> LEGO used to do a lot more custom one-off pieces for sets in the 90's and early 2000's, and it was one of the factors in them nearly being bankrupted. Reducing their part catalog and going to using more small pieces to build up assemblies instead of just molding them as a single piece helped them get out of that predicament.
it was hard to collect and build through that period, especially as so many specialty parts just kept appearing with every set. the intervening years, except for the constant changes of motors and electrification, seemed to put this into check and make for some fun and interesting builds.
unfortunately, from the perspective of someone who puts together 10-12 sets/year, it appears that we are heading back into that specialized time again; maybe not as bad with intricate specialty parts, but the number of new (2023) parts in the last two sets that I've put together has been quite high. those sets were the bat cave shadow box and the orient express.
I understand the appeal of SNOT, but the sheer number of new SNOT elements is craziness.
> The internals used to be much more monochrome, but one of the things LEGO tries to improve is the build experience. It's much easier to tell which pieces is supposed to go exactly where when they're all different sizes and colors.
they've also improved the printing of the instructions over the years, as well as better differentiation through outlines of what is new. that was very obvious when my father and I put together 7 holiday sets I had collected over 20 years last holiday season. each newer set was a good improvement.
> they've also improved the printing of the instructions over the years, as well as better differentiation through outlines of what is new. that was very obvious when my father and I put together 7 holiday sets I had collected over 20 years last holiday season. each newer set was a good improvement.
They have, but they still have problems with sets that have large chunks of the same color, especially when it comes to stuff like tiling or greebling, like the UCS Batman Tumbler. And certain colors still seem problematic. The old UCS Sandcrawler set is the one that stands out in my mind, that reddish-brown color made a lot of the instructions very difficult to read; That was like 10 years ago now, but even the more recent Bonsai tree also had that problem.
> They have, but they still have problems with sets that have large chunks of the same color, especially when it comes to stuff like tiling or greebling, like the UCS Batman Tumbler.
the batcave shadow box definitely suffered with it a bit, but at least it was an interesting and challenging build. unlike the new orient express train, which was ... not what I'd expect from lego.
> unlike the new orient express train, which was ... not what I'd expect from lego.
Incidentally, this is how I've felt about a lot of the bigger sets from LEGO recently. A decade or so ago, I used to basically buy every >$100 set LEGO put out every year, sans a few themes -- I've got a few large storage bins filled with just the instructions from these sets. But some of the massive sets LEGO has been putting out recently, like the Coliseum or the new Eiffel Tower set just don't seem like particularly fun builds. I think the first time I noticed this was putting together the 10253 Big Ben set. It just didn't feel like fun stacking those tiny pieces together, repeated like 30-40x for each little subassembly. But since then, there has definitely been a creep of the builds for larger sets being a little less fun and more tedious. It can be a good way to relax if you just want to kind of zone out for a while and do stuff with your hands, but that's not my style.
Of course, then they put out something like the Concorde which looks like a very fun build, so at least some of the LEGO designers got their heads on straight.
I built both the Titanic and the Eiffel tower. They both felt pretty repetitive.
On the other hand, these models are a marvel. Particular the Eiffel Tower. Everytime I look at it im just awed at how beautifully intricate it looks.
I think there's sets and sets, the lion knights castle was incredibly fun to build and had so many secrets and mechanisms.
So all in all, I'm really happy with these big Lego sets. I really like the Eiffel Tower. Once you see it in person you see how impressive it is. Also, I don't particularly mind the repetition... It took me a few days to assemble the tower, I watched tv, listened to podcasts, etc.
Despite my braying, I largely agree with this still. That's also what I ended up doing while putting together these sets. We managed to squeeze in all 4 seasons of Battlestar Galactica while putting together the Titanic and Eiffel Tower sets.
I have mostly built the modular sets (and designed my own), but missed a couple in the 2010's. also a big train fan (have built many of my own train cars), or have built more fun things like the ghostbusters fire station and car. I never got into the architecture sets though.
I plan on taking some time one of these weekends to build a large outdoor track layout to run on, but am waiting on some more after-market track to arrive.
still l-gauge. I have tracks and motors running back to the 9v days, plus the newer non-powered track. outdoor (covered patio area) for the extra room, because I want to build a pretty large layout for fun.
Those extremely expensive sets depicting famous things are all beginner sets, building-wise.
If some regular person just had their first and only trip on the Orient Express, or has always dreamed about making that trip: this is the target market. You cannot in general expect these people to have build a single Lego set, yet, so they are huge, sprawling, expensive, but totally uninteresting if you've ever built more than "put this 2 by 4 brick on that 2 by 4 brick".
it was hard to collect and build through that period, especially as so many specialty parts just kept appearing with every set. the intervening years, except for the constant changes of motors and electrification, seemed to put this into check and make for some fun and interesting builds.
unfortunately, from the perspective of someone who puts together 10-12 sets/year, it appears that we are heading back into that specialized time again; maybe not as bad with intricate specialty parts, but the number of new (2023) parts in the last two sets that I've put together has been quite high. those sets were the bat cave shadow box and the orient express.
I understand the appeal of SNOT, but the sheer number of new SNOT elements is craziness.
> The internals used to be much more monochrome, but one of the things LEGO tries to improve is the build experience. It's much easier to tell which pieces is supposed to go exactly where when they're all different sizes and colors.
they've also improved the printing of the instructions over the years, as well as better differentiation through outlines of what is new. that was very obvious when my father and I put together 7 holiday sets I had collected over 20 years last holiday season. each newer set was a good improvement.