What happened with Functions/Play Features?

[Lego David]

When I was first watching reviews, I wasn't watching it to know whether the set is good or bad, but rather, I watched them to see what are the set's functions/play features. But I can't help but notice that nowdays fewer and fewer sets have those. Other than basic things such as stud shooters or spring loaded shooters, I barely see sets having functions. When I was a younger, I was very obsesed with functions. I watched whole reviews just to see what are the set's functions. But almost every time I watch a review now, I barely see any functions to the sets besides, of course of the simple ones I mentioned above.  Even the bigger sets feature few (if any) of them. I know that most AFOLs don't care about them because they care more about displaying their sets rather than playing with then, but still, they used to be a important part of the sets that added a lot more play value for the kids.

Does anyone know what happened?

[icm]

I'll leave it to @Aanchir to provide a detailed, evidence-based response with statistics and examples, but I'd say play features have never gone away, and there are just as many of them now as there ever were.  When I was growing up, the Lego sets I was most familiar with had hardly any "functions" at all, apart from cockpit hatches and storage compartments - for instance, look at the 1999 and 2000 waves of Star Wars.  Those sets have no functions at all that I'm aware of.  One of the things that most surprised me about the post-nadir renaissance in the late 2000s was its emphasis on mechanism-based play features in all lines, from original action/adventure/Space lines to Star Wars and City.  I suppose I haven't paid much attention to such mechanical play features in the sets of the past few years, but I'd hardly call them absent.  They're particularly abundant in medium-to-large Ninjago sets of the past three years, and the large Super Heroes airplanes and spaceships usually have some kind of mechanical functions.  In Star Wars you have walker legs, exploding shield generators, swinging cargo hauler arms, mechanically-synchronized variable-geometry wings, steerable crawler treads, flapping porg wings, door mechanisms for Death Star chasms and rathtar containers, dropping bombs with nifty trigger mechanisms, etc.  In City you get jets carrying retractable tail hooks, water-bomb dropping mechanisms, nifty cargo-grabbing mechanisms in large helicopters, geared counter-rotating drills, spring-loaded exploding jails, and so forth.  The Benny Spaceship!!! has retractable wings; the Ultimate Batmobile splits in four parts; the Batwing from TLBM has nifty geared rotating engines and wings; the Rexcelsior has a nifty trigger mechanism for its spring-loaded shooters.  The first Quinjet has a mechanism to drop a little drone; the second one has a mechanism to drop a motorcycle from the belly; the third one has a geared retractable gun.  The mechanical play features of modern sets don't change the look of the set when engaged as dramatically as, say, the dropped wings on the Explorien Starship, the magnetically-secured modules in Aquazone and UFO, or the concertina movement of the cell pickups on Space Police 2, but they're just as clever and just as fun if you just pay attention to them.

[Lego David]

29 minutes ago, icm said:

I'll leave it to @Aanchir to provide a detailed, evidence-based response with statistics and examples, but I'd say play features have never gone away, and there are just as many of them now as there ever were.  When I was growing up, the Lego sets I was most familiar with had hardly any "functions" at all, apart from cockpit hatches and storage compartments - for instance, look at the 1999 and 2000 waves of Star Wars.  Those sets have no functions at all that I'm aware of.  One of the things that most surprised me about the post-nadir renaissance in the late 2000s was its emphasis on mechanism-based play features in all lines, from original action/adventure/Space lines to Star Wars and City.  I suppose I haven't paid much attention to such mechanical play features in the sets of the past few years, but I'd hardly call them absent.  They're particularly abundant in medium-to-large Ninjago sets of the past three years, and the large Super Heroes airplanes and spaceships usually have some kind of mechanical functions.  In Star Wars you have walker legs, exploding shield generators, swinging cargo hauler arms, mechanically-synchronized variable-geometry wings, steerable crawler treads, flapping porg wings, door mechanisms for Death Star chasms and rathtar containers, dropping bombs with nifty trigger mechanisms, etc.  In City you get jets carrying retractable tail hooks, water-bomb dropping mechanisms, nifty cargo-grabbing mechanisms in large helicopters, geared counter-rotating drills, spring-loaded exploding jails, and so forth.  The Benny Spaceship!!! has retractable wings; the Ultimate Batmobile splits in four parts; the Batwing from TLBM has nifty geared rotating engines and wings; the Rexcelsior has a nifty trigger mechanism for its spring-loaded shooters.  The first Quinjet has a mechanism to drop a little drone; the second one has a mechanism to drop a motorcycle from the belly; the third one has a geared retractable gun.  The mechanical play features of modern sets don't change the look of the set when engaged as dramatically as, say, the dropped wings on the Explorien Starship, the magnetically-secured modules in Aquazone and UFO, or the concertina movement of the cell pickups on Space Police 2, but they're just as clever and just as fun if you just pay attention to them.

