gylman

Time will tell, but it seems to me that the turnaround was quite spectacular, and based on fundamental changes such as reducing operating costs, and growth in a shrinking market.

I'd rather complain before things get that bad (I certainly won't be buying LEGO if they do). The juniorization of LEGO has nothing to do with Mega Bloks and their vastly inferior product. Fortunately, there are alot of sets on the market right now that aren't suffering from any serious form of juniorization at the moment (compared to say, the late 1990s). Later. Totally agree. The last 2-3 years have seen an outstanding improvement in the quality of Lego sets. Juniorization is almost gone as a real issue. It's just a buzzword now.

It's the new "pick-a-tank" display at some Lego stores. :-)

A vast number of these have now appearred on bricklink (since they seem to have become so valuable). One person even selling 38 of them@!!!!! Where did all these come from all of a sudden. http://www.bricklink.com/search.asp?q=67c01 Let the feeding frenzy begin!

That's very good news Gandalf. You've made my day. Like I said - I had kinda given up on NXT because I was quite wedded to my current motors. I am far more likely to get it now. I can't imagine it will be very long before 3rd party converter cables are available. It seems to me that these converter cables themselves will allow electrical stacking. Assuming it's just an electrical signal flowing along the wires, you just use the 2x2 plate be the location where a whole bunch of things come together. Cheers!

Hmm. looks like I would definitely want the educational version. The AC plug is essential for anything OTHER than a robot. Are we sure those "converter cables" permit seamless use of a standard 9V motor. There was some early discussion of this when the NXT came out which suggest that it was not possible to do this easily - different voltages, different signaling methods. Maybe more info came out afterwards, but I kind of lost interest. Cheers.

LOL. Brillliant thinking Sting. Great minds and all that.....

Depends on market positioning. We are not competing with Star Wars or ExoForce. We are positioning Adventurers as the most educational and imaginative Lego line, no license, a running cast of characters that provdes a common thread as we criss-cross the world. This group of characters is uniquely Lego, and can become very recognizable as a Lego product, even though it is an Indiana Jones ripoff. There was a poll some time ago on the Lego website, and it asked which character would you most like to see leading a Lego Parade. Johnny Thunder and the Adventurers won (granted against very lame competition). I know I am getting far-fetched here, but as a parent and sometimes teacher, I think Adventurers can be The Lego Company's platform for entering the classroom. This is how they say with a straight face " we care about childhood education". Whether they truly care or not, I could't care less. But Lego has historically positioned itself as an educational toy. They have sold castles sets, town set, Adventurers sets (egypt theme), Dacta, Robolab, and others especially for classrooms. This activity has dwindled in recent years, and their only active classroom work now seems to be Robolab, soon to be NXT. Why not use the Adventurers for educating about history. Recognizing that classrooms are 50/50 male/female this platform should have equal appeal to each sex. You people want Romans: Caesar and Cleopatra (you people have been clamouring for Roman theme, and apparently Playmobile has a rocking one this year. Since these companies always steal each others ideas...) You want Greece: Helen of Troy and Achilles. (the adventurers did to a greek adventure, but only online as far as I know) You want Medieval: JOan of Arc (well, there may be some issues there....) You want Transatlantic flight: Charles Lindberg and Amelia Earhart. Adventurers has always been big with planes The Od American West: recycle a bunch of Legoredo pieces, but bring the Adventurers into it. .... Use the Adventurers characters as a vehicle to visit different place (time travel, whatever), and support them with an interactive website. Sell them to the general market and to the schools in special packages. Look, TLC has to try some new marketing approach now and then. Boys 8-12 is saturated. Expand!

I think I'll be holding back on NXT, for a while at least. It doesn't look Lego-ish enough for me, and I have my doubts about the motors we are getting. Too big and bulky. If they find a way to let us use our old 9V motors I think that would sway me to enter the field. Also, it remains to be seen whether the user interface we get is much better than the old useless one. If not, then we will have to wait some time for the equivalent of NQC to be stable and usable on our PCs. I don't think I want to be on the bleeding edge of this one.

