The LEGO Group requests your feedback

Last time they asked about community feedback like this it was for the future of the Technic theme and it all went down the drain ever since. I don't think the community wants more shelf queen licensed cars every year. So I'm very skeptical about the seriousness of this survey, considering that they never share the results to the public.

Everyone just put no more stickers. It'll prove if they are listening.

I filled it, but wonder how will it help... So many questions about how I feel about the brand. Who cares, ask more about products!

Everytime you can type something, put "REMOVE SMART BRICK NOW"

@StudMuffin24 said:
"Everytime you can type something, put "REMOVE SMART BRICK NOW""

I wasn't that specific but I did rant about digital & connected features.

More in house themes and less licensed themes.

let em have it boys

Hah, ok, a survey that boils down to "Tell us about all the amazing things were doing!" No way to add any qualitative data to negative vibes, which suggests Lego isn't really interested in why I've been losing interest, or why I don't recommend Lego

@Duq said:
""Europe (Including UK and Turkey)"
The idiots have left the EU, but the UK is still in Europe..."

I am not an idiot.

@Duq said:
""Europe (Including UK and Turkey)"
The idiots have left the EU, but the UK is still in Europe..."

yea! tell Lego to update to the modern age!! they should Brexit them from the poll. :)

@Duq said:
""Europe (Including UK and Turkey)"
The idiots have left the EU, but the UK is still in Europe..."

Leaving the EU did not geographically relocate the UK to another continent.

@Capybara554321 said:
"Everyone just put no more stickers. It'll prove if they are listening. "

I've begged for it, although useless. They should at least take it into consideration with expensive adult aimed sets, it's outrageous to pay +100 bucks for sets full of stickers that will eventually peel and make the set look like crap. Not to mention the issue of applying them properly, some of them are a real headache.

"Welness" is misspelled on the last page, what even is happening with this company?

2 responses I gave that should be a bit of a reality check but I'm sure will be ignored:

- I don't think there is a community culture anymore. LUGs are doing it for the money or for free sets, TLG has become a megacorporation that ONLY cares about the bottom line, and thousands of licensed sets are not aimed at the community but at individual wealthy collectors or investors. I don't think there will be an AFOL community in 2030. Instead, communities of builders will switch to more affordable or innovative alternatives. And I am saying this as someone who is still a LEGO purist.

- Please stop trying to "evolve" and rethink the basics. Constant need to "evolve" almost killed the company in late 1990s, and you are doing the same things again. And by basics, FIX THE BRICK QUALITY. My sets are falling apart, clutch power is awful, and color consistency is non existent. Only the best is good enough, remember that?

Yeah I told them for the "Evolve" question: You've got it backwards, LEGO needs to Devolve, capture the spirit delivered in the 80's, 90's and early 2000s, focus on play and story, unique IP instead of licenses to capture strange audiences".

On the blank check I simply replied that LEGO must realize their customers are three main groups whereas I believe they think it's two. LEGO thinks it has adults and kids. I believe it's kids who want kids sets, adults who want adult sets, and adults who want kids sets. And they're forgetting about the third category. They think they're solving it with poor playscale sets (they're for children so who cares) and expesive busts, helmets and midi-scale sets for adults.

@GirlWoman said:
" @Harmonious_Building said:
""Welness" is misspelled on the last page, what even is happening with this company? "

We are in the midst of a literacy crisis. This isn't a TLG-exclusive problem. Although, with them it is especially funny (boldy)."

I mean I hear you, but in a day and age where people can't even send a "thanks, have a great day" email without running it through ChatGPT, no AI caught that? I can only assume that they were too busy creating exciting products at a great price point to check that.

Less focus on licensed themes
Better prices
No more stickers
Fix quality issues especially color mismatches

This survey reminds me of the "people survey" my employer asks us to do every year. The results are never made public, and nothing ever changes. They don't actually care. But they want to create the illusion of caring. Much like with my employer surveys, I will not waste my time filling this out.

Guys, try to do constructive feedback and then it's on Lego side if they can listen and adapt.
Writing "smartbrick sucks" changes nothing if it will sell good, it will stay. Doesn't matter if I or 1000 Brickset members dislike it.
What I would propose:
- Fix colour consistency, I didn't buy few big sets (like Lambo Supercar) because of different shades of bricks
- Reconsider "eco tapes" during shipping which breaks before parcel reach my country
- Consider more sets without license with good value which would attract kids AND adults. For example: village/farm sets with animals and open back. Which would be attractive to display AND play for kids
- Consider creative Technic sets. 42179 is the only interesting set with mechanism which is not vehicle and attract in my family both boys AND girls

Answered the LEGO Vibes check with "Negative - I feel a growing gap between what I want and what is being delivered."

Says it all, really.

nothing in that survey is meant to be able to register negatives about the company or its products

Maybe one more:
- Don't try to squeeze every penny from Bricklingk Designer Program and kill it. If this is program 'for people', without license, without new prints, without instructions prices should be more honest like in first series

- Bring back trans neon
- You cowards

Of course I raised the sticker issue and the outrageous number of licenses, but how could I forget the color consistency problem in my top list of things to fix? I'm slapping my face hard for that. Then again, I'm sure the brand distrust issue is being looked at with a much higher priority.