There may be still plenty of play features, but I noticed how they tend to become simpler nowdays then the complex, large one we used to get.

Such as this

The Hive Crawler, has (IMO) one of the best functions ever, where when you move it, it's legs move, making it look like it's actually crawling, being an amazing audition to the already great set.

Another example

The Aerial Defense  Unit has the function where you push a button and the twin rotors spin automatically. While this type of function may still be present in Technic sets, I never see it being used in System sets.

So, while some functions are still present, they don't add much to the overall set, as compared to the two sets I mentioned above. Larger functions such as those rarely appear nowdays as far as I am aware.

[Vindicare]

Well, I can confirm the Galaxy Squad set you mentioned is alive & well in 76114 Spider-Man’s Spider-Crawler, I just finished taking it apart. 

Just looking at what sets I’ve built recently, 70829 Escape Buggy has a launching feature, 70835 Rexplorer has a smaller shuttle that detaches from the main one. 

Pretty much every Superheroes set has at least one. They’re out there. 

[Lego David]

25 minutes ago, Vindicare said:

Well, I can confirm the Galaxy Squad set you mentioned is alive & well in 76114 Spider-Man’s Spider-Crawler, I just finished taking it apart. 

Just looking at what sets I’ve built recently, 70829 Escape Buggy has a launching feature, 70835 Rexplorer has a smaller shuttle that detaches from the main one. 

Pretty much every Superheroes set has at least one. They’re out there. 

Well that is the thing. Most of the functions we get now days are just either some kind of launcher/blaster or a detach function. The Spider Man one you mentioned if sort of a exception. 

So yeah, I know that they are still out there, but I feel like the become less and less common... Gear functions are barely used on rare occasions. 

 

[TeriXeri]

Play features still exist in 2018 and 2019 sets.

Look at the 2018 Mining theme which had buttons to press to "detonate" TNT, splitting rocks, rotating mining grinders and a minecart track.

2019 : 

City : 

Sky police has parachutes and vehicles with hooks to pick up cargo/vehicles.

Fire theme has 2 new ways to put out fires, via a squeeze/air hose, or a triple-studshooter, and a new light/sound element.

Star Wars:  Play sets using those rubber-tipped missiles.

Lego Movie 2 : Popup Party Bus can open/close in multiple areas, and has a lightbrick disco effect, as well as new gear elements with turntables.

 

Creator 3-in-1:

Carousel has a shaft you can use to rotate the entire thing.

 

Dual Rotor Helicopter has a winch and rotor function similar to  that Agents Copter you posted.
 

Super Heroes : 

Spider-Man's Spider Crawler , the spider legs move as you move it forward like that Galaxy Squad set you posted.

 

 

So no, it's not all stud shooters or flickfire missiles in 2019.

 

Nexo Knights from 2016-2018 had basicly all sorts of playfunctions as well within 1 theme you had : 

- Many projectiles , spring loaded,  (6) stud shooters, different types of crossbows, ball launchers, catapults, flick fire, rubber tipped missile, discs, and targets to hit within some sets.

- Transformative features, Fortrex and Knighton Castle could open and close to appear very differently, Siege tower could rear up on 4 wheels instead of the 6.

- Detachment/splitting : Many vehicles had 1-2 subvehicles that could detach and open up new playfeatures underneath. Notable ones are the Tower from Axl Tower Carrier, Jestro's Head flying machine, Clay's 4-in-1 Jet/2bikes/shooter, Aaron's escape pod or bike dropping, Twinfector splitting in 2 bikes.

- Moving parts when moving the vehicles where moving, like magmars hammers hitting the ground, or the giant globlin heads opening and closing on Beastmaster Charriot, Drills spinning when riding.

- Prison cells to capture or break out figures, or traps to make a figure fall into some prison or bad area.

- Geared elements, like the spinning monster maw in Jestro's Castle, as well as the sawblade.

- Role play elements in some sets, like beds, dining room, cooking area, bathtub, round table, or weapon room/training areas.

- Heligoyle also had dual-rotating rotors by spinning 1 element near the back handle.