Hah! I'll buy one just because it's so beautiful, one for the parts, and one to keep in storage just so I know in my heart that I have one MISB in case of future emergency. BWAHAHAHAHAHA <runs raving into the night>

Truly, a work of Lego art. The previous pics did not do it justice. Goes to show you can't judge a new set by the first bit of information you see. That one is going on the "buy as soon as it appears on S@H, do not wait for cheaper price, try to get one or two extra" list.

I am not pretending that Adventurers can compete with Star Wars or Batman for gross sales. Personally, I have no use for Star Wars, and have never built a set other than the ISD. My kids also have no interest in StarWars. I am however, grateful for its existence because I know it is one of the main reasons TLC is still financially viable. However, Lego has tried to create the impression that they care about child development. They have historyically tried to get their product into schools (Dacta, Mindstorms) and there is no daycare or afterschool children program in the western world without a bucket of Legos somewhere. I assume that this is not because they actually care about these issues, but because it is an excellent marketing and promotion tool. Lego also wants to grow its market. Well.... if the market is 8-12 year old boys, then they are in trouble because this market is saturated. Surely a more sensible thing to do is to expand the market is by looking outside this group - maybe 8-12 year old girls. Sure, some girls will look at it and see a boys' toy and not want to try it. But I predict a significant number of girls will. Isn't it easier to make more money by increasing the number of girls playing with lego from 5% to 20% than to get the boys from 75% to 90%? If Lego can then position Lego less as a boys' toy, but rather as a great toy for boys and girls.... the opportunities are endless. Other than my job, there is nothing I know more about than children's toys, and I can tell you it seems nearly impossible to find things for my girls outside the mindless retarded Barbie and Bratz type toys. The way I see it the Adventurers line is a solution to many issues Lego has: -emphasizing education and imagingation with play -including girls in the market -not being totally dependent on licenses. -keeping that noisy bunch of whining AFOLs off their back. :-) TLC needs to be able to say: "hey we made a bazillion dollar off selling StarWars sets.", AND to be able to say "we sell an educational product that promotes imaginative play, learning, and male and female roles without violence". The second sentence may not make them as much money as the first, but it's excellent optics and excellent strategy for promotion. Right now when TLC makes that second statement, it rings increasingly hollow. Jipay - let us know if how our TLC representative responds to the disccussion here.

Honestly, Vaughn Mills would be a perfect location. Being the biggest outlet mall in Ontario, it only makes sense that if LEGO were to bring a LEGO outlet into Canada, it would start there. And more to the point, it would be the first genuine LEGO store in a major community centre (the three Bricks & Blocks stores are too remote for most Toronto shoppers). Still, Bricks & Blocks is better than nothing. Later. Highly local comment, but I think Vaughn Mills is too close to Cookstown. One could argue that Ottawa is a better place, close to both Montreal and filling a void in that part of Ontario. I am sure our musings are of high interest to other EB members.... NOT. :-)

I have recently learned, thanks to Jamie75 who sold me a huge batch of sets, that Sea Riders 4402 is an excellent blue parts pack. The 4 universal joints and large number of tiles are just gravy. High recommended and often available at discounts or low price in eBay.

Here's an idea for a "license" that would be along those lines (but not Adventurers) The Magic Treehouse. In North America this is huge for kids in the 6-9 group, both sexes. I have no idea though it it has any interest outside NA. Historical elements, fun characters, lots of potential. http://www.randomhouse.com/kids/magictreehouse/

Lego is unfortunately a corporation first and it all comes down to sales. Don't underestimate the importance of $$$ to a company. Goodwill, ethic responsibility, and all the other missions and social goals are secondary to a company when their $ales keep them in business. It's all about the numbers. But what does give AFOL an advantage, is that we are vocal. We send letters and messages expressing our concerns, issues, and opinions re. new products, but unless we can dent Lego in the pocket book (or really provide information that will help their sales -which we're seeing with focus groups/Ambassador program), we won't be heard. I agree with BlueAndWhite's comments completely. It's the cold hard truth. Both Exo-Force and KKII are not licenses. Number of relevant females = 0. THey are story lines developed by TLC. They can easily do the same with Adventurers. Not every theme has to be about massive battles among robots and soldiers. Surely somewhere there is a role for a single relatively peaceful theme, characterized more by humor than by weapons, with a smattering of strong female characters. There has to be a niche for that somewhere. TLC certainly has missed out on the girl market. If there is any potential for one, ExoForce and KKII won't do it. Belville is an insult to the intelligence of girls over the age of 6 or 7. Adventurers has the potential at least. .

