Top Five Things I Miss About Old School LEGO

[SirSven7]

Hello everyone in the LEGO world

It’s been an absolute age since I lasted visited the site and seen all the wonderful things to see, you could also say I had a mini Dark Age lasting a few months.

But that’s all in the past and to make up for my absence I have started back on my Blog again. I am finding it a real chore to track down all those old KK1 sets from the Castle theme so in the mean time I decide to post a blog detailing why I am such a fan of the classic sets.

Here is the Link Top Five Things I Miss About Old School LEGO

If you’re feeling studious give it a read and tell me what you think.

Cheers everyone and now I’m off to read some of these amazing reviews I missed (series 8 CMF’s already ).

Edited September 4, 2012 by SirSven7

[The Joker1]

True so True I remember going to my local toystore and lifting up the flaps of the latest orient expedition sets. Thats the thing i miss most-Flaps .

[Miles]

I was wondering where you went, Steve. I'm glad you returned to the world of blogging - I've missed the updates to your site. Its like my 4th bookmark down in my LEGO folder.

I'm entirely in your camp on all points, and I've often dreamed of finding and building some of the old classic 80's castle sets, though it seems a bit cost prohibitive at the moment. At my high point, I owned most of the Forestmen sets and all of the Wolfpack sets, though the large castles were, sadly, out of my family's small budget. Kings Mountain Fortress... *sigh*

Reading through your entries, I always keep wondering just what you think of the more current line of castle sets - from the Fantasy Line to Kingdoms to Lord of the Rings and even some less obvious offshoots, like the Vampyre Castle from the Monster Fighters line. Any chance your written wanderings will take you there? I'd love to see your thoughts and comments on how the currents sets 'stack-up' sort of speak.

In any event, I'll wind this down before I start spouting out the superiority of bygone days over the technichal electronic mess we now reside in. Your blog is not only a blast to read through, but truly informative as well, and I appreciate all the time you put into it. Thanks Steve!

[Hey Joe]

I read and enjoyed your blog. You made a couple grammatical errors but I won't hold it against you.

I agree with you about the box art. Really, that CGI stuff that they do shouldn't even be legal. The actual model will never ever look like that.

Edited September 4, 2012 by bjtpro

[FROGG]

I read your article and have to say i agree with everything except the baseplates. I honestly do not miss them. I think the move to providing 16 x 16 plates instead is a great move. They offer more flexibility in building and are much more rigid. I do miss the old style boxes with the flip up lids and the little advertising pamphlets showing all the new sets.

[Niku]

Nice to have you back, I am reading your article and enjoying it.

Greetings.

[SirSven7]

Thanks for the comments everyone they are all really nice (Miles especially)

I will slowly do a look at a lot of the later themes eventually (Pharaohs Quest, POTC, Kingdoms and Monster Fighters are some I am paying most of the attention to at the moment). But sadly with everything it takes time.

Thanks again everyone and I promise the wait will be shorter for my next post.

[______]

Woah, the fact you mentioned about Black Seas Barracuda and the instructions was really interesting. LEGO sets just don't seem about the actual build itself for the children nowadays, it's more about the final product. However I agree with you, I think the build is equally as important as the finished model. I want to have a challenge from the instructions, I don't want them simply to seem like a chore.

[BrickG]

The only one I agree with is the Baseplate stuff. I miss baseplates.

The rest... Idunno, some seem unreasonable. Instructions are just better done these days (the build sucked more as a kid, probably more due to organization and having to find the pieces.. and I am a "finished product" guy who prefers that to the build). Boxes? Who cares? I care about the toys and I throw away the boxes... the lack of a story? There's nothing stopping you from giving them your own story and I never pay attention to the stories anyways.

I agree with the points with the license themes but I still love them. I mean, when I get a Star Wars set I'm not going to use my creativity to build an X-Wing because I already have it. And I don't really want to build a ship that doesn't exist for Star Wars because there's so many good ships to choose from (but the best ones ALREADY have sets) and I don't think it would fit. If I made an "XY-Wing" I probably wouldn't like it.... But it's different with some franchises. I think like Superheroes are easier to be creative with. The Batcave for example can be defined in any number of ways unlike an X-Wing. Also there haven't been many sets yet so I can go and make a lot of the missing things without feeling like they suck compared to existing sets (that don't exist yet). I still want to build a Daily Planet.

So... I agree with 1 1/2 of them. ;p

Edited September 4, 2012 by BrickG

[gotoAndLego]

I mean, when I get a Star Wars set I'm not going to use my creativity to build an X-Wing because I already have it...

I think this is true initilly, but soon people will try build bigger and better X-Wings than the sets.

[______]

I think this is true initilly, but soon people will try build bigger and better X-Wings than the sets.

Completely agree with this point. Some people won't want to build a whole new X-Wing (Or Quinjet... ) but I personally like the challenge of making my own versions of these sets. It's just a better experience for me, the feeling of having your own Quinjet, X-Wing, RGS that sets itself apart from the real sets is great. Furthermore it stimulates you to find your own way to make the vehicle and in most cases, make it more accurate to the film.

