Raised Base Plate video

[Captain Pirate Man]

I wasn't sure where to post this since it crosses multiple themes (space, pirate, and castle) so if the kids want to move it to a different location, I understand. 

 

My latest video is a video ranking the classic raised base plate. I felt it was an interest an idea and discussion. ?

 

[ProvenceTristram]

I miss baseplates terribly, especially flat ones. I absolutely despise this wave of "vignette" sets that have no footprint. Having said that, this dude did an excellent job making due without.

Edited November 15, 2016 by ProvenceTristram

[DangAndBlast]

That was actually fun to watch!  I've never had a baseplate more interesting than the current Juniors ones (one Batman, one Ariel).  When I was little, I had only the plain ones - and built only houses, over and over.  (And I still build only houses, over and over...)  Your video's made me look into picking up one of those interesting ones to move me into another category (even if it's just building castles, over and over!) 

[Captain Pirate Man]

Good I'm glad. ?

[Aanchir]

On 11/14/2016 at 10:47 PM, ProvenceTristram said:

I miss baseplates terribly, especially flat ones. I absolutely despise this wave of "vignette" sets that have no footprint. Having said that, this dude did an excellent job making due without.

That is a gorgeous MOC! Personally, I'm quite happy with the switch from baseplates to standard plates. It opens up possibilities for sets to have more irregularly shaped footprints instead of conforming to a strict rectangular grid, and also as parts they're simply more versatile (easier to use for things other than a base). I do understand why many people are nostalgic for baseplates, though.

Raised baseplates are a bit of an oddity IMO. They definitely make for some interesting builds, but most of the time they do that at an extremely high cost. As a kid growing up in the 90s, I usually wasn't buying sets this size for myself (they were strictly Christmas and birthday presents), so this didn't really faze me, but as an adult it's astonishing to learn that one of my childhood favorite sets, Neptune Discovery Lab was $90 — the equivalent of $145 in today's money! And the classic, beloved El Dorado Fortress cost $66 in 1989, the equivalent of around $131 in 2016 dollars. Prices like that for just over 500 pieces make sets like last year's Spaceport and Deep Sea Exploration Vessel or this year's Volcano Exploration Base seem like a downright bargain!

In the past several years I've seen several sets that feature raised foundations without using raised baseplates, like Ragana's Magic Shadow Castle, Tiger Widow Island, Sir Fangar's Ice Fortress, Attack on Weathertop, and Temple of Airjitzu. I generally approve of this since it means more building, more versatile parts, less wasted interior space, and less uniform foundations than sets that use raised baseplates. It'd be great to see LEGO do more of this in the sorts of themes that once used raised baseplates extensively, like Castle, Space, and Pirates. But so far it's mostly been constrained to themes with a higher recommended age range.

[goody82]

I like Aanchir's take on this subject,

Also, That brick built version of Eldorado Fortress is inspiration, sorry I'm not very good at message boarding.

I love classic sets, and the concept of re-interpreting them rather than trying to absolutely replicate or purchase them is intriguing!