lol username Posted May 5, 2016 Share Posted May 5, 2016 http://www.telegraph.co.uk/education/2016/05/03/ben-fogle-modern-lego-is-harming-childrens-development/ Quote "When I was a child, Lego came in brick form, you’d buy boxes of random bricks. You used your imagination and your mind in your build. "Those multi coloured bricks could transform into anything you wanted, free from the mandates of prescription. There was no right and no wrong. Everyone was a winner." However, he said today Lego had morphed into a kit-based building model rather than the free form it once was. He said: "It sells most of its bricks in kit form in big and expensive boxes with intricate instructions on how to build a lot remarkable things like space rockets or sunken ships. "Where once Lego offered a whimsical form of escapism into the world of the subconscious, encouraging creativity and imagination, it's transformed into a rigid 'box ticking' discipline where children are encouraged to build by conformity. "One misaligned or one tiny lost component can spell disaster. I've watched my son fall apart because it didn’t work.' I can’t do it daddy,’ he wails. ‘It doesn’t look like the picture in the box." Zeeslag and aidenpons 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Alcom Isst Posted May 5, 2016 Share Posted May 5, 2016 LEGO has been about kit-based-building for almost its entire life, and free-build pile-o-brick sets are still available. I do not feel that there is an issue with LEGO there. I do wonder however how the increasing complexity and increasing specific role of parts has influenced the ability for children to build with their LEGO collection. Dare I suspect that building and creating has become more difficult and more frustrating for kids, with the wacky technic and SNOT techniques that LEGO has been implementing in all of its sets, with the insane array of unique bricks that are now available? Mr. Ash and Brigs 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Arthuriel Posted May 5, 2016 Share Posted May 5, 2016 About the question, if specialized pieces are useless you can find counter examples like this one: http://thebrickblogger.com/2016/01/using-large-specialized-lego-elements/ I am not exactly sure though, how good of an counter example it is, because you apparently still need to be a good LEGO builder and even then you can discuss, if you like MOCs based on those pieces. Personally I take whatever brick I deem useful to make a MOC, which means, that I use a range of bricks (basic - obscure) from sets, that I bought previously or already had for while (years - decades). AdditionaI stuff: I remember a blog (I found it via brickset), that dealt with the question, if there are more specialized pieces nowadays*. I don't know, how well it answers the question (and as usual the comments can provide additional help), but it shows early 2000s sets, that only consisted out of a few specialized pieces, which means, that there were really good examples for the oddly-specific-brick-plague in the past: http://bigsalsbrickblog.blogspot.de/2014/08/it-was-all-basic-bricks-in-my-day-part.htmlhttp://bigsalsbrickblog.blogspot.de/2014/08/it-was-all-basic-bricks-in-my-day-part_20.html *I also recall blogs, threads etc., that dealt with "Did lego bricks become more expensive?" and the conclusion, that the brick price stayed relatively constant. To make things more complicated: in those discussions also came up the question, how much the weight per brick ratio may have changed (a.k.a. "today you just have a ton of tiny pieces"). Brigs 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MasterAS Posted May 5, 2016 Share Posted May 5, 2016 Hasn't Lego almost always been about model kit-based building? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ostoya Posted May 5, 2016 Share Posted May 5, 2016 This whole "Lego isn't about creative building anymore!" is a rather tired bandwagon. No one is forcing you to build anything you don't want to. Besides, oldschool sets still involved following, y'know, instructions if you wanted to build whatever's in them. aidenpons 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Starrocks923 Posted May 5, 2016 Share Posted May 5, 2016 "I'm gonna just take the really easy one so-look, I build Lightsaber and I put the hat on the little guy, I'm done! You do the rest." Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mr. Ash Posted May 5, 2016 Share Posted May 5, 2016 What happened to LEGO? I think they put too much emphasis on set detail, abandoned their classic style, and sold out to nearly every franchise they could. I will say though that their kit-based system is nothing new; sets have always been the primary focus along with brick buckets. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TheDiplomat Posted May 5, 2016 Share Posted May 5, 2016 It's funny that, for an article about creativity, it sure feels like an argument I've seen over and over and over again... Did anyone get the memo that a hundred "LEGO isn't creative anymore" articles have already been written? How are there still so many new ones? 5 hours ago, Alcom Isst said: I do wonder however how the increasing complexity and increasing specific role of parts has influenced the ability for children to build with their LEGO collection. Dare I suspect that building and creating has become more difficult and more frustrating for kids, with the wacky technic and SNOT techniques that LEGO has been implementing in all of its sets, with the insane array of unique bricks that are now available? I know things have changed since I was a kid, but from personal experience, what probably happens is that those bricks just get left to the side or just don't get used to their "full potential" until the kids age. Like, for example, TECHNIC bricks are only used for wheel axles, the SNOT bricks tend to gravitate towards the top of the model for some inexperienced greebling, rubber bands go unused, etc. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lol username Posted May 5, 2016 Author Share Posted May 5, 2016 lol I'd forgotten I'd even posted this last night. Anyway I don't care enough about the subject to discuss it myself, just felt like tossing some conversation material out there. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mariner Posted May 5, 2016 Share Posted May 5, 2016 (edited) I'm more concerned with the shift in quality control and brick tolerances, to be honest. I got one of the Lego Creator big box sets at a firesale discount at Walmart, and while the plastic feel kinda put me off at first, what struck me was that no matter what combination of bricks I used, the walls I could make were never "water tight". There were always tiny gaps between rows of bricks, and I could have sworn that that didn't happen with my sets from the '90s. I used to make Lego cups and drink water out of them when I was really young, so you'd think if that weren't true, I couldn't have done that, right? Am I entirely off base or is this true? Edited May 5, 2016 by Mariner forgot something Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dazzgracefulmoon Posted May 5, 2016 Share Posted May 5, 2016 my guess is that because back in the 90's there were less different sets being manufactured and the cost for the high quality ABS plastic didn't hurt so much, but with the big amount of sets being manufactured, maybe that's why? I might just be talking out of my butt, though. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ayliffe Posted May 5, 2016 Share Posted May 5, 2016 MEANWHILE IN 2012: http://prexamples.com/2012/04/lego-choose-fogle-as-first-ever-brand-ambassador/ "Lego choose Fogle as first ever brand ambassador" "brand ambassador" im dying Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mariner Posted May 5, 2016 Share Posted May 5, 2016 16 minutes ago, Dazzgracefulmoon said: my guess is that because back in the 90's there were less different sets being manufactured and the cost for the high quality ABS plastic didn't hurt so much, but with the big amount of sets being manufactured, maybe that's why? I might just be talking out of my butt, though. I'm not so much worried about the plastic being lower grade as much as I baffled that the tolerances are so different for one specific dimension for the standard bricks (I haven't thought to look at the plates, come to think of it, but I do remember those have a gap that you could barely shine light through.) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
aidenpons Posted May 6, 2016 Share Posted May 6, 2016 *Shrugs* As some of you have said: if you don't want it, don't get it. I recall getting Indiana Jones and the Temple of the Crystal Skull for half price, because the minifigures had been taken out. I built that, wasn't very impressed with it, promptly took it apart, and the bricks have gone all over the place. I know the baseplate is currently serving for Helm's Deep. I have often enjoyed obtaining small sets and attempting to build them without the instructions, just using the box image. Big sets it doesn't work so well, but smaller sets it's quite fun. On the big brick box - Do those boxes contain SNOTs and hinges? Many of Lego's models incorporate those, yet I don't know about them in the big brick box... As far as watertight cups are concerned.... It could maybe be a plastic difference, or maybe you're just not pressing the bricks firmly enough. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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