TomRoid Posted October 13, 2011 Posted October 13, 2011 Comparing one LEGO Catalouge to another, I noticed some things... 1.Does LEGO have less of a variety now? Maybe it's more specific age range themes variety. Are they more all system based? 2.Are LEGO sets simplified in brick and build amount? 3.Are there less sets and themes now? 4.Are they less "cooler" than before? 5.Are there less interesting pieces? But could this just be because of nostalgia? Or is it a "What do I know" thing? What do you guys think... Quote
Etzel Posted October 13, 2011 Posted October 13, 2011 Comparing one LEGO Catalouge to another, I noticed some things... 1.Does LEGO have less of a variety now? Maybe it's more specific age range themes variety. Are they more all system based? 2.Are LEGO sets simplified in brick and build amount? 3.Are there less sets and themes now? 4.Are they less "cooler" than before? 5.Are there less interesting pieces? But could this just be because of nostalgia? Or is it a "What do I know" thing? What do you guys think... I would answer no on all those questions. LEGO has improved in almost every level the latest 5-6 years I think. Their greater interest and respect to the AFOLs (Adult fan of LEGO) is one important thing that comes to mind. I can't really feel any nostalgia for 2004 though since that was during my dark age but even the period before that seems less interesting then today. Quote
fyrmedhatt Posted October 13, 2011 Posted October 13, 2011 Comparing one LEGO Catalouge to another, I noticed some things... 1.Does LEGO have less of a variety now? Maybe it's more specific age range themes variety. Are they more all system based? 2.Are LEGO sets simplified in brick and build amount? 3.Are there less sets and themes now? 4.Are they less "cooler" than before? 5.Are there less interesting pieces? But could this just be because of nostalgia? Or is it a "What do I know" thing? What do you guys think... 1. I don't really think so, Lego has most of the same products then as now, licensed and classic system sets, technic, a girl theme, Duplo, AFOL sets etc. Lego has more focus on providing a coherent experience these days, the common thread is building, versus 2004's "instant play" that described the whole Jack Stone line, plus most of the system sets back then. 2. Lego sets are NOT simplified, rather the opposite, today many themes provide interesting builds, and there are more and better AFOL sets. Juniorization of pieces is also a lot better today versus back then in my eyes. 3. More sets and themes, at least if you look at what Brickset is telling me with around 500 sets today versus 350 back then. Not surprising considering the financial turmoil the company was going through back then. Also, the time period was characterized by mostly action themes and even the licensed themes during the time had simple builds, look at the Spider Man and NBA themes. Just looking at their sets, the only ones remotely interesting to me are the Star Wars, Harry Potter and Technic sets, and maybe some of the Spider Man sets. Pretty much every other build seems so dull, not to mention half their sets appear to be 4 juniors and racers sets. 4. Sets are infinitely better today, they show better and more interesting builds overall, with great variety of pieces. I have a feeling that this time period for Lego will be considered a second golden time period comparable to the eighties and early nineties. In comparison, 2004 was the low point, with mainly simplified designs. I think you have a point if you mean cool in the trying to appear trendy sense, in 2004 TLC tried to be cool and trendy, as is seen from their set selection, with flashy action packed box art, and the NBA/Xtreme sports sets available at the time. 5.The piece palette today appears better to me with much less juniorization. The only thing that's good about the 2004 pieces is that they included more of the pieces I remember from my childhood, but that's just nostalgia. Sentimentality is funny, and it makes us look at the past with fond memories that overshadow the negative things of the time, I still remember the sets of the mid to late nineties fondly, but looking at it in retrospect I can see the decline in design quality starting. The sets from your childhood will always be very special, but looking at the two years objectively, I think it is a very clear conclusion that Lego today is far better off than it was in 2004. Quote
