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> and the designs are much more realistic than they were when I was growing up That's one thing I don't much care for in the modern sets. Sure the results loo

> and the designs are much more realistic than they were when I was growing up That's one thing I don't much care for in the modern sets. Sure the results look more realistic, but it means that half the pieces are now custom made for the particular set, and often have very little use in a general context. It seems that they've moved from a general building system to more of a per set focused approach.

majormajor 5y ago
When I was a kid I loved specialized pieces and often re-used them to add flair or distinct touches to my own creation. Having alternatives to rectangles is great! I don't see what all the fuss is about, it doesn't seem either/or to me. The days of off the shelf models having enough general purpose 2x4 or whatever bricks to build totally arbitrary large structures have been gone for at least 30 years, but nothing really seems to be stopping mixing and matching and getting basic blocks for the backbone of a collection. They've just added the existence of $TEXAS display pieces with unique stuff. I even accidentally got some pieces stuck together in ways that required screwdrivers or pliers to get them out. No big deal!
- kevstev 5y ago
  I am not too familiar with the current day sets, but around the early 2000s they started pushing the branded movie tie in sets really hard and I do remember seeing sets where a "piece" was essentially half a tie fighter wing and had no real reasonable reusability. I have heard they have pulled back on this almost entirely. I would agree though that some specialized pieces are fine. My memories from the early 90s were probably the best balance from my time using Legos. By the mid-late 90s the castle and pirate sets did start moving into imho overly specialized pieces which then lead to the 2000s nadir.
  - Sosh101 5y ago
    Yeah, I suppose the lego "tree" (spruce?) is a great example of a very specialised piece that's fondly remembered.
jkepler 5y ago
I agree. My son is just getting into Lego, and I find I'm avoiding most of the newer sets in favor of decent-condition used vintage sets, simply because what he enjoys is having enough general pieces to create and imagine new things.
lilyball 5y ago
Are you sure they're custom made? My impression was that LEGO rarely does custom pieces (beyond things like printing known character faces or logos onto existing pieces). It's just that they've been making these sets for so long that they have a large catalogue of rare pieces to draw from.
breuleux 5y ago
I've bought a bunch of LEGO during the pandemic and I very rarely see pieces that are only present in one set (and when I do they are mostly printed pieces, or standard shapes with unusual colors). I think that what makes the models more "realistic" aren't custom pieces, it's smaller pieces. A lot of models have a lot of 1x1 square, circle or quarter-circle tiles, or small slanted pieces, which allows for finer details. At the same time, these pieces are often smooth on top, so they are less composable than studded ones and harder to manipulate, especially for children, so I can see how this could be a problem. There are also a lot more colors and shades than there used to be, so it is a little harder to make substantial custom constructions that don't look like rainbows.
ttmb 5y ago
> it means that half the pieces are now custom made for the particular set I do not believe this is true. There are Lego enthusiasts that thoroughly review every new set and are careful to point out the introduction of new pieces and new building techniques. The number of new pieces per set is very low, and even then the pieces are typically well received for the number of new build techniques they may open up.
Negitivefrags 5y ago
It's a shame that this is still the perception because this actually was a real issue for a while in the early 2000s. Back then lego was losing money and was not as successful as it had been in the past. Then lego seriously addressed this problem and since then have made a large effort to avoid having unique parts in sets. And they were incentivised to do so, because the more unique parts you have, the more money it is going to cost you. Reusing parts is just simply a lot cheaper. Now there still often are unique parts in a lot of sets, but they are usually unique only in colour or printing. For example, the current set with the record for the number of unique parts is the Diagon Alley set. Here is the list of unique parts in the set: https://brickset.com/inventories/75978-1/unique https://brickset.com/inventories/75978-1/unique The thing you will note is that even though there are a lot of parts that only appear in this set, I wouldn't say that these parts are not useful generally. They are mostly just bits of custom lego characters, which you would happily use in any context, or a custom colour for a generally applicable part.
- Sosh101 5y ago
  Well for example, my son got this for a present a while back: https://www.lego.com/en-us/product/catamaran-42105 https://www.lego.com/en-us/product/catamaran-42105 And just looking at others on the site: https://www.lego.com/en-us/product/lamborghini-sian-fkp-37-42115 https://www.lego.com/en-us/product/lamborghini-sian-fkp-37-4... https://www.lego.com/en-us/product/ford-mustang-shelby-gt500-42138 https://www.lego.com/en-us/product/ford-mustang-shelby-gt500... https://www.lego.com/en-us/product/monster-jam-megalodon-42134 https://www.lego.com/en-us/product/monster-jam-megalodon-421...

