LEGO VIDIYO: Passion and creativity
Posted by grahamh_100,
There was a hot news item recently here at Brickset – a supermarket had heavily discounted a VIDIYO BeatBox, which led to the question of whether the theme has ‘flopped’. An incredibly lively discussion ensued in the comments section and I felt like I wanted to throw in a new perspective.
As editor of Blocks magazine, I have to think about what we include in the title each month based on a number of factors. One of the biggest is relevance; what is relevant to our readers? Blocks is produced for adult fans – although of course we love that there are families, TFOLs and children who enjoy it too.
VIDIYO isn’t aimed at adults, and out of all of the children-targeted sets, I know it’s not the first theme adults will be itching to collect (although the minifigures and tiles are likely to tempt a fair few AFOLs). Star Wars, Harry Potter, Marvel et cetera are always going to have a big pull over something like VIDIYO.
So why did we put VIDIYO on the cover and make it our main feature for the latest issue? Because it’s unlike anything else that the LEGO Group has launched. For anyone who has an interest in how new LEGO products are developed, VIDIYO is fascinating. It took longer to get there than a standard theme, it involved a different way of thinking about design and the team thought about how to infuse it with LEGO while also pulling in new children who don’t already love LEGO.
Talking to Will Thorogood, Morgan Walker and Ross Haynes really allowed me to understand how this theme came to be, how they went from imagining what a LEGO music experience would look like, to then coming up with the app concept, the BeatBox sets and the BeatBits. It was so clear how much passion and creativity they had put into developing it.
I’m not saying that everyone should rush out and buy VIDIYO sets or declare that they love it – but for those who have really cynical views about this theme or think there was some lack of effort involved it, I really would recommend reading our feature in Blocks magazine Issue 78. Even if you still aren’t a fan of VIDIYO, I think you’ll at least appreciate the creative process that went into it an understand why it is what it is.
This is just my hunch – but I also think it’s too early to count VIDIYO out yet.
Here is a small excerpt from the feature that will give you a taste of how it all began:
Music came up as a new area that the LEGO Group hadn’t tapped into before and the Creative Play Lab team started exploring it, around three and a half years ago. ‘You've got the LEGO system of play, you can put the bricks together in an infinite number of ways. On the other side, you have music, which is a select number of notes that work together and can be combined an infinite number of ways to make all music that's ever existed,’ says LEGO Creative Play Lab Vice President Will Thorogood.
‘There must be some way to bring these two worlds together. That was really hard, we spent a lot of time exploring a number of opportunities. A lot of great ideas came out, but none were a perfect fit. Some were great music ideas, some were great LEGO ideas, but none of them fitted that magic mix that we were going for in the middle.’
That lack of a big idea meant that after several weeks, there was talk about closing the project down. But the Monday morning after it seemed destined to be shelved, Design Director Morgan James Walker came to Will with a sheet of paper.
‘Over the weekend he had that lightbulb moment,’ Will recalls. ‘We sat down over a coffee underneath the stairs in Creative Play Lab and he got a bit of paper out of his bag. He had drawn up basically the core of VIDIYO, this idea of scanning minifigures into an augmented phone app, bringing them to life in your world and making music videos with them. The core of the idea was so simple and so brilliant.
‘We absolutely had to find a way to make this happen. At that point, we had no idea how to do it technically, we had no idea how to do it from a business point of view, we had no idea how to do it from a partnership point of view. All of these things were big, unanswered questions.’
Morgan, who had that lightbulb moment, was passionate about finding a way to combine music and LEGO. ‘I'm first and foremost a massive music fan,’ he enthuses. ‘I came to music late in life – I believed the popular myth that music was for super talented people who were in the school orchestra. When I was in my twenties, I finally got a guitar and got a band together – I realised what I'd been missing out on, I just loved the process of jamming.’
You can buy single issues and subscribe to the magazine at Blocksmag.com.
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53 comments on this article
The app is faulty and way too demanding. Some of the figs are nice, but this in its current form shouldn't be more expensive than regular collectible minifigs. Also there's the blind box scenario which is weird and very against consumers. To top it off, you can use the app without buying an actual set, and instead just scanning a high res picture of it on your computer. IMO the best course of action would be to either reduce the prices for the next wave (if it's happening), or just integrate it in a way into the Lego Legacy mobile game - which in my opinion is in desperate need of some refreshment, at its current state it's just a Star Wars Galaxy of Heroes with the same grindy mechanics but without really cool/licensed figures to collect. Maybe you could scan your figure with an AR app and then your fig becomes playable in the game? Something like this.
