Due to constant abuse from this IP range, all interactive traffic is blocked. If you are running a legitimate crawler/robot, ensure that it properly identifies itself via the user agent with a contact site or address.LEGO® DC Super Heroes Batman vs Superman 76044 Clash of the Heroes $19.99 watching | Team Steve and Team Tony don’t face off on the big screen until May 6, but the battle has already begun on my desk, courtesy of LEGO’s trio of Captain America: Civil War sets. Expect really big things.More Civil War Toy Time coming later this week!Before you watch the video up top or read any further below be warned: some folks have complained that the presence of a certain character in one of the three sets—sets that have been in catalogs since December and are now available in stores across the country with the blessing of Marvel and Disney, spoil the appearance of a character in the upcoming movie.Firstly, movie-based LEGO sets aren’t known for their accuracy, for one. And secondly, it’s an official product available at every Walmart, Target, Toys’R’Us and the few K-Marts that give a damn anymore.
If the character was supposed to be a secret, someone has failed spectacularly.Still, making silly people sad is no fun, so they should stop reading now.On March 1, along with fresh offerings from their Star Wars, DC Super Heroes, Ninjago, Elves and Speed Champions lines, LEGO released $130 worth of LEGO Marvel Captain America: Civil War sets. Let’s take a quick look at them from cheapest to most expensive. Ringing up at $19.99, Crossbones’ Hazard Heist is a set that involves Crossbones heisting some hazards. It features Crossbones’ jacked-up Jeep (not an official name), Black Widow’s kick-ass motorcycle (probably official name) and Falcon’s back-mounted drone. Aside from some stud-launcher weapons and a couple of cases that fall off the back of the truck (action feature falling!), the Jeep is so much wheeled scenery. The real stars of the set are Falcon’s awesome hair and one of the cheapest Black Widow minifigs available. For folks keen on playing with their LEGO, the $19.99 set offers a lot of play value for the price, though it’s kind of awkward having a signature Captain America villain without a Captain America to fight.
To score a Cap to counter Crossbones’ hazard heist you’ll need to drop $30 on the second of the three sets. It’s another vehicle-centric set, but when one of those vehicles is a jet for the Black Panther, then I’m down. The Black Panther Pursuit set’s centerpiece is that beautiful black and purple jet being piloted by the king of Wakanda himself. I love the jet, green interior and all, and T’Challa ain’t too shabby himself. The decision to give him a circular cat-eared crown instead of a Batman-style cowl or molded head is interesting, especially considering I ended up with an extra crown in the box and keep putting it on top of my LEGO Spider-Man’s head. Steve Rogers is looking dapper in his missile-launching Taskforce Jeep, smaller and less detailed than Crossbones, but a lovely shade of blue. He’s the first of two Caps between the three sets, which is great. The more Cap, the better. Here’s James “Bucky” Barnes on his stupid little bike.
Good thing we get another one of him in the final set of the batch. If you have to get one LEGO Marvel Super Heroes Captain America: Civil War set HOLY HELL IS THAT GIANT MAN? Yes, it’s Giant Man. The air traffic control tower is nice. The luggage caddy vehicle is cute. The new blue Quinjet is great. The $80 Airport Battle playset comes with those three things, along with a masked Captain America, Iron Man, War Machine, Scarlet Witch, Winter Soldier and Sharon “Agent 13" Carter minifigures, but I bought it for the supersized Scott Lang. Okay, and the micro-sized Ant-Man. Rather than just upscale a normal LEGO minifig, Giant Man is constructed brick-by-brick, sticker-by sticker. His faceplate is screen printed, but the rest of him is all stickers and normal bricks. His hands look a little bit weird, but they also let him do this: He’s my new best friend. We’re going to have so much fun together.The rest of the set is pretty nifty.The blue Quinjet is packed with folding bits, features a nifty undercarriage missile pod action feature and comes with wheels (not many LEGO flying machines do these days).
It lacks a fire extinguisher, but I’m sure one could be cobbled together out of common LEGO materials around the house. The air traffic control tower gives minifigures plenty of places to perch and ponder the pink discs they may be holding. It’s got some crates, which are nice. There’s a lever that makes bits of the wall blast away, perfect for simulating property-destroying hero battles. Plus I spent a good 15 minutes trying to figure out if the minifigure of Sharon Carter looks like actress Emily VanCamp or if Emily VanCamp looks like a LEGO minifigure. I’m still not sure. It would be an excellent set without Giant Man, but come on . . . Despite his appearance in the LEGO set and hints the movie producers have been dropping for ages, I’m still not sure if Scott Lang’s going to grow up in Captain America: Civil War. Being able to go giant-sized really changes the dynamic of the character and increases the potential for bad CG.Either way, I’m happy to have him on my desk.