I paraphrased a MandR rant and it felt amazing.

@Harmonious_Building said:
" @GirlWoman said:
" @Harmonious_Building said:
""Welness" is misspelled on the last page, what even is happening with this company? "

We are in the midst of a literacy crisis. This isn't a TLG-exclusive problem. Although, with them it is especially funny (boldy)."

I mean I hear you, but in a day and age where people can't even send a "thanks, have a great day" email without running it through ChatGPT, no AI caught that? I can only assume that they were too busy creating exciting products at a great price point to check that. "

Probably sent it to the same proofreading department that handles UCS plaques.

I don't feel the questions clearly convey my current thoughts on the brand.

Hope Lego is prepared for what they may have unleashed with this....

I may be the odd one out, but I don't actually mind the licensed themes. I love Lord of the Rings and the occasional movie thing like the BttF and F&F Speed Champions. I guess that whole line is licensed, but it feels sort of different from SW or JP or whatever else.

Ninjago is still going strong (it appears), Creator and Creator Expert are going fine and constantly having great sets across a variety of price ranges.

I do question the quality they've had lately. As others mentioned, clutch power and color needs work. So do stickers, to be honest. I understand why everything isn't printed; but for UCS-type sets, nothing should be stickered. That's the whole point of a top-end set!

I left some notes. I do feel my Lego-ing is on the wane, but that may be due to other constraints and goals.

The wholesomeness of LEGO as a brand has suspiciously gone downhill ever since the accursed "Adults Welcome" campaign.

- Endless display models (read: overpriced paperweights).
- At least two thirds of the shelf space dedicated to IPs. (Very creative.)
- The dishonest treatment of The Masks of Power developers.
- The smartbrick, which was clearly marketed to LinkedIn scumbags first, consumers second.

If people (LinkedIn morons included) don't get really bored of AI garbage soon we are seriously five to ten years from LEGO launching a software that develops your MOCs for you. I'm convinced that they would've already if the tech was there. Smartbrick was clearly their desperate attempt at trying to capture the second worst zeitgeist in the last 100 years.

So many of these comments are excellent examples of the phenomenon whereby people think that their personal perspective, or the perspective of their personal social circle, is generalizable to the global community of Lego builders, consumers, and fans. The idea that Lego "won't listen" or "this is meaningless" is based on this assumption that the majority will share your particular views, and so if Lego doesn't immediately respond to what you want, it must be that they're ignoring their customers and the survey is a sham. For example, the idea that there's not really a Lego community anymore is - I'm sorry - just nonsense. It's demonstrably untrue, and there are more Lego communities now than there ever were. LUGs have had their current problems pretty much forever, and Lego social media influencers and ambassadors have been around for a decade or more. None of this is new, and none of it has to ruin the hobby unless you let it live rent-free in your head. Not to mention, there are a ton of those Lego social media influencers who make their living in part from clickbait videos dishing out exactly what the critics here seem to want - I could name several well-known YouTubers who are always posting videos about how Lego is "failing," and how the current year's releases for this or that theme are "the worst ever" and so on.

To be clear, I share some (though only some) of the criticisms and annoyances that others have expressed here. But just because I share it doesn't mean it's widely felt, just like when folks here in a comment thread absolutely trash an "overpriced" or "garbage" set, or a set that's "too dumbed down for play" or "just a display model with no functions" and then the set sells in huge numbers.

Finally, for what it's worth (which I recognize might be nothing to folks who are unhappy about what I've posted here so far), I focused my requests/critiques on a couple of areas where I think Lego might actually have the inclination to do something about them. One is to make all of PAB available as "Bestsellers" in the US and as many other major markets as possible. Splitting orders into two bags, dealing with trying to avoid double shipping and fees, and waiting 4-6 weeks for some of the parts is not only a huge drag, it's also a pain point in the process that results in less sales for Lego - so they have a clear interest in addressing it. The second item I mentioned was that they need to work toward a single, unified power-charging-remote control system across all themes and lines, and as part of that the motors need to get quieter, the battery boxes need to run longer between charges, and the remote control app needs to get better.

RE PAB this is definitely a personal peeve, but I am confident it's a widely shared one, and one Lego itself would like to fix too. RE power/charging and so on, it's actually not something I personally care about very much - but I know a lot of folks do care about it, and I know Lego does too because they clearly feel that their future success depends on this kind of technology being as seamlessly and efficiently integrated into the building and set-design experiences as possible.

Only 1 place (new generation of fans in 2030) to share your thoughts so mine were: "You are not onboarding new kid fans, and us AFOLs will be dead anyway, you are banishing from bricklink half the world, with smart bricks and all the stickers, you are maximizing profits in the wrong place, so maybe just video games..."

@ShilohCyan said:
"let em have it boys"

Well, that was fun.

