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My uncle bought me a set of limited edition gears for Christmas when I was seven or eight ... both my uncle and my father are engineers and it was several days

by smoyer 7y ago

My uncle bought me a set of limited edition gears for Christmas when I was seven or eight ... both my uncle and my father are engineers and it was several days before I got to touch my new toys. This article debunks the idea that the per-piece price has changed but one of the things I noticed when my kids were little was that so many of the kits came with special-purpose parts. I don't remember any kits like that when I was young - you either got more pieces or less pieces in a kit. Even my gears were simply "available" to build into whatever my imagination came up with.

SirSavary 7y ago
I fondly remember receiving a bin of Lego roughly the size of a small microwave every Christmas during my early years. Inside was a green baseplate, a couple thousand assorted pieces, and a booklet with pictures for inspiration. Years later, I searched everywhere for a "Lego set" similar to these bins but couldn't find anything. Modern Lego feels a lot less like a brick building toy and more like a fancier version of what you'd find inside a Kinder Egg.
- mcphage 7y ago
  I’m not sure where you looked, but walk down the Lego aisle at Target and you’ll find tons of them: https://www.lego.com/en-us/themes/classic https://www.lego.com/en-us/themes/classic
  - SirSavary 7y ago
    Canada, walking the aisles of Toys R Us. Thank you very much for the link, this is exactly what I've been looking for. Seeing the kits actually brought a smile to my face :)
- goto11 7y ago
  Look for the "Lego Classics" line.
  - 52-6F-62 7y ago
    Yep second. The Creator line is also good but centered around models but the kits are designed to build usually 3 different models out of the same kit. I bought a set of classic bricks too just to have around for the odd idle day.
mcphage 7y ago
Sets with common, generic pieces are still available. But also, don’t be to quick to decry pieces as special purpose, Lego is good at clever reuse.
- bathtub365 7y ago
  Making too many special-purpose parts around the late 90’s/early 2000’s is part of what almost drove them to bankruptcy. Making new LEGO moulds is incredibly expensive (plus the added logistics of producing and storing new pieces) and if they can’t reuse a piece it’s a sign of a bad design from a financial perspective.
- DanBC 7y ago
  And children are creative, they'll quickly find ways to use special purpose parts in interesting ways.
  - mcphage 7y ago
    Yeah, exactly.
tasogare 7y ago
> I noticed when my kids were little was that so many of the kits came with special-purpose parts I noticed that and I hate that change. Before a plane set was a plane, made of a lot of small parts [1]. Now, there is one or two giant hull piece that makes of the plane, with few traditional parts here and there [2]. This totally breaks the modularity of a set. [1] https://images-na.ssl-images-amazon.com/images/I/51TtoiWamRL._AC_SX425_.jpg https://images-na.ssl-images-amazon.com/images/I/51TtoiWamRL... [2] https://shop.r10s.jp/shop-angelica/cabinet/imgdir/12/7557.jpg https://shop.r10s.jp/shop-angelica/cabinet/imgdir/12/7557.jp...
- ryanbrunner 7y ago
  There definitely was a period where there were a LOT of custom pieces, but in more recent sets they seem to be moving away from that. Things are still significantly more complicated than a set full of 4x2 and 2x2 bricks, but there's very few pieces besides maybe some minifig accessories that are genuinely unique to one or even a few sets.
- gitgud 7y ago
  > Now, there is one or two giant hull piece that makes of the plane... Making cheap custom parts like that is a feat of engineering. But has a negative effect on the imagination of the users of Lego...
- darkerside 7y ago
  As the father of a Legophile, I can tell you that set is the exception, not the rule
- Nition 7y ago
  The second one there isn't as bad as it looks in the photo. The main hull is made up of many separate pieces, as is visible in the instructions.[1] [1] https://www.lego.com/biassets/bi/4493625.pdf https://www.lego.com/biassets/bi/4493625.pdf
- bouke 7y ago
  Your “old”[0] set was actually introduced 4 years _after_ the “new” set[1]. Also, the “old” set has quite a few less parts: 297 vs 384. And the “new” plane is about 20% longer. And looking at the instructions, the hull is rather similar to build. [0]: https://www.bricklink.com/v2/catalog/catalogitem.page?id=90909 https://www.bricklink.com/v2/catalog/catalogitem.page?id=909... [1]: https://www.bricklink.com/v2/catalog/catalogitem.page?id=58734 https://www.bricklink.com/v2/catalog/catalogitem.page?id=587...
organsnyder 7y ago
I've noticed that kits for younger children have more special-purpose parts—I'm assuming to make the builds simpler by having fewer, larger parts. The "older" the kits get, the less specialized the pieces become.
- karatestomp 7y ago
  Modern kits have an absolute shitload of tiny parts, too. IMO that’s worse since at least the special parts can usually be repurposed. My kids kits have way more parts but are like half the size of my old ones. So, so many short 1x and 2x pieces. We’re drowning in those. [edit] oh and smooth, nubless pieces, too. Also often small. They love to cover everything in those now. You look at a modern set and a similar one from 20+ years ago and the newer one looks much nicer, in large part because it’s clad in tiny little smooth bricks, while the old one had exposed nubs everywhere. One looks nicer on a shelf, one’s nicer for modding and play.

