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Hello All!

I am sure this topic was created before but I couldn’t find it.

As LEGO Technic creates the finest and toughest mostly moving and functional and coolest “3D assembly systems” in the World for 42 years, I firmly think that the upper age limit should not exist. 

Yes, a lower age limit is needed, but an upper age limit, “limits” the love for LEGO Technic. 

Many times, I’m sure, many people having twice or three or four or even five times the upper age limit written on boxes of LEGO Technic, want/need/like/love to make one, at least to “clear their minds”.

But this upper age limit as afore-said, in my opinion, creates a limit for the LEGO Technic lover.

Therefore I kindly suggest you put a lower age limit but a “infinite symbol” or a “?” for the upper age limit for those wonderful creations when Technic is the issue.

Best Regards,

Idris

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Agreed, there should not be an upper age limit on LEGO. Lower limit, yes due to small parts, but not an upper limit. Something like "Ages 10+" on the box would do the job.
Although I don't believe that the upper age limit "limits the love for LEGO Technic", AFOL will still play with LEGO regardless of what LEGO print on the box. There are 50/60+ year olds on this forum who still play with LEGO.

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I am not sure how the “age limit” matters because I think it is a suggestion for people looking to get a gift for a kid and seeing if it would be fitting for them. The only real age limit is 3+ due to choking hazards.

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They are there to provide guidance to the purchaser of what age range the product is suitable for.  It is no different than juvenile and young adult books that have age ranges listed in the publisher's product catalogue. 

As per the LEGO Movie age limits on the box are merely a suggestion.   :wink:   

As an adult you are free to ignore it at your own risk. They are probably there to cover any liability to the company.

 

 

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1 hour ago, dr_spock said:

They are there to provide guidance to the purchaser of what age range the product is suitable for.  It is no different than juvenile and young adult books that have age ranges listed in the publisher's product catalogue. 

As per the LEGO Movie age limits on the box are merely a suggestion.   :wink:   

As an adult you are free to ignore it at your own risk. They are probably there to cover any liability to the company.

 

 

Dear dr_spock, I do not think there is anything to ignore at my risk if I am over the lower-age-limit as given to LEGO by pedagogs and psychologists etc. I think there can be no liabilities ever to LEGO, especially for Technic for people well over the age of 40-50-60 and up to 150 (God knows) to even rehabilitate or entertain their minds thus “brain joy”

Best Regards,

Idris

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1 hour ago, dr_spock said:

As an adult you are free to ignore it at your own risk.

Just don't be surprised when the Lego Secret Police kick in your door. Those guys mean business!

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2 hours ago, TechnicRCRacer said:

I am not sure how the “age limit” matters because I think it is a suggestion for people looking to get a gift for a kid and seeing if it would be fitting for them. The only real age limit is 3+ due to choking hazards.

Dear TechnicRCRacer,

I believe it does for kids, ranging from one age to other, because LEGO uses professionals for their toys. For example, there can be no choking hazard for kids being more than 5-7 years old... For Technic, I again underline that there should be a lower age limit but over that, in my opinion is useless because the love for LEGO should not be limited, what’s more people, say 50 years old should not feel as a “retard” by others if the box says the toy is for kids between; say, 11-16 years of age... 

In my view this statement pushes the thought that a 25-year old young lady or a 60-year old gentleman would be seen “weird”, if they buy and assembly a Technic, by others...

I love Technic and I will buy the Mack Truck tomorrow and I am 41 years-old, I am well over 16 and I do not have a “choking hazard risk”, lol...

Best Regards,

Idris

4 minutes ago, Pdaitabird said:

Just don't be surprised when the Lego Secret Police kick in your door. Those guys mean business!

Lol! Beautiful message! Many thanks! :wink:

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3 hours ago, MxWinters said:

Agreed, there should not be an upper age limit on LEGO. Lower limit, yes due to small parts, but not an upper limit. Something like "Ages 10+" on the box would do the job.
Although I don't believe that the upper age limit "limits the love for LEGO Technic", AFOL will still play with LEGO regardless of what LEGO print on the box. There are 50/60+ year olds on this forum who still play with LEGO.

