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LEGO......it's Just Pathetic Now


Failing@Failing
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Failing@Failing

Recently I went on the LEGO website and I see such bad theme ideas. Harry Potter, Pirates of the Carribean, SPONGEBOB (The TV show is so ANNOYING)

I liked LEGO much better when they had original products such as Bionicle, rock raiders to name a few.

I admit they do have some pretty nice looking sets in the new Architecture theme. I would buy them all if they sold them at my local Wal-mart.

However some of the others are so......disappointing. Atleast a quarter are liscensed. Most aren't even satisfying.

My younger brother recently got a large batch of LEGO star wars and......The gunship was a huge let-down. First of all alot of it is flat inside and flick-fire missles, they never really sold to me.

Plus Ninjago TOPS!?!?!?! Seriously. Anybody could make a top out of litterally anything. Tape a piece of carboard on a really short pencil and you have a top.

And along with that most of the buildings, THEY ONLY HAVE ONE WALL!!!! Best. Building. Ever.

With realism in mind I have to go to the sets with weapons. Seeing the picture for World Racers I was thinking "Who puts a buzzsaw onto the front of their car and HOW?!?!"

If anyone else wants to add to my rant here about how LEGO is becoming somewhat....crappy, feel free to add.

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I agree with most of what you said, except:

SPONGEBOB (The TV show is so ANNOYING)

It's the only cartoon I will watch. I find it funnier than most movies that come out today.

The sets that you have mentioned are aimed at kids. Why? Because they watch HP, PoTC, SB etc and then want one of the toys... a great marketing technique. The LEGO created themes are aimed more at teens to adult, then Architecture and Corporate LEGO is aimed at adult to business. I guess people feel that LEGO is going down hill since they make more LEGO for kids and market it a lot more... however that is what sells. For every 10 adults that hate it, there will be 20 kids that love it. The majority of LEGO's customers are kids... so it's only right to make more kiddie LEGO.

Regarding some of the silly ideas.... I agree. But when a kid sees a saw on the front of a car, it makes to 10x cooler for them then just a plain old car...which to them is boring.

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My only complaint really is I wish they would tone down the licensed sets. LEGO Star Wars is cool, but quite frankly they need to stick to their word of trying to make more original sets. Personally I thought LEGO Space Police III was neat and a step in the right direction in rejuvenating the LEGO space genre, and would wish they would follow that up with some similar themes. Alien Conquest on the other hand has surprisingly little content to it besides a flying saucer, and H.G. Wells-esque tripod. But they are trying. Keep in mind that they are releasing more sets now than in the past, it's just a lot of it is licensed franchises now...

Overall, they are still a legit company and continue to come out with great sets every once and a while (did you see 7931 T-6 Jedi Shuttle? that is a cool looking ship...) Considering all the economic troubles all over Europe and America, I'd say their doing pretty well.

...Also, if it wasn't for LEGO, there would be no Rock Raiders, RR mods, RRU, or even this topic. So I don't really see the merit in discrediting them here.

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Lair??? Is that you??? I can't tell.

Anyways; you and Lair of Rockwhales would've gotten along. I also agree. LEGO has dropped in quality a LOT since 1998 (Which I consider to be LEGO's heyday.). And Star Wars sets are REALLY expensive. I mean, I could get a LEGO City set for the EXACT same price, and with MORE pieces.

Just saying. Other than some of the original themes (Pharaoh's Quest was a good step back to Johnny Thunder), LEGO has fallen.

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Recently I went on the LEGO website and I see such bad theme ideas. Harry Potter, Pirates of the Carribean, SPONGEBOB (The TV show is so ANNOYING)

I liked LEGO much better when they had original products such as Bionicle, rock raiders to name a few.

I admit they do have some pretty nice looking sets in the new Architecture theme. I would buy them all if they sold them at my local Wal-mart.

However some of the others are so......disappointing. Atleast a quarter are liscensed. Most aren't even satisfying.

My younger brother recently got a large batch of LEGO star wars and......The gunship was a huge let-down. First of all alot of it is flat inside and flick-fire missles, they never really sold to me.

Plus Ninjago TOPS!?!?!?! Seriously. Anybody could make a top out of litterally anything. Tape a piece of carboard on a really short pencil and you have a top.

And along with that most of the buildings, THEY ONLY HAVE ONE WALL!!!! Best. Building. Ever.

