Unpopular Opinions about LEGO

[LegendaryArticuno]

Lego's attempt at the Great Wave off Kanagawa falls extremely short and is borderline disrespectful to the original artwork.

My main issue is the scale. Instead of making the size of the portrait larger which would allow for better detail and accuracy, Lego incorrectly chose to have a huge white border using those white plates which also have ugly mold injection marks on top of the plate. The print of the guys getting swallowed by the tsunami is not accurate to the painting at all. Lastly, there's not enough 3D depth which should be the focal point of Lego art sets... somehow the actual painting itself has more 3D depth than an actual Lego set. 

This is art:

This is a mockery:

Edited January 8, 2023 by LegendaryArticuno

[Lego Dino 500]

This is definitely going to be an unpopular take: the push for dual molding, more intricate printing, and improved detail in minifigures has ruined minifigs in recent years. Particularly stormtroopers, x-wing pilots (though Lego is finally moving away from the dual molded x-wing pilot helmet!), but it's especially painful for licensed themes and minifigures. At the time, the Simpsons sets and CMFs were pushing the line. But now the Muppet, Sesame Street, and Sonic head molds bear almost no resemblance to lego characters. It feels uncanny and awful, like if someone pulled the head off a statue or toy and stuck it on a minifigure. Designing for minifigures is always a challenge, as a very proportionally limited medium for character designs but Lego struck a really happy medium until dual molded helmets were a thing and required changes to allow for more intricate dual molded parts. As cool as the play feature is, the current Vader helmet mold doesn;'t feel like lego either. It's too realistically proportioned, and out of tune with the figures. I'm not a fan of how over-designed face prints are now as well. The licensed figures with special head molds don't even bother trying. My ideal Star Wars minifigs would be from 2005 to 2009, Clone Wars excluded.

[Pasta Dish]

Regarding the argument that the Office set's Angela minifig should've come with medium legs because she's a shorter character:

I personally think that the human minifigures should always use the differently sized legs to indicate age rather than height, because for example characters like Michael and Jim already have about the same height difference as Michael and Angela does. So it's impossible to use the pieces to indicate height with any level of accuracy. 

Rather Lego should just keep doing:

Short legs - Small Children

Medium legs - Pre teens / Teens

Regular legs - Adults

Edited January 11, 2023 by Pasta Dish

[LegendaryArticuno]

A-frame cabin should have never been selected as a set. It promotes bad housing development practices and is straight up inefficient use of land.

A-frame houses are scams similar to shipping container homes.

[icm]

^ Nobody tell this one about the Treehouse ….

[MAB]

If planners are basing decisions on lego sets, we are in trouble. Look at houses and buildings in City and Friends, no stairs, no walls on the backs of buildings, tiny shops that would run out of stock. The A-frame looks decent compared to those.

[Feuer Zug]

14 hours ago, LegendaryArticuno said:

A-frame cabin should have never been selected as a set. It promotes bad housing development practices and is straight up inefficient use of land.

I take it you've never lived in a snowy area? Bad housing development in one area can be a smart design in another.

[Lira_Bricks]

16 hours ago, LegendaryArticuno said:

A-frame cabin should have never been selected as a set. It promotes bad housing development practices and is straight up inefficient use of land.

A-frame houses are scams similar to shipping container homes.

doesn't monkey kid live in container homes? Never paid attention to the lore behind it all, but I can remember some sets having container homes

[Killian]

Lego Art sets like 31203 are just Lego Dots sets in disguise

[jimmynick]

On 1/11/2023 at 4:37 AM, Lego Dino 500 said:

This is definitely going to be an unpopular take: the push for dual molding, more intricate printing, and improved detail in minifigures has ruined minifigs in recent years. Particularly stormtroopers, x-wing pilots (though Lego is finally moving away from the dual molded x-wing pilot helmet!), but it's especially painful for licensed themes and minifigures. At the time, the Simpsons sets and CMFs were pushing the line. But now the Muppet, Sesame Street, and Sonic head molds bear almost no resemblance to lego characters. It feels uncanny and awful, like if someone pulled the head off a statue or toy and stuck it on a minifigure. Designing for minifigures is always a challenge, as a very proportionally limited medium for character designs but Lego struck a really happy medium until dual molded helmets were a thing and required changes to allow for more intricate dual molded parts. As cool as the play feature is, the current Vader helmet mold doesn;'t feel like lego either. It's too realistically proportioned, and out of tune with the figures. I'm not a fan of how over-designed face prints are now as well. The licensed figures with special head molds don't even bother trying. My ideal Star Wars minifigs would be from 2005 to 2009, Clone Wars excluded.

I'm so on board with this — give me a turn-of-the-millennium Boba Fett fig over anything new, for example.

[MAB]

I really like dual molded legs and arms. I think they look great to give a basic pattern without printing. Plus (especially on legs) the dual molding looks way better than printing. You can view the figure from behind and the 'boots' pattern goes all the way around unlike printed patterns. Aside from that, I tend to avoid heavily printed legs where I can, especially where the printing is meant to continue up the leg onto the torso. As soon as you pose them in anything but an upright position, that pattern is off.

[Lemerbrix]

#1, Lego friends got better after 2018

#2 Lego Minecraft is extremely underrated

#3 monkie kid should have ended in 2022

#4 18+ sets aren’t that hard

#5 dots is just Lego art, but on a budget

#6 the world map is not a set

#7 ninjago core sets are very good

#8 minidolls > minifigs 

[Celeri]

11 hours ago, Lemerbrix said:

#4 18+ sets aren’t that hard

I hardly think anyone considers 18+ sets to be "hard": they are longer to build at best, but thanks to the way the sets are designed and how instructions are detailed nowadays, really "hard sets" is more something of the past.

