tubes

I'm making this post because of the recent UCS Gunship release and the backlash it is receiving on other forums. I am avoiding those forums on purpose so I decided to vocalize my thoughts here. Before I get more in depth I want to explain my personal view point and for full disclosure, I voted for the Nebulon B and not the Gunship. That being said, I think the Gunship is a great set. It is very well designed. It is a good size with great details and it displays well. It is a welcome addition to any UCS collection imo. I feel like we have gotten so many original trilogy sets over the years that there is room for many more prequel and sequel trilogy sets to be made than original trilogy sets. But again, if I had to choose I prefer the original trilogy over the prequel or sequel trilogy but I do enjoy them all. The backlash towards the designers and the UCS Gunship set itself is from a very vocal minority in the community. Lego seems to be catering to this side of the community in the last year or 2. It has become very clear with the recent Gunship release that there is a a toxicity in the community that goes beyond simple criticism. It has even lead to personal attacks aimed at the designers. There has been a noticeable divide in the Lego Star Wars community the last few years that wasn't there a decade ago. I believe this divide stems from this "vocal minority". It is my belief that the wider fan base (with a greater purchasing power) does not follow closely enough to be aware of things like fan votes or topics that the vocal minority might be loudly clamoring for. So why then does TLG seem to be catering to this group lately? Is it just because they are very prevalent on social media and other forums so they are easy to see? I'm unsure but it is definitely not encouraging a healthy fan community. Don't get me wrong, there is at least some buying power from the vocal minority in question. It was very clear with sets like the 501st battlepack that sold out quickly on release...and then became a shelf warmer from what I saw personally. I noticed it in toy hunt videos as well with hundreds of them on the shelf. I am not privy to sales numbers of specific sets but sales of that set seemed to have a huge drop off after the initial release. I'm guessing the early release sales were so successful because it was an army builder so a small group (that vocal minority) bought multiple sets early on and then the demand seemed to dry up? I guess the new UCS Gunship may be another representation of that groups purchasing power? Time will tell. There is a similar issue that I have been hearing about Lego Ideas voting lately. In this day and age it is very easy to influence a group of people to vote a certain way. Hopefully TLG can limit platforms that rely on votes in the future. Votes can be easily skewed to not be a proper representation of the whole. Back to the main point, I'm not sure what can be done to minimize the toxicity that is so prevalent the last few years? It's easy to write it off as just how the internet is these days...but it hasn't always been like that. I'm concerned that it will grow and drive people away. I'm pretty in tune with the community I have seen it happening already.