majormajor 5y ago

When I was a kid I loved specialized pieces and often re-used them to add flair or distinct touches to my own creation. Having alternatives to rectangles is great! I don't see what all the fuss is about, it doesn't seem either/or to me. The days of off the shelf models having enough general purpose 2x4 or whatever bricks to build totally arbitrary large structures have been gone for at least 30 years, but nothing really seems to be stopping mixing and matching and getting basic blocks for the backbone of a collection. They've just added the existence of $TEXAS display pieces with unique stuff. I even accidentally got some pieces stuck together in ways that required screwdrivers or pliers to get them out. No big deal!

kevstev 5y ago
I am not too familiar with the current day sets, but around the early 2000s they started pushing the branded movie tie in sets really hard and I do remember seeing sets where a "piece" was essentially half a tie fighter wing and had no real reasonable reusability. I have heard they have pulled back on this almost entirely. I would agree though that some specialized pieces are fine. My memories from the early 90s were probably the best balance from my time using Legos. By the mid-late 90s the castle and pirate sets did start moving into imho overly specialized pieces which then lead to the 2000s nadir.
- Sosh101 5y ago
  Yeah, I suppose the lego "tree" (spruce?) is a great example of a very specialised piece that's fondly remembered.

jkepler 5y ago

I agree. My son is just getting into Lego, and I find I'm avoiding most of the newer sets in favor of decent-condition used vintage sets, simply because what he enjoys is having enough general pieces to create and imagine new things.

lilyball 5y ago

Are you sure they're custom made? My impression was that LEGO rarely does custom pieces (beyond things like printing known character faces or logos onto existing pieces). It's just that they've been making these sets for so long that they have a large catalogue of rare pieces to draw from.

breuleux 5y ago

I've bought a bunch of LEGO during the pandemic and I very rarely see pieces that are only present in one set (and when I do they are mostly printed pieces, or standard shapes with unusual colors). I think that what makes the models more "realistic" aren't custom pieces, it's smaller pieces. A lot of models have a lot of 1x1 square, circle or quarter-circle tiles, or small slanted pieces, which allows for finer details. At the same time, these pieces are often smooth on top, so they are less composable than studded ones and harder to manipulate, especially for children, so I can see how this could be a problem. There are also a lot more colors and shades than there used to be, so it is a little harder to make substantial custom constructions that don't look like rainbows.

ttmb 5y ago

> it means that half the pieces are now custom made for the particular set I do not believe this is true. There are Lego enthusiasts that thoroughly review every new set and are careful to point out the introduction of new pieces and new building techniques. The number of new pieces per set is very low, and even then the pieces are typically well received for the number of new build techniques they may open up.

Negitivefrags 5y ago

It's a shame that this is still the perception because this actually was a real issue for a while in the early 2000s. Back then lego was losing money and was not as successful as it had been in the past. Then lego seriously addressed this problem and since then have made a large effort to avoid having unique parts in sets. And they were incentivised to do so, because the more unique parts you have, the more money it is going to cost you. Reusing parts is just simply a lot cheaper. Now there still often are unique parts in a lot of sets, but they are usually unique only in colour or printing. For example, the current set with the record for the number of unique parts is the Diagon Alley set. Here is the list of unique parts in the set: https://brickset.com/inventories/75978-1/unique https://brickset.com/inventories/75978-1/unique The thing you will note is that even though there are a lot of parts that only appear in this set, I wouldn't say that these parts are not useful generally. They are mostly just bits of custom lego characters, which you would happily use in any context, or a custom colour for a generally applicable part.

Sosh101 5y ago
Well for example, my son got this for a present a while back: https://www.lego.com/en-us/product/catamaran-42105 https://www.lego.com/en-us/product/catamaran-42105 And just looking at others on the site: https://www.lego.com/en-us/product/lamborghini-sian-fkp-37-42115 https://www.lego.com/en-us/product/lamborghini-sian-fkp-37-4... https://www.lego.com/en-us/product/ford-mustang-shelby-gt500-42138 https://www.lego.com/en-us/product/ford-mustang-shelby-gt500... https://www.lego.com/en-us/product/monster-jam-megalodon-42134 https://www.lego.com/en-us/product/monster-jam-megalodon-421...