Unpopular Opinions about LEGO

[1974]

Certainly, but I don't buy modern LEGO so I don't see them

It is nice to see, however, that's it's other themes than Technic that are keeping studded Technic parts alive

[Lego David]

15 hours ago, Agent Kallus said:

Hulk style squatting bigfigs are very non lego like and should be replaced, Something more like the technic bigfig. made of more separate-able parts with more articulation. and the looks more like a minifig.

I personally don't mind how the Bigfigs look (I just bought a Sandy Bigfig from Monkie Kid a few days ago, and I love its visual design), however I do agree that they should have more articulation and removable parts (in particular, in the head and legs). Otherwise, I wouldn't change their current mold. Just making them upscaled minifigures wouldn't work, because the Bigfig characters are specifically meant to represent strong, beefy and often monstrous characters, that wouldn't really come across that way with normal minifigure proportions. 

[Johnny1360]

7 hours ago, 1974 said:

 

It is nice to see, however, that's it's other themes than Technic that are keeping studded Technic parts alive

Funny you say that, as I search out LEGO sets with studded Technic parts, I find them very useful and love to hoard them. Perhaps a bit misguided following the belief that they will somehow quit producing them and become rarer and rarer and I will be left out in the cold, with too few of them.

Edited April 21, 2021 by Johnny1360

[1974]

Well, I have enough I think. Last time I checked I had more than a thousand 1x16 beams

Studded Technic beams are very usefull for themes like City and SW so I very much doubt they'll stop producing them even if they're much more expensive to make that the modern liftarms

Most of them are rather cheap, even new ones, at BL if you stick to standard colours. Dark grey, green, tan and brown not so much

One of the first Eiffel Towers TLG made is/was(?) in LEGOland Billund and it's made with almost entirely with blue studded Technic bricks, standing six feet tall. I'd like to replicate that with light grey parts (dark grey is unfortunally totally out of the question)

[Aanchir]

22 hours ago, Agent Kallus said:

Hulk style squatting bigfigs are very non lego like and should be replaced, Something more like the technic bigfig. made of more separate-able parts with more articulation. and the looks more like a minifig.

 

22 hours ago, MAB said:

I'd prefer perfectly scaled up minifigs. So exactly the same shapes, just 2x bigger, or whatever.

I don't mind the current bigfigs myself, especially for characters who are meant to seem kind of monstrous or beastly like Hulk, Gorilla Grodd, Killer Croc, etc. — I think "normal" minifig proportions like the brick-built Giant Man and Ares figures would feel odd and inappropriate in those cases, since it would just make them feel like regular people, but taller. The current bigfig designs feel like more of a "happy medium" between the design standards of minifigs and non-minifig molded creatures like dragons, dinosaurs, or Star Wars creatures like the Rancor, Wampa, and Dewback.

That said, I do wish more of the ones like Hulk, Thanos, or Sandy who have fairly standard minifig-style heads/faces also had removable heads and headgear — perhaps not standard-sized minifig heads and headgear like Mungus and Killow, but maybe new head and headgear molds with a 2x2 diameter, like the Trolls World Tour or Mojo Jojo minifigures. That would not only make them more customizable, but also boost their expressiveness by allowing them to turn their heads.

[1980-Something-Space-Guy]

46 minutes ago, Aanchir said:

That said, I do wish more of the ones like Hulk, Thanos, or Sandy who have fairly standard minifig-style heads/faces also had removable heads and headgear — perhaps not standard-sized minifig heads and headgear like Mungus and Killow, but maybe new head and headgear molds with a 2x2 diameter, like the Trolls World Tour or Mojo Jojo minifigures. That would not only make them more customizable, but also boost their expressiveness by allowing them to turn their heads.

That sounds like what the rumored upcoming Thanos figure is supposed to look like.

[Lord Insanity]

 

On 4/20/2021 at 4:33 PM, Agent Kallus said:

Hulk style squatting bigfigs are very non lego like and should be replaced, Something more like the technic bigfig. made of more separate-able parts with more articulation. and the looks more like a minifig.

I agree with this one.  The squatting bigfigs have never looked good.  Not only that but not a single one of them is small enough to accurately reflect the character they are portraying either.  Maybe certain versions of the Hulk himself is supposed to be twice as tall as a person but the vast majority of characters are most definitely not supposed to be that big.

