November 02, 2006

Where'd go my Lego? I don't want to alarm anyone, nor start off some kind of panic -- but -- perhaps you should be sitting down. OK. Breathe deeply. You good? Allright, then. There may not be enough Lego for Christmas this year...
posted by Capt. Renault 18 years ago
  • The cynic in me says they're trying to create demand by announcing supply is short, thereby fueling early panic buying, ebay selling, and the frenzy that limited-availability holiday toys usually cause. I enjoyed this guy's stuff in the latest Electronic Gaming Monthly, though.
  • ...am I the only one besides The Capt. that is upset about this? Legos! This isn't a damn Xbox or Molest-Me-Elmo doll shortage people, this is A DEARTH OF LEGO. Think of the poor children who will have to end up with electrically powered gifts that practically play by themselves without any input from the child, rather than the creative joy of building his or her own world out of tiny plastic blocks (and then gleefully destroying said world with all the mercy of a vengeful god).
  • There's always Lincoln Logs, for heaven's sake!
  • Pfft. Lincoln logs. I grew up in Lincoln County, and we didn't have no stinkin' Lincoln logs. Lincoln logs... As if that could even begin to compare to Lego. Or Playmobil, for that matter. Sheesh.
  • Could you make more legos out of play-doh?
  • Seems like Megabloks may fit the bill. (I'd post the official link, but there's just a mite too much flash)
  • I agree with Lara. There was not even a reason given for the shortage, was there? Why would they possibly not be ready for the busiest time of the year? They are ready. And they just got the media to give them a wonderful free piece of advertising.
  • Pfft - Meccano's still available (erk! Plastic now available!). But what sort of a holiday will it be if half the population has morning sickness?
  • NOOOOOOOOO
  • Those pix are the shizz, Lara! Bloody LEGO spines rock! I am worried that rival forms of toy distributors will battle for power, obviously creating incredible damage if they do so; that they will topple modern retail, that they will be in a position to use LEGOS as a tool to blackmail the West. People say, "What do you mean by that?" I say, "If they control LEGO resources, then they pull LEGOS off the market in order to run the price up, and they will do so unless we abandon Megablocks, for example, or unless we abandon Tinkertoys.
  • TMK, the bigger fancier LEGO sets are usually in kind of short supply anyway, especially if they are a tie-in with something like Harry Potter or Star Wars. There's always Playmobil for that kind of thing, even though it's a bit pricier.
  • There was not even a reason given for the shortage, was there? "As part of efforts to restructure the company and focus on our core business, we had to make some cuts and the company has not had time to readjust its production." I call bullshit on that!
  • I absolutely loved my Castle/Robin Hood LEGOS. I used to make little animations with them, a la the "LEGO Knights of the Round Table."
  • i'm very impressed with kapla.
  • Nothing makes the kapla blocks stick together? Clumsy children like me would be endlessly frustrated. Like one giant game of Jenga. Although, if they put Velcro on those things, it'd be another story.