How The LEGO Star Wars VIP CARD Failed…

[@brainslugged7957]

Rumour has it, the same team that planned the year of Black VIP rewards, also planned the Star Wars sequel trilogy.

[@Aegorraasreturned]

no chill lol

[@the1andonlyjawa]

After all these years watching your channel I never thought I would see another video made on this topic, it has been a long time 😂

[@StudCity]

Crazy to see an entire selling point for fans have no plans for the fans. Thanks for the knowledge drop Ryan

[@shampooer]

i’ll still never stop kicking myself for not buying the coffin when it was only $15 or something on ebay because it was being sold for mere dollars by lego.

[@thatsruffdog]

Mere pennys. I think it was 99¢ on the website for some reason.

[@MandRproductions]

@@thatsruffdogI don’t think any of them actually shipped at that price.

[@tommorbitzer5859]

What is the coffin?

[@spaulagain]

@@tommorbitzer5859 the buildable frame to put your card in

[@skbricks]

@@tommorbitzer5859he shows it in the video. It’s the VIP card holder

[@zacharyadams5133]

Grew up with Lego but started recollecting around 2020 and it’s super cool to have little history recaps like this. I would love to see more “history of Lego Star Wars” content on the channel.

[@rodrign007]

“It’s their fault for having expectations” is a horrible answer

[@Beer_Dad1975]

Smacks of typical corporate management arrogance.

[@Myusernamehere33]

Pretty sure you’re using quotes wrong.

[@rodrign007]

@@Myusernamehere33 so how am I supposed to use them Sherlock

[@spaulagain]

"they'll never be happy" is a massive copout.

[@Beer_Dad1975]

"They should just consume product and be grateful!"... Corporate arrogance at its core.

[@thelonious2213]

And yet it's true

[@minormakesmocs]

Bro the old room was so nostalgic

[@legomasterreviews9268]

Watching this video made me realize Lego really hasn’t worked on communication in 7 years!😭

[@MandRproductions]

It’s actually insane right?

[@legomasterreviews9268]

Indeed…😕

[@charlielum1043]

Not having a plan seems to be a common theme with anything pertaining to Star Wars these days

[@kahtyman7293]

Filoni has some plans, sometimes bad and sometimes good but there's some plan

[@CanadaBricks]

Wow, LEGO really hasn’t changed since that whole debacle, huh?

[@cooperchiacchia]

I’m glad Jason answered some age old community questions but I was disappointed to learn that after the black vip debacle Lego won’t do any similar specialized vip card promotions.

[@___David__]

Basically his excuse is: "When I got there, the marketing department had overpromised and I was left with a hot potato in my hands". His comments about the sales expectations also play a role here. If that was LEGO's mindset, then when they made the Black Card they clearly weren't expecting the number of holders to be vast. The moment sales shot through the roof and the card was extended, they got themselves in a pickle: LEGO's CFO would NEVER allow them to spend the year giving a bunch of stuff away for free for so many card holders. 'cause make no mistake, this WAS a decision from the financial department. LEGO, as we've seen in the past few years, is an extremely greedy company and it's only gotten worse. So for sure they ordered the cancellation of any relevant offerings to the card holders because of the financial burden and cuts in profits they would represent. So 7 years later the important thing to remember is: NEVER TRUST LEGO'S WORD.

[@notclever]

I felt like in these times they’re priorities weren’t set on keeping promises they haven’t fulfilled yet, they were “ok we get these sets out, oh hey we have these black vip card holders, sure we can sprinkle something there ig” and then when they found out a lot of vip’s bought it, they couldn’t risk their profit margin going down with these things throughout the year. I feel like part of this is right and part of this is wrong

[@drewberry71]

What a horrendous copout saying “we didn’t have the time” is ! Their “Customers” just bought the most expensive set to date and many would have done so with this carrot being dangled in front of them, and Lego think it’s ok to just say nah sorry we got nothing ! No other company would get away with that. Lego needs to learn that you can’t just keep take take taking, before the fanbase will eventually get fed up and move on, it’s happened to others for less !! Great Video 👏

[@Lastbrickstanding99]

These promotional things sound amazing in theory! It’s honestly really sad that LEGO still underestimates how much of a promo they need for all the buyers. It is also so very disappointing that they never seen to fully carry out these promotional schemes. I’m so happy to see you bring up this card again after all these years!

