Unpopular Opinions about LEGO

[Flak Maniak]

Don't quote me as having said that! That's 2lazeetomakeaname's opinion! I'm on your side; I love unlicensed themes and hardly ever buy licensed sets! Even if Lego licensed some of my favorite media, I still could easily pass on it! Not that very many of the things I love would pass the brand-appropriate test, but even the ones that would, like Gravity Falls... Do I really want a Mystery Shack on my shelf? I can't say that I do.

[The Island Chronicles]

1 hour ago, Lego David said:

My opinion is the complete opposite, most licensed themes are pure cash-grabs and LEGO rarely takes them seriously. They just know the IP will sell, and don't bother putting any real love or care into properly designing those sets. 

I agree. Lego's generic themes have made a lot of amazing sets as time has gone by. There are still some great sets. Especially ones centered around vehicles. 

[TeriXeri]

While licensed Duplo isn't exactly a new 2021 thing(Cars/Princess/Mickey/DC/Marvel) , surprisingly there isn't something like a Duplo Ninjago set, but there is Batman vs Joker or Ironman/Spiderman/Capt.America.

On the other hand, it's understandable LEGO seems to try to have Duplo sets move into 4+ theme for a while now, especially with Disney Princess and now the upcoming Mickey 4+ theme.

Not a complaint here, as those sets aren't my target group or interest, just an observation, Duplo also still has their own inhouse themes, like Farm (2021) Houses & Construction (2020), Zoo (2019)  etc going back a long time.

But the days of for example Duplo Pirates/Castle are long gone at this point, so a lot for those themes nowadays seem to rely on AFOL and nostalgia instead of targeting younger new LEGO fans. (the recent 3-in-1 sets are target age 9+, and IDEAS even 16+ and 18+ for Barracuda/Blacksmith, (sure they are age suggestions, but they don't put it on the box for no reason)

I'm not suggesting 4+ Castle/Pirates sets however, I even think there are too many 4+ sets (mainly for City, there are 4 in 1 year in since 2019) nowadays, some of those 5+ sets seem very simple already, especially the instructions is almost like 1 piece per page for smaller sets.

Edited May 20, 2021 by TeriXeri

[eldiano]

Rather than throw away the lego plastic bags, why can’t they use the same exact bags they make for their famous Pick a Brick Service??? I find myself buying ziploc bags and realized why hasn’t lego attempted to make numbered reusable and reopen-able bags?

I get theft might be an issue but they I rarely see opened boxes in Lego stores 🤷‍♂️ 

[williejm]

31 minutes ago, eldiano said:

Rather than throw away the lego plastic bags, why can’t they use the same exact bags they make for their famous Pick a Brick Service??? I find myself buying ziploc bags and realized why hasn’t lego attempted to make numbered reusable and reopen-able bags?

I get theft might be an issue but they I rarely see opened boxes in Lego stores 🤷‍♂️ 

This is such a great idea.

[eldiano]

1 hour ago, williejm said:

This is such a great idea.

I’m hoping Lego realizes this potential, I also want to buy Lego styled bags like this!!!

I ordered a big order from their service and managed to see they labeled them like A, B, C, D which was interesting to say the least!! One can dream!

[Kim-Kwang-Seok]

16 hours ago, eldiano said:

Rather than throw away the lego plastic bags, why can’t they use the same exact bags they make for their famous Pick a Brick Service??? I find myself buying ziploc bags and realized why hasn’t lego attempted to make numbered reusable and reopen-able bags?

I get theft might be an issue but they I rarely see opened boxes in Lego stores 🤷‍♂️ 

probably because it would bump up the price. Not just the "higher quality" for packeging - it's about the existing mechanics of how to put what were and the process to change. The change is often the problem in a large company.

But yeah, with some ecological reforms what wont come until it's quite late that would be managable. Like states could make funding for companies that do reuse and recycle more.

[dr_spock]

LEGO had resealable bags at one time for their Grab Bags.  They did away with that offering several years ago.  Unless you bring your own, reusing used plastic bags can have health and safety implications for the germophobic.

