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Lego has changed since we were kids (2014)

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Re: Lego has changed since we were kids (2014)

#11
post #2

title correction: 9 ways lego has researched and expanded it's product line to increase profits while continuing to sell less popular traditional products

Largest toy manufacturer in the world. Can't really argue with that.

I do miss the old, simpler lego from the early 1980s, but those things still exist in the Classic and Creator lines. Buy them. I love Lego Star Wars, but Classic and Creator are the soul of Lego.

Re: Lego has changed since we were kids (2014)

#12
post #4

I was a kid in the 90s and most of the things written in that article were already true. I still broke down all the elaborate sets, put them all together in a big box, and built my own things later.

A more interesting comparison would be to put the core themes of the 1990s (Castle, Pirates, Space, Town) against the modern popular themes (Ninjago, Creator, Star Wars, City). The old sets had less specialised parts and less colour variety, which allowed kids to combine sets from the same theme easily. The buildings (castles, fortresses, harbours) almost always had a big baseplate (flat or 3D). Minifigs were themed…

The number of specialised parts is one thing I dislike about modern Lego sets. They do look great and have really smart building techniques, but I just want to build a brick house with my kids.

There is always Lego classic sets, and smaller creator houses do have a lot of regular bricks too. But it is a bit annoying once you amass a few sets from other lines.

Still, I'm glad they are in business. I will take whatever they do now Vs them going bust, which was a risk a decade or so ago (or maybe longer, I can't remember the details).

Re: Lego has changed since we were kids (2014)

#13

Are resin 3D printers any better than FDM in printing Lego bricks? I hope they get good enough so that every kid can make all the pieces. It's a shame that a new 8880 kit costs an arm and a leg.

A friend prints lego rail tracks that don't exist but should.

For regular bricks, however, Lego's manufacturing process is incredibly precise in a way that I don't think 3D printing will ever be.

Re: Lego has changed since we were kids (2014)

#14
post #3

That dark pattern where a website gives you the next article it thinks you should read does not work well here on this older article. Below the Lego article I get “Hate math? Then don't help your kid with their homework” — which it proceeds to load hundreds of times (a search for the word 'homework' yields over 1000 hits now) below each iteration just because I tried to scroll to the bottom. Somehow its recommendatio…

Are your surfing without protection? Scrolling to the bottom for me works perfectly. I tried disabling uBlock, then I got the behaviour you mentioned. I always have uBlock on to disable scripts and fonts. Quite a lot of sites work perfectly well that way and I enable the minimum scripts and fonts for those that don't.

A website optimizing itself for freeloaders rather than ad-watching users, seems... counterproductive for their bottom line.

Re: Lego has changed since we were kids (2014)

#15

Are resin 3D printers any better than FDM in printing Lego bricks? I hope they get good enough so that every kid can make all the pieces. It's a shame that a new 8880 kit costs an arm and a leg.

It’d cost more money and time to print inferior parts.

Re: Lego has changed since we were kids (2014)

#16

> Lego has become more gender stratified In this day and age, I would be surprised if the Lego Friends line, which was created with girls in mind, were marketed explicitly to girls. My guess is that the girls stratify themselves by what type of toys they are attracted to. There's evidence that the preference is biological: Male monkeys prefer boys' toys https://www.newscientist.com/article/dn13596-male-monkeys-pr...

I think the point is capitalism gives people what they crave. Not necessarily what they need. But any alternative is unimaginable in individualized minds of modern people.

Re: Lego has changed since we were kids (2014)

#18
> Now you don’t have regular Lego cops and robbers—you have Batman and the Gotham criminals.

You also still have regular Lego cops and robbers. Cops and robbers is still by far the largest sub-theme of the City theme. Almost every set, even some sets that aren't about cops and robbers at all, will have a cop and a robber in there.

Re: Lego has changed since we were kids (2014)

#19
I think traditional Lego died when they introduced the parts separator tool - back in my day, you destroyed your fingernails (and sometimes even used your teeth) separating parts. Attaching two 2x1 thin bricks was considered horrific, because you knew you'd never be able to separate them anymore.

Kids these days have it too easy.

Re: Lego has changed since we were kids (2014)

#20

Are resin 3D printers any better than FDM in printing Lego bricks? I hope they get good enough so that every kid can make all the pieces. It's a shame that a new 8880 kit costs an arm and a leg.

There is no problem buying the parts separately needed to build such model. Of course, some exotic parts were discontinued. Lego provides instruction as pdf on their website.

Edit: the other brick manufacturers have problems replicating brick quality with injection molding machines. I assembled thousands Lego parts with my son and their fit was exactly the same - perfect. The Chinese kits have one in hundred parts that doesn’t fit well. However it was one in ten some years ago, Chinese learn fast.

I doubt one can 3D print anything as Lego replacement.

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