What's with Lego sets nowadays?

[Squishy Stelactite]

Here is something that's been crossing my mind lately--What ever happened to the good old days of lego, I mean back when we had Jhonny Thunder, or Alpha Team, or Rock Raiders? Oh yeah, that's right. They were replaced by horribly half-cooked remakes, like Pharaoh's Quest, Atlantis, and Power miners. And I really wish lego would stop using SO MANY SPECIALIZED PARTS! Practically every single piece in "The Thunder Driller" is useless! Come on! In Rock Raiders, there was little to no juniorization AT ALL. Same with Alpha team and JT.

There are also too many licensed themes now. The non licensed themes are godawful, just look at the new "Dino" line. Such putrid things have never met my eyes, until I saw this new line. The new Dinos are <insert that tiresome argument> along with pretty much every vehicle in the line. Remember Dino 2010? The Dinos were much cooler, and so were the vehicles. And why are the non-licensed themes so childish and cheesy? Look at Ninjago. C'mon! Really? 4 ninjas fighting a bunch of skeletons and snake people with trucks and ATVs? LAME. Gimme Classic Ninja any day. So much more realistic.

Also, it appears Lego has shifted their target audience. Before, Lego appealed to adults and teenagers, not five year olds and toddlers! Lego Used to be a toy about building. Now it's a toy with "some assembly required". WTF!?!?! Little kids, go back to playing with playmobil! Lego is for mature people!

Clearly Lego has also forgotten how to make a decent video game. Lego Harry Potter? Lego Star Wars? Lego Rockband? Pshhhh. How about Lego Island?, or Lego Racers? Not these crappy, repetitive excuses for games based off throwaway movies? Sheesh.

Excuse me if I sound like a old timer, but all I'm saying is that if Lego went back to their traditional roots, they would make more money, get more fans, and build an even larger community.

[Ash]

Also, it appears Lego has shifted their target audience. Before, Lego appealed to adults and teenagers, not five year olds and toddlers! Lego Used to be a toy about building. Now it's a toy with "some assembly required". WTF!?!?! Little kids, go back to playing with playmobil! Lego is for mature people!

I think you have this the wrong way round. Lego has been always been primarily marketed as a toy for children from around 5 to pre-teen/young teen. That is their core target audience. They're obviously aware they have other audiences and do things to cater for them, but to think that they. The explosion in interest amongst adults is a relatively new phenomenon and they're an audience they cater for differently. You're looking at lines intended to be toys for children as an adult and raging about the fact that they're not "mature" enough for you. You don't think that's kind of... odd?

I think the lines you cited as "the good old days" are a good example of that. I'm guessing I have a decade or two on you. To me "Jhonny Thunder, or Alpha Team, or Rock Raiders" (What, no TIme Cruisers? For shame) are far from the good old days. They're the kiddie Lego that makes me nostalgic for the glory days of classic space and the like. I mean Rock Raiders as a paragon of traditional Lego? Seriously? If you think Rock Raiders and Alpha Team are Lego's traditional roots I don't think you're as much an old timer as you think you are! You just have fond memories of the stuff you grew up with. We all do. My good old days predate your good old days and when my kid grows up he'll be complaining about why his good old days and why the new lines aren't nearly as good as Ninjago. I'd go so far as to say those lines in particular represent the early stages of the trend you're talking about here. Also... Rock Raider: Intended for 5-10 year olds. Not adults. Not teenagers.

Lego haven't shifted their target audience. You've just got older.

all I'm saying is that if Lego went back to their traditional roots, they would make more money, get more fans, and build an even larger community.

The changing fortunes of TLG over last 10-15 years or so would suggest otherwise. I think a strong argument argument could be made for the fact that it was divesifying in directions other than their traditional roots that saved Lego. Fortunately they've managed to do so while maintaining seperate lines (Creator etc) that hold close to their traditions.

Edited February 21, 2012 by Ash

[def]

Here is something that's been crossing my mind lately--What ever happened to the good old days of lego, I mean back when we had Jhonny Thunder, or Alpha Team, or Rock Raiders? Oh yeah, that's right. They were replaced by horribly half-cooked remakes, like Pharaoh's Quest, Atlantis, and Power miners. And I really wish lego would stop using SO MANY SPECIALIZED PARTS! Practically every single piece in "The Thunder Driller" is useless! Come on! In Rock Raiders, there was little to no juniorization AT ALL. Same with Alpha team and JT.