With realism in mind I have to go to the sets with weapons. Seeing the picture for World Racers I was thinking "Who puts a buzzsaw onto the front of their car and HOW?!?!"

If anyone else wants to add to my rant here about how LEGO is becoming somewhat....crappy, feel free to add.

1 - Licensed themes are blah altogether IMO. Agreed with ya there.

2 - Architecture is great... Except for the price. >_<

3 - See 1.

4 - See 1.

5 - Ninjago has actually been an extremely massive hit - they tried something new and it payed off big time. Don't be so quick to diss it, just because it stars minifigs in pajamas turning into tornadoes and fighting zombies on motorcycles doesn't mean it automatically sucks. :P

6 - Not sure what you mean by that exactly...

7 - That sort of stuff has been around for YEARS. Seriously, ever played the original LEGO Racers? That was 1999 and it had some crazy stuff. World Racers is an action oriented racing theme and a good one at that, LEGO has never been completely realistic (and in some cases, like the LEGO Island series, they just throw sanity right out the window). World Racers actually reminds me of Drome Racers from the early 2000s a bit, and that's a good thing because I love Drome Racers. Really now, if you're expecting realism in LEGO... Hah, no.

I agree with most of what you said, except:

SPONGEBOB (The TV show is so ANNOYING)

It's the only cartoon I will watch. I find it funnier than most movies that come out today.

The sets that you have mentioned are aimed at kids. Why? Because they watch HP, PoTC, SB etc and then want one of the toys... a great marketing technique. The LEGO created themes are aimed more at teens to adult, then Architecture and Corporate LEGO is aimed at adult to business. I guess people feel that LEGO is going down hill since they make more LEGO for kids and market it a lot more... however that is what sells. For every 10 adults that hate it, there will be 20 kids that love it. The majority of LEGO's customers are kids... so it's only right to make more kiddie LEGO.

Regarding some of the silly ideas.... I agree. But when a kid sees a saw on the front of a car, it makes to 10x cooler for them then just a plain old car...which to them is boring.

Agreed with Cyrem except on the liking Spongebob as a show and not liking silly ideas. Personally, I can't stand Spongebob, but hey, if you like it, I'm not gonna complain. And while I don't like licensed themes, I will admit that they have been a big success for LEGO... My position on silly has already been explained. BRING ON THE CAR MOUNTED LAZORS! :P

My only complaint really is I wish they would tone down the licensed sets. LEGO Star Wars is cool, but quite frankly they need to stick to their word of trying to make more original sets. Personally I thought LEGO Space Police III was neat and a step in the right direction in rejuvenating the LEGO space genre, and would wish they would follow that up with some similar themes. Alien Conquest on the other hand has surprisingly little content to it besides a flying saucer, and H.G. Wells-esque tripod. But they are trying. Keep in mind that they are releasing more sets now than in the past, it's just a lot of it is licensed franchises now...

Overall, they are still a legit company and continue to come out with great sets every once and a while (did you see 7931 T-6 Jedi Shuttle? that is a cool looking ship...) Considering all the economic troubles all over Europe and America, I'd say their doing pretty well.

...Also, if it wasn't for LEGO, there would be no Rock Raiders, RR mods, RRU, or even this topic. So I don't really see the merit in discrediting them here.

Space Police 3 was indeed a great theme, I have all but a couple of the sets (Squidman's Pitstop, the four-wheeled transport thing, and the base are the only ones I don't have). I'm happy to say that I've strongly enjoyed every set in the theme except for Gold Heist which flat-out sucked. No, not perfect (Where's the Blacktron, LEGO? I don't want a gang of random aliens!), but for the most part the sets were solid, good looking, and fun to swoosh around. And a bunch of throw-backs to older themes. That always scores bonus points. Alien Conquest... Meh, humans have awesome outfits and vehicles, the aliens simply don't. Nuff said. The only AQ sets I plan on getting are the human oriented ones like the helicopter and command center.

Lair??? Is that you??? I can't tell.

Anyways; you and Lair of Rockwhales would've gotten along. I also agree. LEGO has dropped in quality a LOT since 1998 (Which I consider to be LEGO's heyday.). And Star Wars sets are REALLY expensive. I mean, I could get a LEGO City set for the EXACT same price, and with MORE pieces.

Just saying. Other than some of the original themes (Pharaoh's Quest was a good step back to Johnny Thunder), LEGO has fallen.