I suppose this ties in with the old "alternative models" displayed on the back of old LEGO boxes, that tried persuading children to build something without instructions. I know as a kid this is what got me into making MOCs. I think even licensed themes used the alternative model ideas even up to SW Episode 3.

[TheLegoDr]

That was an interesting read, but definitely came off as a rant. I much prefer the mellower informative blogs. Which I can't wait to continue reading upon finalization.

With that said, I do agree and disagree with some of the things stated.

I definitely do miss the baseplates. I have a huge stack of them. I liked the idea of covering a lot more ground with each build instead of trying to use the large plates to build around. I think that might be why I like the Modular buildings so much. You get classic smiley figures that aren't super detailed and you get baseplates. Plus you can create your own story.

But that is one of the things I disagree with. Yes, Licensed themes are based around someone else's imagination, but that doesn't mean you absolutely cannot use your own along with it. Captain Jack Sparrow doesn't have to be Jack Sparrow, his name could be Ed and he works at a fun Caribbean style restaurant. I like seeing some of these characters/places in Lego form, but you don't have to build every set the way the instructions say. In fact, I hardly have any sets built (except for early castle/pirates..weird).

I do agree about the license fees not helping people buy the product. But you can always wait for a sale. They always have sales that will offset a lot of the licensed fee, so that argument doesn't really hold any water. So you end up with a Licensed theme with beautiful figures and some neat new molds at about the same price as the Evergreen themes. That's kind of a win-win in my eyes.

I really do miss the giant boxes and the flip lid. I am saddened that all of my early set boxes were thrown out when I was a kid. What child thinks to keep the box of his old toys. I miss going to the store and looking under the lid of the Pirate ships. With theft these days, that probably won't be making a return. Was theft really less of an issue 20 years ago? Wow, what a world we live in.

The instructions are definitely more spread out, which is odd since that is costing more money to print on more paper, but oh well I guess. I love the older instructions with the alternate set pictures. And I love the old booklets that highlighted all the upcoming sets too. They had little scene backdrops with the smaller sized set listings. Lego should make a return of those instead of the larger Lego magazine which only covers the sets, but no fun background pictures.

The times sure are changing. Let's hope for the best for TLG and its consumers.

[Capt. Redblade]

Now I'm sad because there are no more baseplates.

Come back, baseplates, we miss you!

[Erik Leppen]

It's funny, really, because I never cared about baseplates and I think they're inconvenient, single-purpose, hard to arrange in any other way than a square pattern because you can't fill up the holes, always come in the wrong colors, and always lie in the way when not used because they're so large. I'm very glad baseplates are being replaced by plates so often. Normal plates are just much more versatile.

I agree about the instructions. I'd love to see larger building steps. Not only that, but the tiny steps means I have two large boxes full of books I never use. There have been sets that came with six books! The piece callouts are heaven, though. Even as a kid I was annoyed that many alternative models came without piece callouts. It left me feeling unsure whether I had everything. And I don't think this is "exciting", it's just "unsure".

I also agree about the licenced themes (franchise-based, not counting things like Volkswagen, Ferrari or Architecture). I don't care about them at all, but I simply don't care about stories in general. Fortunately there are still many non-licenced themes like Creator or Modular buildings.

I'm not sure I care about the boxes - a box is just a box. It's the contents that count. But I'm not a child anymore, so I don't know if there is any difference in children's imaginations with modern boxes versus the old ones.

[Vindicare]

Pretty interesting read, some valid points. I think the box art part was a bit much, but eh. My(and yours) biggest gripe is the instructions. Drives me nuts to sometimes have as many as 4 for one set. And 1 added piece as a step?! Really...

I loved flaps too... Bring back the flaps!

[BrickG]

I think this is true initilly, but soon people will try build bigger and better X-Wings than the sets.

Which goes back to the creativity thing. You're just building another X-Wing.

[SirSven7]

I'm getting some very interesting feedback on my points.

Its funny but some people strongly agree on some things and strongly disagree on others (like flaps or baseplates) but the someone a bit further down the list will have the opposite opinion. Like I said I still love modern LEGO but this list is what occasionaly will cause me to sigh and go on Bricklink for something older.

I was wondering if one of those lovely admin staff could put a poll in so people could click on what they miss about oldschool LEGO from my five points so I can see how accurate I was. If anyone has a suggestion on something I missed I would be interest to see that as well. (a gentleman on brickset mentioned missing the old school faces (mid 90s) which I thought was interesting).

Im sorry if it came across as a Rant, it was supposed to be funny

Don't worry infromative reviews will make a return soo.

[HumanPackMule]

The instructions have got to be the biggest point I agree with you on. As I've become better at building, I look for more of a challenge in my builds, so with TLG dumbing down their instructions, I've looked elsewhere for challenging builds which is why I now supplement my building projects with model kits, nanoblocks, and even Halo Mega Bloks instead of just Lego. Additionally, the instructions from those other mediums don't take up as much room due to only having a single instruction book.

Edited September 6, 2012 by HumanPackMule