I mean, what else is there to really say, right?

Elves figure for RFotD, Belville set for RSotD. Huwbot definitely has a feminine side, and it's fully on display today. Bet we get Clikits tomorrow.

The set doesn't really do much, I do remember it being a bit fragile, especially those leaf pieces on the tower easy fall off, but I haven't moved it around for quite some time. The figure is just a statue, and one that easily topples over at that. It doesn't feel like a LEGO piece at all, no anti-studs, overdetailed, and a single block of color (the cloth does help break that up, but still). IIRC, the feet do act as tubes, allowing it to a studded surface, but it's not really obvious that it would. This tower is probably the biggest block of Light Purple I own.

WHen I was a kid I loved these kind of sets. Cheap and plenty of amazing pieces.

@TheOtherMike said:
"Elves figure for RFotD, Belville set for RSotD. Huwbot definitely has a feminine side, and it's fully on display today. Bet we get Clikits tomorrow."

I'm not sure this is about exploring the Huwbot's feminine side - much of the Fey Folk is decidedly sinister. When faeries, kelpies, fuath or elves invite you to "play well" with them, you're not coming home, although your waterlogged corpse might wash up, decades later.

Please stop feeding the Huwbot stories about the Seelie courts. No good can come of this.

@Sandinista said:
" @MCLegoboy said:
"I mean, what else is there to really say, right?"
Ohhh so witty, i applaud and adore you.

These sets actually had value: my sisters enjoyed them. I’m so sick of the le Reddit cringe that dunks on Belville, Jack Stone, etc because it’s not “normal” Lego in their eyes. "

I don't take a lot of things seriously, and try my best to find something to poke fun at on most of the Random Sets of the Day. I'm usually one of the first comments if not the first comment, I couldn't find anything to actually poke fun at or dunk on that felt original, a few minutes had gone by and still no comments, so that was my opportunity; the meta-comment.

But also, it's the Blossom Fairy, I mean, what else is there really to say after we've dunked on so many haphazardly built sets from the girl themes that have popped up over the past 9 years of RSotD? Look at those prefab parts, couldn't have spared a few bricks? Look at the faces? We'd do the same to anything that popped up that was from the same era. We dunk on the NBA figs, we laugh at the terror that is the minifig as a baby in the Homemaker sets, we have created a whole cosmic horror background for Fabuland, it's just what we do. City set that's a boat, but it's the white void instead of the box art, and the name is something like, "Wave Flyer," we're just gonna say something about how they flew off the edge of the map.

It's nothing personal toward Belville, some sets just lend themselves to crack jokes easier. We do it for the meme and the dopamine hit of the like button.

@stefwaffles said:
"Can we just remember that Belville ran from 1994-2008, with the 2008 sets retiring at the end of 2011?"

I don't know why they were still producing new sets by 2008. Maybe it's because they had nothing else to offer girls until 2012, and they decided to just coast on that last wave of sets for three years while they worked on something new. From the mouth of one of the actual Belville set designers, standing less than 20' away from me with a microphone, the theme was never once considered to be a success (her keynote was so depressing to listen to that the very next year they started having members of the AFOL community do them instead of LEGO employees). Sure, it had its loyal fandom, but they had been attempting to tap into the girls market for decades, and never once succeeded until the Friends theme hit the market.

"People can enjoy their Lego was nearly killed by Belville and saved by Bionicle internet beliefs if they like, but that doesn’t stop them being nonsense :)"

Being true stops them from being nonsense. Just as that keynote provided conclusive proof that Belville was a failure, at least one set designer has openly credited Bionicle as the sole reason the company stayed solvent. Jack Stone and Galidor take the bulk of the blame, and rightly so, but they were paying a fortune to maintain a pile of molds that rarely got used outside of a theme that was never successful, and infrequently even within that theme. They spent another fortune producing those molds that likely never even paid for their construction. Look at the ownership on this set. There are four Belville sets with stated ownership over 400, and only one of those hit four figures (7583). 162 is the highest Wanted total, on 7600.

Those transparent flower pieces are nice

@Sandinista said:
" @MCLegoboy said:
"I mean, what else is there to really say, right?"

Ohhh so witty, i applaud and adore you.

These sets actually had value: my sisters enjoyed them. I’m so sick of the le Reddit cringe that dunks on Belville, Jack Stone, etc because it’s not “normal” Lego in their eyes. "

Fortunately brickset has the ignore user feature now, so you can easily hide all the stupid comments from users mocking sets that they don't like.

