Unpopular Opinions about LEGO

[dr_spock]

Plain smiley minifigs were the best.  Although, you had to use a healthy dose of imagination pretend if you want them to be sad, another colour, etc.

[MAB]

3 hours ago, Lira_Bricks said:

Not only that, but the printing goes from the upper body to the legs. That makes it more difficult to use them in mocs. If I only want to use the purple tentacles in the image you showed, I am stuck with the printing that only works with that upper body

It almost goes from torsoto legs, but not quite which is even worse. I agree that there are loads of printed legs that don't really match up properly unless you use the correct torso. But the gap is just as bad. Even bootlegger companies can print all the way to the edges.

[Good and Swordy]

2 hours ago, dr_spock said:

Plain smiley minifigs were the best.  Although, you had to use a healthy dose of imagination pretend if you want them to be sad, another colour, etc.

[trimmed img for brevity]

I like the older bead eyes over the shiny modern eyes in a lot of cases. It's endearing. Gotta love the wide range of expressions on minifigs, but the default c: will always have a special place in my heart.

[The Stud]

On 7/2/2021 at 8:50 AM, dr_spock said:

Plain smiley minifigs were the best.  Although, you had to use a healthy dose of imagination pretend if you want them to be sad, another colour, etc.

 

I somewhat share this take, though I do appreciate all the diverse faces we get nowadays. The classic smiley faces are just so iconic and that’s partially because of how plain and interchangeable they are. It reminds me of that joke from The Lego Movie where Emmet’s face is “so generic it matches every other face in our database!” I wish Lego didn’t make the decision to stop using them in the Modular Buildings because they don’t really get used all that often anymore.

 

My unpopular opinion is that the coveted Classic Lego Themes like Town, Space, Castle, etc. are over-glorified. I respect the legacy of these iconic themes, but I question whether they really should be as iconic as they are. Besides the Western line, I don’t feel like there are that many sets from those themes to write home about. I feel like the adoration for those themes clouds people’s judgement of the new stuff and as someone who really likes the licensed sets, it gets kinda old hearing AFOLs complain about Lego doing more of that but not more of their childhood classics.

Edited July 21, 2021 by Darkdragon
Please don't quote images

[TeriXeri]

15 hours ago, The Stud said:

I feel like the adoration for those themes clouds people’s judgement of the new stuff and as someone who really likes the licensed sets, it gets kinda old hearing AFOLs complain about Lego doing more of that but not more of their childhood classics.

I'm the opposite here because I don't collect licensed at all. (which might be an unpopular opinion)

While old Pirates/Space/Castle sets don't really live up current 2021 standards in detail (but still work well) , the more generic sets always been my favorite, especially 3-in-1, and I love modern "remakes" like Barracuda Bay.

As for complaining, I see complaints about licensed all over the place, from LEGO not making XXX license (especially vocal on IDEAS), to nitpicking every little print and figure. (but those complaints aren't exclusive to licensed either)

On the other hand, I can understand where complaints like "yet another x-wing / landspeeder " etc come from but same could be said about things like Fire and Police sets, basicly everygreen subthemes/vehicles that appear as long as themes like Star Wars or City exist, and new kids and new/returning adults get into LEGO all the time still, especially when LEGO is now trying to attract other audiences via things like Plants, TV-Shows etc.

And I'm not saying that having different tastes/opinions about LEGO are wrong, in fact I think it's cool that LEGO fans are very diverse in their favorite themes and sets and figures and I think having the choice in many themes and set types is a good thing.

Nostalgia can indeed be a very strong thing and I do have my preference for Classic themes, but far from everything, everyone has their different eras of LEGO they like, I have no connection to the 2001-2015 years for example as I didn't follow LEGO much at all during that period.

I don't expect full set lines of Castle/Pirates/Space in the current strategy of LEGO, but some big sets like Barracuda Bay once in a while would still be very nice, 3-in-1 having visits to those themes is nice but not optimal in terms of figures/horses etc.

 

For now, I see LEGO is certainly going into a different direction compared to a few years ago, with more 18+ sets, City changing to more locations again, and 3-in-1 going in various things, even the "Classic" , and Xtra themes are  still trying different things like themed packs, light bricks, transparent pieces etc.

 

I've been back into LEGO for about 6 years now,. and I think in a further 5 years things could be very different again, themes come and go.

Edited July 6, 2021 by TeriXeri

[MAB]

14 hours ago, The Stud said:

The classic smiley faces are just so iconic and that’s partially because of how plain and interchangeable they are.

What is the point of swapping over classic smiley heads? They all look the same. I would call them indistinguishable rather than interchangeable. 