Aanchir Posted October 13, 2011 Posted October 13, 2011 Comparing one LEGO Catalouge to another, I noticed some things... 1.Does LEGO have less of a variety now? Maybe it's more specific age range themes variety. Are they more all system based? 2.Are LEGO sets simplified in brick and build amount? 3.Are there less sets and themes now? 4.Are they less "cooler" than before? 5.Are there less interesting pieces? But could this just be because of nostalgia? Or is it a "What do I know" thing? What do you guys think... 1. Don't understand your question. Do you mean the LEGO brand has less variety overall? I guess in some ways it does-- after all, 2004 had the "Baby", "Quatro", and "Clikits" brands targeting certain demographics. None of these themes really has a modern-day analogue, even though as of next year we will have a theme taking the place of Belville as a girl-oriented role-play theme with figures. Other than these themes, most of today's sets have the same Technic-System balance as in 2004. 2. Simplified in brick and build amount? Hardly. There might be some sets that are simpler, but there hasn't been a consistent trend. As an example, this year's Knight Bus set from the Harry Potter theme has 257 pieces, compared to the previous one's 243. Price per piece has probably gone up as a result of inflation and rising steel prices, but the change has been pretty small from what I've seen. 3. According to Brickset, 2004 had 348 sets across 29 themes. 2011 has 493 sets across 33 themes. While arguably some of Brickset's "themes" and "sets" are more like promotional items (for instance, the Monthly Mini Model Build items), and the amount of "gear" has nearly doubled since 2004. But I still think it's jumping to conclusions in thinking there's a smaller range of themes or sets. 4. Less "cool"? I, for one, would disagree. Granted, 2004 had some excellent sets. But I definitely think Ninjago and Atlantis are cooler than Knights' Kingdom II (a theme I loved, by the way) and the third iteration of Alpha Team. Some licensed themes in 2004 were very cool, like the Harry Potter sets, but others like the Spider Man sets pale in comparison to this year's Cars and Pirates of the Caribbean themes. 2011 City sets aren't outright "cooler" than 2004 World City sets, but I'd argue that they're better-designed. 5. Less interesting pieces is another one where I can flat-out disagree. Many of the parts current in 2004 are still current today. BIONICLE parts in 2004 didn't tend to be as interesting as this year's Hero Factory building system, at least from my perspective. Same with today's Technic panels versus the more limited-use ones current in 2004. Overall most of these aren't just nostalgia, but rather just instances of differing perspectives. I personally feel TLG has improved in many of these respects since 2004. Others might disagree, and argue that pre-2004 sets or parts are "cooler" than the ones we have today. Quality is often subjective like that. Quote
L@go Posted October 13, 2011 Posted October 13, 2011 I would answer no on all those questions. LEGO has improved in almost every level the latest 5-6 years I think. Their greater interest and respect to the AFOLs (Adult fan of LEGO) is one important thing that comes to mind. I can't really feel any nostalgia for 2004 though since that was during my dark age but even the period before that seems less interesting then today. I couldn't have said it any better. As far as I'm concerned, the sets keep improving every year now. Quote
TomRoid Posted October 29, 2011 Author Posted October 29, 2011 Creator was what Bricks and More is now. Buckets of bricks with simple models. Then came the Designer theme, with a lot of big-amount(pieces) models that may of been Designer. At some point Creator went the designer direction and Bricks and More became at some point. Nowadays though with Creator... -Are there less sets? -Are they smaller in piece amount? -Do they not have as many different models? -Are they less cool? Though, those old sets may of been Designer. Please note that I haven't ignored your replies. Thanks. Quote
Legoist Posted October 31, 2011 Posted October 31, 2011 Comparing one LEGO Catalouge to another, I noticed some things... 1.Does LEGO have less of a variety now? Maybe it's more specific age range themes variety. Are they more all system based? 2.Are LEGO sets simplified in brick and build amount? 3.Are there less sets and themes now? 4.Are they less "cooler" than before? 5.Are there less interesting pieces? But could this just be because of nostalgia? Or is it a "What do I know" thing? What do you guys think... I would answer NO to all except to 4. to which I would answer "mostly NO". Only in the City theme and Train subset theme (not counting the Exclusives) I feel there has been some decrease in set design quality recently, but not a steep decrease. And of course, it's subjective... Quote
lightningtiger Posted October 31, 2011 Posted October 31, 2011 I would answer NO to all except to 4. to which I would answer "mostly NO". Only in the City theme and Train subset theme (not counting the Exclusives) I feel there has been some decrease in set design quality recently, but not a steep decrease. And of course, it's subjective... Seriously I feel Lego have picked up the ball for city sets and run like a bat out of hell. Compare sets from 2004 to now, look at the police station....the playability and design has gone up not down. I guess it's ones own opinion. Quote
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.