Trans purple window pane! Pink KK2 castle wall element and pink KK1 castle tower element! Pearl gold bowl! Belville never fails to deliver!

I'm not even a parts monkey but I love the zaniness of the Belville sets, particularly the fairy tale ones. That fairy for example wears a skirt with wings attached to she skirt. That's just very unusual. It helps that this came out when I still avidly browsed the catalogs, so I remember this set all too well.

The foliage also just is a really nice inclusion. It makes the set a lot more homely- WAIT A MINUTE. Hold hup. Gems on foliage? This set did Elves style gem-laden trees 9 years before Elves ever was a thing. That's really cool. At least, to me. Elves is awesome.

@PurpleDave said:
" @stefwaffles said:
"Can we just remember that Belville ran from 1994-2008, with the 2008 sets retiring at the end of 2011?"

I don't know why they were still producing new sets by 2008. Maybe it's because they had nothing else to offer girls until 2012, and they decided to just coast on that last wave of sets for three years while they worked on something new. From the mouth of one of the actual Belville set designers, standing less than 20' away from me with a microphone, the theme was never once considered to be a success (her keynote was so depressing to listen to that the very next year they started having members of the AFOL community do them instead of LEGO employees). Sure, it had its loyal fandom, but they had been attempting to tap into the girls market for decades, and never once succeeded until the Friends theme hit the market.

"People can enjoy their Lego was nearly killed by Belville and saved by Bionicle internet beliefs if they like, but that doesn’t stop them being nonsense :)"

Being true stops them from being nonsense. Just as that keynote provided conclusive proof that Belville was a failure, at least one set designer has openly credited Bionicle as the sole reason the company stayed solvent. Jack Stone and Galidor take the bulk of the blame, and rightly so, but they were paying a fortune to maintain a pile of molds that rarely got used outside of a theme that was never successful, and infrequently even within that theme. They spent another fortune producing those molds that likely never even paid for their construction. Look at the ownership on this set. There are four Belville sets with stated ownership over 400, and only one of those hit four figures (7583). 162 is the highest Wanted total, on 7600."

Lego were in financial trouble because no one was looking at how much things were costing.

Anything that survived the 02-03 purge was profitable; that’s why they were still making Belville until 2011. That’s the only explanation, considering the number of colours, moulds and parts of the business that were cut away to tackle the issues.

And you’ve hit the nail on the head there - that speaker was obviously comparing it to Friends. Compared to Friends, Belville was not successful. I think that will have been especially true in the US, and it’s probably why so much of the Friends line has a US look to it, to ensure it continues to appeal to American girls.

But not successful doesn’t mean unprofitable; those aren’t the same thing. No girls line has ever been as successful as Friends, but then Lego has never been as successful as it is now either.

@Crux said:
" @TheOtherMike said:
"Elves figure for RFotD, Belville set for RSotD. Huwbot definitely has a feminine side, and it's fully on display today. Bet we get Clikits tomorrow."

I'm not sure this is about exploring the Huwbot's feminine side - much of the Fey Folk is decidedly sinister. When faeries, kelpies, fuath or elves invite you to "play well" with them, you're not coming home, although your waterlogged corpse might wash up, decades later.

Please stop feeding the Huwbot stories about the Seelie courts. No good can come of this."

As long as Huwbot doesn't name the same Belville fairy figure for RFotD three days in a row, I think that we'll be okay.

@stefwaffles said:
"Lego were in financial trouble because no one was looking at how much things were costing."

This was only part of the problem. The micromotor and fiberoptics systems famously cost more to produce than they brought in at MSRP, so the more successful they became, the more they cost the company in lost profits. Scala and Belville didn't have any fancy electronics, so they probably weren't culpable for this offense.

But they both churned out a massive amount of new molds, which cost a ton of money to produce, and neither theme sold enough to cover their combined costs. These molds were rarely used in other themes, so nothing else was helping pay off their debt. And many times they were only used in one set, which means they were just a bigger drain on the bottom line.

Plastic was also ordered pre-colored, and minimum batches tend to be very large. Themes like Scala, Belville, and Paradisa used a lot of rare colors that had to have taken a long time to use up. My last employer ran into financial trouble in part because they took on business that required ordering two special colors, and the business just wasn't coming in fast enough to cover that expense.

