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Comment by gkoberger | Hacker News Reader

I feel this takes away a lot of the fun. There won't be mixing and matching of sets and peices; no experimenting nor creating new things. Partially because it won't be allowed (what parent will want to re-sort the sets), but mostly because it's impossible (you only get one set at a time).

Legos were awesome because you could experiment and build and create new things. Now, they're just a paint-by-numbers, follow the instructions, build something Hollywood designed type toy.

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I'm not surprised this is the top comment on a hacker site. But having watched my 5-year old son assemble a 300 piece set while following a 40+ page manual, gave me a new appreciation. He was obviously creating a new thing, even if not experienting. Not only did he have great pride in his creation, but he leaned a lot about 3D visualization and spacial awareness. Sign me up!

I have a 3 year old and he's too young to make lego city sets from the instructions but he loves playing with them and watching me make a set and helping. However, when I leave him with the bricks, he plays on his own, makes funky looking cars and planes. I've seen him spent a lot of time figuring a brick out by keep trying it with different bricks. It's very cool to see the learning process in real time.

I think children learn more by mixing, matching and making their own creations not just following the instructions. It was nice to see that the Lego movie was about this too.

My 6 year old son is obsessed with Lego. I think it's great to watch him follow the directions to get a big set built. (So far, the biggest he's done solo is ~ 1100 pieces). The process of following the directions, seeing the small changes from step to step, is great for him. Some of the newer sets have some really good engineering behind them too. The above 1100+ set was a Star Wars ship that basically had a Technic skeleton that the rest was attached to.

But I'm far more impressed with the little creations he makes on his own by mixing and matching sets. Usually he makes small transport ships out of anything he can get his hands on, but it's the random stuff that's the best.

(And I think it's hilarious to see Batman fighting along side Clone Troopers.)

Same here. But occasionally he'll diverge and change the design a bit, or he'll try to build it just by looking at the cover, or not finish the third rail wagon, because he has the main engine, and a second one.

> Now, they're just a paint-by-numbers

No, they're both. The sets we loved as kids still exist, they just don't advertise them as much as the licensed properties, but they sure as hell haven't discontinued them:

http://www.lego.com/en-us/creator/products/all-models http://www.lego.com/en-us/city/products http://www.lego.com/en-us/castle http://galaxysquad.lego.com/en-us

I wonder if parents still buy the sets we loved as kids; the last time I looked I had a hard time finding one in the local Toys R' Us or Sears.

(For that matter, do kids still ask their parents to buy these sets?)

CITY is actually the world-wide best selling theme (or at least it was a few years ago)[1]. So while there are lots of other themes, just plain old Lego sets are still going strong.

[1] http://lego.gizmodo.com/5019797/everything-you-always-wanted...

The space category seems "thin" now.

https://secure.flickr.com/photos/qi_tah/13303087844/ a little evolution shot

Nothing has changed. I had so many cool Lego sets as a kid with all kinds of cool pieces. I'd build those sets once, play with them, and then that mass of pieces would join the rest. I always build different and crazy things.

Now my son has a bunch of mixed up Lego sets and occasionally gets a new Star Wars set. As much as he loves playing with the pre-built stuff, Luke Skywalker also spends a considerable amount of time down on the ranch hanging out with cowboys.

> I feel this takes a way a lot of the fun.

Agreed. Building the kit by the instructions was only about 1/10th of the fun. The real fun was building new stuff out of the pieces from all the sets you have.

Not sure if this was mentioned but upon signing up, there are "Creative Crates" which are sets with randomly assorted pieces (up to 600). I think that pretty much covers your need.

You can still buy a 'bucket' of random bricks. For various reasons, those probably generate less revenue than sponsored sets. ex: marvel, starwars themed legos

[random buckets of bricks] probably generate less revenue than sponsored sets. ex: marvel, starwars themed legos

http://www.wired.com/underwire/2014/02/infoporn-legos/

Are they sponsored? I thought they were licensed?

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