Unpopular Opinions about LEGO

[danth]

I don't know if this is an unpopular opinion, but there is a certain type of Lego set that looks clean, classic, and lux, and there is another kind of set that looks messy, silly, and cheap. The first kind exemplifies all that I like about Lego, and the second kind...not so much.

And there are now two sets in the same theme and year that illustrate exactly what I'm talking about:

Look at this set. Very clean builds, interesting colors, interesting shapes achieved just using bricks. No reliance on stickers whatsoever. Transparent bricks used to good sci-fi effect. And of course the incredibly cool windscreen colors.

Both cars just look cool, in a Tron or cyberpunk way, and have no-nonsense sci-fi designs (you could argue that the rotors are sort of silly but there are plenty of flying cars in sci-fi and you can just take them off anyway). Even the drivers both look cool.

And then you have this set:

Everything about this set is silly and goofy. Taco truck vs pirate truck. Tiny cars on huge wheels. Luchador and pirate drivers. Fish slap fight? Weird faces on the cars, a bunch of action gimmicks/firing guns. Both designs are super messy.

And neither design works without stickers. I don't really know if the left one is a Taco Truck or just a jalapeno or what...the sticker is a hint though. The truck on the right wouldn't be an obvious pirate ship without those stickers. Yeah, most adults would get it after looking at it for a minute even without the stickers, but my first thought would probably be "is that a rag top that came loose?" before figuring out "Oh, it's a sail".

Overall, this second set feels "cheap" in a way the first one doesn't, to me at least.

Is it okay to like the second set? Of course it is! I definitely see the appeal of fun and silly stuff. It's just not my preference. I prefer the first set in every way. And it's great that we're getting both! I can (and will) buy the first set, other people can buy the second set.

However I preemptively reject any "but the kids will like the second one" argument. I was a kid, and I never liked silly, zany, goofy stuff. I wanted cool, badass things. If I saw something as wacky as the second set above as a kid, I'd immediately discount it as stupid. I appreciate silly sets more now than I could have as a kid.

Edited June 12, 2023 by danth

[danth]

Speaking of tacos and using bricks to the best effect, how does the new Taco Stand set NOT use these or these as tacos? I don't even know what the round tiles in the actual set are supposed to be. EDIT: I guess they're tortillas for street tacos which are small and aren't folded when served. OK fine. :D

Edited July 6, 2023 by danth

[The Island Chronicles]

18 minutes ago, danth said:

However I preemptively reject any "but the kids will like the second one" argument. I was a kid, and I never liked silly, zany, goofy stuff. I wanted cool, badass things. If I saw something as wacky as the second set above as a kid, I'd immediately discount it as stupid. I appreciate silly sets more now than I could have as a kid.

I agree! I wouldn't have wanted goofy sets like that as a child. Blame OCD, but I was a clean build lover and still am. 

[Alexandrina]

1 hour ago, danth said:

However I preemptively reject any "but the kids will like the second one" argument. I was a kid, and I never liked silly, zany, goofy stuff. I wanted cool, badass things. If I saw something as wacky as the second set above as a kid, I'd immediately discount it as stupid. I appreciate silly sets more now than I could have as a kid.

This just boils down to different people liking different things though (kids included). As a kid I would have hated the top set entirely because of how hideous the green car looks (and also the one figure, but that's just a grudge I have against that hairpiece mould). The bottom set is more likely to have grabbed kid me because of the pirate minifig. (Of course in reality I'd probably have had no interest in either, and as an adult I'll likely just snag that minifig from Bricklink).

As a real unpopular opinion it annoys me when minifigures are produced wearing 'unncessary' facial accessories printed on the heads. I don't dislike glasses or the hearing aids that have recently appeared, because they reflect actual necessities for some people - but every time a head has goggles or a microphone printed on, it just feels like a waste of a perfectly good print.

[williejm]

4 minutes ago, Alexandrina said:

As a real unpopular opinion it annoys me when minifigures are produced wearing 'unncessary' facial accessories printed on the heads. I don't dislike glasses or the hearing aids that have recently appeared, because they reflect actual necessities for some people - but every time a head has … a microphone printed on, it just feels like a waste of a perfectly good print.

