Lego has changed since we were kids (2014) • Hacker News Board

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

#261

Post by jeremyjh » Mon, Feb 07, 2022, 9:21 PM UTC

lovehashbrowns wrote: post #144

ballenf wrote: post #120

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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…

There's nothing wrong with someone only liking the follow instructions aspect of Lego and not the fully creative DIY aspect. I think one of the weirder parenting things is a parent trying to get their kiddo to like something in exactly the way the parent wants and anything else is a failure. "I built my Legos without instructions and we had fun! Kids these days...!" But then parents don't realize they misunderstood t…

My son treats Lego sets like a model airplane: build it once exactly to spec, put it on your shelf in your room, never change it again. The one difference maybe is they will get played with more.

Yet he's very creative with Magna-Tiles in exactly the same way we played with Legos when I was a kid (I was born in 1976). I do think part of the difference is the presentation and marketing of the set, and how specific some of the pieces obviously are. Yes, some kids can be very creative with these sets, but Lego the company would prefer you buy another set.

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

#262

Post by als0 » Mon, Feb 07, 2022, 9:41 PM UTC

secabeen wrote: post #204

brimble wrote: post #166

Earlier quoted context omitted.

A ~550-piece set from my childhood (90s): 10 minifigs and accessories, end result will fill about a 1-foot cube. Plenty of room for small hands to get in and actually play with it. Construction simple enough you can easily put it back together if it's messed up during play, without resorting to the directions. Exposed studs everywhere for easy adding-on. A modern ~550-piece set, also from a line aimed at kids, not on…

The sets you are looking for still exist today. For example: 428-piece, 1-foot cube, $55, 4 minifigs, 1994: https://brickset.com/sets/6571-1/Flame-Fighters 540-piece, 1-foot cube, $69, 5 minifigs, 2022: https://brickset.com/sets/60320-1/Fire-Station LEGO just has a much much larger catalog now than they did back then (200 sets vs 800 sets.) But the classic style sets are still there for you, if that's what you want.

Am I the only one who thinks the 1994 one looks nicer?

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

#263

Post by sequoia » Mon, Feb 07, 2022, 9:49 PM UTC

> Lego did extensive research and found that girls preferred to play with the characters rather than build sets. So they created the Lego Friends line where the characters own beauty salons, pet boutiques and can be news reporters working on stories about cakes. The sets do not come with hundreds of pages of instructions because most of them are fairly simple to build. The Lego Friends line is immensely popular.

i.e. they figured out what the market wanted, then sold that thing, and it was profitable. I too prefer older legos but if people generally prefer another kind, what is lego supposed to do? The market also isn't the same as it was in 1980, how realistic is it to expect their offerings to be the same?

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

#264

Post by 2muchcoffeeman » Mon, Feb 07, 2022, 9:53 PM UTC

secabeen wrote: post #204

brimble wrote: post #166

Earlier quoted context omitted.

A ~550-piece set from my childhood (90s): 10 minifigs and accessories, end result will fill about a 1-foot cube. Plenty of room for small hands to get in and actually play with it. Construction simple enough you can easily put it back together if it's messed up during play, without resorting to the directions. Exposed studs everywhere for easy adding-on. A modern ~550-piece set, also from a line aimed at kids, not on…

The sets you are looking for still exist today. For example: 428-piece, 1-foot cube, $55, 4 minifigs, 1994: https://brickset.com/sets/6571-1/Flame-Fighters 540-piece, 1-foot cube, $69, 5 minifigs, 2022: https://brickset.com/sets/60320-1/Fire-Station LEGO just has a much much larger catalog now than they did back then (200 sets vs 800 sets.) But the classic style sets are still there for you, if that's what you want.

There’s also the entire Lego Classic line which is just a box of multi coloured standard bricks.

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

#265

Post by enriquto » Mon, Feb 07, 2022, 10:01 PM UTC

als0 wrote: post #262

secabeen wrote: post #204

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The sets you are looking for still exist today. For example: 428-piece, 1-foot cube, $55, 4 minifigs, 1994: https://brickset.com/sets/6571-1/Flame-Fighters 540-piece, 1-foot cube, $69, 5 minifigs, 2022: https://brickset.com/sets/60320-1/Fire-Station LEGO just has a much much larger catalog now than they did back then (200 sets vs 800 sets.) But the classic style sets are still there for you, if that's what you want.

Am I the only one who thinks the 1994 one looks nicer?

Yes, the 1994 Flame Fighters is an outstanding set! My main dislike of the modern version is that the fire truck does not have a ladder (that would offer a lot of playability). The water gun just looks puny.

