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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)

#231

Post by jbmny »

ballenf wrote: post #120
gilbetron wrote: post #101

I really dislike all the bizarre "lego ain't what they used to be!" comments - they honestly come from people who haven't spent time with modern legos. For reference I was born in 1970 and played with legos probably from 1975-1985, and then seriously picked it up again in 2012 or so when my son was old enough to play with them. People paint this picture of these new legos that are made up of like 5 parts that you jus…

What I've seen is that kids get that dopamine rush from putting together everything exactly according to instructions. From opening the numbered bags and methodically working through thick instruction booklets. The problem now is that they have this expectation of gratification from making something kind of perfect and their own creations are less interesting and fulfilling. I don't know what the name is for the idea…

I have definitely gotten that dopamine rush, and I think I still do. It's probably a big reason why I'm a programmer. There's a certain satisfaction you get from knowing definitively that you "solved" the problem. Making music is another interest of mine, but due to its open-ended, creative nature, I don't think it can provide this kind of satisfaction.

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

#232

Post by WheatM »

gilbetron wrote: post #101

I really dislike all the bizarre "lego ain't what they used to be!" comments - they honestly come from people who haven't spent time with modern legos. For reference I was born in 1970 and played with legos probably from 1975-1985, and then seriously picked it up again in 2012 or so when my son was old enough to play with them. People paint this picture of these new legos that are made up of like 5 parts that you jus…

No post body was provided.

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

#233

Post by pnathan »

gilbetron wrote: post #101

I really dislike all the bizarre "lego ain't what they used to be!" comments - they honestly come from people who haven't spent time with modern legos. For reference I was born in 1970 and played with legos probably from 1975-1985, and then seriously picked it up again in 2012 or so when my son was old enough to play with them. People paint this picture of these new legos that are made up of like 5 parts that you jus…

Yeah, I have been getting Legos for my kid, and man, I just don't see the complaints. I'm very happy with the modern sets, as happy as I was when I was a kid.

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

#234

Post by crooked-v »

jacobolus wrote: post #198
somethoughts wrote: post #195

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The “follow 3d-puzzle instructions” way of playing is pretty shallow. >> I don't disagree that its shallow but its similar to a jigsaw puzzle, sometimes you want to just do something to keep your mind active and have a sense of accomplishment. >> As mentioned in the other posts, there are just a lot of custom parts in the new "licensed" sets to have a proper return on investment - particularly once Harry Potter, Marv…

Nearly all of the parts in a “Harry Potter” or “Star Wars” set are generic. And there’s nothing stopping you from making up a game/story mixing robots with your wizards.

Also, even the "non-generic" parts see plenty of reuse. For example, the wand pieces originally created for the Harry Potter sets have regularly popped up in unrelated sets as a decorative part of builds.

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

#235

Post by crooked-v »

MisterTea wrote: post #216
somethoughts wrote: post #175

Earlier quoted context omitted.

One key mindshift is to realize that many of the newer sets are more in line with a 3D puzzle than a creative 1000's of blocks to invent your own thing. Its a lot less frustrating when you realize the replay value is in taking down the set and doing it again next year or passing it on to a friend - in a manner more analogous to how puzzles are engaged with.

As a kid I had a ton of legos and my main obsession were technic sets (Still have them). But, before technic sets I had a bunch of the early town themed sets. So for example if you bought the gas station, it comes with a little mechanic figure and tow truck. Most of the blocks were standard and a few specialty blocks rounded out the set like windows, doors, auto chassis parts, wheels, even trees and plants. Of course…

Assuming you're talking this one - https://www.lego.com/en-us/product/haunted-house-10273 - I'm failing to see the specialty parts, outside of a couple of things like the spiderweb. Even the organ is brick-built from parts that could be repurposed in a number of ways (for example, exhaust pipes on a car or truck).

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

#236

Post by elliekelly »

makeitdouble wrote: post #143
ARandumGuy wrote: post #121

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I feel like a lot of people look at the intricate sets that cost hundreds of dollars, and conclude that Lego has abandoned play and creativity. In reality, there's an abundance of kid-oriented sets that are meant to be built, played with, deconstructed, and modified. But those aren't the sets that get shared through social media. Lego has embraced the adult collector as a valuable customer. But that does not mean the…

TBF the best advice for people who only want a bunch of "classic" bricks for their small child is to buy them used or of some generic conpatible brand. I totally understand Lego not putting any marketing power in that direction and pushing so hard for more branding and licensed sets. The other end of the spectrum is their educational sets, but then we're really into the multi hundreds of dollars sets.

Every so often Costco will have this giant "classic" lego box for $40 which is a pretty good deal: https://www.lego.com/en-us/product/bricks-bricks-bricks-1071...

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

#237

Post by lhorie »

gilbetron wrote: post #101

I really dislike all the bizarre "lego ain't what they used to be!" comments - they honestly come from people who haven't spent time with modern legos. For reference I was born in 1970 and played with legos probably from 1975-1985, and then seriously picked it up again in 2012 or so when my son was old enough to play with them. People paint this picture of these new legos that are made up of like 5 parts that you jus…

But you're literally admitting that legos aren't what they used to be. My exposure to legos was very similar to yours. Yes, there are more variety of pieces now, and it can be both a blessing and a curse, depending on what angle you squint at it from.

