# LEGO are pretty bad, right? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [March 27, 2023, 2:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lego-are-pretty-bad-right/981716 "2023-03-27T14:43:56Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Just\_Asking\_Questions](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ba9def/32.png) [@Just\_Asking\_Questions](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Just_Asking_Questions)\ **Post date:** [March 27, 2023, 4:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lego-are-pretty-bad-right/981716/41 "2023-03-27T16:50:03Z")
Olde Farte here. LEGO should be bricks, and things should be built from bricks. Because of the limitations of the brick shape, if the finished item doesn’t look exactly like a rocket or a car or a building or a Millennium Falcon, well, that’s what the imagination is for. You want an exact replica? Buy a plastic model kit! Making something that looks as close to the subject and yet built from bricks is the idea! ---
**Author:** ![DCnDC](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dcndc/32/2842_2.png) [@DCnDC](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DCnDC)\ **Post date:** [March 27, 2023, 4:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lego-are-pretty-bad-right/981716/42 "2023-03-27T16:51:08Z")
> [@RitterSport](#): > > What else would it be? The company has always been clear that “LEGO” is both singular and plural. In fact, their preferred usage is that of an adjective, and the word should always be accompanied by a noun, e.g. LEGO brick, LEGO set, LEGO Group, etc. ---
**Author:** ![Ike\_Witt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ike_witt/32/283_2.png) [@Ike\_Witt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ike_Witt)\ **Post date:** [March 27, 2023, 4:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lego-are-pretty-bad-right/981716/43 "2023-03-27T16:52:23Z")
> **[This investment strategy is certainly more fun than traditional methods](https://www.themanual.com/culture/study-says-legos-are-a-good-financial-investment/)** > > Traditional wisdom may tell you to invest your money in gold or art. But, according to a new study, there’s a much more lucrative investment available: LEGOs. ---
**Author:** ![NinthAcolyte](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ninthacolyte/32/13676_2.png) [@NinthAcolyte](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/NinthAcolyte)\ **Post date:** [March 27, 2023, 4:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lego-are-pretty-bad-right/981716/44 "2023-03-27T16:55:23Z")
> [@Just\_Asking\_Questions](#): > > Olde Farte here. > > LEGO should be bricks, and things should be built from bricks. Because of the limitations of the brick shape, if the finished item doesn’t look exactly like a rocket or a car or a building or a Millennium Falcon, well, that’s what the imagination is for. You want an exact replica? Buy a plastic model kit! > > Making something that looks as close to the subject and yet built from bricks is the idea! I soft-agree that the profusion of specialized parts (“unique elements” in LEGO-speak) is excessive, but this seems extreme. If maximum imagination is the goal, we should never give kids anything other than sticks, rocks, and dirt. ---
**Author:** ![solost](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/solost/32/11776_2.png) [@solost](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/solost)\ **Post date:** [March 27, 2023, 4:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lego-are-pretty-bad-right/981716/45 "2023-03-27T16:57:51Z")
Lego fun fact: they are the largest tire manufacturer in the world, because they make so many Lego sets with little tires included: > **[Largest annual volume toy tyre manufacturer ever](https://www.guinnessworldrecords.com/world-records/100909-largest-tyre-manufacture-per-annum)** > > The Guinness World Records Official site with ultimate record-breaking facts & achievements. Do you want to set a world record? Are you Officially Amazing? > [@Pleonast](#): > > When we were in Korea, my kids loved going to “Lego rooms”. These were little shops that had many, many Lego kits. You picked out a kit, which had all the pieces in a ziplock and the laminated instructions, and assembled it. We took our kids to Legoland in Florida when they were younger. Lots of Lego-themed rides and things to do. But my kids’ favorite activity? We went to a restaurant for lunch that had big tables with Legos. The kids got chicken fingers and played with the Lego blocks, not wanting to leave. I’m thinking “ALL THEY DO AT HOME IS EAT CHICKEN FINGERS AND PLAY WITH LEGOS WHAT ARE WE DOING HERE 🫤”. ---
