Mylenium

Well, with the movie only making 4.3 million Euro in Germany I don't think this is an overstatement considering established metrics for movies. An average "big" movie around here makes 20 million in its first week and even many independent movies make more overall after a few weeks running than TLM2 did. Those 4.3 million literally translate to only about 200000 people having seen it at all. That for all intents and purposes is a measly number for this kind of film. In fact around the time it actually ran in cinemas many people reported half-empty theaters to begin with even in kids-friendly matinees. You can interpret this however you want, but it remains a failure. It takes little brain power to take a guess how minor a ripple effect this may have had on actual set purchases solely based on viewing experiences. Arguably most buying decisions had nothing to do with seeing the film or even being aware of it at all. C'mon, a 30 Euro set that they are already kicking out at 22 Euro? Unlikely. Again the story seems to be a totally different one as a lot of people were actually pretty sure this particular set was already scrapped and would never come out. So to me this seems more like an effort to minimize distribution cost by only having a few channels. Mylenium

Nothing weird about it, considering that barely anyone even saw the movie. It totally bombed here and as I said earlier, even the existing sets don't seem to sell all that well. When something as trivial and cheap as the Triple Decker Couch is only sold directly from LEGO ans Smyth's Toys, you know something is wrong... Mylenium

Depends, I guess. In fact the whole point should probably be to get people to buy stuff directly from LEGO's online or physical stores in the first place, which in my view isn't so much a matter of price (though out of necessity I'm extremely price aware and try to get stuff as cheaply as possible). To me it's more a case of not being able to score meaningful amounts of points unless you spend a small fortune in the store, so there's just no motivation (aside from a million technical quirks with the online store). Or more to the point: They need to work on making this attractive for "ordinary" people, not just for buyers of expensive exclusive sets. Mylenium

Lately it seems more often like they mean "The parts we intended to include in the sets, but then our counting machine acted up." *lol* In any case, those parts are the ones constituting the actual models sans the spares. Mylenium

Yes and no. They won't take away those discounts, but personally I'm hoping they'll make them more meaningful and add other ways to score VIP points. The way the system currently is it's pretty much useless. Mylenium

Nice stuff, but yeah, that's gonna cost yo an arm and a leg, especially since half-width Technic beams are a lot less common and thus relatively more expensive than their full width brethren. Mylenium

I have no qualms with getting rid of stuff up to the point of simply throwing "useless" LEGO pieces in the trash, but technically I'm not at that point where I think I have too much of anything. I may hate having to find storage space, but once one actually starts to build, even seemingly large piles of Technic pins dwindle relatively fast. Mylenium

Nice little model! Would look good in many city or train related scenarios. Mylenium

Sure. Perhaps you'll get to see it one day. ;-) For now I have to think my way around the issue and modify the color scheme without totally ruining my original concept. Mylenium

Hard to pick just one, as the inconsistent availability of all elements in all colors is indeed the biggest hindrance to making many of my ideas into reality, but most recently I was most disappointed to find out that the large macaroni piece doesn't exist in Light Aqua. Other than that I easily could draw up endless lists... Mylenium

Just poking fun at how it's often written in fantasy stories... ;-) Mylenium

Based on my enthusiasm for the Deep Sea Creatures (31088) Creator 3in1 set I designed a little octopus because a) I wasn't satisfied with the generic "squid" that comes as one of the options and b) of course octopuses are simply lovely little critters. :) More images and some explanations can be found on my blog: https://myleniumsbrickcorner.wordpress.com/2019/05/23/krakken-alert-an-octopus-moc/. Instructions will be coming one of these days and I'll post a reminder here on the forum when the time is due. Mylenium

Cool idea! Mylenium

Would be irrelevant from an engineering standpoint. There may not have been any actual breakage anywhere in all those years. They just could have stumbled upon this during their own internal testing, in particular since in recent time they keep experimenting around with alternate types of plastic and mixtures. You know, a "Just in case..." scenario to preempt later potential complaints. It could also resolve not just an issue with the part itself, but also mold construction. The part may be positioned differently, it may be easier to push out and that sort of thing... Mylenium

Hehe, nice! Arguably, though, it should be twice as big. He was a large man to begin with and had quite a circumference. ;-) Perhaps you should set his head back by one stud to make this more pronounced. He always kinda looked like he was staring upwards and had his head pushed back. Maybe you can also find a better piece for representing the napkin. I'm thinking a white minifigure ponytail or something like that... I also think he should wear a scarf. In his later years he even wore them on stage quite often. Mylenium

Yeah, but then again does anyone seriously think that still is the ultimate authority on this? They even get set inventories wrong. This thing is ripe for a major overhaul and change of procedures, including a better way to deal with part revisions... Mylenium

Well, it's a good thing that I don't care much for minifigs then, I suppose? ;-) I do get your points, though. The massive shifts in quality are so painfully obvious even if you're not an obsessing collector. I don't think LEGO really care, however. They seem to have arrived at a point where they are in a constant rush to fire out stuff rapidly. It's always the next set or minifigure series that's a hot thing without considering the bigger picture. A few years down the road this will be even messier. Mylenium

Love the minimalistic interpretation! :) Mylenium

Yes, the only reason the orignal LEGO movie made such an impact is because indeed it came at the height of animation movies and subverted expectations and then LEGO tried to recycle the same recipe over and over with limited success. Whether or not you consider them advertisements is subject to view, but perhaps one shouldn't be under any illusion: 90% of those films are made to sell toys, comics and other merchandise, so LEGO are in good company. The only difference is that LEGO have a very specific product and they don't have to sell plushies... *g* Mylenium