[@4AMatyomamahouse]

Black vip card… now thats a name I havent heard in a long long time

[@JediMasterHedman]

I was one of those people in line at the Disney springs store in 2017 that was too late. I was lucky enough to purchase the falcon in my car before I drove home though. When they shipped the black card I accidentally had them ship it to my parents though and it got lost. I didn't really care at the time because I still got the benefits but didn't have the actual card. Looking back I really should have emailed Lego to try and find a way to get the physical card lol. Btw ACOB live streams are the best!!

[@Andrewdeank]

I’ve been waiting for this video for 7 years. Thank you.

[@Nerdtendo6366]

This is one of those products that just sticks in my brain for 0 reason. I never owned it, it was never useful to me, I wasn’t even a Lego StarWars fan at the time. But I’ll never forget it

[@shampooer]

it’s been seven years… i can’t believe there are people who don’t remember a time pre-ucs falcon.

[@maringarvanovic8011]

What a disgraceful attitude. If your customer has unrealistic expectations then it is down to you to manage and inform on those expectations to avoid disappointment.

[@cashmoneybricks120]

Totally started watching this thinking it was from 5 years ago

[@Jandernbricks]

Thanks for covering this Ryan, and thanks to ACOB and Fritz for that great interview. I understand the corporate aspects of what he was saying when you read between the lines. It’s unfortunate, but huge, monolithic companies like Lego or many others have challenges that are extremely difficult to overcome. It seems clear to me that his team was significantly understaffed, and those resources/people typically cannot be reallocated on a whim from other departments, and the same goes for dollar resources. I think the underlying issue here is that Lego as a whole didn’t (/doesn’t?) prioritize the rewards program highly enough within the company, which greatly limited what the team could accomplish. Not making excuses, just saying I agree with you that insight into the inner workings was extremely interesting. I really hope ACOB has him on again because it was an absolutely fantastic show.

[@squaresided]

Is this why it's been like pulling teeth to get anything pretty nice from the Star Wars theme? They made *themselves* jaded towards LSW fans!

[@Rob_D74]

Customer service 101 - under promise and over deliver.

[@bbbrrr000ccckkk1]

I’m just reading between the lines but it just sounds like despite everyone wanting to do the best for customers there is some less than effective leadership and broken communication between teams at LEGO. It sounds like there should have been more planning between the team promising “X” and the design team that would ultimately have to design and produce “X”. Like it should be a simple concept to not announce/promise nebulous rewards unless you have the real means of producing those rewards. But because VIP team didn’t talk to design team to come out with 12 months worth of actually exclusive rewards we got almost nothing.

[@MossyRiverRock]

It’s an important distinction, that you didn’t clip it. He talks about anything brick based is more difficult because you’re sacrificing factory time cutting into production of other products. Whereas vips cards, art prints, coins, etc can be extended as they don’t take away from brick factory time and supply chain.

[@linkf78]

I remember someone tried to help his friends who didn't get the Falcon to obtain the cardholder. Soon after, he got kicked out of...

[@scottdavis_34]

Wow talk about a good idea gone to waste. Good vid!!

[@WarChiefAJD]

Tbh they should’ve just had it give you the ability to get double VIP points for a full year. It would’ve been a very simple, exciting, and worthwhile special perk that wouldn’t have cost them much if at all up front.

[@viperson9818]

Marketing was the biggest blunder. LEGO just sucks with marketing slogan imo. Massive exclusive wording on the box for a mini figure. Just for down the line it’s re released in a cheaper set. C3-p0 is a good example. You got the expensive c3-p0 and a cheap one meanwhile an expensive set got a c3-p0 but it was the cheap version.

[@xmelonslayerx8135]

saying “it’s their fault for having expectations” while also admitting there wasn’t a plan is insane work. they launched an idea with the release of the card not something that had been properly thought through. lego makes fine products nowadays. their sets look nice, are built well, good for play but overpriced. still good products. their customer relations is in the pits clearly. from the black VIP card to the mess of the con exclusives being moved to retailers to LAN and not listening to fans. it’s clear to see legos problem lies in communication and it needs to get a lot better.