@tmtomh said:
"The idea that Lego "won't listen" or "this is meaningless" is based on this assumption that the majority will share your particular views, and so if Lego doesn't immediately respond to what you want, it must be that they're ignoring their customers and the survey is a sham.
"

The survey's a sham because it asks questions that are hard to answer in a negative way. It asks what you love about Lego multiple times but doesn't allow you to elaborate on why you've disengaged with the brand. When I have a customer who cancels their regular order, I ask for that feedback because it tells me whether or not I can do anything to regain them as a customer (This has happened quite a lot over the past year).

What that approach will produce of course, is hard data that you can put in a press release apparently demonstrating that fans are really vibing with Star Wars or whatever.

This speaks to a common theme on Brickset where commenters will insist that X theme or Y set has sold hugely well without any actual sales data to back that up (A sold out product just tells you the store sold all it had to sell). All we get from Lego are carefully selected datapoints, and the rest we have to guess at.

Not to burst anyone's bubble, but the link is a random form generated in MS Office, no logo or additional information. Every page referring to this survey just has this direct link, but there is no official communication from LEGO that this is even really from them.

I would love to give them a piece of my mind, but I wonder if this is a silly hoax to infuriate people and/or have some fun reading the responses. Anyone that can provide an official LEGO communication with this link would be much appreciated.

I remember doing this and getting paid by LEGO.
Don’t do it.
Don’t let a billion dollar corporation use your input for free.

Well, this is a depressingly predictable comment section.

@Pavell said:
"The survey's a sham because it asks questions that are hard to answer in a negative way. "

I managed to! :-)

@legoDad42 said:
"I remember doing this and getting paid by LEGO.
Don’t do it.
Don’t let a billion dollar corporation use your input for free.
"

...So, don't give them your input at all?

The wording of these survey questions is terrible. I could write them an essay about all the problems and how to fix them but they only want to hear an answer for one of those? Are they stupid?

I made a paragraph about there needing to be some stronger and better joints for mechs so we can get back to knees and elbows on everything and maybe get the ability to make bigger articulated mech builds, alongside putting in transparent stands since everything is designed for display anyway stands should be a non-issue.

If I had been able to write more it would have been about how sticker sheets should be switched to a different material or process since color matching has not been such a rampant unacknowledged issue up until some time in the past 10 years. The existence of stickers is perfectly fine, I really can not imagine how much more useless most parts would be if they had unique prints that you can not get rid of without a rag and 99% alcohol. Judging by the Bricklink aftermarket prices of unique printed parts from 2000s era sets, prints are sought after when they are versatile but prints for every part would result in a vast amount of parts being treated as worthless when they do not have to be when the choice of putting on or removing stickers is an actual possibility for everyone.

I could have also written about how terrible it is to use minifigures as hostages to sell certain sets, but since I have a 3D printer and want to get a UV printer anyway that is no longer my problem, I am perfectly fine with getting the cheapest minifigure parts, used or new, for customs.

@SpaghettiDish said:
"
- Endless display models (read: overpriced paperweights).
- At least two thirds of the shelf space dedicated to IPs. (Very creative.)
"

I was in a LEGO store a couple of weekends ago, and I didn't get this impression. I reckon it was pretty equal split for shelf space for the in-house versus licensed sets. Quite a bit of shelf space was devoted to the kids themes of City, Ninjago and Friends and then probably slightly less space for the adult in-house sets. But I reckon half the store was in-house sets, and even more than that if you include the PAB wall too. Some of the smaller licensed sets were hard to find. My daughter was after the black flower thing from Wednesday, and we had to ask where it was. There are a lot of licensed themes but that doesn't mean they all get equal space.

As to display models, that is what many adults want, whether licensed or not. If you want to see play sets, look in the kids' section. They still exist.

@myth said:
"I filled it, but wonder how will it help... So many questions about how I feel about the brand. Who cares, ask more about products!"

You can describe how you feel about products as an extension of how you feel about the brand. I.e. I LOVE Pirates of the Caribbean and Lord of the Rings, but hate that they only release 1 massive set a year, instead of actually making it a "theme" again.

I put stuff about that in my answers.

@tmtomh said:
"To be clear, I share some (though only some) of the criticisms and annoyances that others have expressed here. But just because I share it doesn't mean it's widely felt, just like when folks here in a comment thread absolutely trash an "overpriced" or "garbage" set, or a set that's "too dumbed down for play" or "just a display model with no functions" and then the set sells in huge numbers."

I really dislike this attitude that just because people complain about something on the internet that they are just self-centered and always wrong. There have been enough sets that were called out as bad ideas and turned out to be bad sellers, the world map, BTS, Black Panther bust and more. Even cases like the atrocious Hulkbuster design selling good enough for a 2 year shelflife do not excuse that the same design has been offered with better execution by multiple companies and fan designers, and that the LEGO set undeservedly sold good enough just because it was an official LEGO product, not because of any merit that can be quantified. Some big IP sets get their flaws ignored and sell well like the brittle Juggernaut, yes, but there are quite many that are called out and get retired prematurely.

@Sammael said:
"- I don't think there is a community culture anymore. LUGs are doing it for the money or for free sets, TLG has become a megacorporation that ONLY cares about the bottom line, and thousands of licensed sets are not aimed at the community but at individual wealthy collectors or investors. I don't think there will be an AFOL community in 2030. Instead, communities of builders will switch to more affordable or innovative alternatives. And I am saying this as someone who is still a LEGO purist."

