Unpopular Opinions about LEGO

[Tube Map Central]

So many unpopular opinions that would be get me shunned forever ...

Here is one:

Don't submit to Ideas if you only have renders. If you can't be bothered to buy it and build it then why should I?

You have to wonder whether some people on Ideas have ever even held a Lego brick before in their lives, if there is no physics then it is not Lego!

Actually, I know that MOCing can be unbelievably expensive, but I personally think that anyone who has got to 1000 and is looking promising SHOULD build the thing and show us the photographs.

[Dazzzy]

34 minutes ago, Tube Map Central said:

So many unpopular opinions that would be get me shunned forever ...

Here is one:

Don't submit to Ideas if you only have renders. If you can't be bothered to buy it and build it then why should I?

You have to wonder whether some people on Ideas have ever even held a Lego brick before in their lives, if there is no physics then it is not Lego!

Actually, I know that MOCing can be unbelievably expensive, but I personally think that anyone who has got to 1000 and is looking promising SHOULD build the thing and show us the photographs.

That certainly is an unpopular opinion, (well, with me anyway). 

No offence intended but i can't help but see it as quite a stuck-up elitist view really.  Sure, it's nice to be able to show a physical brick model instead of just renders, but not everyone is in the position to be able build their ideas, either due to cost or availability of the bricks they need. 

[Tube Map Central]

8 minutes ago, Dazzzy said:

That certainly is an unpopular opinion, (well, with me anyway). 

No offence intended but i can't help but see it as quite a stuck-up elitist view really.  Sure, it's nice to be able to show a physical brick model instead of just renders, but not everyone is in the position to be able build their ideas, either due to cost or availability of the bricks they need. 

I think you need to read my post again, I'm not talking about uploading MOCs on Eurobricks here, which is most often done for feedback and improvement.

For Ideas, there is an implication that this is the almost finished product, other people will want to buy the set and build it, and preferably not have it fall apart. That changes the ground rules. 

Edited February 15, 2021 by Tube Map Central
Typo

[Dazzzy]

9 minutes ago, Tube Map Central said:

I think you need to read my post again, I'm not talking about uploading MOCs on Eurobricks here, which is most often done for feedback and improvement.

I really don't need to, as you're addressing your issue with rendered submissions to Lego Ideas. There's no confusion on my part.

 

I can appreciate the sentiment about having everything connect well, and the stability of bricks being important, but i think it's wrong to assume that just because an idea is rendered, the designer hasn't taken those concerns into consideration themselves.   

 

 

[Tube Map Central]

Just now, Dazzzy said:

I really don't need to, as you're addressing your issue with rendered submissions to Lego Ideas. There's no confusion on my part.

 

I can appreciate the sentiment about having everything connect well, and the stability of bricks being important, but i think it's wrong to assume that just because an idea is rendered, the designer hasn't taken those concerns into consideration themselves.   

 

 

Simulations are not the real thing, Mythbusters took a look at that.

https://mythresults.com/unfinished-business

MythBusters Episode 234: Unfinished Business

Premier Date: August 22, 2015

A video game that simulates a skill can improve a player’s real-world performance of that skill. (Related to the Video Game Special.)

BUSTED

Adam and Jamie chose golf as the skill to be tested, since neither had ever played the game before. At the Pebble Beach Golf Links, they practiced their swings and played four holes without any training as a control test. Adam scored 43 and Jamie 47, after which they underwent separate training programs for one day. While Adam took lessons at the Pebble Beach Golf Academy, Jamie played a golf arcade game at the workshop and tried to incorporate the on-screen information into his playing.

When they re-played the same four holes as in the control test, Adam scored 33 (a 10-stroke improvement), but Jamie’s score fell only two strokes to 45. Analysis of their swings before and after training revealed that Adam had learned much more than Jamie about the technical aspects of the swing. These results led them to classify the myth as busted.

 

So, no, I would never trust a build that had not been tried for real. There are too many subtle interactions here. For example, some parts have better clutch than others.

A person uploads to Ideas, gets to 1000 votes, the hope is that 10,000 people will support it, looks promising. If they all buy it, that might be a 2000 part set at £150 a go, total £1,500,000 changing hands.

