Lego Thread - Because KF wasn't already autistic enough.

[The Lawgiver]

The battle packs and Microfighters are basically those. Battle packs are ludicrously expensive; it's $25 for 4 minifigures and a piece of rock nowadays -- why get that when you could get the Dreamzzz jet which has a great build and better minifigures? And because they have QR codes for the blind packs, the regular minifigures series are another equivalent to that.

microfighters are also like 10-15 dollars. Stupid how expensive everything is these days.

 

[Purple Francis]

I guess CMFs have taken that market spot. They're ultra cheap, but no small build any more... But the figures are significantly better and have a lot unique moulds and prints.

 

[Petula Valvenol]

Kinda revisionist, star wars wasn't the only thing that saved lego

Star Wars wasn't the only thing, but the licensed sets were a major factor. In the first half of the 2000's Lego was $800M in debt. The company only managed to turn things around by discontinuing unpopular themes, selling their Legoland parks, and moving most of their manufacturing to Czech Republic and Mexico. Star Wars and Harry Potter were among the top sellers in those years and allowed the company to power through. Since 2005 Lego has never run at a loss again.

the "geek displayables"

First it was the death of alternate models, then it was the death of playability. Lego has moved a great deal away from the "play well" slogan the company was built on. The worst offenders against the idea of Lego as a functional toy are the adult-oriented themes, for example the Marvel displays (headgear, busts, gloves) and mosaics, which have basically zero function to them. Lego has moved significantly towards selling DIY sculptures. But it would be financially irresponsible for the company to ignore the market for manchild shelf dust collectors. It's good news for AFOLs because if business is good, there will be more epic dioramas like the Rivendell, niche themes like Trains, and programs for AFOLs, without further hikes of already unreasonable prices.

 

[crowabunga]

Lego has moved significantly towards selling DIY sculptures.

This is why I moved to model kits after getting the urge to return to a hands-on manchild time-waster. If what I'm making is going to be fragile and unplayable and expensive, then it might as well have consistent scaling, more assembly challenge, and incredible detail.

Lego was peak when it was rugged, quirky and full of action features: 90s-2000s vehicle technic, original themes like Rock Raiders and Life on Mars and Competition and Alpha Team and Explorers, early BIONICLE, motorized Creator kits, it was magical how much personality and distinction Lego designers put into kits & themes with less greebling and fragility than today's, which either adhere uncannily to source material or else have that distinctly un-whimsical "city subtheme" look.

I suppose kids who have a disposition similar to my own childhood preferences still have Ninjago and also got Dreamz for a bit, but at this point that's a relic of an old Lego philosophy and furthermore Ninjago is limited by its halfhearted commitment to an "eastern" aesthetic.

 

[harakirikun]

I recently got a Craggor's command ship set mailed to me by my parents for some reason, and shit, I'm surprised they knew I had an autist obsession still. I built it a week back, and I'm happy I got a fragment of what I loved. Love my parents, even when I'm far from them.

 

[reptile baht spaniard rid]

Lego was peak when it was rugged, quirky and full of action features: 90s-2000s

You can almost guess someone's age by when they say Lego was peak. Lego always was peak at the age that you could look at and understand the catalog but couldn't afford to buy it all. I'm going that you were in late childhood/early teens in the time mentioned

Craggor's command ship

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YBLATUwdEPs holy shit that takes me back, boats that really float were always so amazing to me

I lusted after that damn engine they always talked about but could never find where the hell you got one.



REVEAL YOUR DAMN SECRETS

 

[Space Police]

I recently got a Craggor's command ship set mailed to me by my parents for some reason, and shit, I'm surprised they knew I had an autist obsession still. I built it a week back, and I'm happy I got a fragment of what I loved. Love my parents, even when I'm far from them.

Chima and Nexo Knights were kino and I'm still sad they didn't last longer.

This is why I moved to model kits after getting the urge to return to a hands-on manchild time-waster. If what I'm making is going to be fragile and unplayable and expensive, then it might as well have consistent scaling, more assembly challenge, and incredible detail.

Lego was peak when it was rugged, quirky and full of action features: 90s-2000s vehicle technic, original themes like Rock Raiders and Life on Mars and Competition and Alpha Team and Explorers, early BIONICLE, motorized Creator kits, it was magical how much personality and distinction Lego designers put into kits & themes with less greebling and fragility than today's, which either adhere uncannily to source material or else have that distinctly un-whimsical "city subtheme" look.

I still collect Lego (mostly Ninjago, City, Sonic, Jurassic World, Star Wars, and Dreamzzz) and I stick by it because you can do amazing things with MOCs. Seriously, the average spaceship MOC is way cooler than official designs I've seen in anime and video games. Modeling doesn't have the same level of customization, and in my experience the extra "challenge" is just cutting parts off sprues and unnecessary gluing/painting. There's also a very great design philosophy for original vehicles Lego has that's not present in other designs, and I'd hate to lose that.