I remember when Nexo Knights came out and made the figure Axl.

Ever since I have been hopping for a generic non-armored version to use and represent every single character that has ever been made as a squatting bigfig.  It's almost like a building toy should be customizable and build-able. 

[Lego David]

4 hours ago, Lord Insanity said:

The squatting bigfigs have never looked good. 

I have to disagree there... Maybe "they don't look like LEGO" would be more accurate to say, but saying "they don't look good" isn't true. Most of the Bigfigs take advantage of being fully molded, and give us some pretty awesome looking designs that wouldn't be possible with normal minifigures. The only ones that I would agree they look kind of bad would be the original version of Hulk, and the current version of Thanos. If the rumors are true, than I am quite excited for the new version of Thanos that will soon come out .

Edited April 22, 2021 by Lego David

[Lego Dino 500]

I'm not sure Ninjago has been mentioned here yet, but as much as I love it, maybe LEGO ought to retire Ninjago. It feels like it's kept LEGO from exploring other original theme ideas and different stories as part of LEGO's evergreen themes, among the countless licensed themes that are also around.

[Pulp Detective]

3 hours ago, Lego Dino 500 said:

I'm not sure Ninjago has been mentioned here yet, but as much as I love it, maybe LEGO ought to retire Ninjago. It feels like it's kept LEGO from exploring other original theme ideas and different stories as part of LEGO's evergreen themes, among the countless licensed themes that are also around.

That's what I've been saying for years.But since it's a cash cow it won't be going anywhere anytime soon.

[Peppermint_M]

I like Ninjago as it is an overarching theme that lets designers explore themes that otherwise would not have been greenlit without the familiar characters. 

It is nearly no effort at all to then remove the ninja and include a figure of your own creation. 

The recent rocky dungeons? Remove Kai/Jay/whoever and pop a knight in (CMF, BaM or Bricks and Pieces recently had those). Hey presto! A fantasy castle set.

The current island themed series? Add Jungle Explorer and the intrepid city Safari gal: Adventurers has a triumphant return!

In an exercise in pure fantasy, my brother and I even brewed up a way to have Exo Force back.

[KotZ]

1 hour ago, Peppermint_M said:

In an exercise in pure fantasy, my brother and I even brewed up a way to have Exo Force back.

God I would love that.

[Lego David]

3 hours ago, Peppermint_M said:

I like Ninjago as it is an overarching theme that lets designers explore themes that otherwise would not have been greenlit without the familiar characters. 

I guess that widely depends on personal preference, though. I don't just want cool villains, I want cool heroes as well. The highlight of Ninjago have always been the villain factions, but heroes have never been particularly interesting. 

If you want your LEGO theme to truly stand out, you need to be more balanced, and have both interesting heroes and interesting villains. This issue isn't specific to Ninjago only (It has more or less plagued most of the original themes of the past decade), but when you literally get the exact same boring protagonists every single year, it starts to get tiresome. 

7 hours ago, Lego Dino 500 said:

I'm not sure Ninjago has been mentioned here yet, but as much as I love it, maybe LEGO ought to retire Ninjago.

I completely agree, but I don't think LEGO should retire Ninjago until they find a stable replacement for it. In other words, they should first find a different Big Bang theme that would achieve the same level of popularity as Ninjago, and only then would they be able to retire the theme without regretting it afterwards.

Edited April 22, 2021 by Lego David

[Lord Insanity]

 

18 hours ago, Lego David said:

I have to disagree there... Maybe "they don't look like LEGO" would be more accurate to say, but saying "they don't look good" isn't true. Most of the Bigfigs take advantage of being fully molded, and give us some pretty awesome looking designs that wouldn't be possible with normal minifigures. The only ones that I would agree they look kind of bad would be the original version of Hulk, and the current version of Thanos. If the rumors are true, than I am quite excited for the new version of Thanos that will soon come out .

Well if you like them that's good.  I personally think they look terrible.  The molding is too detailed for LEGO figures and not detailed enough for action figures.  They are way oversized and stuck in an awkward pose.  (Keep in mind I am specifically referring to the squatting big-fig used in in Super Hero themes.  The vast majority of heroes and villains are not twice as tall as a person.)

