Stop the BURPs!

[TheLegGodt]

Hi all, I must share my complete disappointment in a LEGO Friends set I have started building with my daughter. Set #41033 Jungle Falls Rescue.

I really thought Friends was a great line for getting girls interested in LEGO but if TLG thinks they need to 'dumb' things down by moulding a piece that is more than easy enough to build out of very regular existing bricks then I am hugely disappointed.

Case in point is piece #4216709 which in my opinion is no longer a BURP but a GURP - Gigantic Ugly Rock Piece! I really hope this is a one off mistake on TLG side. Let's keep LEGO pure and about making creations with existing bricks rather than coming up with these awful things. For me that - together with great designs - is was separates LEGO from their copy-cat competitors.

Sorry for my rambling, I am a huge LEGO fan so probably emotions are getting the better of me. Perhaps this is an incident. But if you agree please make this known and let's hope LEGO is listening. For if this is the future of 'kids' sets then I guess LEGO will not be top of the list at Christmas time for my kids.

Stop the BURPs and GURPs!

[Pandora]

As this is more about the BURP pieces than anything else I'm going to move it to General Discussion, as the parts in question have been around since 1992/1995 and are not restricted to Friends or Town.

[Aanchir]

Hi all, I must share my complete disappointment in a LEGO Friends set I have started building with my daughter. Set #41033 Jungle Falls Rescue.

I really thought Friends was a great line for getting girls interested in LEGO but if TLG thinks they need to 'dumb' things down by moulding a piece that is more than easy enough to build out of very regular existing bricks then I am hugely disappointed.

Case in point is piece #4216709 which in my opinion is no longer a BURP but a GURP - Gigantic Ugly Rock Piece! I really hope this is a one off mistake on TLG side. Let's keep LEGO pure and about making creations with existing bricks rather than coming up with these awful things. For me that - together with great designs - is was separates LEGO from their copy-cat competitors.

Sorry for my rambling, I am a huge LEGO fan so probably emotions are getting the better of me. Perhaps this is an incident. But if you agree please make this known and let's hope LEGO is listening. For if this is the future of 'kids' sets then I guess LEGO will not be top of the list at Christmas time for my kids.

Stop the BURPs and GURPs!

Really? You think this piece is not a BURP? That, my friend, is part 6083 — the original BURP (in fact, Bricklink calls it a LURP, or "Little Ugly Rock Piece", because it's smaller than its counterpart 6082). And frankly, I consider it a much more useful piece than the smaller, more recent BURPs like 54782 because it allows for you to build on the rocky surface, and is very spacious on the inside — something that would not be possible if you built a rock wall just as detailed and sturdy out of basic bricks.

Frankly, I get tired of complaints about pieces like this. It's true, you CAN build a rock wall out of basic bricks. But these pieces make it much easier to build a sturdy rock wall without having to create it layer by layer every time. Plus, as I mentioned, the interior space makes them much more versatile than a brick-built cliff face would ever be. They speed up creative building, rather than dumbing it down. I loved using these as well as other parts like castle wall panels when I built things as a kid.

Using large parts does not make you a worse builder, nor does putting large parts in sets teach kids not to think creatively. It just makes the building experience a little bit less repetitive. LEGO Friends is hardly worse-off for using these parts, nor is any theme.

[Faefrost]

The BURPS in general are a low cost low weight solution for adding height and vertical differentiation to a build. They are wonderful for that. They offer strong support to put something on top of, without busting the budget. Yeah you can do a straight brick build. But you face rapidly escalating costs and it can quickly make the weight of your project unwieldy. BURPS have a function and a place in the scheme of things.

[antp]

Also, that part was created more than twenty years ago: it exists since 1992... that's not really new.

