
Lego color themes as topic models - bryanrasmussen
http://nateaff.com/2017/09/11/lego-topic-models/
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frik
Shopping a lego brick box - unfortunately I am under impressed by today's
selection.

Only traditional shaped box I found - unfortunately littered with too many
special parts, little traditional bricks:

[https://www.amazon.com/LEGO-Bricks-10662-Creative-
Bucket/dp/...](https://www.amazon.com/LEGO-Bricks-10662-Creative-
Bucket/dp/B00AWBLS80/)

Modern "classic" brick box - unfortunately very little traditional bricks,
most parts are special parts - sad :(

[https://www.amazon.com/Original-Classic-Large-Creative-
Brick...](https://www.amazon.com/Original-Classic-Large-Creative-
Brick/dp/B074HRTJ3D/)

Back in the 1990s Lego had these big red Lego boxes, with many Lego pieces
with many big and small traditional Lego bricks (4, 6 and 8-style bricks) in
traditional colors. Such a Lego box used to be best to engage creativity.

How can one buy new traditional 4-, 6-, 8-style Lego bricks in large
quantities nowadays?

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PhasmaFelis
You can't have a Lego thread without someone who hasn't touched Lego in 20
years declaring that Legos are morally bankrupt and no longer "creative,"
ignoring thousands of awe-inspiringly creative efforts made with a variety of
brick types. Do an image search for "lego moc" (My Own Creation) for some
lovely examples.

I think nostalgia is fooling you anyway. Even in the '80s, the big brick boxes
had plenty of angle bricks, headlight bricks, wheels/axles, and so on. Use
BrickLink to compare their parts inventories to the ones you linked to, and I
think you'll find the ratio of basic rectangle bricks is similar.

~~~
frik
"Constraints make us more creative"

See classic Lego and it's spiritual digital counterpart "Minecraft" for how
constraints to only classic brick blocks inspires one. I had two red Lego
brick buckets (and a handful of Lego City sets). Most useful to build almost
anything were the Lego bricks from the big buckets. The Lego City sets
supplied only special parts needed to build cars, and door mechanics, and
figures.

And back in 1990s Lego sets contained many traditional parts too. Nowadays,
there are too many special parts. Younger kids who only got Lego sets and no
Lego buckets have never experienced the freedom to create anything. They often
simply build the set once and play a little bit and put it aside.
Unfortunately even the latest Lego brick buckets nowadays contain way too many
special parts and not enough classic brick to build anything. How many buckets
do one need to build three houses nowadays?

To you "lego moc". I saw several professional photos. These builds cost a lot,
I guess. But I am talking about Lego for kids. Buying a Lego bucket isn't
enough nowadays, a kid won't be able to build things like you with a handful
of Lego sets + a bucket. A kid would need to wish dozends of Lego sets just to
get "random" parts.

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jzymbaluk
Very interesting idea. I also used the metaphor of Lego bricks as words in a
topic model when doing a presentation on LDA in my undergrad class. It's cool
to see that idea developed in a concrete way

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Zarath
Did anyone else note the fascinating correlation between brick colors (second
chart) and the U.S. stock market?

