]

Just a bag? The Millennium Falcon came with wheels!

 

[MartyMcFly]

No store near me, but have order it.  Got the two GWP as well. Now gotta wait.

Enjoyed the black friday video with Rok talking about the Colosseum, and the many features in the build.

 

[MartyMcFly]

Colosseum now on back orders on Lego UK.

[Friscorays]

I think focusing the video event on the Colosseum may have proved profitable for Lego.  It was still available to add to bag before the event and is now out of stock status in US.  I picked up my copy last night.

[koalayummies]

1 hour ago, MartyMcFly said:

Colosseum now on back orders on Lego UK.

Concrete, travertine and tuff evidence that this construction is liked and desired.

Well done designers. There are builders that appriciate your work, expertise, vision and dedication to creating, inspiring others and playing well; even if they aren't always present in online discussions or sometimes drowned out by those who would rather befoul all that is this ardor.

The majority of builders leg godt.

[Vindicare]

I don’t plan on buying this, but watching the livestream really made it more impressive. For one, the box is gigantic. Seeing the set with a person behind it really gives a proper scale. But what really sold me was hearing the designer talk about it. You could really hear the passion he has for it. 

[Lucarex]

On 11/27/2020 at 7:45 PM, Friscorays said:

I think focusing the video event on the Colosseum may have proved profitable for Lego. 

I found it boring and at times painful watching to be honest, not helped by the presenter opposite a monotone Rok. They should have used Ali Plumb.

Will be interesting to see if the next Architecture set 21056, which a leak suggests is coming next August at $129.99, is in fact a scaled-down Colosseum.

 

[JintaiZ]

On 11/27/2020 at 11:16 AM, MAB said:

Just a bag? The Millennium Falcon came with wheels!

I agree that Millennium Falcon's box is cooler. But it's still a good surprise.

Edited November 29, 2020 by JintaiZ

[MAB]

On 11/27/2020 at 9:31 PM, koalayummies said:

Concrete, travertine and tuff evidence that this construction is liked and desired.

Well done designers. There are builders that appriciate your work, expertise, vision and dedication to creating, inspiring others and playing well; even if they aren't always present in online discussions or sometimes drowned out by those who would rather befoul all that is this ardor.

The majority of builders leg godt.

Yes, and the Elf Clubhouse has been out of stock / backordered for some time. So more evidence that the black boxes work.

Or maybe proof that they are not making enough of these sets.

[Lion King]

I’m not planning to buy this Colosseum because of massive size and high price. BUT!!! I still admit the high details of this Anicent landmark. 

INstead of getting Colosseum set, I will plan to get Fiat 500 set.