 

 

Edited April 24, 2019 by TeriXeri

[BrickG]

I hate play features. Even when I was a kid I hated them. I hope they go away entirely. Stud shooters instead of proper blasters is ridiculous.

But I was never a kid that "played" with action figures like you see on TV. Do people do that? I'd use them to inspire my imagination and was a regular muppet baby and would act things out (still do sometimes shhhh). 

[Lego David]

1 hour ago, TeriXeri said:

Play features still exist in 2018 and 2019 sets.

Look at the 2018 Mining theme which had buttons to press to "detonate" TNT, splitting rocks, rotating mining grinders and a minecart track.

2019 : 

City : 

Sky police has parachutes and vehicles with hooks to pick up cargo/vehicles.

Fire theme has 2 new ways to put out fires, via a squeeze/air hose, or a triple-studshooter, and a new light/sound element.

Star Wars:  Play sets using those rubber-tipped missiles.

Lego Movie 2 : Popup Party Bus can open/close in multiple areas, and has a lightbrick disco effect, as well as new gear elements with turntables.

 

Creator 3-in-1:

Carousel has a shaft you can use to rotate the entire thing.

 

Dual Rotor Helicopter has a winch and rotor function similar to  that Agents Copter you posted.
 

Super Heroes : 

Spider-Man's Spider Crawler , the spider legs move as you move it forward like that Galaxy Squad set you posted.

 

 

So no, it's not all stud shooters or flickfire missiles in 2019.

 

Nexo Knights from 2016-2018 had basicly all sorts of playfunctions as well within 1 theme you had : 

- Many projectiles , spring loaded,  (6) stud shooters, different types of crossbows, ball launchers, catapults, flick fire, rubber tipped missile, discs, and targets to hit within some sets.

- Transformative features, Fortrex and Knighton Castle could open and close to appear very differently, Siege tower could rear up on 4 wheels instead of the 6.

- Detachment/splitting : Many vehicles had 1-2 subvehicles that could detach and open up new playfeatures underneath. Notable ones are the Tower from Axl Tower Carrier, Jestro's Head flying machine, Clay's 4-in-1 Jet/2bikes/shooter, Aaron's escape pod or bike dropping, Twinfector splitting in 2 bikes.

- Moving parts when moving the vehicles where moving, like magmars hammers hitting the ground, or the giant globlin heads opening and closing on Beastmaster Charriot, Drills spinning when riding.

- Prison cells to capture or break out figures, or traps to make a figure fall into some prison or bad area.

- Geared elements, like the spinning monster maw in Jestro's Castle, as well as the sawblade.

- Role play elements in some sets, like beds, dining room, cooking area, bathtub, round table, or weapon room/training areas.

- Heligoyle also had dual-rotating rotors by spinning 1 element near the back handle.

 

 

Well... I guess I was wrong then. But the fact that the Overwatch sets are almost completely functionless was probably what inspired me to make this topic. Seriously, the back of the boxes were just the same as the front of the boxes but with different backgrounds.

Edited April 24, 2019 by Lego David

[icm]

Yeah, the lack of play features/functions/mechanisms in the Overwatch sets is pretty disappointing.

[Lyichir]

21 minutes ago, Lego David said:

Well... I guess I was wrong then. But the fact that the Overwatch sets are almost completely functionless was probably what inspired me to make this topic. Seriously, the back of the boxes were just the same as the front of the boxes but with different backgrounds.

In the case of the Overwatch sets it might have something to do with the sets being aimed at a slightly older audience, and thus generally emphasizing display and role-play options rather than play features that might detract from the look of the sets as a display piece. There's also a matter of having to create functions based on the actual subject matter of the game, much of which doesn't necessarily allow for the kinds of dynamic functions you often see in an original theme like Ninjago.

Even so, there are a couple interesting features they've added to liven up the sets a bit. The best example is Watchpoint: Gibraltar, which adapted the spaceship into a multi-stage vehicle that can separate, as well as added a docking point on the back to attach the drone from the smallest set in the wave. It's clear that despite those sets mostly adapting non-functional "set dressing" from the game, Lego's designers tried to pack in the sorts of functions that had proven popular in other themes.

[Aanchir]

8 hours ago, icm said:

I'll leave it to @Aanchir to provide a detailed, evidence-based response with statistics and examples

I mean, I'll try not to waste my time going into TOO much detail, but suffice to say that I'm seeing a lot of problems with this thread.