We all know the "18+" tag merely indicates that a set is more for display than play — and that your wallet will suffer more

Edited January 22, 2023 by Celeri

[BrickBob Studpants]

18 hours ago, Lemerbrix said:

#6 the world map is not a set

You're right, it's just a box filled with deadly spiders! 

18 hours ago, Lemerbrix said:

#2 Lego Minecraft is extremely underrated

Oh, definitely. Very popular theme, but the threads here on EB barely get any traction throughout the year

[LegendaryArticuno]

Whichever Lego executive in charge of the Pokemon RFP completely dropped the ball. Ninjago/Monkey Kid is proof that Lego can do anime inspired sets well.

The quality of the Avatar: Last Airbender sets was a complete embarrassment, Lego needs to redeem themselves in the anime category by producing the Ideas Naturo Ramen Shop or Ideas Appa set. 

[Lemerbrix]

29 minutes ago, BrickBob Studpants said:

Oh, definitely. Very popular theme, but the threads here on EB barely get any traction throughout the year

I would know, I created the 2023 forum for Minecraft 

[LegendaryArticuno]

3 hours ago, BrickBob Studpants said:

Oh, definitely. Very popular theme, but the threads here on EB barely get any traction throughout the year

TBH I'm not a fan of Lego Minecraft at all... buying a classic Creator brick box would give you a much better Minecraft-like experience than the actual Minecraft sets.

[BrickBob Studpants]

17 minutes ago, LegendaryArticuno said:

TBH I'm not a fan of Lego Minecraft at all... buying a classic Creator brick box would give you a much better Minecraft-like experience than the actual Minecraft sets.

How so? They managed to translate the aesthetic very well and the mobs, tools, weapons, and prints are excellent IMO 

[Toastie]

11 hours ago, Celeri said:

We all know the "18+" tag merely indicates that a set is more for display than play

And that folks, who never ever touched a LEGO brick before, will securely manage to build the set, because there is one piece (max.) per step in the instructions and all these steps are using color coding, of course.

Best,
Thorsten 

[TeriXeri]

2 hours ago, LegendaryArticuno said:

TBH I'm not a fan of Lego Minecraft at all... buying a classic Creator brick box would give you a much better Minecraft-like experience than the actual Minecraft sets.

Maybe the really old brick boxes, but none of the boxes since the reboot of the Classic theme in 2015 really comes even close to the (still somewhat overpriced) Minecraft Crafting Boxes.

You actually get very few 2x2 bricks , and then the colors don't match at all.

Only exceptions have been very recently 11022: Space Mission (June 2022) , 11030: Lots of Bricks (March 2023) have a much larger focus on 2x2 and 2x4 of the same colors in a box .

 

Edited January 23, 2023 by TeriXeri

[LegendaryArticuno]

17 hours ago, BrickBob Studpants said:

How so? They managed to translate the aesthetic very well and the mobs, tools, weapons, and prints are excellent IMO 

While I find Minecraft as a game very fun and creative, and at times even beautiful in modded worlds. I guess I'm just not a fan of Lego Minecraft , the value is not there for me even as parts packs, and I don't think I've ever been wowed by any of the official set designs.

That said, Minecraft sets don't have to be poorly designed while still maintaining the theme of Minecraft, they can also be good in the hands of a skilled designer that puts more effort:

 

Edited January 23, 2023 by LegendaryArticuno

[MAB]

2 hours ago, LegendaryArticuno said:

While I find Minecraft as a game very fun and creative, and at times even beautiful in modded worlds. I guess I'm just not a fan of Lego Minecraft , the value is not there for me even as parts packs, and I don't think I've ever been wowed by any of the official set designs.

That said, Minecraft sets don't have to be poorly designed while still maintaining the theme of Minecraft, they can also be good in the hands of a skilled designer that puts more effort:

 

Whereas fans of LEGO Minecraft have enjoyed them so much that LEGO have made about 90 sets over 10 years.

[Ondra]

Modern sets completely ruins reusability in MOCS.

There is color coding/vomit for bricks, plates not full of studs.

Its clearly they dont see them as parts donor to kids buildings anymore.

[dukesofbrickdom]

On 1/22/2023 at 10:02 AM, LegendaryArticuno said:

Whichever Lego executive in charge of the Pokemon RFP completely dropped the ball. Ninjago/Monkey Kid is proof that Lego can do anime inspired sets well.

The quality of the Avatar: Last Airbender sets was a complete embarrassment, Lego needs to redeem themselves in the anime category by producing the Ideas Naturo Ramen Shop or Ideas Appa set.

Ninjago and Monkie Kid are more based on Chinese culture, anime is Japanese. Simply put, they have a huge emphasis on huge, flashy vehicles and mechs; which anime clearly does not have....

I would be quite ashamed of LEGO if they were to do a whole Pokemon theme, but that is just my opinion. I would rather the money and designers were focused on other stuff such as a Lord of the Rings reboot.

Edited January 29, 2023 by dukesofbrickdom

[MAB]

8 hours ago, dukesofbrickdom said:

I would be quite ashamed of LEGO if they were to do a whole Pokemon theme, but that is just my opinion. I would rather the money and designers were focused on other stuff such as a Lord of the Rings reboot.

No doubt Pokemon fans would rather they focus the money on their theme, and not on repeating another licensed theme they already did.

The crazy thing here, although I'd prefer LOTR,  I imagine Pokemon would sell far better than LOTR.