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LEGO |OT6| We Only Build in Black. And Sometimes Very Dark Grey.

DonShula

Member
I just chalk that up as the thrill of the chase. I'm sure I'd be better off just buying the stuff I want at full price and spending my time wisely. It's more fun to chase the occasional deal sometimes.

Oh I agree, it is fun sometimes. Sometimes.

On the bright side, I appear to have gotten a great deal on eBay. But I'll wait until I actually receive it to brag :)
 

DBT85

Member
Out of interest, whats with the LEGO Friends sets being quite clearly aimed solely at girls?

I ask as someone who in 3 months will have a baby girl. If I showed my wife some of those Friends sets she'd probably throw up a little in her mouth. We've already been buying mostly "boys" clothes as they have all the cool shit like Dinosaurs and Trucks on which is much more both our tastes lol.
 

DonShula

Member
Out of interest, whats with the LEGO Friends sets being quite clearly aimed solely at girls?

I ask as someone who in 3 months will have a baby girl. If I showed my wife some of those Friends sets she'd probably throw up a little in her mouth. We've already been buying mostly "boys" clothes as they have all the cool shit like Dinosaurs and Trucks on which is much more both our tastes lol.

I think Lego found that girls were less likely to buy similarly designed sets if they were branded as City or something less pastel-inspired.

I've complained about this before too - some of the Friends sets are excellent and are likely being skipped by boys because of the marketing focus. I have a 7 year old daughter and she likes them, but she also likes Star Wars.
 

DBT85

Member
I think Lego found that girls were less likely to buy similarly designed sets if they were branded as City or something less pastel-inspired.

I've complained about this before too - some of the Friends sets are excellent and are likely being skipped by boys because of the marketing focus. I have a 7 year old daughter and she likes them, but she also likes Star Wars.

Is it the kids buying it through or the family gifting it? A lot of people are still rather stuck in the past when it comes to toys and clothes for children. Just looking at the sets and they do look good, but they also look like boys could just as easily play with them, but all the figs are girls and even the boxes are covered in hearts, flowers and butterflies.
 
Out of interest, whats with the LEGO Friends sets being quite clearly aimed solely at girls?

I ask as someone who in 3 months will have a baby girl. If I showed my wife some of those Friends sets she'd probably throw up a little in her mouth. We've already been buying mostly "boys" clothes as they have all the cool shit like Dinosaurs and Trucks on which is much more both our tastes lol.

My girls both gravitate WAY more to the Friends and Elves lines than anything else. I don't know if it is because they have already been subjected to so many stereotypes but it is a fact.

Lots of mechs, dragons and superhero stuff makes it into their play sessions but when they look at the catalogs it's all the stuff focused on girls that grabs their attention.

I felt the same way as your wife when the line was introduced but I am turned around now.

Besides, Olivia's Laboratory is what brought me back into the fold. Before building that with my older daughter I hadn't really touched any LEGO since 1986.
 
Elves has dragons and weapons and stuff, and DC Super Hero Girls has tons of action features, so they're obviously trying to widen the appeal. Also, there are guys in those, but maybe at 20% or so.

Don't be afraid to mix. Regular minifigs can still go to a hairdresser or a convenience store. Those places are supposed to look friendly anyway.
 

DonShula

Member
Is it the kids buying it through or the family gifting it? A lot of people are still rather stuck in the past when it comes to toys and clothes for children. Just looking at the sets and they do look good, but they also look like boys could just as easily play with them, but all the figs are girls and even the boxes are covered in hearts, flowers and butterflies.

I've bought most of if but she's asked for certain sets for Christmas and birthdays. She sees them in the catalog. There is a guy mini figure in one of the sets she has (but yeah, poor representation overall).

She and my 4 year old son usually mix the sets. Yoda and Falcon dressed as Iron Man often visit the Friends amusement park.
 