Well yes, it is indeed a very unique and never-before-seen product. However, the question still remains if it’s a good one. I’d personally still say that the answer is a big fat no. And especially with these price points and the extremely lackluster app, I’m pretty sure we can keep calling this a failure. Like many people have said before me, LEGO is about building and so on, and parents don’t buy LEGO for their kids so that they can spend even more time in front of their devices. Plus, neither do children, as they can get a much better digital experience from other, FREE apps, sites, etc.
I do agree it's a strong creative idea. But maybe the idea is just too complex to communicate to kids and parents who are used to glancing at all the boxes on the shelves and seeing everything they need to make a purchase decision.
I think the hardest part to grasp is the plastic boxes. They seem to really push up the price of those flagship sets, and they don't serve any fun purpose.
I love the prospect of Vidiyo and what it brings to the table in terms of creativity. I think having an app is cool, and I totally embrace the marriage of physical and digital play. I enjoy the marketing that's been going on. I love the song Shake and play it on repeat from time to time mostly because of L.L.A.M.A. and Carmen DeLeon. But I can't even get a BeatBox locally, never mind the prohibitive price which is true no matter where in the world you live in. And the app has many shortcomings and limitations, some egregious by modern mobile app standards, that seriously hamstring its potential. Nevertheless some AFOLs in my country are trying to source them from overseas for the minifigures.
As some others in the LEGO community have said, Vidiyo is a great idea with poor execution and management.
“Some were great music ideas, some were great LEGO ideas, but none of them fitted that magic mix that we were going for in the middle.”
So we proudly present Vidiyo, which is neither...
It involves very little LEGO building, and no original music creation...
I am genuinely intrigued by what the other ideas were that were shelved however!
I wonder if Vidiyo (and Hidden Side) will lead to more Augmented Reality features for sets. I can easily imagine visual and sound effects (and music) for various Lego themes, plus mini-games, easter eggs and challenges.
Thanks for the article. I have nothing against Vidiyo and I'm interested to see how it develops from here. I think the real test of whether it's a success is whether kids are into it. I've only seen adults commenting on it. As a big music fan since I was very young, I could see myself being into it when I was 6-10 years old.
the idea isn't as creative as people might think. Ferrero kinder-surprise did this long before...
I agree 100% with what @grahamh_100 reports about Vidiyo and its creative potential. Remixing music, creating video, sharing the play & results are all good things.
And I agree 100% with the previous comments - this has been poorly executed and is too expensive. There could be many underlying reasons for the problems, but they still remain: overpriced sets, insufficient Lego content (and no hint of more), poor app with limited devices supported, and a heavy-handed content moderation policy.
@BelgianBricker said:
"Ferrero kinder-surprise did this long before..."
Ferrero released a building block line with a mobile app in tangent with a worldwide music company?
Lots of passion, creativity and good intentions often go into products/final outcomes that feel devoid of any of those and flop hard. It's not like every bad product comes about because its creators were cynical and lazy.
Sure, if people in the LEGO community were arguing that VIDIYO is bad because it was created by corporate cynicism and dispassionate designers, then this article will be good at shedding a light on its potentially well-meaning creators. However, just because those people are passionate and had good intentions doesn't mean that everyone should suddenly change their mind and think VIDIYO is good.
As an AFOL from the US with two kids in the target demographic (6 and 9), I can tell you that my kids' public schools heavily pushes free coding games for the kids that does a very similar feature (you put neon animals on the screen where you want) and use code to make the animals do different dance moves or multiply or whatever. The music in those videos is mainstream hits, and it's all without downloading an app. I don't see how Vidiyo offers anything particularly different or interesting besides the exorbitant price point. If my kids had been able to compose music by doing different LEGO builds, I would have been intrigued. As it is, neither of my own kids has expressed interest, and I'd rather spend my money on builds.
LEGO promoting creativity is obviously important and I do believe app integration has the potential to succeed. Whether that forms part of the direct play experience or becomes an auxiliary asset, I am less certain. Hidden Side provided a reasonable balance in my opinion, but was marketed incorrectly.
Unfortunately, the execution of VIDIYO is fundamentally poor.
