kk2 protest

Emperor James · Post by **Emperor James** » Tue Jul 13, 2004 6:58 pm

Everyone here seems to hate KK2, for obvious reasons. Something must be done. I consulted my dad, a lawyer for a colemining union, and he told me that he thought the best way to influence TLC would be to swamp them with complaining letters.

So if we can get enough people to send complaining letters, perhaps TLC would do something? Anyone else think this is a good idea? Since I literally started a day ago, I know I have practically no influence here, so any support would be greatly appreciated.

Duke_Dave · Post by **Duke_Dave** » Tue Jul 13, 2004 8:12 pm

might be an idea....If we could send in like at least 5,000 complaints. I think its a little impractical.

Dave

Post by **Robin Hood** » Tue Jul 13, 2004 8:18 pm

Well, it might work, but actually, the heat against Kk2 is dying down. We have discovered a few good things about them. emphisis on the FEW.

Luís · Post by **Luís** » Tue Jul 13, 2004 8:21 pm

Duke_Dave wrote:might be an idea....If we could send in like at least 5,000 complaints. I think its a little impractical.

Dave

Why do you say that?
We don't need to just do it at classic-castle, we can do it at all the lego sites and none lego sites. Talk to peopels with influence in sites and we can have many protest cards, for an example, we can send by mail our protest cards.

lemon_squeezer2 · Post by **lemon_squeezer2** » Tue Jul 13, 2004 8:23 pm

Hi there! Welcome to CC

Regarding KK2, I fear that not much can be done at this point. The line is under way, and it is probably all planned out already. However, I would like to point out that KK2 is not castle in the traditional sense. It was brought about by those Bionicle type figures, and when some rumors and photos were leaked, there was a HUGE uproar (I remember it distinctly

) Therefore, Lego slapped together a minifig line (remember those early prototype photos that got us a little excited?), though it was nothing close to what we would of liked. Several people here though, now that they have gotten over the color changes (which I have not) have also embraced it to an extent so your generalized statement "Everyone here seems to hate KK2", I fear is not quite a true statement. On a up note though, there will undoubtedly be new castle legends and KK2 is not the final word when it comes to castle.

doctorsparkles · Post by **doctorsparkles** » Tue Jul 13, 2004 8:23 pm

This has been suggested before. The problem is that AFOLs make up such a small percentage of their total consumers. If every parent started complaining as well, then you might get somewhere, but the fact of the matter is that kids don't care. I suggest you make the best of what we've been given.

Post by **Bruce N H** » Tue Jul 13, 2004 9:13 pm

[quote="lemon_squeezer2"]It was brought about by those Bionicle type figures, and when some rumors and photos were leaked, there was a HUGE uproar (I remember it distinctly

) Therefore, Lego slapped together a minifig line [/quote]

Sorry, but that's not at all true. From some searching around on Lugnet, the first hint of the large KK2 action figures seems to have been around November 18, 2003:
http://news.lugnet.com/castle/?n=18560
(IIRC, there were rumors on 1000steine.de a couple of weeks before that based upon text descriptions of the knights.)
Then a week after that Jake stepped in, implying that a system-scale line was on the way:
http://news.lugnet.com/castle/?n=18627
These pictures are from the U.S. Toy Fair in the first or second week of February 2004, but there were similar pictures for a European Toy Fair a couple of weeks before that:
http://www.fbtb.net/toyfair/2004/2004.asp
And C-C.com got (prototype) pictures of these sets at about the same time:
http://www.classic-castle.com/archives/200402.html

So, to fit your time scheme, there would be at most a two-month time frame between saying "Oh, Megablocks!!! The AFOLs who make up 10% of our buying public really dislike these figures that are marketed to little kids! We've got to do something!", and the point where they had sets 90% of the way to production (some of the box art changed, a couple of molds weren't done yet). In that time, in this theory, they designed sets, came up with a marketing scheme, tested these with focus groups, made some new molds, and got everything ready for the Toy Fair rollouts, all during Christmas, which is not exactly the slowest part of the year for a toy company.

I sure wish we had that kind of power, and that TLC had that kind of turnaround time. Unfortunately we don't and they don't.

