Unpopular Opinions about LEGO

[The Island Chronicles]

On 7/9/2023 at 9:06 PM, LegendaryArticuno said:

Personally, I haven't found a single Ideas set that I've liked enough to buy.

https://brickset.com/sets/page-1?query=Ideas

I have a few sets that I like from Ideas (i.e. the treehouse, Home Alone house and Sesame Street set - they're good for town builders like myself!). My issue is that they were usually too expensive to acquire. I budget when it comes to buying Lego. 

On 7/10/2023 at 4:01 AM, MAB said:

Are you a fan of LEGO, or a fan of a specific theme only? Given the huge range of themes, styles and size, I find it amazing that anyone into LEGO in general does not like any of the IDEAS sets. Whereas it is understandable if someone only like one theme and doesn't buy sets outside of that theme.

It's okay if you don't like certain themes. Everyone has different tastes when it comes to Lego. You can still be a fan of Lego and have a favorite theme. That's why they ask you what your favorite theme is when you join this community. You don't have to love all themes to be a fan of Lego, ya know. I'm one of those guys who doesn't love all themes. 😀

Edited July 16, 2023 by The Brick Boss

[Peppermint_M]

Seconded on the price of IDEAS sets. Considering that the advertising costs have to have been offset by the voting process and hype, they are pricey purchases!

[BrickBob Studpants]

9 hours ago, LegendaryArticuno said:

Personally, I haven't found a single Ideas set that I've liked enough to buy.

https://brickset.com/sets/page-1?query=Ideas

…what kind of sets do you actually like?  Given how diverse Ideas is as a theme, it strikes me as incredibly unlikely that not a single one of them appeals to a LEGO fan.

[LegendaryArticuno]

5 hours ago, BrickBob Studpants said:

…what kind of sets do you actually like?  Given how diverse Ideas is as a theme, it strikes me as incredibly unlikely that not a single one of them appeals to a LEGO fan.

Lol generally in this order: Marvel, Ninjago, Starwars. That said, I'm extremely picky as space is a limiting factor... I've cut back entirely on Starwars but I am looking forward to the upcoming Ghost. You know my thoughts on Marvel , despite being my fave theme I find the vast majority of sets to be poorly designed.

Ninjago is the most consistent theme in terms of good design and value year after year, but I do think that Ninjago has not been able to meet the high design standard set forth in the Ninjago Movie. Some sets come close, but overall lack the quality and creativity. 

[MAB]

8 hours ago, The Brick Boss said:

I have a few sets that I like from Ideas. My issue is that they were usually too expensive to acquire. I budget when it comes to buying Lego. 

It's okay if you don't like certain themes. Everyone has different tastes when it comes to Lego. You can still be a fan of Lego and have a favorite theme. That's why they ask you what your favorite theme is when you join this community. You don't have to love all themes to be a fan of Lego, ya know. I'm one of those guys who doesn't love all themes. 😀

I know everyone has different tastes and that it is OK if you don't like certain themes. I'd be very surprised if anyone loves all themes. I am just very surprised that someone can not like a single set in IDEAS, since it is not really a theme. It is an incredibly broad range of sets that have the single common factor that they were suggested and originally designed by a fan. There are licensed sets, and unlicensed. There are big sets, and small sets. There are highly detailed AFOL aimed sets, there are more child-like sets. There are play sets, there are display sets. There are minifigure scale sets and no-minifigure brick built sets. There are scale models and life-size sets.

[Doddsino]

I've expressed this elsewhere, but when it comes to buying larger sets, specifically modulars...I'm fine with the set only coming with 5 or less Minifigures if it means it'll knock $50 or more off the price of the set. Or they could make the set a little bigger. Either way, Minifigures are the least of my interest when it comes to larger sets.

Need Minifigures? How about just releasing those little 5 packs like they did back in the day. Don't waste the piece count on these.

[Lion King]

11 hours ago, Doddsino said:

I've expressed this elsewhere, but when it comes to buying larger sets, specifically modulars...I'm fine with the set only coming with 5 or less Minifigures if it means it'll knock $50 or more off the price of the set. Or they could make the set a little bigger. Either way, Minifigures are the least of my interest when it comes to larger sets.

Need Minifigures? How about just releasing those little 5 packs like they did back in the day. Don't waste the piece count on these.

Yeah your opinion is unpopular for sure. I get that the price is kinda higher for Boutique Hotel and Jazz Club. BUT I’m not in that minority with you - I realy like more than 5 minifigure to make Modulars look more lively and busy. 

I think Jazz Club minifigures have new face prints for individuals. Which it’s cool. The first 

but I’m in the majority with you, Iwould like to see Lego make Modular a little bigger!