First of all, @Lego David, when one of the examples of an exceptional function that you provide is from only six years ago, I feel like that alone calls into question the idea that there's been some steady decline in functionality. When the Hive Crawler was itself the only set of its time with that crawling function, couldn't you just as easily say that it was as much of an "exception" as the Spider Crawler?

As far as the Agents copter goes, pretty much the exact same rotor function appeared in https://brickset.com/sets/70227-1/King-Crominus-Rescue from 2015. That set also functions as a drop ship that can deploy the lion buggy. And https://brickset.com/sets/70170-1/UltraCopter-vs-AntiMatter from the same year introduced an entirely new function, coaxial rotors that spin in opposite directions… oh, and it also has not just a winch but blaster turrets that extend to the sides. On that note, it's bizarre to me that you're so dismissive of spring-loaded shooters when that was one of just two functions/action features in a set you were praising in another thread not that long ago, https://brickset.com/sets/7477-1/T-1-Typhoon-vs-T-Rex.

This year alone, there are loads of sets with extensive functions. Besides the many sets TeriXeri mentioned above, there's also:

• the wing-spreading function of https://brickset.com/sets/70679-1/The-Ultra-Dragon
• the revolving wall, catapult, swinging blade, and swordfighting functions of https://brickset.com/sets/70670-1/Monastery-of-Spinjitzu
• the swing-wing function of https://brickset.com/sets/70668-1/Jay-s-Storm-Fighter
• the counter-rotating drill and engines of https://www.lego.com/biassets/bi/6268248.pdf (the drill function we've seen many times before, but the rotating engines in the back are a new addition)
• the fold-out blades of https://brickset.com/sets/70667-1/Kai-s-Blade-Cycle-Zane-s-Snowmobile
• the transformation functions of the various Hidden Side sets
• the Spinjitzu-activated splitting function of https://brickset.com/sets/70678-1/Castle-of-the-Forsaken-Emperor
• the cutters that spin when rolled along the ground in https://brickset.com/sets/70673-1/Shuricopter
• the lever-activated front cutter of https://brickset.com/sets/70675-1/Katana-4X4
• the side cutters, functional steering, detachable flyer, and fold-out shooters of https://brickset.com/sets/70677-1/Land-Bounty
• the slammer functions of the Spinjitzu Slam sets
• the rapid-fire six-shot spring missile function in https://brickset.com/sets/70839-1/The-Rexcelsior!
• the synchronized engine rotation and the Plantimal's grabbing function in https://brickset.com/sets/70835-1/Rex-s-Rexplorer!
• the vampire transformation function and hot tub trap door in https://brickset.com/sets/70837-1/Shimmer-Shine-Sparkle-Spa!
• the spinning egg ride in https://brickset.com/sets/75937-1/Triceratops-Rampage
• the dragon dance function in https://brickset.com/sets/80102-1/Dragon-Dance

…and probably more that I'm not thinking of. If I were to look at play-feature-heavy sets from other recent years, from themes like Friends, Nexo Knights, Minecraft, Elves, The LEGO Batman Movie, The LEGO Ninjago Movie, Bionicle, and so on, then this post would drag on for way longer than it already has, and I doubt that any of us would gain much from that.

Honestly, these topics of yours are getting tiresome. Every time it's the same thing, lamenting how LEGO is in decline in one way or another… and yet the types of decline you're imagining are getting increasingly spurious and out-of-touch with reality.

I'm not sure how old you were when these mid-2000s to early 2010s sets were coming out, but I think something all AFOLs need to remind ourselves of time and time again (including me) is that there is literally nothing LEGO can do to recreate the magic of simply being a kid and experiencing the magic of LEGO play through those younger and less jaded eyes.

LEGO could conceivably bring out a theme featuring pretty much everything we would have loved as kids and we would still be less enamored by it than we were as kids, when it was so much easier to overlook a set's weaknesses and when even fairly basic functions still felt new and exciting. Not only have LEGO's design standards gone up over the past decades, but so have our own.

And of course, as adults, we have to think about practical concerns like maintaining a balanced budget or making efficient use of our living space much harder than most of us needed to as kids. So it goes without saying that sets we might have bought or asked for as gifts simply because they were new and exciting back then might be looked at with a more critical eye today.

4 minutes ago, Lego David said:

Well... I guess I was wrong then. But the fact that the Overwatch sets are almost completely functionless was probably what inspired me to make this topic. Seriously, the back of the boxes were just the same as the front of the boxes but with different backgrounds.