I don’t know which is sadder, the fact that you think this is what’s going on with every LUG in the world, or the probability that this is really all that you’ve experienced. I’ve got over 22 years in with what might be the most active LUG in the world. I personally did 21 shows last year (the club did more). All told, I think I got less than $100 in direct compensation to doing all these events. Just one of those shows is an hour away from me, lasts eight days, and costs me two full tanks of gas, which pretty much wipes out all of that money. Neither the LUG nor myself review sets, so we don’t get shipments of free sets for doing that. Our LUG Ambassador does get sent the Employee Gift set each year, but that’s one member out of ~50, and they never even sent him the Gingerbread AC. And one of my most common responses to audience questions is that we do this for fun and unprofit. Doing shows is probably one of my top five expenses for the year, and the ROI is deep into the red.

I haven’t been able to make it since 2018, but when I’ve gone to Brickworld Chicago, they pack a 100,000sqft convention hall with over 1000 AFOLs who travel in from every continent except Antarctica, just to hang out for a few days with AFOLs from all over the world, and show their creations off to the public. That is a tremendous drain on resources. When I do go, I plan on it costing me about $1000, and I’m not even paying airfare like many attendees.

@GirlWoman said:
"Finally, my chance to give em a piece of mind. I'm sure they'll love all of my many many many many many suggestions *rubs hands*"

Except there's really no place to put suggestions. This felt more like a "pat us on the back" than "tell us what we can improve/change/add to".

@StudMuffin24 said:
"Everytime you can type something, put "REMOVE SMART BRICK NOW""

They already did that in over half of the Smart Play sets.......was that a blessing or a curse?

@FlatSixLego said:
"On the blank check I simply replied that LEGO must realize their customers are three main groups whereas I believe they think it's two. LEGO thinks it has adults and kids. I believe it's kids who want kids sets, adults who want adult sets, and adults who want kids sets. And they're forgetting about the third category. They think they're solving it with poor playscale sets (they're for children so who cares) and expesive busts, helmets and midi-scale sets for adults."

I'd say you're right, that's a very acute observation, but you've forgotten one category: kids who want adult sets

That was fun, even though I don't think they care about what I wrote (I was nice!)

I doubt my response will have any effect, but I shared my dissatisfaction with modern Lego due to the lack of original themes. I wrote about my desire for a return of brief play themes (such as Agents, Monster Fighters, etc) and a return of classic play themes (castle, pirates, space).

I'm not sure if I'm going to finish this; there are some questions on there that I feel are hard to quantify. Maybe that's just the way my mind works; I've never been diagnosed or tested, but there's a high probability that I'm on the autistic spectrum.

@Crux said:
"- Bring back trans neon
- You cowards"

Hear hear!

@dimc said:"I may be the odd one out, but I don't actually mind the licensed themes. I love Lord of the Rings and the occasional movie thing like the BttF and F&F Speed Champions. I guess that whole line is licensed, but it feels sort of different from SW or JP or whatever else. "

Honestly, I think some of the people saying "No more licensed sets!" really mean "Only licensed sets from licenses I care about!"

@Andrusi said:"Well, this is a depressingly predictable comment section."

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gO0jiJw7GaY

@PurpleDave said:" @Sammael said:"- I don't think there is a community culture anymore. LUGs are doing it for the money or for free sets, TLG has become a megacorporation that ONLY cares about the bottom line, and thousands of licensed sets are not aimed at the community but at individual wealthy collectors or investors. I don't think there will be an AFOL community in 2030. Instead, communities of builders will switch to more affordable or innovative alternatives. And I am saying this as someone who is still a LEGO purist."

I don’t know which is sadder, the fact that you think this is what’s going on with every LUG in the world, or the probability that this is really all that you’ve experienced. I’ve got over 22 years in with what might be the most active LUG in the world. I personally did 21 shows last year (the club did more). All told, I think I got less than $100 in direct compensation to doing all these events. Just one of those shows is an hour away from me, lasts eight days, and costs me two full tanks of gas, which pretty much wipes out all of that money. Neither the LUG nor myself review sets, so we don’t get shipments of free sets for doing that. Our LUG Ambassador does get sent the Employee Gift set each year, but that’s one member out of ~50, and they never even sent him the Gingerbread AC. And one of my most common responses to audience questions is that we do this for fun and unprofit. Doing shows is probably one of my top five expenses for the year, and the ROI is deep into the red.

I haven’t been able to make it since 2018, but when I’ve gone to Brickworld Chicago, they pack a 100,000sqft convention hall with over 1000 AFOLs who travel in from every continent except Antarctica, just to hang out for a few days with AFOLs from all over the world, and show their creations off to the public. That is a tremendous drain on resources. When I do go, I plan on it costing me about $1000, and I’m not even paying airfare like many attendees."

I had a feeling you'd weigh in on that.