**Author:** ![Dorjan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dorjan/32/12440_2.png) [@Dorjan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dorjan)\ **Post date:** [March 27, 2023, 5:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lego-are-pretty-bad-right/981716/46 "2023-03-27T17:22:51Z")
IMO there’s three LEGO spheres: 1. The purists who build things from loose bricks. 2. Kit bashers, who take lego model kits and build on them with other kits and loose bricks. 3. Model builders, who build LEGO model kits for display, no different from folks who build plastic model planes and ships, etc. just a different form factor. All 3 are OK, and LEGO is there for all of them. And as far environmental impact, LEGO tend not to enter the waste stream very often, due to their durability, cost, and compatibility. Personally, I grew up as a #1 because that’s really all there was in the early 80’s. Turned into a #2 by my high school years. Was never a #3, too expensive a hobby for me. and I prefer more realistic models. ---
**Author:** ![Dewey\_Finn](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dewey_finn/32/4222_2.png) [@Dewey\_Finn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dewey_Finn)\ **Post date:** [March 27, 2023, 6:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lego-are-pretty-bad-right/981716/47 "2023-03-27T18:00:35Z")
> [@TriPolar](#): > > Legos weren’t ubiquitous when I was a little kid. They weren’t at all ubiquitous when I was a kid either. (And to give you an idea of when that was, I was twelve in 1978.) But sometime in the 1970s we were visited by cousins who lived in Germany (I think the parents were civilian employees of the US Army) and they had some Lego with them. My mother thought it was a nice toy, so she contacted the American offices of Lego, then in Enfield, Connecticut, to ask them where they could be purchased. They very nicely sent one of those little boxes containing a few pieces. And then I cajoled my parents into buying one or two Lego sets. I think those cost around $150 or so back then, so not cheap. But I had them for a long time and I think they eventually went to my brother’s children (the earlier of whom was born in 1994). ---
**Author:** ![nicky](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/f0a364/32.png) [@nicky](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/nicky)\ **Post date:** [March 27, 2023, 6:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lego-are-pretty-bad-right/981716/48 "2023-03-27T18:15:27Z")
So I loved lego as a kid and im now a dad an an uncle And Lego seem to have lost sight of the joy of invention. Lego sets used to be simple enough that a 10 year kid could learn how to build something, then build a customised version, then invent their own. The classic LL924 or LL928 showed you how to build a spaceship. While todays star wars spaceship sets, for example, are very specifically designed and are too complicated to teach young kids techniques. ---
**Author:** ![msmith537](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/d9b06d/32.png) [@msmith537](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/msmith537)\ **Post date:** [March 27, 2023, 6:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lego-are-pretty-bad-right/981716/49 "2023-03-27T18:16:54Z")
> [@Dorjan](#): > > IMO there’s three LEGO spheres: > > 1. The purists who build things from loose bricks. > 2. Kit bashers, who take lego model kits and build on them with other kits and loose bricks. > 3. Model builders, who build LEGO model kits for display, no different from folks who build plastic model planes and ships, etc. just a different form factor. > > All 3 are OK, and LEGO is there for all of them. And as far environmental impact, LEGO tend not to enter the waste stream very often, due to their durability, cost, and compatibility. > > Personally, I grew up as a #1 because that’s really all there was in the early 80’s. Turned into a #2 by my high school years. Was never a #3, too expensive a hobby for me. and I prefer more realistic models. There’s also different ways people “play” with Lego. I tend to have my kids build the sets following the instructions, so they learn the basic skills. I tend to like building various constructs, often at the request of my children ("Daddy! We need a motorcycle! Daddy! Elsa wants to build a six story condo next to her castle! “Daddy! Our Lego city needs a multi-modal container port!”) My kids like having this big Lego scape to play around in. It’s sort of like a combination of role playing with the minifigs, building stuff, destroying stuff, acting out scenarios. Sort of like what the kids do in The Lego Movie. As an adult, I’m more like Will Farrell’s character in that I kind of try to set everything up like a giant display or model train set and keep the sets mostly intact. But then the kids sweep through and it’s all chaos. ---
