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Lego to open 160 new stores as other toy retailers suffer

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Re: Lego to open 160 new stores as other toy retailers suffer

#61
post #5

"Lego has become the world’s largest toymaker by sales..." Had no idea they'd grown that much. Mattel used to be on top. Apparently Lego passed them around 2014. The movie tie-ins seem to have done it. Even though Barbie had her screen moments in one of the Toy Story movies.

They are also the world largest tire manufacturer ([citation needed] for this year but at least for 2011 it was true).

Re: Lego to open 160 new stores as other toy retailers suffer

#62

Lego is becoming more and more of a scumbag company. First hit this year was that they sued a small Lego shop in Frankfurt called "Held der Steine". His logo was a standing brick, but it could have been any brick, no Lego logo was seen or whatnot. They sued him for infringement of their trademarks anyway. That gave quite a huge media wave, I think the video of "Held der Steine" on YouTube where he lays out what happe…

Not only the model quality, but the Lego bricks themselves are pretty disappointing too. If you drop a normal brick on a hard floor the brick is likely to shatter. More models have special parts with narrow waist sections that easily snap. The c-shaped grips that hold poles either warp or snap and become useless. More and more sets come with stickers rather than printing the pattern onto the bricks like they used to…

> If you drop a normal brick on a hard floor the brick is likely to shatter.

Are they really like that nowadays?

When I was a child they were near indestructible.

Re: Lego to open 160 new stores as other toy retailers suffer

#63

IMO LEGO thrives thanks to their relentless focus on product quality. The phrase "det bedste ir ikke for godt" (roughly "only the best is good enough") has a long history in the company. The fact that they have been able to thrive like this in a market with many competitors cloning their product is a a testament to their product quality and related brand strength. If you've used and compared the various brands in thi…

> best plastic and tightest tolerances

What all stories people tell themselves to shell out wads of dough on bullshit no one asked for. Apple and every other luxury brand in the world makes use of this story telling subset of the population as an external evangelizing church to keep the dogma flowing.

I have a bunch of Lego from decades ago that I am slowly offloading to kids of family and friends. I never bought any of my sets with this bonus usecase in mind caring about plastic quality or lifespan . I bought them because I like building stuff.

Re: Lego to open 160 new stores as other toy retailers suffer

#64
post #33

IMO LEGO thrives thanks to their relentless focus on product quality. The phrase "det bedste ir ikke for godt" (roughly "only the best is good enough") has a long history in the company. The fact that they have been able to thrive like this in a market with many competitors cloning their product is a a testament to their product quality and related brand strength. If you've used and compared the various brands in thi…

> IMO LEGO thrives thanks to their relentless focus on product quality. I'm sure that doesn't hurt, but these days LEGO thrives because of their relentless promotional brand tie-ins. It's not just LEGO anymore. It's LEGO Star Wars, LEGO Batman, LEGO Harry Potter, LEGO Disney's Frozen, LEGO Toy Story 4, and so on.

Yes, and also their shops are more like a DIY warehouse/hardware store, where you get inspired.

I was only about some plastic bricks, ecommerce would suffice. I really think it is the kind of fantasy/DIY/inspiration that you only get from direct experience.

LEGO is the new hardware store.

Re: Lego to open 160 new stores as other toy retailers suffer

#65

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I read this, believed it, and repeated it to a friend in a Lego store. My friend then pointed out that there are tons of models with guns and many other weapons. I think the actual policy is that their original nonlicensed models don't feature modern day guns or military vehicles, but they are totally fine making models with guns and weapons of war so long as they are from the fantasy world or they are not modern.

pfft. Built any “City” theme sets lately? All the police minifigs pack pretty realistic-looking semi-autos.

Do you have a reference to an official Lego City set with semi-autos? I find that hard to believe.

Re: Lego to open 160 new stores as other toy retailers suffer

#66

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I read this, believed it, and repeated it to a friend in a Lego store. My friend then pointed out that there are tons of models with guns and many other weapons. I think the actual policy is that their original nonlicensed models don't feature modern day guns or military vehicles, but they are totally fine making models with guns and weapons of war so long as they are from the fantasy world or they are not modern.

pfft. Built any “City” theme sets lately? All the police minifigs pack pretty realistic-looking semi-autos.

