Iori_Yagami

And I'd rather they improve the quality and keep/reduce the frigging price, yo! Can ya hear me, LEGO board of directors? Huh? Is it too high up in the sky? Ahooooooy!

Why not?

That. I mean, if you have hands growing out of correct place, then you will make fun stuff anyway. Skill > money. See, this match house is made without any glue and other binding materials - pure mathches. Since a box with 40-50 matches is around 3-5 cents, it is really cheap. http://ostrovokpodelok.ru/wp-content/uploads/2014/12/podelki-iz-spichek.jpg

M-m-m-m-ortal Kombaaaaaaaaaaat! Test your might! Dopee dopee doppe dopee dopee pampamapamapma pamparam pampampampam todoon todoon todoon todoodoon doon doon doon doondoon! Probably will never happen, but brings memories. https://seancantrell.files.wordpress.com/2015/04/copy-mainblogbanner1.jpg

If so, why? Is there some weird split in the community for petty arguments? Or is there so other factors at play, like officiality/non-officiality? I am talking about lego.wikia.com and brickimedia.org if you wonder.

Haha, that's sufficient amount of bricks, but is it also a non-redundant amount of bricks? Hmmm..? Surely some minimum set search algorithm is in order?

I mean, LEGO is about building and pieces, right? Okay, modern kids with themes and collecting will disagree somewhat, but generally it's true. So far, brickset provided us users with info on pieces in the set, and often with full instructions and images of completed models. Since pieces do repeat, is it possible to gather enough of pieces from buying LEGO, that new sets could be assembled by using pieces you already have, just by following building instructions? Or maybe LEGO releases new uniques pieces all the time? Decorative ones, probably, and stickers, maybe? Now, pieces colors might be a small issue. If so, I wonder how many sets one would accumulate before they're able to construct new ones by tearing up old ones? Wouldn't surprise me if someone cared to write some software (which seems pretty trivial), which can look up what models you can build with what you have? (That wouldn't be too computationally demanding and slow, right? Or perhaps filling up the database is problematic because of some copyrights or that kinds of thing?

Ho, ho, ho, where do I start? Boardgaming (more like modern boardgames with pretty bits and pieces and storylines and clever math mechanics than traditional like chess and backgammon). Coin collecting. Bill tracking (no, really, you track banknote serial numbers, and where in the country they reappear later). Emulating old vg consoles. Reading about serious topics (like history and anthropology). Collectible card games like Android:Netrunner and Magic the Gathering. Athletics and weightlifting (some minor stuff for well-being rather than record-setting). Science fiction, since I was a kid. I have no idea if movies are a hobby, but I like watching entire series of sequels and constructing a storyline. well, of course, I am not huge in all of those, I like to nibble on different things one by one.

Well, there are A LOT of those sold in my area (in parallel to LEGO, just in different shops, for obviously different market segments, if ya'know what I mean). They do fall apart sometimes, not quite as super smooth as LEGO, but useable. And, the selling point to me is that they DO military themes. Tanks, APCs, helicopters, AAAs, outposts, gunships, radars, command centers, missile launchers, what have you. And, naturally, there are A TON of different trademark (?) labels on those boxes, inane sounding and not, with or without chinese characters. Enlighten, sluban, little companion, cogo, and many more. My stance is clear - leave them to the people who actually can't afford LEGO. Asian markets, some places in ex-USSR with remote areas, maybe south america. There is no much reason to get them, aside from military theme (most others are clones of Lego themes), than LEGO for consumers in western world with western kinds of incomes. Even western 'poor' can actually afford or save up for some nice LEGO sets.Now, whole thing's different if you earn 50-100$ per month in total. added: Well, just returned from a shop. Local LEGO prices are somewhat marked up from genuine euro prices, from 5% up to 40% I'd estimate. Naturally, bigger sets aren't sold. The largest I saw was Rebel Gunship for 165eur. Now, cheapware store has a lot of Sluban. And man, they're affordable and well sold here. So, a 1050 piece military set (tank, aaa, block post, guard tower, mil.quad, helicopter, and command building, as well as a squad of soldier minifigs) come in a like 1 meter long huge box with handle and costs ~60eur. Largest one for for 110eur, and huge ship with 1870 pieces or so. Smaller set are ~20-25 eur, but they are also around 300-400 pieces. Once I actually buy one, I'll write how good or bad is it. So far, I have seen the difference between a chinese set and LEGO set, and, while noticeable, it's not a major one. So I'd say, if you can comfortably afford LEGO, stay with it. If, however, you never could, except for smallest sets and rarely, then our Chinese friends are a sure help.

Now, now... If soon Lego sets with models of bars, strippers, guns and gangs will start appearing, it would be so close to the end of the Earth... Hmmm, you could make a Lego set based on SAW movie series out of technic pieces. "Hello, I want to play a game... For years, you have always neglected to learn to build you own Lego stuff... To survive, before the timer stops and a tiny Lego motor will whirl a drill in a hole in this explosive gas container. you must assemble the key to the lock, but there are no instructions, figure it out on your own..."

Surprisingly or otherwise, I don't like pieces that have too much decoration, are very large compared to average bricks, joints and caps, and in general have very little 'Lego' about them. They just remind me of a generic molded plastic toy, not a creative puzzle piece. For me, Lego was always a construction kit first, and thematic cuteness is an afterthought. (obviously mass market diasagrees and dicatetes its own rules - gotta follow the buying public, huh?). As a weird geek/nerd, I always found finding new types of brick, clutch, axles, slope etc more exciting than new stories, cool hats or whatever. For me the first is the meat, and the latter just a sauce. I know that for many others its the opposite, but I think I have a sizable portion of similar minded folks.

