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“Netflix for Legos” is an awesome idea. But can it scale?

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Re: “Netflix for Legos” is an awesome idea. But can it scale?

#21

Post by rhubarbquid »

gkoberger wrote: post #5

I feel this takes away a lot of the fun. There won't be mixing and matching of sets and peices; no experimenting nor creating new things. Partially because it won't be allowed (what parent will want to re-sort the sets), but mostly because it's impossible (you only get one set at a time). Legos were awesome because you could experiment and build and create new things. Now, they're just a paint-by-numbers, follow the…

> I feel this takes a way a lot of the fun.

Agreed. Building the kit by the instructions was only about 1/10th of the fun. The real fun was building new stuff out of the pieces from all the sets you have.

Re: “Netflix for Legos” is an awesome idea. But can it scale?

#22

Post by mintone »

Lego. I spoke to my parents about 6 months ago whilst they were having a clear out of family toys from yesteryear - their main question: "What do you want us to keep for your (potential) children?"

My answer was quite simple: "My Lego and my Brio - that's about it"

Lego is made to last a lifetime and more, specified to an extreme degree and made with tolerances far and beyond most consumer electronics; it is something that can be inherited. The important part here is that I wouldn't want my children to inherit a set - I would want them to inherit the bricks - that is the fun of Lego. I want to give them 2 30 gallon boxes of bricks and boards and men and all sorts because creativity is not born of following instructions - it comes from deciding to create an aeroplane from the odd bits and pieces that you have at hand.

There is a very good reason that these[1] adverts aren't for sets - Lego is amazing because you can create whatever you can imagine with it and for that reason this doesn't sit very well with me. But then I have 60 gallons of lego waiting for me when I eventually procreate so what do I care...

[1] http://speckyboy.com/2009/03/16/39-creative-lego-advertiseme...

Re: “Netflix for Legos” is an awesome idea. But can it scale?

#24

Post by e12e »

hayksaakian wrote: post #8
gkoberger wrote: post #5

I feel this takes away a lot of the fun. There won't be mixing and matching of sets and peices; no experimenting nor creating new things. Partially because it won't be allowed (what parent will want to re-sort the sets), but mostly because it's impossible (you only get one set at a time). Legos were awesome because you could experiment and build and create new things. Now, they're just a paint-by-numbers, follow the…

You can still buy a 'bucket' of random bricks. For various reasons, those probably generate less revenue than sponsored sets. ex: marvel, starwars themed legos

Are they sponsored? I thought they were licensed?

Re: “Netflix for Legos” is an awesome idea. But can it scale?

#25

Post by BIair »

gkoberger wrote: post #5

I feel this takes away a lot of the fun. There won't be mixing and matching of sets and peices; no experimenting nor creating new things. Partially because it won't be allowed (what parent will want to re-sort the sets), but mostly because it's impossible (you only get one set at a time). Legos were awesome because you could experiment and build and create new things. Now, they're just a paint-by-numbers, follow the…

I'm not surprised this is the top comment on a hacker site. But having watched my 5-year old son assemble a 300 piece set while following a 40+ page manual, gave me a new appreciation. He was obviously creating a new thing, even if not experienting. Not only did he have great pride in his creation, but he leaned a lot about 3D visualization and spacial awareness. Sign me up!

Re: “Netflix for Legos” is an awesome idea. But can it scale?

#26

Post by primitivesuave »

stormbrew wrote: post #6

This is kind of off-topic, but still kind of relevant I think. I think the 'killer' for Lego is going to eventually be 3d printers. A subscription service for lego sounds cool and all, but I'd rather be printing exactly the pieces I want (or going to a local vendor using a fancier 3d printer to make them). I kind of see this toy angle being the first probably breakthrough for it once the tech gets good enough. I've l…

Laser sintering can supposedly achieve the resolution of the Lego molds, but the technology is very expensive and much slower than Lego's injection molding process. Chances are we won't see this in the hands of consumers for another 5 - 10 years, but I totally agree with you that it will eventually happen.