**Author:** ![Miller](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/miller/32/481_2.png) [@Miller](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Miller)\ **Post date:** [March 27, 2023, 6:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lego-are-pretty-bad-right/981716/50 "2023-03-27T18:21:42Z")
> [@nicky](#): > > Lego seem to have lost sight of the joy of invention. Actually, they lost their patent. Up until ~2010, Lego had the patent on plastic bricks that snap together, meaning they had no competitors for that particular market. They started shifting heavily towards licensed properties as a different way of maintaining market exclusivity: if they couldn’t be the only plastic brick manufacturer anymore, they could at least be the only plastic brick manufacturer making Hogwarts sets. ---
**Author:** ![Cheesesteak](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cheesesteak/32/3694_2.png) [@Cheesesteak](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cheesesteak)\ **Post date:** [March 27, 2023, 6:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lego-are-pretty-bad-right/981716/51 "2023-03-27T18:27:26Z")
> [@nicky](#): > > Lego seem to have lost sight of the joy of invention. Like @msmith537 suggested, it all depends what you want to do with it. Believe me, you can take a set that builds a Marvel Quinjet, and make all sorts of wacky things with it. Add to that set some Star Wars scene or a Harry Potter Set and you can make even more things. > [@msmith537](#): > > “Daddy! Our Lego city needs a multi-modal container port!”) Kid Cheesesteak built me a Ship to Shore crane out of the extra parts that came with an off brand mini Lincoln Memorial set. ---
**Author:** ![msmith537](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/d9b06d/32.png) [@msmith537](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/msmith537)\ **Post date:** [March 27, 2023, 6:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lego-are-pretty-bad-right/981716/52 "2023-03-27T18:29:46Z")
> [@nicky](#): > > So I loved lego as a kid and im now a dad an an uncle > > And > > Lego seem to have lost sight of the joy of invention. > > Lego sets used to be simple enough that a 10 year kid could learn how to build something, then build a customised version, then invent their own. > > The classic LL924 or LL928 showed you how to build a spaceship. > > While todays star wars spaceship sets, for example, are very specifically designed and are too complicated to teach young kids techniques. I don’t think I agree with that. I think what Lego has done is added more complex sets to appeal to older customers. But for example, my kids have what I call the [#60173 Meth Lab Airborne Bear Assault Playset.](https://www.lego.com/en-us/product/mountain-arrest-60173). There aren’t a whole lot of what I would consider “unique” bricks. Maybe the helicopter rotor part and canopy part. But those are used on a lot of different sets (mostly aircraft obviously). There are a lot of “minifig implements” like tools, handcuffs, etc. But all these bricks have the same studs and rods and clips and whatnot that let you combine them in all sorts of non-standard ways. You’re just no longer limited to stacking bricks. My son did inform me however, there is such a thing as “illegal building techniques”. They are techniques that, while possible, are not advised as they put stress on the bricks. For example, wedging a plate sideways between two rows of studs. ---
**Author:** ![TriPolar](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tripolar/32/3008_2.png) [@TriPolar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TriPolar)\ **Post date:** [March 27, 2023, 6:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lego-are-pretty-bad-right/981716/53 "2023-03-27T18:32:00Z")
You’re just a few years younger than my little brother. His first Legos may have come from a trip my father took to Europe. I don’t remember when they were commonly found in US stores, or when I first saw one of those expensive sets. I remember the type of instructions they provided for making items from the basic pieces. There were a set of pictures showing the pieces going together, but some deduction was needed to see how the whole item was assembled. In some ways it later reminded my of the examples provided by the Unix ‘man’ command. The examples were often not of any useful version of a command but you could work out what each of the arguments and parameters would do and eventually construct the command you needed. ---