I'm going to go out on a limb and say that you were born in the early 90s. Maybe 1992?

Excuse me if I sound like a old timer, but all I'm saying is that if Lego went back to their traditional roots, they would make more money, get more fans, and build an even larger community.

LEGO has record profits and growth at the moment, so I think it would be hard to convince them to change course. If you were them, would you change?

<edit> it seems I just parroted a lot of what Ash above me wrote

[Siegfried]

In Rock Raiders, there was little to no juniorization AT ALL. Same with Alpha team and JT.

You're kidding? Please tell me you are.

Biggest set; 402 parts.

167 parts.

Including hard to use ones like;

On the other hand...

235 parts and a contra-rotating drill! Juniorisation? Perhaps these;

IMHO Power Miners was the far superior line.

[autobrick]

The non licensed themes are godawful, just look at the new "Dino" line. Such putrid things have never met my eyes, until I saw this new line. The new Dinos are &lt;insert that tiresome argument&gt; along with pretty much every vehicle in the line. Remember Dino 2010? The Dinos were much cooler, and so were the vehicles. And why are the non-licensed themes so childish and cheesy? Look at Ninjago. C'mon! Really? 4 ninjas fighting a bunch of skeletons and snake people with trucks and ATVs? LAME. Gimme Classic Ninja any day. So much more realistic.

I think this is your nostalgia speaking; You criticize Ninjago for being unrealistic, yet you praise Dino 2010 dinos (which are nowhere as realistic as the new Dinos).

Also, it appears Lego has shifted their target audience. Before, Lego appealed to adults and teenagers, not five year olds and toddlers! Lego Used to be a toy about building. Now it's a toy with "some assembly required". WTF!?!?! Little kids, go back to playing with playmobil! Lego is for mature people!

I guess you missed the recommended ages text on every box? And the fact that the AFOL community is bigger than ever?

Clearly Lego has also forgotten how to make a decent video game. Lego Harry Potter? Lego Star Wars? Lego Rockband? Pshhhh. How about Lego Island?, or Lego Racers? Not these crappy, repetitive excuses for games based off throwaway movies? Sheesh.

Lego doesn't develop those games in-house; they outsource them to companies like Mindscape, High Voltage and Traveller's Tales. Your opinion that newer games are worse don't jive with the Metacritic scores I've seen. I've played both Lego Island and Racers when I was younger and even I think the newer games are better. I think most people would say that the Harry Potter and Star Wars series are hardly 'throwaway movies' (even the prequel trilogy ).

EDIT: Quote tags aren't cooperating, I bolded instead.

Edited February 21, 2012 by autobrick

[sharky]

I do wish Lego would at least sell those mountain base plates in various colors. Ditto, for the classic moon base plates.

[LEGOman273]

You're kidding? Please tell me you are.

Biggest set; 402 parts.

167 parts.

Including hard to use ones like;

On the other hand...

235 parts and a contra-rotating drill! Juniorisation? Perhaps these;

IMHO Power Miners was the far superior line.

You could add the wheels too, but, as with the pieces you mentioned, are very useful.

I, also liked PM.

[Joebot]

The new Dinos are &lt;insert that tiresome argument&gt; along with pretty much every vehicle in the line

I would like to make a formal request to the Eurobricks administrators that we ban all future usage of the word "&lt;insert that tiresome argument&gt;." It's such a lazy, boring, tired argument.

[surrideo]

I would like to make a formal request to the Eurobricks administrators that we ban all future usage of the word "&lt;insert that tiresome argument&gt;." It's such a lazy, boring, tired argument.

And the whole arguement from the beginning had no weight. I think if you want a challenging build thats what the modulars,UCS and technic sets are for. Lego is for kids( and big kids )

[tedbeard]

...crappy, repetitive excuses for games based off throwaway movies?

Riiiiight, Star Wars, Indiana Jones, Lord of the Rings, are all "throwaway" movies.

I understand you have some nostalgia for the sets of your youth but the company is selling more now than it has ever done. They are making profits in a time of severe recession. If you look objectively I think you will have to accept that the design quality of the majority of sets is at an all time high especially as you are looking at some older series with rose-coloured glasses as others have suggested.

[davee123]

In Rock Raiders, there was little to no juniorization AT ALL. Same with Alpha team and JT.