by smoyer 7y ago

SirSavary 7y ago

I fondly remember receiving a bin of Lego roughly the size of a small microwave every Christmas during my early years. Inside was a green baseplate, a couple thousand assorted pieces, and a booklet with pictures for inspiration. Years later, I searched everywhere for a "Lego set" similar to these bins but couldn't find anything. Modern Lego feels a lot less like a brick building toy and more like a fancier version of what you'd find inside a Kinder Egg.

mcphage 7y ago
I’m not sure where you looked, but walk down the Lego aisle at Target and you’ll find tons of them: https://www.lego.com/en-us/themes/classic https://www.lego.com/en-us/themes/classic
- SirSavary 7y ago
  Canada, walking the aisles of Toys R Us. Thank you very much for the link, this is exactly what I've been looking for. Seeing the kits actually brought a smile to my face :)
goto11 7y ago
Look for the "Lego Classics" line.
- 52-6F-62 7y ago
  Yep second. The Creator line is also good but centered around models but the kits are designed to build usually 3 different models out of the same kit. I bought a set of classic bricks too just to have around for the odd idle day.

mcphage 7y ago

Sets with common, generic pieces are still available. But also, don’t be to quick to decry pieces as special purpose, Lego is good at clever reuse.

bathtub365 7y ago
Making too many special-purpose parts around the late 90’s/early 2000’s is part of what almost drove them to bankruptcy. Making new LEGO moulds is incredibly expensive (plus the added logistics of producing and storing new pieces) and if they can’t reuse a piece it’s a sign of a bad design from a financial perspective.
DanBC 7y ago
And children are creative, they'll quickly find ways to use special purpose parts in interesting ways.
- mcphage 7y ago
  Yeah, exactly.

tasogare 7y ago

> I noticed when my kids were little was that so many of the kits came with special-purpose parts I noticed that and I hate that change. Before a plane set was a plane, made of a lot of small parts [1]. Now, there is one or two giant hull piece that makes of the plane, with few traditional parts here and there [2]. This totally breaks the modularity of a set. [1] https://images-na.ssl-images-amazon.com/images/I/51TtoiWamRL._AC_SX425_.jpg https://images-na.ssl-images-amazon.com/images/I/51TtoiWamRL... [2] https://shop.r10s.jp/shop-angelica/cabinet/imgdir/12/7557.jpg https://shop.r10s.jp/shop-angelica/cabinet/imgdir/12/7557.jp...

ryanbrunner 7y ago
There definitely was a period where there were a LOT of custom pieces, but in more recent sets they seem to be moving away from that. Things are still significantly more complicated than a set full of 4x2 and 2x2 bricks, but there's very few pieces besides maybe some minifig accessories that are genuinely unique to one or even a few sets.
gitgud 7y ago
> Now, there is one or two giant hull piece that makes of the plane... Making cheap custom parts like that is a feat of engineering. But has a negative effect on the imagination of the users of Lego...
darkerside 7y ago
As the father of a Legophile, I can tell you that set is the exception, not the rule
Nition 7y ago
The second one there isn't as bad as it looks in the photo. The main hull is made up of many separate pieces, as is visible in the instructions.[1] [1] https://www.lego.com/biassets/bi/4493625.pdf https://www.lego.com/biassets/bi/4493625.pdf
bouke 7y ago
Your “old”[0] set was actually introduced 4 years _after_ the “new” set[1]. Also, the “old” set has quite a few less parts: 297 vs 384. And the “new” plane is about 20% longer. And looking at the instructions, the hull is rather similar to build. [0]: https://www.bricklink.com/v2/catalog/catalogitem.page?id=90909 https://www.bricklink.com/v2/catalog/catalogitem.page?id=909... [1]: https://www.bricklink.com/v2/catalog/catalogitem.page?id=58734 https://www.bricklink.com/v2/catalog/catalogitem.page?id=587...

organsnyder 7y ago

I've noticed that kits for younger children have more special-purpose parts—I'm assuming to make the builds simpler by having fewer, larger parts. The "older" the kits get, the less specialized the pieces become.

karatestomp 7y ago
Modern kits have an absolute shitload of tiny parts, too. IMO that’s worse since at least the special parts can usually be repurposed. My kids kits have way more parts but are like half the size of my old ones. So, so many short 1x and 2x pieces. We’re drowning in those. [edit] oh and smooth, nubless pieces, too. Also often small. They love to cover everything in those now. You look at a modern set and a similar one from 20+ years ago and the newer one looks much nicer, in large part because it’s clad in tiny little smooth bricks, while the old one had exposed nubs everywhere. One looks nicer on a shelf, one’s nicer for modding and play.