New VIP Rewards Centre survey

[Scoobaru303]

Some interesting questions on this very long survey. Seems like they are considering a subscription service for extra VIP features possibly including "purchase from back catalogue", Limited editions, free delivery, return bricks to Lego for something, customize Lego.

I know MANY people would be interested in buying what they want from the back catalogue. I guess they can tool up an old mould to remake any part and print it how they want, they just don't because of limited manufacturing capability. 

Using an app/website to create custom heads etc from a pre-defined option list (cop style facial composite?!) could be cool.

Some options were up £50/year but I didn't pick anything beyond about £8.

 

[MAB]

I didn't get the impression you could order any set from their back catalogue after filling in that survey. 

[Ajf350d]

Back catalog swung most of my opinions on the subscriptions, along with early access - although I think that should already be standard for ALL sets for VIPs, or at least pre order for delivery on release day!

Rest seemed fairly typical, how do we compare stuff.
Probably work out I hate sport, and a bit grumpy.😁

[Vindicare]

Didn’t like the “Option 1/2” bit. It had too much stuff in it all & some stuff on both lists were good/bad. So I just said none of the above to all of them because none were a fit for me. I already pay way too much to LEGO, certainly not interested in something subscription service. 

[eldiano]

How far back would they go back on their Catalogues?  It would be the perfect chance for me to complete entire retro lines such as Castle and Pirates OMG a dream come true, sign me up seriously 

[ShaydDeGrai]

The possibility of buying retired sets was tempting and a few of the other "selling points" sounded like they might have potential to be worthwhile, but there was nothing there that I'd be willing to pay for on a recurring basis (and given the amount I already spend on LEGO, that's saying something).  A lot of the ideas were either things that we already get for free from third parties (inventory management (e.g brickset), alternate builds, "expert" tips, MOC showcases, etc.) and other things were features that, in the interests of a decent brand loyalty program, they should just be/once did/occasionally are doing as part of the free VIP program (early access, GWP, free shipping, etc.).  Even where they cited potentially interesting bonuses (ordering retired sets, free gift with purchase with every purchase) recent experience with their notion of "VIP Rewards" makes me think the teaser would be more interesting than the actual implementation.  I doubt they'd open up their entire back catalog, more likely, they'd offer a handful of highly popular kits from the recent past (that most die-hard fans already own) based on stats gathered by the service about where most subscribers interests lie.  As for a "gift with every purchase" they never said it would be a free lego set with every purchase, just "a gift"  I don't need/want posters, trading cards, mini-comic books, sticker sheets, discount coupons to LegoLand, wrapping paper, digital cheat codes or any of the other "clutter bling" TLG has sent me over the years as "gifts."   Maybe I'm being cynical here, but I'm still jaded by their "upgrade" to the old VIP program and seriously question that this proposal would be any better.

The proposed services also seem to want to cater to families with young kids (or maybe the survey engine just biased my questions because I told them I have one) but most of what they are offering for the younger audience is digital content (effectively, a slightly more interactive but ephemeral  take on the old lego magazines they used to give out free subscriptions to in years past).  After nearly two years of school closures, remote learning, zoom sessions, and situations where an iPad was the only available nanny when mom and dad have to be on a call, the _absolute last_ thing I want to do is have another reason to put my daughter (or myself for that matter) in front of a screen.  If you cross everything off the list that is connected with digital content delivery (quizzes, videos, tutorials, building instructions, etc.) there isn't much of a program left.

So, at least for me, as an AFOL, I wouldn't subscribe because I see little value in the offering and what is there, I fear they would implement poorly.

As a former  educator and current parent of a child who loves LEGO, I wouldn't subscribe because it's too biased in favor of digital content rather than physical building and in-person socialization.

And FWIW, that's exactly what I told them on their survey.

[eldiano]

All right I just finished the entire survey after reading and speculating online.  I feel that the buy sets from the catalog will be limited to classic Lego and non licensed after the fact. I also realized that we could return used lego bricks for points or Lego online credit which is not that bad all things considered.  They currently offer some of these perks for free but I am sucker of buying older sets at retail price from Lego so it will be interesting to see how much we can give in return to them also.

I purchased a ton of Pick a Bricks so wouldn’t mind getting to buy more from that I guess.

 

[Johnny1360]

I was under the impression that the people enrolled in the service, would vote on what set or sets they would like to see from the retired list. Then the most popular one or ones would be remade and made available for purchase. I really don't think the entire back catalog of sets will actually be available. Also imagine choices will be somewhat limited to vote for, highly unlikely every single set will be available to vote on.

