> 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.