As above, no. I was in the adult LEGO community when Rock Raiders came out, and it was pretty generally despised among adult fans. It had explicit characters (not generic ones), had a strange color scheme, and had HUGE, &lt;insert that tiresome argument&gt; parts. Also, it didn't sell well, so LEGO stopped the "Underground" theme after 1999. There were supposedly some really cool sets lined up for the 2nd and 3rd year of release, but it stopped there. Alpha Team was similarly disliked by adults, although not so much for the juniorization level. More for the color scheme, characters, and feature-intense building style.

Not sure what you mean by JT, except maybe Adventurers? *THAT* one adult fans seemed to love. The desert subtheme had a lot of tan and dark gray, which was rare at the time, as well as some great models. The Amazon and Dino Island themes I don't recall much reaction to, though. I don't remember much love or hate for those subthemes. And of course the Orient Expedition lineup everyone loved, because it had a lot of new pieces like elephants, turbans, and some cool prints.

Such putrid things have never met my eyes, until I saw this new line. The new Dinos are &lt;insert that tiresome argument&gt; along with pretty much every vehicle in the line. Remember Dino 2010? The Dinos were much cooler, and so were the vehicles.

You had me and then you lost me. The Dinosaurs in the Dino line are essentially identical to the Dino 2010 / Dino Attack dinosaurs. If you want non-&lt;insert that tiresome argument&gt; dinosaurs, go back to the ugly looking dinosaurs from the "Dinosaurs" line from 2001, with partially brick-built dinosaurs.

As for the vehicles, yeah, I liked the Dino 2010/Dino Attack vehicles better. They were less &lt;insert that tiresome argument&gt;, and looked cooler.

And why are the non-licensed themes so childish and cheesy? Look at Ninjago. C'mon! Really?

This has been a slippery slope ever since maybe Time Cruisers or Adventurers, where virtually every minifig in the lineup was a character. Slowly, the characters and storylines have gotten more pronounced. But I don't think Ninjago's any worse than Knight's Kingdom II.

Also, it appears Lego has shifted their target audience. Before, Lego appealed to adults and teenagers, not five year olds and toddlers! Lego Used to be a toy about building. Now it's a toy with "some assembly required". WTF!?!?! Little kids, go back to playing with playmobil! Lego is for mature people!

Um, basically, in 1997, LEGO very consciously started dumbing down their builds in what hobbyists call juniorization. They also started catering each individual product line to a different age group and target audience, some of whom like building and some of whom do not. But LEGO as a whole was *never* targeted at adults and teenagers.

Then, starting in 2000, LEGO started catering to the adult hobbyist community, and we started seeing things like the LEGO Legends, LEGO Sculptures, and so forth. So, LEGO's been slowly more and more conscious of the adult market as time has gone on. If anything, I would say that LEGO's gotten BETTER about catering to adults rather than worse as you imply.

Clearly Lego has also forgotten how to make a decent video game. Lego Harry Potter? Lego Star Wars? Lego Rockband? Pshhhh. How about Lego Island?, or Lego Racers? Not these crappy, repetitive excuses for games based off throwaway movies? Sheesh.

Actually, those video games were pretty poor, and didn't do well in the market. Around the same timeframe (1999 or so?) LEGO decided that it wanted to have video games associated with ALL their themes (did you ever play the Rock Raiders video game?) And they were mostly awful. It wasn't until TT came along with LEGO Star Wars that they found a GREAT game engine. Sure, they've over-used it at this point, but it's still selling!

Excuse me if I sound like a old timer,

Sorry, you sound like the opposite.

all I'm saying is that if Lego went back to their traditional roots, they would make more money, get more fans, and build an even larger community.

No, not really. LEGO's doing PHENOMENALLY well right now, and were doing terribly during the timeframe that you're nostalgic about. Basically, from 1978-1996, LEGO was content to be a fringe toy that was essentially the "king" of a small market-- building toys.

Then, in the mid 1990's, LEGO decided that it wanted to shift gears and become "the next Disney". The goal was to become the "best brand in families with children" by 2005. So they started expanding in a lot of new directions, including modifying their building style with juniorization in 1997, as stated above. They started doing licensing (Star Wars in 1999), they started more mainstream LEGO robotics (previously, it was just in Dacta), they had a competing product for K'Nex with "Znap", introduced Bionicle, Belville, Scala, and tons of other stuff.

