3 ms·

Genuinely curious: Has anyone here personally experienced a <20 year old doing real engineering with the modern "studless" technical Legos? You can find truly

Genuinely curious: Has anyone here personally experienced a <20 year old doing real engineering with the modern "studless" technical Legos? You can find truly awesome contraptions on Youtube, sure. But has anyone seen it first hand? The old "build from the bottom" Lego Technic was just so inviting for technical tinkering. We built all kinds of machinery out of them. Not kids any more on this occasion; we dug out the Legos from the late 1970s to play with them just for fun once we were grown up. But representative. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Mw3dUbRfMSw https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Mw3dUbRfMSw The "What it is, is beautiful" aesthetic. Who cares what colour a piece is; it's the shape that matters. In this respect, Lego has changed. Sure you can still get buckets of basic parts to build with, but the Technic sets of easy-to-engineer-with parts, with lots of the studded beams and the ever so handy 40 tooth gears have gone away.

deleted 5y ago
[deleted]
oaiey 5y ago
LEGO Technic is different. I was a vivid user as child and now as adult I rediscovered it. It is indeed more challenging to build inside out (what you need with the new beams/pins) than bottom up (old stackable & studded beams). I however, would not agree with your statement that this block kids. I think nowadays tinkering is possible with so many more things than when I have been small. I had LEGO and alternatively real tools with wood. Nowadays, you have that and also things like Minecraft, Gravitrax, City Skylines, .. Also LEGO Technic is too expensive. I luckily bought the 42082 giving me 4000pc for 160€ ... but usually that many pieces would go for 400€. And what I have is a bare minimum to build something meaningful like a robot arm, plotting thingy, some cars, etc. The modern Technic motors/battery hubs are also extremely expensive (ignoring the other flaws). I think the kids have so many choices that they do not pick up LEGO Technic for the price.
orthoxerox 5y ago
I remember my old studded Technic sets fondly. Back then you could at least see what you were building a few steps in. I bought and built a Jeep Wrangler set a couple of months ago, and I have no idea if I will ever be able to come up with an original Technic design myself using modern studless beams. I had no idea what I was building at least halfway into the instruction booklet.
crooked-v 5y ago
Technic hasn't gone away at all. They've got everything ranging from the old-fashioned air hydraulics (https://www.lego.com/en-us/product/heavy-duty-tow-truck-42128 https://www.lego.com/en-us/product/heavy-duty-tow-truck-4212..., notice all the gearing designed into the tow assembly so it can be genuinely load-bearing) all the way up to RC vehicles that are entirely brick-built outside of the motor (https://www.lego.com/en-us/product/app-controlled-cat-d11-bulldozer-42131 https://www.lego.com/en-us/product/app-controlled-cat-d11-bu...).

deleted 5y ago

[deleted]

oaiey 5y ago

LEGO Technic is different. I was a vivid user as child and now as adult I rediscovered it. It is indeed more challenging to build inside out (what you need with the new beams/pins) than bottom up (old stackable & studded beams). I however, would not agree with your statement that this block kids. I think nowadays tinkering is possible with so many more things than when I have been small. I had LEGO and alternatively real tools with wood. Nowadays, you have that and also things like Minecraft, Gravitrax, City Skylines, .. Also LEGO Technic is too expensive. I luckily bought the 42082 giving me 4000pc for 160€ ... but usually that many pieces would go for 400€. And what I have is a bare minimum to build something meaningful like a robot arm, plotting thingy, some cars, etc. The modern Technic motors/battery hubs are also extremely expensive (ignoring the other flaws). I think the kids have so many choices that they do not pick up LEGO Technic for the price.

orthoxerox 5y ago

I remember my old studded Technic sets fondly. Back then you could at least see what you were building a few steps in. I bought and built a Jeep Wrangler set a couple of months ago, and I have no idea if I will ever be able to come up with an original Technic design myself using modern studless beams. I had no idea what I was building at least halfway into the instruction booklet.

crooked-v 5y ago

Technic hasn't gone away at all. They've got everything ranging from the old-fashioned air hydraulics (https://www.lego.com/en-us/product/heavy-duty-tow-truck-42128 https://www.lego.com/en-us/product/heavy-duty-tow-truck-4212..., notice all the gearing designed into the tow assembly so it can be genuinely load-bearing) all the way up to RC vehicles that are entirely brick-built outside of the motor (https://www.lego.com/en-us/product/app-controlled-cat-d11-bulldozer-42131 https://www.lego.com/en-us/product/app-controlled-cat-d11-bu...).