DonShula

Member
I have eBay Lego fever. Narrowly missed out on both a Death Star and Sandcrawler today. Second to winning bid with 1 second left on each.

I did win a nice complete TIE Fighter Collection set. But I don't know if I actually want it.

What have you people reduced me to?
 

Ponn

Banned
Out of interest, whats with the LEGO Friends sets being quite clearly aimed solely at girls?

I ask as someone who in 3 months will have a baby girl. If I showed my wife some of those Friends sets she'd probably throw up a little in her mouth. We've already been buying mostly "boys" clothes as they have all the cool shit like Dinosaurs and Trucks on which is much more both our tastes lol.

Many of the AFOLs here enjoy the Elves and Friends line very much. They are all good stuff and really shouldn't be defined by gender but yea we all know thats what Lego is marketing them as anyways. Me personally because of my lean towards comic book and super hero stuff would be buying more of the DC Superhero Girl stuff.

Hey to anyone, did we ever get confirmation is the Fishing Store not a VIP early access for august? I haven't seen that printed anywhere as the case so i'm assuming not, wonder if its an Ideas thing that is keeping them from doing that.
 

papluh

Member
I'd say the AFOL love for Elves has just one answer ... dragons.
They have this combination of brick built and special molds that has mass appeal and acceptance. And they are styled as the fantasy/fairytale ones, again mass appeal. Don't get me wrong, Ninjago has some great Chinese/Japanese styled dragons ... and some not so great. But mainstream image of dragon for Western culture is the one represented in Elves.

And Friends ? They have better city buildings than City, enough said ...
 

DBT85

Member
Ta for the words on the Friends line folks! :)

Shall have to see which direction my little one goes in a few years.

If she's naughty I'll put her in a corner with the Knex :p
 
My girls both gravitate WAY more to the Friends and Elves lines than anything else. I don't know if it is because they have already been subjected to so many stereotypes but it is a fact.

I think that it is because those lines have great sets. The stereotypes actually would work against them, because boys miss them. Friends does what City should do, if it is not overloaded with police and firemen sets. I would get a ton of Friends sets if not the pastel tone.
 

Koren

Member
Friends does what City should do, if it is not overloaded with police and firemen sets. I would get a ton of Friends sets if not the pastel tone.
I'm not convinced they're making mistakes in their lines. Granted, there's more interesting buildings in the friends line. But we're talking about children, and young ones. I'm far from convinced that children that are interested into hotels, shops, schools don't like the color or the branding. Or even the minidolls.

Throw an hospital on City with city-like style, and I'm sure it'll sells less than a Friend-styled one.

I think City do what they should do from a marketing point of view. Same for the "city explorers" line that feature more vehicles than WE would like. They have different targets, and I think they've identified them well, and I'm not even sure it's gender branding... (why, because of the pinkish color or "dolls"? I think we apply former gender branding rules to newer marketing, and that doesn't fit).

Do you really think that boys miss them? Boys thay would have bought hotels and shops if they were in the city branding? I doubt it, or rather, there's probably a couple of them, but if they want it, they'll get it (unless their parents have their own ideas on which set is for boys or girls)

Of course, AFOL would welcome more variety in "realist" buildings. But when AFOL is obviously an important part of Lego strategy in Creator/Creator expert, Architecture, and even in SW or Marvel sets, the market for AFOL and City/Friends must be really small.
 

ghostmind

Member
The LEGO Marvel Super Heroes 2 promo:

4lZYoqg.jpg
 
Checked at GameStop and at this point the giveaway minifig is only with the $75 deluxe edition. Hopefully they'll add it to the standard.
 

Ponn

Banned
Checked at GameStop and at this point the giveaway minifig is only with the $75 deluxe edition. Hopefully they'll add it to the standard.

I'm probably not getting it then. I will never be able to play and enjoy this on PS4, i'm really waiting for the Switch version so i'd miss the window on this.
 
