Do sets start looking the same after a while

[Geki Brick]

I'm beginning to notice that regardless of what sets come out each season, there are very particular patterns that permeate through all themes. Vehicles, planes and boats feel very similar to each other regardless of which theme they're from. The build is nearly the same. The same goes for humanoid/robot builds, and structures/buildings.This trend of familiarity can also be seen in long-running television shows, and games where after you've interacted with the products for years...they begin to look and feel the same. So much deja vu during the building process.

[dooberfloober]

I hear that

new parts and colors are the only reason they make money.

[spzero]

true to a degree, what else can they build, there are only so many structures vehicles and only so many ways of building them out of lego and why complicate the building technique just so its different, or why multiply the brick count to increase the price,

and after all its a kids toy's and kids are ment to grow up and stop playing with toys, so they will not have sets repeated on them LOL

Edited April 3, 2013 by spzero

[Modulex Guy]

Or if you are a MOCer you can only see sets as large parts packs, and not the sets anymore.

[Clone OPatra]

I'm going to go ahead and say 'no,' at least for the most part. I buy sets from many themes, since no single thing always strikes my fancy, but overall I find new sets looking and seeming different than previous ones I've bought.

I'll grant you that some types of things have similar builds sometimes, but generally I find builds to be somewhat different. The builds for the SHIELD car in the Spider-Cycle set, the van in Arkham Asylum, and the SUV in the Chase McCain city set are pretty different, for example, yet all are four-wheeled vehicles. Within the City theme some things like cars and trucks follow a similar build structure for a while, but over time things change and the designers seem to look for different looks and hence builds for ground vehicles. I guess aircraft have followed a similar model for a bunch of years, though I don't own any so I can't comment on the builds.

When it comes to mechs, perhaps similar techniques are always used, but the resulting mechs often look pretty different. I find it satisfying to see how pieces come together and make wildly different models, even when the builds are similar. The Samurai Mech looks very little like the mech in Galaxy Squad, for example. The small Ninjago Mech, while somewhat similar in build to the older Exo-Force small mechs, has some small key differences that make it so much better. So really, I can't see that mechs are all the same even if they share some techniques.

Though I don't really feel that things are becoming the same at all, if you don't limit yourself to a certain theme or set of themes then you definitely should not find that everything is the same. New themes, especially Licensed ones, usually offer exciting new(ish) material that inspires at least a few cool, new sets.

[Orange Leader]

I got to agree with Clone O'Patra here. What I recently like of TLG, is that the Police and Fire Fighters subthemes from City are pretty much different and IMO more fun then their older released brethern.