December 24, 2009 – 11:21 am
Periodically I get asked or see a comment about how to participate in LEGOPalooza. The best way to participate is to join the NCLUG mailing list (which is actually a Yahoo Group) because that is where all of the information is first shared and where just about all of the discussion takes place. Participation is largely to open to anyone who is interested. Each of the coordinators takes on a different tack, as coordinator for the Train layout it I run it like an NCLTC layout which has worked well.
December 24, 2009 – 11:13 am
I saw a link to this image on the WamaLUG mailing list.
You can read a bit more about 2010 LEGO Trains in this article on BrickSet. A couple of initial thoughts:
- It is nice to see LEGO Trains coming back and as expected, they are Power Function based.
- I really wish LEGO would release individual train cars. The lack of expandability is, IMNSO, the single biggest reason why LEGO trains don’t succeed in the market.
They are interesting but I don’t see myself buying any of them unless they are really good deal. I recently sold four trains that I still has NISB to help me buy a camera lens I wanted. So for me this is both good news and bad news. Good news that Trains continue on, bad news that they still don’t believe that there is a market for individual cars. One of these days I need to dig up the White Paper on marketing LEGO Trains that I wrote when I worked on the Hobby Train project and post it. When I originally wrote it (about five years ago) I was asked not to post it on the web but that was so long ago, it probably doesn’t matter any more. I went back and read it about six months ago and I think it is as accurate today as when I first wrote it on a flight back from Munich.
December 16, 2009 – 9:19 pm
Yesterday I was out doing some Christmas shopping and Wal-Mart was one of my stops. On my way out of the store I checked out the LEGO aisle. There were lots of sets in the $30+ prices range on the shelves but nothing in the sub-$30 range.
I don’t understand why LEGO continues to ignore a market segment which there is obviously demand for. Particularly in this weak economy. I stopped by Toys-R-Us later in the day and while the situation wasn’t as dire as the Wal-Mart I visited, there was much less selection of the lower priced sets and lots and lots of stock of the expensive sets. One pleasant surprise to see was a 9v Train (the RC Cargo Train) on the shelf in a retail store. Been a while since I have seen that.
December 13, 2009 – 10:58 am
This morning I committed to coordinating the NCLTC train layout at LEGOPalooza 2010. LEGOPalooza is an annual public display put on by NCLUG at the Morehead Planetarium in Chapel Hill, North Carolina. It is a fun couple of days but usually very hectic. Looks like the exhibit space problem we faced last year will not be an issue this year.
December 4, 2009 – 6:45 pm
Yesterday afternoon Renee and Isabelle helped me set up the “Window Into The Community”, aka WITC, display at the Raleigh LEGO Store at Crabtree Valley Mall.
I ended up going with a street scene featuring a Christmas parade. Lots of nice comments were made by other patrons while we were setting it up. If you are in the Raleigh area, check it out – it is in the back left corner of the store.
The cardboard framing which attaches to the plexiglass window really needs to be redesigned. It covers up too much, particularly along the bottom. The frame should utilize the space at the top of the windows which is least lifely to be part of the display. The bottom will almost always be part and it is a shame so much gets covered up.
View Slide Show.