1998 was pretty much the first year LEGO suffered a financial loss. I don't remember how long of a streak LEGO had going up until then-- but I remember it being said that in the history of the plastic building brick (1949), the LEGO company had never had a loss ever before. LEGO chalked it up to the big investment they were making for future growth, as well as the decline in the toy market with respect to video games.

But by 2004, LEGO was almost out of business. They were slowly (or... not so slowly) dying out. So in late 2005, they got a new CEO, and focused on changing the company. They sacrificed a lot of quality, and focused on making profits rather than doing what was "best" for the company, or being in line with the company's "vision". And from 2006 or 2007 onward, LEGO's skyrocketed (not sure if they turned a profit in 2006, but I think by 2007 they were back on track financially).

So... no. LEGO knows what they're doing. If they went back to their traditional roots, they might have a product that we'd enjoy more, but they'd do a lot less business and their products would cost more.

I would like to make a formal request to the Eurobricks administrators that we ban all future usage of the word "&lt;insert that tiresome argument&gt;." It's such a lazy, boring, tired argument.

Disagree. Juniorization was a very conscious decision on LEGO's part to simplify builds for children. In the hobbyist community "&lt;insert that tiresome argument&gt;" has a broad scope of definitions, because people have different standards of what constitutes an "easy" or "complex" build. But it's a decent moniker for "simplified building style".

I think what hobbyists often don't understand (or simply don't care about) is that Juniorization is necessary for certain target audiences that LEGO aims at. It's too bad that 6-year-olds can't assemble certain types of LEGO elements, but that's why we get things like 1x2 bricks with pins already sticking out of them, or 1x1 bricks with clips rather than a stacked set of plates and a 1x1 plate with clip.

Now, I agree that juniorization is an overused and over-inflated term, like "Socialism" in politics. Everyone sees the term and associates it with an extreme negativity, even though there may be appropriate applications for it.

DaveE

Edited February 21, 2012 by davee123

[Hive]

When I came back to LEGO almost 2 years ago, I too was full of nostalgia and felt that today's LEGO was far superior to the LEGO of the "good old days" - untill I got some of the newer models and compared them to my old LEGO. That's when I began realizing that LEGO today is actually far superior to what it was. At least in my opinion.

Do I agree with all of their decisions? Definately not. But since I got back we've had Pirates (was fasing out when I returned, sadly), Fantasy Castle (same as Pirates, sadly), Kingdoms, Pirates of The Caribbean and now soon Lord of The Rings... and I'll take any of these themes/subthemes as a whole over any theme LEGO has released previously - when taking into account things such as detail, specialty bricks, minifigures, colours, accesories, function and 'realism'.

Having said that, I too think that most LEGO themes these days are mostly crap. But I fully understand their reasons for doing pretty much every one of them and achknowledge that it's often a matter of taste. Besides, with prices being what they are, I am actually rather thankful for the fact that only 1-2 themes at a time appeal to me.

[fyrmedhatt]

DaveE - Incredibly well written post there, I don't think I have much to add apart from personal anecdotes.

As someone who grew up with Lego in the 90's, i saw the decline of the toy, even if as a kid one is not necessarily aware of specifics and often not able to pinpoint what is going on. I do remember being greatly enthralled by the Town sets of the early nineties, like the two harbors of the Nautica sub-theme, the Metroliner, the Airport Shuttle and the Sail n' Fly marina, while by the time mentioned by the OP we had Town Jr., a sad theme that was nothing but juniorization, where cars no longer had roofs or doors, and buildings consisted of a window and three panels.

In comparison, todays sets rival the complexity and detail of the sets of the eighties and early nineties, just look at the complexity of an average Star Wars ship today. City is still for kids, but vehicles no longer look like they were pieced together by five year olds using brick buckets, which seemed to be the case in the 97-04 time span.

I do respect the Op's opinion, and I know sentimentality is a strong feeling and a big reason for many AFOLs to be in the hobby. Personally I remember being a huge fan of the Time Twisters theme as a kid, and even though I now see the silliness of their designs (they look like the designers chucked together the Lego's leftover parts), I'd still like to own some of the sets some day.

[Graysmith]

Your childhood nostalgia is playing tricks on you because the vast majority of LEGO sets from the 90s is absolutely awful. I'm not sure I could come up with 10 sets from the 90s that I would genuinely want to own.

