How to better deal with the sets that come with LEGO magazines?
situation
Currently there are LEGO magazines with added sets (they are glued to the magazine)
in 6 countries, each in the language from the country where they are published.
- Germany
- Czech Republic
- Poland
- Netherlands
- France
- Sweden
It is painfully obvious that there are no English speaking countries in this
list.
The frequency in which they appear varies a bit. I have no exact data but 6-8
magazines per year seems to be sort of average.
themes
The magazines come in 8 themes (not each country get the same themes covered):
- Avengers
- Batman
- City
- Friends (this is the oldest one)
- Jurassic World
- Minecraft
- Ninjago
- Spiderman
current Bricklink coverage
The extent to which all these items are included in the catalogue depends on
the cooperation of volunteers in different countries. As far as I have been able
to determine, the sets are always added to the catalogue, but the magazines in
which they appear are not always added - they need a separate entry in the catalogue.
how to find these magazine sets on Bricklink?
Until recently you could find them by searching for the theme and add 'foil
pack' to your search criteria.
For example here is the list of Minecraft Foil Packs: minecraft+foil+pack https://www.bricklink.com/v2/search.page?q=foil+pack+minecraft&tab=S#T=S
However, somewhere in 2023 TLG began to replace the foil packs by paper bags
glued to the magazine. Accordingly, Bricklink catalogue admins understandably
changed the description from foil pack to paper bag.
The result is that you now also have to search for the paper bags minecraft+paper+bag:
https://www.bricklink.com/v2/search.page?q=paper+bag+minecraft&tab=S#T=S
Currently there are about 500-600 sets that are part of a magazine. And there's
no easy way to find them all in a single search or a limited search by theme.
therefore my suggestion about how to deal with this
I looked at the way how Brickset deals with the same problem and they have a
very clever and simple solution for it. They just call all the foil packs and
paper bags 'magazine gifts'.
If you want to search for these items you can do so: https://brickset.com/sets/subtheme-Magazine-Gift
My suggestion is to follow this example and change the description of all those
sets. For example
would become: Alex, Baby Llama and Bee - Magazine Gift
Even more nice would it be to make additional changes to the sets catalogue tree:
https://www.bricklink.com/catalogTree.asp?itemType=S
and add a new subtheme called 'Magazine Gift' for each of the 8 themes
TLG has magazines with sets. Star Wars already has 45 subthemes so one more wouldn't
hurt
This way we have several options to search for the magazine sets: by keyword
(Magazine Gift) or by browsing/searching for the theme and selecting the subtheme.
Martin
(And of course I offer to help with this. I have lots of free time.)
How to better deal with the sets that come with LEGO magazines?
situation
Currently there are LEGO magazines with added sets (they are glued to the magazine)
in 6 countries, each in the language from the country where they are published.
- Germany
- Czech Republic
- Poland
- Netherlands
- France
- Sweden
It is painfully obvious that there are no English speaking countries in this
list.
How to better deal with the sets that come with LEGO magazines?
situation
Currently there are LEGO magazines with added sets (they are glued to the magazine)
in 6 countries, each in the language from the country where they are published.
- Germany
- Czech Republic
- Poland
- Netherlands
- France
- Sweden
It is painfully obvious that there are no English speaking countries in this
list.
And the UK (which generally does speak English - only not as well as other
countries).
The frequency in which they appear varies a bit. I have no exact data but 6-8
magazines per year seems to be sort of average.
themes
The magazines come in 8 themes (not each country get the same themes covered):
- Avengers
- Batman
- City
- Friends (this is the oldest one)
- Jurassic World
- Minecraft
- Ninjago
- Spiderman
Here in Germany they all comes from the Contributor Blue Ocean.
Any come's monthly (City, NINJAGO ...) , other 6 - 8 Magazine (p.a. Friends)
per Year.
The newest magazine is DREAMzzz
Don't forget the older magazines NEXO KNIGHTS, LEGENDS OF CHIMA and Hidden
Side, stopped some Time ago.
And there is a special Theme NINJAGO Legacy
The Theme Explorer stopped in 2023 from an other Contributor.
Thanks for the additions. That makes it all the more clear how difficult these
things are to find in the catalogue.
The need for a better organization remains as high as ever.
Here in Germany they all comes from the Contributor Blue Ocean.
Any come's monthly (City, NINJAGO ...) , other 6 - 8 Magazine (p.a. Friends)
per Year.
The newest magazine is DREAMzzz
Don't forget the older magazines NEXO KNIGHTS, LEGENDS OF CHIMA and Hidden
Side, stopped some Time ago.
And there is a special Theme NINJAGO Legacy
The Theme Explorer stopped in 2023 from an other Contributor.
Thanks for the additions. That makes it all the more clear how difficult these
things are to find in the catalogue.
The need for a better organization remains as high as ever.
Easiest solution would be to ask the addition of Blue Ocean Co-Brand to all these
sets, all on the back have an imprint mentioning Blue Ocean Entertainment AG
so these appear here:
Here in Germany they all comes from the Contributor Blue Ocean.
Any come's monthly (City, NINJAGO ...) , other 6 - 8 Magazine (p.a. Friends)
per Year.
The newest magazine is DREAMzzz
Don't forget the older magazines NEXO KNIGHTS, LEGENDS OF CHIMA and Hidden
Side, stopped some Time ago.
And there is a special Theme NINJAGO Legacy
The Theme Explorer stopped in 2023 from an other Contributor.
