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How Hollywood Tie-Ins Saved Lego
MBCook writes "The New York Times published an article on Saturday profiling Lego, and how tie-ins with movies have helped save the company. 'Even as other toymakers struggle, this Danish maker of toy bricks is enjoying double-digit sales gains and swelling earnings. In recent years, Lego has increasingly focused on toys that many parents wouldn't recognize from their own childhood. Hollywood themes are commanding more shelf space, a far cry from the idealistic, purely imagination-oriented play that drove Lego for years and was as much a religion as a business strategy in Billund.' The article also mentions coming Lego Stores, a Lego board game, how Lego now allows sets with violence (like a gun for Indiana Jones), and how since 2004 Lego has cut part count nearly in half by encouraging re-use of parts and stopping one-off pieces."
Try this link.
That's the product line that has REALLY saved The Lego Group. The sales figures for that line alone are staggering. And as an AFOL, I can verify that the design quality and playability of their recent products have improved substantially. My kids continue to go back to their Lego collection to play with long after the novelty of the latest toy that they've received for their birthday\Xmas\whatever has worn off. As a friend of mine has always said, it's a thousand toys in one.
"Klaatu, verada, necktie!" -Ash
So, what you're telling me is Lego sold out. And for the Harrison Ford retirement fund--I mean, movie, no less.
#fuckbeta #iamslashdot #dicemustdie
My son is 6 and right smack in the middle of the kids they are shooting for. He is obsessed with Star Wars, and loves playing Lego Star Wars. He's collected a few sets now for birthday, Christmas, etc. We have a lot of fun building the kits to the directions, but spend just as much time figuring out new things to build. There are a lot of different shapes that go well beyond the idea of a 'block' and I think it involves a lot more imagination to figure new ways to connect them.
It's something we can do together and have a lot of fun with it. When he's a little older we'll start working with the Mindstorm kit together.
It's hard to believe that's how Micronians are made. Why don't we see it right now by having you both kiss one another?
I wish they were around when I was a kid. When my kids were kids, I used to play with their Legos all the time. I don't play with them anymore. Maybe when I have grandkids, I'll play with them again. Playing with legos when you don't have kids is probably weird.
If you must moderate, please moderate as irrelevent, not something bad, because I'm sure someone will find this interest
So they confirmed that in order to sell something you need to create a desire in the mind of the children. Welcome to the Marketing world.
Love many, trust a few, do harm to none.
The tie-ins are tolerable even though they're still horribly dependent on using special pieces. What I want to know is why have they gutted the much more interesting Technic line? You rarely see the sets that are still produced on the big retailers shelves in the US anymore.
I am becoming gerund, destroyer of verbs.
Wait... a gun for indiana jones is new? When I was a kid (20 years ago), we had pirate sets with guns in them... medieval sets with swords and cross bows... weapons everywhere.... how is violence in lego anything even remotely new?
While it is annoying to have 500 different versions of ____ summer movie theme represented in toy form, the best trick that lego has going for it is that you can usually rip it down and change it into something else when you are bored of it. LEGO recognizes that their product can still fit in with the imaginationland scheme while still appealing to a current market trend, so why not?
Yea, and Al Gore invented the internet. Sure....
Could it perhaps be that marketing people took over and pushed up the price of what amounts to pieces of cheap mass-produced plastic that dragged down the company in the first place? To me there's something wrong in needing to jump through so many hoops to sell something so simple and appealing as building blocks.
"I bless every day that I continue to live, for every day is pure profit."
You can still by the bricks. You can even by compatible bricks from other manufacturers. But, these special kits really do help Lego stay profitable. Is that a bad thing?
If you must moderate, please moderate as irrelevent, not something bad, because I'm sure someone will find this interest
While it is true that movie themes have kept Lego afloat and even boosted its popularity significantly, once someone gets into Lego, it becomes something else entirely.
When I was a kid, Lego was mainly for building houses for the little people to live in. Our cultures have changed significantly since those days. Our homes are constantly filled with sound and music and noise of one kind or another. Everything needs to flash, bang or pop to get our attention. Star Wars and even Indiana Jones movie themes have lots of flash, bang and pop. "Playing house" or building a farming scene is just not something that most kids are interested in with all the color and excitement found on TV and in movies. "Simpler times" have gone out of fashion for now and I predict it will return again one day, but not until the 80's are finally dead and behind us.
But once a kid (or an adult, let's be fair -- a LOT of Lego fans are ADULTS!) builds his first model, he will want to build another. And while building those models, he will want to change it or improve it in some way. Eventually, that same child is building his own creations. So while the popular movie themes are a great hook, it almost never stops there!