[Lyichir]

Here is something that's been crossing my mind lately--What ever happened to the good old days of lego, I mean back when we had Jhonny Thunder, or Alpha Team, or Rock Raiders? Oh yeah, that's right. They were replaced by horribly half-cooked remakes, like Pharaoh's Quest, Atlantis, and Power miners. And I really wish lego would stop using SO MANY SPECIALIZED PARTS! Practically every single piece in "The Thunder Driller" is useless! Come on! In Rock Raiders, there was little to no juniorization AT ALL. Same with Alpha team and JT.

There are also too many licensed themes now. The non licensed themes are godawful, just look at the new "Dino" line. Such putrid things have never met my eyes, until I saw this new line. The new Dinos are &lt;insert that tiresome argument&gt; along with pretty much every vehicle in the line. Remember Dino 2010? The Dinos were much cooler, and so were the vehicles. And why are the non-licensed themes so childish and cheesy? Look at Ninjago. C'mon! Really? 4 ninjas fighting a bunch of skeletons and snake people with trucks and ATVs? LAME. Gimme Classic Ninja any day. So much more realistic.

Also, it appears Lego has shifted their target audience. Before, Lego appealed to adults and teenagers, not five year olds and toddlers! Lego Used to be a toy about building. Now it's a toy with "some assembly required". WTF!?!?! Little kids, go back to playing with playmobil! Lego is for mature people!

Clearly Lego has also forgotten how to make a decent video game. Lego Harry Potter? Lego Star Wars? Lego Rockband? Pshhhh. How about Lego Island?, or Lego Racers? Not these crappy, repetitive excuses for games based off throwaway movies? Sheesh.

Excuse me if I sound like a old timer, but all I'm saying is that if Lego went back to their traditional roots, they would make more money, get more fans, and build an even larger community.

You seriously need to turn off your nostalgia filter. Most of those '90s themes you mentioned? Far more &lt;insert that tiresome argument&gt; than modern themes. Especially Rock Raiders, which is one of the most &lt;insert that tiresome argument&gt; themes there's ever been. And are you honestly trying to say Dino 2010 dinos are any less &lt;insert that tiresome argument&gt; than the new dinosaurs? Give me a break! As for your complaint about Ninjago, you're clearly suffering from the delusion that LEGO is a medium limited to facsimiles of real life.

LEGO has always marketed to children, by the way. It never was for adults and teenagers, and the '90s do NOT represent LEGO's roots. Rather, they represent one of the lowest periods in LEGO's history, when sets were becoming &lt;insert that tiresome argument&gt; and LEGO struggled to adapt to a changing market. I would argue that LEGO is more palatable to adults and teens now, in fact, considering how building styles involving SNOT and other advanced techniques have become more commonplace in actual sets.

Your rant about the video games is incredibly bizarre. Yes, some of the licensed LEGO games get a bit repetitive (although I can't see how you classify Harry Potter and Star Wars as "throwaway movies"). But do you honestly think that the buggy, non-responsive, low-quality games from the '90s come even close to the fun, quality games Travelers Tales has given us?

You don't sound like an old-timer to me, to be perfectly honest. You sound like a young adult who can't accept that the LEGO of their childhood is largely inferior to the LEGO of today. There are a number of fair criticisms to be made about LEGO currently, such as the rising prices of sets and international manufacturing. But every single one of your arguments is not only wrong, they're downright counterintuitive. Here's a suggestion. Buy a set like the Thunder Driller yourself and dig out a comparable older set. Maybe by actually giving newer themes a chance you can realize how ridiculous it is to hold

those older sets on a pedestal.

[legomaniac83]

I don't have much to add to the original comment as davee123 covered my thoughts

However:

Your childhood nostalgia is playing tricks on you because the vast majority of LEGO sets from the 90s is absolutely awful. I'm not sure I could come up with 10 sets from the 90s that I would genuinely want to own.

Really? Up until 1997 as Dave noted when Lego started to go &lt;insert that tiresome argument&gt;, some of the best sets came out in the 90's. Lego has finally gotten around to releasing city vehicles once again, which put town on the map for the company back in the day (lots of variety every year). Also Model Team was a GREAT line.

I'm going out on a limb thinking you were born in the 90's?

I mean come on - there aren't many sets that can beat this (released in 1996):

I could go on, but that's probably better for a new thread.....

Carry on.

Edited February 21, 2012 by legomaniac83

[Fred Daniel Yam]

Ok, personally, I think you are just pissed thar "your" themes are gone.