Re: “Netflix for Legos” is an awesome idea. But can it scale?

#27

Post by jcagalawan »

dragonwriter wrote: post #19
PhasmaFelis wrote: post #18

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> If you are doing a pitch, "Netflix for Octopusses" would make you look stupid. Only if your pitch target is stupid, because "Octopuses" is correct according to any English dictionary you'll find. There's a point here somewhere about the dangers of hyper-prescriptive grammar.

> > If you are doing a pitch, "Netflix for Octopusses" would make you look stupid. > Only if your pitch target is stupid, because "Octopuses" is correct according to any English dictionary you'll find. "Octopusses" ≠ "Octopuses". Considering that the "Octopusses" line was in response to a post about the impact of an extra "s"...

Pretty sure it was just about incorrect pluralization.

Re: “Netflix for Legos” is an awesome idea. But can it scale?

#28

Post by e28eta »

I've been a subscriber for months.

Their selection of the larger sets is limited, which is understandable. They've been getting better, but there have been times when it took days or weeks to ship the next set because I only wanted a 1000+ piece set, and they didn't have enough of them.

The sets I've received have either been brand new (still in original plastic bags), or missing several minor pieces. You can log in and tell them which exact pieces are missing and they'll ship them to you (or supposedly add them to the set for the next person), but it's only after you've tried to build the full thing that you know all the pieces that are missing.

Unlike Netlix DVDs, it's hard to turn around a set quickly. I end up holding onto each one for a week or three.

I enjoyed the Lego Movie, it touched on the idea of following the instructions vs building something unique. Pley/Pleygo is trying to encourage inventiveness, with photo contests.

Still, I'm happy with the service, and have recommended it to friends.

Re: “Netflix for Legos” is an awesome idea. But can it scale?

#29

Post by nashadelic »

BIair wrote: post #25
gkoberger wrote: post #5

I feel this takes away a lot of the fun. There won't be mixing and matching of sets and peices; no experimenting nor creating new things. Partially because it won't be allowed (what parent will want to re-sort the sets), but mostly because it's impossible (you only get one set at a time). Legos were awesome because you could experiment and build and create new things. Now, they're just a paint-by-numbers, follow the…

I'm not surprised this is the top comment on a hacker site. But having watched my 5-year old son assemble a 300 piece set while following a 40+ page manual, gave me a new appreciation. He was obviously creating a new thing, even if not experienting. Not only did he have great pride in his creation, but he leaned a lot about 3D visualization and spacial awareness. Sign me up!

I have a 3 year old and he's too young to make lego city sets from the instructions but he loves playing with them and watching me make a set and helping. However, when I leave him with the bricks, he plays on his own, makes funky looking cars and planes. I've seen him spent a lot of time figuring a brick out by keep trying it with different bricks. It's very cool to see the learning process in real time.

I think children learn more by mixing, matching and making their own creations not just following the instructions. It was nice to see that the Lego movie was about this too.

Re: “Netflix for Legos” is an awesome idea. But can it scale?

#30

Post by henrikschroder »

gkoberger wrote: post #5

I feel this takes away a lot of the fun. There won't be mixing and matching of sets and peices; no experimenting nor creating new things. Partially because it won't be allowed (what parent will want to re-sort the sets), but mostly because it's impossible (you only get one set at a time). Legos were awesome because you could experiment and build and create new things. Now, they're just a paint-by-numbers, follow the…

> Now, they're just a paint-by-numbers

No, they're both. The sets we loved as kids still exist, they just don't advertise them as much as the licensed properties, but they sure as hell haven't discontinued them:

http://www.lego.com/en-us/creator/products/all-models http://www.lego.com/en-us/city/products http://www.lego.com/en-us/castle http://galaxysquad.lego.com/en-us

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