And here's another thing -- it may be "movie themes" but it is also VIDEO GAME themes that will sell Lego sets. For some reason, Lego missed the boat with Halo and MegaBloks got the rights to that theme instead. (It's a damned shame because I see MegaBloks as cheaper and of lesser quality) But it is partly the Lego Star Wars and Lego Indiana Jones that brought interest in Lego for many. The games are outstanding and you don't "die" in the same ways and you build things as you progress through the games. They are genuinely enjoyable and the fun associated with those games ALSO bring interest to other Lego products as well.
But again I say, once the first set is build, the joys of building things then becomes more of the focus and the real magic of Lego is realized.
And one last thing I thought I would add. Lego teaches things to kids... to people really. It encourages a kind of engineering and architectural thinking. It also encourages ordered and organized thinking. There are elements of puzzle solving (especially when one is trying to make one's own creations) and most of all, it encourages patience, concentration and focus. And the reward of "look what I made" is ever present. These are things that are being lost and eroded with today's ADD/ADHD population. Most of us don't have anything medically wrong -- we just don't have patience and focus. Lego can strengthen the mind of the young and old with these kinds of lessons.
And it's fun!
Some sets are that way - but most are still incredibly flexible. There are a lot of cool things that can be done with the new sets that couldn't be done with the old. There are a lot more mechanical parts in the basic sets now. My sons Imperial Shuttle kit had some very cool gears and other parts to allow the wings to move up and down. The hinged doors are pretty slick, etc. We've been able to incorporate that into a lot of fun designs of our own.
It really still is an open ended toy for exploration, especially once you have 4 or 5 kits worth of pieces on hand.
It's hard to believe that's how Micronians are made. Why don't we see it right now by having you both kiss one another?
(This is coming from someone who, as a kid, saved up for a year to buy the Black Seas Barracuda and subscribed to "Brick Kicks" magazine)
I used to question the movie tie-ins with LEGO. Then I helped my friend build the LEGO Millenium Falcon for his kid... and it was a blast. It made me realize that the fun of LEGOs was putting them together, destroying them, and building something new. The tie-ins don't really ruin that. If it keeps LEGO around, it's a good thing. You can still buy non-tie-in LEGOs (and it looks to me like the new City LEGOs sets are really cool).
Now, LEGO needs to make the next step and allow people to build their own kits online. I think that would be even bigger than LEGO Star Wars.
Guess we where privileged to have been kids while lego still made brick that wasnt gigantic and unique to a single model. Over the year it has sadden me to see how lego packages have been taking up less and less space of the toy stores, when I was a kid a whole section where filled with it, back then one could go there and find smaller cheap packages also, gone are those days. It prob never was cheap toy but the prices they are asking for very few bricks this day are just ridiculous, the only thing today that resembles the packages of the past are those special edition starwars boxes where you actuale gets bricks instead of prefabricated modules.
Hey-- why hasn't there been a Lego movie? Given the brand appeal and the richness of the settings possible, a Lego movie would kick brick-ass....
You might THINK that there are a bunch of specialized pieces that are tailored to make one specific thing, but that's not necessarily true. Yes, there are more different kinds of pieces and some are rather unique. But it is actually hard to find a particular piece that isn't also used in other sets. It may be painted differently or be made of a different color, but that's the way it goes. These more unique pieces enables even more creativity, not less. Go browse "www.mocpages.com" and just look at what people have made using these "specialized pieces." They make everything you can imagine from them. One of my favorite Lego creations of all time is the Futurama Lego set someone created. (Just Google for Lego Futurama) It is most certainly NOT an official Lego set. It uses a lot of specialized pieces and is extremely creative work.
Lego may have started out being "blocky" and only good for making houses with roofs at 45 degree angles, but it is much more than that now, and it is largely thanks to the availability of these "less basic" parts.
The movie tie-ins are pure genius and uniquely Lego.. They have a good sense of humor and the new Lego sets are fun. As a 35 year Lego guy, it find the new stuff simply awesome.
The irony is that the Star Wars Lego sets are MORE Lego like than their 'original' sets they put out now. The piece on the Star Wars sets are more interchangeable while their "Mars" series has these HUGE molded pieces that can not really be used outside of the ship you are 'supposed' to build.
However, if you want to find something that sucks the soul out of Lego.. look no further than Bionicle.
Back in my days when there was knights lego, they already had swords...
Privacy is terrorism.
Pretty much everything I made out of Legos was war-related. Tanks and planes mostly, but I made some pretty cool howitzers back in the day. They'd fire the four-side black rods with a couple of rubber bands.
Just felt compelled to make another comment. From the article, there was one statement that really stuck in my craw. And it was the one that said with these Hollywood themed sets, kids will be playing out Hollywood's imagination instead of their own. It's true but it's not. With action figures and vehicle toys from the movies, that will definitely be true. But with Lego toys, it's not as true. Why? Because you can't make things with action figures and vehicles... not easily anyway.