[Kim-Kwang-Seok]

while we are talking about recycling:

I have always wondered why TLG doesn't tap into the 2nd hand market:

I heared TLG bought bricklink. I would actually get more Lego if I could but space and money went into older sets. Some I managed to sell or give away differently but despite trying I found Bricklink horrible to manage. One dealer even offered me to use his account to sell my stuff but seeing the effort he had managing his store I though no way it ain't worth the labor involved.

Now I now this ain't all Lego's fault or anyones. But for people like me it would be beneficial if we could simply sell older sets and figures at an actual Lego store. I have figures and sets worth quite a lot of money but I don't want to go through the effort; sending them around the world with all the implications. Simply giving to a Lego store for much less money -  they could resell properly and without big effort (since they have proper distribution) while expanding their business and still profiting from the 2nd hand market.

[Toastie]

5 hours ago, Kim-Kwang-Seok said:

I have always wondered why TLG doesn't tap into the 2nd hand market

Well, I believe there are multiple quality assurance issues, when going that route (which appears to be >very< expensive) ...

... and ...

I believe volume wise, the 2nd hand market is more or less negligible - as compared to cranking out new sets, delivered all over the world.

Best
Thorsten

[eldiano]

7 hours ago, dr_spock said:

LEGO had resealable bags at one time for their Grab Bags.  They did away with that offering several years ago.  Unless you bring your own, reusing used plastic bags can have health and safety implications for the germophobic.

It can be, but at least throwing plastic bags never to re use them again is a bigger issue than something than can be "sanitized" now days, I am a huge germaphobe and find it hilarious people didn't have hand sanitizers on them at all times, heck the notion that they need to be told to properly wash their hands was just mind boggling to me.   

6 hours ago, Kim-Kwang-Seok said:

while we are talking about recycling:

I have always wondered why TLG doesn't tap into the 2nd hand market:

I heared TLG bought bricklink. I would actually get more Lego if I could but space and money went into older sets. Some I managed to sell or give away differently but despite trying I found Bricklink horrible to manage. One dealer even offered me to use his account to sell my stuff but seeing the effort he had managing his store I though no way it ain't worth the labor involved.

Now I now this ain't all Lego's fault or anyones. But for people like me it would be beneficial if we could simply sell older sets and figures at an actual Lego store. I have figures and sets worth quite a lot of money but I don't want to go through the effort; sending them around the world with all the implications. Simply giving to a Lego store for much less money -  they could resell properly and without big effort (since they have proper distribution) while expanding their business and still profiting from the 2nd hand market.

To be honest Lego does own BrickLink so I am use they tapped that market, who knows their actual cut, one might say they might contribute into the price drops thanks to their existing used inventory or who knows but at the end of the day what really surprises me is the fact that LEGO doesn't ever do restocks or reissues of classical sets.  I get reimagined sets but literally older sets meant for the real fans who will dump all sorts of cash for sets like those if they thought about it!! 

[Kit Figsto]

On 6/8/2021 at 6:13 PM, eldiano said:

To be honest Lego does own BrickLink so I am use they tapped that market, who knows their actual cut, one might say they might contribute into the price drops thanks to their existing used inventory or who knows but at the end of the day what really surprises me is the fact that LEGO doesn't ever do restocks or reissues of classical sets.  I get reimagined sets but literally older sets meant for the real fans who will dump all sorts of cash for sets like those if they thought about it!! 

I think the market on straight up re-issuing older sets is narrower than people might think.  I would love a chance to get some older sets, but there's a few problems with a lot of them.  The big thing is that a lot of sets from the past, in terms of playability, frankly aren't anywhere close to the modern standards.  I really like a lot of older sets, but when you look at the functionality and playability of them compared with, say, a modern City or Ninjago set, it's not even a contest for most any set.  On top of that, the level of detail is a lot weaker (again, not every set is like this, but many are a lot less detailed than a modern set).  