Thanks for the additions. That makes it all the more clear how difficult these
things are to find in the catalogue.
The need for a better organization remains as high as ever.
Easiest solution would be to ask the addition of Blue Ocean Co-Brand to all these
sets, all on the back have an imprint mentioning Blue Ocean Entertainment AG
so these appear here:
But on some magazines there were Polybags like in Ninjago and Technic.
Also these are available in Spanish too.
Co-branding is different for different countries, in my country it is Billy Bones.
So that doesn't help either.
Best way in my opinion is to advance with 'magazine gift' in the title.
Here in Germany they all comes from the Contributor Blue Ocean.
Any come's monthly (City, NINJAGO ...) , other 6 - 8 Magazine (p.a. Friends)
per Year.
The newest magazine is DREAMzzz
Don't forget the older magazines NEXO KNIGHTS, LEGENDS OF CHIMA and Hidden
Side, stopped some Time ago.
And there is a special Theme NINJAGO Legacy
The Theme Explorer stopped in 2023 from an other Contributor.
Thanks for the additions. That makes it all the more clear how difficult these
things are to find in the catalogue.
The need for a better organization remains as high as ever.
Easiest solution would be to ask the addition of Blue Ocean Co-Brand to all these
sets, all on the back have an imprint mentioning Blue Ocean Entertainment AG
so these appear here:
But on some magazines there were Polybags like in Ninjago and Technic.
Also these are available in Spanish too.
Co-branding is different for different countries, in my country it is Billy Bones.
So that doesn't help either.
Best way in my opinion is to advance with 'magazine gift' in the title.
As far as I know, the magazines are published by different companies in different
regions, but the sets are all produced through the Blue Ocean partnership.
Here in Germany they all comes from the Contributor Blue Ocean.
Any come's monthly (City, NINJAGO ...) , other 6 - 8 Magazine (p.a. Friends)
per Year.
The newest magazine is DREAMzzz
Don't forget the older magazines NEXO KNIGHTS, LEGENDS OF CHIMA and Hidden
Side, stopped some Time ago.
And there is a special Theme NINJAGO Legacy
The Theme Explorer stopped in 2023 from an other Contributor.
Thanks for the additions. That makes it all the more clear how difficult these
things are to find in the catalogue.
The need for a better organization remains as high as ever.
Easiest solution would be to ask the addition of Blue Ocean Co-Brand to all these
sets, all on the back have an imprint mentioning Blue Ocean Entertainment AG
so these appear here:
But on some magazines there were Polybags like in Ninjago and Technic.
Also these are available in Spanish too.
Co-branding is different for different countries, in my country it is Billy Bones.
So that doesn't help either.
Best way in my opinion is to advance with 'magazine gift' in the title.
As far as I know, the magazines are published by different companies in different
regions, but the sets are all produced through the Blue Ocean partnership.
... but nobody knows that and will not search for Blue Ocean when they in fact
are searching for sets that come with magazines.
Since you are a very experienced catmin, I am very curious to hear your thoughts
on my original proposal to create a separate description for it.
Here in Germany they all comes from the Contributor Blue Ocean.
Any come's monthly (City, NINJAGO ...) , other 6 - 8 Magazine (p.a. Friends)
per Year.
The newest magazine is DREAMzzz
Don't forget the older magazines NEXO KNIGHTS, LEGENDS OF CHIMA and Hidden
Side, stopped some Time ago.
And there is a special Theme NINJAGO Legacy
The Theme Explorer stopped in 2023 from an other Contributor.
Thanks for the additions. That makes it all the more clear how difficult these
things are to find in the catalogue.
The need for a better organization remains as high as ever.
Easiest solution would be to ask the addition of Blue Ocean Co-Brand to all these
sets, all on the back have an imprint mentioning Blue Ocean Entertainment AG
so these appear here:
But on some magazines there were Polybags like in Ninjago and Technic.
Also these are available in Spanish too.
Co-branding is different for different countries, in my country it is Billy Bones.
So that doesn't help either.
Best way in my opinion is to advance with 'magazine gift' in the title.
As far as I know, the magazines are published by different companies in different
regions, but the sets are all produced through the Blue Ocean partnership.
... but nobody knows that and will not search for Blue Ocean when they in fact
are searching for sets that come with magazines.
Since you are a very experienced catmin, I am very curious to hear your thoughts
on my original proposal to create a separate description for it.
I haven't formed any complete thoughts yet, but the idea has merit. In other
words, we will look into it.
PS and it's very hard not to destroy the magazine when taking of these sets,
even the metal boxes are glued and magazines are already damaged in the store
But on some magazines there were Polybags like in Ninjago and Technic.
- foil pack
- paper bag (replacement of foil pack)
- polybag
- metal box
- blister pack
I don't know if the suggestion includes polybags, metal boxes and blister
packs, but I can imagine that members also want to be able to search for that,
I for instance searched for metal box once. And I searched for foil pack many
times. If we would change names, I would add something like 'gift', but
not remove the existing packing. I would also prefer to add co brand Blue Ocean
to all sets.
I saw an activity book with a cardboard box attached, maybe a future replacement
for magazines' blister packs, who knows.
PS and it's very hard not to destroy the magazine when taking of these sets,
even the metal boxes are glued and magazines are already damaged in the store
Netherlands, Overijssel
USA, Ohio
United Kingdom, England
Germany, Hessen
Spain, Comunidad Valenciana