"Anything that survived the 02-03 purge was profitable; that’s why they were still making Belville until 2011. That’s the only explanation, considering the number of colours, moulds and parts of the business that were cut away to tackle the issues."

Whoever said that? Colors and molds were easy to quantify, which is why they purged both right away (there were some bonus boxes back then, which may have been a way to use up leftover pellets of purged colors). Other than dumping Jack Stone and Galidor, I don't really remember any purge of themes to go with them. Figuring that out would have taken time. They would have needed itemized profit/loss reports for every active theme.

"And you’ve hit the nail on the head there - that speaker was obviously comparing it to Friends."

Oh, no. As I said, this keynote was before Brickworld changed venues, which they did the year Friends was launched. This keynote took place before anyone had even heard of that theme. From what I heard later, the speaker wasn't even working for TLG by the time that theme launched, which had to be a bitter pill. Work your entire career on failed attempts to capture the girls market, only to have them succeed like gangbusters as soon as you retire.

"Compared to Friends, Belville was not successful. I think that will have been especially true in the US, and it’s probably why so much of the Friends line has a US look to it, to ensure it continues to appeal to American girls."

I'm not even sure if Belville (or Scala, or Homemaker) was available in the US. I couldn't say if they were available through direct sales, but I don't remember ever seeing any of those themes in stores.

"But not successful doesn’t mean unprofitable; those aren’t the same thing. No girls line has ever been as successful as Friends, but then Lego has never been as successful as it is now either."

The keynote speaker made it clear that no girls theme had ever been successful at all, when she stepped up to the microphone. You still like it regardless. I get that, and I respect that. I was big into Bionicle during the years when it saved the company, and later saw it eat its own success so thoroughly that the company doesn't even like to acknowledge it anymore. Some of the most frequent comments on Belville RSotD revolve around those parts that were rarely seen outside of this singular theme, so its legacy isn't entirely negative. But even SW and HP weren't enough to keep the company afloat, so when you factor in all the colors and molds that were tied to Belville, I don't see how it could have possibly turned a profit.

@CCC said:
" @Sandinista said:
" @MCLegoboy said:
"I mean, what else is there to really say, right?"

Ohhh so witty, i applaud and adore you.

These sets actually had value: my sisters enjoyed them. I’m so sick of the le Reddit cringe that dunks on Belville, Jack Stone, etc because it’s not “normal” Lego in their eyes. "

Fortunately brickset has the ignore user feature now, so you can easily hide all the stupid comments from users mocking sets that they don't like. "

Yeah, but where's the fun in that? Now you don't have the pleasure to laugh at me for being stupid. Laughter is good for your health.

@MCLegoboy said:
" @CCC said:
" @Sandinista said:
" @MCLegoboy said:
"I mean, what else is there to really say, right?"

Ohhh so witty, i applaud and adore you.

These sets actually had value: my sisters enjoyed them. I’m so sick of the le Reddit cringe that dunks on Belville, Jack Stone, etc because it’s not “normal” Lego in their eyes. "

Fortunately brickset has the ignore user feature now, so you can easily hide all the stupid comments from users mocking sets that they don't like. "

Yeah, but where's the fun in that? Now you don't have the pleasure to laugh at me for being stupid. Laughter is good for your health."

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5BaOvM9jXKg

@PurpleDave said:
" @MCLegoboy said:
" @CCC said:
" @Sandinista said:
" @MCLegoboy said:
"I mean, what else is there to really say, right?"

Ohhh so witty, i applaud and adore you.

These sets actually had value: my sisters enjoyed them. I’m so sick of the le Reddit cringe that dunks on Belville, Jack Stone, etc because it’s not “normal” Lego in their eyes. "

Fortunately brickset has the ignore user feature now, so you can easily hide all the stupid comments from users mocking sets that they don't like. "

Yeah, but where's the fun in that? Now you don't have the pleasure to laugh at me for being stupid. Laughter is good for your health."

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5BaOvM9jXKg"

Exactly!

@PurpleDave said:"I'm not even sure if Belville (or Scala, or Homemaker) was available in the US. I couldn't say if they were available through direct sales, but I don't remember ever seeing any of those themes in stores."

Given that Friends started out being put in the pink aisle (at least in Walmart), it may have been that it was available here, but just wasn't in the parts of toy sections/stores you tended to go to. And I'm pretty sure that Belville/Scala was listed in Shop at Home catalogs.