[Ajf350d]

Just done mine as well.

Fairly positive with my replies as, at the basic level, I don’t have a problem with the idea of a subscription service.

The devil will be in the detail as they say as to what exactly you get in terms of how the benefits actually work and what free gifts on each order, and what sets are available from back catalog etc.
Also not sure why they need to charge for the privilege of spending money on older sets?

I like the potential though so will be keen to see how this develops.

[Friscorays]

I would definitely pay $60 a year for access to limited edition products and ability to purchase from back catalogue.

[TeriXeri]

If the back catalog means more accesible older Castle/Pirates/Space/Creator sets etc, that could be awesome but of course depends on implementation.

I didn't really follow LEGO from 2001-2015 and there were a lot of cool sets in that period.

Even older sets like the 70s-80s-90s would even be more exciting but there are so many parts not produced anymore will those be sets sitting in a warehouse somewhere for a long time, or would they be actually "new" .

However, I have a very reserved feeling about this back catalog as it'll likely be a very limited amount of sets.

Newly produced old sets will have the problem of molds not existing anymore or will face redesigns.

Old old sets will have old parts with flaws like some piece designs being more prone to breaking like thinner clips, especially when the parts are actually old.

 

Edited December 24, 2021 by TeriXeri

[LegoDW]

Would be nice getting access to retired sets without paying resellers markups.  

[eldiano]

6 hours ago, TeriXeri said:

If the back catalog means more accesible older Castle/Pirates/Space/Creator sets etc, that could be awesome but of course depends on implementation.

I didn't really follow LEGO from 2001-2015 and there were a lot of cool sets in that period.

Even older sets like the 70s-80s-90s would even be more exciting but there are so many parts not produced anymore will those be sets sitting in a warehouse somewhere for a long time, or would they be actually "new" .

However, I have a very reserved feeling about this back catalog as it'll likely be a very limited amount of sets.

Newly produced old sets will have the problem of molds not existing anymore or will face redesigns.

Old old sets will have old parts with flaws like some piece designs being more prone to breaking like thinner clips, especially when the parts are actually old.

 

My Dude honestly, I feel that Hey if Lego dips into their older catalog and like you mentioned “older” sets we should be in luck I think, just like how they fixed the Reddish Brown fragility that plagued a lot of sets the last decade I honestly feel confident that we will legit get the new improved bricks and not just rehashes of the old ones.

They probably would use the mold anyways with the new brick techniques

with that said I’m dreaming of buying Pirates/Castle/Space/creator sets, I missed out on a lot of key lines because I didn’t have the means to but for sure I would love to get my hands on an El Dorado or Black Seas Barracuda, wouldn’t mind the old packaging or new packaging style as long as I get the same bricks.

All I wish for is to pay retail for older Lego Sets, something Lego never retro dips into all things considered, especially since they never believed in re-issues of box per pricks old sets I guess.

I feel that this is going to be revolutionary.  If they green lit this though this might hurt pop and mom shops or bricklink since I feel that LEGO will be busy processing used bricks I guess.  

Edited December 24, 2021 by eldiano

[MAB]

I cannot see them doing choice of any past sets from the past. More like remaining stock of stuff that didn't completely sell out / get given away. The VIP polybag has been available a few times through VIP points, Dickens, the camera is currently. 

Are they really going to print instructions and boxes for small runs of past sets, and even redesign them where the parts no longer exist? I doubt it. Even the BDP runs of 10K sets don't tet printed instructions. 

[TeriXeri]

On 12/24/2021 at 6:54 AM, eldiano said:

My Dude honestly, I feel that Hey if Lego dips into their older catalog and like you mentioned “older” sets we should be in luck I think, just like how they fixed the Reddish Brown fragility that plagued a lot of sets the last decade I honestly feel confident that we will legit get the new improved bricks and not just rehashes of the old ones.

What I meant with "old old" sets are like sets that have been produced long ago, but have been sitting in some storage for many years, so flaws like old weaker moulds, brittle colors or weak stickers is what worries me if they do that. 

A more interesting Option 2 would be restarting production. But then there are other issues like many retired moulds, different browns/greys/chrome, remaking prints/stickers/sails etc. 

Option 3 would be like barracuda bay style remakes but as close to the original as possible with current parts. 

But yes we'd be lucky if any of this even happens. 