And this person won't try a build? Forget it.

[Flak Maniak]

For Lego Ideas, you're normally allowed to propose recolors, as I understand it. So renders are fine, at least if your project relies significantly on plausible recolors. (If it relies on a thousand recolors of obscure parts from 1978, then yeah, it's not a credible project in the first place, or at least, it's not a credible build for purposes of an Ideas project. I mean, the usual caveats apply about trying to read the entrails on whether Ideas is to do at all with the build you present, or just about the concept, but clearly there's at least some of each.)

But yeah, a render can easily conceal connections that just don't work in the real world, or overly-fragile/finicky sections, etc. etc. etc.

Any build will be more persuasive in the brick than on a computer, if it's photographed decently.

[Dazzzy]

13 minutes ago, Tube Map Central said:

Simulations are not the real thing, Mythbusters took a look at that.

 

So, no, I would never trust a build that had not been tried for real. There are too many subtle interactions here. For example, some parts have better clutch than others.

A person uploads to Ideas, gets to 1000 votes, the hope is that 10,000 people will support it, looks promising. If they all buy it, that might be a 2000 part set at £150 a go, total £1,500,000 changing hands.

And this person won't try a build? Forget it.

 

9 minutes ago, Flak Maniak said:

 

But yeah, a render can easily conceal connections that just don't work in the real world, or overly-fragile/finicky sections, etc. etc. etc.

Any build will be more persuasive in the brick than on a computer, if it's photographed decently.

It's all a question about integrity really.  Either you trust the designer to have taken into consideration brick stability etc, or you don't. 

Just because an idea is photographed in actual brick form, it does not necessarily mean it's free of the issues you both bring up. 

Edited February 15, 2021 by Dazzzy
Spelling

[Flak Maniak]

Sure, but I think it's more about the designer themselves realizing what's workable when they try to build it in the real world. Either way you have to trust the designer that it can work, but if they built it in the brick, at least they'll know for sure.

[Dazzzy]

28 minutes ago, Flak Maniak said:

Sure, but I think it's more about the designer themselves realizing what's workable when they try to build it in the real world. Either way you have to trust the designer that it can work, but if they built it in the brick, at least they'll know for sure.

So again, it really comes down to the designers integrity. 

Another thing to think about, (regardless of the idea being built digitally or in physical brick), is that maybe the designer doesn't hold the best solution to a stability issue, but figures if their idea makes it to the review stage, Lego themselves will find a better solution.  I'm pretty sure we've never had a successful idea put on the shelves, without Lego making changes to the final design. 

 

[MAB]

LEGO designers will need to check the stability anyway. Although I tend to ignore renders on IDEAS too, and also here. Especially if they use a lot of repetition or reuse sections to make something much larger than it probably would be if they were actually building it.

[Northgeorgiamasonry]

I don’t think it’s a terrible opinion - if you want your project to become an official set, you should put some real effort into it.  
2 counter arguments:

1. the proposal doesn’t need to be sturdy, or in some cases even physically possible, because Lego is going to make extensive changes to the design anyway.  Why force people to invest in a design that Lego likely isn’t going to follow?

2. Ideas is about engaging with fans and giving the fans an opportunity to bring their ideas to life.  Making that experience more expensive and restricted hurts the platform.  Better to sort through several unbuildable renderings among numerous creative projects than kill the interest.

Edited February 15, 2021 by Northgeorgiamasonry

[MAB]

Worse still are people that sell MOC instructions that haven't build what they are selling.

[Alexandrina]

I've never designed an Ideas project (because I've never been able to think of anything new and groundbreaking) but when I work on MOCs or film sets, I tend to design it digitally without regard to the cost of the bricks, though I do often build small sections of the model to check that what I'm doing is physically possible. I know if I were to put a project on Ideas, I would likely only have the render to hand, especially if there are recoloured parts in there. 

Obviously I would try to get the real thing built, but it's often the way that sourcing the right parts is prohibitively expensive - especially if they're parts that you will have limited utility for outside of one specific MOC. I don't have an issue with renders, as long as they're time is taken to show the model from decent angles. But that's no different to being less than keen on MOCs with photographed building that have been poorly photographed so you can't really see what's what. 