or find him on Twitter @bunnyspatial.Master 21204Town MasterFusion AppLego FusionSet 2120421204 TownFusion TownGift Ideas KidsLego PlayForwardIn 2014 LEGO Fusion Set #21204 Town Master was an extremely popular choice on Christmas wish lists. Kids love building and they also love video games. Lego Fusion Town Master combines the two! The LEGO Town Master App can be downloaded to a Smart Tablet or Smart Phone and assist in building the town. It will provide hints and help about facilities and needs for the town.LEGO has been a household name for over seventy years, but it has taken the company more than half a century to learn that fans can be a brand’s best marketing tool. In the earlier part of this decade, LEGO began looking beyond their target customer base of kids and learned that their adult fan base was one of the best marketing tools they could ever ask for. Read on to learn how LEGO has used their die hard fans to spread LEGO love and shift their marketing strategy in social media and beyond.
At the Word of Mouth Supergenius conference in December 2009 Jake McKee, a former LEGO “Community Person” who now works at Ant’s Eye View, talked about the history of LEGO and their attitude towards their customers. Watch the video of McKee’s lecture below. For decades the toy company turned a blind eye to their customers and fans, living by the credo “We don’t accept unsolicited ideas.” They did not talk to their customers, and they did not accept ideas for new products, comments or suggestions. Rather, they lived in their own little world, creating products based on what they believed consumers wanted. This mentality was fine, until the Christmas season of 1999/2000 rolled around and the company’s largest sellers – Walmart, Target and Toys R Us – told the company that they didn’t know their customers. Sure, LEGO has historically been a kids’ toy. However, more and more adult fans were rallying around LEGO and the company was not paying attention to this market at all.
Adult LEGO fans were starting their own discussion groups online, creating their own online marketplaces to buy and sell LEGO, sharing pictures of LEGO creations and even getting coverage on the news. However, LEGO was stubborn– they stuck to their guns, claiming that LEGO is for kids. They wrote these adult fans off as “weird” and didn’t realize the marketing potential that was looking them right in the face. It took awhile, but eventually LEGO began paying attention to these fans and it was one of the best things that could have possibly happened for their business. LEGO began reaching out to fans through social media as well as through LEGO brand communities. Tormod Askildsen, Head of Community Development at LEGO, talks about the company’s realization that LEGO could benefit from their fans in an interview with Ericsson: “At first, we didn’t really like it and we were a bit concerned about the various information that started to appear on different Internet pages.
This was mainly because we weren’t used to it and didn’t know how to deal with it. But then we realized that we could actually benefit from it. “It is important for us to build personal relationships with LEGO fans and to have a dialog with those who are really interested in our products. We obviously don’t have big social platforms with millions of users like Facebook or LinkedIn, but our LEGO brand communities are definitely an important compliment to our research and development programs.” The first way that LEGO turned to fans to help strengthen the company and their product was through the LEGO Ambassador Program. The Ambassador program is made up of forty LEGO fans, aged 19 to 65, from around the world. LEGO has built personal relationships with these fans and turn to them for ideas and advice. Askildsen says, “People from my team communicate with this group more or less on a daily basis, discussing different themes, ideas or to brainstorm. The ambassadors report on our discussions on blogs, create picture galleries and have further discussions with their local LEGO group members.”
With the Ambassador Program, LEGO has opened up a channel for conversation with its biggest fans and that is one of the key things that every brand should be doing. If you don’t open up the conversation then you are missing out on helpful suggestions from the people that matter most – your customers. Social media is one of the best vehicles for opening a channel of communication between you and your customers. Earlier this year, LEGO made its official foray into the world of social media with LEGO Click. LEGO Click is a collaborative website that encourages fans, artists, designers and inventors to share their own LEGO creations. The site encourages users to share content, including photos and videos created with LEGO, with friends. LEGO Click visitors can also read recent Tweets about LEGO, or download the free LEGO Photo iPhone application that transforms your photos into LEGO creations. Users can also login to the site using their Twitter account and fly a Mini LEGO man around the screen.
The LEGO Click community opens new channels for fans and is an innovative way to get people talking about LEGO, trying out new things and creating viral content such as videos and pictures that will spread the word about LEGO. The great thing about fan-created content is that it’s free advertising for the company! According to Jake McKee of Ant’s Eye View, LEGO has never seen such tremendous success as they have in the past few years, since they began taking advantage of their most valuable resource – their fans. Not only have they received more coverage on the Internet, through the proliferation of cool LEGO pictures and fan-made viral videos, but have also turned feedback into new products. They have begun selling more products geared towards adults, such as a $500 5,000 piece Star Wars LEGO set, complete with a cool game to promote it, and an option for fans to design and purchase their own original sets. LEGO is booming as fans, kids and adults alike, are embracing the toy company’s new outlook, and as LEGO continues to embrace their fans from all ages and walks of life.