 

Edited December 25, 2021 by TeriXeri

[MaximillianRebo]

As has been said, I doubt TLG would do an exact replica rerelease as many of the moulds are now out of production (much as I would love a reissue of LL928). Probably a reimagining with modern parts would be more likely. I wonder though if they did go down the rerelease route, at least say with minifigs and prints, whether we'd see a similar situation as with the Star Wars 20th anniversary figs with a big logo on the back of the torso to prevent people from passing off a new fig as something much older.

[MAB]

If they were going to start producing older sets again, why would they do it for just VIPs? If there is money to be made, they'd sell them more widely and not just to people that have given a little bit of personal data to LEGO to use for marketting purposes.

[Kit Figsto]

5 hours ago, MAB said:

If they were going to start producing older sets again, why would they do it for just VIPs? If there is money to be made, they'd sell them more widely and not just to people that have given a little bit of personal data to LEGO to use for marketting purposes.

In my opinion, I think most of the market for older sets would be adult fans or serious collectors anyway.  These kinds of buyers probably already are aware of stuff like the VIP program and are probably willing to spend an extra $5-10 to get an older set (from my understanding, if you could just subscribe to this service for a month or two, you could pay a small amount and get access to this back catalog, which isn't a huge deal to me, especially if you're also getting free shipping.  You'd effectively be paying that amount instead of paying for shipping

I guess it depends what this back catalog would be comprised of (like, is it just their leftover stock of stuff from 2015 onward, or would it be effectively them bringing back the Legends line from the late 90s/early 2000s?  Also, would it be limited to sets that they choose, or any set from a certain year/theme?  How limited are they?  Etc), but I don't really see sets from before, say, 2005 or so selling too well among casual fans or kids, just because the building techniques and intricacy of current models is far superior.  I love a lot of older sets, and given the choice between the same vehicle from, say, 2015 and 2002, I might pick the older ones in some cases, but that's almost entirely due to nostalgia.  I'd imagine some of the flagship classic Space/Pirates/Castle sets might sell among adults who don't really buy LEGO necessarily (for example, people who remember having it as a kid and want to get it to share with their current kids, or that kind of thing), but I feel like your average Fright Knights set or Armada or Ice Planet 2002 set wouldn't do well outside of that niche collector market.  

[Chilis]

Where IS this survey..?

[Kit Figsto]

27 minutes ago, Chilis said:

Where IS this survey..?

If you're a VIP member, log in and go to the VIP page/portal.  There should be a tab that says something like "Earn more points" where there's some actions you can take to earn some extra rewards points.  One of the options near the top should be this survey.

[Chilis]

On 12/27/2021 at 12:46 AM, Kit Figsto said:

If you're a VIP member, log in and go to the VIP page/portal.  There should be a tab that says something like "Earn more points" where there's some actions you can take to earn some extra rewards points.  One of the options near the top should be this survey.

Thanks alot! :)

[MAB]

On 12/26/2021 at 8:53 PM, Kit Figsto said:

In my opinion, I think most of the market for older sets would be adult fans or serious collectors anyway.  These kinds of buyers probably already are aware of stuff like the VIP program and are probably willing to spend an extra $5-10 to get an older set (from my understanding, if you could just subscribe to this service for a month or two, you could pay a small amount and get access to this back catalog, which isn't a huge deal to me, especially if you're also getting free shipping.  You'd effectively be paying that amount instead of paying for shipping

I guess it depends what this back catalog would be comprised of (like, is it just their leftover stock of stuff from 2015 onward, or would it be effectively them bringing back the Legends line from the late 90s/early 2000s?  Also, would it be limited to sets that they choose, or any set from a certain year/theme?  How limited are they?  Etc), but I don't really see sets from before, say, 2005 or so selling too well among casual fans or kids, just because the building techniques and intricacy of current models is far superior.  I love a lot of older sets, and given the choice between the same vehicle from, say, 2015 and 2002, I might pick the older ones in some cases, but that's almost entirely due to nostalgia.  I'd imagine some of the flagship classic Space/Pirates/Castle sets might sell among adults who don't really buy LEGO necessarily (for example, people who remember having it as a kid and want to get it to share with their current kids, or that kind of thing), but I feel like your average Fright Knights set or Armada or Ice Planet 2002 set wouldn't do well outside of that niche collector market.  

If you are paying $5-10 then I reckon you'd get a $5-10 set and no more. So probably something like a polybag or a MMMB set.