I never dug the sets. I thought they defeated the purpose of Legos, just like cooking instructions defeat the purpose of cooking (as opposed to buying something pre-made).
I just want a big box or bucket full of random blocks and little dudes. And I mean pieces that don't smell like urine, unlike every second-hand bucket I've ever seen.
Posts: 2292 | Registered: Aug 2003
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Wow I buy legos for my little brother and I used to buy them for my ex all the time. There are some great lego kits out there. I highly recommend this one:
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"I loved all the cool old space sets, but they don't make anything like that anymore."
I am reading this thinking, what is this guy even TALKING about? Cool "OLD" space sets? My heavens but you are a young 'un. 'Twas brick only in my day.
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I'm 18 and I thrived off brick only. And the guys, and little trees... oh and the wheels. But that was it.
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And our play food, My Little Ponies, Barbies, Cabbage Patch Dolls, and pretty much anything that she figured would not be available now.
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In the late '70s, Lego definitely had little trees, as well as the beginnings of some of the tricked-out custom "blocks" you see today -- like plug-in see-through cockpits and trap doors and the like.
Posts: 37449 | Registered: May 1999
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In the late 70s my cousin made a death star out of Legos. It was the size of a basketball. Very cool.
Posts: 3423 | Registered: Aug 2001
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When I was a kid we had a couple of buckets worth of plain brick Legos, but I also had a whole bunch of sets, mostly space ones. I almost never actually built the stuff in the sets and if I did it didn't stay that way for long. And, of course, everything got thrown back into the same huge Rubbermaid containers in which all of my Legos lived in harmony.
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I think that kids must be getting less creative ... the newer Lego sets have been making it harder and harder to build anything besides the thing on the cover of the box. More specialized pieces, fewer generic pieces, and fewer pieces in general. My first spaceship, from when I was four years old, was heavy as a brick, solid with pieces that I could use in millions of ways. Newer spaceships are skeletal things built almost entirely of bits that are so specialized, they look like broken-off pieces of ready-built toys.
[ March 25, 2004, 08:02 PM: Message edited by: A Rat Named Dog ]
Posts: 1907 | Registered: Feb 2000
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I'm happy to proclaim that legos are alive and well.
My son loves them. We've purchased the millenium falcon and most of the Harry Potter Legos.
What happens is that first they make the things they're intended for, then their creativity takes off from there. As a parent, it bothered me at first that he wasn't sticking to the directions, but it wasn't long until he was spending hours putting together cool spaceships, and other stuff. Now, they're all in a huge tub which he gets out once a month or so and plays with.
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You can still get boxes of plain Legos, though.
I live near the Lego factory. A guy who does the children's moment at church wheeled in a life-size Lego Mark Twain he had built. It was wicked cool. In fact, I think it is part of his job to make giant Lego things.
Posts: 10890 | Registered: May 2003
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There is a difference from what Lego used to be like and how it is now. Now, a lot more of the sets are large 'walls' instead of single bricks. I always merely wanted masses and masses of ordinary plain bricks, but, even at legoland, they're almost impossible to get!
Perhaps you have to buy them in bulk from factories?
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Tried to make a T-rex. Ran out of bricks. Started making planes instead. Still have them some where.
Posts: 2208 | Registered: Feb 2004
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My boys love legos! Robert and Liam are also nuts for the Bionicles. About every year they come out with entirely new sets of them, which is kind of cynical. But at least I know there is something out there I can get them that they will like.
And, yeah, they make the thing first, then they make new things. Robert made this cool spaceship out of legos and Bionicle pieces... It has this scorpion-like tail and he even made it so it moves and stuff. His father's son, in so many ways...
BTW, my mother-in-law has huge tubs full of the legos her sons played with growing up. The boys go wild with them when we visit. She has the little spaceman suits and the 'lunar surface' base and all that. Liam likes to put the medieval guys in spaceships with swords and ... this holy Grail looking thing.
