Here are my thoughts about leaked images, that I posted at TBB. Thought I would share them here too:
Personally, I think the explanation that most people dislike or have negative comments about the prototype pictures is a silly reason to stop posting preliminary pictures. If that is a reason, then negative comments could be used to justify not posting anything. What if everyone hated the final Powerminers sets? Would you never post Powerminers again?
As to wanting to prevent Lego’s competitors from having an edge, that’s a more reasonable justification. Though, since the pictures are out there to be found, fairly easily (in fact, I first stumbled onto them on the frontpage brickshelf), it makes me question how much assistance you’re providing to Lego. Sure megablocks (and I’m going to use megablocks as the generic competitor) won’t find the pictures of TBB, but a quick brickshelf search will find them easily enough.
Its up to Lego to stop the leaks. Asking everyone to take them off their sites, after the pictures have been copied into every other flickr, brickshelf, etc. folder is like shutting the barn door after the horse has gotten out.
If these competitors are really out there looking to steal Lego’s set idea from preliminary pictures, then they’ve already gotten the pictures by the time the sites have taken them down. If I’ve seen them, the megablocks has seen them.
Further, if competition is a legitimate reason to take down the pictures, then it cannot apply to licensed themes. Megablocks, even if it had access to all the information regarding Star Wars or Indy or SpongeBob, still cannot legally make such a competing set.
In the end, this self-censorship, either at the behest of Lego or by a self-developed desire to help TLC, only keeps the pictures out of the hands of devoted Lego fans.
I personally like to know what is coming down the pipe, so I can budget properly. Maybe I’ll skip on a $50 Star Wars set, in order to be able to afford a $100 Castle set. It also helps with MOCing, since I know what pieces are coming. If I wanted to build a farm, I may wait until the farm comes out, so I can put cows in the scene. Or maybe hold off on ordering brickforge’s cows…
Steve