There were overspecialized parts early on. I have a forklift part from the early 80's that can only act as a forklift (it has a spring). I also have some boat

There were overspecialized parts early on. I have a forklift part from the early 80's that can only act as a forklift (it has a spring). I also have some boat parts from that era that really float. I got a train set around 1984 that included train tracks, carriage cars and bases that can't easily be used to make anything other than a train set. Things got really bad in the late 90's and early 2000's before Lego turned it around. My wife got our kids a Lego airplane set with parts that can pretty much only be used to build an airplane fuselage, wings and landing gear. Very sad. Since then, Lego has drastically cut down on the number of parts they make. There are still specialized parts. Minifigs and car wheels pretty much need to be specialized, and there are a few large parts that obviously exist only to create a larger toy at a cheaper cost. But things are much better than they were 15 years ago. Most sets now consist of mostly generic parts with just a few specialized pieces thrown in.