I totally agree with you, I am 41, single (but I always keep the small kids away if any comes for choking hazards) and I am a CPA working with almost 100 clients... In my “brain-washing/cooling” time, I buy a LEGO Technic kit and even sometimes I buy two of the same to assemble two different models of the same kit, without dissassembling the other... That’s “love”.

I always applaud LEGO for the adults themselves to have a wonderful time, especially with Technic...

In my opinion, Technic is the only “3D Assembly toy concept” in the world, which make adults have real fun, brain-work and relaxation with patience...

Best Regards,

Idris

PS: No person can vanish the love for LEGO Technic! :wub: 

 

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As I have some of this year's sets, all of them has the X+ sign on the box, which means they changed the two limits into one. Also, the TM sign at the Technic logo appeared, too.

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As someone who is well over the upper age limit for most sets, I simply buy them and wait in silence until an appropriately aged 'young un' is available to help me out.

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They started to change the display of age somewhere in 2018

The sets I got in 2019 all have some number and + sign, no more upper age limit.

They also rebranded the "Juniors" line of sets to 4+, while most other sets are 5+ or higher.

2019 Technic Sets certainly use that same system now. 

Examples.

Chevrolet ZR1 : 9+

Porche 911 RSR : 10+

Tracked Loader : 10+

Rough Terrain Crane : 11+ (August 2018 set  but it already uses the new age system, meanwhile some other august 2018 sets still used 10-16)

 

Nieuwe-visuals-LEGO-Technic-2019.png

Edited by TeriXeri

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I think one of the reasons LEGO used to put an upper age limit on sets was to steer people towards stuff at a building level more suited to their likely maturity/skill/experience level. Even in a theme like Technic, it's easy to see how a set like https://brickset.com/sets/42072-1/WHACK! might seem boring or silly to older teens and adults compared to more sophisticated and functionally advanced sets like https://brickset.com/sets/42078-1/Mack-Anthem or https://brickset.com/sets/42082-1/Rough-Terrain-Crane.

I also think a possible motivation might have been expecting some parents to read a 10+ age rating on a set as "this is a toy for ten-year-olds" and opt out of getting it for a 14-year-old or 16-year-old. After all, how many of us at the age of 7 or 8 would have been excited to receive a set with a 3+ or 4+ age recommendation on the box?

As adults, most of us now understand that we can generally enjoy a lot of sets regardless of our recommended age. Parents are not necessarily so understanding, particularly with regard to a toy that they expect to be creatively and intellectually stimulating, and recipients who may be frustrated if their parents treat them as any less grown-up or capable there are.

And furthermore, when people are shopping for gifts, they often like to be able to narrow their choices down somewhat. When shopping for a gift for a younger buyer, it's easy to do so by only looking at sets that they're above the recommended lower age limit for. But for older buyers, if there's no upper recommended age limit and a gift giver doesn't know enough about LEGO to know what differences there are between sets at different target age ranges, then lower recommended age limits that are all below the intended recipient's age don't narrow their choices at all! And a buyer who feels paralyzed by choice might be much less likely to purchase a LEGO set at all.

That said, there were obviously enough people who either feel the same way you do (whether for the same or different reasons) that LEGO has now gone back to simply recommending a lower age limit. Hopefully that serves them well going forward, as I agree that people can enjoy sets designed for much younger builders as long as they appeal to their interests!

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2 hours ago, Aanchir said:

I think one of the reasons LEGO used to put an upper age limit on sets was to steer people towards stuff at a building level more suited to their likely maturity/skill/experience level. Even in a theme like Technic, it's easy to see how a set like https://brickset.com/sets/42072-1/WHACK! might seem boring or silly to older teens and adults compared to more sophisticated and functionally advanced sets like https://brickset.com/sets/42078-1/Mack-Anthem or https://brickset.com/sets/42082-1/Rough-Terrain-Crane.