Bruce

Post by **davee123** » Tue Jul 13, 2004 9:47 pm

lemon_squeezer2 wrote: It was brought about by those Bionicle type figures, and when some rumors and photos were leaked, there was a HUGE uproar (I remember it distinctly ) Therefore, Lego slapped together a minifig line

Just to echo Bruce, that's completely untrue. KK2 was brought about because Lego noticed the success of more traditional toys with characters and storylines over generic castles. IOW, kids get the itch to buy a particular character rather than a generic castle.

Hence, KK2 was developed around the idea of a storyline with collectable figures, rather than particular set designs that were neat. They were also designed to be appealing to a younger crowd[1], hence the large figures and juniorized set designs.

They were certainly not done at the whim of the online Lego community. If Lego was *that* willing to change their plans due to a pathetic amount of whining, imagine how quickly the color change would've been recalled.

DaveE

[1] Hearing 2nd-hand from one of the designers on the team who made KK2, they also tried set designs and various other stuff that was targetted for kids 1 year younger and 1 year older. Supposedly the stuff for even *younger* kids (IIRC 6+?) was god-awful, and the stuff that was designed for *older* kids was incredibly cool (though likely still highly character-based). Too bad marketing decided not to go that direction...

wlister · Post by **wlister** » Tue Jul 13, 2004 10:13 pm

I would still rather protest the new bleys rather than complain about one poorly planned line. The color issue is a bigger one and one with far more serious repercussions. At this point any protest will not likely make a lick of difference. Perhaps if TLC ends up having to be publicly traded or bought out we will see a return to the old greys, but barring that we are stuck with them and we are stuck with KKII. Perhaps KKII will go away when Harry Potter does.Then we might see some real castle sets.(Crosses fingers

)

Will

doctorsparkles · Post by **doctorsparkles** » Tue Jul 13, 2004 10:23 pm

wlister wrote:Perhaps KKII will go away when Harry Potter does.Then we might see some real castle sets.(Crosses fingers )

This doesn't seem like it'll happen anytime soon, as long as J.K. Rowling keeps writing books and Warner Brothers keeps making movies out of them, Harry Potter will probably be here to stay. According to IMDB.com, there are 3 more Harry Potter movies either planned or already in production. Looks like Harry Potter is here to stay.

wlister · Post by **wlister** » Tue Jul 13, 2004 10:37 pm

Harry Potter License runs out after 3rd movie. We don't know if it has been renewed, but for the time being it should disappear in 2005. We can hope, TLC did mention not relying on licenses to promot the brand.

Will

Sir Terrance · Post by **Sir Terrance** » Wed Jul 14, 2004 1:40 am

Then when will the stupid SW license run out? If TLC could only figure out that they are wasting money on useless molds, when they could just use the ones they have and make more parts, they would save A LOT of money (since they make something like 1 new mold for every set) and make us much more happy.

Ramus · Post by **Ramus** » Wed Jul 14, 2004 5:02 am

I personally think that the whole point of building with Legos is CREATIVITY!

Find a use for new or different parts (& colors) & be creative. Make them work.

The fact is, TLC is in the business to make money. Making great toys sure, but to make money. If you don't like the direction TLC is headed, talk to the consumer market.

Anyway Legos are great & everyone should make their opinion known, but dont waste too much time complaining about that which cannot be changed.

-- Ramus

Dada · Post by **Dada** » Wed Jul 14, 2004 9:25 am

I see that some here are almost happy that lego stops the range Harry Potter...

However in the 4th book, there are dragons and precisely I would like to have more dragons

doctorsparkles · Post by **doctorsparkles** » Wed Jul 14, 2004 12:42 pm

Dada wrote:I see that some here are almost happy that lego stops the range Harry Potter...
However in the 4th book, there are dragons and precisely I would like to have more dragons

While I'm disappointed that there will be no official castle until Harry Potter is gone, I can't really say that I'll be happy to see Harry Potter (or Star Wars, for that matter) go. I think they're just about the most useful lines out right now. I think that Star Wars is probably our most useful source for peasant figs, and Harry Potter comes with a lot of books, animals, castle building pieces, etc.