I'm still disappointed that the theme didn't include any minidolls. I think they would match each other very well and to get wacky minidolls would be invaluable to any minidoll lover. For me personally, I would have bought many many more sets if they had the doll in them.
I am fully aware that as an AFOL, these sets are not designed for me, however I do look at them and feel like there is a huge problem compared to Hidden Side sets, which were fun to build and appealed to people that were not interested in the app. My 2 nephews have lots of those sets and have only played with the app a few times - but at least the playability and appeal of those sets did make it worth trying out. With Vidiyo I do not see any similar appeal (other than the minifigs - I want the pirate rocker!) which would give anyone any reason to take a gamble on picking these up. Maybe if the boxes were replaced with micro builds with a music theme - a stage or mixing desk etc, it might give this a new lease of life.
Read the article... Figures. Vidiyo is just another example of the wonders of corporate world best depicted in Dilbert:
The Creative Process did happen but failed since it was meant to happen - nothing worth pursuing, no big idea. Fine. On friday evening you send an e-mail to your design director - sorry, no feasible solutions were found, may we move on? But along comes monday morning and voila the boss has solved everything with a "brilliant idea". An app! A Big Beautiful App! Since Vidiyo exists it means no-one had the smarts nor guts to say no to the boss and call his BS what it really was - an idea so stupid no-one even dared to pitch during the actual Creative Process...
Why would you even bother to go through a Creative Process when your boss is a genius superhero who can singlehandedly solve any problem over a weekend? "We absolutely had to find a way to make this happen" - yep, well that's what good and/or smart boys and girls do! When your boss has a pet project that is bound to be doomed, rejoice and play your cards right - it won't be that long before the losses are tallied and he is fired and you might get his seat!
I suspect that Vidiyo is probably more popular with the target demographic (children, especially tweens who are not already interested in LEGO) than Brickset forum complaints would suggest. It's a theme that will likely only appeal to children.
Are DUPLO or LEGO Junior sets flops just because they don't appeal to Brickset AFOLs? Often, Brickset is an echo chamber.
All I can say is that our kids as well as their friends are all in the target audience.
For digital play they love their Nintendo Switch (Light) handheld consoles, for building with LEGO they love their standard City, Friends, Harry Potter or Creator 3in1 sets.
None of them showed any interest in the Vidiyo offerings.
So much for the "appeal" of this theme with the target audience.
As for myself, I wouldn't even buy these sets if they were reduced to the max, as they don't contain anything I find even remotely interesting. Never liked wacky figures anyway, I'm far more interested in (semi-)realistic ones.
Ultimately we’ll have to wait and see if it was a success or not with the target demographic when the results come through next year and we see more waves or not. I suspect we’ll see one more as that would already be in production.
I agree with @holdre007 though. As a product manager you have to be asking what problem are we solving or what is the target customer looking for? Not coming up with what you think is a cool idea and shoehorning it into a perceived market.
The reliance on apps for younger children to me seems to be an assumption that all children have access to their own phone or tablet, which demonstrably is not the case. It puts a very middle class target on it.
Even the greatest product idea (and I'm not saying VIDYIO is one) risks failure if not priced fairly, and I strongly feel the price of the beat boxes is way too much, honestly it feels like a slap in the face of potential customers.
The introduction of blind boxes just adds insult to injury. I wonder what was the rationale behind using blind boxes, is it possible there was another reason other than a cash grab?
Some of the minifigures are great, unfortunately that is not enough to overcome the negative aspects described above.
There are rumours that the blind boxes concept might make its way to CMFs. I really hope it doesn't happen, it will totally ruin the theme.
I don't think of VIDIYO as a theme centred on music, it's more about the videos. I wasn't able to coordinate my beat bit actions closely with the music when I tried playing, and the creativity is fairly limiting in my opinion.
I would have played a game where you score points for getting things on time to the music (without the VR element which is I think why you need a high spec device for the VIDIYO app). They presumably rejected ideas where you actually got to create music and went with VR minifigs dancing.
I think the graphic design is fun and there's lots of nice new elements from this. I don't think we know yet if it's flopped but I would be surprised if there are a lot of new products in this line beyond what they already planned.
I applaud LEGO for trying to come up with new ideas and trying to reach more people, but they dont do well with App-based sets, having a pretty bad track record with them perhaps with the exception of Hidden side.