Question: Do any other parents on this board find that their kids will tussle over (or hoard) particular legos? My kids are wonky about the clear ones that are shaped like gems, the Pirate sets and the undersea octopus-riding skeleton seadiver guy. They do weird things with the character guys, too. Like putting Qui-Gon's hair on Spider-man or a Jedi cape on a snow monster. It's a hoot.
Posts: 9293 | Registered: Aug 2000
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quote:I almost never actually built the stuff in the sets and if I did it didn't stay that way for long.
quote:I think that kids must be getting less creative ... the newer Lego sets have been making it harder and harder to build anything besides the thing on the cover of the box. More specialized pieces, fewer generic pieces, and fewer pieces in general. My first spaceship, from when I was four years old, was heavy as a brick, solid with pieces that I could use in millions of ways. Newer spaceships are skeletal things built almost entirely of bits that are so specialized, they look like broken-off pieces of ready-built toys.
These two quotes sum up my feelings pretty well. I want enough cool pieces that I can build some really cool things, but not so many that I can't build anything else. What else can you make with Bionicle stuff? More Bionicle stuff? At least the Star Wars stuff still allows you to build a wide variety of things.
[ March 25, 2004, 09:28 PM: Message edited by: Jon Boy ]
Posts: 9945 | Registered: Sep 2002
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The pieces are Bionicle stuff, so no matter how you put them together, I guess they are still "Bionicle stuff". However, you can make some really neat things with Bionicles and regular legos. Yeah, they have specialized pieces, but you can do some wicked cool stuff with 'em anyway. Promise. Posts: 9293 | Registered: Aug 2000
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quote:What happens is that first they make the things they're intended for, then their creativity takes off from there. As a parent, it bothered me at first that he wasn't sticking to the directions, but it wasn't long until he was spending hours putting together cool spaceships, and other stuff. Now, they're all in a huge tub which he gets out once a month or so and plays with.
I was going to say something like that, too, Pat. Shlomo has a huge bin of legos, he used to play with them constantly. First he would follow the directions to make the set, then he would branch out and make his own creations. He also used Legos to make a couple pretty cool school projects.
There used to be a Lego fan magazine. One of the features was photos that children of all ages sent in displaying their original Lego creations. Don't know if the mag still exists, though.
Posts: 5771 | Registered: Nov 2000
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I agree that massive amounts of pieces are way cooler than custom sets. But Mindstorms is just cool. Good way to teach programming to kids, too.
They are seriously a kick in the pants. Dallin gets all of them, but I can honestly say that none of them are in their original form -- he destroys two to make one bigger one, then takes that one apart to make 3-4 others. And they look cool. And they have a pretty fun storyline.
Posts: 1481 | Registered: Mar 2003
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Hey, remember Playmobils? You know, those cool things that mom would buy at the little independent toy store that didn't carry Barbie? Not only are they still around, but I found a set that is a hazmat crew!
Posts: 8504 | Registered: Aug 1999
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My first Legos was a set of red bricks, with a little window, and a door. And that was back when all the people had the same face.
I loved the space police! My brothers and I would build bases (unfortunately mine looked all blocky and stupid), and little ships, and attack each other (and my brothers always won )...it was so cool!
quote: Actually, I understand Lego makes a fine robotics kit to connect your motorized creations to your PC.
There were pics attached to the second article when I read it last week, mysteriously removed now. Strange happenings are afoot in LegoLand....
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Playmobil rocks! I got them for my kids when they were little, and kept adding to the sets. The pirate ship is so cool. I am still collecting them myself now.
Posts: 10890 | Registered: May 2003
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Feyd introduced me to the Escher lego structures a while back. Those are so cool.
Hey, Trogdor, would you be interested in a Bionicle board game? I might have one collecting dust.
Has anyone else seen the Lego Room episode of while you were out?
quote:Beth's love of the small modular plastic toy has, to put it mildly, taken over her home. Apart from the couches, most of her living room furniture is made out of Lego, including a grandfather clock that took over two years to assemble.
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