In my experience, old legos had a far more rigid feeling: idiomatically, sets relied heavily on the verticality of system (i.e. usage of the traditional tall or short bricks). Nowadays, sets come with a huge variety of 1x1 and 1x2 pieces with sideways elements, and a good portion of pieces are of the beam variety (i.e. pieces that require connectors to be put together[0], commonly found in mindstorm sets)

So with a modern mindstorms set, you can build some really elaborate things with high degrees of motion, in a way that is intended by Lego, but conversely, the traditional blocks look dull in comparison. I was building some random robots w/ my kids a while back, and the way we approached the bricks was fairly different. They largely build following the system as intended. My childhood techniques, by contrast, are distinctly "illegal" (according to what Lego considers valid/stable brick arrangements in official sets). For example, this[1] is a technique to achieve a movable joint that I used to chain together to create things like arms, animal tails, etc.

The entertainment environment for kids has also changed, through no fault of Lego itself. Despite the availability of high range of motion components, there are so many other ways for kids to entertain themselves nowadays that it would just never occur to them to exploit Legos in unintended ways the way I did.

[0] https://img.brickowl.com/files/image_cache/larger/lego-dark-...

[1] http://www.publishyourdesign.com/design/102080

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

#238

Post by xenomachina »

slavik81 wrote: post #207
xenomachina wrote: post #139

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

What a blast from the past. I remember the finicky IR tower for uploading programs. I failed abysmally at programming my Mindstorms robot. I could never figure out how to make two things happen at the same time, so I couldn't make both motors run at once. As a result, my treaded robot could only spin in circles. Sadly, that was pretty much the end of my experience with Mindstorms. Eventually, I gave up and put it awa…

Yeah, the bundled software for the RCX was pretty awful, and was Windows-only. That's why I used brickOS, which let me write C (or was it C++?) code to run on the RCX, and it also worked on Linux.

The next generation, "NXT", was somewhat better (I believe it's based on LabView), but I remember it being ridiculously slow and unstable on Macs.

One of my kids uses Lego's "SPIKE Prime" at their robotics club, and while I haven't used the software myself, it seems much better.

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

#239

Post by deltaonefour »

>The ads were just plain awesome. Case in point: This 1981 ad featuring a young girl with her Lego creation.

That picture of the girl holding up a lego set is only "AWESOME" for parents. As a kid if I saw that I would barf. First off as a little boy back then... there was no gender equality. All girls were stupid and had cooties and I was a little sexist tyrant.

Second little boys aren't dumb... that blob of a thing made by girl is infinitely less interesting then a space ship designed by a professional adult with a cool color scheme. Case in point I loved the M-tron series: https://imgur.com/a/bK7w8. Of course being a little boy my skills were only good enough to produce that multi colored blob but that doesn't change the fact that I knew what quality was when I saw it.

This article is just an adult projecting his opinion and woke sensibilities onto a kid. That being said yes it's ok for a boy to like doll houses. Perfectly fine, but let's be real, legos are mostly for boys and most boys would prefer dinosaurs over doll houses and any advertising that doesn't target that is advertising that doesn't understand the majority of its target demographic.

My main argument is against the author of the article and their complete blissful ignorance about how kids think. Lego knew their shit though. That photo is an ad targetted towards parents. The M-tron legos had advertising targeted directly towards me when I was a kid, while this article on the other hand is an article targeting parents who don't understand how kids think.

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

#240

Post by AtlasBarfed »

I grew up in the classic space era (of course the best, but then again everyone's childhood pop culture is "the best").

The #1 thing that should be emphasized is that lego is cheaper than it was back when I had it. I think that's a good thing.

What would I really like? I'd like Lego to do re-releases of old sets that are 20 or 30 years old. Or maybe megasets that re-release the entire year's sets for a line (Take my money for a UCS millenium falcon-pricepoint of all of the classic sets from 1980/1981 re-released)

I bought a ton of used legos on CL (too much of course) when my kiddo was born. Then I sorted them to get a feel for the new pieces. I think wheels are better (there's basically 2-3 axle standards which I think is an improvement).

I think the main bad thing is that there are too many colors and shades, due likely to over-perfecting a branded set or something like that (or its a conspiracy).

The minifigs are a bit much sometimes, but I don't think it's that bad. THey still are largely minifigs.

The amount of cool MOC/custom builds on the internet is great. The other great thing I didn't have was digital photography: I didn't want to take apart my own models as a kid because I know I'd never be able to rebuild them. Now you can take a whole bunch of pictures to remember it and rebuild it if I wanted to.

I do think the overbranding of sets leads to them not being deconstructed. But I bought a ton of "spare bricks" so I don't think we'll have that problem.

When lego does an occasional "classic space"-ish set like the mars rover or the mech, it is amazing. The creator sets are great.

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