The LEGO Group has launched several ‘new’ sets – but they’re very familiar looking at the same time. 77941 Fiat 500 and the other sets are part of a pilot scheme in the UK, to see how different types of products might sell.
The LEGO colour change sets:
77941 Fiat 500 is a blue version of 10271 Fiat 500
77940 Mighty Dinosaurs is a brown version of 31058 Mighty Dinosaurs
77941 Mighty Dinosaurs is a blue version of 31058 Mighty Dinosaurs
The LEGO size change sets are:
77944 Fire Station is a slightly modified version of 60110 Fire Station
77943 Fire Station is a larger version of 60247 Forest Fire
To get Blocks, the LEGO magazine for fans, every month – at a discount and earlier than the shops – order a 12-month or 24-month subscription. Direct debit payment options are available too; to find out more get in touch via subs@silverbackpublishing.rocks.
The sets are only available in the UK as part of a pilot scheme at LEGO.com, LEGO Stores, Tesco (77943 Fire Station and 77941 Mighty Dinosaurs), Smyths (77944 Fire Station and 77941 Mighty Dinosaurs) and Zavvi (77941 Fiat 500) that will run from September until November. According to Senior Vice President of Product Development Lena Dixen the UK was chosen for the pilot as it has a good balance of retailers to run the trial with, as which retailers consumers prefer will also be part of the pilot:
‘Do they prefer to shop online? Do they prefer to shop in brick and mortar retail? In person at a specialist retailers or a generalist retailers? This pilot is all about learning, learning so we can improve. And this time it’s in a real life retail environment.’
It is also about which types of products consumers prefer – whether they want different coloured or sized sets. ‘We like to offer a range of different products that are catering to many different passions of all our fans out there. I can’t see us stopping doing that. That’s working really well. But whether this is something that is a good addition, we’d be really curious to know.
‘I think we’ll also know something as simple as appealing colours. Is green, blue or brown more popular? And we’ll be able to have that retail lens with it. Is it more popular because of colour? Or was it more popular because it was in a particular retail environment that maybe catered even better for the consumers that are in the market for such a model?’
10271 Fiat 500 was chosen for the pilot because the LEGO Adults design team was asked if there was a set that could be a straight recolour. ‘The Fiat was our number one choice because when we were developing this model, we had two colour options, almost until we were in the very final stages of development,’ says Design Master Mike Psiaki. ‘It was light blue or cool yellow and we selected the cool yellow. But there was almost a 50:50 split of which one was the right one to do. For us, it was super obvious that the Fiat was the one that would be great, because we had the model completely ready to go.’