To echo Sammael’s sentiment, one of my main issues is also the noticeable decline in the quality of the pieces over the years. I don’t know whether they’ve changed the injection molding process multiple times but on average, parts feel like they are softer and have higher flex, lower clutch power and durability, and higher color variance than older equivalent parts from decades ago. I don’t mind production changes if the quality stays consistent, but there is a noticeable decline in brick quality that they haven’t addressed. I wonder how much of this can be also be attributed to having most of my sets sourced from the factory in Mexico which is infamous for its particularly bad QC.

Average flex and durability haven’t really been tested, but the issue of clutch power and color consistency have been addressed in several articles and videos- it takes a much lower force on average to separate two 2x4 bricks now than it did pre-2000. Sure, it’s easier for kids to construct sets now but it also means they are more prone to weakening and breaking apart over time, but I doubt modern sets are designed to last as long as older sets anyway with the amount of new sets TLG churns out yearly. Their newer business model of rapid release cycles is turning out to be far more profitable so I doubt anything will change.

@FlatSixLego said:
"On the blank check I simply replied that LEGO must realize their customers are three main groups whereas I believe they think it's two. LEGO thinks it has adults and kids. I believe it's kids who want kids sets, adults who want adult sets, and adults who want kids sets. And they're forgetting about the third category. They think they're solving it with poor playscale sets (they're for children so who cares) and expesive busts, helmets and midi-scale sets for adults."

Out of interest, how would you define the 60503 Coast Guard Helicopter (age 7+) that has just been reviewed? Is that a poor playscale set because it is not an expensive bust, helmet or midiscale set for adults that want adult sets? I can understand adults not wanting to buy sets for 4+, but I find many 7+ and definitely 9+ sets are of interest to adults that want playsets. They tend to be the cheaper to mid range sets and are clearly designed as toys rather than display models.

@ADRILEGIA said:
" @Capybara554321 said:
"Everyone just put no more stickers. It'll prove if they are listening. "

I've begged for it, although useless. They should at least take it into consideration with expensive adult aimed sets, it's outrageous to pay +100 bucks for sets full of stickers that will eventually peel and make the set look like crap. Not to mention the issue of applying them properly, some of them are a real headache."

I still have nightmares about the big stickers inside of those curve pieces on Barad Dur.

@PurpleDave said:
" @Sammael said:
"- I don't think there is a community culture anymore. LUGs are doing it for the money or for free sets, TLG has become a megacorporation that ONLY cares about the bottom line, and thousands of licensed sets are not aimed at the community but at individual wealthy collectors or investors. I don't think there will be an AFOL community in 2030. Instead, communities of builders will switch to more affordable or innovative alternatives. And I am saying this as someone who is still a LEGO purist."

I don’t know which is sadder, the fact that you think this is what’s going on with every LUG in the world, or the probability that this is really all that you’ve experienced. I’ve got over 22 years in with what might be the most active LUG in the world. I personally did 21 shows last year (the club did more). All told, I think I got less than $100 in direct compensation to doing all these events. Just one of those shows is an hour away from me, lasts eight days, and costs me two full tanks of gas, which pretty much wipes out all of that money. Neither the LUG nor myself review sets, so we don’t get shipments of free sets for doing that. Our LUG Ambassador does get sent the Employee Gift set each year, but that’s one member out of ~50, and they never even sent him the Gingerbread AC. And one of my most common responses to audience questions is that we do this for fun and unprofit. Doing shows is probably one of my top five expenses for the year, and the ROI is deep into the red.

I haven’t been able to make it since 2018, but when I’ve gone to Brickworld Chicago, they pack a 100,000sqft convention hall with over 1000 AFOLs who travel in from every continent except Antarctica, just to hang out for a few days with AFOLs from all over the world, and show their creations off to the public. That is a tremendous drain on resources. When I do go, I plan on it costing me about $1000, and I’m not even paying airfare like many attendees."

I have zero knowledge of American LUGs. I'm writing from my experience, and from what I have heard from numerous other European fans (some of whom used to be Ambassadors).

I got disilusioned with LAN after several meetings with TLG's LAN leadership some 10 years ago, where they were adamant in supporting some of the absolutely worst behaviors pointed out to them including blatant falsifying of membership/attendance to increase support volume, as well as reselling of support sets/boxes.

@Sammael said:
"I have zero knowledge of American LUGs. I'm writing from my experience, and from what I have heard from numerous other European fans (some of whom used to be Ambassadors)."

I know that LUG life in Europe can be very different from NA. We make them nervous because the US is one country, and has to have at least 50 LUGs by now, where most EU nations have _one_. I can think of three that have been based out of the Chicago area alone. Metro Detroit gets even messier. MichLUG, the oldest, ostensibly covered the entire state. Except it’s probably a six hour drive to get from Detroit to the south end of the Mackinac Bridge, and several more hours to drive to either end of the UP, so we’ve never done a single show north of the bridge. We do have one member who relocated there, but we almost never see her anymore. She had to back out of a show earlier this month because the roads still aren’t clear from winter.

