A Single Square Bound Instruction Book, Yes or No?

[8421XXL]

I was wondering if I am the only one with this opinion or if there are like-minded Technic fans.

I recently bought several, newly released Technic sets. I noticed that the building instruction books are one volume and therefore become very thick (the book of the 42056 Porsche set being the absolute number one).

I do not like this for a couple of reasons.

First being that when you are at either the beginning of end of your build, the books tend not to lay open easily. Second reason, and for me most important, I can not store them in a Ordner / Binder anymore they way I used to. I have these transparant punch binder envelops which work great, provided there are not too many pages in a book.

I really wish Lego would return to a limited number of pages per building instruction book and go back to the "old way" of providing seperate volumes.

What is your opinion?

Edited September 28, 2016 by 8421XXL

[Sariel]

I bless every thick instructions book. I've been wishing Lego would make nice, thick, premium-feeling instructions book for years instead of crappy thin stapled booklets that belong in $10 sets - and now they finally do that. I agree that the 42056 set in number one - opening this book feels so great! I certainly hope they will not backtrack just because someone has a somewhat odd fetish about plastic binders. FYI, thick instructions book work great with shelves, just like regular books.

Edited September 28, 2016 by Sariel

[J_C]

I want one thick proper book.

And I want printed B-model instructions too. 

[RohanBeckett]

the Bucket Wheel Excavator is my first 'really thick' booklet, and I was pleasantly surprised at how well it worked, while building - the spine binding is quite strong, although the pages are very thin - had to tell my 6yr old to be a bit more gentle turning pages, as he tends to pull them from the bottom/middle.. and we had a couple of minor tears

 

I dislike those plastic binder pages.. booklets always just flop about in them...

 

 

[8421XXL]

11 minutes ago, Sariel said:

I bless every thick instructions book. I've been wishing Lego would make nice, thick, premium-feeling instructions book for years instead of crappy thin stapled booklets that belong in $10 sets - and now they finally do that. I agree that the 42056 set in number one - opening this book feels so great! I certainly hope they will not backtrack just because someone has a somewhat odd fetish about plastic binders. FYI, thick instructions book work great with shelves, just like regular books.

I like to store them in a cubaord with doors, putting them on a shelve in time will discolor the backs! I would not go so far to say I have fetish for plastic binders ;-). I just want to keep them as neat as possible.

I agree, one big books has a more luxureous feel as several small ones.

12 minutes ago, J_C said:

I want one thick proper book.

And I want printed B-model instructions too. 

I like to see the B-model book printed too, although I understand the economic reasons for Lego to stop doing that.

[LucyCol]

I not fussed either way, I just wish they'd make the steps more comprehensive, current building instructions seem to stretch it out but only adding one or two bits at a time.

Most pointless building step ever 42053 Step 10, in the studded days individual steps were quite complicated which added to the joy of the build.

[8421XXL]

47 minutes ago, LucyCol said:

I not fussed either way, I just wish they'd make the steps more comprehensive, current building instructions seem to stretch it out but only adding one or two bits at a time.

Most pointless building step ever 42053 Step 10, in the studded days individual steps were quite complicated which added to the joy of the build.

Hahaha! I do not have this set so I looked it up on the Lego site, you are right! Very, very unnecesarry set indeed!

[Didumos69]

I work with pdf rather than paper. I stored the Porsche book together with the box somwhere where it won't get damaged and I built the Porsche with the laptop close by.

Edited September 28, 2016 by Didumos69

[1980-Something-Space-Guy]

Generally I'm more of an ebook type of guy. These books sound like a good idea, until you try to build while looking at the instructions...

[Gabi_BC]

I like thick books, however, for monsters like the 42055 they could be split into 2 volumes. 

[mattthewise]

I like thick books. It gives a sense of increased value, at least for me it does. It feels like this is worth the money I paid for it, especially for the BWE. It also adds to feeling like a true achievement when you get finished. Plus the book is a bit more durable now that they're being bound instead of stapled.

[nerdsforprez]

I like thick books and I cannot lie, you other brothers cant deny...

that when a book walks in with a large spine and those rectangular things in yo' face....

Edited September 28, 2016 by nerdsforprez

[Blakbird]

Personally, I much prefer a single thick volume to the many small volumes.  Feels more serious to me.

[N-4K0]

It's whatever for me, I don't keep the instruction booklets anyway. But I do prefer the thicker, single booklets.

[Nobilta]

No problem with thich books.

 

3 hours ago, Didumos69 said:

I work with pdf rather than paper. I stored the Porsche book together with the box somwhere where it won't get damage and I built the Porsche with the laptop close by.

