Unpopular Opinions about LEGO

[danth]

Here's an opinion. Lego needs to stop putting things I want and things I don't want in the same box.

Example. The new Avatar sets. I like the mech, but I'm not paying for a weird blue wolf and alien. Completely different things that appeal to different people. Put them in different boxes. Same with the cool helicopter in the same box with a boring base and some floating rocks. Put those in different boxes so I can buy the cool stuff and other people can buy the junk.

Another. That super cool dino mech from Jurassic Park. I would buy the heck out of that dino mech by itself. But I don't want the big junior-ized dinosaur (hate 'em) and I am definitely not wasting money on that stupid volcano.

Even themes I really like had this problem. I really liked the speeder from the Galaxy Squad Hive Crawler set, but didn't really feel the big alien bug. So I passed on it.

So I already know the replies I'm gonna get. Yeah yeah, Lego does this to include "conflict in every box". I categorically reject that strategy. Other toys don't need to do that, and neither does Lego. No other toy line I've bought from as a kid or adult had that. I just bought the good guys I liked and the bad guys I liked. It works. And it means I buy more stuff because I can just buy what I want.

I guarantee that for every person who only likes half the set but still buys it, there are 10 people who pass on the set altogether.

[Erik Leppen]

It's not just conflict based themes. I would have bought the Stratocaster guitar if it wouldn't have come with a stupid amp (which I understand subject-wise, but it's just not as interesting to build). I might have bought the huge Jurassic Park T-Rex if it wouln't have come with that huge gate. I'd probably buy an Atari set if it were just the 3 micro worlds. And why is that beautiful Bowser on such an ugly platform?

So yeah, lots of cases where I withheld a purchase because parts I don't like inflate the price.

[Pulp Detective]

Don't know how unpopular this is but here goes.

The fact is,lego screwed up the 90th anniversary big time.Instead of having fans fight over which one gets to have a remake set they could have released a theme and have each set be a remake of a iconic set from well beloved classic themes.This way (almost) eveyone would be satisfied.

Not to mention that is was a ripe opportunity for an 90th anniversary minifig series.Remaking classic well beloved characters would be a dream come true and it is not something that they haven't done before.The jungle explorer from series 19 is clearly Johnny Thunder and from I gathered this version is well beloved,for personally it one of my favourite minifigures.

[Lyichir]

2 hours ago, LOTR34 said:

Don't know how unpopular this is but here goes.

The fact is,lego screwed up the 90th anniversary big time.Instead of having fans fight over which one gets to have a remake set they could have released a theme and have each set be a remake of a iconic set from well beloved classic themes.This way (almost) eveyone would be satisfied.

Not to mention that is was a ripe opportunity for an 90th anniversary minifig series.Remaking classic well beloved characters would be a dream come true and it is not something that they haven't done before.The jungle explorer from series 19 is clearly Johnny Thunder and from I gathered this version is well beloved,for personally it one of my favourite minifigures.

To be honest I don't know why you'd place those expectations on the 90th anniversary when we haven't gotten anything like that for previous anniversaries. Mostly previous anniversaries have resulted in one or two tribute D2C sets, basic brick buckets, and things like that—not unlike what we're getting this year.

I too ADORE CMFs that are reimaginings of classic figs (apart from the series 19 jungle explorer, the series 16 spy is a spot-on recreation of Dash from Alpha Team), but I wouldn't really expect a whole series of those. A big part of the appeal of the collectible minifigures is offering new and unique figures, so a series entirely composed of retro references would not only go over most of the kid target audience's heads, but would fail to offer that kind of novelty.

[danth]

2 hours ago, Lyichir said:

To be honest I don't know why you'd place those expectations on the 90th anniversary when we haven't gotten anything like that for previous anniversaries.

Probably because the theme of the 90th anniversary is throwback sets...actually it was widely speculated this year's theme would we a throwback theme. Much of the community expected it.

Everybody seems to hate the CMF series that was just revealed so no big waste in replacing it with a throwback series IMO.