I would rather see regular mini-figs for every single one despite those being slightly too small in most cases.  An updated non-armor version of Axl from Nexo Knights would be perfect for every character that has been made as a big-fig so far.  I am hoping that is what the rumored new Thanos is.  Thanos is big but he is not double the size of a normal person.  An Axl style fig would be the perfect LEGO representation.

 

[zoth33]

31 minutes ago, Lord Insanity said:

 

Well if you like them that's good.  I personally think they look terrible.  The molding is too detailed for LEGO figures and not detailed enough for action figures.  They are way oversized and stuck in an awkward pose.  (Keep in mind I am specifically referring to the squatting big-fig used in in Super Hero themes.  The vast majority of heroes and villains are not twice as tall as a person.)

I would rather see regular mini-figs for every single one despite those being slightly too small in most cases.  An updated non-armor version of Axl from Nexo Knights would be perfect for every character that has been made as a big-fig so far.  I am hoping that is what the rumored new Thanos is.  Thanos is big but he is not double the size of a normal person.  An Axl style fig would be the perfect LEGO representation.

 

Hulk is more than twice a person size.  Cull Obsidian also.  Thanos is also big definitely at least twice the size of Tony Stark.  I think the bigfigs are good for characters of that size but for others the Axl thing would work.  

[Lego David]

3 hours ago, Lord Insanity said:

I would rather see regular mini-figs for every single one despite those being slightly too small in most cases.  An updated non-armor version of Axl from Nexo Knights would be perfect for every character that has been made as a big-fig so far.  I am hoping that is what the rumored new Thanos is.  Thanos is big but he is not double the size of a normal person.  An Axl style fig would be the perfect LEGO representation.

Well, it so happends that we drew just that for one of the characters in our LEGO World Builder project:

Is this what you would want all "Bigfig" characters to look like? 

[MAB]

14 hours ago, Lego David said:

I completely agree, but I don't think LEGO should retire Ninjago until they find a stable replacement for it. In other words, they should first find a different Big Bang theme that would achieve the same level of popularity as Ninjago, and only then would they be able to retire the theme without regretting it afterwards.

If Ninjago is always a competitor to whatever new big bang themes they try, then Ninjago will probably win out just through inertia. They don't go into producing Chima or NK or other themes thinking they won't be successful. So they would have to compete on the shelves.

[Lego David]

3 hours ago, MAB said:

If Ninjago is always a competitor to whatever new big bang themes they try, then Ninjago will probably win out just through inertia.

Eventually, Ninjago will run out of steam and its popularity will begin to decline (you could argue that has already started happening). If a new Big Bang theme comes out, and it is executed in way that manages to attract new fans, then it would have a pretty high chance of winning. 

I feel like at this point, Ninjago doesn't really bring it that many new fans... most of its current fans are the same people who got into the theme when it first came out. That's why LEGO needs to introduce a new big theme with every new generation of kids, if they want to attract new fans. 

Edited April 23, 2021 by Lego David

[MAB]

2 hours ago, Lego David said:

I feel like at this point, Ninjago doesn't really bring it that many new fans... most of its current fans are the same people who got into the theme when it first came out. That's why LEGO needs to introduce a new big theme with every new generation of kids, if they want to attract new fans. 

I doubt that is true. The theme is now 10 years old. That would mean most current fans are something like 16+ or 18+ if they have been into it when it first came out. But current Ninjago sets sell very well to kids. I can understand that many AFOLs into it now would have also been into it when it first came out, but not the same for kids. Most kids getting it now were probably not born or under 2 when it came out.

[eldiano]

Unpopular Lego Opinion would be the 4 types of numbered bags of the same number 🤣🤣

 

[Aanchir]

13 hours ago, Lego David said:

Well, it so happends that we drew just that for one of the characters in our LEGO World Builder project:

Is this what you would want all "Bigfig" characters to look like? 

For my part, I wouldn't want that for ALL bigfig characters, but I would LOVE to see more figures with this sort of physique, especially since the new version of Hagrid introduced some good "standard" arm molds for those sorts of figures.