[@witty_comeback]

Sure he's a nice guy but the clips you showed gave the impression that even though this happened years ago, a lot at the team never really reflected on why it went wrong and just moved on. To still have the opinion of "you'll never be happy", "they set their expectations too high" and "we're a billion dollar company who promised something with zero plan on what to deliver, please don't be mad". Really makes you think that if this is how they handled a high profile issue like this, it's easy to believe that the Lego group has a hard time learning any lessons whatsoever from their consumers. Maybe it's a byproduct of being overworked but the interview gave off the impression of being really insulated from the opinions of your consumer base and drinking the company kool aid a bit too much.

[@venator.bricks]

great video once again

[@MandRproductions]

Thanks!

[@marcinkaniaburka3422]

Really like this kind of format - like some "case study" analysis, bring more!

[@MandRproductions]

Just need the right topics/opportunities.

[@_trashvis_]

i really enjoyed this deep dive. i would so be down to watch more "history" type of videos, even if they're far in between!

[@grandmastersensei28208]

Sadly, us getting dumped on is Lego’s standard operating procedure.

[@jarhn6685]

The issue with the DJ figure could be that Lego wanted to give as just a figure and not a build and that would be in conflict with their License agreement

[@erikschier252]

20:24. They won’t do it because they can’t. A friend of my mother works as the director of the PR department at LEGO In an unnamed country. (The last thing I want is to get her into trouble 😂) Once, someone wanted to interview her about how she got to that position and what she does there, etc. Since she is still employed at LEGO, they gave her a list of topics she could talk about, what she couldn’t discuss, and how to talk about certain things. LEGO simply doesn’t want their employees to say anything bad about them under any circumstances.

[@MandRproductions]

I got the saying bad things about LEGO covered 😂

[@erikschier252]

@MandRproductions Yes, I’ve already noticed your warnig in several videos. Thanks for that 👍😂

[@MThomps17]

Saturday afternoon gym sesh, with M&R on the treadmill let’s goooo

[@nerdtoys2938]

You missed the ultimate benefit. Occasionally, when I show my black card (which is now in my virtual wallet on my iPhone), I get a "Oh wow, the black card." Such a flex.

[@TheCountsAccount]

This is a great video, very interesting. I was wondering though, how did you get yours to have your name printed on the card, Ryan? Very cool.

[@tythemovieguy4832]

Crazy to think I remember this dilemma all those years ago and here we are now.

[@ImThe1stAvenger]

Something like a life long 10-20% discount on any lego star wars product in official lego stores no matter if it´s already on discount or not would´ve been dope. Those are things that keep the community together.

[@markp1222]

How about resurrecting the idea (or something very similar) for the Death Star later this year - and doing it properly this time. It's going to be the next major flagship LEGO Star Wars product. LEGO - I know you're reading here !

[@SticklerBricks]

How about NO! HAHA ( Dr. E.)

[@legoanimations2680]

Its mad how even things that people thought were terrible at the time are now worth hundreds of dollars

[@enchantaidan]

Very insightful to hear a different perspective on this!

[@stefanfigenschow616]

Thank you for another excellent historical deep-dive video Ryan! Have enjoyed the channel for years after escaping from my dark ages but your knowledge of Lego Star Wars really shines when doing this sort of stuff. Keep up the good work! Agree that Jason is well-spoken but as others have pointed out much of what he says about the whole Black Card debacle is at least near-bs. Although it is very interesting to learn more of what actually happened TLG's fan-blaming culture and general lack of care for their most loyal customers really shines through, unfortunately.

[@Gvexx]

The amount of time he referenced that wack 161 piece set as a good reward was very funny nice video!

[@reeceagland1980]

Wow, 8 months of nothing, cancelled things and then say well it's people's expectations not our failure. How hard would it have been to say 5% off for a month, or give a unique minifig. All marketing and no planning.

[@teixeira917]

Great insight, only been a LEGO SW fan since 2020, had no idea

[@willbricksproductions]

We don’t wanna think about this time 😂 although if you have one at the Lego store it’s a big flex to show your a hardcore fan 😂

[@itsKtoday]

I asked about no more pupils Ryan, He did say they communicate internally but never heard any talk in the office lol.

[@SKYREN17]

Only the best is good enough. Right? ;p

[@itsKtoday]

@@SKYREN17 lol absolutely although in his defense no longer worked at Lego and I just wanted to give a question outta left field on tha ACOB podcast.

[@williamhenderson1161]

Instead of gimmicks, why don’t they just charge reasonable prices? Several competitors have now matched or exceeded their quality and variety.

