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Comment by angersock | Hacker News Reader

The problem that I have with Lego isn't the cost of them, the price-per-brick or whatever. The problem is that when I go to Target or someplace to just buy a big tub of generic bricks--like I grew up with--I instead see an aisle packed full of special-use packages. I don't want Harry Potter or Pirates of the Carribean or super-specialized Technics...I just want a big gallon of assorted, simple bricks.

Seriously, it's like Lego has somehow turned into the same microframework hell that Javascript has--hundreds of toolkits, all useless outside of their niche.

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Perhaps you need to go to a different store? Lego City is still by far the biggest representative in most stores I visit. Whilst they do have Star Wars, Marvel/DC, Minecraft etc, their own branded pirates, Ninjago and Chima represent a far bigger slice of their offering across their range.

If you're after something even more generic than that, Lego have always had "creative" boxes available as well. They've actually just come out with a new series: http://shop.lego.com/en-AU/Classic-ByTheme

Target has stocked multiple sizes of the tub-o-bricks for as long as I've worked there.

And at 29.99 for the 484 piece tubs it's quite reasonable.

That said, if you can't make a rocket ship out of a pirate ship, that's your problem.

I think the inventory carried by retailers is more driven by marketing theme sets, but LEGO itself still carries generic building sets. (e.g. http://www.amazon.com/LEGO-Ultimate-Building-Set-Pieces/dp/B...) You can even IIRC order specific parts in bulk directly from LEGO. But if you google, bulk lego, the most likely thing you'll come across lots of ways to pickup large amounts of used bricks from ebay or similar sources.

I played with Legos a ton as a kid, and I have a completely different view on what made Legos good. Building Legos with only basic bricks can be fun, but there's only so much depth to it. It was actually the special pieces that enabled you to make really interesting things, and I didn't feel like they stifled creativity at all. Not having the special pieces would be like cooking with only flour, butter, salt, and water. You can probably make a few tasty things, but I don't think you would want to eat that every day.

Looking at the Lego website, that does seem to be the case - but I couldn't tell if that has always been the case. Many of the sets don't look like you'd have much freedom other than to follow the directions due to the large number of set-specific pieces.

Modern Lego design has come a long way. You might be surprised by how versatile some sets are:

http://rebrickable.com/

Thanks for the link, I built this site :)

Paying ten cents for a bring you can reuse hundreds of time is much cheaper than paying ten cents for a brick that can only be used once and has to be kept with its mates in order to preserve the "value" of the kit.

Also, paying suggested retail price for an "in demand" kit is unheard of. When my nephew got the "Black Pearl" for Christmas a couple of years ago, his parents paid $250. TIL the MSRP was apparently $100 (although that information was not available to them at the time.) If someone knew they were paying $250 for a $100 kit, maybe they wouldn't think it was Lego who was ripping them off.

They do make a couple of generic bins. ($0.61/brick on Amazon) and you can pick up clean lots on eBay. Though I've not seen it myself I'm also told you can buy from bins at the Lego stores.

I know what you mean though, as none of these yields exactly the set I'd prefer (lots of variety in very few colors).

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