This is Britneyphobic 

[Alexandrina]

50 minutes ago, williejm said:

This is Britneyphobic

Her microphone should be a separate piece. No need to smush it into her face!

Sidebar: wasn't there talk a few years ago about Lego making sets based on several famous musicians? That never came to anything, did it?

[Lion King]

58 minutes ago, williejm said:

This is Britneyphobic 

Brittney who?

EDIT: Never mind, I get what yu mean. You are talking bout that Spear girl!

[RichardGoring]

16 minutes ago, Alexandrina said:

Her microphone should be a separate piece. No need to smush it into her face!

Sidebar: wasn't there talk a few years ago about Lego making sets based on several famous musicians? That never came to anything, did it?

I think that was the rumor ahead of the Vidiyo release, when they announced the partnership with Universal. Instead we got something that no one asked for and nobody wanted, but it was ok because there was a terrible app to go with it. On 50% discount, is great though.

[Alexandrina]

41 minutes ago, RichardGoring said:

something that no one asked for and nobody wanted, but it was ok because there was a terrible app to go with it.

When did they make a Ninjago app?

[RichardGoring]

27 minutes ago, Alexandrina said:

When did they make a Ninjago app?

Ha ha! No, but seriously, there were some people who asked for Ninjago City Gardens. And also, err... probably something else.

[danth]

8 hours ago, Alexandrina said:

This just boils down to different people liking different things though (kids included).

Yep! 👍

8 hours ago, Alexandrina said:

As a real unpopular opinion it annoys me when minifigures are produced wearing 'unncessary' facial accessories printed on the heads. I don't dislike glasses or the hearing aids that have recently appeared, because they reflect actual necessities for some people - but every time a head has goggles or a microphone printed on, it just feels like a waste of a perfectly good print.

That does seem like an unpopular opinion. There are so many "plain" faces than an occasional facial print just adds needed variety IMO.

I've just actually realized how cool facial prints look juxtaposed with the simplistic classic space uniform:

[MAB]

14 hours ago, The Brick Boss said:

I agree! I wouldn't have wanted goofy sets like that as a child. Blame OCD, but I was a clean build lover and still am. 

It is good that there is a choice. LEGO produces so many sets these days compared to the 80s or 90s. Kids that prefer the weird and wacky can go for that style set, whereas kids that prefer more sensible looking sets can go for those.

Then the only people that have a problem are the ones that feel they need to own everything when they don't like some of it.

 

 

Edited June 12, 2023 by MAB

[danth]

Vinyl wings suck. (Or whatever those thin plastic sheets are).

Lego sets should be made out of Lego pieces.

[Lyichir]

32 minutes ago, danth said:

Vinyl wings suck. (Or whatever those thin plastic sheets are).

Lego sets should be made out of Lego pieces.

I don't see why they're worse than, say, fabric sails on pirate ships. It's still a Lego piece (and can still be used creatively), it's just flexible.

The main advantage of foil wings over molded or brick-built wings is they allow for a wide range of possible shapes and sizes without sacrificing thinness or relying on a large, rigid mold that's constrained to a particular size. I can see the appeal of each.

[danth]

1 hour ago, Lyichir said:

I don't see why they're worse than, say, fabric sails on pirate ships. It's still a Lego piece (and can still be used creatively), it's just flexible.

I don't really love fabric sails either! I prefer brick built on a personal level but I can understand why people want fabric -- the original Pirates sets had fabric sails so they will always feel more authentic to Pirate fans.

I also prefer plastic minifig capes to cloth or vinyl capes.

Hell I don't even like rubber bands in sets.

1 hour ago, Lyichir said:

The main advantage of foil wings over molded or brick-built wings is they allow for a wide range of possible shapes and sizes without sacrificing thinness or relying on a large, rigid mold that's constrained to a particular size. I can see the appeal of each.

The brick built dragon wings I've seen don't seem particularly thick and generally look cooler anyway IMO. The frames that hold the vinyl wings don't seem particularly thin either. The balls they use to hold on the vinyl wings are an eyesore and increase the thickness too (only in a few spots of course). I get what you're saying but I don't think I've ever seen the vinyl wings achieve a better wing look than brick built.

