Post by The Hegemon on Jun 29, 2020 23:53:02 GMT
Have you been to the Mega Construx website recently? Like, in the past couple years or so?
The first eye-catching thing that appears on the screen is an invitation to "join our community." And if you scroll down the page, you might be able to almost get to pages that offer partial listings on maybe some of the current product offerings. Or not.
Yes, there's a "products" link at the top of the page, but it's easily overlooked with the flashy graphics highlighting other areas of the site. A casual visitor might understandably identify this as yet another unofficial fan site, rather than the center of the brand's online presence.
Arguably, one could go to the Mattel site, but that's even worse, in part because it has seemed from the beginning that Mattel has little interest in promoting the construction toy brand, as evidenced by the name change, which tossed 20+ years of brand history into the shitter.
And then, if you do click on the "products" link, you start down a path that requires you to scour every page for information, since they appear to have gone out of their way to prevent easy browsing.
What possible purpose could this serve? Why is there no front-page-accessible general index of sets? Why aren't they showcasing sets on the front page, rather than showing cool pics that of MOCs that we and our fellow amateurs designed?
I love the brand. I've loved it for 25 years, and I've defended it bitterly online throughout that time, often absorbing personal ridicule in the process. But I'm not a fanboy, and I can't pretend that a terrible design choice is a great idea.
Castle Grayskull was an incredible set. Incredible set. Very probably Mega's all-time best, and quite possibly one of the all-time best sets by any construction brand. And when you finally manage to track it down on the brand's webpage, you find that it's not available. Nor does it ever seem to have been widely available at any real-world retail venue, as we know.
Beyond that, a great many sets have been sold online and at retail without ever appearing on any incarnation of the Mega Construx website. Conversely, quite a few sets appeared on the website without ever showing up in reality. Why? To what possible end? How can the marketing team be so out of touch with the distribution team? How does this benefit the brand? The forum has enjoyed the presence of various Mega staff over the years, and it's been clear that they love the brand; why does the company itself seem to care so little?
The closest thing to a historical archive that the page offers is the hit-or-miss and poorly maintained library of PDF instruction booklets, but fans who stumble upon most of these will have to search elsewhere for information about them. This could have been an opportunity to show the evolution of Mega from its quite rough beginnings to its amazing present day. A certain other brick toy brand takes pride in showcasing its decades of development; Mega Construx (no doubt under the guiding hand of Mattel) can barely be bothered to acknowledge any set that isn't currently funneling profits onto the balance sheets. Why?
I could go on and on, as indeed I have in the past and no doubt will again in the future, but the point is served. It's tough to be a fan of a brand when so much of the company seems not to take it seriously.
//end of rant
The first eye-catching thing that appears on the screen is an invitation to "join our community." And if you scroll down the page, you might be able to almost get to pages that offer partial listings on maybe some of the current product offerings. Or not.
Yes, there's a "products" link at the top of the page, but it's easily overlooked with the flashy graphics highlighting other areas of the site. A casual visitor might understandably identify this as yet another unofficial fan site, rather than the center of the brand's online presence.
Arguably, one could go to the Mattel site, but that's even worse, in part because it has seemed from the beginning that Mattel has little interest in promoting the construction toy brand, as evidenced by the name change, which tossed 20+ years of brand history into the shitter.
And then, if you do click on the "products" link, you start down a path that requires you to scour every page for information, since they appear to have gone out of their way to prevent easy browsing.
What possible purpose could this serve? Why is there no front-page-accessible general index of sets? Why aren't they showcasing sets on the front page, rather than showing cool pics that of MOCs that we and our fellow amateurs designed?
I love the brand. I've loved it for 25 years, and I've defended it bitterly online throughout that time, often absorbing personal ridicule in the process. But I'm not a fanboy, and I can't pretend that a terrible design choice is a great idea.
Castle Grayskull was an incredible set. Incredible set. Very probably Mega's all-time best, and quite possibly one of the all-time best sets by any construction brand. And when you finally manage to track it down on the brand's webpage, you find that it's not available. Nor does it ever seem to have been widely available at any real-world retail venue, as we know.
Beyond that, a great many sets have been sold online and at retail without ever appearing on any incarnation of the Mega Construx website. Conversely, quite a few sets appeared on the website without ever showing up in reality. Why? To what possible end? How can the marketing team be so out of touch with the distribution team? How does this benefit the brand? The forum has enjoyed the presence of various Mega staff over the years, and it's been clear that they love the brand; why does the company itself seem to care so little?
The closest thing to a historical archive that the page offers is the hit-or-miss and poorly maintained library of PDF instruction booklets, but fans who stumble upon most of these will have to search elsewhere for information about them. This could have been an opportunity to show the evolution of Mega from its quite rough beginnings to its amazing present day. A certain other brick toy brand takes pride in showcasing its decades of development; Mega Construx (no doubt under the guiding hand of Mattel) can barely be bothered to acknowledge any set that isn't currently funneling profits onto the balance sheets. Why?
I could go on and on, as indeed I have in the past and no doubt will again in the future, but the point is served. It's tough to be a fan of a brand when so much of the company seems not to take it seriously.
//end of rant
