The Lego® Group has been experimenting with different themes for years and has expanded its range significantly of late but have they pushed the buck too far?
In war it is rarely a good strategy to extend yourself too far and in business the practice also holds true. Although as a business it is often important to extend your range, experiment with new ideas and even implement them from time to time the release of Angry Birds by Lego® may be a particularly unsuccessful move by a company that has weathered many tough storms in the past.
Image Courtesy of Lego®
Angry Birds began life as a game that quickly rose to popularity and became far more successful than its creators could ever have envisaged. Since then it has enjoyed a large amount of popularity as it has been cast and recast in a variety of different merchandising mediums.
Whether the theme works in a Lego®-based medium is essentially the question at hand and for me, the answer is a firm no.
The sets themselves don’t look great and neither do the figures. Perhaps it is the size or the shape or both, but the figures themselves have steered so far away from the traditional Lego® mini-figure that they lose all credibility as genuine Lego® figures. The sets themselves offer almost nothing new other than a new ‘egg’ element, but this is certainly not enough to be a significantly redeeming factor for the theme.
The major problem as far as I see it is that Lego has sacrificed quality for popularity and commercial potential. For the Lego® group this is an unacceptable step in the wrong direction. For a company whose products are so heavily steeped in a reputation of quality and excellence, this move seems to be antithetical to the company’s philosophy, so much so that the set seems like an anomaly in a track record that is perhaps not flawless in this previous regard, but one that is fairly close nevertheless.
Image Courtesy of Lego®
It will be interesting to see whether this set will sell but for me the answer is a definitive no.This may not seem like a big thing in the long run, as the Lego® company is certainly not struggling for sales, but the major problem lies in the damage to the company’s reputation. If Lego® continues to release sets of inferior quality this could significantly impact the company’s reputation as a provider of quality toys that it has maintained for so long over the long term and a quick grab for profits now (which probably won’t pay off) could see many consumers dropping off in the long term.
Brickman Dan
Brickman Dan is the founder of Brick Yourself and publishes regular articles on how LEGO® Art & Design, as well as LEGO® Investment.