11 replies to this topic

[cradley-heathen]

whilst out to day me and the missis decided to pop in toys r us, mainly as i wanted to look at the lego stuff.

obvioulsy i havnt played with any for years, but i used to love it, and having watched the james may programme it got me thinking about the stuff again.

sadly, just as J.M. had pointed out, the kits these days are full of huge pieces that are do just one specific job. i noticed a huge lego city plane and airport today, and the entire tailplane was one huge piece, i remember making planes and having to come up with something to do the job, even if it did end up being a little bumpy. but if you want smooth perfection, surely you should get an airfix kit?

has anyone else seen the kits these days too? i mean, when your kids buy it, not that grown men should be playing with it!

also, there are now starwars kits, prince or persia, barry twotter and god knows what else they do, its just cashing in on the current trends. i know its all about maximising profit, but it doent leave much to the imagination?

having said all that, im still dying to build a huge lego model of the entire of cradley heath and old hill lol

http://shop.lego.com...utton=moreViews

see what i mean about the tail?

[mini_mad69]

I noticed this, I was hugley into lego as a kid. I had tubs and tubs of the stuff, well it's still in my parents attic. I saw some in tesco the other day and it was only around 4 big pieces. Much like that plane you linked too.


I still remember the biggest pieces I had was 6 dots across and 10 dots long small sheets. I loved the pneumatics of lego technic.

I built an air pump to air-ate (sp?) my goldfish tank

[andy pandy]

my son who is 4 loves it but my wallet dont like the price, if you say buy the whole lego city youre talkin the price of a half decent mini,

[oli8925]

I just had a grumble about this on my ebay listing for all my old lego. I think it kinda takes away the point of lego if you have specifically moulded parts, absolute rubbish. Anyway, got £71 for all my old stuff, bargain for them compared to the price new but I was pretty happy

[Bungle]

lego city is a 1/2 way kit between duplo and the lego you remember that's why it has big preformed parts

on a side note i got all my old lego out of mums loft and William my 4 year old loves it

[Dan]

i know its all about maximising profit, but it doent leave much to the imagination?

Unfortunately, what it's all about is Lego still existing. Nintendo/Sony/Microsoft have taken well over half the toy market away from traditional toys like Lego, they have to compete. The expiry of their patents hasn't helped either, but things like Mega Blocks are never going to be the prestige brand. Specifically made parts that are only sold in one kit certainly don't maximise profit, making the same small brick over and over and selling it as a thousand different products like they used to does that. Custom parts are sadly why it's so expensive now. I worked at Lego Land as a kid, there used to be meetings there all the time about finding new markets and branded merchandise was the answer. It's less than half the total catalogue though, there is still a ton of Lego available. Have you seen the Deathstar kit? I think that's the most expensive.

[olds_kool_lews]

i love lego, used to play with it for hours, my mom hated it though as when we had finished, there always was 1 that got away from being put back in the back, and my mom would find it embedded into the bottom of her foot.... lol

[bcjames]

i love lego, used to play with it for hours, my mom hated it though as when we had finished, there always was 1 that got away from being put back in the back, and my mom would find it embedded into the bottom of her foot.... lol

Haha! I remember that happening when I was little. Or that clankclankclank as a bit got sucked up the hoover.

I'm pretty sure its Lego that planted the seed of Mini love in my head as a child. It's sort of like big lego to take apart and rebuild! I don't really like the way lego has changed, but I suppose it has to evolve to survive in a modern market. All my lego is in some big boxes in the attic, my kids can have proper lego if and when

[M44K TS]

Just before Christmas, I was out shopping with my 4 year old nephew so he could pick something, obviously, Lego was one of the things he wanted, in fact, the £140 Lego Excavator

I happily led him to some of the more wallet friendly Lego kits. It's frightening how much some of it costs now though, even the pretty cool Lamborghini police car was £50, mind you, I was tempted by it myself

[cradley-heathen]

when i was talking about maximising profitability i think what i meant was, maximising childrens interest.

i was refering to the starwars stuff etc, not the production of specific blocks or whatever.

if me or my brother wanted to make a model of the death star we had to come up with something ourselves, now kids can buy a death star, harrp potters train, and tons of other things.

i prefered it when lego was just lego and what you made with it was up to you.

i totally agree that they have had to do this though to compete with modern toys and more importantly wii-box-3-station things! lol

when we werer kids we used to make things like go-karts and wooden guns, and rather than some of our more wealthy play mates looking down at us, they wanted what we had rather than their expensive shop bought toys. our guns for example were heavy and realistic, and i can also remember my dad making me a proper wooden bow and arrow, with a proper grip, that not only looked right, but worked very well, now that i recall my mates were very envious of. and i think watchin my dad make things made me the way i am, and im pretty sure thats why i do the job i do,

you could argue that restoring classic cars, and specifically minis is al about making the best of what you have, and what you can afford. i couldnt afford a new car when i was 17, or even one that was 10 years old. my first car was £80 and took months to get on the road, but sure enough, most my mates were jealous as it wa far better than what they had just forked out thousands for.

but im going off the point here. lego is the root of engineering in the minds of the young, and even if it is a bit cack these days, its better than computer games!

[cooperdan]

Oh the days of lego how huge chests of the stuff would occupy me all day lol

Yeh i see this alot all over the place ans it is a shame, i suppose its because they want to see it....to asthetically pleasing with clean lines

Im more into technic these days myself

[coopdog]

just buy a tub of lego pieces haha
i did this for K'NEX haha spent like £70 and im 18 :L
just had too because its so much fun!