EDIT: still, even if I have a weakness for even older fire sets, I acknowledge that the modern lego fire stations are very good toys. My son has spend countless hours playing with the 2016 version [0], which is incredibly playable, and whose fire truck is the best.

[0] https://brickset.com/sets/60110-1/Fire-Station

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

#266

Post by destitude » Mon, Feb 07, 2022, 10:11 PM UTC

deltaonefour wrote: post #259

destitude wrote: post #247

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think you are missing the point.. The gender equality was portrayed by the company and therefore picked up by the parents. Nothing to do with what little boys thought of girls. Today you have marketing pre-disposing parents to thinking girls should follow X interests and boys Y. This is big part of why we have lack of females in STEM since for example "girls" Legos shows they should just worry about beauty salons a…

>The gender equality was portrayed by the company and therefore picked up by the parents. Nothing to do with what little boys thought of girls. I know. Legos has two modes of advertising. One targeting parents, the other targeting kids. Both were accurate in their objectives. However the article itself fails to understand the psychology of kids. > This is big part of why we have lack of females in STEM since for exam…

It's still interesting to note that boys wore pink and played with dolls in the USA 100-150 years ago.

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

#267

Post by rnernento » Mon, Feb 07, 2022, 10:18 PM UTC

tills13 wrote: post #186

rnernento wrote: post #44

Legos are still one of the most satisfying toys to buy your children. Yes they are expensive, yes it's annoying that a lot of them are built just once. That being said when you look out at the competition the bar is low. I have a 5 and 3 year old and watching them patiently page through the instructions and put together something complex that they really care about is incredibly satisfying. Some of the sets have rela…

> yes it's annoying that a lot of them are built just once how is this a point people are hung up on. nobody is telling anyone they can only build a set once. hell, Lego has even started offering "alternative instructions" for certain sets to encourage you to take it apart and rebuild it. You can do whatever you want with LEGO after you buy it and it has never been a better time to be an enthusiast. People just like…

I can speak to this a little, the issue is that the sets are designed to not be as friendly to rebuilding. The walls and floors to buildings are made out of very specific pieces that aren't easily reconfigured into new structures.

Honestly some of it is so weird that I think they do it on purpose specifically to discourage re-use.

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

#268

Post by rnernento » Mon, Feb 07, 2022, 10:19 PM UTC

nix23 wrote: post #45

rnernento wrote: post #44

Legos are still one of the most satisfying toys to buy your children. Yes they are expensive, yes it's annoying that a lot of them are built just once. That being said when you look out at the competition the bar is low. I have a 5 and 3 year old and watching them patiently page through the instructions and put together something complex that they really care about is incredibly satisfying. Some of the sets have rela…

>That being said when you look out at the competition the bar is low. Bluebrixx, Cobi and Xingbao are probably much better.

Sorry to be clear, when I say competition I mean non-lego or knockoff toys, things like LOL Surprise or Shopkins, or Paw Patrol figures.

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

#269

Post by sparrc » Mon, Feb 07, 2022, 10:20 PM UTC

A few counterpoints:

- LEGO still makes bins of fairly generic pieces that can be built into all sorts of things: https://smile.amazon.com/LEGO-Classic-Medium-Creative-Brick/...

- My daughter has a few LEGO duplo sets. One for example had instructions for building a Minnie Mouse house, but we only did that once. Now all the sets are taken apart and mixed together and she pretty much builds whatever she wants, mixing and building with pieces from 4-5 different duplo sets together.

- It's super easy to buy bins of used legos online, especially in local parenting communities. I see people exchanging bins of LEGO pieces all the time and usually it's just bins of pieces, no instructions or defined sets or plans at all.

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

#270

Post by jacobolus » Mon, Feb 07, 2022, 10:21 PM UTC

josephg wrote: post #202

jacobolus wrote: post #179

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> the replay value is in taking down the set and doing it again next year There is no end to the “replay value” in taking whatever miscellaneous collection of legos you have and making whatever you want out of them. This is what most kids do. Each new set gets added to the mixed-up pile. (This works because all of the pieces consistently follow a common geometric design, and connect together using a small handful of…

> There is no end to the “replay value” in taking whatever miscellaneous collection of legos you have and making whatever you want out of them. This is what most kids do. It’s interesting watching my sister’s kids interact with lego. Her daughter (the oldest) loves rules, and loves following the instructions on the set. Her (younger) son loves destroying her sets and mixing things up. He loves all the “boy” lego sets…

One game I have enjoyed with my 5-year-old is to give two (or more) people an identical collection of 20–50 miscellaneous pieces (just pull pairs of identical pieces randomly and dump into 2 piles) and then each make something and compare.

Or have one person make something and see if the other person can copy it, then switch.