And here's a factoid that people are overlooking -- children are QUICKLY losing their imaginations. We live in a different world now than we did 20-30 years ago. There are FAR fewer creative toys that are popular these days. Playdoh and crayons have really lost favor among kids. Why? I could guess a lot of reasons, but one of the more significant reasons is lack of interest from parents. In present times, parents are still playing their video games and aren't the slightest bit interested in what their kids create or draw. This is a huge shift. And without parents being interested in what their kids are doing, the kids are less inclined to doing anything creative at all. Whatever the cause, children and people in general are losing their creativity.
But while Lego, as a purely creative toy, has lost the interest of children, themed Lego has a chance of bridging the problem of lost creativity.
So they've managed to stay in business by the power of marketing and the irrationality that people display when buying for kids.
They actually created a product that people want to buy. Is that a bad thing? Coupled with the fact that you can still buy the 'unbranded' sets and that they are reducing one-off non-reusable pieces, it's a good thing.
Have you seen what a lego set costs these days?
There is a reason. The quality of Lego is legendary, so much that they don't even advertise it any more. The parts are manufactured to tolerances comparable with precision machinery. For example, when you place 10 bricks with holes side by side, you can run 12-unit axles through each of the holes, and they always align perfectly. In a new set there are no bricks that don't "stick" together, and the plastic wears down really slowly. I have encountered exactly 1 bad piece in 10000$ MSRP worth of Lego (and they replaced when I e-mailed the customer service).
It's no wonder cheap rip offs that don't even work as well are getting a slice of the action.
Poland is not a very rich country and yet Lego still dwarfs all other brands combined by sales volume... I don't see too much "action" for cheap imitators.
Those who would give up liberty to obtain working drivers, deserve neither liberty nor working drivers.
Every toy that says "Made in the EU" is expensive, but they're generally good quality.
When I was a child (90s), every toy that said "Made in Taiwan/China" was cheap shit and wouldn't last.
What toys have I kept? My Lego (Denmark), model railway (Britain, Germany), Mecanno (France), Warhammer (Britain), and K'NEX (USA).
I think the Lego and Warhammer is still made in Denmark/UK, and they're both expensive, but the others are now made in China, and the quality seems to be as it used to be.
Gizmodo has an excellent article with video from their tour of the Lego factory. It's a must-see for people who like seeing how things are made: http://gizmodo.com/5022769/exclusive-inside-the-lego-factory
So basically it is saying that Money has saved Lego?
"The article also mentions coming Lego Stores, a Lego board game, how Lego now allows sets with violence (like a gun for Indiana Jones) ..."
Um, Legos has had guns for years. They commonly appeared in there pirate themed sets. Heck, I probably wouldn't have played legos half as much as I did if it wasn't for the firearms.
Citation needed.
A lot of people complaining about some of these Lego sets seem to think that you can only really build the thing on the box when you get the set. There's a ton of parts for even the tiniest Lego model and you have a lot of options. If you have more than one set, you can genuinely make some really interesting displays. You need to think differently out of the box. My four year old autistic son taught me this. I buy them for them and he puts together all sorts of stuff. At first, I put the sets together and then let him have at them, but I had gotten lazy and just handed some stuff to play with, and felt pretty bad about it, so I bought a fairly complicated set to put together with him, and found that, by the time I'd got the basics of the first page done, he'd already built something very cool. For him, the picture on the box isn't the thing to build, but is representative of a sort of world he plays in with those pieces. I think right now Princess Lea and Han Solo Lego people are wearing pirate hats and are carrying knight swords on top of a steam engine (sad end for a Bachmann set).
Still, if you must have the ultimate in "suggestionless" Lego design, you need to go to a Lego store. Lego stores have all the theme sets, for sure, but they also have a huge wall in the back where you can just fill up a big cup for $15 and get anything you want. Wheels, different shape blocks, they are all there.
This is my sig.
Lego is clearly in charge of the business. Here's how it works. A kid sees a lego kit. The branding (Star Wars, Indiana Jones, etc) sells the kit. The child assembles the X wing fighter, or the Pirate ship. The toy then flies/sails to the corner of the room with all the other legos. The pirate ends up in the X wing. The cannons from the pirate ship end up on the x wing fighter but the nav console from the x wing becomes part of something else. The Ferrari mechanic is wearing a horned helmet and in the battlements of the castle. By the time the child is done, the "branded toy" has morphed and blended with all the other legos. Our lego chess set is guarding a castle. Bits of X wing and Imperial Walkers are outbuildings. From the children I've observed, the branded lego kit is a way to sell the blocks at the highest possible price. To the adult. The kids play with the blocks like kids. Lego is still one of the few toys with real play value, not just a prepackaged fantasy with no where to go. Also, for those of you worried about the "gun" issue, kids can make guns out of anything....and do.