[Aanchir]

On 7/2/2021 at 9:50 AM, dr_spock said:

Plain smiley minifigs were the best.  Although, you had to use a healthy dose of imagination pretend if you want them to be sad, another colour, etc.

For my part, I have a lot less affection for the plain smiley faces even on nostalgic grounds, since I've worn glasses since the second grade, and the plain smiley faces don't allow for even features as basic and race-neutral/gender-neutral as that! Also, I like the more varied mix-and-match opportunities that having different facial details allows for, especially when designing sigfigs or minifigure representations of friends and family (something I've greatly enjoyed doing since my childhood).

21 hours ago, The Stud said:

My unpopular opinion is that the coveted Classic Lego Themes like Town, Space, Castle, etc. are over-glorified. I respect the legacy of these iconic themes, but I question whether they really should be as iconic as they are. Besides the Western line, I don’t feel like there are that many sets from those themes to write home about. I feel like the adoration for those themes clouds people’s judgement of the new stuff and as someone who really likes the licensed sets, it gets kinda old hearing AFOLs complain about Lego doing more of that but not more of their childhood classics. 

I agree with this to an extent, and that's as a builder with a preference for non-licensed themes.

I do think your comment about the quality of the sets themselves is a bit harsh since I don't think it's fair to attribute some of the weaknesses of older sets (like the lack of interior details in a lot of older Castle sets, or the wildly inconsistent facial graphics in the Wild West sets) to the themes themselves, when has more to do with the design standards of the time they were released.

For comparison, the LEGO Star Wars theme first came out when I was a kid, and I was an avid collector of it for those first few years. And in hindsight, a lot of the sets back then like 7134 A-Wing Fighter,  7144 Slave I, and 7190 Millennium Falcon were pretty terrible compared to their newer counterparts! But that says less about the LEGO Star Wars theme's own merits than the limitations of the parts palette and design philosophy of sets from the late 90s and early 2000s.

That said, I do think that a lot of fans of play themes from the late 80s and early 90s (like Town, Pirates, Castle, and Pirates) not only revere them as staples of the LEGO brand for their time, but also as timeless "staple themes" that no other theme could hope to match in significance, importance, or creative potential.

Part of why this bothers me is that it seems like a disservice to later "play themes" like LEGO Friends and LEGO Ninjago that have not only gone on to achieved similar levels of success and longevity, but have done so by appealing to tastes/interests that were already popular among kids of the 80s and 90s, but weren't as effectively represented in the sets of that time. But that perspective is sometimes coupled with disdain/disregard for any sets or themes that AREN'T focused on minifig-scale playsets, such as Technic, Bionicle, Mindstorms, Boost, Architecture, Classic, BrickHeadz, Dots, Art, Super Mario, or "sculptural" models like the 18+ landmark, classic car, and botanical series!

I can't tell you how many times I've seen the announcement/reveal of these sorts of sets met with social media comments like "Nobody wants this garbage  — bring back Castle/Space/Pirates!", "C'mon, LEGO, give us actual minifigs!", or "Ugh, this doesn't even look like LEGO" — as if minifigs and minifig-scale playsets are the be-all and end-all of the LEGO brand, and the only sort of LEGO characters or sets anybody could ever want, need, or enjoy. And that feels particularly narrow-minded when you consider that the LEGO brick predates the LEGO minifigure by around 40 years!

Edited July 6, 2021 by Aanchir

[Pato Sentado]

I do not like some of gender/LTGB politics TLG is making recently, but they are also losing chances: One example: Michelle Mouton, one of the best female car drivers of all time was world rallie subchampion on the Audi Quattro. Use the kit to promote that. There is also a top female pilot in Top Fuel dragsters. Use that.

[zoth33]

On 7/18/2021 at 7:35 PM, Pato Sentado said:

I do not like some of gender/LTGB politics TLG is making recently, but they are also losing chances: One example: Michelle Mouton, one of the best female car drivers of all time was world rallie subchampion on the Audi Quattro. Use the kit to promote that. There is also a top female pilot in Top Fuel dragsters. Use that.

I get what your saying but they would have to pick up the license to each persons brand to do so and that might be difficult.  

[Johnny1360]

Although, not sure how intentional, the Speed Champions, Quattro, from last year and the Top Fuel Dragster, from this year, both have Race Suited, female drivers.

 

[TeriXeri]

Double unpopular opinion :

I do not like the Vidyo CMF/Bandmates (due to the way they are distributed).

 However I do actually like the Stage sets (on discount).