I just want to play with Lego pieces and vinyl wings don't feel like Lego pieces to me.

Apologies if vinyl isn't technically the correct material.

[Alexandrina]

1 hour ago, danth said:

I get what you're saying but I don't think I've ever seen the vinyl wings achieve a better wing look than brick built

I'm not sure if we're talking about different things (can't say I'm aware of any recent sets with vinyl wings which might have brought this to your mind) but I thought they were as good as Lego could reasonably be expected to get for the wings of the Geonosians in their 2009/10/11ish appearances. The wings in the film itself had a similar sort of look to them, and using solid plastic would have made them look too blocky.

Edited July 6, 2023 by Alexandrina
Post was doubled for some reason

[danth]

12 minutes ago, Alexandrina said:

I'm not sure if we're talking about different things (can't say I'm aware of any recent sets with vinyl wings which might have brought this to your mind) but I thought they were as good as Lego could reasonably be expected to get for the wings of the Geonosians in their 2009/10/11ish appearances. The wings in the film itself had a similar sort of look to them, and using solid plastic would have made them look too blocky.

I was thinking more along the lines of Ninjago dragons or the Avatar flying beasts.

For minifigs I would prefer something like the Galaxy Squad bug wings or the CMF fairy wings over flexible vinyl.

[Lira_Bricks]

The vinyl pieces feel single purpose to me. Like those airplane nose pieces although people have been able to put them to good use in their MOC's.

I do like both sets in a different way (I am not talking about the stickers, as I have already shared my opinion on those)

Also, about the fish, I guess children love fish-slap-fights? Fish is food and fish is linked to pirates so it kinda makes sense they both have access to fish.

[MAB]

2 hours ago, Lira_Bricks said:

The vinyl pieces feel single purpose to me. Like those airplane nose pieces although people have been able to put them to good use in their MOC's.

 

Are these wings any more single purpose than these?

I prefer the hard plastic, not out of being able to reuse them but because they last longer, and don't crack or curl. The printed transparent fairy wings show that these can still appear as light and fragile on the minifigure even though in reality they are a very durable piece.

[Lyichir]

5 hours ago, MAB said:

Are these wings any more single purpose than these?

I prefer the hard plastic, not out of being able to reuse them but because they last longer, and don't crack or curl. The printed transparent fairy wings show that these can still appear as light and fragile on the minifigure even though in reality they are a very durable piece.

Ah, you were thinking about minifigure accessories. I was thinking more about the larger wings on things like Ninjago dragons, where the potential for size and shape variety is more important and a "single-mold" solution would be much less versatile.

My favorite use of vinyl wings is probably the Elves Queen Dragon set, which used curved tail pieces for the "frame" for a neat and organic look, and took advantage of the transparency of the material for a shimmery, magical effect. But I also liked the smaller Elves dragons that year which used the more standardized molded wings.

[Lira_Bricks]

1 hour ago, Lyichir said:

Ah, you were thinking about minifigure accessories. I was thinking more about the larger wings on things like Ninjago dragons, where the potential for size and shape variety is more important and a "single-mold" solution would be much less versatile.

Yep, I was also thinking about the very big ones. Like this snake in 70674:

Spoiler

6 hours ago, MAB said:

Are these wings any more single purpose than these?

You can still use those as a real butterfly and a real bat somehow.

Edited July 7, 2023 by Lira_Bricks
Added response to MAB

[danth]

30 minutes ago, Lira_Bricks said:

Yep, I was also thinking about the very big ones. Like this snake in 70674:

Oh my. That's quite a...something.

I see what they were going for. But they could have not gone for it at all, and gone for something you can more easily achieve with Lego.

Or used big balloon pieces or technic panels. Hell, a bunch of smaller pieces aligned horizontally would have probably looked really cool.

Anything but those cheap vinyl sheets.

[LegendaryArticuno]

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

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

[MAB]

6 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

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.

[The Island Chronicles]

Waiting until August to release certain summer sets in the North America while other regions get them in June is unfair. 

Edited July 10, 2023 by The Brick Boss