Legos were among my most favorite toys as a child. I can't wait to have a child of my own so I have an excuse to once again play them.
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How could one conclude that Lego was "saved" by these tie-ins and would have ceased to exist? Did they promote added sales, etc, yeah sure. But "saved" is simply a ridiculous statement.
Heh, my Lego city got assaulted by Green Army Men many a time.
Also, I find myself mixing "themed Legos" in with the other ones - even if I don't disassemble the model itself, the Star Wars spaceship interacts with a self-built ship rather than jsut with other Star Wars stuff, et cetera
I listen to both RIAA and non-RIAA stuff if I like the music, tangential business/politics nonwithstanding.
Wish I could mod you up.
The term "specialized parts" makes no sense.
My scientist's heart sinks when I remember the hopes I had and that the following would re-popularize the space program as well as science in general, then lost when nobody noticed...
So you've got these guys who built these robot car things and they're going to send them to Mars. One of the cool things they did was collect peoples' names and messages to the New Planet to send along. They burned the messages to CDs and then started looking for a way to attach the CDs to the 'dashboards' of their robots. How about... oh, I dunno... maybe some interlocking plastic blocks with the CD trapped between a pair of them, and a screw or two to hold each of the 3 pairs in place? I'll bet some of these guys even have some of these things laying around and would be glad to donate them to the cause.....
From the left science panaorama camera on each Mars Rover, taken on Sol 2 of each mission:
Spirit:
http://marsrovers.nasa.gov/gallery/all/2/p/002/2P126556804EFF0200P2205L1M1.JPG
http://marsrovers.nasa.gov/gallery/all/2/p/002/2P126556727EFF0200P2205L4M1.JPG
Opportunity:
http://marsrovers.nasa.gov/gallery/all/1/p/002/1P128365194EDN0100P2205L5M1.JPG
http://marsrovers.nasa.gov/gallery/all/1/p/002/1P128365248EDN0100P2205L6M1.JPG
"I may be synthetic, but I'm not stupid." -- Bishop 341-B
If the journalists would actually have bothered looking at the last years numbers from Lego, they would have seen that the turnaround is due to a much much lower cost than ten - fifteen years ago. Their revenue numbers have been pretty stable for the last twenty years. But they spend *half* what they did in the mid ninetees.
This is the reason Lego has become profitable again. Not Hollywood.
Although I can see why stupid journalists would prefer the other story. *sigh*
Bo.
Otherwise I wouldn't have enough pieces that are in grey to make Star Trek Starships out of LEGO.
Tsukasa: All I really want, is to be left alone...
"how Lego now allows sets with violence (like a gun for Indiana Jones)" Since when did they not allow "violence"? When I was a kid there were Pirate and Medieval sets that had cannons, swords, and muskets... That was LONG before Indiana Jones or Star Wars sets ever started coming out.
Having specialized pieces and 4 or 5 kits is cool. My kids have around 50 of 60 kits (around 20K pieces), so specialized pieces are just lost in the mess.
Fun thing is that my kids turned to bigger scale reuse, where functional blocks of 10 or 20 bricks are reused from kits to kits. That gives most of their work a weird Tetsuo feel...
Nice word picture.
It's funny because I tend to try to keep everything matching, but whenever we get a new issue of the Lego magazine, I can see from the photos that kids send in that most don't care about that. I wonder if this is something that changes in becoming an adult or if some of us are just always that way - but most are not.
It's hard to believe that's how Micronians are made. Why don't we see it right now by having you both kiss one another?
You have a specific citation for these lies that they've told?
Wrong. In a free market a business can choose to supply as much or as little as it wants.
Do you have a citation for that? You can certainly get third party lenses in most common camera mounts, and they're usually cheaper.
Wrong again.
Confucius say, "Find worm in apple - bad. Find half a worm - worse."
They can make lego that looks like a 403 error?
Confucius say, "Find worm in apple - bad. Find half a worm - worse."
I deep linked to a bigger version of this image. Seems that the site owner didn't like that. Ooops.
I think the issue is just one of practicality. If either:
1) You are doing something big and have not enough pieces to have the luxury of choosing colors
or
2) You don't have the time to both do what you want and choose the right color
or
3) You are not following a plan, you just grow something organically, depending on the bricks you can see
then you end up mixing colors, and it doesn't matter.
When a child start doing LEGO, he doesn't have enough pieces, often doesn't have time to search for the right pieces (it is quite rare to see a children bricks sorted in different bins), and don't follow very structured plans. So he develops a sort of color blindness. I know I was like that.
Projects where colors are matched seems to be done by older people, with a lot of bricks to choose from, good organization and a solid idea of how you want to build the thing.
So, I'd say, yes, it is when you get older that you start being more careful about the colors.