Obviously, it’s a theme meant for kids, I don’t think anyone is saying otherwise, but after trying the app, and seeing my nephew struggle with it and the idea of it, I’m not sure the idea has been executed properly.
If the app was completely fixed and more user friendly then it might have potential, but at that point it might be too late. I’m sure they’ll release a second wave, but I’m fairly certain the theme won’t last long
I wonder how much Lego payed them xD
It is creative but there are way better way to spendcreative time than look on your phones and click buttons. Like BUILDING WITH ACTUAL BRICKS
Seriously ONLY Fusions was good concept For Lego-VR fun. I dont understand why they dropped it so quickly istead of building what they made.
Hmmm. Reading the article has actually given me less confidence in the product. Compare and contrast with the effort LEGO put into the Friends line.
It’s great that LEGO has passionate designers, but you can’t just force a product to market on desire alone.
Ever.
There has to be a demand. Solving the problems mentioned in the article doesn’t matter at all, either. It’s a great personal triumph for the team, but doesn’t mean jack for sales.
There’s no better example of that than the Pontiac Aztek. They hit every major milestone on time and under budget. They really thought they had a winner of a product because it not only met GM’s internal criteria, but matched emerging trends in the younger demographics. But they forgot about groupthink.
They convinced themselves the car wasn’t ugly.
Don’t try to convince me the car isn’t ugly. Make a great product, and it will practically sell itself.
Just because something is unique doesn't mean it isn't significantly overpriced. And just because something is unique doesn't mean it's interesting. This product is both...sorry TLG.
Despite my reservations I never had doubts about the creative aspects and I'm pretty sure so do many other people who criticize the product. In that regard I think Graham is totally missing the point. That, and that the criticism is primarily directed against insane pricing, a dysfunctional app and the overall feeling of LEGO playing outside their turf without understanding some fundamental rules. You can schmalz it up with fancy marketing talk about bringing different worlds and people together, but ultimately people who buy LEGO for being LEGO, including younger generations, probably don't care for this. And even if they did, they'd at least expect everything to work. Beyond that it simply remains a very, very obvious attempt to get a slice of the Snapchat/ TikTok market or whatever may be hip next week. People probably could accept that just as well, if LEGO weren't that inapt about it. So where does this leave us? It's an interesting product, but all the potential that may have been there has already been squandered by people simply once again not trusting LEGO to get it right and the company with its hamfisted attempt proving the detractors right. Sorry to be so negative, but honestly, in my mind I've long moved on from this and so likely have many others. This is yet another fail and instead of LEGO-endorsed sales pitches in magazines it would actually take some real action to fix the many issues and bring but potential customers or else I feel this is doomed...
Flaws and all I think it is a good topic for the magazine. It's a new line, unusual, unique, and deserves it's moment in the spotlight. Where it goes from there is up to the consumer.
@BrickoMotion said:
"I'm still disappointed that the theme didn't include any minidolls. I think they would match each other very well and to get wacky minidolls would be invaluable to any minidoll lover. For me personally, I would have bought many many more sets if they had the doll in them."
That's a good point I hadn't thought of (my aversion to minidolls puts them firmly in my blind-spot). In some UK shops VIDIYO is sharing a purpose-built display with Friends sets, so someone at LEGO must have expected customer cross-over.
Thanks for the fresh perspective, Graham. I think most people will appreciate the creative drive behind trying a blend of music and LEGO, and I'm sure if the range had an RRP of around 50%-60% less the concept would have had a better reception. The price being what it is, the product only represents value if you really want absolutely everything it offers, and that probably excludes most potential customers who may only want the Lego or only want the music. This is different to Hidden Side for example, which had RRPs very similar to non-app Lego sets.
Purely from a bricks and figures perspective the range had a very positive reception as far as I could tell, until the prices started to sink in.
I guess we'll never know for sure how successful VIDIYO has been, although if another few waves appear that would be a good indicator that it's out-performed most AFOL's current expectations.
Reading this article in more detail, the developers state the following:
‘You've got the LEGO system of play, you can put the bricks together in an infinite number of ways. On the other side, you have music, which is a select number of notes that work together and can be combined an infinite number of ways to make all music that's ever existed.’
