Dirk1313
26.11.2019, 21:43

Als Antwort auf den Beitrag von Dirk1313

Editiert von
Dirk1313
26.11.2019, 22:07

+1Re: Lego kauft Bricklink - Reaktionen im LEGO Ambassador Forum

Hier einige Antworten einer LEGO Mitarbeiterin im LAN auf Fragen von Ambassadoren.
Wie zu erwarten geht das nicht über das bisher Bekannte hinaus:

Posted in The LEGO® Group acquires BrickLink
2 hours ago, Alice - ArchLUG said:
Question: Does this mean that LEGO will continue on with the people who are currently working at BL? Or will it be brought in house with new employees in Billund (or elsewhere)?

Question: In the interview with TBB, there is this statement: "From that perspective, you would not see BrickArms and guns and things that are potentially particularly connected to things like warfare and violence, which is something that we decided as the LEGO Group we would never support. Those kinds of things we would not want to see on the platform." How can LEGO continue to say they don't do guns and warfare with the continued collaboration of sets like Star Wars and Overwatch and the production of quite a few new gun elements? It is comments like this and the statement that 'there is no conflict of interest' that make it obvious to me that LEGO is perfectly ok with obvious contradictions or is deeply oblivious, neither of which inspires confidence in regards to this merger.

Antwort Sarah S. (LEGO):
Bricklink will continue to be run by the existing management team and based out of California. We plan to operate the businesses as fully stand-alone entities in their current locations.

Your second questions around weapons and LEGO brand guidelines - that's a topic which I've seen surface many times, and I don't want to divide the conversation here - our mantra has been that we encourage fantasy play but do not wish to show modern military themes.

1 hour ago, Marty said:


@Sara S.(LEGO): I can tell you this is going to be an uphill battle in terms of getting AFOLs to be excited about this merger. Fear of the unknown is already running rampant, and the (understandable) lack of details in these very early stages is only fueling that fire. The sooner clarity can be provided to the community at large, the better.

One note I will also add from my own observations, the interview posted on Brothers-Brick came off as very PR-speak heavy to me. There seemed to be a lot of non-answers provided in response to real concerns about conflicts of interest, especially, and I believe that a real acknowledgement of the potential pitfalls and concerns as well as a conversation about it with the community would go a whole lot farther than simply trying to say there's nothing to worry about.

Overall, though, I guess there's not much to be done aside from wait and see what comes from all of this.

Antwort Sarah S. (LEGO):
We do really want to share more, but can't until after closing - sometime this year.

1 hour ago, Eljay said:
What stance? We have yet to be provided a stance on account of being too early in this process, and instead being told the founder had a specific vision that would be adhered to - which has now been proven inaccurate. Unless you mean to suggest that if TLG comes to the decision to axe custom pieces, the founders views would not factor in.

Don't mean to argue, just seeking clarification. This is some of the largest news of the year and a lot of people are faced with massive uncertainty and will be for a while. Thank you for keeping up with the messages regardless.

Antwort Sarah S. (LEGO):
Sorry, I should have been more clear: our stance related to modern military themes. As Alice quoted from Julia's interview, "From that perspective, you would not see BrickArms and guns and things that are potentially particularly connected to things like warfare and violence, which is something that we decided as the LEGO Group we would never support. Those kinds of things we would not want to see on the platform."

1 hour ago, Anna - theBrickBlogger said:
I haven't seen anyone mentioning this yet, and it's unlikely that we will get an answer to this anytime soon, but I'm just wondering what's LEGO's long-term plan with BrickLink, because what they are doing now is opening them up to huge legal liability.


Antwort Sarah S. (LEGO):
There is a long-term plan - we love our long term strategies here at the LEGO Group. Of course this, like many other questions raised here, cannot yet be shared. I'm not overly familiar with the issues you mention with eBay, but I trust our legal and risk management team would be. Unfortunately, I don't have further information on this, it’s best not to speculate but to instead see how things will play out.

1 hour ago, Warren said:
Our LUG hasn't had much time to think this through, but the comments I've seen so far are 100% negative.

I think this comment on Facebook says it all: 'I hope LEGO reads all of the feedback and takes a good hard look at the level of distrust being conveyed.'. This has gone down like a tonne of bricks (ie, really badly) for a whole variety of reasons which are stated above and elsewhere. Putting that all aside, if I was LEGO senior management - I'd be far MORE concerned about the fact they have misjudged the AFOL market so badly. @Sara S.(LEGO) - is the general reception of this being communicated back to Julia?

Not that it's my place to suggest anything at all - but if asked, I'd like to see LEGO put Bricklink put into some sort of independent trust. Separate enough from LEGO to cover themselves from lawsuits whilst giving AFOL customers and sellers confidence it's independent. Hell, I'd even offer to be involved in that if it ever happened!!

Antwort Sarah S. (LEGO):
Reactions are being shared with Julia and the team.

We don't yet have details we can share on the future of BrickLink, but we want to keep independent spirit that has made BrickLink great. I do realize these are just words right now however, the community needs to see it to believe it - so please be patient until closing has completed.


7 hours ago, Thomas - Bricking Bavaria said:
· We would like this to be a platform for LEGO Bricks and LEGO-branded products, as that was Dan’s original vision. This is an issue we will review as the deal closes.

7 hours ago, Jan - Bricks am Meer e.V. said:
yes, I fully agree and I can see this advantage.

I am optimistic, too. But I also welcomed the independence of Bricklink

Antwort Sarah (LEGO):
We plan to operate the businesses as fully stand-alone entities in their current locations. Bricklink will continue to be run by the existing management team.

7 hours ago, Richie | PerthLUG said:
So effectively Lego now has a secondary income stream from every single set its ever sold and will sell, forever ad infinitum.

