Basic Lego on list of 100 Things Your Kids May Never Know...

[Derek]

While on the frontpage of Yahoo, I saw a link to a list of 100 things your kids may never know. On the list are tons of things that are outdated, such as VHS, floppy disks, etc.

I think many on here would be interested in #75...This is actually kind of sad...

75. LEGO just being square blocks of various sizes, with the odd wheel, window or door.

What do you think of this? Do you think that the basic Lego blocks are becoming outdated, to make way for more specialized pieces and sets?

Just thought I'd share this...

-darthperson

[brickzone]

Actually I think ordinary bricks have made a bit of a comeback from the late 90s or so, even with more and more "special" parts. At one stage it was odd for a modern set to have 2x4s, but they are quite common again, possibly because they are fairly cheap and help with the bigger structures of modern sets.

I can't complain about having a fair amount of two-stud-wide dark green bricks just from sets already :)

[Sandy]

I don't think the basic brick is going anywhere, but I'm all for variation. If it were just the basic bricks they got in the 70's, we wouldn't see all these great, detailed MOCs that we do nowadays.

So no, I'm not bothered at all that it's not just basic bricks with an odd wheel and a door anymore. I personally wouldn't be an AFOL if it were just that.

[Matn]

I know most of that list, and I did/do some things of that list. But on LEGO; Basic LEGO will never go away. It should be your kids first LEGO bricks, I think.

[The Who]

I think many on here would be interested in #75...This is actually kind of sad...

What do you think of this? Do you think that the basic Lego blocks are becoming outdated, to make way for more specialized pieces and sets?

I like number 82.

And it just occurred to me yesterday that there are very few 2x2 and 2x4 bricks still used in sets. (EDIT--At least used in sets that I buy) I am building a Fabuland Maxifig, and am quickly running out of 2x2s and 2x4s. What ones I do have either came from really old sets I took apart or Creator Brick Buckets, of which I almost never buy.

Edited July 23, 2009 by booger540

[Spyder]

I doubt 2x4's will ever be discontinued, but basic bricks are starting to get rarer in sets.

75. LEGO just being square blocks of various sizes, with the odd wheel, window or door.

Exactly, and that's the beauty of it. It's supposed to be simple, and your supposed to use your imagination. You boring Yahoo news reporters don't have an imagination, so you don't know the magic of Lego. If Lego was really as boring as how you described it, then it wouldn't have made it through 50 years.

[Svelte]

What ones I do have either came from really old sets I took apart or Creator Brick Buckets, of which I almost never buy.

Enormous brick buckets with lots of basic bricks are plentiful and even seem to be getting bigger. And if you take a closer look back at a lot of the 80s sets in evergreen themes such as Town, Castle, and Space - you won't find too many 2x4 bricks but you will see many, many specialised parts such as heaps of different angled cockpit pieces, castle walls, specialist Space pieces and so on.

Anyway, this is just a nostalgic 'the world is changing' list. I bet in the late 1950s someone wrote a sob-story letter of complaint along the lines of 'Why have we got all these cheap-feeling, mass-produced plastic toys? What has happened to the good old wooden building blocks of old? Boo-hoo!'

[The Who]

Enormous brick buckets with lots of basic bricks are plentiful and even seem to be getting bigger. And if you take a closer look back at a lot of the 80s sets in evergreen themes such as Town, Castle, and Space - you won't find too many 2x4 bricks but you will see many, many specialised parts such as heaps of different angled cockpit pieces, castle walls, specialist Space pieces and so on.

Anyway, this is just a nostalgic 'the world is changing' list. I bet in the late 1950s someone wrote a sob-story letter of complaint along the lines of 'Why have we got all these cheap-feeling, mass-produced plastic toys? What has happened to the good old wooden building blocks of old? Boo-hoo!'

How many times are you going to change your name?

Anyway, that is a good point as far as 2x4 bricks. I just don't want to waste my money on buying a giant brick bucket for Blue 2x4 Bricks, when I will likely never use any of the other colored bricks in the bucket. (Wow, that sounded racist )

And I completely agree with the second part of your post. There will always be the sob-story of "What ever happenned to the good 'ol days?" It makes sense, really.

[salty tbone]

I doubt 2x4's will ever be discontinued, but basic bricks are starting to get rarer in sets.

Exactly, and that's the beauty of it. It's supposed to be simple, and your supposed to use your imagination. You boring Yahoo news reporters don't have an imagination, so you don't know the magic of Lego. If Lego was really as boring as how you described it, then it wouldn't have made it through 50 years.

I think you're inferring some insult. I read it as them saying your kids will never know the simple joy of basic bricks.

Personally, I think it's overstated and you could have written the same thing in the mid-80s with specialized castle pieces and later pirate boat pieces.

[Spyder]

I think you're inferring some insult. I read it as them saying your kids will never know the simple joy of basic bricks.

Personally, I think it's overstated and you could have written the same thing in the mid-80s with specialized castle pieces and later pirate boat pieces.

Ohhhh. I thought they were saying, " Those old bricks are outdated and pathetic, that's why are kids will never see them." My bad.

[Peppermint_M]

People still use Yahoo?!

