snefroe

what about the lego stores in the us? will they be selling the vikings? if so, i can find some reasoning about their decision... they might simply think: "we'll increase the profits of our own chain because they're the only shop in the us with this product. people will have to buy them with us." if that's their argument, then I'd strongly support it. TLC needs to boost up the profits of this chain by creating what economics call "a competitive advantage". It's either this or go down... after all, they can't compete with TRU and their discount policy... i know this doesn't have anything to do with lego or fans or even marketing. it's about TLC trying to survive. I'd probably do the same...

did they tell you more about the why-question? more than "it won't sell"?

i'd like to see the inventory of the death star first. if i'd buy this, i'll surely never assemble it, but use the parts for MOC's instead.

the question is, WHY would they just sell this in Europe?

what two sets? what are you guys talking about? *wacko*

i think there's a lot of opportunity here to customise the set. TLC basically provided us with with the general picture, we can easily work from that point and turn it into a real UCS... i still don't know if i'm going to buy this set, tough...

i think the UCS is a TLC attempt to attract adults who once grew up with the original films. it's not an attempt to attract model kit builders or adults in general. after all, TLC has always clearly indicated that Lego is a toy for young children, nothing more. however, i do understand what you mean. those first two scale models were fantastic, not only for the traditional lego fan, but they were also attractive to model kit builders, like yourself, obviously. If the TLC had only continued in that direction, the company would now have a chance to sell lego not to children as a toy, but to adults as material for a hobby. I'm quite certain that a scale model, 3000 pieces of a spitfire, F-16, tank, whatever, could attract a lot of people who were once lego fans as a kid, but now feel that Lego is for kids. By building sculptures and minifig models in the UCS, the TLC has lost the credibility with this group of potential customers. it's seems to me that your message is evidence of that. TLC probably never even realised that there was a major opportunity here. Market analysis has never been TLC's strongest point, unfortunately. In fact, they made it worse by stating that lego is just a toy for kids. How stupid can get... TLC obviously never saw that opening new markets was their ticket out of misery. The market of construction toys for children is saturated. They won't be able to retake the monopolist position they used to have. the only way for them to grow is to find new markets. They had the chance, they blew it...

i saw the toyshops in Belgium unpack their new stuff for the next few weeks, today. there was nothing new, except new deliveries of the already released city theme... i think the viking story is wishful thinking... :(

i just found some more information about this set. according to TLC this set is an "update" of the former set. the official reason why they're rereleasing this is that TLC has new parts and colors now to improve the older models. Three years ago they simply couldn't produce the sets they're producing today. In time we might see other older sets with a facelift, even though TLC did not confirm any other release of an upgrade at this point, but it is possible. this set is an TRU exclusive but obviously S&H has them as well. they will try to balance the number of updates with the number of new releases because there's still so much to do... about these new lightsabers. it seems TLC is waiting for a response of the customers. If they're happy with them, than TLC will go on with the production of those ... and more...

TLC clearly mentioned the coming of the Vikings in Autumn 2005 in the catalog for the Lowlands... It would be nice if TLC could confirm that on the website, just to get rid of all the confusion...

Adult lego fans normally look for different qualities in sets. we give priority to quality, very often complex designs with great potential to build other things, to customise designs... we normally don't PLAY with these sets. children look first for playability. they're probably very impressed by the dinosaurs, we, on the other hand, look immediately to the helicopter, and the tank, and we say "awful" design. children will love it, because they can PLAY with it! TLC never intended to sell this theme to us, coincidently, the end product will not appeal to us. my theory is that TLC doesn't really know what to do with us, adult fans. There is no "adult" theme, at best there are some adult sets, like the star destroyer. unfortunately, as soon as minifigs are involved, we seem to think that TLC has made those sets especially for us. That's not the case, as this dino-theme clearly shows...

i wonder who's responsable for taking the decision to release this or that theme. Obviously the TLC board makes the decision official but who tells the designers to create the sets? And what are the arguments behind those decisions? Does anybody know? what do the 10 - 12 year olds think of the Dino theme? Cause, i'm adult, i think most of us are, and most of us don't like the theme, but perhaps the younger people will love it, for whatever reason!

perhaps the TLC is redesigning the Viking theme? Perhaps the first reviews were not good enough? perhaps they resemble the terrible dino theme too much. I mean, the basic theme in both is minifigs fighting monsters...

Sam, i'm not sure if you've noticed, but you're link only shows one page of star wars lego . i think the rebelscum gallery has at least four pages...

the death star looks like an unfinished ball. there are almost no details, what so ever. the black board underneath it says "15000 turbolasers, 15000 heavy lasers, 7500 canons,... can anybody show me? they should have done better... the ball is simply not attractive... i really need to see more of it before taking a decision on buying this thing. and i probably won't assemble it. 8-|

Sure it's strange, but as some one said, the English mistake might be the reason why it's no longer on the website. it's a great legend, even though I was hoping for a minifig-set... the question wether i'm going to buy this might depend on the release. If death star and sandcrawler are released at the same time, then i probably won't buy it. And i would also only buy this for the bricks...

TLC is talking about 50 years of Lego. please tell me they've got more than just this new theme... how 'bout rereleasing some major hits of the last 25 minifig-era, like the galaxy explorer,...

I was thinking the Wookiee Attack set had a great price, especially considering it has 366 pieces i usually compare price with the parts and color. the number of bricks is not that VERY important to me i'll probably buy two of the set in any case, just for the technic links...

thanks! i can't wait to get my hands on the clone turbo tank! the price might temper the enthousiasm though. i'm thinking of 110-140 euro!!! perhaps that's justified considering the parts and colors of the set, contrary to some other sets. 30$ (40-50 euro?) for the wookie attack, for instance, looks a bit too much

nope. not working. probably a network problem i'd be grateful if anyone of you could just copy the pictures directly to this forum as Sam has done for HP-pictures

sam, are you sure that these links to action-figure.com are right? every link you've given gives the "i can't find page" errors on my computer...

Great craft, Apo! :oD :oD :oD is there a door somewhere, or is this an "oops! I forgot!" kinda moment...

i'll provide the moral support ;) now, who's going to finance this operation?

i bought 4 kabaya sets (all four of them being number 7423) a year ago. funny thing is that never knew they were "kabaya sets". i just bought them in Antwerp almost by coincidence. 2.5 euro a piece! in fact, some might still be in that shop today... i guess you should watch the shops closely ... and hope you're lucky!

tru... but stormtroopers or even imperial guards on a viking ship is not particularly what I had in mind... :D :D