To think lego are increasingly mugging consumers off with tiny pieces

[NoIDontWatchLoveIsland]

DS (4) got his first lego classic box this Christmas. I got one of the biggest, most ex expensive boxes there was.

When I was a child, my first lego set (my mother still has it) had LOADS of proper building blocks - 1x4, 1x6, roof pieces etc.

Now they all seem bulked out with tiny tiny flat pieces - theres not enough to build a proper house, not even close.

@ilovemaisie I totally agree my DC make some really amazing builds out of what they have. Using pieces from various sets to make houses, shops, schools most recently they've made a horses stable.

I’m also bitterly disappointed at the new basic sets; they’re nothing like the ones I had as a child and I wish I’d kept them! Feel like I’m looking to recreate something that doesn’t exist anymore.

Brutus I have Classic sets from now and 'Basic' (as they used to be called) from 20 years ago and seriously they aren't that much different.

Though I do completely agree with how expensive Lego is for tiny sets, I’m not really understanding why it can’t be played with again in a free play kind of way.

DS has a ton of Lego from lots of different sets, and bulked up from buying kilo bundles from eBay. He strips things down for parts from say - Harry Potter sets to then build Star Wars ships and stuff. Doesn’t seem to have any problems with tiny parts - if anything it’s aided his creative engineering as he’s made some insanely good builds. Transformer robots that actually transform from cars of trucks to robots, for example. He’s always on the look out for ball joint parts and other very specific things.

Same with my girls - they have a few of the Lego Friends kits, that are very small and specific things like a cafe or a horse box and stable or something. But when broken down - they’re basic parts like windows and walls and stuff. So they’re able to rebuild into anything new they want.

Lego is prohibitively expensive, ESPECIALLY Star Wars or HP sets but man, it’s so good. Provides hours of creativity and engineering play for my three. Especially came into its own during lockdown 🙏🏼🙏🏼🙏🏼🙏🏼

It is annoying, but those tiny parts come into their own later on when children get older and want to build more sophisticated things with fiddly little details. DS1 has built his own infinity cubes, puzzle boxes and guns which fire loom bands (thought I'd seen the last of those bloody things). The flat pieces made them look very professional, if that makes sense, and authenticity is very important to 12 year olds!

Have to agree as they get older the smaller intricate details have become more important. We occasionally visit a place that has a pick n mix selection and DS will always hunt out more of the tiny bits and pieces, he comes up with some lovely models, always with lots of texture from the smaller bits.

For him I think we just started to early, I had in mind that by 5 or 6 he'd be moving on from duplo to "proper" Lego but at that point he still found it too fiddly. He got more into it later and will still build for hours as a teenager.

I have the Lego 11005 in front of me and out of 900 bricks only 60 of them are 4x2. It has loads of bricks but to build a decent construction you need bigger bricks. In the 80s we used to build huge houses, on stilts with pyramid style roofs with all the bigger bricks.

Lego are so tied into names and labels now ...the higher price is inevitable.

DS chose a Star Wars AT-AT for his birthday and for Chrostmas has had the Millenium Falcon. Both kits were well over £100 but look amazing built.

DS has them on display in his room.

wanderings the 90s was definitely not the golden age of Lego - that was the decade they almost went bust. Google some of the 90s themes - Bellville and Jack Stone are just two and no Lego fan ever gets nostalgic about them !!

Where have you seen 10703 for £19.99?

To build an actual decent lego house like I built as a kid, with a roof you need like 250 of a combo of 1x4, 1x6, 2x4, roof pieces etc. By my reckoning you would have to spend about £150 on the types of sets they sell now, just to get about plain building blocks.

I also really detest the way a window frame is now sold with the two panes removed & described as "3 pieces". You can't use those panes in any other way, so clearly it's a single item with a frame, splitting out just enables it to increase the brick count.

I'd like them to list both brick count & weight on the box.

@Ilovemaisie I used to love the Belville princess line. My sister had almost all of it. Two years ago I bought the one set she didn't have secondhand for her

I got 11717 for £32.50 in the Sainsbury's toy sale. For that price I'm happy with it.

We have LOADS of bloody Lego. DS in particular loves it. I never buy at full price though, always in sales.

Set 10703 was £19.99 on it's original release. That's what I paid for it. It's retired now so only available secondhand (and does seem crazily expensive secondhand).
I think there is a newer version. Let me check.

Cute orange I own one Bellville set which is kinda cute. It's certainly an acquired taste in the Lego loving world !

Don't get me wrong I love lego.

I just dont want a box of 800 pieces where half are eyes, dots/caps, 1x1 flat pieces, tiny flag pole connectors etc, loads more are 1x2 or weird things with extra knobs

I just want plenty of building blocks to build a four sided house. It feels odd that you need at least 2 if not 3 of the largest most expensive sets to build a proper house!!

I just want

11717 does look good but even that has at least 14 eye pieces.why do you need all those eyes and EVERY set has loads.

Because they are small and cheap.

My ds absolutely loves lego but he’s never ever wanted to build a house. He makes all kinds of characters and animals and vehicles robots and little worlds.
He loves loves loves following the instructions but also inventing things and also copying things on the sainsburys lego cards or that he’s seen on YouTube. The weird bits you get now can be so many different things.

There are some sets that are houses (in the Creator or Friends ranges). You could get one of those plus a small Classic box if you want more to re design a house.

I was genuinely shocked at how much a lego classic box cost. My DN opened it on xmas and she built every single build in the book already. Defo needs more building blocks. And also bases. Realised after opening that a green large base costs £7? sold separately and I should have bought one for her to do her own build. She has already asked for another box so she can build more. She also got a (lego) dots bracelet.... with tiny tiny dots to stick on. She loved it purely because it has rainbow dots and this year has been the year for rainbows.

I guess I just remember having lots of decent sized bricks in my set as a child. Its still at my mother's house (but staying there as lots of grandkids play with it) - and you can literally see there's simply far more bricks by volume than are given in any of the sets sold now. And it wasnt even the biggest set available back then, not by a long chalk.

We have quite a lot of Lego. The kids make all sorts with it. I agree it’s expensive but for time spent playing with it vs cost it works out fairly well. We got the friends amusement pier for eldest for Christmas. It has over 1200 bits and cost around £65 on an offer from a firm on eBay. We’ve built one section so far and that was really good fun for the afternoon for all four of us. I’ve generally found some good discounts on friends Lego and that you can pick it up very cheaply second hand. We have a few sets and we’ve built our own castles, houses, gardens, spaceships, animals, cars and all sorts of other things. I think it does require a few sets to easily get creative but I love the stuff

I've seen those lego friends houses. They are like one sided! They dont have four proper walls - you used to get easily enough bricks in a set to do a house with four proper walls and a roof. And my set came with two base plates, doors, windows, wheels too.

But anyway as advised I shall head to ebay and try to bulk out our sets!

I bought my son a 1000 piece set from home bargains. I know it's not official lego but it fits really well and there were a lot more bigger pieces in there