Seeking to combine those qualities makes sense and possesses obvious potential. However, the final product has essentially nothing to do with either quality. VIDIYO currently involves no construction, other than the decorative BeatBox panels which are completely irrelevant, while musical involvement is limited to about thirty different songs. Creating a good music video does benefit from some musical understanding but that represents a tiny fraction of what musical creativity represents.
None of that precludes people having fun with VIDIYO, or even the theme being successful, but I would suggest that LEGO has combined two stated concepts and rendered them both substantially worse, regardless of the creative intent.
Just noticed TLG removed the Space Coin and Ulysses set from the VIP Awards site. I wonder what made them do that? (sarcasm)
it's expensive, full with unnecessary bricks and the random factor is huge. my favorite part in Lego are the minifigs. I really like them, but this... just release them with fix tiles, without everything else and no more random bs.
these are my points.
The problem isn’t a lack of effort. I can’t look at VIDIYO and say the designers didn’t try to make something fun. Heck, I personally really like some of the characters!
But the app itself isn’t great and everything is too expensive for what you’re given. That’s the thing. We don’t want to hate this theme. More good LEGO is always a treat! But there are just so many issues that are getting in the way of loving it.
This feels like more of a PR statement that’s trying to save the product. Kinda reminds me of the Assault on Hoth situation.
I don't have the LEGO app, and doubt I ever will, so that feature makes no difference to me. I do love the Mini-figs, (well, most of them - that Ice Cream Saxophonist is just creepy), and I think it is some great out of the box thinking on the part of LEGO.
Technology doesn't seem to be a strong area for LEGO overall. The app for Vidiyo seems to share the same issue as the LEGO ordering system. Some can use it (place their order) without any issue, while others are left frustrated with the process of trying to get (an order placed) it to work properly on their computer or device. If their product was as bad as their technology I wouldn't bother with it.
There is enough stressful frustration in our lives, LEGO shouldn't be bringing it into their products. When kids try something new (adults try to order) it should be a rewarding feeling of accomplishment, not bring disappointment, as this app experience (ordering platform) has done over and over.
@holdre007 said:
"Read the article... Figures. Vidiyo is just another example of the wonders of corporate world best depicted in Dilbert:
The Creative Process did happen but failed since it was meant to happen - nothing worth pursuing, no big idea. Fine. On friday evening you send an e-mail to your design director - sorry, no feasible solutions were found, may we move on? But along comes monday morning and voila the boss has solved everything with a "brilliant idea". An app! A Big Beautiful App! Since Vidiyo exists it means no-one had the smarts nor guts to say no to the boss and call his BS what it really was - an idea so stupid no-one even dared to pitch during the actual Creative Process...
Why would you even bother to go through a Creative Process when your boss is a genius superhero who can singlehandedly solve any problem over a weekend? "We absolutely had to find a way to make this happen" - yep, well that's what good and/or smart boys and girls do! When your boss has a pet project that is bound to be doomed, rejoice and play your cards right - it won't be that long before the losses are tallied and he is fired and you might get his seat!"
I’ve been a part of scenarios like this that resulted in failed product lines. There’s some truth here. Sales, Higher-ups...the so-called “suits”...I get the necessary nature in a business but WOW sometimes the involvement of non-creative types in the creative process can absolutely destroy the creative process.
"‘You've got the LEGO system of play, you can put the bricks together in an infinite number of ways. On the other side, you have music, which is a select number of notes that work together and can be combined an infinite number of ways to make all music that's ever existed,’"
I can quickly come up with a great idea: make a special baseplate that is printed with a musical scale. 1x1 pieces are placed on it to represent the notes. Different colors and shapes could give different instruments or types of notes. Tiles rather than plates could be flat notes. (isn't this pun great?) similarly 1/4 circle tiles could be quarter notes! Beatbits could still exist as 1x1 printed tiles like the dots tiles. They wouldn't have visual effects, but purely audio effects. Or, to boost sales, make this musical idea a D.O.T.S. spinoff! Once you have built your composition, scan it with the app to play it back and export as midi or audio file! This could be used not just by kids, but professionals that way!
I bet you wish you hired me, Lego.
Nobody knows what the next hot item will be until it’s released to the market. Often times it’s something that people would have looked at and turned their nose up at because they were convinced it wouldn’t succeed. Certainly that happened with Bionicle (still does), and that sold well enough to save the company from bankruptcy. Before that, people said similar things about using licensed IP when SW was released, because they said it would somehow stifle creativity, and yet it’s arguably the most popular theme in production right now.