And we don’t really do much in the northern half of the LP, because, again, it’s like driving to Chicago, but without the Chicago. So we mostly stick to the lower third of the LP. And when we did 26 shows in 2010, none of the eastsiders wanted to drive across the state (~3 hours, plus you need to pay for hotels) to do the odd show over there, so the club split. MichLUG is mostly Metro Detroit, and WMLUG covers the western side of the state. We bump into each other at a few specific events each year (Brick Bash and any Brickworld in the area), and they have become nearly as active as my LUG.

Then we had a couple members leave to start a new LUG in the area (kinda went belly up, from what I’ve heard), and one of them left to start a _third_ LUG in the area (still see them at Brick Bash every year). And within MichLUG, we’ve already got the start of two more clubs forming. One would cover the area around the crook of the thumb (about 3 hours north of Detroit), because there’s enough interest growing in that area to get another LUG off the ground…but not to schlep three hours each way (plus hotels!) anytime they want to do a show. And the earlier membership has a lot of people who have built skyscrapers that weigh 2-3x as much as their creators, while the newer membership feels we need to switch to LGMS with tables that can’t support a 150lbs person on a 6’ ladder, placing the top section on an 11.5” building. So we have members who only do traditional layouts, members who only do LGMS layouts, and a small group of people (including two who are working to get that LUG in the thumb off the ground) who do both. So I can see a future where six different LUGs exist in the state, with four of them based near Detroit, and that’s not even counting the Mindstorms club that used to exist in Ann Arbor! And all but one of these six groups is thriving, or headed in that direction.

And the largest LUG I’ve ever heard of is in Korea (I’m assuming South, because, you know…). Kevin Hinkle once told me they have over 10,000 members.

"I got disilusioned with LAN after several meetings with TLG's LAN leadership some 10 years ago, where they were adamant in supporting some of the absolutely worst behaviors pointed out to them including blatant falsifying of membership/attendance to increase support volume, as well as reselling of support sets/boxes. "

So a member of the community engagement team was in town for Brick Bash a few weeks ago, and it sounds like there are going to be some changes in that regard. I know they’ve already made a move to crack down on reselling, to the point that a few of our members have opted out of participating in any further support programs because doing so would mean they’d have to stop operating their Bricklink stores for fear of accidentally running afoul of some very strict rules.

@Space_Police said:
"More in house themes and less licensed themes."

I definitely leaned that way in my feedback. It's a bit of a mixed bag. I'm happy to have access to a Jaws set and Star Wars of course, but I miss having dedicated "evergreen" themes that don't involve external IP and that stick around in some capacity over multiple years. Basically, I'd like to see space, castle, and pirates on a scale more like City (in fact, City can dial it back a notch). I don't love that supposedly "evergreen" themed sets are relegated to expensive one-offs in the Icons/Ideas/BL Designer themes.

If that's not what sells, obviously, that's not gonna fly. But as an old fan guilty of a certain level of nostalgia, I'd actually like to see the company scale back and simplify a bit. The catalog of products is mostly buildable sets, which is good, but there is just sooooo much now. It's a bit overwhelming. I'd take fewer themes/products available for wider windows, but I'm fully aware that would not be as profitable, so is not likely to happen.

This mentality also probably stems in part from undiagnosed OCD and the struggle to more actively control the influx of new LEGO product on my end at a household level. ;)

Among some other feedback, I mainly tried to be constructive about the quality of parts. Visible injection mold gate marks, color inconsistencies, shrinking and so on. How at least some of the competition has now caught up on this, while Lego is still by far the most expensive. I hope they realize how dangerous that is, long term. I still haven't actually tried other brands, but from what I have seen I'm getting more and more tempted and one day I probably will. Especially if Lego just let the opposition take the lead, offering better parts at a lower cost.

@560heliport said:
" @legoDad42 said:
"I remember doing this and getting paid by LEGO.
Don’t do it.
Don’t let a billion dollar corporation use your input for free.
"

...So, don't give them your input at all? "

You're supposed to get paid for marketing studies, feedback, surveys.
I've done it live in person with Lego reps.
That was mid 2000s. They have the money to do this.
Many people do paid surveys to this day, why give a billion dollar corp your input for free?
Why can't they give VIP points or coupons or discount?
Because they're being cheapskates and too many people don't value their time properly.

@dimc said:
"I may be the odd one out, but I don't actually mind the licensed themes. I love Lord of the Rings and the occasional movie thing like the BttF and F&F Speed Champions. I guess that whole line is licensed, but it feels sort of different from SW or JP or whatever else."

SC may be IP-based, but it doesn't come with stories attached. Except for the ones that are drawn from films, the vast majority of sets are _just_ a car. Well, and maybe the SC F1 cars, as well, since people actually follow that.

"I do question the quality they've had lately. As others mentioned, clutch power and color needs work. So do stickers, to be honest. I understand why everything isn't printed; but for UCS-type sets, nothing should be stickered. That's the whole point of a top-end set!"

