SheepEater

Things non-AFOLs say WAY too often

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"How can you play with Lego it seems Boring"

"You still play with Lego? (Then they go on to talk about their hobby as if it's much more important)"

"Don't you have enough Lego" (Despite me only having one box full of Lego much less than the majority of Eurobricks xD)

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What are those plastic bricks on the floor?

Why is there Lego here?

I didn't know you still liked lego!

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I like many of you get the: "You still (insert here negative demeanor) PLAY with Legos" like I've commited a crime or like they are saying "you do drugs" or "kill puppies" or something.

It used to bother me until I heard it from someone who actually had no morals to say a pip, after that incident I was cured, never felt weird or ashamed or like I had to explain it.

I do have a little story to tell,

about 12 years ago, still in my Dark Ages (we all have one or two of those don't we?) there was a set I really wanted, but I was too old to go and buy a box of "LEGOS" and there was like two stores in the entire city that sold lego (no online back then) and I was well known in both (friends of the family worked there and such - small city don't ask :sadnew: ), so I felt embarassed and caved under the scrutiny once, twice, finally I bought it, but when I got to the counter I asked for it to be wrapped as a gift for my little cousin. :blush: I had a bunch of them so they couldn't know for which one it was.

I didn't show my face there again for a couple of years at least, awkward!!!

Has this ever happen to any of you? Saying it was for your... "son, cat, dog, 3rd cousin twice removed on your mothers side".

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Hahaha nice story CustomJoe_MD !! :laugh:

Personaly , I did just the opposite !! Remember that little magazine about AFOL'S ??? Me ! Me ! Me ! It's all for me !!!!! I never said it was for a cousin , member of the family or whatnot...

I build with LEGO , get used to it ! If shop employees put up a attitude, I'll never shop there again ! ( That was pre- digital era :wink: ) Now shops dread me !! I'll go for the maximum discount whenever I can !! :devil:

If I can get a discount in 1 store , why not in this store ??? If they don't like it, too bad !!

But getting back to subject :laugh: , I sometimes wear a LEGO shirt, and get mixed responses , young kids call me " mister LEGO" and adults give me a strange look , but refrain from any comment :grin:

grtz Saint

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Now shops dread me !! I'll go for the maximum discount whenever I can !! :devil:

Haha, funny as hell :laugh:

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"Don't you have enough Lego" (Despite me only having one box full of Lego much less than the majority of Eurobricks xD)

:laugh::thumbup:

Used to get this all the time.

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Firstly, you should replace the term "non-AFOLs" in the title with "NFOL's", as the former could also refer to child fans of Lego.

- "Today's Lego sets have way too many special pieces that are only good to build one thing"

Those people saying that clearly don't build and have never seen any MOCs other than sculptures made out of 2x4 and 2x2 bricks and have no clue how those insanely detailed MOCs (like this week's front page MOC, Steam Castle Falls) use TONS of those supposedly "one-use-only" special pieces.

I disagree more than I agree with you here. Yes, there are sometimes more uses for them, sometimes unorthodox. But the statement was that there are too many of them, and I think that they are only useful in small amounts. When there are so many of them in total, and more importantly that there are so many types, it is hard to utilise them in creations. It also depends on the extent of the specialization, and I think the borderline is quite a bit less extreme of a level than airplane wings (which should NOT have ever existed). Also, specialized pieces are more expensive to produce. I would typically not prefer the ones that are both more expensive and more useless.

Also, I have seen the NFOL's complaining more about the simple fact that the sets even include instructions, not that it is difficult to reuse the pieces. They are rarely complaining about it being too hard to reuse the pieces, but that you are even allowed to build without creativity.

- "Legos are way too expensive."

You get what you pay for. You see something else cheaper and just as good, by all means buy it.

Ha, I remember one December evening trip to Toys R Us. In the Lego section, there was a woman in about here 60's holding a brick tub, speaking on a cell phone (probably to her daughter about her grandchildrens gift) complaining "X dollars for a bucket of Lego's^ I have never seen something so ridiculous in my life!". Fit's both aspects of that statement.

I am however slightly (and just slightly) skeptical that it would really be that expensive to make. They probably reuse molds much more than other toy companies, and more of the labour is given to the customer (being a building toy). I would expect it to only be slightly more expensive than others with the higher durability. But anyways, the simple-minded NFOL's are probably complaining primarily because they think "It's just a toy. It should be cheap".

- "Where are the basic bricks sets that I used to play with when I was a kid? I swear these days it's only licensed Lego and wacky themes."

There's still generic Lego, stores just don't stock on them as much as Star Wars /Super Heroes etc. because they simply don't sell as much!

When I go to Toys R Us (mostly at times less busy for children), I often see adults (most likely parents) looking in the Lego section at the assortments, with a fair balance of praise and complaints. Both these points are evidence of a bigger market for the parts assortments than TLG might realize.

As a Lego fan I am myself unhappy with the selection of "Bricks and More" sets that I see on Shop at Home. There should be a larger selection (with the already large selection of total sets that they have), and also divide them by colour or function. Creator sets would be a good stand-in if they weren't so focused on vehicles.

