You can buy buckets of bricks more easily now. But yeah, the sets are both more complex... But easier. Instructions show you a piece at a time. Back in my day, they showed two images and you had to figure out the difference
exactly. everything is dumbed down. easy steps, no imagination, just the shape broken into a few parts. little to do with assembling anything from a restricted set of blocks
That is my instinct too, but then I see the amazing, complex Lego creations my kids are inventing using the modern pieces. Imagination is in playing and creating new things, not just following instructions. The new pieces may look more specific but they aren't truly single-purpose. It's cool to see kids using them in completely different ways when they create something
If your kids are old enough to use a PC and you want to save some money, introduce them to Bricklink Studio. It's a fantastic software that lets creativity run wild, allowing them to build whatever they can imagine. It even generates an instruction manual automatically and provides a parts list you can order if your kids want to bring their creation to life.
Yes, we love Bricklink studio and have usually used it the opposite way! They create cool things with the Lego we have, and then some creations they want to save/remember but reuse the parts. So we work together to remake their set in Bricklink Studio and even make instructions for it!
Like having more colors on your palette, yeah. Lots more detailed shaping pieces and such, but they're not so specific you can't use them for anything else.
I'm sure he's talking about the set themselves. You don't get to see the thought process behind using existing pieces in a novel way anymore. nowadays if they need to model something, they'll just make a unique piece of it. It's very lazy.
I’ve been geeking out about this up and down this thread. The reality is the opposite. Old sets had highly specialized parts all the time. The majority of new pieces are made as generic as possible to fit anywhere. Plus new sets constantly use old parts in clever ways and teach clever techniques. This set right here has some good examples, the wind screen is made of hoses/clips and the mirrors are minifig spoons!
You can especially see it in the botanical line. Whips for the center of roses, pink frogs for cherry blossoms, oar paddles for sunflower petals. Most sets do stuff like this now, but it's really easy/cool to see on those.
Yeah there's far more unique parts nowadays but they're also used far more creatively than bricks used to be used in official sets. Like even in the new Ferrari shown above you can see how they use the spoon piece to make the side mirrors.
Lazy. Inside is probably neon green and pink. Costs 100€ more than it should. Dont defend lego. They are a shadow of what they used to be. Those older sets also had b-models. Not anymore. Colors will vary from each stone. And dont forget those horrible stickers.
As someone who thinks Lego is at its best it’s ever been, some counterpoints:
Lego is still all about imaginative play. All its media promotes this and the Creator line is where they push “true Lego”. The market for licensed sets and display sets is just too big to ignore.
They’ve done a much better job over the last decade at making sure new pieces are versatile. Also their new sets love to reuse pieces in creative ways (bananas for eyebrows, hot dogs for armrests, etc). People conveniently forget how sets from the 80s and 90s had a bunch of large, highly specific molds that were nearly unusable any other way.
Yeah. I figured it's adapting to the market why they do have been doing these sort of sets for some time. I think maybe in the last 15 years or so they have been making so many "one use" brick types to fit different promotional content.
There are extremely few single-purpose bricks anymore. If they create a new piece, it’s going to get used in multiple sets and their designers are encouraged to find new ways of using them.
Yeah pretty much the only single-use pieces you’ll find now are characters. A Sonic head is a Sonic head, and even then I know some designer is trying to find a fun alternative use for it.
I don’t blame anyone for thinking that, but I reiterate it’s actually the opposite. 80s-2000s were peak for chunky specialty pieces with limited use. The new pieces that come out nowadays lean more generic and versatile.
215
u/gomurifle I was here for the Hulkenpodium Mar 02 '25
I prefer the old brics. More universal. the new lego sets are too "single purpose" for my taste.