[@JackCarter-g2y]

When’s 2024 worst to first 😂

[@brianbaker5590]

Be patient youngling

[@StrykeSZN]

He said soon on the arc 170 poly bag video

[@ullbill]

I wasn't back into Lego until 2022 so I missed so much cool stuff like Darth Revan. I really hope they fix this thing because they got cheap with SW figures when Europe gets magazines with Marvel figures. If they had theses magazines back here for SW figures it would solve a lot of disappointment over hard to get figures.

[@welcometothejungl3]

Really despise that dude’s comments. More fan-blaming lego BS. We’d never be happy?? ANYTHING is better than 5 months of nothing

[@Beer_Dad1975]

Pretty much... "Just shut up and consume mediocre overpriced product and be grateful!"

[@JawasBricksCo]

Hey I got a question MandR, will you be selling figures at Orlando brick convention this spring break?

[@MandRproductions]

We should be.

[@JawasBricksCo]

@ thanks!

[@marius2443]

Insane that i have watched your channel for over 8 years now👍👊🤟

[@piotrstawowski7174]

Hi Ryan, thanks for your insight on this. Now I am thinking with the new 1000$ Death Star release do you think they will try the same trick? Millennium Falcon was the next step from the Lego price hike standpoint so is Death Star. They have to offer either amazing GWP or additional perks in order to encourage people to buy it day 1

[@BritsBricks]

Awesome video!! Thank you for sharing! 🎉

[@MossyRiverRock]

Turns out when you don’t define expectations, and you let people’s expectations inflate to expect their wildest dreams, it’s not gonna work out favorably. Legos fault for not defining it, but fans fault for expecting too much. No meeting in the middle either.

[@xx1norm1xx]

I feel like the "you'll never be happy" comment was more retrospective like after we said "a year of benefits and exclusives" if we gave you an incredible GWP or free set you would be asking whats next month sort of thing. I don't think he meant it as a fans expected too much because they are dumb and don't understand how things work behind the scenes sort of jab. A year of benefits is such an incredibly vague statement because at minimum it implies 12 months of benefits, at least something each month but it could also imply several benefits over the next year. I don't envy the guy at all, being saddled with that wording and promise must have been incredibly stressful especially because as he said these are the most vocal hardcore fans. I do think its insane that the billion dollar company couldn't get a few downloadable things sorted, i get physical things take time, money, etc but taking some concept art you already have from years prior and making it downloable as a wallpaper or just a pdf with a paragraph or two about designing the set it depicted would be so easy. Sure people might have been upset that thats "all" they got but you never promised highly desirable exclusives you just said exclusives.

[@Pengu1n111]

I’m also annoyed that the black card and all of those things was only available to the USA, I’m in Australia, and I bought it on day 1, never got any bonuses or anything

[@thewinenut9800]

I’m in Australia and got the monogrammed black card and later the coffin promo. I can’t remember if there was a process to get these.

[@MandRproductions]

It was not USA only. They handed them out at the release in London. I don’t think there were any restrictions.

[@nealeTH]

From the interview, I don’t fully agree with you as I didn’t take it that Jason was blaming VIP card holders for having unreasonable expectations. I felt he was simply recognising it as a fact that VIP card holders did have different expectations because Lego did not correctly set them.

[@jacobogonzalez6383]

Such a throwback to see Ryan in his old room

[@brandonbabonas389]

Hey so this is off topic but something that I was thinking about. I was wondering if you think Lego would ever make a UCS Jedi interceptor, I think it would be a really great set. I know they would have to make a custom mold for the wind screen but they did that for the slave I years prior. They could also make it a line with different designs for different Jedi.

[@THE_KlNG]

Only OGs remember Ryan roasting this card 7 years ago. I just can't believe its been that long. Back when I had a channel called White Elephant

[@jordanredgrave636]

Theres still time to sprinkle a few rewards/early access to black card holders everynow and then

[@1Fmarcel]

Must admit I kind of hoped it was a marketing stunt back in the day, but it was so cool looking and still is.

[@napkinx4341]

i thought this was a 7 year old reupload until i clicked on it

[@cameroncox9268]

M&R asks: what does M&R stand for? Also bummer about the black card. Pretty much goes for limited time promos to. Once it’s gone it’s gone.

