Subject:
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Re: Fuzzy categories: The death of black & white
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Newsgroups:
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lugnet.admin.database
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Date:
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Thu, 7 Jan 1999 15:46:47 GMT
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Viewed:
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275 times
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Todd Lehman wrote:
<snip>
>
> * Is the Trains product line part of town? Are Time Cruisers and
> Time Twisters part of town? Are Boats part of town?
<snip>
Well, the only question I have a strong opinion on is whether Boats are
a part of Town. I am convinced that Lego originally separated Boats
from the rest of their product line because the Boats used extremely
specialized hulls that allowed them to float. At the time Boats were
introduced I think that the inclusion of such overly-specialized pieces
would have been considered "cheating" in a "regular" Lego set. This
argument can also be applied to Trains because of the specialized track
elements, etc.
I see that this year, Lego has apparently decided to integrate floating
boats in Town models (notably in 6435 Coast Guard HQ) and has pictured
Boats alongside Town models in the catalog. I believe this is because
Lego doesn't care about limiting specialized elements at all anymore.
Others have mentioned the high cost of making new molds for machines and
switching production runs to accomodate new pieces, but this is
apparently a cost Lego willingly assumes as more and more
super-specialized elements are created. Perhaps this is due to
competition from clone manufacturers who make the same basic elements
Lego used to use in all their models, perhaps it's because today's kids
like gimmicky new parts. It makes me sad, though.
I have always liked floating boats, don't get me wrong; and I love
trains. When I was a kid I would be very excited about specialized
elements and anticipated adding them to the model as I was building. Of
course, the specialized elements I liked so much were things like
hinges, 1x4x3 window system elements, minifig cups, transparent piece
headlights, etc. This was, of course, the early '80s. But I remember
even before that, building things like the 367 Moon Landing and really
looking forward to using those inverse slopes, or the 555 Hospital with
the 2x2 gray tile driveway and I *LOVED* macaroni bricks. These special
pieces really spiced up a basic Lego model. Maybe I'm being
hypocritical, but the new specialized pieces seem *too much* for me.
And it may just be that I see the regular elements disappearing. I
might like 20 new elements as a topping to a 350 piece town set, but not
as part of an 87 piece set.
I hope some of these trends change...I was just thinking how ironic it
is that we live in a time when Lego enthusiasts are more organized and
excited about the product than ever (things like LUGNET, rtl, web pages
devoted to Lego attest to this) and the actual product is not nearly at
its best. Can you imagine what our hobby would be like if we had all
this online invlovement while Lego was producing sets and parts like
they did in 1976? Or '80? Or even '94?
--
Thomas Main
main@appstate.edu
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