It's good that you're able to admit that. But even in the Overwatch sets, you're being a little bit reductive. Perhaps most notably, https://brickset.com/sets/75974-1/Bastion has a light brick and converts from robot to turret mode. And the rocket in https://brickset.com/sets/75975-1/Watchpoint-Gibraltar has a panel that opens to reveal hidden laser cannons, separates into front and back stages, and can be combined with the payload from https://brickset.com/sets/75970-1/Tracer-vs-Widowmaker.

Moreover, I think that on some levels you are also looking at past themes with rose-colored glasses. In some of the years you wax nostalgic for like 2008, there were a LOT of sets in even heavily action-driven themes like Exo-Force, Mars Mission, Star Wars, Bionicle, Racers, and Indiana Jones in which the main play features were ones that you seem to largely disregard in today's sets: shooters, opening hatches, modules that split apart, articulated joints, "swooshable" or "zoomable" vehicles, and of course less "action feature" dependent role play scenarios.

I'm not saying this is something you should be ashamed of being prone to. It's easy to fall victim to selective memory when the sets that were least impressive in terms of design or playability also tend to be among the least memorable. And most of the time, it makes no difference to remember past sets/themes in a positive light and gloss over the stuff that was less likable. I can be as prone to this as anybody, and am sometimes surprised when I look up an old set I loved even within the past decade only to see that "huh, it really isn't as remarkable a building experience/play experience/value as I remembered".

But before you criticize modern stuff aimed at much younger buyers than us, you ought to similarly take a step back and take a serious look at whether the years you look back fondly at were really that much better overall, or whether you're simply judging them according to a handful of standout sets that have a fond place in your memory even today. Because as much as LEGO has changed over the years, a lot of stuff hasn't changed nearly as much as a lot of us older folks tend to imagine.

[dr_spock]

Have you tried Friends sets such as the Go Kart stuff?  They may have the functions and play features you seek. 

 

[Johnny1360]

And then we have Hidden Side, should be plenty of play features/functions there. 

[Vindicare]

Personally, I don’t mind your topic choices. They’re great conservation starters, albeit a bit too much on the negative side. Keep ‘em coming I say. 

[Lego David]

51 minutes ago, Vindicare said:

Personally, I don’t mind your topic choices. They’re great conservation starters, albeit a bit too much on the negative side. Keep ‘em coming I say. 

Thanks! I though nobody liked my topics!

Edited April 25, 2019 by Lego David

[Mylenium]

On 4/24/2019 at 6:23 AM, Lego David said:

But I can't help but notice that nowdays fewer and fewer sets have those.

Depends on what you're looking at, I guess. I would argue that the distribution of actual play features is a bit uneven across sets, but that doesn't mean that there aren't enough in absolute. Of course it's true that you could buy a small City set and have tons of play stuff and in contrast a big Star Wars set might have zero, but in a way some of that is intrinsic to what the series try to replicate and how "realistic" they are. Currently the only thing that totally rubs me the wrong way is how terribly dumbed down many Technic sets are, as by their nature they should be overflowing with functional features, but for most other series it's actually pretty okay if only you look in the right places.

Mylenium

[TeriXeri]

5 hours ago, Mylenium said:

Currently the only thing that totally rubs me the wrong way is how terribly dumbed down many Technic sets are, as by their nature they should be overflowing with functional features, but for most other series it's actually pretty okay if only you look in the right places.

I liked that a theme like Nexo Knights had quite a few system-based technic built in, but I have no interest in the actual Technic sets using panels instead.

Possibly has to do with my dark age from 2000-2016, so I never got into newer Technic, outside of the 1999/2000 Slizers.

But even System is moving toward their own parts where possible, for turntables there's the new rounded gears with studs on them, which I don't consider Technic really.

Edited April 25, 2019 by TeriXeri

[Mylenium]

1 hour ago, TeriXeri said:

But even System is moving toward their own parts where possible, for turntables there's the new rounded gears with studs on them,

Yupp, they're great, even more so since despite being very inclined to Technic, I really hate it when conventional brick models are ruined by Technic parts peeking out everywhere.

Mylenium

[MAB]

Buy some modern sets and try them. You might also be watching the wrong reviews as some AFOL reviewers ignore play functions. As lyichir mentions, sets aimed at an older audience tend to have less play features than sets aimed at a younger audience. Older people tend to more towards build and display rather than build and play like younger ones.