[Lira_Bricks]

People with less money are not necessary bad builders, so I am fine with it unless...

26 minutes ago, MAB said:

they use a lot of repetition or reuse sections to make something much larger than it probably would be if they were actually building it.

I like building with physical bricks, since sometimes something that works in Studio does not work in real life and vice versa.

Unpopular opinion: I do not like the sound of bricks when digging through a bin.

[Jack Sassy]

*Time Cruisers were enjoyable

*Clone Wars sets are better than original trilogy sets

*Lego City should've stuck with its original formula

[Lego David]

49 minutes ago, Jack Sassy said:

*Time Cruisers were enjoyable

*Clone Wars sets are better than original trilogy sets

*Lego City should've stuck with its original formula

I agree with all those points. For me personally, the Clone Wars sets are the only thing from LEGO Star Wars I am remotely interested in. 

[Lira_Bricks]

1 hour ago, Jack Sassy said:

Lego City should've stuck with its original formula

Do you mean that sub themes like space should not be part of city? There is only so many fire- and police-stations you can make...

[doomguy]

LEGO Ideas is less about fan creations turned into readily available models and more about people begging Lego to make sets off pop culture nostalgia bait

[MAB]

2 hours ago, Lira_Bricks said:

Unpopular opinion: I do not like the sound of bricks when digging through a bin.

If you sort you don't need to dig!

PS. if you don't like the noise of LEGO, then don't click this ... https://brickset.com/article/57672

 

[Jack Sassy]

1 hour ago, Lira_Bricks said:

Do you mean that sub themes like space should not be part of city? There is only so many fire- and police-stations you can make...

I mean it as the building formula, I loved the simplicity of City vehicles with those funny looking tires.

[koalayummies]

2 hours ago, doomguy said:

LEGO Ideas is less about fan creations turned into readily available models and more about people begging Lego to make sets off pop culture nostalgia bait

The strategy: rummage through Wikipedia for any "good old days" entertainment license and find out when the next Hollywood remake or TV spinoff will be. For example a book (ancient) that was adapted into a movie (window passed) that was rebooted into another movie (not current) that was remade as a cartoon (too limited) that is currently in studio negotiations for a TV series (jackpot!).

The implementation: Disregard everything about Lego and instead focus on the timing of an existing multimedia license rehash. Let TLG handle the rest including polishing the 6-minute-design. Crank these submissions out like Funko Pops.

/disenchantment summary

[Stuartn]

13 hours ago, Tube Map Central said:

Don't submit to Ideas if you only have renders. If you can't be bothered to buy it and build it then why should I?

Lego Ideas is based on the idea, and showing loosely how it an be constructed, very rarely does an ideas set actually resemble the ideas submission.

More often then not, the ideas are built in bricks to test by the most serious designers (who 10000 ideas usually come from) but renders are submitted for recolours and because many ideas are based on licensed products and people feel necessitated to have new minifigure prints.

I'm not against licensed ideas, since normally the builds are quite advanced and stand on their own legs regardless, though I do prefer the builds that are original or based on TLG IP.

[BenderBrau]

Every time a set is leaked some AFOLs say Lego should officially reveal it because what's the point of keeping it a secret anymore. Here's the thing - Lego has spent actual money on an ad campaign and that's a very good reason to stick to the marketing and reveal schedule. They can't just discard the campaign because some people have already seen it and just want to see the official pictures already. Just be patient, you most likely won't get the the set before it's released anyway

[Lego David]

19 hours ago, doomguy said:

LEGO Ideas is less about fan creations turned into readily available models and more about people begging Lego to make sets off pop culture nostalgia bait

This ^^^ 

[MAB]

20 hours ago, doomguy said:

LEGO Ideas is less about fan creations turned into readily available models and more about people begging Lego to make sets off pop culture nostalgia bait

It is less that than it used to be. At the start, you didn't even need to build a model. You could draw a picture of the concept if you wanted. At least now you have to submit a LEGO model.