For those reasons, I feel like these re-issues would only really work in terms of appealing to current AFOLs or maybe people that aren't currently fans of Lego, but remember the sets as kids.  Most people under the age of, say, 25, unless they're already a huge Lego fan, would have no interest in them, especially kids, who would probably be much more enticed by new City or Ninjago stuff.

Their techniques and building styles advance so much, even in this modern era of Lego (say, the last 10-15 years) where things have become a lot more refined and detailed, that anything old being re-issued would just not be up to the same standard.  Look at the UCS R2-D2, for example.  If I'm not mistaken, the original one was put out in 2012, and collectors seemed to really enjoy that set.  There was quite a bit of discussion about how the re-issue in May probably wouldn't be too much different, and yet, it still managed to impress people by adding some more functions and changing up the dome a little bit to make it a little bit less blocky.  That's just one example, but that was barely ten years ago and things already changed that much.  I'd bet we'll see something similar when they put out the UCS Tumbler this fall, even though the original one was only put out 7(?) years ago.

For all of the grief people give Lego about certain themes being uninspired or a lack of dual molded arms on this figure, their builds truly do constantly improve over time, even when you think "Okay, they can't really go much more detailed than this."

I apologize for getting a bit ramble-y, my overall point is just that AFOLs are a relatively small segment of the Lego market, and such re-issues would likely only appeal to them, making it probably not worth the cost and time to put something like that together.  The difference, to me, between a straight up re-issue and some of their newer products targeted at adults is that a re-issue would be essentially a kid-centric toy (say, a castle or space ship) that they want adults to buy, whereas their newer mosaics, helmet busts, or Ideas sets are adult-centric that some older kids may also have an interest in.  Them being licensed and often very good display pieces also means they may attract people who aren't necessarily Lego diehards, but think that a mosaic of Marilyn Monroe made of Lego pieces would be cool to hang in their living room.

Now, I think there are some sets from the 80s or 90s that could be both iconic enough and have enough play/display appeal to make them attractive as a re-issue not just to the AFOL crowd, but again, I just don't see it working, as much as I'd love a re-issue of some older sets that I've never been able to afford.

[Lego David]

On 6/12/2021 at 8:29 PM, Kit Figsto said:

For all of the grief people give Lego about certain themes being uninspired or a lack of dual molded arms on this figure, their builds truly do constantly improve over time, even when you think "Okay, they can't really go much more detailed than this."

It depends on what you define as "constantly improve" because that can act as a big of a double edged sword. Sets from 10 years ago were a lot less detailed, yes, but is that really that big of a problem? One thing that I have noticed with most modern sets is that they tend to use a lot of pieces on a very small build and make it very detailed, but the build itself isn't anything substantial. One the other hand, older sets tended to use less pieces, and focus on making a imposing build with a limited amount of parts. 

Truth to be told, I never really cared much about details myself, and I would much rather just have a cool set to play around with. 

Edited June 13, 2021 by Lego David

[Kaanere]

2 hours ago, Lego David said:

 Is the newer Kai's Mech superior when compared to the Grand Titan? I would argue not necessarily. Yet the newer version is the exact same size as the older one, but is more expensive and uses more parts. 

The new version isn't more expensive. 15 dollars in 2006 is about 19.59 dollars when adjusted for inflation, aproximately the same price.

[1974]

And there are only a few more pieces, nothing earthshattering. While I actually do agree with you LD, you picked a rather terrible comparison

[Lira_Bricks]

4 hours ago, Lego David said:

It depends on what you define as "constantly improve" because that can act as a big of a double edged sword. Sets from 10 years ago were a lot less detailed, yes, but is that really that big of a problem? One thing that I have noticed with most modern sets is that they tend to use a lot of pieces on a very small build and make it very detailed, but the build itself isn't anything substantial. One the other hand, older sets tended to use less pieces, and focus on making a imposing build with a limited amount of parts. 

Truth to be told, I never really cared much about details myself, and I would much rather just have a cool set to play around with. 

Did you remove your comparison of exo-force to ninjago because of 1974's comment?

Also, I am pretty sure people said the same thing when exo-force came out.

