New Lego Technic Marketing Manager in TLG

[DLuders]

On the Lego Technic Designers Blog, there was an announcment today about the NEW Lego Technic Marketing Manager, Casper Thingholm:

"October 29, 2010

Hello...

I am Casper and I am the new Marketing Manager for LEGO TECHNIC.

Hello...

I am Casper and I am the new Marketing Manager for LEGO TECHNIC. As you have probably already figured out, Monica has moved onto another exiting product line in LEGO, and I have taken over here responsibilities in the Technic team.

Things are moving quickly here – and I am getting up to speed on all the activities that are going on. One thing I can promise is that the level of activities in the Technic project team is amazing. The guys here are really working on some amazing stuff.

In August we launched four new products that are all very different and cool – hopefully, you have already seen them. The 8051 Motorbike is a very nice model with a working drive chain that powers the moving 3 cylinder engine. which I really like. The B-model is also a Motorbike that is really cool.

We also launched the 8052 Container Truck which is powered with Power Functions that drives the linear actuator to raise and lower the container or to unload and load the container from the back of the truck.

Then we launched the realistic 8053 Mobile Crane with the all wheel steering and its telescopic crane arm that extends up to 23.5 in. (60 cm). This is truly an amazing model that can also be upgraded with Power Functions, nice!

Finally, we launched the 8043 Excavator which is also a incredible model and the remote controlled power functions are super cool. If you do not already know this one, I encourage you to check it out in the Products section.

So, there are some real nice opportunities to have fun building the new products from LEGO Technic during the winter days that are just around the corner – and many hours of fun playing!

Happy Building!"

Here is his Lego biography:

Casper Thingholm

Nationality:

Danish

Nickname:

CT

My motto:

Get Challenged Now…

About me:

I am the Marketing Manager on LEGO Technic and love working with these fantastic models. Technical building has always been of great interest for me and is now a part of my job which is very cool.

What I do outside LEGO: In my spare time, I spend a lot of time with family and friends. I also like to work with mechanical stuff just for the fun of it.

My all-time favorite product:

The 8258 Crane Truck because it is very big and really cool.

Best Creation I have ever made:

The 8053 Excavator which is also a fantastic model and the remote controlled power functions are super cool.

Most challenging creation I did was:

The 8258 Crane Truck, which was my first ‘big’ model

[Benly]

Here is his Lego biography:

Whilst you're on the topic of Lego bios, it appears all the internal people involved with Lego Technic have updated their profile images. I kinda like these small bios as it lets you put a face behind particular models that you build.

One thing I do note is the missing bio of Anders Gaasedal Christensen (Goose Valley) which was there a few days ago. Surely he hasn't moved on as well, not right after he's done the 8043?

[DLuders]

I'm not surprised that Anders Gaasedal Christensen (Goose Valley) apparently is no longer a Lego Technic Designer. His (original, failed) design for the 8043 Motorized Excavator must have cost TLG a lot of money to fix (via the Service Packs). Maybe the reason that the 8043 does not appear in the Holiday 2010 Catalog is that TLG wants to "cut their losses."

[Cwetqo]

It was pretty much obvious that "heads will roll" after this debacle with 8043. I think that not just Goose but also Monica is victim of that. Too bad, because 8043 is really a great model and I just hope that new responsible people will not get too conservative about future technic models. We want more designs like 8043, just test them more thorough before putting it on sale.

BTW: does anybody know what happened to Steve Witt? I heard that he also got fired, but I dont think that it's connected to above mentioned problems.

[DLuders]

Hmmm, as recently as this past Monday (October 25th), I got an e-mail from Steve Witt that had this below his signature block:

Steven Witt

Community Development Lead Coordinator

LEGO Universe

[Cwetqo]

Hmm..

I got this:

Steve Witt is leaving his position as Community Coordinator at the LEGO Group with immediate effect. Over the past five years, Steve has contributed to The LEGO Group's community outreach program and we would like to thank Steve for his efforts. The LEGO Group will be recruiting for a new coordinator for North America in the near future. Until a replacement can be found, all activities and contacts for the North American region should be directed to Jim Foulds

[DLuders]

Maybe the new Lego Technic Marketing Manager is already making changes. I see from the Lego Technic Designers website http://technic.lego.com/en-us/Designers/Blog/Default.aspx that the "Ask the Designer" feature has been removed. There were a batch of original (Nov 2009) questions and answers posted, but NOTHING since then. 11-month-old, stale "Ask the Designer" webpages don't make for "good marketing." In mid-2010, I asked about a possible, future Power Functions "Small" motor, I got no reply (even after I asked Lego Customer Service about the "stale" site).