Besides Axl and Hagrid, some other figures that have had sort of a similar "semi-bigfig" physique include Leatherhead and Dogpound from Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles , Biggie from Trolls World Tour. Some other LEGO licensed characters who I think might benefit from that sort of design include Mr. Incredible, Bane, Genie, and the Beast (after all, one of the nice thing about both traditional bigfigs and these "semi-bigfig" arm molds is that they're a pretty good fit for the design language of both minifig-based and minidoll-based themes).

It would also be a good fit for some licensed and non-licensed character designs haven't seen in sets before, like Cyborg's design from the Teen Titans cartoon, Venom's design from some Spider-Man cartoons, a scaled-down version of the Demon Bull King from LEGO Monkie Kid, or Joey from LEGO Friends: Girls on a Mission.

But as mentioned in my previous post, there are also some "bigfig" characters who definitely wouldn't work as well with that sort of design, like the Cave Troll from The Lord of the Rings and the Goblin King from The Hobbit. It's also worth keeping in mind that a lot of bigfig characters are likely exaggerated in size so they're better scaled to their brick-built surroundings like vehicles. For instance, because D.Va's MEKA, Reinhardt's power armor, and Hammond's Wrecking Ball from the Overwatch sets are brick-built models scaled up to accommodate their operators, other "tank heroes" like Winston and Roadhog need to be scaled up so as not to seem ludicrously outclassed.

Likewise, if Hulk were built with the same proportions as Axl, then he'd only be five bricks tall, including hair — which is not only shorter than a normal-sized LEGO horse or the car from the recently-announced Escape from the Ten Rings set, but also shorter than a standard LEGO door frame (which has a vertical clearance of 5 bricks and 1 plate). Needless to say, that would be way too small for a character who is notorious for throwing cars around as if they were pillows and being too large to fit through normal-sized doors!

Honestly, this sort of inconsistency honestly strikes me as one of the MANY compromises necessary when dealing with the traditional minifigure's inherently wonky proportions, such as…

• how minifigs appear taller when sitting than standing unless their chair/seat is less than a brick tall.
• how a lot of larger minifig accessories like rifles, muskets, pitchforks, katanas, scimitars, chainsaws, and  are longer than an adult minifig is tall.
• how minifig cars and trucks rarely allow for a driver and passenger to sit side-by-side unless you exaggerate the scale
• how even the largest minifig-scale trains, planes, and buses allow a maximum of two occupants per row

In general, trying to scale LEGO buildings, vehicles, and creatures to a minifigure's HEIGHT rather than their width tends to create a lot more problems than it solves. So I think it's honestly better to keep certain characters taller than they should be relative to minifigs than to go through the ordeal of scaling everything else down to match.

13 hours ago, MAB said:

If Ninjago is always a competitor to whatever new big bang themes they try, then Ninjago will probably win out just through inertia. They don't go into producing Chima or NK or other themes thinking they won't be successful. So they would have to compete on the shelves. 

Keep in mind that Legends of Chima and Nexo Knights were pretty successful in their own right — enough so to sustain two and a half years' worth of releases, even if their sets and supporting media got scaled back a lot by the very end. I feel like there will likely come a point at which Ninjago's popularity has declined enough for LEGO to see more ongoing promise in other themes, much like we saw with Bionicle.

But honestly, I doubt that LEGO introduces any new "big bang" theme expecting it to become a Ninjago-level evergreen property (although they're probably more prepared for the possibility of that happening than they were back when Ninjago was first introduced). And whenever Ninjago's popularity declines enough for LEGO to consider retiring it, I don't know if they'd wait around for one of their other action/adventure themes to prove it has what it takes to be evergreen.

7 hours ago, MAB said:

I doubt that is true. The theme is now 10 years old. That would mean most current fans are something like 16+ or 18+ if they have been into it when it first came out. But current Ninjago sets sell very well to kids. I can understand that many AFOLs into it now would have also been into it when it first came out, but not the same for kids. Most kids getting it now were probably not born or under 2 when it came out.

Agreed. And even a lot of the KFOLs and TFOLs who have followed along with the entire series have likely caught up on past seasons via DVDs or digital streaming (like my wife is currently doing — we just finished Season 7 yesterday!) rather than watching each new season when it first aired.

