Unpopular Opinions about LEGO

[icm]

3 hours ago, GameyRaccoon said:

I don't know if they're necessarily "unpopular," (especially here) but you could definitely call them "hot takes."

1. Lego Star Wars fans/investors more or less ruined this hobby.

2. TLG buying Bricklink was catastrophic.

3. TLG focuses far too much on licensed slop instead of original creativity.

4. TLG would rather be an adults-focused luxury brand than a toy company.

0. These are very cold takes within this thread. 

1. Blame game, pointing fingers, meh. 

2. Yeah, BDP is great, but all the other changes to Bricklink since the takeover have clearly had Big Corporate interests at heart rather than hobbyist concerns. Seems like Lego would be perfectly capable of doing a BDP-like program without having bought Bricklink if it really wanted to. 

3. Again, an ice-cold take within this thread. 

4. Yeah, it was pretty cringe when some exec said they wanted to be a lifestyle brand. Also, the rebrand from Creator Expert to 18+ and then to Icons did start in 2020, like you said. At the time I thought it was a meaningless change in marketing to go from "Creator Expert" to "18+", but in hindsight it has been a pretty big change and the size and frequency of D2Cs has dramatically increased. I'm not complaining about that in principle, since there have been a lot of smashing good dream-come-true D2Cs since then, but now there's too many for me to keep up with. I believe Mike Psiaki said in 2018 or 2019 that they wanted to limit the number of Modular-style buildings and big Creator Expert-style vehicles to one a year because they didn't want fans of those lines to feel like they couldn't afford to keep up, but that philosophy has clearly gone out the window. This year alone there are already four Icons-style vehicles and one yet to be unveiled.

[GameyRaccoon]

15 minutes ago, icm said:

0. These are very cold takes within this thread. .

Ha, I suspected. I did put "hot takes" in quotes, after all. 

17 minutes ago, icm said:

there have been a lot of smashing good dream-come-true D2Cs since then, but now there's too many for me to keep up with.

I'm glad I'm not alone in feeling this way. I missed out on the El Dorado Fortress, Blacktron Renegade, and Orient Express, which just kills me. I'm sure I'll also miss out on Rivendell and the Shire by the time I scrape up the disposable income for more Lego. Keeping up with the modulars is also starting to bite more than it used to, thanks to inflation. Shopping Street is MORE expensive than Assembly Square was!? (For 600 fewer pieces, no less.)

[danth]

2 hours ago, GameyRaccoon said:

I missed out on the El Dorado Fortress, Blacktron Renegade, and Orient Express, which just kills me.

You're in luck with the Renegade, it's still easily available for less than retail from the usual places.