But I still think that it is silly that they act like part assortments are entirely extinct, without really doing research. I think that the specialization part is more important. If the parts within the themed model are usefull enough, than it could be as good for creations as a mixed-colour brick bucket.

I know I'm preaching to the choir here, but oh well. Rant over.

"Legos"

Heck, even some AFOLs say it. :grin:

That one bugs me. When I became a more dedicated fan of Lego with the Emerald Night, my favourite MOC artist was Nannan Zhang, mainly because of his wonderful Containment model. He just happened to be the same guy that sold me the Emerald Night on Bricklink. On his project page on Lego Cuusoo, he says "Lego's". Really, even you Nannan?

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"oh that reminds me, I was walking past your spare room and I saw a bunch of Lego....?'

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"Have you got the Doctor Who Lego?"

It's really fustrating when people think CB is Lego!

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And the figures (except for Daleks) are all fairly ugly! I don't mind how the sets look, though.

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And the figures (except for Daleks) are all fairly ugly! I don't mind how the sets look, though.

I agree re daleks and sets, but I still don't own any. Thankfully said non-AFOLs have never bought me any either!

You could replace 'Doctor Who' with any of the IPs that clone brands make. Like 'Barbie'. a Brand Store staff member was telling me they get this all the time.

Another thing he said they get a bit are parents describing a set they've seen online they want to buy for Little Timmy, which turns out to be a MOC. He's had customers that get quite stroppy when it is explained that no, Lego do not sell this model, no you can't get instructions, no we don't have a set that has about the same pieces.

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The MOC thing is down right hilarious! :laugh: It's so funny that I've actually heard all of these. And you guys took all the good ones. :tongue:

"have you got the deadly 60 sets?"

Strangely though, I have not ever heard of this. What is the deadly 60 sets? :look:

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Strangely though, I have not ever heard of this. What is the deadly 60 sets? :look:

Like doctor who the deadly 60 sets are character building based on a TV show where an explorer (I think) called Steve goes looking for the 60 deadliest animals in the world.

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LEGO please make up more stuff for SuperHeroes sets, who cares about material accuracy?

Many AFOLs say that, heck even I say that. Sad but true. :laugh:

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In response to someone above, the fact that they are complaining of prices at Toys 'R Us is reasonable. They are overpriced. But LEGO in general can be more expensive than some toys. Not everyone is as informed as the AFOL is on prices/deals/etc.

As far as legos...I say that all the time. I was the only kid in my town that played with LEGO, so you think the plural of LEGO is legos and it sticks. Meaning, I still use it even though I know LEGO is appropriate. On here, I say LEGO. In my personal life I say legos. It doesn't bother me at all.

It is annoying with the other brands getting shoved under the LEGO umbrella, but it is similar to any other well known brand name -- band-aid, kleenex, etc. If something is quality and well known, anything similar to it will be rated against it. I've heard numerous times that someone bought the latest Halo LEGO set, even though they actually didn't.

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I hate to say it, but Molly Wood makes several good points, especially when you're looking at it from a parenting/educational point of view.

There is too much emphasis on minifigs. Come on, we all know this. Half the people on Eurobricks only buy new sets for the minifigs, and I think we've all at least been tempted to buy at least one Turtles set or one Lone Ranger set (one Chima, one LOTR, etc.) just so we can have the iconic minifigs. Lego Star Wars has seen revamp after revamp that basically consisted of releasing a very slightly modified set with new or more detailed minifigs. And we eat it up. And do I have to mention the CMF "theme" that so many of us have to collect complete sets of? There is literally NO building in this so-called Lego theme, and how many of us are totally addicted to it?

There are too many specialized parts in every set. Yes, of course we can use all those specialized pieces in MOCing, and more is better in terms of the options you have when you finally collect enough pieces - but the sheer variety of pieces you get in a set means that it is harder to do different things with that particular set. This is okay for AFOLs who collect set after set after set. It's not so cool when you think of children who don't have that much disposable income. A kid who only gets a handful of sets each year has much more limited options to recombine those specialized pieces in new, imaginative ways than s/he would if the parts were more generalized.

The focus on licensed characters and settings does limit children's creativity, no matter how loudly we protest. When you buy LOTR vs. "Generic Fantasy Castle" you are buying specific characters with preset stories and a certain "right way" that the settings should look. Weathertop is supposed to look like this, and be the setting for a fight between Aragorn and some hobbits on one side and Nazgul on the other. That's the "rulebook" that you get with that set, and once you've built the set and played out that fight, there's little encouragement to do anything else with the set. A generic Castle set is much more open to the children's imagination. They can make up any story they want, because the set doesn't come with its own canon. The minifigs can be named whatever you want. The King's Castle can be built in whatever configuration you want. The Dragon Knights can be the good guys or the bad guys. The Lion Princess can be a prisoner, or maybe she's actually eloping with one of the Dragon Knights. Maybe everybody will end up teaming up against that horrible red dragon. All options are open. You get a much bigger sandbox.

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