[@RZONE2000]

no offence to the guy but the moment he said the vocal 1% vs the 99% that sounds a lot like the ceos of the gaming world when their product fails bec of their own doing and then blaming fans / gamers. that guy isnt sorry for the crap at all he wanted a simple way out and that was blaim the buyer. and then mask it in but hey i got screwed as wel bec i also have a card... he owned the program

[@CabbageFace_]

Found this very interesting. Nice work guys

[@incurablecollector7193]

"Full year of exclusive rewards and benefits". Lego did advertised it as such. So...has anyone ; any group; any association of members done anything against Lego??????

[@iceicebabyil]

Lego always acts like they are not a billion dollar company, they easily could have made sets half off for black card owners once or a few sets 15% off etc considering how much the falcon was and how little they thought fans would buy it

[@ForestCrescent]

Even if it was 7 years late, I think it's good to see the entire fiasco (somewhat) put to rest. It still sucks, obviously, and it will forever suck, Lego definitely could've (and should've) done better, but I'm glad that even Jason admits they failed with it.

[@Andrew60771]

good video Ryan!

[@OfficialStroudFett]

3:55 Oh, so that what that was

[@mattharwood3321]

Bring on the platinum VIP card for purchasing the Oct UCS Deathstar!

[@Trengenator]

Man I lost my wallet that had my black card in it and while I wasn’t satisfied with the benefits we got. I’m so sad to have lost the card since I used it every time we went to the Lego store and it was so cool to have the card with my name on it

[@onecleverpig]

"I feel like this will just be swept under the rug and not talked about for a year." HA. Try 8 years, bud. That overpromise, underdeliver is wild tho 😂

[@erictreder8061]

With how popular and prices going way up. Also there is huge secondary resale market. You would think Lego could have better reward system in general.

[@rolout2233]

Lego is not communicating. They are sending free lego to people on youtube to show and tell and be part of their commercial wing. Beside that none of the ambasoadors tells us a lot - they only show what lego sells, and try to influence you to to buy that set or whatever.

[@OGshugi]

Under promise, over deliver. It's that easy.

[@outsider238]

Lego needs to stick with doing what they should be doing and that's make the sets and sell them and forget about all this side fluff that seems to frequently backfire on them. Like the old saying goes, "Keep it simple, Stupid!".

[@thebrickmaster7403]

When is worst to first ‘24 coming out?

[@brandobond]

Super simple to please most people. Just make it so black card holders get 2x VIP at all times (maybe 3x during the special events when everyone gets 2x) and give one special GWP style gift (maybe at the end of the year). Lego gives GWP all the time for people who spend only tens or hundreds of dollars. Shouldn't have been hard to justify a cool one for the people that likely spend thousands!

[@Valoprionicaprosctationthet]

Space slug review soon?

[@SenseiRoach]

The insider program sucks too. They have "rewards"

[@williamossont9689]

The Lego employee that has to watch this is fuuuming

[@PorgandDewback]

The best thing they could of done is release 1 set exclusive to black card , like 2024 may 4th droid battlepack.

[@sponbob5612]

a video about the VIP black card in 2025 is INSANE lol. i remember when it happened

[@criles0730]

Thoughts on 25th anniversary clone wars UCS Malevolence?

[@evilpearproduction]

I don’t know how to run a billion dollar company but I feel like they could’ve done 2x or maybe 1.5x VIP points for the whole year and maybe one exclusive item.

[@jacksonplays2502]

As someone who was able to take advantage of the VIP members sale on the UCS AT-AT for $680 I have a tough decision to make. I absolutely love this set but the with the resale value growing significantly in the near future, I'm unsure whether to build this or sell it. I enjoy collecting Lego Star Wars but being able to potentially to sell this for 1.5k+ later on, has made me hesitant to open my box. What are your thoughts?

[@WARILBB]

I remember lego said they would send emails for special offers when I get this card. Never got any emails for anything. Really made me mad. Whole year waiting for nothing. I got the falcon day one. 1 minifig a month would have been awesome . Just saying.

[@cameronmeetze8153]

i normally think a lot of topics in the lego community are too critical; wether they be some things are a bit too nick-picky or things being made into too big of an issue. at the end of the day it’s just a product. that being said, this was an amazing coverage of this topic. this was just awful business practice no matter what way you look at it. nothing was planned correctly and many false promises were made. i’m glad i didn’t have the means to get the set for this card because i would feel so misled

[@newoIowen]

this to easy 2x vip points whole year extra may 4th promo that only black card holders get and early access on a few sets it really cant be that hard