I'm not convinced they're making mistakes in their lines. Granted, there's more interesting buildings in the friends line. But we're talking about children, and young ones. I'm far from convinced that children that are interested into hotels, shops, schools don't like the color or the branding. Or even the minidolls.

Throw an hospital on City with city-like style, and I'm sure it'll sells less than a Friend-styled one.

I think City do what they should do from a marketing point of view. Same for the "city explorers" line that feature more vehicles than WE would like. They have different targets, and I think they've identified them well, and I'm not even sure it's gender branding... (why, because of the pinkish color or "dolls"? I think we apply former gender branding rules to newer marketing, and that doesn't fit).

Do you really think that boys miss them? Boys thay would have bought hotels and shops if they were in the city branding? I doubt it, or rather, there's probably a couple of them, but if they want it, they'll get it (unless their parents have their own ideas on which set is for boys or girls)

Of course, AFOL would welcome more variety in "realist" buildings. But when AFOL is obviously an important part of Lego strategy in Creator/Creator expert, Architecture, and even in SW or Marvel sets, the market for AFOL and City/Friends must be really small.

Don't get me wrong, I think Lego is right in their marketing strategy, but just playing too safe. Of course the old cliche says that boys like policemen and firemen, so we have to have a ton of those sets every year (must be somehow true) but Friends is clearly targeting girls. Girls would not buy those sets if they were branded City?
 
I'm probably not getting it then. I will never be able to play and enjoy this on PS4, i'm really waiting for the Switch version so i'd miss the window on this.

I want the fig but I am at the end of my rope with the TT LEGO games. After three of them I am so sick of the unintuitive puzzles and frustrating gameplay.
 
The submission model is a LDD render, that's why the colors are off a bit.

How do you know for certain that the LEGO designers didn't change the color? Bright colors are their mantra. Even for sets directed at AFOL.

They had to keep back for that twist. And yet,
Ego planet is in MSH2.

Come on, now. LEGO spoilt the climactic scene in Civil War with complete disregard.
 

Ponn

Banned
I want the fig but I am at the end of my rope with the TT LEGO games. After three of them I am so sick of the unintuitive puzzles and frustrating gameplay.

I still enjoy them, even as stale as Dimensions has gotten. Its good mindless fun and I guess thats what i've been leaning into more and more as I become an older gamer, RPG's and mindless games like beat em ups and these types of games. It's still getting tougher for me to sit down and boot up the PS4 and play any games though so thats why I was wanting to pick this up for Switch to inject a bit of freshness into it for me.

On that note I was kind of confused about this announcement and looked into it and just to clarify for anyone else maybe confused about it.

1) The Giant Man fig (which actually isn't Giant Man but Hank Pym in his Goliath outfit, but whatever) is NOT a preorder exclusive give away. It comes with the Deluxe Edition like that Finn fig came with the deluxe edition of the Lego Force Awakens game.

2) It's not a Gamestop exclusive, you can get this on Amazon or Best Buy and get your discounts on which takes the bite out of the cost of the deluxe edition and is one of those rare opportunities for you to get a discount on season passes.

3) The Switch version has a deluxe edition version as well that comes with the free fig so WOOOO, can still get both even though it comes out later.
 
Speaking of exclusive minifigs...I was checking Best Buy to preorder TLBM and they have the 2013 lego Batman movie with Clark Kent for $12.99. The minifig sells for $17 on bricklink. I had never seen it since it came out in my dark ages.
 

Koren

Member
Don't get me wrong, I think Lego is right in their marketing strategy, but just playing too safe. Of course the old cliche says that boys like policemen and firemen, so we have to have a ton of those sets every year (must be somehow true) but Friends is clearly targeting girls. Girls would not buy those sets if they were branded City?
Not less than boys of this age would buy friends sets. I'm sure I would have bought plently of friends sets when I was a kid. I think basic, primary colors fits action themes like police/firemen, while pastel colors fits quite well shops, resorts, etc.