In fact, Lego will now make money from items such as GWP sets, that previously made them nothing.

Let that sink in.

Antwort Sarah (LEGO):
Julia touches on this in her Brothers Brick interview - the marketplace operates very well and provides an opportunity for fans to purchase the product they need. Some of them are very difficult to find and don’t exist in production anymore, so they’re complimentary. This acquisition is to support the fans better. We see opportunity to actually listen to the fans and have a stronger connection with them.


7 hours ago, Fernando, TechnicBRICKs said:
I swear my first reaction was to look at the calendar!...
1st of April? Already!??

I wish this never happened!
And wonder whether Dan would be happy or mad at this moment, if he would be able to see this happen... Didn't his family still have a participation at BrickLink before this deal?

Honestly and despite the LEGO reassurance, I don't see how the community will benefit from this... There were already so many aspects where TLG can and should improve on their own!!
So why this? Other than mining the wonderful set of transaction data that BrickLink can provide?
Data is key, data is king, data is cash nowadays!

Antwort Sarah (LEGO):
Hi Fernando,

I understand you're very upset by this. I can't tell you what the future will hold, but what I can tell you is for us, this acquisition is about investing in the adult fan community – which is important to the LEGO Group. BrickLink is a platform LEGO fans love. It’s a place where they can be creative and entrepreneurial – and we want to continue to nurture these things. And it’s a vibrant community which brings our brand to life / keeps our brand relevant

7 hours ago, Richie | PerthLUG said:
You quoted my post but didn’t address it at all.

You now make more money from sets you’ve already sold once. And money from sets you previously made nothing from.

Antwort Sarah (Lego):
Sorry for not being more clear - what I can say is the motivation for this acquisition is not related to money at all. It is about strengthening our connection with the large and growing adult fan community – who are important to long-term success. This is a benefit of being privately owned – we can take a long-term view.

We do create exclusive building sets and GWP for events or for platforms. But we are not doing this with profit in mind as much as we are doing it to tap into a cultural moment and trying to create something that is really interesting. However it’s too soon for us to be talking about terms and conditions. That is something that we will review closer to the deal closing.

7 hours ago, Jonathan | RomaBrick said:
Let's see if TLG will change the rate or something else on Bricklink.

A new website will be really appreciated.

Antwort Sarah (LEGO):
Regarding rates - That is not something we are currently looking at. Over time, we will review all aspects of the site to ensure it offers a great experience for everyone involved community, users, designers and sellers.

Regarding a new website - We also plan to invest in the fundamentals of the platform and ways we can scale up in the future. However, it’s too soon to be specific. We will take time to work with the team at BrickLink and the fantastic community to understand what’s working and where there is opportunity for development.

6 hours ago, Ed | Texas Brick RR said:
I'm not sure how the community will benefit either.
Zephyr will need to find a new outlet for his valve gear rods though. I'm sure there are other examples of non-LEGO parts unrelated to the weapons issue.

Maybe LDD will be merged with Studio?

The data is more important than the cash - that is a very good observation.

I do hope they keep Dan's mother involved.

Antwort Sarah (LEGO):
Regarding LDD and Studio - Both offer creative fans great support. We will review future opportunities for both following closing. We will certainly plan to support and evolve Studio. The BrickLink team has done a great job developing this.
To the best of my knowledge she was involved.


7 hours ago, Joel said:
Wow. I never, never thought that this might happen.

The statement below bothers me, because my perception (and I think the perception of many other people) is that the current management team other than Russell really isn't doing very well, and Russell's hands seem to be tied when it comes to communication.

Antwort Sarah (LEGO):
Sorry, I think I missed this one. We have been working closely with Russel on this announcement.We plan to operate the businesses as fully stand-alone entities in their current locations. I should add that the management will report to Julia Goldin (CMO) but we are keen to retain the entrepreneurial spirit that has made it such a success.


6 hours ago, Balazs said:
Maybe Bricklink IT can help the LEGO folks first

6 hours ago, Boštjan said:
While I may see some logic behind it, my first thought (or avice) was: please PLEASE leave it as independent as possible. Bricklink is as it is because its independent, with all its qualities, but also with all its flaws. From Q&A:

Looking a this and the other topic about banning people for buying 5 led lights gives me the creeps. Bricklink needs "some" regulation, but from the perspecive of rules, imposed on S@H, three quarters of shops could be suspended immediately. While some shops may be a bit "shady" and there could be some suspicions about how they acquire some of their stock, like for example hundreds of some rare torsos or stuff like (it would be naive to think that all this come just from parted out sets), its BrickLink and its almost unlimited supply that makes this whole AFOL thing going, enables large builds etc...

Please LEGO, think twice before doing anything too "direct way".

If fans (and shops) will get "scared" away, there will certainly be initiative to come up with new trading platform (or use Brickowl or something similar) and we will end up with divided community and confused market.

Another thing is that while I like and respect TLG (I really do and I've defended its actions many times, here or elsewhere), I'm afraid of what their IT, some techincal and even legal services will do the platform, with all their (proved many times) inflexibilty, corporate thinking and sometimes even lack of common sense will do to plaform (from the technical side). Briklink is simple, even "ugly", but it works. In comparison, lego.com is nice, all "bling-blingy" and so on, but its slow, sorting sometimes dont work properly language setting get lost and its difficult to find something.

To end on positive side: I also see some great opportunities in it. Just, please, dont broke what works.

Antwort Sarah (LEGO):
Thank you Bostjan, we will keep all of this in mind. We do plan to work with the BrickLink team going forward to invest in and improve the platform. We know you care about this, but it’s best to not rush to conclusions yet. We will share more details when we have them.


Viele Grüße
Dirk - Mail

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