I don’t think that’s true at all. I looked at every police set Lego is selling currently and not a single one of them included even a suggestion of a gun.

Typical police equipment are handcuffs, megaphones, walkie-talkies, traffic paddles and coffee cups. The criminals might carry gold, banknotes, dynamite or crowbars and other tools.

The most gun-like thing in current sets is the huge net shooter (larger than a minifig and not portable at all) that really isn’t very gun-like at all.

Not even the minifig prints include suggestions of guns.

Re: Lego to open 160 new stores as other toy retailers suffer

#67
post #63

IMO LEGO thrives thanks to their relentless focus on product quality. The phrase "det bedste ir ikke for godt" (roughly "only the best is good enough") has a long history in the company. The fact that they have been able to thrive like this in a market with many competitors cloning their product is a a testament to their product quality and related brand strength. If you've used and compared the various brands in thi…

> best plastic and tightest tolerances What all stories people tell themselves to shell out wads of dough on bullshit no one asked for. Apple and every other luxury brand in the world makes use of this story telling subset of the population as an external evangelizing church to keep the dogma flowing. I have a bunch of Lego from decades ago that I am slowly offloading to kids of family and friends. I never bought any…

And yet you didn't buy a competitive building toy other than LEGO.

It's almost like consumers aren't basing their decisions on random dogma.

Re: Lego to open 160 new stores as other toy retailers suffer

#68
post #63

IMO LEGO thrives thanks to their relentless focus on product quality. The phrase "det bedste ir ikke for godt" (roughly "only the best is good enough") has a long history in the company. The fact that they have been able to thrive like this in a market with many competitors cloning their product is a a testament to their product quality and related brand strength. If you've used and compared the various brands in thi…

> best plastic and tightest tolerances What all stories people tell themselves to shell out wads of dough on bullshit no one asked for. Apple and every other luxury brand in the world makes use of this story telling subset of the population as an external evangelizing church to keep the dogma flowing. I have a bunch of Lego from decades ago that I am slowly offloading to kids of family and friends. I never bought any…

You come off really, really salty in that opening paragraph.

> I have a bunch of Lego from decades ago that I am slowly offloading to kids of family and friends

Surely even you have to admit that the engineering quality is what allows you to be able to hand down those bricks?

Re: Lego to open 160 new stores as other toy retailers suffer

#69
post #60

Lego is becoming more and more of a scumbag company. First hit this year was that they sued a small Lego shop in Frankfurt called "Held der Steine". His logo was a standing brick, but it could have been any brick, no Lego logo was seen or whatnot. They sued him for infringement of their trademarks anyway. That gave quite a huge media wave, I think the video of "Held der Steine" on YouTube where he lays out what happe…

The story about "Held der Steine" looked to me like an attorney going too far. Stupid move, stupid shitstorm ensues. The design of the classical Lego minifigure OTOH is protected. It's completely legal and understandable to go after copies of that. But with "Bluebrixx", I'm not so sure if this is all. There might be more about that. Look for example at this page: https://www.bluebrixx.com/de/bluebrixxspecials/scifi T…

> This looks very much like something fishy going on. They call them "Bluebrixx-Specials" but they are clearly not original designs.

I'm with you on that, but can you really protect designs like these?

Obviously they are trying hard to sail around paying licensing fees which I can understand and don't really see a problem with.

Paying those licensing fees is mainly for marketing reasons and if you want to keep marketing costs low I see no problem in selling a "classical ambulance" instead of "Ecto-1 from Ghostbusters".

Re: Lego to open 160 new stores as other toy retailers suffer

#70
post #63

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> best plastic and tightest tolerances What all stories people tell themselves to shell out wads of dough on bullshit no one asked for. Apple and every other luxury brand in the world makes use of this story telling subset of the population as an external evangelizing church to keep the dogma flowing. I have a bunch of Lego from decades ago that I am slowly offloading to kids of family and friends. I never bought any…

You come off really, really salty in that opening paragraph. > I have a bunch of Lego from decades ago that I am slowly offloading to kids of family and friends Surely even you have to admit that the engineering quality is what allows you to be able to hand down those bricks?

Well I am salty. And I can't stand what how consumerist LEGO has become. Plus I don't like evangelists. Instead of allowing kids to figure out the value of something themselves, they fill their heads with bullet points about what they are supposed to like about a product.
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