Not really, but that would require going back to that other thread about color theory and "harmonious" colors. Suffice it to say that I'm seeing this merely as a graphics artist and discuss these changes based on experience and what I learned. Everything else would be pointless supposition and conjecture and on some level I even feel offended by your comment. I've written many times that I'm buying Friends sets on a regular basis and I actually love the colors, I just at times object to how they are used in a fashion that seems rather forced and unsophisticated. Also in fact you are sort of defeating your own argument here, as regardless of the number of colors the sets you are referencing as examples are "harmonious" on a simplistic level (primary color harmony, balanced luminosity, relatively balanced percentages of colors overall, smart use of contrast of adjacent color regions). For many of the Friends sets this isn't the case, which I guess is my primary sticking point. Therefore it seems occasionally dialling down this excessive use would be advisable. So no, replacing the Pink on the sails would not mean to eliminate the color from the set entirely just like adding yet another color might not ruin it. In any case, this could go on endlessly, so let's not bore the kids. Overall it simply boils down to subjective reasons again. I would have done some things differently and that is just that. Mylenium The red color is RAL 3001 Signal Red, which is a pure pigment Red and has no parts of Yellow. A faded representation would be more in line with the old Sand Red. The rest is likely just the sun light playing tricks. In any case, likening it Coral seems a bit too far fetched. That would be more like RAL 2005 Luminous Orange... Mylenium

As I wrote in another thread about classic themes some of that stuff would sell like sliced bread simply based on historic backgrounds and "it's in our blood". Yes, we are all about knights and castles due to historic remnants of the mideval ages, romans, vikings etc. being scattered all over the place. Yes, Germany has been a very railroad-centric country due to the Deutsche Reichsbahn/ Deutsche Bahn being of key importance in many historic events and the development of the country. It's only natural that people would just love to see it reflected in LEGO as well. And there's perhaps the rub: LEGO isn't serving them particularly well so fo course they may be frustrated and consider things like the TLM2 sets and other waste of resources and not be welcoming to them. You can't expect this to be rational, as this has been building for a decade now and those people by their nature are somewhat conservative to begin with. Does any of this preclude LEGO making a good buck with other themes outside of this difficult audience? Of course not, but I trust what I see and in so many cases the signs are pretty clear. Some themes just don't float and we can stand here all day and debate the matter, but I don't feel my personal observations deviate that much from what seems to be happening on a broader basis, which translates to that TLM2 just kinda went *poof*, both in cinemas and with the sets. I know it sounds pompous, presumptuous, arrogant and whatnot, but I'm pretty sure at some point we will have at least some numbers to back it up. The rest could be argued in many ways, but I don't think just talking about sales figures is going anywhere without considering things like market penetration/ proliferation and ultimately how visible a brand is. I also think your example of Playmobil vs. LEGO is in fact flawed and based on wrong info, as the relevant numbers of the LEGO Deutschland GmbH (470 million EUR in 2017) are even worse than Playmobil (around 590 million EUR ) for the D/A/CH (Germany, Austria, Switzerland) region. Admittedly 2017 wasn't a good year for LEGO and you have to account for that, so it's probably fair to say they are on par rather than LEGO having a genuine market dominance here in Germany. Either way, no point in dragging this out further than it needs be. Mylenium

Agree. Though I believe most people's criticism would not necessarily be the colors themselves, but how they are used and that "Too much of a good thing can still be bad." thing. If you're using some colors too much they simply can become an eyesore just like forcing sets into the specific color themes associated with the girls may not always be smart and off-putting just as well. For the Amusement Park the argument could be made that there is this "Everything but the kitchen sink" feel to it, because they simply appear to have used like 20 or so colors just for the main parts, which perhaps is not ideal from a (graphical) design standpoint and feels unnecessary. A simple argument can for instance be made for the wall of the ship not having to be Lavender. It does nothing that couldn't have been achieved if it were just Reddish Brown like the rest and already reduced the abundance of colors. Similarly perhaps a bit less Dark Pink would make it more palatable to some people. Using it on the sails somehow feels too much and dominates the scene. Resorting to the paler pink already would have done a lot, but imagine how cool it could look if those stripes were Dark Red?! I could go on an on. My point is: It's all about finding a good balance and that seems to be amiss with Friends sets way too often. In that regard I think there is some validity to Klaus-Dieter's argument: Perhaps it's really a bit too over the top in this case. Mylenium

A lovely model. Perhaps a bit too much "Floridian White", which could be a bit boring in the long run. I'd definitely add a bit more color/ use stronger colors in some places to compensate for the "scale effect". Mylenium

Yeah, sure, but then there's also the general disinterest from the public. Nobody is talking about the movie (and never was even before it launched), it made a measly 3.7 Million Euro officially and - you're gonna give me flak for this again for it being "too anecdotal and subjective" - but very visibly some sets just don't sell (here in Germany). It's simply not going to make much of a dent around these parts, that much seems sure. Also, specific to the Sparkle Spa and Space Castle there seems to be an outright "it's bad because it's too different" (from conventional LEGO models) attitude, so personally I expect those to sets to sell like crap. Mylenium

One more thought I forgot to add: If you decided to go with the greater separation as I suggested, you might also be able to vary the environment seasonally, i.e. create a section covered in snow to bring out e.g. the log cabin much more prominently. Perhaps you could even add one more hill with white areas as a background. Mylenium