You can’t find that hot new thing without being willing to risk failure. That’s just part of the process. You have to keep throwing pasta at the wall until some of it sticks. As long as your successes more than balance out your failures, you’ll continue to grow. What I’ve seen is that every year or two they might have one project that kinda falls flat. That’s not enough to kill the biggest toy company on the planet. It’s arguably how they got there. If all they produced were 2x4 bricks in the five Mondrian colors, would you be here talking about them? Would you have even heard of The LEGO Company? Would you care if you had?
From the perspective of Bricks Magazine, I can understand the appeal of writing the article either way. Even a story about complete failure can make an interesting and informative read if you ask the right questions along the way. And the last thing you want to do is have articles where someone says, “Well, the design was pretty much the same as what we did for the last six Red Squadron X-Wings, but this time we put seven stripes on the wing, and updated the pilot and astromech to match.”
@Farmer_John:
Because they were Sold Out. They do periodically weed out the dead links so it’s easier to see what’s left. There weren’t many people in a rush to buy the Castle coin when it was first reported, but that was removed by the time the Octan coin went up.
@robb said:
"I suspect that Vidiyo is probably more popular with the target demographic (children, especially tweens who are not already interested in LEGO) than Brickset forum complaints would suggest. It's a theme that will likely only appeal to children.
Are DUPLO or LEGO Junior sets flops just because they don't appeal to Brickset AFOLs? Often, Brickset is an echo chamber. "
Are Duplo and Junior heavily-discounted shelf-warmers?
Nice article! Thaks for writing it down.
I believe Vidiyo is a really creative theme. The minifigures are awesome, different and innovative. The printed tiles are incredibly useful.
Have a nice day guys!
I say this as someone who liked the minifigs and collected pretty much all of them.
"This is just my hunch – but I also think it’s too early to count VIDIYO out yet."
... then you might want to tell that to the department stores who are already trying to clearance them out because they're sitting on shelves, gathering dust, and nobody's buying them.
And for all this, "oh it's just the AFOLs who don't like them!", well, it would seem that nobody else is buying them, either.
I find it odd that people are saying that AFOLs aren’t the target demographic. I hate to break it to you, but kids aren’t parents, AFOLs are, and while you don’t need to be an AFOL to buy sets for your children, we do buy sets for our children, and possibly more sets than parents who don’t enjoy Lego as much.
Regardless of whether my kids would or wouldn’t enjoy this set, I will not buy it for them. That genius idea of an app is the reason why. I do not want my kids playing with my phone anymore than they already do, if anything I want them spending less time on my phone.
Now my son has learned to read in this last year and has become really interested in music. As a result he will grab my phone and start playing music that I own on my phone, and I have no issue with developing a love for music in my kids. I also broke out the record player and now spin vinyl for the kids which they love.
I’m not 100% opposed to an app with Lego, I’m actually a big fan of the Mario theme and so are my kids. But the app is simply building instructions and firmware updates. We play with our Mario sets all the time and never use the app unless we need to rebuild something.
Now if Lego was really creative they would focus on that limited number of bricks and musical notes, and the infinite number of combinations that they can create. Many children’s museums have music exhibits where you can rearrange items to create music, and there is no reason why Lego couldn’t also do this. Place red bricks in different places to create different guitar chords, blue can be piano and so on. Basically you are visually creating midi files. And if you need an app to take a picture and play the music, then fine, it beats paying $100 for an electronic music playing brick.
@Farmer_John said:
"Just because something is unique doesn't mean it isn't significantly overpriced. And just because something is unique doesn't mean it's interesting. This product is both...sorry TLG."
You make it sound like high end art though!
"But but but, its creative and for kids.'.. well then, that must make a lousy app and overpricing OK?
If its for kids, how come it is so expensive? Sorry, but 4.99 for a blind pack and 20 dollars for one of the boxes, I guess LEGO forgets that most times parents, not their kids, are the purse string holders and will dictate what is and is not bought. If I was a parent I would tell my child, "sorry, but for 20 USD you can get a set with a safari vehicle, tiger, and log costume." Sure a CMF figure costs 4.99, but if a kid wants to they could find the figure they want with some feeling.. One of these blind packs for 4.99... well I guess you hope you kid find the figure they wanted?