Alpha Team-Started off pretty good but then it got worse. Dash looks younger in Deep Freeze than his first appearance.

Rock Raiders-Gigantic baseplates and you're calling Power Miners bad?

Adventurers-Johnny Thunder is arguably the most famous fig but its always good to end on a high note.

Licenses and games-Star Wars and Harry Potter are throwaway, yeah right. Add on the DC and Marvel license, PoP, POTC, LOTR and NBA. Thats a lot of good licenses.

Feel nostalgic, go MOC.

[lightningtiger]

Reading what you wrote 'Squishy Stelactite', something stuck in my mind....you love the sets from the late 90's....MEH, the worse time from &lt;insert that tiresome argument&gt; designs....especially town...oh, dear.

You don't like the licensed stuff, well that stuff help save Lego's bacon remember.....their money troubles a decade ago, designing sets that take only two minutes to make....kids turned off and started heading to MB !

Lego these days offer more design options, parts, colours, minifigs, plenty to MOC build from.

There are two era's I in Lego, the late 70's/early 80's and the present.

[Galaxy Explorer]

How can anyone say most of the sets released in the 90's were God-awful? That is Classic Pirate and Monorail territory! I could easily pick out 100 sets released in that decade that I would LOVE to own. While I realize the late 90's saw a massive amount of juniorization, we still had Adventurers and Star Wars to carry us through.

[LEGOman273]

How can anyone say most of the sets released in the 90's were God-awful? That is Classic Pirate and Monorail territory! I could easily pick out 100 sets released in that decade that I would LOVE to own. While I realize the late 90's saw a massive amount of juniorization, we still had Adventurers and Star Wars to carry us through.

Late 90's - early 00's were terrible (with a few excptions). Early 90's were a continuation of the late 80's.

Edited February 22, 2012 by LEGOman273

[def]

A thought occurred to me last night after I'd posted in this thread and saw the OP reading it without replying...

Since everyone is uniformly disagreeing with him without him bothering to explain himself, it could have been written as a prank in the first place

[LEGO Guy Bri]

I'm pretty close minded when it comes to set themes. I like realistic (Wild West, Pirates, Ninja, etc) but, only seriously collect City and a few from others that relate. I love the 90's, I grew up collecting the 90's. It was sets that I missed during them that got me out of my "dark age". Coincidentally, it was Town Jr, World City (... and a new interest: girls), that put me in one.

With finding Lego on eBay, recent sets from TLG have been getting better and better. I am so glad of their shift from Classic City, the new ones are a great replacement. While TLG has made their mistakes, we all can agree, there are still many other things I too have to disagree with in regards to. Most or all have been mentioned and, like others have said, 'davee123' put it into detail. Well put, my friend. What stuck out the most was about the "throwaway" movies... SW, HP, and the other "throwaways", and their video games. They were and are hugely profitable and really helped TLG jump back from near bankruptcy some years back. In a declining economy, TLG is revenue is up almost 20% as of '08 and profits even more (Harvard Business Review, Sept. '09). Not only that, most are still really great. If I wasn't such a nut about city, they would be on my wanted list and I'm not even close to a diehard fan!

IMHO, the love of Lego stems from the era you grew up in, but is continued by current and recent sets

A thought occurred to me last night after I'd posted in this thread and saw the OP reading it without replying...

Since everyone is uniformly disagreeing with him without him bothering to explain himself, it could have been written as a prank in the first place

Perhaps, though I would be very intimidated of jumping back in if public was in general disagree. But thats just me

[Jargo]

for every one person complaining that Lego aint what it used to be there are probably ten more people quite happy with the way Lego has evolved. My 68 year old Mother informed me the other day that she wants 10193 Medieval Market Village and wants me to take her to the local Lego store. Lego must be doing something right if they have enthusiasts from all age groups.

[yixin]

prehaps this argument is more of a matter of opinion... I think I'll just stay out of this...

[Hrw-Amen]

In general I want to agree with what most people here have said. The thing that gets me nowadays though with the way sets are made is the use of large panels or big bricks, when back in the 70's & 80's you would have to build a wall out of interlocking bricks (To make it stronger as my father always said like a real building.) whereas now you just throw up a line or even just a couple of large panels with some plates along the top. Having said that I think the overall design of most sets is good, they just could probably do the same in many cases with a lot fewer types (Although admittedly in bigger quantities.) of bricks/plates etc whilst making it a more interesting build.