I honestly don't get the complaints about clutch. I've been building since the late 70's, and the only time I've had any noticeable reduction in clutch that wasn't tied to a specific part (some of the hairstyles, especially the rubber ones, have almost no clutch, but that's something that never changes with those hairstyles), it was from the TLBM Clayface. But that was a set that was officially cleared for release a month earlier than intended, due to Christmas shortages. And of the five(?) TLBM sets that recevied that clearance, I know one copy of at least two of the sets I got at that time had white stickers applied to the box because they were apparently diverting EU production to the US because it was the only way to get them on store shelves in sufficient quantity. So some copies of Clayface had 1x1 plates that not only had weak clutch, but were also very translucent. Other copies were the same quality I've been getting all my life. But the ones that had weak clutch also had noticeable differences in some of the mold marks on the 2x2 round plates, which tells me they were probably produced in a different factory than the copies that had higher quality parts. I really think this may be an issue with one or more EU factories, and hasn't really been an issue for Mexican production (and hopefully not for Virginia, either).

@SpaghettiDish said:
"The wholesomeness of LEGO as a brand has suspiciously gone downhill ever since the accursed "Adults Welcome" campaign.

- Endless display models (read: overpriced paperweights)."

They make at least 500 sets per year now. Even if 100 of them are strictly for display, that still leaves at least _four_times_ as many play-friendly sets as they came out with annually when I was growing up. I walk into Target, and they have two full aisles (TWO!) dedicated to LEGO sets, and only maybe 1/4 of one of those aisles is filled with black boxes.

"- At least two thirds of the shelf space dedicated to IPs. (Very creative.)"

Look at the mid-assembly photos of Luigi's Mach 8 and tell me that set isn't creative.

"- The dishonest treatment of The Masks of Power developers."

Yeah, that's problematic. Really, the dirt treatment they've given the Bionicle fan community as a whole is pretty bad. From rigging the 90th Anniversary vote to change the results, to outright pretending Bionicle didn't even exist when releasing a historical timeline of the company, it's really starting to feel like their policy towards that fandom is being dictated by the AFOL community circa 2001.

@legoDad42 said:
" @560heliport said:
" @legoDad42 said:
"I remember doing this and getting paid by LEGO.
Don’t do it.
Don’t let a billion dollar corporation use your input for free.
"

...So, don't give them your input at all? "

You're supposed to get paid for marketing studies, feedback, surveys.
I've done it live in person with Lego reps.
That was mid 2000s. They have the money to do this.
Many people do paid surveys to this day, why give a billion dollar corp your input for free?
Why can't they give VIP points or coupons or discount?
Because they're being cheapskates and too many people don't value their time properly."

Maybe you should let me decide how I spend my time.
It took me five minutes.

I don't think my survey answers were really enthusiastic or enraged. Just apathetic. Maybe that's the most damning way to look at current LEGO: there are clear issues that need to be resolved and I've listed a few in the survey, but I know they won't answer or care and nothing will change. Just wanted to do my part for the metrics and get it out of my system. Everything's not as awesome as your biased questioning may seem, LEGO.

Maybe I’m in the minority but I’m pretty happy with LEGO. I appreciate some of the new licenses and a number of in house themes like City and Creator have been very strong. Art, Icons, Ideas, and Botanicaks have released some really nice sets and many here likely know my great appreciation for BDP.

My frustrations are mainly with LEGO Quality and Pricing, though I suspect the Pricing ship has long since sailed.

@Draykov said:
" @Space_Police said:
"More in house themes and less licensed themes."

I definitely leaned that way in my feedback. It's a bit of a mixed bag. I'm happy to have access to a Jaws set and Star Wars of course, but I miss having dedicated "evergreen" themes that don't involve external IP and that stick around in some capacity over multiple years. Basically, I'd like to see space, castle, and pirates on a scale more like City (in fact, City can dial it back a notch). I don't love that supposedly "evergreen" themed sets are relegated to expensive one-offs in the Icons/Ideas/BL Designer themes.

If that's not what sells, obviously, that's not gonna fly. But as an old fan guilty of a certain level of nostalgia, I'd actually like to see the company scale back and simplify a bit. The catalog of products is mostly buildable sets, which is good, but there is just sooooo much now. It's a bit overwhelming. I'd take fewer themes/products available for wider windows, but I'm fully aware that would not be as profitable, so is not likely to happen.

This mentality also probably stems in part from undiagnosed OCD and the struggle to more actively control the influx of new LEGO product on my end at a household level. ;)
"
I’m right there with you. A friend & I regularly discuss how we wish LEGO would take a year off of releasing new sets so we can catch up. Obviously we won’t be getting everything we want in any given year…but there’s no way to keep up even slightly. Especially with the giant sets they continue releasing each year(looking at you LotR…Minas Tirith).

@legoDad42
You're funny. I think this is the first time I've seen someone adamantly advocating *for* paid surveys. The usual position I see online is that anytime money gets involved, the data is invalidated because it has been biased by financial incentives: sponsorships, paid reviews, paid surveys, etc. Because we live in an amoral society (that's not a good thing, and I despise that it is true, but it is the reality, for now) where money rules all, people will shirk honesty in favor of more money; i.e., if the survey were paid, people may be less inclined to give honest feedback for fear of being barred from future (paid) surveys. At least, that is the expectation, and thus people will not trust opinions from people who were paid to give them. This is the same accusation I've seen leveled at LAN members here on Brickset.