I doubt many think it is not imaginative, but again you cannot cover up the poor app and overpricing. I love the figures, Im not paying 4.99 for blind packs I cannot feel for the figures I want, and not paying 20 for a large plastic case, a figure, and a bunch of tiles.
@alfred_the_butler: couldn't have said it better.
@Norikins: what you describe actually sounds like a cool idea, and much better and more creative than Vidiyo imho.
I guess Lego wanted to have a lego toyline that could be the legofied version of the toys like L.O.L, Poopsie Slime, Munchkins, Sparkly Critters and the like. Also boxed in a way that you don’t know which one you get and trying to spark collecting frenzy by making some of them more rare than the others. At least the designs of the characters look a bit similar to me.
I can understand the boxed figures and why that could work because of those other toylines, but i think they made a mistake with the 20€ sets. First off, way too pricey. Second, way too little stuff for what you get. They should have added at least some more builds, and it even was better if they added extra torso’s, legs, hats to pimp those figs. But i guess that is hard to realize in the app, but that would have made those sets more interesting, and more playful.
My daughter (age 9) really wanted one in particular. We got it and a blind box bandmate. Unfortunately the bandmate didnt match the main beatbox character and the app didn't work on devices she has access to. We will buy no more.
Just from watching the shelves at Target I think I can see why this one is a colossal failure. First up, what succeeded? The blind box figure packs at $4.99. Thos quickly sell out. And show a decent new form factor for CMF's. They feel like good value for the money.
But the core BeatBox sets? At $19.99? Not just no, Hell no! At $9.99 USD they would have been a mild hit. At $19.99 they are warming shelves. Nobody wants to spend $20 for a gold Llama head minifig. Not even small children.
I don't see why LEGO and music should even be mixed together, honestly, even if it is "creative":
If you want your kid to create something from bricks - buy them an actual set with actual bricks and let them have fun!
If you want your kid to express themselves through music - teach them an actual instrument, or to sing! They will thank you later in life. This comes from a person that played the piano for the past (almost) 20 years.
Pushing buttons to shuffle pre-made tracks on this kind of app isn't (really) music making. The amount of expression it offers is equivalent to talking with Emoji - yes, you can choose a face that represents your emotions, but it's far from "self expression".
Main point: LEGO shouldn't be given credit, or *money* for being creative, they should be given credit and money for selling products that people connect with. Especially with that blind box situation that makes things worse for collectors.
@HappyLEGOfan:
Pushing buttons to shuffle pre-made tracks is what passes for music these days. Pop musicians, first and foremost, need to be able to dance. Everything else can be handled by a half-competent sound tech.
@PurpleDave said:
" @HappyLEGOfan :
Pushing buttons to shuffle pre-made tracks is what passes for music these days. Pop musicians, first and foremost, need to be able to dance. Everything else can be handled by a half-competent sound tech."
That's not true at all. Pop music, is made by musicians and audio engineers who know how to play synths, use effects and automations, know their recording equipment and how to mix. Some DJs and the like use pre-made tracks, but they aren't the main force in the industry and most creators DO make their own tracks.
Just because pop music itself tends to be unoriginal, doesn't mean the people who make them aren't professionals, this is coming from an audio engineer. I'm into orchestral music for plays and TV/Movies, not so much pop, but I think credit should still be given to those creators for their work. I'm certainly against the approach that "if the music is unoriginal the creators aren't competent as musicians".
So sum up, even in the pop music industry many skills like playing a synths/guitar, composing and editing are required. Calling that "pushing buttons" is oversimplification.
Late to the conversation but I stumbled across what I believe is the patent application for VIDYO by coincidence today. It seems that this was in development by August 2019, with the patent published in February this year. Interesting in terms of development timeline if nothing else: https://patents.google.com/patent/WO2021032289A1/en
@HappyLEGOfan:
I think we're talking about two very different things. Pop music in the US is full of acts that were basically cast by the studio like a movie or TV series, have all their music written for them, don't know how to play any instruments, lip synch their concerts, and often have to be heavily autotuned. Any time you get a singer who sounds like they're in a Transformers movie, they'd probably sound like Lucy Ricardo without a sound tech working some magic.
Are they backed by musicians? Sometimes. Or it might just be programmed into a computer. But if the main reason people buy your albums is because you can keep up with the choreography and look sexy the whole time, or if every "live" performance you do is prerecorded, you're part of the reason why pop music stopped being The Beatles and started being N'Sync.