Edited June 24, 2014 by antp

[Aanchir]

And also, if you feel a single BURP in a set ruins or dumbs down the building experience, I wonder how in the world you've been able to tolerate other Friends sets that use parts like 59349 (which are even EASIER to replicate with basic bricks) in much larger quantities. The truth is, LEGO Friends sets are no more "dumbed down" than any sets from the past decade or so. Using larger parts for certain sections of the build is a matter of sturdiness and efficiency. Pretty much any competent designer would use a part like this if they had a task it happened to be perfectly suited to. They're part of a very long tradition of efficient wall panel pieces that dates back to castle sets of the 1980s — not by any means a recent development.

If this sort of part were enough to ruin the value of LEGO, then I (a child of the 1990s) would not be an AFOL at all. But in truth, LEGO sets feature more detailed and complex builds today than they had at any point during my childhood.

Edited June 24, 2014 by Aanchir

[Tereglith]

I would like to say thanks to Aanchir for typing out all those great points. I was going to make a response with much the same gist, but he swooped in and said it even more eloquently.

As for your complaints about this being the future of 'kids' sets, why not take a look at the past of adult sets? Would you call the large and impressive AFOL-designed exclusive 10191 Star Justice worthless because it includes the piece? Would you pass up on a classic like 6762 Fort Legoredo because it happens to use an URP or two to build up its base?

I'll also add one thought - threatening to stop buying Lego for your kids for Christmas over the inclusion of an innocuous rock piece you don't like in one set is incredibly petty, and pretty unfair to your children. I doubt they care about the philosophy of building rocks when there's actual fun to be had with the products. What's more important? The enjoyment your kids can get from building new sets on Christmas morning, or your adherence to an inconsistent vague philosophy about which parts are morally 'right' and 'wrong' to use in sets? I certainly hope it's the former.

[LegoFjotten]

I think you guys are being a bit hard on TheLegGodt.

In a small set like 41033 I can understand that a BURP can make you feel like you are cheated out of a proper build, it's allowed to vent from time to time.

[TheLegoDr]

I think some valid points have been made. I've never cared for that part, but it does make a good use of space/durability if I ever did decide to use it.

I hadn't realized that Friends set was that small/expensive and to include that piece, I can understand the frustration. They could have definitely included more pieces to fill that in and pad the brick count. The downside, would it be sturdy enough? But then again, I've never been satisfied with Friends sets piece count vs price vs minidoll inclusion. It always seems to be way different than what I'd expect to be good value.

[TheLegGodt]

Thanks for all the responses guys and helping me develop my opinion on BURPs. It's given me a new perspective on the matter. Also I take note of the strong feelings toward them from what I gather are experienced builders.

And no worries about stopping buying lego for the kids (or myself ;-). I was careful not to express my disappointment to them and I think after all this TLG can be quite confident about their continued share of wallet in our household.

P.s. LegoFjotten thaks mate fair point as well

[droomangroup]

The BURP still doesn't annoy me as much as the castle wall pieced do. I had the old yellow castle as a kid and that set MADE my brick collection. After that set i made so many yellow things it was ridiculous. Once the new castle stuff came around I was very disappointed (even as a 10yo) that the outer walls were now a pile of very limited use walls. But as annoying as piece like these are, just remember all the awesome bricks that didn't exist 20 years ago. I don't even want to remember my life before the cheese wedge.

[cgarison]

As much as I hate BURPs and GURPs in Lego builds, I have to admit that in some cases the pieces have their place in a lot of builds for AFOLS by providing large infrastructure pieces needed to support detailed builds. If it were not for these pieces and the crappy panels that I hate, then I would be stuck with using Duplo to support large structures. And I dislike Duplo more than BURPs, GURPs, and panels. So their is the "Love-Hate" relationship some of us may have with these pieces.

[Withacee]

The BURPS in general are a low cost low weight solution for adding height and vertical differentiation to a build. They are wonderful for that. They offer strong support to put something on top of, without busting the budget. Yeah you can do a straight brick build. But you face rapidly escalating costs and it can quickly make the weight of your project unwieldy. BURPS have a function and a place in the scheme of things.

I already started typing, but this comment by Faefrost pretty much sums it up for me. These parts definitely have a use.