LEGO’s “female oriented products”

See what I mean about can’t stay away too long? Anyway, noticed none of the other major sites have reported this yet…

Guardian’s article on “LEGO bids to build a greater appeal for girls” caught my eye. Some highlights:

• UK managing director Marko Ilincic said that girls represent “a significant opportunity that is still untapped” for the company, and that “that is something we are working hard to address”.
• Between the ages of two and five, girls play with Lego as much as boys.
• Girls only account for a fifth of Lego users aged five and over.
• Girls like the creative play Lego offers, but are far more interested in role play, pay greater attention to detail, and like collectibles like dolls,” Ilincic said
• He said Lego’s product designers were working hard to come up with female-oriented products, which will hit the shelves shortly: “We’re looking for the right balance of creativity that appeals to girls and construction. We don’t want to take the construction away altogether, but there are degrees of ‘constructability’, and simply producing a pink version of the boys’ products is not enough. An understanding of how gender patterns differ is key.”

The article even recognises AFOLs…

• Ilincic suspects that the proliferation of social media sites may also have played its part in Lego’s increasing popularity, particularly among adults: “There are thousands of websites for Lego enthusiasts and my perception is that this is increasing adults’ interest because it enables them to get together and share ideas about the products.”
• However, while Ilincic is keen to target girls, he has no such plans for adults: they, it seems, must content themselves with the children’s range.

Tho I seriously doubt kids have the budget to buy modular or UCS sets that cost a few hundred dollars each… anyway… yeah. 

As for the girls theme, the stuff about role play, attention to detail and likes collectibles… a medival princess theme?  A doll-house? Hmm… more news anyone?

Some Videos to Enjoy & a bit of News

A collection of designer video for the Maersk Train, LEGO City Space in-store ad, DK video of the world record breaking Star Wars mosiac event last Oct, and a LEGO Comic Builder Demo video.  Hope that’s something for everyone.  Scroll below to see the videos…

Akunthita (aka TheBrickBlogger) shares news of a new FaceBook-like site for LEGO fans. I had a look but since I’m not into FB, I’m not really into the whole concept.  But I can imagine it being popular with FB-ers. Check out Brick Li.me to decide yourself. 

Hmm… and Star Wars fans, you may be interested to get a sneak peek at the 2012 Star Wars packaging as reported on StarWars.com. Darth Maul looks fierce!

LEGO Designer Video for Maersk Train 10219

LEGO 2011 City Space Ad  

LEGO Comic Builder Demo Video 

DK’s Building the Largest Mosiac in the World 

 

Sources: Maersk Train video via Eurobricks, LEGO City ad and Comic Builder Demo video from HKTOYSRUS Youtube channel, DK video indirectly via World Records Academy, and Star Wars 2012 box art news read 1st via Eurobricks.

Listening to Lego

No kidding, listening to Lego is very possible, because Welsh indie band ‘OK ‘ has released a single called ‘Lego’.  I’m not that musically inclined, so I leave you to read the description on Stereo Board k?

Source: http://www.stereoboard.com/content/view/163705/46

Some News Round-Up

If you have been making use of the RSS feeds on the right, you would have read these but just in case, here are a few notable ones:

• Brickset’s Huw reports from the 2011 London Toy Fair – See my summary of the various Q&A and comments below.
• Brickset’s yellowcastle reports that the Collectible Minifig Series 3 codes are either being mixed up or disappearing altogether – actually I’ve been relying on the ‘molest’ method so no diff. My finger/thumb is feeling bruised tho!
• Brickvention 2011 reports in Brickset & The Brothers Brick 
• Brickset has re-org their ‘Gear’ section – “Gear includes magnets, key chains, books, clothing and so on: basically everything that isn’t a proper construction set”.  I was actually struggling to categorise LEGO books for the Singapore S0937 forum (umm… I’m a ‘librarian’) and am really glad Brickset has managed to tackle the categories to come up with a good list of books. Yay.  
• FBTB reports new LEGO Toy Story alarm clocks that feature Buzz n Woody.

The comments QnA in the London Toy Fair report is really long, so I did a summary of what caught my eye:

• The new City marina sets float;
• Jack Sparrow minifig is different in each POTC set;
• 2 new Spongebob sets – “some sort of fairground rise and the other a vehicle” – EDIT: It’s 3816-Glove World and 3815-Heroic Heroes as listed on Brickset;
• SW calendar features “mini models from the entire galaxy and 8 minifigs” – one minifig is a new one described as “one of the figs has not appeared in any of the films, books, cartoons and is unlikely ever to” and “all the figs have appeared before, but one of them is in new clothes, and it’s not a queen Amidala“;
• 7879 Hoth Echo Base may be a TRU exclusive “no Hoth sets on display, and there isn’t one in the retailers’ catalogue either. Maybe it’ll be a TRU exclusive or something“;
• The Darth Maul and Savage minifigs have new horn pieces on their heads – “a new soft plastic horn piece, a bit like a washer that goes over the stud, and ends up flush with it. It looked very effective“;
• HP sets – some speculated minifigs based on Huw’s descriptions:
  • Battle for Hogwarts: “consists of a couple of towers and an entranceway” – Prof Sprouts in tan, HP, Snape, student (in new uniform, so can’t be Neville who is a Gryffindor – he is able to use the Gryffindor sword in the battle remember?)
  • Forbidden Forest: Hagrid, Narcissa (“two-colour hair: mostly brown with lighter brown or blonde highlights round the front edges, which I think is a first for a minifig“), HP, Voldemort (no centaurs!);
  • Knightbus: Purple, and with HP, Ernie & Stan.
  • http://www.brickshelf.com/gallery/eskallon1/Eurobricks-Stuff/Harry-Potter/picture_2.png
• UPDATE on 30 Jan: And no stickers on the new Cars sets. Yippee!

Source: Brickset, FBTB, The Brothers Brick and also the many commentors in Brickset.