By the way, what are 5 packs are you talking about? Are you referring them to CMF 6 Packs?

 

Oh and I think. It’s my unpopular opinion about older Modular’s - I. Don’t like minifigure (prior to Downtown diner) with classic smiley faces. Like, they smile while their eyes are so hollow. What happy soulless citizens…

Edited July 13, 2023 by Lion King

[DelQuinn]

57 minutes ago, Lion King said:

By the way, what are 5 packs are you talking about?

I think (correct me if I'm wrong) refering to these old releases

https://www.bricklink.com/v2/catalog/catalogitem.page?S=6703-1#T=S&O={"iconly":0}

https://www.bricklink.com/v2/catalog/catalogitem.page?S=6301-1#T=S&O={"iconly":0}

[Doddsino]

51 minutes ago, DelQuinn said:

I think (correct me if I'm wrong) refering to these old releases

https://www.bricklink.com/v2/catalog/catalogitem.page?S=6703-1#T=S&O={"iconly":0}

https://www.bricklink.com/v2/catalog/catalogitem.page?S=6301-1#T=S&O={"iconly":0}

You are correct, apparently I can't count.

To be fair, I was thinking about the Pirates set that came with the monkey, but that only came with 4 figures. There was a previous Pirates set that did have 5 figures though.

Edited July 13, 2023 by Doddsino

[Doddsino]

1 hour ago, Lion King said:

Oh and I think. It’s my unpopular opinion about older Modular’s - I. Don’t like minifigure (prior to Downtown diner) with classic smiley faces. Like, they smile while their eyes are so hollow. What happy soulless citizens…

I like the classic smiley faces, or variations of such. When Lego started doing weird off-center smirks, it made the characters look like they had a stroke. 

It also stymied creativity. While never formally telling kids how to play with the themes, having some level of uniform pattern to their figures allowed for kids to choose how they wanted to play. When you start printing scowls and gritting frowns on your figures, you're essentially spelling it out for the kids that this character is bad or mean.

As an example, 80's/90's Pirates had character to their faces, but many kids would choose to pretend to be the charming and adventurous Pirates avoiding the scrupulous and rigid Imperial Guards. Blacktron were the bad guys, but you could always act like they were the space Robin Hood to the Space Police's Sheriff of Nottingham.

If I was an 8 year old kid, I'd probably be less inclined to add my own character to a minifigure who looks like he's on the verge of crapping his pants. Sometimes simple is better.

[Lion King]

54 minutes ago, Doddsino said:

You are correct, apparently I can't count.

To be fair, I was thinking about the Pirates set that came with the monkey, but that only came with 4 figures. There was a previous Pirates set that did have 5 figures though.

Gotcha. E do have CMF seires that we can popular our modular cities. 

36 minutes ago, Doddsino said:

I like the classic smiley faces, or variations of such. When Lego started doing weird off-center smirks, it made the characters look like they had a stroke. 

It also stymied creativity. While never formally telling kids how to play with the themes, having some level of uniform pattern to their figures allowed for kids to choose how they wanted to play. When you start printing scowls and gritting frowns on your figures, you're essentially spelling it out for the kids that this character is bad or mean.

As an example, 80's/90's Pirates had character to their faces, but many kids would choose to pretend to be the charming and adventurous Pirates avoiding the scrupulous and rigid Imperial Guards. Blacktron were the bad guys, but you could always act like they were the space Robin Hood to the Space Police's Sheriff of Nottingham.

If I was an 8 year old kid, I'd probably be less inclined to add my own character to a minifigure who looks like he's on the verge of crapping his pants. Sometimes simple is better.

True, you made a point there. 

 I just don’t like classic smiley faces in Modular Buildings, it feels they are just look identical regardless of their hairpieces or printed torsos/legs.  different face prints are more diverse and unique, in my opinion. 

[Doddsino]

15 minutes ago, Lion King said:

 I just don’t like classic smiley faces in Modular Buildings, it feels they are just look identical regardless of their hairpieces or printed torsos/legs.  different face prints are more diverse and unique, in my opinion. 

Yeah, this was always an issue with Town in general. Most sets came with the standard smiley faces or the black sunglasses. Every so often they would put the smiley with the simple mustache, or the smiley with simple eyebrows later...but most figures did look very similar, and the only hair pieces were the standard hair that was either black or brown. 

In all honesty, I always felt like Lego was pretty cheap when trying to change it up. I remember when the Star Wars sets came out and the standard hair was shown in blonde and gray colors...which felt so fresh at the time. Nowadays, they have dozens of different hair in every imaginable color, but the selection in the 90's was dire. Heck, you had the ball cap in colors blue, white, red and black. When I saw a new figure wearing a green hat, I HAD to buy it.