2 hours ago, Lyichir said:

A big part of the appeal of the collectible minifigures is offering new and unique figures

Revamped throwbacks are new and unique, are they not?

2 hours ago, Lyichir said:

a series entirely composed of retro references would not only go over most of the kid target audience's heads

I don't think you give kids enough credit. They have parents, they have the internet, they watch shows like Stranger Things and get obsessed with Kate Bush. Many of them are obsessed with the 80s and old stuff. I've read so many comments from young people who find out about old Lego themes and get so excited about them. They love their parents old sets and love diving into Lego lore.

And even if they don't care about references to old themes, those references don't take away from the figure. Remakes of classics should stand on their own anyway.

 

Edited July 24, 2022 by danth

[The Brick Boss]

2 hours ago, danth said:

I've read so many comments from young people who find out about old Lego themes and get so excited about them. They love their parents old sets and love diving into Lego lore.

That's probably what inspired Lego to do more civilian oriented sets for the City theme. Sort of a "Never forget where it came from!" type of thing. Heck! We got a school, hospital, beach and a grocery store in the same year. I hope a post office comes soon. 

Edited July 24, 2022 by Poodabricks

[TeriXeri]

The problem with a throwback theme, is there are literally 50++ subthemes across Castle, Space and Pirates, Aquazone, Agents, Adventurers,Western types of themes, add Slizer/Bionicle/Hero Factorio and you get dozens more years of sets.

There are going to be things missing even if they made 100 sets, or 100 CMF figures.

Of course I would have loved to have some more €10/$10 type of sets instead of the microbuild stuff they put in 11021: 90 Years of Play , or if a set like Forest Hideout would be regular retail.

I just seems LEGO is holding back, playing it safe, trying to trickle in some BIG sets and some timed GWP's, instead of going all out.

If LEGO released $1000+ worth of 90th anniversary sets at a time, would it sell as well as spreading the same amount over let's say 5 years ?

I'm not trying to defend LEGO here, I'd love more sets based on 80s and 90s LEGO themes for sure, more simple starter sets like Benny's, more City People pack type of sets etc, but I think LEGO is testing things out here.

 

Edited July 24, 2022 by TeriXeri

[Maple]

On 7/23/2022 at 3:07 PM, danth said:

So I already know the replies I'm gonna get. Yeah yeah, Lego does this to include "conflict in every box". 

I completely agree wit this, LEGO thinks otherwise. 

However that huge bug thing is one of the most creative things LEGO has ever designed. If you don't own the set I highly suggest you find someone who does and play with it. It's awesome. I got it for $30 in 2015 and love it.

3 hours ago, danth said:

I don't think you give kids enough credit. They have parents, they have the internet, they watch shows like Stranger Things and get obsessed with Kate Bush.

First, the 1990s are back in style, not really the 80s. However 9-10 years ago my neighbors moved, the dad had an 18 gallon box full of LEGO. He gave it to me, I asked why not give it to his children, he said they don't want old LEGO. Kids are weirdos.

 

[danth]

2 hours ago, TeriXeri said:

I just seems LEGO is holding back, playing it safe, trying to trickle in some BIG sets and some timed GWP's, instead of going all out.

If LEGO released $1000+ worth of 90th anniversary sets at a time, would it sell as well as spreading the same amount over let's say 5 years ?

I thought we were just talking about a single CMF series.

[TeriXeri]

28 minutes ago, danth said:

I thought we were just talking about a single CMF series.

Both a CMF series and set line covering more themes were mentioned by the original post by @LOTR34

[danth]

17 hours ago, TeriXeri said:

Both a CMF series and set line covering more themes were mentioned by the original post by @LOTR34

Ah, you're right. Thanks.

Yeah I don't know how many throwback sets they can get away with before saturation. 

I'm down for another Space set though. 🙂

Edited July 25, 2022 by danth

[The Brick Boss]

5 hours ago, TeriXeri said:

I'm not trying to defend LEGO here, I'd love more sets based on 80s and 90s LEGO themes for sure, more simple starter sets like Benny's, more City People pack type of sets etc, but I think LEGO is testing things out here.

