Subject:
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No way for a LEGO newbie to get up to speed? Unfair!
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Newsgroups:
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lugnet.general
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Date:
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Tue, 19 Jan 1999 09:27:57 GMT
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Viewed:
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974 times
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You know, there doesn't really appear to be much in the way of LEGO for
wannabe enthusiasts any more. (By the way, I'm thinking entirely on
the Technic line here). It appears to me that every set these days
seems to be geared towards developing a specific model (or a specific
set of models), and while that's all fine and dandy for people who are
too lazy to invent their own ideas, such sets usually offer far too
limited a selection of Technic pieces to be viable as general building
sets, which is what would probably most benefit a person who wanted to
build with LEGO to use his or her imagination for constructing things.
Since about 1995 or so, it seems that LEGO has been hacking and slicing
at its Technic line and steering it away from being a universal building
tool into a line of predesigned glueless model kits and action toys.
So I have to ask, if someone were to want to seriously get into creative
LEGO Technic construction, and were starting out from scratch today,
what choice would they have? The amount of money required to buy
enough of the model sets to have a good enough assortment of pieces to
be usable as a universal building set makes that avenue unviable for all
but those who have been blessed with an abundant disposable income.
I'm not so much complaining about the price of LEGO as much as the lack
of selection when it comes to Technic. There are *NO* Technic sets
offered this year that resemble a universal building set. A single
universal building set is the best way for a LEGO newbie to enter the
fray of LEGO modelling because it gives him or her the greatest variety
of pieces in a single expense. If they like it, they will probably buy
more. If the piece selection is too limited in the person's first set,
the only way I think they will be likely to purchase more sets in the
future is if 1) they have *LOTS* of money and for some reason are
compelled to want to spend all the time on things they don't know for
sure that they really want, or 2) they didn't purchase LEGO as a
creative construction toy in the first place, and only wanted to build
the model that was featured on the set.
If the answer is 1, more power to them. However, a trend in that
direction would render creative LEGO building in the future as a sole
property of the wealthy. This is not particularly desireable. If the
answer is 2, as I believe it probably is most of the time, and TLG is
obviously interested in targetting that group, I feel dismayed that
while trying to target a young crowd who "want it all right now", TLG
have abandoned their original premise of LEGO being a truly robust
construction toy.
> > Mark
(hrm... in hindsight, maybe this should have gone in lugnet.dear-lego...
but it's not like anybody from TLG actually reads these things.)
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Message has 4 Replies:
 | | Re: No way for a LEGO newbie to get up to speed? Unfair!
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| (...) I haven't seen the new 1999 Technic sets yet, but I would say that the piece selection in the 1998 sets where very good. Personally, I would find enough pieces to build many interesting things using a few 1998 Technic sets. (...) But there is (...) (26 years ago, 19-Jan-99, to lugnet.general)
| | | Re: No way for a LEGO newbie to get up to speed? Unfair!
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| Mark Tarrabain wrote in message <36A4501C.248EF8CE@l....bc.ca>... (...) Little. It's the same process that's happening to the entire line. As I mention in another post, Lego is becoming an action toy that requires assembly, not a building toy that (...) (26 years ago, 19-Jan-99, to lugnet.general)
| | | Re: No way for a LEGO newbie to get up to speed? Unfair!
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| Mark Tarrabain wrote in message <36A4501C.248EF8CE@l....bc.ca>... (...) The Mindstorms set is basically a Universal set with a microcontroller and two motors. Even if you don't want the computer the set is a very good deal just for the pieces and (...) (26 years ago, 19-Jan-99, to lugnet.general)
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