Anywhom, I don't remember Lego being plain basic bricks, there were buildable figures in even the most blocky of sets. New parts engender the same creativity, with less long faces at the "spaceship" that looks less swooshy than the ones on TV (arguably, Lego hasn't been just bricks since the late 70s/early 80s!) I still appreciate plain bricks, my massive multicoloured ships were all brick built, my pyramids and castles were all brick built. I am planning a brick built MOC with few moulded parts on the structure. But hey, the older generation always moans about things the younger has. In TRU my father complined about the creator boxes of slopes for rooves, for when he was young lego houses had each individual tile carefully put in place...

[Yloquen]

There are sets containing nothing but basic bricks. So we have a lot of variation which is a plus. Problem is that people that are not very familiar with current LEGO situation and lineup draw conclusions from seeing just a few sets, which are of course very different from the ones in their childhood (less basic bricks). I've seen familiar feelings expressed, but I think they are mostly founded on lack of knowledge and nostalgic memories. I'm quite happy with the current LEGO policy and sets.

[Captain Green Hair]

There's too much stuff on that list that i know, i feel old now, thanks.

[samthelegoman1]

What is this world coming to?!?!?!

Personally, I do some of this stuff every day!

[Siegfried]

Anyway, this is just a nostalgic 'the world is changing' list. I bet in the late 1950s someone wrote a sob-story letter of complaint along the lines of 'Why have we got all these cheap-feeling, mass-produced plastic toys? What has happened to the good old wooden building blocks of old? Boo-hoo!'

Exactly. People fear change all the time. The things that we see as new will be seen as standard by our kids and not appreciated. Music is a good example. It's much more convenient today having a large selection of music. In the 90s I bought a 50 CD stacker (which I still have) but you can get the same effect now from the average MP3 player. Times change and people whining about it is the only constant.

[WhiteFang]

There's too much stuff on that list that i know, i feel old now, thanks.

I feel the same way too, but then again, I am glad we are part of this era.

Exactly. People fear change all the time. The things that we see as new will be seen as standard by our kids and not appreciated. Music is a good example. It's much more convenient today having a large selection of music. In the 90s I bought a 50 CD stacker (which I still have) but you can get the same effect now from the average MP3 player. Times change and people whining about it is the only constant.

I still have those CD stacker, and I still buy my compact discs, but not as much compared to 3 to 4 years ago. You know, at one point in time, I did use my discman when I am on vacation, since discman is much better than iPod, in terms of using batteries replacement when you are on the go instead of depending it on the chargers.

I think Siegfried summarised the last point very well, and its exactly how I feel.

[Shadows]

The LEGO brick is still in every set. Yes, the 2x4 is less common, but think about it, how often do you really need one? I don't build 2 deep walls like a little kid might, I need 1x bricks, and I still use lots of them. The modular series is a good example of this, they use tons of 1x bricks for the walls, which is exactly how they should be built. Creator and bucket sets are filled with 2x's just as they still include the 2x doors and windows, but they just aren't as useful. Does that mean that kids won't know them? No, it just means they won't have the same nostalgic connection to them that a kid from the 70's or 60's might. I know that as a kid of the 80's, I didn't use them much back then either. Castles already had prefab wall sections and most other themes used 1x's for walls.

Times change and people whining about it is the only constant.

Plus they're rarely accurate. There are plenty of things on that list that kids today will know, just as I've read older lists from long before my time and still recognised some of the things they were talking about.

Some of them are massively outdated, appealing to at least a generation older than most of us. I seriously don't see anyone my age longing for rotary phones. I still have a perfectly good Betamax.

"The number of TV channels being a single digit. I remember it being a massive event when Britain got its fourth channel."

I've never known single digit channel availability. Never.

"Vinyl records. Even today’s DJs are going laptop or CD."

Made a resurgence. They seem to come and go. I never liked them and honestly, never owned them.

"Joysticks."

What exactly are they calling those dual shock controls now? They're joysticks. Every system out there has a joystick as do most arcade machines and that isn't going to be changing.

People can say what they want, but the vast majority of the stuff there just isn't important. I've seen lists in the past where it included things like "the family sitting down to dinner together" or "listening while grandpa tells stories" and thought that those things actually had some potential meaning to society. Most of this list is just conveniences that we have now that we didn't in the past, thus improvements.

Personally, I would have included a whole section on people glued to their cell phones talking to themselves in stores and looking like idiots. That's one that wasn't a reality when I was a kid and I don't care for now. Someone coming down an aisle towards me while talking loudly, I think they're talking to me, and that's annoying.

Airbags might be the same story. I'm never sure what I think of them, heard too many conflicting stories on that one.

[Kliq]

Hey I just read this and came right here to see if anyone posted it yet.

That is crazy to think about, but even I became a Lego fan after multiple new shapes had been introduced. Bionicle, though, is a different story. I remember Galidor, the flick disk guys and then Bionicle being introduced. But I suppose everything evolves in one way or another, and the fact that soon kids won't know a time with soley basic bricks isn't all that bad. Just more variety and more different themes to spend money on.

[The Cobra]

I think you're inferring some insult. I read it as them saying your kids will never know the simple joy of basic bricks.

I agree. I think the point is "today's kids are so used to hundreds of pieces and SP3 minifigs that can't believe Lego boxes were once just basic bricks, doors and windows".