I miss the people packs though. 

[Pulp Detective]

15 hours ago, TeriXeri said:

I just seems LEGO is holding back, playing it safe, trying to trickle in some BIG sets and some timed GWP's, instead of going all out.

I on the other think that they simply don't care.In the last couple of years lego has admited by their actions that when it comes to adults they don't care on catering to the old school fans but instead on bringing newer fans into the fold.Which is precisely why ideas became so dull with only the safest choices being picked.Another example is the Art theme with those portrait sets,which let us be honest no one ever asked for.Themes like these exist sorely to appeal to adults who never cared about lego and I believe won't change their mind even if they end up buying some of those sets.

 

15 hours ago, TeriXeri said:

The problem with a throwback theme, is there are literally 50++ subthemes across Castle, Space and Pirates, Aquazone, Agents, Adventurers,Western types of themes, add Slizer/Bionicle/Hero Factorio and you get dozens more years of sets.

As I said a first wave that includes the most iconic and popular sets ever made would be a good start and depending how it does sales wise they could eventually turn this theme into a evergreen one.

10 hours ago, danth said:

Yeah I don't know how many throwback sets they can get away with before saturation. 

You can say the same thing about star wars or ninjago yet those themes still sell (unfortunately).A throwback theme with a small wave each year could last for quite a while.

[TeriXeri]

2 hours ago, LOTR34 said:

As I said a first wave that includes the most iconic and popular sets ever made would be a good start and depending how it does sales wise they could eventually turn this theme into a evergreen one.

I think LEGO is trying that with the Galaxy Explorer remake which is a straight up 1.5x scale up modernization of an existing set, seperate from the whole Benny LEGO Movie.

However, speaking of remakes of old sets, I don't know why Barracuda Bay retired so quickly, 1.5 year (with some months of those being Sold out) compared to other large IDEAS sets like the Tree House which will have 3.5 year shelf life, even the 3-in-1 Pirate Ship currently has no end date yet. 

 

But I agree that with the last couple years of experiments around IDEAS / 18+ / Art / Botanical / Icons etc, most of those products look clearly meant to draw in new collectors, either via singular display pieces (typewriter/piano/NES/ATARI/Microscale hogwarts/Titanic etc), or entire new collections/multibuilds (ART, Botanical, Helmets, Infinity gauntlet "series" etc., TV shows, and recently Marvel Modulars like Bugle/Sanctum) 

 

Edited July 25, 2022 by TeriXeri

[Pulp Detective]

16 minutes ago, TeriXeri said:

But I agree that with the last couple years of experiments around IDEAS / 18+ / Art / Botanical / Icons etc, most of those products look clearly meant to draw in new collectors, either via singular display pieces (typewriter/piano/NES/ATARI/Microscale hogwarts/Titanic etc), or entire new collections/multibuilds (ART, Botanical, Helmets, Infinity gauntlet "series" etc., TV shows, and recently Marvel Modulars like Bugle/Sanctum) 

I wonder how well all those experiments have been doing sales wise.Lego keeps churning them out but that doesn't mean that the sales mirror their desires.The same could be applied to their attempts to combine traditional sets with electronics,it started with Hidden Side which ended after a year then it was Mario which I assume it still does well sales wise primarily because of the brand and finally we have vidiyo who didn't even last a year.One could say that lego is out of touch with it's consumer base.

[TeriXeri]

LEGO clearly has money around to throw on things, recently they even advertise at the UEFA Women's Euro 2022, not any particular set, but a yellow banner with 3 LEGO logos on it.

Edited July 25, 2022 by TeriXeri

[Pulp Detective]

Moving to another subject,I have to agree with danth about conflict based sets.With such sets you always end up with builds and minifigures you don't want but end up getting them because you like the other half of the set.Lego really needs to bring back faction based sets.

