Even the assortment of pieces in the Classic 1000+ piece buckets doesn't allow you to build interesting custom creations resembling buildings or vehicles. Instead of a large number of doors, windows, roof elements, wheels and sidewall elements, you get mostly purple, orange, pink, cyan and bright yellow 4x2s and 2x2s, and a large number of tiny specific pieces.

The themed playsets aimed at 5+ children are leaning towards detailed modeling with many tiny 1x1 pieces.

The one-off nostalgia-driven sets like the Lion King's Castle, the remake of Eldorado Fortress and the Galaxy Explorer are intentionally released as one-off sets with a time distance in the release date, and not as a part of a regular play theme.

There are some good, versatile Classic buckets. The recently announced Creative Vehicles (11036) comes with instructions for 8 vehicles and instructions for another 10 vehicles will be available on the website. It'll be fantastic for kids who love building different types of cars, buses, etc.

Every now and then I see a set that looks like it’s actually for kids to play with. More exposed nubs, spaces big enough for kid fingers to fit into (so many feature only tiny spaces now, even for a kid!) and builds that don’t look so fiddly that they’d be impossible to repair after rough play or accidental damage without starting over.

But yeah, even like 90% of the ones that appear to be marketed to kids suck for kids to play with, now. They look nice on the box, and on a shelf, though, and I guess that’s what shifts units.

The age recommendations on lego kits are pretty accurate in my experience. As in, kids in that age range can handle the kid without trouble and it suits their interests.

For example, they really like those tiny little inside thingies.

> Even the assortment of pieces in the Classic 1000+ piece buckets doesn't allow you to build interesting custom creations resembling buildings

One of the more interesting experimentations was Lego Architecture Studio.

All white (well, some translucent for glass/windows), 1200+ pieces, no instructions, but a book discussing some general architecture and building principles particularly with respect to Lego:

https://www.amazon.com/LEGO-Architecture-Studio-Building-Blo...

One of my favorite sets, though architecture in general is a particularly interest/hobby of mine.

> Even the assortment of pieces in the Classic 1000+ piece buckets doesn't allow you to build interesting custom creations resembling buildings or vehicles. Instead of a large number of doors, windows, roof elements, wheels and sidewall elements, you get mostly purple, orange, pink, cyan and bright yellow 4x2s and 2x2s...

That's exactly what was in buckets of Legos that I got as a kid in the 90s, so I don't think much has changed. It was almost entirely 4x2s and 2x2s of different colors back then, too.

Nah it's just the usual cynical HN comment.

I share part of his sentiment, there was a different culture with lego before. Now, afaik, LEGO cannot make enough money this way so they pivot into marketable sets with higher profits or sales figures. But this still causes a brand perception shift.

It bugged me 20 years ago as a kid. I just wanted more stuff like Rock Raiders.

"They're miners... in space! They mine green Energy Crystals!" That's all you need. There was a K'nex mining set about the same time. Good stuff.

Then I realized that most of the catalog was like, Lego Harry Potter. Yeah, I really am complaining about what everyone else buys. I was up to my nose in Harry Potter merch already, I owned all 7 books. I wanted more Rock Raiders and Insectoids.

Same, except I wanted more m-tron. Put space rocks in a box, lift it up with a magnet, fly off. Great fun!

Heck, my kindergarten daughter likes that formula. I'm pretty sure there is a marketable business somewhere in there, but maybe not at sufficient scale

The patents for their core IP expired. You can legally sell generic compatible lego blocks now. So to maintain mindshare they have to do licensed movie tie-ins, their own movies and other such stuff.

I get why but it feels less timeless than it used to, perhaps with less emphasis on creativity-led play. But what do I know - I'm a grownup.

Even today the LEGO-compatible knock-offs are complete junk, my kids occasionally end up picking up a loose bag for £1 from the local charity shop. Pieces don't stick together properly (with each other, let alone LEGO pieces); legs, arms, and hands come off the minifigs; etc. You can instantly tell — even ignoring the assault rifles that would never make it in a LEGO box.

I'm often stumped by the high level engineering that went into these "toys".

Nowadays there are several "knock-offs" on the market with higher quality and at a cheaper price.

In the age of Megabloks, Lego still had the moat of their pieces actually being fit for purpose. Megabloks were ass, and even a kid could instantly tell.

And their directions were always a ton better, for sets—though they used to be more like spot-the-difference puzzles than they are now, which I credit with my burying the needle on a spatial reasoning test in high school, so I’m kinda sad they lost that perhaps-accidental pedagogical value in the shift to the you-can-follow-them-in-your-sleep, modern style of directions.

But maybe the knockoff competitors aren’t as obviously-shit as they were in the earlier days?

The knock-offs I’ve handled recently are still terrible. They don’t fit well. No satisfying click. The colors feel off..

I wanted to like the cheaper brands but none of them have the same Lego engineering quality. We dusted off some of my old lego and the bricks still fit perfectly with the new bricks 30+ years later!

yeah that's what i meant, we're aware of their struggle, but without shooting them, it also feel different

Kids are playing wrong. They use lego as toy and not as classroom educational item.