KotZ

There's not, but you have to look at it as an adult (and by adult I am not meaning the general legal age of 18, I'm meaning 25+). 25+ are currently getting into the workforce and starting to have disposable income. They can spend money on that trip to Vegas, Thailand, etc. They can start to splurge on TVs, furniture, etc. They're getting their own apartments houses, etc. Of course, this varies by region, city, job, etc, but generally people as they get older in theory are supposed to have more income. So what happens when there are these people that used to play with LEGO as kids do as they get older? They hold onto them for various purposes or sell them. "I'm too old to play with LEGO!" But TLG says "au contraire," and releases sets, both display ones and "display" ones to these people that have the money to spend on a luxury item. Sure they're not "playing" like they would as a kid, but they're building (or playing as some other people would say) and purchasing sets. LEGO is now becoming the cool, acceptable version of model trains and planes. Usually, you'd see only "nerds" or "weird people" or "old people" purchasing and doing that. Not everybody did that as a kid, especially because that stuff is expensive. So you maybe do Warhammer minis, which are maybe considered nerdier, and are also ludicrously expensive. LEGO? Just about everyone can purchase that in the first and second world. It's all marketing. There's a big difference in the brain between 16 and 18, 16 and 20, etc. But tendencies might still be the same regarding "I'm not going to play with a toy." LEGO is capitalizing on this nostalgia thing that seems to be sweeping the millenial generation (Yes, Mos Eisley is from a movie from before millenials were born) that seems to have this idea of reclaiming childhood and youth. If anything, in the States, it seems like an effort to go back to pre-9/11 times. I always see people saying "If you're a 90s kid..." Yes, a good half of the licensed Ideas releases are from post 9-11, but they're still in that range where 9/11 is an early memory that they might not know and really just remember being a kid. Yes, that is an incredibly American-centric point of view, but it's a possibility. If anything, the release of the original The Lego Movie has a bigger impact on the 18+ sets. That movie showed a character (a bit of a silly, buffoonish man) who build LEGO sets and MOCs and all that stuff, while then eventually having him interact with his kid. If Will Ferrell (or an character played by him) builds this stuff, why not the common man? Terry Crews is an AFOL. Patrick Kaleta (not as well known, but Let's go Sabres) is an AFOL. David Beckham and more. Adults can now see LEGO not as a kid's toy, but a way to bond with the kid, but if they don't have kids or do, they can say "this is my set." They can display it and tinker with it like with trains.

That poor dolphin!

Thank you.

"This newspaper seems to be out of date. It's last month's copy. My new release isn't on here."

:Thank you," Mallory says dismissively.

Oh dear. Please, keep your alcohol down. Some of us are trying to not look like alcoholics. Now, where is that bartender? I ordered a damn neat bourbon five minutes ago. I'm almost done with my martini as it is. Hopefully the food doesn't take this long to come out. Mallory. Jack Mallory. Perhaps you've heard of my books?

I like it. It seems more in line with everything else being more based on difficulty checks. And this can easily work for the tech skill trees that have been mentioned too.

Exactly.

I'm gonna be honest, your rebuild is 100 times better than the original.

I'll purchase some if you have some extra! Demented, yes. But what's wrong with that? I mean if you're offering haha.

I'd love to play if there's room for a 13th person! I've never done one of these.

And how dare you call my BEHOLD! a circle jerk!

This damn game!! It was a fun game, Hinckley, as always. Even though I died unceremoniously (I blame that damn ghost!), it was a fun one, even if I took a bit of a step back compared to the last one. Great game everyone. Seriously, this was a fun one to play and watch, especially from the deadboard. That was an active one! A lot of fun intereracting with everyone there. The only way to get rid of Shadows is to vote him out day one or accidentally screw him in a result from a night action. To get away from the game and mechanics, I just want to say what awesome builds (kind of a repurpose?) from Hinckley. Such a beautiful airship and the dragons (those were MOCs right?). Great work on all the builds. It's like watching a someone is a character costume emoting perfectly!

Congrats you Sea Rats! Great work. And thanks to the council for setting up this fun event! Very surprised (and happy) I got third in Cat D1!

You know what they say, you can never get truly out. I'd love to help out and plan, but I'd really only be available to run the third quest as a DM based on my upcoming schedule and BotBS.

Honestly, I wouldn't feel comfortable with it being a line of sets. A video or comic, yeah, but to me BotBS is something just pure EB and we'd lose what's kind of special about it. It's also, in my opinion, fairly mature. There's open discussion of war, colonization, alcohol, sex, etc. It's not as happy go lucky as classic pirates or Ninjago.

Yay another fellow Californian! Curbside worked fantastically. Topanga has two or three zones set up with a specific location for each store in the mall. Since you couldn't even walk into the mall, I just called the LEGO store to ask what was in stock, found out what they had, and then went to pick it up same day. They took payment over the phone. And yeah, entirely through the car. I parked in a designated area and gave a description of my car, met the clerk and they put the set in my backseat. Really nice as I prefer Gelndale but Topanga was great for this. Topanga store went and sorted out the bags, but not Glendale, interestingly.

I went to the Glendale, CA one a few months ago after things started to open up. They know me there haha. Bought my Treehouse set. This was months after quarantine started (we can discuss effectiveness elsewhere), but I was very happy with how the store did everything regarding sales for the time. And then evbeything had to shut down again for California. We finally opened up (partly) a few months ago and I went to the Topanga location for the Pirates of Barracuda Bay set since they had it in stock. Curbside handoff went very well. I normally go to Glendale for my purchases as it is slightly closer and I'm more familiar with it, but Topanga had the CMFs divided into what minifigures they thought they were, and they nailed it on the ones I bought. Of course it's not the same as feeling my way through, but LEGO has done a very good job of adapting to this compared to other stores/brands, in my opinion.

So it's IDEAs but for themes rather than just individual sets? Interesting. Also interesting it's backed by one of the largest talent agencies, but I'm not surprised really.

Vive le Roi!

Hmm a waterslide you say? Does this mean Oleon needs an official waterpark?

Thanks! I like the whole idea of the contest.

Here's my Cat B!

"How's it looking back there, boy?" The captain asked as he looked at his little rumstained blueprints. "Oh this is strong!" "The castle?" the young man asked. "No! The rum!" the captain replied. And it was. He had heard Emile Perrault's rum was good, but this far exceeded his expectations. "But now that you mention it, how does it hold up?" "It's almost done," the trooper answered. "Just need to finish packing this bit down... and... there! She is finished!" "It looks just like the plans!" the captain shouted, a tad drunkenly. "Want some rum, boys? Is the little waterfall working? WAIT! Should we add rum to it?" "Let's just let it be..."

Mine s still working it seems.