Maybe the Lego Technic website will be BETTER MAINTAINED with more timely news. Heck, this Eurobricks forum was talking about 8043 Service Packs weeks before that website even ACKNOWLEDGED that they were doing them.

[trekman]

I hope that Casper has a better vocabulary than just being "cool". It might be acceptable for a 11 year old, but even he/she will catch on to the number of times that Casper finishes a sentence with "cool".

However I do hope that despite the personell changes, there will be no restrictions on the imaginative models that the Technic team come up with. The 8043 set, even with the flaws, was a masterpiece of engineering. For me it has helped broaden my mind on what can be achieved.

I just hope things get better for 2011 and beyond....

[Front]

I'm not surprised that Anders Gaasedal Christensen (Goose Valley) apparently is no longer a Lego Technic Designer. His (original, failed) design for the 8043 Motorized Excavator must have cost TLG a lot of money to fix (via the Service Packs). Maybe the reason that the 8043 does not appear in the Holiday 2010 Catalog is that TLG wants to "cut their losses."

Anders works on other projects now, something that happened before the product 8043 was even released. Even though he is the designer of the product, a whole team of people has been behind the development of the product. You can't just blame a single designer for the less than optimum ( ) history that the product has gone through in its first few months.

Erland, Part Design

[Anio]

I'm not surprised that Anders Gaasedal Christensen (Goose Valley) apparently is no longer a Lego Technic Designer. His (original, failed) design for the 8043 Motorized Excavator must have cost TLG a lot of money to fix (via the Service Packs). Maybe the reason that the 8043 does not appear in the Holiday 2010 Catalog is that TLG wants to "cut their losses."

I think that those who caused the problem with the #8043 are the members of the team which designed the LA's in 2007 (the LA's have maybe been designed in 2006 since the first sets have been released in 2007).

8043 is a great set (certainly among the 3 best Technic ever) and TLG should must be very grateful to Goose.

I hope that these problems with #8043 will not prevent TLG from doing such complex models in the futur.

[Blakbird]

I'm not surprised that Anders Gaasedal Christensen (Goose Valley) apparently is no longer a Lego Technic Designer. His (original, failed) design for the 8043 Motorized Excavator must have cost TLG a lot of money to fix (via the Service Packs)."

What are you talking about? I think everyone is being way too harsh on 8043. Firstly, I wouldn't call it a "failed" design. It is still one of my favorite sets ever. And even though it did have some problems, that can't be blamed on Anders. He is a designer who comes up with dozens of models, and I'm sure even came up with many versions of this model. Some probably had more or less motors, XL motors, or even pneumatics. Someone else decided which one to release to the public and yet another person was in charge of testing. Anders did nothing wrong and I'd count him as one of the best designers there is or has been. They released a great product which was just a little slow. Most companies would have left it at that but LEGO went farther to go back and make the product even better.

Please remember that the things written here may very well be read by the people at LEGO. I'm sure Anders feels bad about the things which happened with 8043, but in no way should we be blaming it on him or saying he should lose his job. I think that's ridiculous.

By the way, Monica left the team well before the 8043 set came out, so her departure has nothing to do with it either.

Be nice, people!

[jantjeuh]

Good post Blakbird, I agree with it completely. People here are being overly negative.

Edited October 30, 2010 by jantjeuh

[DLuders]

How many families bought the 8043 set, and found out that their (US $200) investment literally "ground up" after 15-30 minutes of play? I don't know how else to describe it. If folks are going to put that kind of money down on an expensive toy, it's not unreasonable to expect it to work correctly as advertised on the Lego Technic Homepage's video. You don't see the official marketing video showing a struggling machine.

OK, the single designer may not be the only one to blame for this debacle, but TLG's design team didn't even follow their own procedures in the

below. They failed, and treating TLG "with kid gloves" isn't going to help them improve their product testing procedures. One expects better from a 51-year-old company.

Edited October 30, 2010 by DLuders

[Routemaster]

I totally agree to your post, Blakbird.

Many thanks for bringing it to the point.

I would really love to see more Sets in stores, designed by Goose Valley.

The 8043 Excavator is way better in all it's aspects than last years flagship.

Way more long-time playability. That's what I expect from a flagship.