[Celeri]

On 7/15/2022 at 4:44 AM, Something_Awesome said:

My unpopular opinion:

The demise of LEGO (assuming it stays the course) will be a result of there being far too many specialized pieces in the parts catalog. LEGO used to be a building toy where you could build things that were suggestive of their realistic counterparts. Nowadays, there are so many specialized parts that it not only makes it easier to build anything, but to also make hyper realistic representations in LEGO. I mean, look at the sets available now and what all these specialized parts are able to achieve. 

Furthermore, it feels like if a designer want's to make something cool, LEGO could always just make a specialized part whenever needed. It feels like cheating. Can't achieve a certain angle? Well, if the set's budget is big enough, LEGO will just make a specialized part for it to achieve the angle. 

With that said, there are exceptions. I am totally OK with specialized canopy pieces. Recolors are no problem either. However, I prefer a black 4L bar representing the Dark Saber in Star Wars. But everyone is still pushing for a specialized weapon. I think some brick built weapons and accessories have lots of charm to them. LEGO is going to slowly lose its charm if it does not dial back making new molds. It should be more about imagination than hyper realistic models.

You know what? This is exactly how I used to think... 20 years ago! Now that I can look how it has evolved, I think LEGO has become the biggest toy maker precisely because of the part specialization, allowing them to reach AFOLs and their deep pockets thanks to models realism + new young fans of popular culture with licensed sets. In both cases, those sets are bound to stay built/boxed instead of dismantled to build something else. The original target of Lego, people who only buy a few sets and keep on with building things with them, was far less profitable than the new ones. Also, if Lego did not release new parts, I think they would be quickly surpassed by amateur designers, who only get to use existing ones, so this allows TLG to keep up ahead with the competition — at least in apparently.

On my side, what I think will kill Lego is more something like general ban on plastic toys. This can seem unrealistic to most people, but considering the rapidly growing reject of plastic-based materials due to their pollutant side, the scarcity on oil + raising costs to harvest it, and also raising costs of storage and shipping these boxes, I would not be surprised to see TLG unable to sell sets in some rich countries before the 2030s. Which would mean the death of Lego — as we know it, at least (TLG may try to shift to 100% virtual playing to stay alive before so).

And this, as you may have guessed, is my biggest unpopular opinion about Lego

 

[koalayummies]

2 hours ago, Celeri said:

On my side, what I think will kill Lego is more something like general ban on plastic toys.

Return to duck.

[Vindicare]

On 7/23/2022 at 12:07 PM, danth said:

Here's an opinion. Lego needs to stop putting things I want and things I don't want in the same box.

Example. The new Avatar sets. I like the mech, but I'm not paying for a weird blue wolf and alien. Completely different things that appeal to different people. Put them in different boxes. Same with the cool helicopter in the same box with a boring base and some floating rocks. Put those in different boxes so I can buy the cool stuff and other people can buy the junk.

Another. That super cool dino mech from Jurassic Park. I would buy the heck out of that dino mech by itself. But I don't want the big junior-ized dinosaur (hate 'em) and I am definitely not wasting money on that stupid volcano.

 

Even themes I really like had this problem. I really liked the speeder from the Galaxy Squad Hive Crawler set, but didn't really feel the big alien bug. So I passed on it.

 

So I already know the replies I'm gonna get. Yeah yeah, Lego does this to include "conflict in every box". I categorically reject that strategy. Other toys don't need to do that, and neither does Lego. No other toy line I've bought from as a kid or adult had that. I just bought the good guys I liked and the bad guys I liked. It works. And it means I buy more stuff because I can just buy what I want.

I guarantee that for every person who only likes half the set but still buys it, there are 10 people who pass on the set altogether.

Oh man, I am with you 1 million percent. That JP mech set is a good example. While I like the molded dinos(as well as all the babies) I have no desire to get that volcano. I would’ve been all over the set had it just been the mech. And while it wasn’t in your exampes, those big “square” City sets. They usually have 20-30% of a $150+ set that I actually want/use. If they broke those down to smaller, individual sets that would make them so much more appealing. 