 

[crowabunga]

You can almost guess someone's age by when they say Lego was peak. Lego always was peak at the age that you could look at and understand the catalog but couldn't afford to buy it all. I'm going that you were in late childhood/early teens in the time mentioned

Yes but also I'm right, any kid that thinks "peak Lego" is in any way correlated with Iron Man busts and other such AFOL masturbatory aids, and not with the play-feature laden, durable, colorful design philosophies now increasingly relegated to the past, is a little weirdo - or being raised by consoomer parents, so he's gonna be a weirdo by the time they're done with him.

To put it another way: I have zero fondness or nostalgia for those fuck-ugly Darth Maul and Yoda statues from the early 2000's, nor do I have nostalgia for that model of the Tantive IV that (I think?) debuted the dark red color but had no minifigures or play features or interior. More and more of LEGO is becoming like those, I thought it was shit back then, and I still think it is shit now.

 

[The Lawgiver]

Yoda statue

The OG yoda statue was great looking, I mean comparitively to the ones they've made in recent years for around ther same price or higher.



EDIT: Somehow never saw this/forgot i did but there was a pepsi promo yoda too.

 

[reptile baht spaniard rid]

More and more of LEGO is becoming like those, I thought it was shit back then, and I still think it is shit now.

I wonder how much of it is seeing the "adult LEGO" - which in 2000 was basically "expensive star wars shit and some trains" and now where it's huge sets and all over the place.

The basic bitch "kid LEGO" still has some good stuff, and some nice techniques. But they're not in the big sets, which used to have playability features (because they pretended they were for 16+ year old kids) and now they're just models made of bricks.

Technic was better before we got beams - fite me. Blocks with holes is technic. Beams is faggotry.

 

[harakirikun]

Chima and Nexo Knights were kino and I'm still sad they didn't last longer.

NEXO KNIGHTS MENTIONED! I wanted it to last as long as ninjago, but Chima was the only one I stood by during my early teens

 

[Lady Bizness]

So I bought a "Lego" set off of AliExpress at the request of a young person in my life because it's a model Lego doesn't even make...
LOL well... we made it, and it's okay. Looks just like the picture so I can't be mad. But what's making me laugh is the bizarre assortment of pieces. Most of them are obviously real Lego pieces. You know, they have that particular feeling when you put them together that MEGA blocks and cheap Chinese party favor sets don't have. But many are scuffed, discolored, and just obviously old. A couple of pieces had streaks of sharpie on them like the pieces had been used to make a tracing on paper. The real winners were the handful of 3D printed pieces that had been sanded and then painted with enamel paints. Then there's this weird custom piece that is obviously injection molded, poorly. Doesn't really matter because almost the whole thing is covered in stickers and the kid is just happy to have made something he can play with.
I'm just struck by what a weird niche this is. That's an awful lot of picking and sorting of random parts for such a cheap price.

 

[Purple Francis]

NEXO KNIGHTS MENTIONED! I wanted it to last as long as ninjago, but Chima was the only one I stood by during my early teens

LEGO has been cycling through new in house IPs for years to try and get a new big hit like Ninjago. Believe it or not but Ninjago was retired back in the day, but it got brought back by intense demand. I honestly thought Nexo Knights would have been it, it had a lot of what makes Ninjago a hit with kids (unique heroes to self insert with, rotating enemy factions, fantasy/sci setting allowing for broad set design) but kids just love their ninjas.

I know us boomers want a return to classic Castle, classic Space, Rock Raiders, Ice Planet, etc. but little Timmy wants to be a ninja god damn it.

 

[The Lawgiver]

I know us boomers want a return to classic Castle, classic Space, Rock Raiders, Ice Planet, etc. but little Timmy wants to be a ninja god damn it.

Ironically ninjago was kinda a semi-revival of the castle ninja sub theme which was also pretty popular from what I remember when it was a thing. Though it's like modern-y setting stuff.

 

[Yours Truly 2095]

 

[XYZpdq Jr.]

I mean, yeah at least it's not as and as what Netflix would have done, but I'm still not feeling this GuP live action

 

[reptile baht spaniard rid]

I'm just struck by what a weird niche this is. That's an awful lot of picking and sorting of random parts for such a cheap price.

I'm really surprised that there's not a ton more of that, frankly. Because with infinitely cheap labor, and the ability to buy bulk piles of used Lego, you could probably live like a King in Vietnam or something.

Maybe they mostly put together actual old sets and resell them as used.

 

[Petula Valvenol]

Big news for Lego trainfags otherwise known as L-gauge enthusiasts. A leaked upcoming City-themed set 60470 appears to feature two new track pieces: what looks like a rerailer, and another piece of unknown purpose, perhaps a derailer or a decoupler. This is a big deal because the last time Lego introduced a new track piece was in 2009 with the flex track. 3D printing and third-party custom track manufacturers have exploded in popularity in the meantime to provide track pieces that Lego doesn't make. It will be interesting to see what this set has to offer here. This is the kind of set that appreciates in value and gives near guaranteed part-out profit years down the line.

 

[Grundlejungle]

The new Sherlock Holmes said just got revealed, my only problem is with the minifigures.


Watson looks like he has a tanning addiction, and Irene Adler lol nigger.

 

[Space Police]

I thought this was going to be a collectible set, but it's a playset instead, which is nice!