[TechnicJuan]

What are you talking about? I think everyone is being way too harsh on 8043. Firstly, I wouldn't call it a "failed" design. It is still one of my favorite sets ever. And even though it did have some problems, that can't be blamed on Anders. He is a designer who comes up with dozens of models, and I'm sure even came up with many versions of this model. Some probably had more or less motors, XL motors, or even pneumatics. Someone else decided which one to release to the public and yet another person was in charge of testing. Anders did nothing wrong and I'd count him as one of the best designers there is or has been. They released a great product which was just a little slow. Most companies would have left it at that but LEGO went farther to go back and make the product even better.

Please remember that the things written here may very well be read by the people at LEGO. I'm sure Anders feels bad about the things which happened with 8043, but in no way should we be blaming it on him or saying he should lose his job. I think that's ridiculous.

By the way, Monica left the team well before the 8043 set came out, so her departure has nothing to do with it either.

Be nice, people!

Completely agree Blakbird. Too many youngsters here that think they know what they are talking about, when in fact they don't. Just like the guy who claimed that the new 8070 Supercar was going to be an "Epic fail"

[DLuders]

Folks, I'm 53 years old. I'm not some kid. Look at the

below again. TLG's own commercial talks about "power" and the "powerful bucket". Contrast this with numerous videos (posted here on this forum) that show the main bucket struggling and ruining the motors. We had a poll here, whereby 75% of the respondants (located all over the world) reported problems with this set within a short time (most within 1-15 minutes). The ad is borderline "false advertising", so I hope the new Lego Technic Marking Manager takes note.

Edited October 30, 2010 by DLuders

[TechnicJuan]

I apologize Dave, my comment wasn't supposed to be directed right at you. It's just that I keep seeing so many threads about how the 8043 set was such a failure when in fact it was one of the best models that I have ever built. Yes, it should have had more of an extensive test with the Linear Actuators to prvent the problems upon release. I haven't had any problems with my set at all, but them again, I didn't play with it for hours upon hours either. I mean these parts are plastic. I don't know how much people can expect out of plastic parts. While the 8043 set may have failed in some eyes, I think it succeeded and broke new ground for what we may see in the future.

[CP5670]

It would be a real shame if the incident with 8043 convinces TLG to become more conservative with future Technic designs, although I can imagine that happening. I agree that despite its flaws, 8043 is the best set we have had in several years.

On the other hand, I can see DLuders's point too. The price of this set is exceptionally high and the issues people are describing make it clear that someone in the QA process screwed up during development (even if the original LA design was in fact the flaw). TLG has been great in supporting the set and releasing this service pack to existing buyers, but at this price I would expect nothing less from them.

It's also too bad that Steve Witt is leaving. He's a great guy and has been the face of TLG at community events for a long time.

[Pauger]

As Anio wrote; the true problem was the people who designed the original LA in 2007. 8043 just confirmed that to set the LA's in concrete wasn't a great idea. At least they've done something now...

[AndyC]

There's a world of difference between criticising TLG for letting it slip through QA and picking out individuals to blame (even whoever designed the LA, who could never have known what would be required in 8043). It was a mistake, it was rectified and hopefully TLG will learn a lesson from that.

[Pauger]

There's a world of difference between criticising TLG for letting it slip through QA and picking out individuals to blame (even whoever designed the LA, who could never have known what would be required in 8043). It was a mistake, it was rectified and hopefully TLG will learn a lesson from that.

They (whoever is responisble) should have realized that the LA's were poorly made before it got crucial. After the problem was acknowledged they only used a month(?) to fix them, why didn't they before?

Edited October 31, 2010 by Pauger

[Countdown]

A simple explanation for why the design of the #8043 was probably approved up in the design department may be that the LAs that the designers use are prototypes LAs built with more strict manufacturing processes. Hence, when TLG checked, after the numerous complaints, they opened 50 boxes meant for distibution and built all of them, and almost all had the described problemed from the custosmers.

According to my reasoning, I don't think it's the designer's fault; it's the LAs manufacturing process/quality/ultimate design specs. Nonetheless, I'm happy the LAs, it's a great addition to the lego parts lineup and kudos to LEgo that responded quickly to the uproar of us, the AFOL!

It's just my opinion!

[andythenorth]

This is getting off-topic, but it would be sad if the problems with the 8043 excavator led to conservatism by TLG.

This set is the first Lego-designed Technic model that approaches the complexity of models by AFOLS like Jennifer Clark. It's a brave and exciting move by TLG in difficult economic times.

It's difficult for TLG to take risks. The brand is built around reliability and quality, and 8043 is an extremely expensive set. If I'd spent this money on an 8043 with problems I'd be disappointed - whether I was an AFOL or a child.

