

How Did Lego Become More About Limits Than Possibilities? - tokenadult
http://discovermagazine.com/2012/jan-feb/02-how-did-lego-lose-its-mojo

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ugh
The premise is bullshit. Lego now also sells specialized sets (though even
those were toned down in recent years). _Also_ is the important word here. It
offers a wider variety of sets, much wider than in past decades. (Though the
late nineties and early 2000s were a dark time when Lego hardly sold any sets
that only used basic blocks. That has very clearly changed now, though.)

They still sell plenty of mainstream sets that use nearly exclusively basic
bricks, like this one: <http://creator.lego.com/en-
us/products/default.aspx#5771>

Or look at this magnificent set: <http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dDj_zA1v450>

Yes, even this set has more different types of bricks than those in the 70s
had, but they are all very universal bricks. They are not in any way limited
to a single or few uses.

If you really wanted to, you could even do lots of creative things with the
pieces in that Harry Potter set. It’s easy to find ways to not make it look
like it’s supposed to look.

As a kid I treasured special pieces. They were rare and could be incorporated
in my own builds in novel and creative ways. The only ones I really hated were
those with large print on them that was very specific. I’m not a fan of those
bricks printed on those large wall pieces in the Harry Potter set. The rest,
however, looks like pretty standard blocks that are universally useful. (Only
the color is really weird.)

I still wouldn’t buy it – there are other, better choices – but even for that
set he depicted the characterization is in no way fair.

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dpitkin
Best recent toy I found on cool tools, that comes sans-instructions is Cuboro
and you can always play minecraft:
<http://pinterest.com/pin/20266267042681163/>