AFOLs have children. Children have friends who come over to play. Children who come over to play have parents. ..... My daughter has the entire grade 2 class playing Johnny Thunder gam;es. I personally determine the Lego shopping of 5 families, with influence over a few others. I can't imagine TLC is so superficial as to judge the importance of AFOLs just by their numbers in direct sales. Frankly, the Star Wars sets are a great gift to someone you don't really know, because they will be welcomed and you will feel like you got a useful present. But the Adventurers sets are a better gift if you care about sustained play value. Also, for GIRLS the Adventurers sets are the most appropriate, and have had more strong female roles than any other theme (although clearly not enough). I have two girls. Adventurers is far and away their favourite theme. 'nuff said.

Will those who read these pleas care enough to do anything about them? About 8 months ago SuvieD conducted a survey to ascertain exactly what AFOLs wanted from The LEGO Company and that recieved under 130 responses and at present there's been no news or observation that any of this information is being taken into consideration. So I ask, are a few messages expressing love for Adventurers really going to make a difference? But by all means try... It can't hurt can it? Exactly right. However, seriously, EB has a "affiliated Lego rep", right Jipay?? Can we at least draw his attention to this discussion? I am not deluding myself that the entire marketing strategy of TLC rests on emails from AFOLs, but I been impressed how often this type of thing plants a seed of something in someone's head that bears fruit in unpredictable ways. More to the point....It takes 10 seconds and it can't hurt! So do it people. Another point re: SuvieD's survey. It was (as far as I know) unsolicited. I have found that very large bureaucracies are not able to take input from unexpected channels. The existing channel of input to fans to TLC is their web site contact. It is quite possible that 5 brief messages from this direction will carry more impact than SuvieD thoughtful and massive survey.

All who care about the Adventurers - please leave a brief message to The Lego Company http://www.lego.com/eng/service/contactusform.asp (sorry for the spamming)

Gear Grinders It is a truly excellent small set. Lego did a good job with that one.

I am pretty sure that the "scorpion palace" set sold very badly from the Orient Expedition series. It is still on the shelves, and doesn't budge. But frankly, its sucked. However, the other big sets from that series, 20$ and up, Dragon Fortress, Temple of Mount Everest, Emperor's ship (ok, not that big) are almost impossible to find anywhere, at any price. Can we communicate with a Lego rep about this? from EB? Don't we have a rep associated with EB? The thought of having no more Johnny Thunder adventures is too sad to contemplate. The adventurers are what got my kids into Lego! p.s. If anyone can get me a bargain basement Dragon Fortress, since it "doesn't sell", I'll take it.... or 2, or three. Mark my words in 10 years that set will be considered a Lego Masterpiece. *skull* <goes off in a corner to fume and plot revenge.....> *alien* OK, back from sulking. Time to take action. All who care about the Adventurers - please leave a brief message to The Lego Company http://www.lego.com/eng/service/contactusform.asp

If that item is as described, you got a bargooon!!!! Enjoy it. Gyl

Very sad to hear that. :-( If Lego has decided that "adventure" does not sell.... we may never see the Adventurers again. That would be a terrible mistake IMHO - no license, great characters, lots of different ideas that can be explored with that.

There should be a big fat Lego store in the Eaton's Centre in downtown Toronto. What we have now in Ontario are the three outlet stores, Bricks and Blocks, which are basically equivalent ot a Lego store except that they don't have any gear, just sets. They even give offer Lego birthday parties. But, it's a pain to drive out to Cookstown, or Waterloo, or Windsor .... so I would be happier to get a real Lego store here.

http://www.ifilm.com/ifilmdetail/2405283?htv=12 I am sure many have seen this, but if you are relatively new to Lego, you will have a chuckle, and if you haven't seen it in a few years, you enjoy it too. See if you can spot the parrot bit.