There are a few pieces I do not like tho, like https://www.bricklink.com/v2/catalog/catalogitem.page?P=65578&name=Minifigure, Utensil Posing Stand, Bar with Hollow Stud&category=[Minifigure, Utensil]#T=C or https://www.bricklink.com/v2/catalog/catalogitem.page?P=25893&amp;name=Plate, Round 1 x 1 with Bar Handle&amp;category=[Plate, Round]#T=C . Those are used more and more.

Edited June 13, 2021 by Lira_Bricks

[Good and Swordy]

Full disclosure -- this is an opinion piece, not a "Lego should do this! My opinions are FACTS!" thing.

1. I'm sick of Ninjago. I know it's a money printing press for Lego, but it's been around for 10 years now and it's partially to blame for us not getting a decent action-adventure theme up until then. They gotta be running out of ideas for it by now.
2. Power Miners was great, you guys are just mean.
3. It's not "pandering" just because you aren't the target audience. (People who complained about the Women of NASA and Everyone is Awesome sets, I'm looking at you.)
4. Girl-oriented themes like Belville and Friends aren't the problem, it's parents who force gender roles on their kids. Little girls who like Ninjago and Racers are great, little boys who like Friends and Disney Princesses are great too.
5. Lego could use a new constraction theme. A Bionicle reboot wouldn't be a good idea though -- we saw how well *that* worked in 2015 -- and I don't think many want Hero Factory again. They need a fresh idea.
6. I don't like double-sided heads where one face is happy and the other is happier. The whole point of a double sided head is that a minifig can have a better range of emotion.
7. I'm also sick of the super heroes line, but that's more of a symptom of my general hatred of superhero movies.
8. City would benefit from residential and suburban themed sets, like apartment complexes and basic houses. I also kind of dislike how everything in City looks so new and pristine, I wish the sets had a more lived-in aesthetic like Hidden Side does, but that's more of a personal gripe.

so yeah there are my unsolicited opinions

[Stuartn]

22 minutes ago, Good and Swordy said:

so yeah there are my unsolicited opinions

Of which I agree with every one, in terms of Ninjago, the set quality gets better and better each wave: they are by far the best quality sets made in my opinion, but I feel ten years is a good cut off point, and I’d love to see TLG dedicate their energy to something new

[teljesnegyzet]

32 minutes ago, Good and Swordy said:

4. Girl-oriented themes like Belville and Friends aren't the problem, it's parents who force gender roles on their kids. Little girls who like Ninjago and Racers are great, little boys who like Friends and Disney Princesses are great too.

Is it an unpopular opinion? It shouldn't be.

[Lego David]

2 hours ago, Good and Swordy said:

2. Power Miners was great, you guys are just mean.

Honestly, I feel like every original action adventure theme LEGO does is great in its own right... most of the times people are just mean because it isn't the same as the thing they grew up with, 

3 hours ago, Good and Swordy said:

4. Girl-oriented themes like Belville and Friends aren't the problem, it's parents who force gender roles on their kids. Little girls who like Ninjago and Racers are great, little boys who like Friends and Disney Princesses are great too.

I see some people constantly saying that LEGO is sexist because they have a gender separation in their products, but honestly, if little girls genuinely like Friends and Disney princess, why try to take that away from them? The fact that those themes have constantly been on the list of top selling LEGO themes for so long is certainly saying a lot in that regard. 

3 hours ago, Good and Swordy said:

5. Lego could use a new constraction theme. A Bionicle reboot wouldn't be a good idea though -- we saw how well *that* worked in 2015 -- and I don't think many want Hero Factory again. They need a fresh idea.

Actually, there are a lot of people who would like to see a Hero Factory reboot. Unlike Bionicle, that theme was a lot more flexible and less reliant on a complicated story, therefore it would be a lot easier to re-imagine it a way that would bring it to a new audience. So, in my opinion, a Hero Factory reboot would have a higher chance of being successful than another Bionicle reboot. But I do agree with you that a brand new Constraction line would be probably be the way to go. There so many possibilities of what they could do with the concept of "Buildable Action Figures" yet LEGO gave up on the idea way too quickly in my opinion, despite obviously still being a big audience for it. 

