There's been a marked increase in custom bricks for a perfected, rendered look on newer models. That does make shelf builds look more like actual miniature models of the thing being built, but it makes the parts more difficult to use in creative builds, and makes it much more difficult to add a creative flair to a shelf build in a cohesive way.
My son is 5, and recently graduated from Duplos to classic Legos, he started with this set:
It's basically a box of hundreds of colorful plates and bricks. There are a few wheels and eyes, too, but it's mostly just bricks. We make bulldozers and airplanes and robots and houses and all manner of things! Yes, there are studs instead of smooth tiles on top of the engine compartment, and yes, there are about 7 shades of yellow, cream, and orange making up the dozer, and no, the tracks aren't functional, but it slides fine. Mom might need to ask to know that the pink 1x1 brick sticking out the top is the bulldozer's TURBO BOOSTER MODE BUTTON, or she might guess that because she knows our son.
He's received a few sets once we let family and friends know that he's using legos now. He got this Ninjago set:
which focuses the design on a bunch of stickers and printed parts and custom weapons made to look like a show he's never seen. He does love all the little Lego people, they have fun adventures, but he built it once, took it apart, and now most of the parts end up in the bottom of the brick box unused. Another typical one is this monster truck:
Kudos to Lego for the cool Technik functional rubber suspension design, my son loves that and has rebuilt it on other vehicles! And kudos for the 3-in-1 design that reuses a lot of the custom pieces for a truck, a dragster, and a small car. But look at all the rounded tiles and cheese wedges and smooth surfaces. It's possible to build things that aren't one of the intended three things, but it takes a lot more planning. Like the random horns and staffs from the Ninjago set, he doesn't use these studless tiles much either. You can't click anything into the bed of the truck; it's supposed to be a truck, what's up with that! There's almost nowhere to put a pink turbo booster mode button at all.
The truck looks like a plastic model. Anything built with the creative brick box has studs all over and looks like a pile of Legos begging to have something added to it or to be rebuilt into something else.
My youngest (7) has watched Ninjago, but if he got a Ninjago set, I'm 100% sure he would build it once according to the instructions, then after a little while, take it apart and incorporate all of the pieces into a new creation from the bucket. It's his original creations that end up being displayed on a shelf.
LeifCarrotson|4 years ago
My son is 5, and recently graduated from Duplos to classic Legos, he started with this set:
https://www.lego.com/en-us/product/lego-medium-creative-bric...
It's basically a box of hundreds of colorful plates and bricks. There are a few wheels and eyes, too, but it's mostly just bricks. We make bulldozers and airplanes and robots and houses and all manner of things! Yes, there are studs instead of smooth tiles on top of the engine compartment, and yes, there are about 7 shades of yellow, cream, and orange making up the dozer, and no, the tracks aren't functional, but it slides fine. Mom might need to ask to know that the pink 1x1 brick sticking out the top is the bulldozer's TURBO BOOSTER MODE BUTTON, or she might guess that because she knows our son.
He's received a few sets once we let family and friends know that he's using legos now. He got this Ninjago set:
https://www.lego.com/en-us/product/tournament-of-elements-71...
which focuses the design on a bunch of stickers and printed parts and custom weapons made to look like a show he's never seen. He does love all the little Lego people, they have fun adventures, but he built it once, took it apart, and now most of the parts end up in the bottom of the brick box unused. Another typical one is this monster truck:
https://www.lego.com/en-us/product/monster-truck-31101
https://www.lego.com/cdn/cs/set/assets/bltd6f7b204e1e11893/3...
Kudos to Lego for the cool Technik functional rubber suspension design, my son loves that and has rebuilt it on other vehicles! And kudos for the 3-in-1 design that reuses a lot of the custom pieces for a truck, a dragster, and a small car. But look at all the rounded tiles and cheese wedges and smooth surfaces. It's possible to build things that aren't one of the intended three things, but it takes a lot more planning. Like the random horns and staffs from the Ninjago set, he doesn't use these studless tiles much either. You can't click anything into the bed of the truck; it's supposed to be a truck, what's up with that! There's almost nowhere to put a pink turbo booster mode button at all.
The truck looks like a plastic model. Anything built with the creative brick box has studs all over and looks like a pile of Legos begging to have something added to it or to be rebuilt into something else.
NoGravitas|4 years ago