I also agree completely on your conflict angle. So many toys didn’t need that. G.I. Joe, Transformers, & Exo Squad popped in my head right off the bat. 

[Something_Awesome]

8 hours ago, Celeri said:

You know what? This is exactly how I used to think... 20 years ago! Now that I can look how it has evolved, I think LEGO has become the biggest toy maker precisely because of the part specialization, allowing them to reach AFOLs and their deep pockets thanks to models realism + new young fans of popular culture with licensed sets. In both cases, those sets are bound to stay built/boxed instead of dismantled to build something else. The original target of Lego, people who only buy a few sets and keep on with building things with them, was far less profitable than the new ones. Also, if Lego did not release new parts, I think they would be quickly surpassed by amateur designers, who only get to use existing ones, so this allows TLG to keep up ahead with the competition — at least in apparently.

On my side, what I think will kill Lego is more something like general ban on plastic toys. This can seem unrealistic to most people, but considering the rapidly growing reject of plastic-based materials due to their pollutant side, the scarcity on oil + raising costs to harvest it, and also raising costs of storage and shipping these boxes, I would not be surprised to see TLG unable to sell sets in some rich countries before the 2030s. Which would mean the death of Lego — as we know it, at least (TLG may try to shift to 100% virtual playing to stay alive before so).

And this, as you may have guessed, is my biggest unpopular opinion about Lego

 

Have to agree on the plastic toy ban, which would be an overwhelming amount of toys. Like action figures. Gonna need to horde some unopened sets then!

[Peppermint_M]

I think it is going to take some immense societal changes to put a ban on plastic toys altogether. Especially something like LEGO that is compatible across the decades, and, in fact, can be dug up from the lawn and cleaned up to play with (true story, we found some bricks buried by my brother as a toddler, a good clean and they are back in use). Between them, Hasbro and Mattel would certainly kick up a fuss about losing their main business in less than 8 years... (Oh gawd, the 2030s loom

Sure, Cereal Box prizes, Happy Meal toys and magazine freebies are moving away from cheap plastic toys, but LEGO is a "premium" plastic toy and will likely last onwards. Recall, Science is looking at what polymers can be created from non-fossil fuel derived products or a product created using minimal fossil fuel (like those bamboo plastics: Epoxy and bamboo fibres moulded into shape). So you never know, there could be LEGO bricks manufactured in something just as good as ABS but with less  environmental impact.

[Celeri]

It may not be a total ban, it could be more like dissuasive taxes that would make TLG's think twice before investing more in those countries. This is generally a first step before a real ban, to encourage the companies to adapt before the real stop.

[The Brick Boss]

8 hours ago, Peppermint_M said:

I think it is going to take some immense societal changes to put a ban on plastic toys altogether. Especially something like LEGO that is compatible across the decades, and, in fact, can be dug up from the lawn and cleaned up to play with (true story, we found some bricks buried by my brother as a toddler, a good clean and they are back in use). Between them, Hasbro and Mattel would certainly kick up a fuss about losing their main business in less than 8 years... (Oh gawd, the 2030s loom

Sure, Cereal Box prizes, Happy Meal toys and magazine freebies are moving away from cheap plastic toys, but LEGO is a "premium" plastic toy and will likely last onwards. Recall, Science is looking at what polymers can be created from non-fossil fuel derived products or a product created using minimal fossil fuel (like those bamboo plastics: Epoxy and bamboo fibres moulded into shape). So you never know, there could be LEGO bricks manufactured in something just as good as ABS but with less  environmental impact.

I agree! Even with a ban on other plastic toys, Lego's not going anywhere anytime soon. 

[koalayummies]

Unlikely that a ban on plastic children's toys would occur before a prohibition of new production internal combustion engines which already have proposed phase out dates in several nations (unlike toys) but don't take effect until well into the 2030s. Regardless the fate of some toy company will be irrelevant when the Earth is ridding itself of the creatures responsible for its destruction.

Happy Thursday y'all!