Basically, keeping the survey unpaid guarantees people will give their unbiased feedback to LEGO, in as blunt and direct terms as need be. I don't want LEGO to worry about paying me for my opinion. I want them to listen to my opinion, and act. (Not that, in either case, I actually expect LEGO to act upon the feedback.)

@PurpleDave The Vietnam factory was announced a few years ago, concurrently with the Virginia factory, as @560heliport said. A quick Google tells me the factory began manufacturing last April. So it's been operational for just under a year at this point. The Mexico factory (in Monterrey) first opened in 2009. (LEGO initially began production in the Americas in 2006 by outsourcing to a Mexico-based Flextronics factory, but that seems to have had problems, so they made the Monterrey one.) It has since undergone several expansions (in 2014, 2015, and 2023), according to LEGO's own timeline: https://www.lego.com/en-us/history/articles/i-lego-production-in-mexico

@tmtomh said:
"So many of these comments are excellent examples of the phenomenon whereby people think that their personal perspective, or the perspective of their personal social circle, is generalizable to the global community of Lego builders, consumers, and fans. The idea that Lego "won't listen" or "this is meaningless" is based on this assumption that the majority will share your particular views, and so if Lego doesn't immediately respond to what you want, it must be that they're ignoring their customers and the survey is a sham."

I'm sorry but this is just silly.

1) You're labeling a large group of people via the exact same phenomenon you're criticizing.

2) You have no insight into what sells in "huge numbers." Based on the LEGO annual report from the last few years, the themes that sell the best are at least partially exempt from most of these criticisms, indicating you're just making stuff up.

3) Dislike of stickers is basically universal. There's a good reason why LEGO moved away from them years ago. Stickers are not permanent. They peel, they're notorious for becoming scuffed up (either from storage or play) and they can be a pain to place properly. For some sets, like 40580 - Blacktron Cruiser, they always just kind of look like crap from the moment they're placed because the color matching is always a little off and black shows everything.

Realistically speaking, I think they're unavoidable for some sets like Ninjago City Gardens but for display plaques or expensive collector sets, they're just unacceptable.

4) The NA PAB issues are big enough that I'm sure they're both well-known and being worked on. Even if it wasn't known, it's not going to be resolved because someone recommended it in a push-survey.

It also only affects some people. LEGO fans in Europe don't care about NA's PAB problems--why would they recommend something that has no effect on them? It makes no sense.

5) I doubt much of anything will happen on the electronic side of things. I feel like that crowd has historically been one of the most vocal, which is probably part of the reason why so many people feel like LEGO isn't actually listening--they occasionally just give the impression they're listening with things like these surveys.

Simply put, the majority of these criticisms have been around for years and LEGO hasn't done much about them, so it makes sense for people to be a little jaded.

Personally, I think the best thing LEGO can do is to slow down, acknowledge common criticisms, take responsibility for them and keep communication open. I do believe there is a lot of value in the feedback (both positive and negative) that people like Huw, CapnRex101, etc., offer for LEGO because it's bound to be the most focused, but that kind of feedback is obviously bound to be fairly specific and usually centered on individual sets.

It's worthwhile for LEGO to reach out to the general community, or at least have communities like the one here at Brickset "vent" about problems so-to-speak, otherwise many criticisms will simply never be heard. However, when it's all said and done, something either needs to change or LEGO should communicate why that change isn't happening.

I sometimes wonder if the type of sets that most often gets hyped by the Lego fandom gives people in it a bit of a skewed impression. We seem to chatter much more about whatever the latest display set or new IP is than the many Ninjago/City/Friends/etcetc playsets that are released every year.

@Vesperas

Disliking stickers isn’t actually “basically universal”. People who don’t like them - including me - are very *loud* about it, and we frequently bring it up, but that’s not the same thing. A lot of MOC frequent flyers prefer them because if it’s a sticker you can just not use it and now you have a more flexible piece to play with, for example. And others just don’t mind them much.

@Vesperas said:
" Personally, I think the best thing LEGO can do is to slow down, acknowledge common criticisms, take responsibility for them and keep communication open. "

what do you mean by slow down, and why would they do it? Their sales figures appear to be at an all time high. Engagement across the population seems to be at an all time high. I don't think LEGO care all that much about complaints from longer term fans, rather they care about views from the current set buying population. There have been complaints for years about stickers, colour consistency, licensed sets, not doing the Classic themes (that adults want) and instead doing new action themes (that kids want). Yet people in general keep buying LEGO, in larger volumes than before.

For every complainer and complaint, many sets are sold to other people. The latter are more important to LEGO than the former.

@WizardOfOss said:
" @Hiratha said:
"Disliking stickers isn’t actually “basically universal”. People who don’t like them - including me - are very *loud* about it, and we frequently bring it up, but that’s not the same thing. A lot of MOC frequent flyers prefer them because if it’s a sticker you can just not use it and now you have a more flexible piece to play with, for example. And others just don’t mind them much."

I always wonder about that....I mean, prints can actually be useful in MOCs as well. And as long as that same piece is also available without prints.....
}]

Stickers can also be used on other parts too, at least if they are the same colour. And the transparent background ones are better still as they can be used on any colour. I've done that in the past for MOCs."