Comment by bdunks
2 months ago
Agree. They seem to have a “price per piece” equation. Perhaps as a result, the 5+ sets are made of hundreds of small pieces.
Older sets had larger foundational and platform pieces which gave a good starting place for new creative builds.
Today, airplanes fuselages, wings, and car chassis are instead built up piece by piece.
It’s hard for my 6 year old to start creative builds that are stable when he hardly has any pieces larger than 2x6 across dozens of sets.
My wife found a huge mixed bin from the 80s and 90s at an estate sale. It really helped.
Several years ago I wrote this reddit post analyzing LEGO piece pricing: https://www.reddit.com/r/lego/comments/1328f52/detailed_lego...
It's a little out of date, but the conclusions are still relevant.
Main things of note: Brickheads are pretty economical as a "parts pack." No significant correlation between per-piece pricing and IP licensing (except for Star Wars). Star Wars and City sets are overpriced.
> Today, airplanes fuselages, wings, and car chassis are instead built up piece by piece.
Well, people did complain about the whole 'special pieces' trend that you praise.
As a kid I loved the giant boat hull piece because it was sealed and actually floated. This in combination with some larger pylon-type pieces from the Star Wars set meant you could build floating cities and vehicles and such and mess with them in the kitchen sink.
I wish I had hobbies as cheap as LEGO now...
They still make "boats that really float" today: https://www.lego.com/en-us/product/arctic-explorer-ship-6036...
Lego suffers from a fandom problem among adults: They have strong nostalgia for how it was when they were kids and they think everything since then is against the natural order of Lego.
The best way to enjoy Lego is to give it to some kids and watch them get creative with it. Unlike all of the Internet complaints, kids have no problem having fun with Lego and being creative in their own ways.
> The best way to enjoy Lego is to give it to some kids and watch them get creative with it.
But there's a very limited age range in which todays kids will appreciate physical toys, before they're introduced to screens...
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You can also buy (used) sets or assorted blocks from when you were a kid.
5yo sets have smaller pieces but also use big foundational pieces. Also the builds are simpler and better explained. Sets for 8yo are more complex.
> Older sets had larger foundational and platform pieces which gave a good starting place for new creative builds.
They stopped doing the many unique parts because it was bankrupting them.