Strongly stated, but I agree. When I first started buying Legos for my eldest a few years ago, I was initially turned off by all the special pieces they includ

Strongly stated, but I agree. When I first started buying Legos for my eldest a few years ago, I was initially turned off by all the special pieces they include in kits nowadays. I thought they'd be a deterrent to building his own creations. In practice, it hasn't been a problem at all. He's always excited to build the model on the box, but it's never together more than an hour or two before he's torn it down to create his own things. Which is awesome, since I think that's where most of the fun and a lot of the value of Legos comes from.