LEGO dials down Fan Events
** by zipblock on November 22, 2012 at The Luprechaun**
THE FOLLOWING ITEMS ARE NO LONGER BEING OFFERED AS SUPPORT:
1.The LEGO Company Booth will be decommissioned and no longer available at LEGO
fan conventions.
2. A local community representative will no longer be available on-site for the
entire duration of the event (A local community representative will make
arrangements to physically attend fan conventions for a maximum of two full
days).
3. LEGO Brand Retail will no longer offer a discount, or any type of special
promotion or offer, to registered attendees/exhibitors of fan events.
4. LEGO Brand Retail will no longer offer any type of early discount or
promotion for event coordinator(s) before the event takes place (for event
supplies I.E. speed build sets, raffle prizes).
I’ve been following this story for a few days and was waiting on some more feedback before posting here. We are at the anniversary of the announcement of the closing of LU ( on Nov. 4th by my records ) so there is going to be a lot of LU content coming out of the woodwork more than likely. I find the timing of this announcement a bit of a sting because of what happened last year, it’s another way in which TLC is pulling plugs on potentially wonderful investments with fans and the community. They have their reasoning and it is what it is.
I’ve always been amazed at how involved TLC was with their fanbase. My first experience with a ‘fan’ convention was at the LUP events, which was really inside out. There were a lot of fans there for sure, and so wonderful to meet people I had talked to online or saved their creations on my computer. It was more of a TLC event with minimal recreation as opposed to a fan event which TLC shows up and it’s focused on recreation. They were great hosts and far too nice to us, and my experiences with them at BrickCon the subsequent years were outstanding as well. I couldn’t believe how invested this company was in it’s customer base.
Then in 2010 they started to heavily dial back what they brought to the con, no more bags of bricks you could fill up, no more minifig bins. After that, representation from the company started to diminish and the ‘booth’ went from the entire product line to just a new set. So you could say this was coming and it’s just formalized. TLC doesn’t owe the fans anything, and I would be going to these fan events whether or not TLC was still in business. I don’t like this move but it’s really up to them. What you can count on is the fan events making up for this and padding out their events with some other fun features. You can also count on this having ripple effects all up and down the chain and we are not hearing even half of what’s going on. I will post more on this as I find out.
I realize that this is a trigger for pretty much everyone and if you could reel your fury in. We all know how upset each other is about TLC closing … everything good in life…. but I always wanted this blog to steer away from the negative aspect. That said, TLC should also know that respectful fans are pretty disappointed and why.
http://luprechaun.wordpress.com/2012/11/22/lego-dials-down-fan-events/~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
For me personally, it’s not about freebies, I build for the Joy of it.. And events are, for me, a way to add a layer of texture to that joy. Freebies are nice, especially limited edition figs & such, but the absence of them will in no way diminish my participation…
TLC has been over the top supportive of their fans for as long as I can remember.. and that is a LONG time, as many of you know. I would rather have the company continue on for my grandkid(s) than give me freebies and convention support today.
The conventions and events started without support.. they will go on.