3 hours ago, Good and Swordy said:

7. I'm also sick of the super heroes line, but that's more of a symptom of my general hatred of superhero movies.

I am not against Superhero movies per say, but I do hate the LEGO Superhero sets, because they are obvious cash-grab sets that were quickly thrown together without any real thought or effort put into them, knowing that people are going to buy them regardless. Most of them don't even try to recreate the source material they are based off of, but rather just make random oversized vehicles that superheroes shouldn't even have. 

 

[jimmynick]

4 hours ago, Good and Swordy said:

2. Power Miners was great, you guys are just mean.

100%, great theme

[Lira_Bricks]

1 hour ago, Lego David said:

Unlike Bionicle, that theme was a lot more flexible and less reliant on a complicated story, therefore it would be a lot easier to re-imagine it a way that would bring it to a new audience.

I did not speak any of the languages that were used for the stories or were printed on the boxes. I still liked the sets a lot. I just made up my own stories :)

I did not like the Hero Factory sets since they were less Technic and more CCBS. So I would prefer a new theme that looks, set-wise, more like Bionicle than one that looks more like Hero Factory.

[Lego David]

1 hour ago, Lira_Bricks said:

I did not like the Hero Factory sets since they were less Technic and more CCBS. So I would prefer a new theme that looks, set-wise, more like Bionicle than one that looks more like Hero Factory.

The problem with that is that with Technic, you can only do robots, and nothing else. With CCBS, you can also do human characters, organic creatures, and on top of that, CCBS fits aesthetically a lot better with System than Technic does. The Bionicle Technic system was more of a product of its time, but in my opinion, CCBS is pretty timeless and they really should have thought twice before discontinuing it. I am still all for giving CCBS characters Technic vehicles to ride on, though. 

1 hour ago, Lira_Bricks said:

I did not speak any of the languages that were used for the stories or were printed on the boxes. I still liked the sets a lot. I just made up my own stories :)

Well, you might have been in a minority there... because half of the appeal of Bionicle came from the elaborate storyline. Heck, a lot of people in the Bionicle community today only care about the story, and nothing else. 

[Karalora]

4 hours ago, Lego David said:

I see some people constantly saying that LEGO is sexist because they have a gender separation in their products, but honestly, if little girls genuinely like Friends and Disney princess, why try to take that away from them? The fact that those themes have constantly been on the list of top selling LEGO themes for so long is certainly saying a lot in that regard. 

The cutesy aesthetic of Friends and the related lines bugs me, not so much on its own but because it winds up being stylistically incompatible with standard LEGO and effectively creates a separation between...not "LEGO for girls" and "LEGO for boys," but "LEGO for girls" and regular LEGO. It subtly enforces the notion that LEGO isn't for girls by default, because they had to make up a different girly version.

But, as I understand it, this is not TLG's fault. It's the fault of toy retailers, which maintain a rigid separation between girls' toys and boys' toys in stores and would not stock LEGO products in the girls' aisles without certain stylistic markers--the more doll-like figures, lots of pink and purple colors, etc.

[dr_spock]

The product descriptions for recent Friends sets use words like kids, youngsters, children.  They also use boys and girls. 

Example: 41432 Alpaca Mountain Jungle Rescue on LEGO Shop at Home website.

Immerse children in exciting mountain adventures with this colorful and detailed brick-built exploding volcano building toy for kids who love action play, exploring nature and caring for animals.

With Alpaca Mountain Jungle Rescue (41432), kids can play out exciting jungle stories with the help of LEGO® Friends Stephanie and Mia buildable mini-doll figures, 3 alpaca figures and cute bat and bird figures.

Kids can pretend to climb the mountain, report the eruption and whizz down the zip line to the toy cabin. They can paddle the canoe or fly the rescue helicopter toy. When the jungle rescue's over, they can explore the caves.

There are lots of ways to play with this 512-piece mountain adventure toy, making it a brilliant birthday present or holiday gift for boys and girls aged 7+ who love rescue adventure play and caring for animals.