Ah, I guess they're in such a shape now it is too hard to change anything for that major production, and why, since they're expanding all the time? I mean, even my backwater city has now lego sets in a supermarket.

Hahaha, all of my local shops are full of Cogo- Shmogo, Kazi shmazi, Enlighten - Menlighten, Sluban-Thruban, and another potato sack of East-Asian clones. Well, duh, it fits the income levels of general local populace nicely, I guess. And even for those, people save up to give their little a nice present for b-day. The posh kids go to 'leet' toys shops with genuine shiny Legos, where sale is slow, and the largest $150-160 sets sit on the shelves for literally years. Shop assistant was SO HAPPY to see me display any interest in those, it was funny. Ah, I guess only the wacko AFOL collectors are the true buyers of those.

Where's the pesky little option 'I keep it mint/sealed for future $$$ speculation on the market full on hapless fans'?

Bootleg? Ha! A truly creative child can play with a beer bottle cap and be HAPPY about it. We don't need no stinking corps telling us how to enjoy our pre-manufactured happiness from cookie-cutter toys for $$$! Man, I remember we used to stroll into abandoned building sites, find odd and fun things there and have a lot of fun. Throwing carbide chinks into water puddles on the street, launching electromotor bent angluar plates as boomerangs, chewing some odd resin-like thing (a pretend chewing gum, since real thing was inacessible or rare). That was the true creativity.

Hmm, I guess people don't tend to resell those on a secondary market? I mean, just going into classifieds on toys, there's a large portion devoted to lego sets. Naturally, many of those are just unsorted piles, but others are kept close to original state. After all a kid would get excited only for so long, and they eventually could grow out of it. Lego makes a wonderful secondary market thing (it doesn't deteriorate all that much, compared with cards and cardboard from board games, for example or plush toys or metallic stuff. Sturdy, smooth, bright, compatible.

So, how do you call several sets which are connected by theme, overall look and usually released in one year and have sequentai set numbers. Most of the time those include sets (boxes) of increasing size (and price, naturally). So, it is like a tiny set for 5$, small set for 10$, some medium one at 25$-50$ and then you go upwards for 2 or 3 more large sets, up to 100$-250$. For example, 2014 sets 60032, 60033, 60034, 60035 and 60036 all deal with some artic expedition stuff. They all are within "City" theme and "Lego System" type of construction kits, but they aren't really connected to "police chases", "building site" and other sets. Do you call it a cycle of sets? A subtheme? Or what? It feels like they are designed to be bought sequentially, when you want to expand - by buying all of those, you get multiple distinct items, and some duplicates (which are expected, that is multiple ice blocks, but only one station and helicopter). One thing for sure, they look nice when assembled together, just as they show in their free catalog. (the thing is very fun to watch thru, even without buying anything big).

Troll? Wow, just wow. As if having a different opinion is immediately impossible, must be silenced as incorrect. All is fine, it was always like that, we've been always fighting Eastasia. As for sub-par packaging for major producer... Oh my, just what I expected. The 'sunk cost' justification. As in, what I spend my money on, is perfect, dontcha criticize it, etc Still waiting for explanation. I guess, you think, Lego's for the developed world is a toy product not worthy of displaying on the shelf and boasting to your neighbbours (my kids play with legos, (and yours with sticks and stones, hehe!)). But really... is it that hard? In this day and age? I guess it is made specifically to look like disposable thing to send a message to consumer - play with it, and dump into storage bin, don't treat this as a toy for years to come. (How long to modern kids stay interested in the same toy? Months? Weeks? Days?) The big box is easily explainable - big cost is easier justified with big box. Imagine legos being sold in plain plastic bags with instructions tied to it with some thread or rubber band. Same product, but why is everyone suddenly looking at the price suspiciously? Huh? And for those saying that better packaging will increase prices... Oh my, the vast majority of price is made of marketing and playing the sale game, not production. Of course, cunning producer might 'justify' 20% increase in price by real increase in production costs in 1%, and gullible consumer would swallow it, that's how it always was.

Well, lego bricks themselves are quite good, compared to chinese clones, that's for sure, but why do they use that flimsy package? Is it really supposed to be disposable a-la cereal box? The cardboard is horribly thin, it can't be opened without ripping, it is easily mangled in transit, and largest fault of all: all the pieces are in not resealable packets. Once you open it, you must either use a different one, or pinch it with some clips. Is it really that hard to put some ziplock bags instead? Or make the box closable? I mean, look at modern boardgames, which are cheaper than lego sets (well, kinda - they're in 30-50-80$ range usually), oftern contain only cardboard/wooden components, and still come with nice organisers (i.e. plastic trays or something like that). It is really embarrasing for our noble world brick leader not to do what uncle Lao in his $0.01/hour factory in his basement already does. Sturdy boxes and ziplocks. Also, do those instruction really need to be that full of pages, where 90% of page is solid color? How come a random box of bits from China has 16 panels of instructions on a single sheet of glossy paper, and in lego you need several pages for that? It is off-topic, but lego reminds me of Fantasy Flight Games, who happen to be big publisher of ameri-style board games (like Mansions of Madness), who constantly refuse to make board game inserts for storing the pieces, and the buyer is forec either to keep all the myriad different components (cards, tokens, markers, figures, game board, dice, etc) in a huge messy pile, or buy/make his own container. This just gives off some unprofessionality vibes. Hoping for change for the better.