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UCS falcon rumours (that turned out to be true!)
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It's not cheap, but I can handle it. However I can imagine not everyone can cough up the cash for this. Let's hope there are enough Afols around to share some of its joy at Lug meetings and such.
Chapter Four – The Teaser Campaign... and that price.
By July 2017 the Lego community had worked itself into near frenzy over little more than hopes, desires, wild speculation and a cardboard Space Slug. The ‘Fords’ had begun preparations for the day which they felt certain must come. Savings were raided, excuses were prepared and wives and girlfriends were treated on a regular basis. Many florists and perfume retailers reported an unusual spike in profits over the summer of that year.
Meanwhile the denier movement still clung to the belief that this was nothing more than, well, hopes, desires and wild speculation, although they did concede the existence of the cardboard Space Slug. This, they maintained, was nothing more than the Lego company spoofing the notoriously serious-minded AFOL community as a bit of fun.
All this changed on August 1st when the first of the teaser Tweets (“Box”) was put out. While some saw this as a picture of a large white box, others hailed it as the second coming (of the UCS Falcon). Some soon claimed to have manipulated the image to such a degree that they ‘could see the Falcon on the box art’. Indeed one individual claimed to be able to see inside the box to count the number of bags, but he soon went back to his Galidor collection and was largely ignored.
A week later when the second Tweet (“Manual”) was released, excitement grew to yet greater heights. Many were treated for a case of the vapours and had to be placed in a darkened room.
By this point there was no denying that something was afoot, and discussion turned to that of price. “More than the Death Star.” was the accepted starting point for discussions. £500 soon became £600 in the UK. $600 became $800 in the USA and in most online discussions somebody, sooner or later, would post a picture of Mike Myers in his Dr Evil garb, with the caption: “One Million dollars!”
Eljena Nordquist, current head of PR at Lego looked back on the pricing issue.
“We could see what was going on in the fan community,” she said, “and there’s no doubt about it, it had been a difficult decision to settle on the retail price. There were those who felt that despite its size, it should still have to make a profit, and called for an appropriate price. Others called for it to be partially subsidised in order to make it affordable to a wider audience. Many recalled the stocks of the original 10179 that sat, unsold, on the shelves until reduced in price. The point was, they said, that in essence, this is still a child’s toy.”
Nordquist recalls the meeting at which the remarkable decision was made.
“It was a Thursday afternoon,” she said, “and the meeting had gone on for two hours, with each faction covering the same arguments which came down to “Was it going to be expensive, or very expensive?” That was when Torsten Richardsson from the Comms team spoke up. Comms weren’t even part of the discussion, they simply had to establish the best way of putting the message out to the press once it was announced.”
She continued. “Richardsson took advantage of a lull in the debate and spoke up. ‘Why not,’ he said ‘confound expectation?’ “Well of course the room went quiet at that point and Bali Padda, who’ll you’ll remember was replaced in the August by Neils Christiansen – whether this meeting had anything to do with it I have no idea – asked him to continue.”
“Everyone,” said Richardsson,” is expecting this to be the most expensive set ever produced. The community is already in a frenzy and when the announcement is finally made, the media will be all over this, worldwide. What sort of message do we want to give, when the eyes of the world are upon us? That we make toys for the privileged few? This is what the car industry refer to as a ‘Halo’ model. It attracts attention and publicity which will reflect on the rest of our ranges. Do we want those reflections to be positive or negative?”
“The Bugatti Veyron was an astonishing car,” he continued. “and yet the VW group lost money on every sale. The thing is, there weren’t that many sales compared to the Golfs the Polos and so on. But that car brought positive attention to the brand.”
At this point, recalled Nordquist, Richardsson stood up and the room fell silent.
“Sell this set at £200.” He stated, simply. “Make it a limited edition, to minimise the losses, and then reap the whirlwind of publicity and goodwill. It will be on every front page, every news bulletin. The frenzy to acquire one; the astonishment at the price. There will be people who haven’t picked up a Lego brick in decades swept up in it all, and many of them will come back to us. And when they do, we will have a vast selection of fun, creative – and profitable – sets waiting for them.”
Nordquist then went on to discuss the two later Tweet ‘teasers’ which...
Taken from ‘The great Schism or How one Lego set changed the course of history’ by Professor A. J. Throgmorton
It may be a bit much but after my missus found out I'd spent that on a Lego set I wouldn't have long to live so I may as well go out in style. ;)
;)
What thread was this again? ;)
If we're going by the suggested age on the box of the LEGO we buy, we're all roughly 12-16+. And in some cases 4+...
But I do remember a time when one of my nephews became Sauron himself and turned a Hobbiton Moc of mine to complete ruin...
He is a few years older now but still has destructive qualities that would amaze even Palpatine...
I'm calling it now: the unit will be weight, and they'll compare it to the Mountain Cave.
(Regarding their patern) ;{)
I think you're right @Bartelas it will be in time for morning on the east coast of the US.
I'm not sure what they're going to reveal, if anything, but it's got me excited, probably far more than a 38 year old man should be!
They're going to troll us aren't they? Two teasers a month before, then nothing more until the day... :/
;P
Thanks bro <3