Going back to what I said about Lego being kind of  complacent at the time, they were able to change up the classic smiley face in other themes. I mentioned Pirates, but when Ice Planet came out with the messy white hair face (aka the guy in my avatar), I thought that was super cool. Honestly, I always thought Lego could do many other variations of this kind of stuff, but they typically only did it with facial hair. 

[Alexandrina]

4 hours ago, Doddsino said:

I like the classic smiley faces, or variations of such. When Lego started doing weird off-center smirks, it made the characters look like they had a stroke. 

It also stymied creativity. While never formally telling kids how to play with the themes, having some level of uniform pattern to their figures allowed for kids to choose how they wanted to play. When you start printing scowls and gritting frowns on your figures, you're essentially spelling it out for the kids that this character is bad or mean.

As an example, 80's/90's Pirates had character to their faces, but many kids would choose to pretend to be the charming and adventurous Pirates avoiding the scrupulous and rigid Imperial Guards. Blacktron were the bad guys, but you could always act like they were the space Robin Hood to the Space Police's Sheriff of Nottingham.

If I was an 8 year old kid, I'd probably be less inclined to add my own character to a minifigure who looks like he's on the verge of crapping his pants. Sometimes simple is better.

I'm in a weird place of equal parts agreeing and disagreeing with you.

I love the 90s face print standards (even the downturned smile on the villain Basil the Bat Lord) and understand exactly what you mean by the faces stifling creativity. On the other hand, having a variety of face prints is really useful to me for my brickfilms (which is the main reason I hoard Lego like I'm Smaug) - when I'm making a film, I don't want the audience to be concocting their own characters. Having less ambiguous facial expressions helps here (and also, it looks really weird when a knight is being violently slain and has that perma-grin on his face the whole time).

That said, while I'm glad there's more variety than there was, I feel like Lego has gone too far the other direction - it seems like rather than having a standard core of seven or eight faces like they used to, there's a standard core of a dozen or so 'faces', but each one has a dozen different expressions spread over multiple dual-printed heads. I'm in the process of trying to collect every yellow face print ever released, and it's tedious having to track down every little variant. As an example, I was able to check off the entire Time Cruisers theme's facial expressions through one purchase of Mystic Mountain Time Lab (plus having half of them already from other sources). On the other hand I have three Hidden Side sets (and not tiny polybags) and I still don't have every version of the main characters' faces. Pick one print and keep it for every iteration of a character.

[Lyichir]

7 minutes ago, Alexandrina said:

I'm in a weird place of equal parts agreeing and disagreeing with you.

I love the 90s face print standards (even the downturned smile on the villain Basil the Bat Lord) and understand exactly what you mean by the faces stifling creativity. On the other hand, having a variety of face prints is really useful to me for my brickfilms (which is the main reason I hoard Lego like I'm Smaug) - when I'm making a film, I don't want the audience to be concocting their own characters. Having less ambiguous facial expressions helps here (and also, it looks really weird when a knight is being violently slain and has that perma-grin on his face the whole time).

That said, while I'm glad there's more variety than there was, I feel like Lego has gone too far the other direction - it seems like rather than having a standard core of seven or eight faces like they used to, there's a standard core of a dozen or so 'faces', but each one has a dozen different expressions spread over multiple dual-printed heads. I'm in the process of trying to collect every yellow face print ever released, and it's tedious having to track down every little variant. As an example, I was able to check off the entire Time Cruisers theme's facial expressions through one purchase of Mystic Mountain Time Lab (plus having half of them already from other sources). On the other hand I have three Hidden Side sets (and not tiny polybags) and I still don't have every version of the main characters' faces. Pick one print and keep it for every iteration of a character.

See, I disagree with that for two reasons. The first is that for people who like to collect multiple sets in a theme, it's more fun to get variations of each instead of every "main character" figure being identical—ESPECIALLY for themes like Ninjago that retain the same core cast of characters for years on end. The second reason is that having multiple expressions for the same face is a huge boon to people who make displays or brickfilms, since you can represent varying moods for a fig without having to settle for "close enough" substitutes from other characters.

I also disagree that having more expressive figs cuts down on creativity, since again, having variations of different head prints (either as separate parts or the now-widespread "double sided" heads) lets you choose what sort of facial expression you want your figs to display.

[Doddsino]

8 minutes ago, Alexandrina said:

I'm in a weird place of equal parts agreeing and disagreeing with you.