 

 

Edited July 21, 2021 by TeriXeri

[MAB]

I like the bandmates. A store near me had 50% off, and a new box. So I took one side of the box and got a complete set, no dupes.

[zinnn]

On 7/19/2021 at 12:35 AM, Pato Sentado said:

I do not like some of gender/LTGB politics TLG is making recently

Like what for example?

[williejm]

On 7/19/2021 at 12:35 AM, Pato Sentado said:

I do not like some of gender/LTGB politics TLG is making recently,

I do not like the excessive, blatant, in-your-face heteronormativity of so many Lego sets and products. 

[Lira_Bricks]

On 7/19/2021 at 1:35 AM, Pato Sentado said:

I do not like some of gender/LTGB politics TLG is making recently

Oh no not this again.

Read the linked topic from this post onwards: https://www.eurobricks.com/forum/index.php?/forums/topic/185628-40516-everyone-is-awesome/&page=2&tab=comments#comment-3409304

LGBT+-rights are human rights.

[williejm]

2 hours ago, Lira_Bricks said:

Oh no not this again.

Read the linked topic from this post onwards: https://www.eurobricks.com/forum/index.php?/forums/topic/185628-40516-everyone-is-awesome/&page=2&tab=comments#comment-3409304

LGBT+-rights are human rights.

Thank you. Can’t believe those threads had to get locked, rather than the intolerance dealt with. 

[1974]

I agree. I myself is highly intolerant of those who are intolerant

[Peppermint_M]

Toy bricks Forum. Not social change forum.

Pants meat and preferences thereof not applicable unless it is used in build process. (But if treading on a brick hurts so much, trouser area application would be worse!)

 

[danth]

I learned a new phrase today.

[williejm]

6 hours ago, Peppermint_M said:

Toy bricks Forum. Not social change forum.

Pants meat and preferences thereof not applicable unless it is used in build process. (But if treading on a brick hurts so much, trouser area application would be worse!)

 

Seems like the company that produces the bricks decided where they stand, not sure why moderation on here always seems to fall down on the other side of that. 

Edited July 23, 2021 by williejm

[1974]

We stand by the bricks, the company stands by the revenue. The moderation here seems to fluctuate between those two points

And I'm okay with that

Edit : Also, please remember that TLG is very much still run by the Kirk family that belongs to a fringe christian group that very much do NOT approve of anything LGBT+

Edited July 23, 2021 by 1974

[Peppermint_M]

22 minutes ago, williejm said:

Seems like the company that produces the bricks decided where they stand, not sure why moderation on here always seems to fall down on the other side of that. 

Were people not algorithms and staff fall both "sides" of opinion. Any opinion.

I mean I think Star Wars is crap and wish TLG would ditch it for something actually good. But we have a number of Star Wars staff who love it. 

So yea, bricks is bricks. Quit with the stirring.

[williejm]

I’m not stirring. There are not two sides. Leaving anti LGBTQ+ posts up, and leaving them unchallenged creates an unpleasant atmosphere for many of us who identify that way or who are allies. I know personally several LGBTQ+ users who have ‘stepped back’ or stopped posting on these forums because of that. The two threads on the Everyone Is Awesome set were locked, and people delegitimising and being offensive to LGBTQ+ people, including specific users, was not moderated. Apologies if that seems like stirring, but it’s pretty fundamental when it’s you. 

Not liking Star Wars is pretty vastly different to making a statement about LGBTQ+ people or sets. If similar posts were made about  how Lego shouldn’t include disabled minifigures in sets, or how there are too many black minifigures, or too many Jewish characters … you can see that would be a problem. 

[Lion King]

I’m not sure if this is an unpopular opinion but i don’t agree with this idea if Lego Ideas’ Home Alone set would have Disney branding. Sure, Disney did acquire 20th Century Fox but so what?

[Toastie]

2 minutes ago, williejm said:

I’m not stirring.

No, you really are >not< stirring. In contrast.

I very much like the polite approach you are always choosing, regardless of energy (in a thread). I also enjoy very much reading through your posts. I am actually learning by doing that.

There is (maybe!) a notion here on EB, where mods want to keep it "to the bricks". LGBTQ+ is as close to what TLG produces and announces (bricks, set, and pieces wise), as a LEGO brick is to ABS, considering what TLG is trying to propel recently. Well. Who knows. Let's test/challenge that!

Could LGBTQ+, which is, as far as I am concerned, a major development in the evolution of mankind (and all varieties of "man" - as a German, it is tough to choose the right English words here ...), worth a separate thread on EB? There will be so much flak, I am sure, but maybe resorting to a place, where people really care, may be a "focused" option?

Just that: An idea.

Best
Thorsten