**Author:** ![enipla](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/54ee81/32.png) [@enipla](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/enipla)\ **Post date:** [March 27, 2023, 6:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lego-are-pretty-bad-right/981716/54 "2023-03-27T18:36:02Z")
Never held a LEGO or even seen one in real life. Tinker Toys and Erector sets where the bomb when I was growing up. Screws and nuts from erector sets where the nemesis of vacuum cleaners. And of course, the real wood Lincoln Logs. I learned a lot by playing with all of those. ---
**Author:** ![iiandyiiii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/iiandyiiii/32/7924_2.png) [@iiandyiiii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/iiandyiiii)\ **Post date:** [March 27, 2023, 6:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lego-are-pretty-bad-right/981716/55 "2023-03-27T18:39:21Z")
My brother and I were “LEGO kids” in the 80s and we were constantly taking sets apart and building new things with them. For us, they were terrific toys for inspiring creativity. I probably invented a hundred spaceship designs with LEGOs. ---
**Author:** ![furryman](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/furryman/32/99_2.png) [@furryman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/furryman)\ **Post date:** [March 27, 2023, 6:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lego-are-pretty-bad-right/981716/56 "2023-03-27T18:41:34Z")
I used to think the same thing. But it occurred to me the only thing I ever built were houses. I’m not even sure if I actually finished one. I’d rather build the Milenium Falcon. At least I have something neat to look at. ---
**Author:** ![InternetLegend](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/internetlegend/32/13154_2.png) [@InternetLegend](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/InternetLegend)\ **Post date:** [March 27, 2023, 6:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lego-are-pretty-bad-right/981716/57 "2023-03-27T18:43:42Z")
My older brother was 10 in 1968, and he had Legos (I was two years younger and a girl, so I got to play with the ones he didn’t want). We had recently moved back to the US after being out of the country since 1965, so I suppose it’s possible that we brought them back with us. But I remember playing with Legos at friends’ houses as well, so they certainly weren’t rare. ---
**Author:** ![Miller](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/miller/32/481_2.png) [@Miller](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Miller)\ **Post date:** [March 27, 2023, 6:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lego-are-pretty-bad-right/981716/58 "2023-03-27T18:47:05Z")
Lego was first introduced to US markets in 1961. > **[History of Lego](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_Lego)** > > The history of Lego began in 1932, when Ole Kirk Christiansen founded the company in a Danish carpentry workshop, and continues into the 21st century as a popular and very profitable line of construction toys and related products and services (including Lego board games, retail stores, Lego video games, Lego films, Legoland theme parks, and Lego Serious Play consultant services), with a significant impact on various areas of popular culture. Despite its expansion, the company remains privately ... ---
**Author:** ![carrps](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carrps/32/2957_2.png) [@carrps](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carrps)\ **Post date:** [March 27, 2023, 7:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lego-are-pretty-bad-right/981716/59 "2023-03-27T19:04:43Z")
I don’t remember Lego being around when I was a kid. I was born pre-US Lego. Plus, my parents rarely bought us toys. We actually cut paper dolls out of the Sears catalog. Dang, sounds like I grew up in the Depression. But we really had to invent our own fun and games without benefit of any kind of brand name product. I never even assembled any Lego product until around 10 years ago when I bought a dachshund kit. One Christmas I gave little packets I picked up at the checkout counter at World Market with Lego Santa Claus figures to my work teammates. I forgot to keep one for myself, alas, so I had to wait for that dachshund. ---
**Author:** ![Miller](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/miller/32/481_2.png) [@Miller](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Miller)\ **Post date:** [March 27, 2023, 7:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lego-are-pretty-bad-right/981716/60 "2023-03-27T19:07:43Z")
> [@carrps](#): > > We actually cut paper dolls out of the Sears catalog. Dang, sounds like I grew up in the Depression. But we really had to invent our own fun and games without benefit of any kind of brand name product. Just to be That Guy: “Sears” is a brand name. 😛 [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lego-are-pretty-bad-right/981716.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lego-are-pretty-bad-right/981716.md?page=4)