I love the 90s face print standards (even the downturned smile on the villain Basil the Bat Lord) and understand exactly what you mean by the faces stifling creativity. On the other hand, having a variety of face prints is really useful to me for my brickfilms (which is the main reason I hoard Lego like I'm Smaug) - when I'm making a film, I don't want the audience to be concocting their own characters. Having less ambiguous facial expressions helps here (and also, it looks really weird when a knight is being violently slain and has that perma-grin on his face the whole time).

That said, while I'm glad there's more variety than there was, I feel like Lego has gone too far the other direction - it seems like rather than having a standard core of seven or eight faces like they used to, there's a standard core of a dozen or so 'faces', but each one has a dozen different expressions spread over multiple dual-printed heads. I'm in the process of trying to collect every yellow face print ever released, and it's tedious having to track down every little variant. As an example, I was able to check off the entire Time Cruisers theme's facial expressions through one purchase of Mystic Mountain Time Lab (plus having half of them already from other sources). On the other hand I have three Hidden Side sets (and not tiny polybags) and I still don't have every version of the main characters' faces. Pick one print and keep it for every iteration of a character.

I guess I just never took much stock in the fact they were smiling, but if someone looked 'bad' then it was hard for me to justify making them good. 

Even as a kid, I liked 'twists' and such, and when I got the Wild West sets, you had the three main bad guys going up against the cavalry of Ft. Legoredo, and in order to more even the score, I would make the white hatted deputy as a mole. Over time, I just made him the main bad guy because the others were just so uninteresting to play with.

I have no problem with Lego changing things up, but completely stopping the smileys was disappointing. 

[Alexandrina]

2 minutes ago, Doddsino said:

I guess I just never took much stock in the fact they were smiling, but if someone looked 'bad' then it was hard for me to justify making them good. 

Even as a kid, I liked 'twists' and such, and when I got the Wild West sets, you had the three main bad guys going up against the cavalry of Ft. Legoredo, and in order to more even the score, I would make the white hatted deputy as a mole. Over time, I just made him the main bad guy because the others were just so uninteresting to play with.

I don't think I ever actually played with Lego like that - and it didn't help that as a kid the only heads I had were what I call the 'standard set' (3626bp01, 02, 03, 04 and 05) plus Johnny Thunder and Lucius Malfoy - all smiling apart from the one based on a real bad guy from non-Lego. By the time I started getting more Lego I was that much older and already fully into making films as my main use for Lego.

It seems to me as though the Western sets were the turning point for facial expressions, and that was partly because Old West bandits have snarls and grimaces as part of the language of them. Even in movies where the 'bad guy' is the hero, they're still always grizzled and scowling.

[Doddsino]

5 minutes ago, Alexandrina said:

It seems to me as though the Western sets were the turning point for facial expressions, and that was partly because Old West bandits have snarls and grimaces as part of the language of them. Even in movies where the 'bad guy' is the hero, they're still always grizzled and scowling.

Yeah, I was super excited to get those as a kid, and they're still some of my favorite sets.

But it's not like I could transfer Flatfoot's head to like a Town firefighter and make him a sympathetic looking character. No one is going to buy pizza if he's the guy behind the counter. And I don't want his ugly mug to be near the NASA flight command base.

[danth]

5 hours ago, Doddsino said:

When Lego started doing weird off-center smirks, it made the characters look like they had a stroke. 

I'm tired of smirks too. On Lego faces and on every cartoon character in basically every movie or show.

[danth]

I'm feeling a little vindicated by something I just discovered.

I once argued that Lego has too many colors and too many similar colors. I specifically pointed out Neon Yellow vs Bright Light Yellow. I actually thought they were the same colors until I had two pieces next to each other in good lighting.

Well, it turns out even Lego considers them interchangeable. All the police sets used to use Bright Light Yellow, and then they switched to Neon Yellow, and I don't even think anyone noticed!

2020

2023

[MAB]

On 7/13/2023 at 5:54 AM, Doddsino said:

I've expressed this elsewhere, but when it comes to buying larger sets, specifically modulars...I'm fine with the set only coming with 5 or less Minifigures if it means it'll knock $50 or more off the price of the set. Or they could make the set a little bigger. Either way, Minifigures are the least of my interest when it comes to larger sets.

Need Minifigures? How about just releasing those little 5 packs like they did back in the day. Don't waste the piece count on these.

If there are no minifigs, then there is also an argument that there is no need for interiors or any interactive features inside the Modulars, a bit like the original CC. I also doubt removing the somewhat generic figures would take $50 off the price. They know minifigs are not the reason people buy Modulars.