I also think a possible motivation might have been expecting some parents to read a 10+ age rating on a set as "this is a toy for ten-year-olds" and opt out of getting it for a 14-year-old or 16-year-old. After all, how many of us at the age of 7 or 8 would have been excited to receive a set with a 3+ or 4+ age recommendation on the box?

As adults, most of us now understand that we can generally enjoy a lot of sets regardless of our recommended age. Parents are not necessarily so understanding, particularly with regard to a toy that they expect to be creatively and intellectually stimulating, and recipients who may be frustrated if their parents treat them as any less grown-up or capable there are.

And furthermore, when people are shopping for gifts, they often like to be able to narrow their choices down somewhat. When shopping for a gift for a younger buyer, it's easy to do so by only looking at sets that they're above the recommended lower age limit for. But for older buyers, if there's no upper recommended age limit and a gift giver doesn't know enough about LEGO to know what differences there are between sets at different target age ranges, then lower recommended age limits that are all below the intended recipient's age don't narrow their choices at all! And a buyer who feels paralyzed by choice might be much less likely to purchase a LEGO set at all.

That said, there were obviously enough people who either feel the same way you do (whether for the same or different reasons) that LEGO has now gone back to simply recommending a lower age limit. Hopefully that serves them well going forward, as I agree that people can enjoy sets designed for much younger builders as long as they appeal to their interests!

I agree with you, but I also agree with suffocation’s post about parents. However, specifically for LEGO Technic, the sets are  extremely well thought, designed and produced. Therefore LEGO, in my opinion, has to give some age limits for the younger (0-10 years, for example, because the parents may not be that well educated etc.) or let’s say sets, which are NOT Technic. 

By the way, I had NO idea that the 2019 sets erased the upper age limit for Technic. (I think they thought like me).

So I thank your and TeriXeri’s post for the information. 

That was why I exactly started this topic and got my answer.

Maybe a further “touch”, would be to add an “infinite” symbol next to the lower age number. :) 

That said, I thank any and all of you who have contributed to this topic. It’s so good to communicate with intelligent and kind people like yourselves.

Thank you and,

Best Regards,

Idris

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My guess is that age ranges are mostly aimed at adults buying gifts for children who are not their own children. If your own child is into Lego (and you take an interest in what they are into) you know what will sets be appropriate for them. For someone else's child, people don't want to end up getting a gift that's too young or too old. I find it hard to believe any adult Lego fans are put off by upper age limits. Some might be embarrassed about 'playing with a toy' in general, but most quickly get over that!

Edited by aeh5040

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13 minutes ago, aeh5040 said:

My guess is that age ranges are mostly aimed at adults buying gifts for children who are not their own children. If your own child is into Lego (and you take an interest in what they are into) you know what will sets be appropriate for them. For someone else's child, people don't want to end up getting a gift that's too young or too old. I find it hard to believe any adult Lego fans are put off by upper age limits. Some might be embarrassed about 'playing with a toy' in general, but most quickly get over that!

Dear aeh5040,

Since this is the LEGO Technic area, my question was only related to the LEGO Technic sets' upper age limits.

You're right, people love "toys". But in my opinion, many LEGO Technic sets, are not toys. Many cars are not built in the complexity of a 2000+ piece LEGO Technic set... Very interestingly, I learnt here that 2019 series don't have an upper age limit for LEGO Technic, I rushed to the LEGO store and I have recently bought the Bugatti Chiron and saw that the upper age limit is gone. What's more, the lower age limit is 16 for that set.

Therefore I saw that LEGO saw what I saw, after 42 years of producing LEGO Technic sets and I didn't see the 2019 ones.

In the light of the above, this topic is nicely concluded.

My sincere thanks for your contribution.

Best Regards,

Idris

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