LEGO wants to be in control .....

The LEGO group has cracked an accessible letter here in pdf format explaining why no one should or should no longer publish documents or visuals stamped "Confidential".

This document explains that LEGO wants to control the launch of its products and decide when to release visuals of new products.

Some more or less credible arguments are advanced, such as the fight against the possible counterfeiting of sets by third-party companies or the modifications that may occur on the final sets after the publication of preliminary visuals.

Finally, LEGO calls for the denunciation of offenders by email and asks fans for their cooperation in this fight.

If the letter has the merit of being clear, the arguments put forward are a little less so: For many years, photos of sets have filtered well before their arrival on the market, and sometimes very long months in advance.

These leaks are fueling community conversations on blogs and forums, and LEGO reap the benefits in terms of marketing and visibility.

If the official position is given in this letter, one can legitimately wonder if these leaks are not sometimes largely orchestrated and manipulated to allow an assessment of the interest of AFOLs and fans for the ranges to come.

LEGO has been slow to recover from its dark years, and the best way to anticipate the market is to survey it through the most active community of potential customers .....