13 hours ago, Doddsino said:

I like the classic smiley faces, or variations of such. When Lego started doing weird off-center smirks, it made the characters look like they had a stroke. 

It also stymied creativity. While never formally telling kids how to play with the themes, having some level of uniform pattern to their figures allowed for kids to choose how they wanted to play. When you start printing scowls and gritting frowns on your figures, you're essentially spelling it out for the kids that this character is bad or mean.

It is the same with printed torsos and specific headgear and any printed part that identify a building. Following your argument, having plain torsos would allow more freedom since no figure would be identified with a specific role so a kid can choose what the character is. The other side of the argument is that giving a clue as to what the figure is doing or feeling actually adds to creativity as the user can build a story around that prompt. Having a variety of heads also allows figures to have different feelings, and shows kids that not everyone has to be happy all the time. A classic smiley doesn't really work for a role where the kid is acting out someone feeling sad.

Ask a kid to tell you a story, and ask them to tell you a story about a knight or a doctor or a footballer and see what they find easier. Usually giving a prompt will help.

[Alexandrina]

7 hours ago, danth said:

I once argued that Lego has too many colors and too many similar colors. I specifically pointed out Neon Yellow vs Bright Light Yellow. I actually thought they were the same colors until I had two pieces next to each other in good lighting.

Although I disagree with there being too many colours I can definitely see that there are colours that aren't necessarily easy to identify except by comparison to one another - Bright Light Blue versus Medium Blue is one, as is Bright Light Yellow versus the old Yellow (and I defy someone to figure out whether a piece is the old Purple or the old Light Purple without access to any sort of comparison). That being said, I'm having a hard time figuring out how you can say Neon Yellow and Bright Light Yellow are too similar. Neon Yellow is (because of its neon properties) so garishly bright as to be almost dazzling. Bright Light Yellow is very muted in comparison.

 

7 hours ago, danth said:

Well, it turns out even Lego considers them interchangeable. All the police sets used to use Bright Light Yellow, and then they switched to Neon Yellow, and I don't even think anyone noticed!

You could argue that Lego considers them interchangeable if they were jumping back and forth, but it seems as if they used BLY as a best option before Neon Yellow was introduced to the colour palette. Following that logic you could argue that Lego consider yellow and tan interchangeable (because Pirates sets used to use yellow then switched to tan) or black and brown (because the old Forestmen sets had black trees but the Dark Forest sets had brown ones)

[Doddsino]

7 hours ago, MAB said:

If there are no minifigs, then there is also an argument that there is no need for interiors or any interactive features inside the Modulars, a bit like the original CC. I also doubt removing the somewhat generic figures would take $50 off the price. They know minifigs are not the reason people buy Modulars.

It is the same with printed torsos and specific headgear and any printed part that identify a building. Following your argument, having plain torsos would allow more freedom since no figure would be identified with a specific role so a kid can choose what the character is. The other side of the argument is that giving a clue as to what the figure is doing or feeling actually adds to creativity as the user can build a story around that prompt. Having a variety of heads also allows figures to have different feelings, and shows kids that not everyone has to be happy all the time. A classic smiley doesn't really work for a role where the kid is acting out someone feeling sad.

Ask a kid to tell you a story, and ask them to tell you a story about a knight or a doctor or a footballer and see what they find easier. Usually giving a prompt will help.

I didn't say anything about an absence minifigures, I said excessive amounts. And again, I even stated they're probably not going to knock down the price, so if it allows for other items to be added, then great. 

You're taking my criticism too far on the faces. I'm not saying wipe away and and all things identifying a character or a place, but don't attach a specific emotion to it in order to assume a child needs one. Kids played with Space or Castle for years without the need for anything other than a traditional smiley. Kids bought the sets for the themes, and created their stories around the sets. No kid bought a set because they could now act out a story because there's a screaming face. Kids' imaginations work better than that.

[MAB]

4 hours ago, Doddsino said:

Kids played with Space or Castle for years without the need for anything other than a traditional smiley. Kids bought the sets for the themes, and created their stories around the sets. No kid bought a set because they could now act out a story because there's a screaming face. Kids' imaginations work better than that.

Kids also played with lego for years without any minifigs at all. 

[Doddsino]

Just now, MAB said:

Kids also played with lego for years without any minifigs at all. 

And when minifigures were finally released, Lego became far more popular.

[MAB]

4 minutes ago, Doddsino said:

And when minifigures were finally released, Lego became far more popular.

Many other factors were involved too, not least the increase in incomes in the 80s. Many toys became more popular because many more families had money to spend. 

And personally,  I don't think LEGO would be where it is today if minifigures all had yellow classic smiley faces.