Action Oriented sets and Model-Building Oriented sets

[JPinoy]

I was wondering of a way to make:
1) people who like model building
2) people who like the action oriented themes with conflicts
3) people who like both...

So the thought hit me at BrickLink.com forums when I was discussing the value of Military Lego sets. Until a member said something about the whole war thing being bad.

There are people who buy Lego and dislike the war-elements, and people who buy Lego to make BrickWars, and then those who do both (mainly the Castle fans, and Space fans). Good well designed sets with lots of play/conflict value.

So I thought... why not seperate the two?

Like having action oriented sets and model oriented sets sold separately (greater
profits), and have them in the same line.

For example:
-Action set = Stallion Knights -vs- Barbarians set with the Stallion Knights fighting the barbarians around a small outpost.
-Model set = Stallion Knights' Castle (no combat at all, aka no "enemy minifigs") just a large, very well designed Castle (like our MOCs, but on a 48x48 or 48x32 baseplate/raised-baseplate) with some Stallion Knights minifigs thrown in.

That way both the "warhawks" and the "peaceniks" can be happy.

[garraofthesand]

hmm.. pretty good idea, but there is one problem.. the peaceniks want civilian sets, not just casles, cause technically castles are pretty much fortified structures built for war.

[kelderic]

I like the idea. It seems like it would solve some problems.

the peaceniks want civilian sets, not just casles

So there could be those along with the castle.

Kelderic

[E of Alshire]

I'm not really sure how you're changing the two... are you just removing the opposing force?

If so, I see less play value.

There are people who buy Lego and dislike the war-elements

Maybe I'm just out of the colloquial loop, but I've not heard of anyone not buying a set because there were two sides. If anything, I think that would abate sales. You can do much more with two armies and an outpost than one army and an outpost.

[Athos]

I'm not really in favor of modern military sets. Not because I'm anti-war or anti-war-toys or anti-war-games. Its just that I'm not so into the modern military stuff, and tend to favor the historical sets focusing on older romanticized ideas: Pirates, Castle, Adventurers, etc.

On to the action vs. model theory:

I like model building to a certain degree, but I still like my sets to have some play value. Not shooting catapults/cannons, silly trap doors everywhere, exploding banks, light-up figures, or falling axes, especially when these take away from the actual build and bricks (I hate all the technic techniques lately). I do like doors that open and accessable interiors where minifigs can sit.

So for me, its all about the minifig, which is probably why I don't go for UCS stuff. A nice minifig scale model is great, something like the sandcrawler... Sure it is a big box of bricks on wheels, but it has some interior play value and its made of bricks! Not slopes and curves and plates and technic pins, but honest to goodness bricks.

So to answer the question, Lego is a building toy. I think action oriented themes, can be added, without losing the inherent fun of Lego. But action can go to far and we wind up with exoforce and KK2 and hardly a brick in sight. Or if we go too far into model building then we end up with a UCS Star Destroyer and nothing to do with it, except stick it on a shelf... not my idea of fun.

So a balance would be nice... like the Black Seas Baracuda. Lovely model with plenty of place to play with your minifigs.

Steve

[JPinoy]

Troy pointed out to me on the playability issue with regard to conflict free sets. We certainly see that you still have playability in the non-militarized Town/World/City sets. Sure there's some cops and robbers going on. But yet you still have playability with sets like Airports, Restaurants, Docks, and etc.

Why can't it be the same for Castle?

I mean think about it. You can have sets of Castle era Taverns, Inns, Stables, and etc. These non-conflict model focused sets can be better detailed than your current run of the mill Lego sets that we have today as well as back during the 80s and 90s.

Just think about Lego sets finally coming out in AFOL MOC quality. Thats why Im suggesting spliting it into two categories, while being in the same theme. Not only can you get action-focused sets with lots of minifigs and accessories, you can buy separate model-focused sets with lots of bricks, cool new parts, and etc. to give your Castle town more detail and life.

Anyone with the creativity and imagination would no doubt combine the two. So now the kid with both types of sets can have well-detailed buildings along with armies to protect the civilians, and the "bad guys" to threaten them.
Just leave it up to the kid to either buy from 1 category or from both and mix them for even more playability.

Lego's incentive in this is that they'll get even more money than from just producing and selling 1 type of set. Sure kids like action, but how many times have we heard the "oohhss and aaahhhs" of kids look at our AFOL-constructed HUGE creations?

I sometimes wonder why Lego has not seen the potential for this market. The kids who go to our AFOL conventions and seeing those creation in the Lego Store. They see these "awesome creations" built with great detail with our MOCs and would most likely want to buy some well-detailed sets so they can start off on their Lego-fanaticism.

[E of Alshire]

Troy pointed out

Do you mean me, or Troy in a thread somewhere else...?

AFOL-constructed

You touch on it here- it's be incredibly expensive to replicate the average AFOL's 'dream set' and even then, we'd pirate it for parts.

The UCS stuff we have now is geared toward something even non-LEGO fans enjoy - liscenses. A Star Wars fan will buy a LEGO Star Destroyer not because it's LEGO, but because it's a Star Destroyer. I just can't see a mideval (sp) entusiast who isn't interested in LEGO buying even a historicaly accurate inn or tavern just beacuse it is.

So a balance would be nice... like the Black Seas Baracuda. Lovely model with plenty of place to play with your minifigs.

Case in point.