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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)

#131

Post by kergonath »

I was a kid in the 1990s, and my parents were already making the same complaints (except for the film merch one). The kits haven’t changed that much in the last 30 years. At least those for kids; there weren’t many kits for adults back then.

I hate the branded kits with a passion (Batman and the others), but thankfully there are many others available, including great ones. I would have killed for a rocket like the newer ones when I was 10. OTOH recent trains are not much better than older ones.

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

#132

Post by BrS96bVxXBLzf5B »

mcv wrote: post #21
samwillis wrote: post #6

I would love to know what percentage of Legos revenue is now from adults buying the incredible large, complex and expensive sets to build themselves. Lego is so associated as a toy for children just as computer games are, but gaming is a larger industry for adults than children. My wife and I now regularly buy these large lego sets for each other (birthdays, Christmas and anniversaries) and do them together in the ev…

I think 1980s kids who grew up and got well-paying tech jobs are their largest customer demographic now. Kids play Minecraft instead. That's what my oldest son said, at least; he doesn't see the point in Lego now that Minecraft exists. Breaks my heart. I mean, Minecraft is fantastic, but it's not Lego.

An alternative viewpoint: Minecraft is Lego, and Lego isn't.

When there were fewer themed Lego sets, Lego was a sandbox. You had a mish-mash of generic pieces and your creativity. Modern Lego sets are extremely tailored, both in theme and with sets having bespoke pieces - even if you throw all of your newer sets together in a pile (which people tend not to because each is supposed to be a thing), the pieces aren't as modular, allow for less extension of your imagination.

Minecraft is blocks and what you do with them. Minecraft isn't a digital extension of Lego, it's serving the experience Lego did a few decades ago but no longer does.

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

#133

Post by MivLives »

samwillis wrote: post #6

I would love to know what percentage of Legos revenue is now from adults buying the incredible large, complex and expensive sets to build themselves. Lego is so associated as a toy for children just as computer games are, but gaming is a larger industry for adults than children. My wife and I now regularly buy these large lego sets for each other (birthdays, Christmas and anniversaries) and do them together in the ev…

I'd also wonder if their cost per part on the bigger sets is higher or lower.

I've been building the adult sets over the last few years and you're right it's a nice nondigital way to unwind. Unlike my job everything works, has a place, and is all neat and organizable.

Interestingly my mother who is retired has gotten into lego. Initially she got into it because she decided to resell all my childhood sets which were stored in a large bins. I had kept all the instructions so she just build lego sets one at a time and sold them off. It got her hooked, and now she regularly buys used or new sets, assembles, and then resells them. It's interesting to see someone get into lego rather late in life with no childhood nostalgia of them what so ever.

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

#134

Post by Fiahil »

samwillis wrote: post #6

I would love to know what percentage of Legos revenue is now from adults buying the incredible large, complex and expensive sets to build themselves. Lego is so associated as a toy for children just as computer games are, but gaming is a larger industry for adults than children. My wife and I now regularly buy these large lego sets for each other (birthdays, Christmas and anniversaries) and do them together in the ev…

> I would love to know what percentage of Legos revenue is now from adults buying the incredible large, complex and expensive sets to build themselves.

Small enough that I still can drive envy from every child in the store when I buy big Technic sets. Like the huge CAT Bulldozer (https://www.lego.com/en-us/product/app-controlled-cat-d11-bu...) from last year.

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

#135

Post by MivLives »

k__ wrote: 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.

Honestly I think people also underrate how fun it is to add on to existing sets. This is harder to do with technic sets, but for the traditional block stuff it was easy enough to build the set to instructions and just keep building.

I've been doing more of this recently as I picked up some knock off mech based lego sets and adding more arms/building them more weapons/other things is fun way to make them look better.

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

#136

Post by giantg2 »

Maybe I'm wrong, but the vibe I get from the article is that Lego has become less creative and more about marketing/profit; sort of faulting Lego. I think this shift to complex, structured sets says more about the parents than the company though. Unstructured/unguided sets are still available.

It seems many more parents today want brag about what their kid did, want some Instagram worthy end product, or instill that structured/conforming result-driven mindset today. Again, I could be wrong about all this. This certainly isn't every parent, but I just feel like it's a larger percentage than the past, just like the amount of time kids spend in structured groups/activities vs self-organizined friend groups running around the neighborhood.

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

#137

Post by em-bee »

cardanome wrote: post #117
nix23 wrote: post #85

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Ah yes checkout Bluebrixx, they are German...the quality...not where it's produced of curse.

I am a big Bluebrixx fan but the quality is a bit shite at the moment. Their medieval sets are stunningly beautiful. Probably the best looking set on the market. They are great for experts but definitely not great as a casual first buy for people that try Lego alternatives. They love to use insane build techniques that are fun for experts but not really suited for beginners. The Star Trek series has been a huge disas…

interesting, the reviews that i saw about the star trek models pointed out some issues but were not as bad. and besides that i have not seen any other star trek set that was better, with the exception of the mega bloks one, but their way to connect the warp nacelles i would consider cheating.

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

#138

Post by cestith »

If you don't like the licensed sets, or even sets with instruction books, then you're still covered. Lego, Mega Bloks, and others have buckets or bags of just parts. To stick to Lego without a themed set, look for The Lego Classic line. If you want them as a themed set but maybe without a media license, there's the Lego Creator line (which does include some licensed material like the Bond 007 Aston Martin DB5).

Kit 10698 is a decent value for building toys and comes with its own storage container. Hasbro has multiple brands of brick building sets, but under their Kreo line there's A4585 or A4584 value buckets. I have a 759-piece Zuru Max bucket that's like $20 - the pieces fit but the quality/durability feels a little less than Lego or MEGA.

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

#139

Post by xenomachina »

ARandumGuy wrote: post #124
enriquto wrote: post #119

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Modern legos are awesome. Indeed they are! But, as much as I also dislike, like you, these bizarre comments; there's one place where I drew a red line and lego has sadly crossed it recently: lego sets that become obsoleted because lego removes some software from the app store. Previously, sets were standalone and eternal. But today you can buy an awesome technic set that will become "bricked" in a few years when th…

I mean, that isn't really new either. I had the first generation Lego Mindstorms set (pre-NXT, with the old yellow control brick), which required a USB device and special software to edit programs on the control brick. After ditching Windows XP for Windows 7, I could never get the USB device, or the required software, to function properly. The software and drivers just weren't maintained and updated, and I could neve…

I have a few RCX Mindstorms sets, and the software was always a problem. Thankfully, there were some open source alternatives, like http://brickos.sourceforge.net/

As an aside I'm pretty sure my RCX IR towers use serial, not USB.

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

#140

Post by makeitdouble »

giantg2 wrote: post #136

Maybe I'm wrong, but the vibe I get from the article is that Lego has become less creative and more about marketing/profit; sort of faulting Lego. I think this shift to complex, structured sets says more about the parents than the company though. Unstructured/unguided sets are still available. It seems many more parents today want brag about what their kid did, want some Instagram worthy end product, or instill that…

From the post:

> Now: The bricks still exist, obviously, but now each set contains many odd shapes that are specific to that particular set and do not work with any other creation.

To further this point, there are central components like motored hubs that are only available to specific sets and can't be bought as individual pieces.

A lot of people will point at token actions Lego still does that match the old philosophy, but at its core Lego thinks in sets, and new pieces, new mechanisms etc. are introduced for specific sets, never in the buckets.

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