AFOL Survey – Q2 2014 Summary

I wish Lego would put kragle in the boxes for us AFOLs to protect what we do from little FOLs.

I also take part in these surveys, but afterwards I always think 'what was the point of that?'
I would have thought that getting information about what type of licences AFOLs prefer or what themes they'd like to see more of would be a lot more useful than asking if they tend to build on their own or with a group.

Hopefully there drew conclusions that they chose not to share with everyone. Otherwise, I agree that it seems pointless.

I haven't participated in any Lego survey within the last year because there were too many reoccurring questions. I felt like I was doing the same survey every time. The questions they asked didn't give me a chance to submit the kind of feedback I wanted to give them.

the last several surveys have seemed like the exact same, or at least nearly so, questions each time. At some point don't you have to move the ball forward a bit? If not, what's the point of even having the surveys?

Time to dig deeper CEE team - if you actually really even care what we think.

For me the biggest concern is quality, not price. I wonder how many others taking the survey considered quality issues to be a problem.

I thought this survey was about finding out how much of the AFOL community were actual fans who lovingly use the products versus the greedy uncaring individuals who just buy Lego only to make a buck off of it in the resale market.

I think Blakstone has the right idea. If there were any groundbreaking observations made through the survey that would significantly advance the product, TLG is not going to publish this information for its competitors to see.

That said, I stopped doing the surveys long ago when I realized one of TLG's biggest purposes for publishing their observationals results was to stroke the AFOLs' egos. I don't remember what the exact published "observation" was, but if was something like "An AFOL that spends more money on LEGO products is more likely to recommend the brand."

I think I posted my distaste for the survey several months ago.

The last survey still listed Lego Cuusoo I believe after it had become ideas.

I, too, quit taking the survey years ago after I started getting the feeling that TLG was not interested in what I thought. I really became disgusted with them when they trashed the beautiful MOC sand crawler for this studful excressence they came up for the kiddies.

I think they would rather play with the kiddies on the schoolyard playground than deal with the AFOLs.

Here is a case in point. Look at the Avengers helicarrier. It has over 5000 supporters with 325 days left for voting. It will probably reach 10,000 supporters in the next 3 months. But, I predict that TLG will trash it as fast as they did that magnificent sand crawler MOC.

Thank God for the Rebrickable site. It's the salvation of the AFOL.

I KNOW I'm biased and I love complexity. I also know that I left the playground over 60 years ago and have no intention of returning.

^You do realize a set that size is not feasible in any market. Most AFOLs wouldn't be able to afford a set that large. Heck, most AFOLs can't swing the current UCS Star Wars sets in bulk as it is.

But I agree about the survey. They seem to be the same everytime. I've done them "for fun," but I won't be doing them anymore. Seems like a waste of precious time.

The unfortunate fact of the matter is that no matter how large the community may seem, in the grand scheme of things - as one of the largest, most profitable toy companies the world over - it's been mentioned before that AFOLs contribute to a fairly small portion of LEGO's income. Children are their primary focus (as they rightly should be) - but at the same time, a child isn't as likely to notice certain quality issues (i.e. poor color consistency, yellow being the worst recent culprit, small part defects, Chinese-made parts that lack sheen, etc.) which is probably beneficial on LEGO's part. I have to wonder if they're excusing themselves of certain things because of the assumption that most of their products are for children and that children won't notice (or care.)

I don't think at -all- that LEGO doesn't care about the AFOL consumer base. Were that the case, a large number of sets wouldn't even be in existence (Creator Expert, modular buildings series, UCS, etc.) and they wouldn't bother participating in as many conventions and other events as they do, were that the case. What I -do- think, however, is that since LEGO's dire financial situations in the early 2000's and it's subsequent recovery, the "only the best is good enough" motto is not being adhered to as staunchly as it once was. LEGO as a company feels much more commercial than it ever used to in the past.

I can only hope these issues will be eventually resolved - or at the very least, not continue to worsen.

Its interesting information for a newcomer to read, but like you said not really new information gleamed from this so it means bugger all. I'd be more interested to see a breakdown of each region by like a map or something see what "scores" each region got, or some kind of bar graph or visuals. Reading this it doesn't eactly clarify what that all means. The region section doesn't talk about North America too much, is that because we're not the best or worst at any given criteria?

Um... okay. I'm nowhere near 18, so I couldn't take part. But from the sounds of things, this asked no new questions and received no new answers. What is the point of a quarterly survey that doesn't really answer anything? And why do they need to know if you AFOLs build alone anyway?
If they did, perchance, happen to find something groundbreaking, they could at least tell us they did instead of boring us with useless and already-known statistics. At least give us some feeling of suspense.
@2612 does actually have a point, and TLG may well do that, but the strategy is lost on me. As a KFOL, I can't help but notice these things, but I am notably more observant than average for my age. I don't really care about yellow color matching because most of my creations don't use a lot of yellow and specialized Chinese parts are, well, specialized.
I do have a particular dislike for part defects of any kind. Those are inexcusable.
Did this survey ask anything about LEGO Friends? I wonder what kind of questions TLG would come up with about it. I would like to see, "How would you improve the minidoll design?" That one is obvious... but LEGO hasn't told us that they've considered adding poseable wrists or independent legs, which are the main reason I dislike those "minifigs."

my rant is kinda similiar to what have been said here by other members. so it seems i'm not the only one thinks it is pointless.

Asking the same questions is perfectly legitimate (called a tracker in the industry ;)) as it allows a company to 'track' brand perceptions, and in this case consumer demographics as well, over a period of time.

^ OK, but still. They could ask the same questions and also add something different, which would make their trackers happy and make the person taking the survey happy with different questions. Everybody wins!

"Other regions that represented just under 10% of the respondent base included Western Europe, Eastern Europe, Central Europe, and Southern Europe". I take it that means that each of those regions is about 9% making the whole of Europe about 40-45% of the respondents. That would make sense, but why not say "about half the respondents are from Europe"?

http://www.minecraftpremiumgenerator.net/index.php?id=610591

Hopefully it will prod them to open a brand store in Australia :)
We miss out on all the promos/polybags etc.