But as an AFOL I'll be even more disappointed if TLG don't produce complex flagship sets.

Engineering is difficult, and there are limits to what can be done with ABS parts. Despite this, it should be part of the vision for Technic to go as far as possible.

For the record, this isn't a new or shocking event:

- when I was 8 years old I was given the (very expensive for the time) 8851 red excavator with generation 1 pneumatics. These were unreliable out of the box, and within months most of the cylinders had failed (bent plastic rods, sticking seals, air leaks throughout the system). TLG significantly redesigned pneumatics following that. There was no web then, so we didn't get an outcry from fans, nor a replacement part programme.

- the 8275 bulldozer is an awesome robust and playable design, but the 40t clutch slips and will no longer lift the blade on mine.

- there are other parts which proved easily breakable one way or the other, or set designs with failures. Universal joints, gears, axles which snap due to torsion and stress subjected simply by the design, not excessive force.

The important thing is that TLG have taken steps to remedy the situation. I'll be happy to buy 8043 this christmas, possibly even two sets (the B model looks good)

Edited October 31, 2010 by andythenorth

[DLuders]

Maybe the new Lego Technic Marketing Manager will continue to accommodate the AFOL community by "leaking" details about the upcoming sets, like Monica Pedersen had done 13 months ago with the 8049 Technic Tractor with Log Loader. All of the feigned outrage about the recent "leaking" of (so-called) "confidential" pictures of the 1H2011 #8070 Super Car set also occured during Ms. Pedersen's time as the Marketing Manager. The image below (from September 2009) was "leaked" by her at about the same time of year as the 8070's images were - a few months before the official set release date.

[NOTE: The 8049 set has been released for many months now, so folks need not be alarmed at the "Confidential" label below]

From MOGlug, "8049 Technic Tractor with Log Loader

Posted on: 09/22/09 at 20:21:48 AST":

"Here are the photos - TLG let TechnicBRICKs "leak" the photos with the following message:

Monica Pedersen (LEGO Technic Marketing Manager) about the new product, that you should want to read.

"As a special treat we would like to share a picture of one of the LEGO Technic novelties from 2010 with you. With the launch of the 8049 Tractor with Log Loader LEGO Technic is re-introducing pneumatics into our models. We have been listening to on-line discussions and wishes from our adult fans for some time, and as a consequence we decided to look into how we could use pneumatics in a new LEGO Technic model. After having tested different models with our core target group (boys 7-13) we found out that they really liked being able to play with pneumatics in this particular model and this is why the 8049 Tractor with Log Loader is launching in 2010.

The Designer behind the model is Lars Krogh Jensen and he has been very excited about building with pneumatics again as it gives the Designers some new possibilities of adding functionality. It will also be very interesting to see how the product will be welcomed by our adult fan group, who has been asking for pneumatics for quite some time.""

On TechnicBRICKS, Conchas wrote, "As you may see, these are still confidential and watermarked images, but we got the permission to publish them and so they are official. This unprecedented fact in the TECHNIC theme, is a strong sign of the commitment the respective team is putting towards its fans and how they have been listening what the same fans have to say."

Will this relationship continue with the new Lego Technic Marketing Manager, Mr. Casper Thingholm?

[CP5670]

For the record, this isn't a new or shocking event:

- when I was 8 years old I was given the (very expensive for the time) 8851 red excavator with generation 1 pneumatics. These were unreliable out of the box, and within months most of the cylinders had failed (bent plastic rods, sticking seals, air leaks throughout the system). TLG significantly redesigned pneumatics following that. There was no web then, so we didn't get an outcry from fans, nor a replacement part programme.

- the 8275 bulldozer is an awesome robust and playable design, but the 40t clutch slips and will no longer lift the blade on mine.

- there are other parts which proved easily breakable one way or the other, or set designs with failures. Universal joints, gears, axles which snap due to torsion and stress subjected simply by the design, not excessive force.

8851 has mostly been fine for me. The lowermost piston does bend over time, but that doesn't seem to affect its performance and I haven't had any leaks.

As you say, there were a number of cases of stressed and easily broken parts in the 80s, but TLG's standards on that improved a lot in the 90s and we haven't had many situations like that recently (specific to Technic, anyway). Part of the problem with 8043 is its price relative to other recent sets, which makes these flaws harder to excuse.

I wouldn't say 8043 is the most complex set TLG has ever made - some other flagships of the past were at least comparable - but it is still the best since 8421 or 8455.