Subject:
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Re: "MOC" Blacksmith Shop on lego.com
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Newsgroups:
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lugnet.general
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Date:
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Mon, 17 Dec 2001 14:35:30 GMT
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Viewed:
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5386 times
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Allan Bedford wrote:
> I'm exactly the opposite. I will ONLY buy a set that I like and I only buy
> it for the set. Whatever parts it happens to contain then so be it. This
> currently explains why I don't buy a lot of sets. Most of the current
> offerings are so shallow on design that anything I build at home looks better.
Why limit yourself so? I assume you don't mean that the only thing you
build is sets. I have purchased many sets which I have no interest
whatsoever in what the set builds, but I buy because of the great parts
selection in it. Deep discounts of course reduce the portion of the set
which has to be great for parts.
> When I built my adult collection of bricks from scratch 3 years ago I was
> lucky. It happened to be the 30th anniversary year of LEGO in Canada. All
> the Zellers and Wal-Mart stores were full of anniversary buckets and tubs.
> I loaded up on tons of basic bricks. Then I bought a number of Technic and
> eventually Star Wars sets, along with an assortment of others, to round out
> my collection with a smattering of 'specialty bricks'.
>
> As it turns out, I should have bought 3 times as many buckets and tubs. To
> find one today in a Zellers is like finding Bill Gates loading MP3's onto an
> iPod.
I suspect we all wish we had bought more of certain sets. I wish I have
bought more Anniversary Freestyle tubs. I wish I had bought more of the
recent Freestyle set which came with the 9 compartment "drawer" storage
unit (about the best ever TLC produced storage unit, take a look at some
of the "under construction" GMLTC pictures for an absolutely astounding
use of these - Conan has a whole wall of his basement lined with these).
> And as for sets... well as mentioned above I only buy things that look great
> as a set. This doesn't leave much to buy nowadays. Anything of good design
> is only available through Shop At Home and thanks to exchange, duty and
> shipping, I don't use Shop At Home. If any one reading this doesn't yet
> understand my frustration with this company, feel free to write me and I'll
> elaborate further.
I see a lot of good design today. Is it the same as 10 years ago? No.
But it's good in it's own way. Of course I enjoy the minifig themes
where you seem to be more of a Technic fan. I enjoy certain aspects of
Technic, but I don't find the "Super Breezeway Car" that attractive a
model (that's a little unfair, I haven't built it yet, and I know I will
enjoy it for what it is, but I'm sorry I just can't get excited over
such vehicles, I haven't bought any of the newer "super" cars - even
though with the new body panels [which I do see as decent parts) reduce
the breeziness of these cars).
I don't complain much about things like Jack Stone or Bionicle. They are
targeted at different markets. Who can really blame TLC for Bionicle
when stores can't even keep it on the shelf. That sounds like a good
investment in new parts, many of which are useable beyond the scope of
Bionicle.
Of course I'm a hearty fan of new parts. And I'm not the least bit
ashamed of that. I know why I stopped playing with LEGO as a kid. Even
though my LEGO playing years were from say 1967 to 1976 or so, the only
interesting bits we had from the later stuff was one meager train set
(which was an early 60s train set, not sure which one, but it just
didn't look like a train, and how exciting is a single oval of track)
and the gear set (which was pretty limited in what you could do with
it). We also had some classic doors and windows (red only) and a small
assortment of plates (the biggest value of the train set may have
actually been the plates). We had a small amount of slopes (red only,
probably only 2x2 and 2x4 with no peaks or corners). I also remember the
turntables, macaroni, and I think we had some of those 4x8 plates with
the curved edge.
What got me looking at LEGO again was Mindstorms. What sucked me in was
the minifig, and especially the Pirate ships. Trains and Castle quickly
took hold of me. I almost got sucked in a few years earlier when
Adventurers first came out. I remember looking at them in the store and
saying: "wow cool, you could almost build scenery for role playing games
out of these, but how ever would you get enough bricks and how well
would the miniatures stand on the studs?" I also remember looking at the
monorail several years ago. It looked interesting but limited. I think
it still is rather limited, but it works great at train shows. It
doesn't offer too much possibility for operation, though with a large
layout you could have fun running a passenger train schedule, and you
could even do some fiddling and come up with a freight switching layout.
I see many of the new parts today and see many possibilities which make
things other than square buildings possible. Each new curved type part
gives more flexibility for more streamlined looking models (without
going to the Legoland macro scale).
And why is TLC having trouble turning a profit? I can think of many
reasons: Video games are certainly the biggest hit. Kids are also not
encouraged to find lasting toys. Toys are acquired much more constantly
throughout the year and are quickly discarded. This means parents aren't
willing to pay as much for the toys (looking at a range of LEGO sets, I
see the price of the brick has stayed close to 10 cents for many years,
LEGO is getting CHEAPER!). We have developed a serious instant
gratification culture, and one unfamiliar with building things. I hardly
see the blocks which everyone I knew as a kid (including our family) had
a sizable array of (and I really enjoyed playing at other friends houses
who had many of the specialty blocks, about all we had were the two
styles of ramps [those from cutting the basic "2x4x1" block in half
<yes, blocks had their 2x4 also...>], the "1x4x2" arch [with 1x2x1 half
round insert], the "1x1x4" column and then a ton of basic blocks). I
know they are still available, and I have seen smaller blocks but the
classic blocks were so nice. The x1 narrow width was enough for a one
lane Matchbox of Hotwheels road, the x2 width wide enough for two lanes.
I used those blocks far more than the LEGO.
Frank
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