I'm not sure that Friends target that much girls, but if they are, I think it's for the best. I'd say children are half neutral, but "construction sets is for boys" is a thing for a lot of parents, so if it can helps making parents thinking twice, it's far more useful than anything else.

When children really care about boys/girls differences in marketing (for the same content, I mean), they're usually close to the age they're not buying City/Friends anymore...

Well, that's a personal view of the thing, but I believe their classification is quite well thought...

Isn't the color of the submission model the the same color as Green Grocer?
518l-qs5hmL.jpg
Well, I'm pretty sure that the submission and the final model use the SAME color (sand green, like the Haunted House, Green Grocer, etc.) but color is all over the place. In fact, I think the GG image is too green.
 

Fowler

Member
So, what? They pulled the same shit with the Tanker Takedown set that never happened in Civil War.

I mean... it's not an exact match... but I assumed this was part of the airport battle, given the windsock and that Ant-Man gets Captain America to throw a tanker that he thought was full of water. Not a match in terms of the figures, but one of those that would make a complete scene if you add it to the Giant-Man set.
 

DonShula

Member
Not less than boys of this age would buy friends sets. I'm sure I would have bought plently of friends sets when I was a kid. I think basic, primary colors fits action themes like police/firemen, while pastel colors fits quite well shops, resorts, etc.

I'm not sure that Friends target that much girls, but if they are, I think it's for the best. I'd say children are half neutral, but "construction sets is for boys" is a thing for a lot of parents, so if it can helps making parents thinking twice, it's far more useful than anything else.

When children really care about boys/girls differences in marketing (for the same content, I mean), they're usually close to the age they're not buying City/Friends anymore...

Well, that's a personal view of the thing, but I believe their classification is quite well thought...


Well, I'm pretty sure that the submission and the final model use the SAME color (sand green, like the Haunted House, Green Grocer, etc.) but color is all over the place. In fact, I think the GG image is too green.

When I say the Friends line targets girls, I mainly refer to the placement of product in most stores. Go to any Walmart or Target and you'll see the Friends sets next to the Disney Princess and D.C. Superhero Girls sets, and all of those share an aisle with dolls, Shopkins, and other pastel-type stuff. The rest of the Lego sets are always several aisles away. The decision to separate the two groups of themes is quite deliberate.

Toys R Us is the only place I've seen that doesn't do this.
 

mrklaw

MrArseFace
When I say the Friends line targets girls, I mainly refer to the placement of product in most stores. Go to any Walmart or Target and you'll see the Friends sets next to the Disney Princess and D.C. Superhero Girls sets, and all of those share an aisle with dolls, Shopkins, and other pastel-type stuff. The rest of the Lego sets are always several aisles away. The decision to separate the two groups of themes is quite deliberate.

Toys R Us is the only place I've seen that doesn't do this.

Presumably that is a store thing, not a Lego thing? I've only ever seen the friends sets alongside other Lego


As for the line itself being focused on girls - if you can look past the colouring I would say the larger minifigs and more emphasis on accessories & pets suggests more of a focus on role-play which may be found to attract more girls. Yes of course boys may want to role play too, and of course you can role play with the other sets. I just think they have more emphasis on the characters where other sets have the emphasis on the vehicle/building

IMO they're both fairly unisex and it's good to have a slightly different approach to a Lego set
 

Rootbeer

Banned
Best News: Deluxe version of the new LEGO game is not just for PS4 and XBO as has been the case for the last few.

Switch is now in the Deluxe party

I know which version I'm getting!
 
I mean... it's not an exact match... but I assumed this was part of the airport battle, given the windsock and that Ant-Man gets Captain America to throw a tanker that he thought was full of water. Not a match in terms of the figures, but one of those that would make a complete scene if you add it to the Giant-Man set.

Thanks for the correction.

That set was embargoed because it contained spoilers IIRC, however the Airport Battle set wasn't. That doesn't make any sense.
 
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