4 minutes ago, eldiano said:

Unpopular Lego Opinion would be the 4 types of numbered bags of the same number 🤣🤣

Truth be told, I can kind of relate to this issue. Even if it makes sense from a packing perspective, it can make building larger sets kind of confusing when you have no idea just how many bags of parts each section consists of. In the very least, I think the instruction manuals should be updated to show exactly how many bags you need to open at the start of each section.

[Flak Maniak]

Is it yet passe to say "I don't like classic space colors; later old-timey space subthemes had way nicer color schemes"? Does that still count as a hot take? I feel like it isn't a controversial enough opinion for this thread.

And if I say "I don't like Star Wars", or "I don't really like licensed themes", I mean... Surely those are both far too standard, as opinions go. Yes, obviously minority opinions, but, not uncommon ones.

I already said most of my actually controversial ones, like how online fans focus too much on the sets Lego produces and not enough on just buying parts cheaply in bulk and designing their own things.

I think that bright green is just not a very nice color. It can be okay, sometimes, but most of the time I don't like it. And I really really dislike the recent trend of "bright green paired with lime". Almost every time there are bright green parts in a set, I wish they were regular green. I might like it more if it were more commonly an accent to regular green. I certainly don't like it for large plates/baseplates, and the recent-years thing of standalone baseplates being bright green is not something I like at all. If I had to be more specific, I think the color is too bluish, a little too bluish. Maybe slightly too... Saturated? It should be a little less blue and a little more yellow, I think.

I think that sand green is overrated and sand blue underrated. Sand green is fine and good, but it can be difficult to find nice things to pair it with.

Also I wish I'd bought fewer dark red parts over the years. It's just... I don't know. I don't really love it anymore. It's not a bad color; it doesn't have my enmity like bright green does. I just don't love it like I want to.

Oh, and I think that dark bluish gray is sick, just amazing, one of the best colors, and... Light bluish gray is really meh. It does its job, but it doesn't excite me. The proportion of light bluish gray parts in my collection is probably lower than any of yours. Sure, I don't have a bunch of Star Wars sets lying around, but mostly the reason is, when I go shopping for parts, I'm not excited to buy LBG parts. It's not a color I seek out in large quantities, not a color I plan builds around, not a color I constantly reach for. It's fine. It has its place, and sometimes I do use it as a specific choice. But it's not a go-to like dark bluish gray is. (Also, LBG parts tend to be pretty expensive, all things considered. I guess people really like the color; there's clearly high demand!)

Does it count as controversial to say that trans-medium blue was slain before its time, that I miss it, that it was underused? Is anyone going to say "No, brick you, I think that trans-medium blue was terrible and should have been removed long before it was"?

I enjoy seeing dark turquoise come back but I don't have strong feelings on it as some essential color. It's nice, I guess. (Kind of weird for me to say that given how many dark turquoise parts I've just ordered.)

[Peppermint_M]

On 4/23/2021 at 1:37 PM, MAB said:

The theme is now 10 years old. That would mean most current fans are something like 16+ or 18+ if they have been into it when it first came out.

Yup. My little brother was the target age demographic when Ninjago was released (I was the coolest ever big sister when he was small) and now he is 20 and buying the whole line of sets to build as we discuss the merits of modern Dragon Design when compared to the charms of the original sets (and the earlier mentioned Exo Force potential for Ninjago). 

Kids still love it, even today I saw kids with T-shirts and hats with Ninjago on, kids trying to negotiate the larger set with their parents in the shop... 

[Toastie]

12 hours ago, Flak Maniak said:

Is it yet passe to say "I don't like classic space colors; later old-timey space subthemes had way nicer color schemes"? Does that still count as a hot take? I feel like it isn't a controversial enough opinion for this thread.

No way! Of course this is a very important matter! And I wish I could participate.

I really enjoyed your post very much

Well, I am color "blind". So for me, LEGO is: White, blue, green, yellow, orange (yes, I can do that - but I need to cheat :)), yellow, black. And gray. Even bley and gray. But that's it - beyond that color range I have to ask around.

I love classic space. Guess why :)))))

Best
Thorsten   

 

 

[Johnny1360]

LEGO is for children only, so don't complain because instructions are over simplified.