You have a point there. That book is to beautiful to use.

[miguev]

If those new thicker, more luxurious books will fetch a higher price in the aftermarket in years to come, that would be about the only positive point that'd count for me.

What I really dislike is the poor color quality of A model PDF instructions. I don't have room for a book on my desk, so I'm pretty much forced to use PDF instructions on my PCs screen. Sometimes I'd have a hard time trying to make room even for a tablet ─ a laptop is out of the question.

I store the stapled instructions just like you. For the ticker ones, I'm using normal A4-size folders, some of which have grown real thick and I don't even have the Porsche instructions yet. Those should have came as a hardcover book, that would be my wild hope for future big set instructions. They'd be so much easier to handle and store.

[grum64]

I like the idea of one thick instruction book but in practice, for me anyway, I find that as I go further into the build I have a real job folding the viewed pages back far enough to stop them obscuring any call outs with the needed parts on the right hand page.

I'll probably be using my iPad to finish the Claas.

[dr_spock]

I like one perfectly bounded thick book to several stapled booklets.  Although, stapled booklets are easier to rip apart if you are participating in a team speed build contest at the AFOL conventions and need to divide up the build. 

[grum64]

25 minutes ago, dr_spock said:

...stapled booklets are easier to rip apart if you are participating in a team speed build contest at the AFOL conventions and need to divide up the build. 

Well there's something I didn't expect to read 

[paul_delahaye]

One thick book for me as well.  Although I do wish sometimes on the larger sets they would make some of the steps a little more challenging, e.g. add a couple of bricks per step rather than just 1.  At the end of the day, the big sets are designed for older children, often 16+ according to the boxes.

Going back to the 80's, some of those steps were impossible to follow.

 

[J_C]

I would disagree about "too many, too simple steps" complaints.

Sure, it is designed for older kids, but on the other hand my 7yo daughter can build all alone (me serving only as "find the part slave"  ) big sets. If the instructions would be designed just for teenagers and AFOLs only, she would get frustrated or discouraged because she needs help and probably would say halfway: "I do not like this" and walk away. This way, there is lots of fun and enjoyment even if she is theoretically too young for the set.

LEGO is toy, for kids...do you remember kids? Lets (us AFOLs) be tolerant about too many steps, because at the end of the day, it does not prohibit us, but other way round it could be prohibitive for kids. And that would be big shame if you ask me.

[Didumos69]

42 minutes ago, J_C said:

I would disagree about "too many, too simple steps" complaints.

Sure, it is designed for older kids, but on the other hand my 7yo daughter can build all alone (me serving only as "find the part slave"  ) big sets. If the instructions would be designed just for teenagers and AFOLs only, she would get frustrated or discouraged because she needs help and probably would say halfway: "I do not like this" and walk away. This way, there is lots of fun and enjoyment even if she is theoretically too young for the set.

LEGO is toy, for kids...do you remember kids? Lets (us AFOLs) be tolerant about too many steps, because at the end of the day, it does not prohibit us, but other way round it could be prohibitive for kids. And that would be big shame if you ask me.

I completely agree and have the same experience with my 6-year old son. He builds Technic sets (42037) all by himself because of the clear and simple instructions. And I truely believe it will give him some braintraining that might come in handy one day.

[RabbiT_CZ]

I think than now the steps are sometimes really simple. I agree that it is easier for kids to build it but back in 90's the steps where more complex and kids were also able to build it (based on my experience :-) ).

Otherwise I prefer thick books over the slim ones. They look more representative and the manipulation with them is easier than stacking several parts of slim books.

[Andy D]

I like the quality of the new books. I don't mind that they are thick, I really like the quality and contrast.

Andy D

[Captainowie]

4 hours ago, J_C said:

I would disagree about "too many, too simple steps" complaints.

Sure, it is designed for older kids, but on the other hand my 7yo daughter can build all alone (me serving only as "find the part slave"  ) big sets. If the instructions would be designed just for teenagers and AFOLs only, she would get frustrated or discouraged because she needs help and probably would say halfway: "I do not like this" and walk away. This way, there is lots of fun and enjoyment even if she is theoretically too young for the set.

LEGO is toy, for kids...do you remember kids? Lets (us AFOLs) be tolerant about too many steps, because at the end of the day, it does not prohibit us, but other way round it could be prohibitive for kids. And that would be big shame if you ask me.

This argument does not convince me. If a 7yo attempts something that has "16+" written on the box as an age recommendation and doesn't need help, then either that 7yo is a genius, or else the product is too simple for its intended audience.

That's not to say that 7yos shouldn't attempt to build flagship technic models, only that they shouldn't expect to be able to do it without assistance.

Owen.