I wouldn't say 1998, as it was 1999 when things started going downhill. Up until 1999, they had kept up a steady system of themes and factions, and 1999 screwed that all up. It wasn't just the fact that they got rid of the theme system they had been using for thirty years, there was a big style shift as well, a shift that gradually got more and more drastic until it finally got to the style we have today. I'm not saying the style we have now is bad, on the contrary I like it a lot, I just prefer the mid-nineties style more. The sets then had a great blend of simplicity and detail, older themes (Random example: Futuron) looked good but were a bit too simple for my personal tastes, while SP3 or Alien Conquest tend to focus on detail a bit too much, sometimes looking garbled.

EDIT: Also, while most 1978-1999 themes took place in the same general continuity, themes that came afterwards, like Life on Mars and Knights Kingdom 1, had their own little individual stories that weren't connected to the 20+ years of established factions, stories, and themes before them. Sure, they could technically fit in the same fictional universe, but they didn't try to continue what LEGO had done before. It was kinda a reboot.

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I agree with what Jamesster says about the themes.

I would also say that nowadays, it seems like most pieces in the sets wouldn't go anywhere else without a large amount of creativity. Their pieces are so incredibly specialized and almost every visible surface is printed. It's rediculous.

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I agree with most of what you said, except:

SPONGEBOB (The TV show is so ANNOYING)

It's the only cartoon I will watch. I find it funnier than most movies that come out today.

Sorry Failing, but your own statement was made of fail. The TV Show is possibly the best under-mature (stuff like Family Guy and South Park are pretty "mature"...) cartoon I've ever since. It's made of very good plot and humour, and hell, "Bubble Buddy" was pure genius ;P

Although, I will agree, it was never made for LEGO. They kind of ruined it for me.

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I originally planned to respond with an elaborate post but the forum gave me a stupid and entirely incorrect quote tag error. How does 7 =/= 7?

To give a short answer that IP.Boards will actually accept, I'll say I agree with both sides and leave it at that.

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I originally planned to respond with an elaborate post but the forum gave me a stupid and entirely incorrect quote tag error. How does 7 =/= 7?

To give a short answer that IP.Boards will actually accept, I'll say I agree with both sides and leave it at that.

It's called a quote limit and I have it set at 6 quotes per post.

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I originally planned to respond with an elaborate post but the forum gave me a stupid and entirely incorrect quote tag error. How does 7 =/= 7?

To give a short answer that IP.Boards will actually accept, I'll say I agree with both sides and leave it at that.

It's called a quote limit and I have it set at 6 quotes per post.

Sorry, didn't know that. Thanks for telling me. The forum said there was a difference between the the number of open and closed quote tags.

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Regarding some of the silly ideas.... I agree. But when a kid sees a saw on the front of a car, it makes to 10x cooler for them then just a plain old car...which to them is boring.

Agreed with Cyrem except on the liking Spongebob as a show and not liking silly ideas. Personally, I can't stand Spongebob, but hey, if you like it, I'm not gonna complain. And while I don't like licensed themes, I will admit that they have been a big success for LEGO... My position on silly has already been explained. BRING ON THE CAR MOUNTED LAZORS! :P

gallery_1300_106_4708.png

You mean truck mounted lasers?

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Regarding some of the silly ideas.... I agree. But when a kid sees a saw on the front of a car, it makes to 10x cooler for them then just a plain old car...which to them is boring.

Agreed with Cyrem except on the liking Spongebob as a show and not liking silly ideas. Personally, I can't stand Spongebob, but hey, if you like it, I'm not gonna complain. And while I don't like licensed themes, I will admit that they have been a big success for LEGO... My position on silly has already been explained. BRING ON THE CAR MOUNTED LAZORS! :P

You mean truck mounted lasers?

Is that an old LMLC?

With the vehicle mounted weapons, if there's a use for it then it will be done. If you're in a death race (like world race) it only makes sense to mount a weapon of some sort on your car. I don't think the M1A1 Abrams has a heavy anti-tank cannon just to look cool. The LMLC in rock raiders was useless for mining, but as a monster hunter it was excellent (when you think about it wasn't that the true purpose of the LMLC?).

As for the whole Spongebob thing, I'm glad it's over. At least, I think it's over... (please tell me it's over).

Other seemingly silly ideas that have their purposes:

Using water cannons to hose down living trashcans (I hate Power Miners just as much as the next guy, but if the trashcans are made of lava, what better than to turn them into pumice).

Cyborgs living tribal style on an island in the middle of no-where (even though I liked Bionicle, I admit I thought the post-tech cyborg thing was quite absurd despite it's coolness factor which in this case wasn't limited to children, and they may not be as post-tech as you think...).

Energy Crystals (I know I just said part of Rock Raiders was silly, but a green glowing crystal doesn't just give off energy. Still, such "unobtainium" makes a good plot piece, although it didn't help Avatar...).

Silly ideas that don't work:

"Troll" Warriors (for the last time, call them ORCS! Orcs aren't owned by Blizzard, they aren't owned by Games Workshop [as much as both claim], they were a part of Germanic mythology!)

Living Trashcans ('nuff said. I really want to throw old apple cores, fish skeletons, and the occasional POW Block [Mario reference] into those things mouths, and I'm surprised the power miners don't do the same)

[opinion]Anything by Nickelodeon[/opinion] (Do they even know what Nickelodeon even means anymore? It's an old "personal" movie player that you could use at laundromat style locations and watch a movie for a nickle)

Both of these lists are extremely incomplete.

Edited by Cirevam
Please don't quote large images, especially if you're quoting a post directly above yours.
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Failing@Failing

I agree with what Jamesster says about the themes.

I would also say that nowadays, it seems like most pieces in the sets wouldn't go anywhere else without a large amount of creativity. Their pieces are so incredibly specialized and almost every visible surface is printed. It's rediculous.

I know I just wish we could have generic pieces again and stickers. That way the decals could be optional but still there.

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LEGO star wars is still one of the best LEGO sets I have. But i do agree that its too expensive. C'mon, 25 bucks for 100 parts, or 80 bucks for about only 400 parts? Thats crazy. If LEGO star wars was a bit cheaper,I would collect more of it.

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  • 2 months later...

Lego has it's ups and downs but it's been quite worrying lately... that must be two years of licensed products. They have to close Lego Universe in January, they stopped Bionicle... but with the amount of money Lego has, well, they'll survive. :af:

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  • 2 months later...

Yes, this quality drop has been driving crazy. Heroica is pretty good though but I wish it was in sets not board games. As for Bionicle, it was really good but they really were running out of material. But with all this licensed stuff...a company all about creativity going for licensed stuff...

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As I was saying, bionicle was pretty good and stuff but they really were running out of material. Their first set was tahu and so was their last in fact they where both the same form of tahu too.

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I'm highly disappointed with the amount of LEGO bricks they are giving you per set these days. They are holding out on kids a lot more these days, the LEGO sets have noticeably less LEGO pieces, and are charging a fortune for most of the even medium sized sets now. It could just be the licensing part of it, where the companies that are licensing them want a bigger paycheck from LEGO, but at the same time it's a huge disappointment.

Over a period of only a couple years about a decade ago, I had accrued enough LEGOs to fill multiple large plastic containers.

To do that now would probably cost upwards of $2,000.00...

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I'm highly disappointed with the amount of LEGO bricks they are giving you per set these days. They are holding out on kids a lot more these days, the LEGO sets have noticeably less LEGO pieces, and are charging a fortune for most of the even medium sized sets now. It could just be the licensing part of it, where the companies that are licensing them want a bigger paycheck from LEGO, but at the same time it's a huge disappointment.

A reason for that would probably be because of the custom parts. Previously, you had to put sections together with normal pieces... now they have a large selection of custom pieces instead. Doing this would save on producing little pieces.

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Doing this would probably make sense in case of smaller children swallowing the parts.

What I don't agree with though is their logic of:

More complex parts = More money you spend.

They're not exactly the most intricate parts, but they are new. I can understand that they make the custom parts, but as we've seen in the past before in previous editions/sets/collections, they will just re-use/recycle/recreate, rinse, and repeat with mostly any parts that they can find a use for, and even the licensed LEGO products are no exception. Why would I want to pay more for something with less universal parts, and more parts that I can't do as much with?

I just don't understand marketing these days, it's just a joke.

It's a dying breed of failing tools that are making us pull out our already thinned wallets.

This economy has hit everyone hard, and jacking up prices for your own revenue isn't going to help.

"Customers are a lot more helpful than competitors in making good decisions."

- Gabe Newell, founder of Steam.

I wish more investors would reflect upon this...

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