Unpopular LEGO Opinions

SumoLego

daewoo said:

bricktuary said:

The flexible train track is actually really handy

I think I'm gonna be sick...   :D

The hair on the back of neck stood straight up.  Flex track... grumble grumble...

SumoLego

SquirrelFromSpace said:

Do I believe that MB and LEGO should me mixed together?

I keep my MegaBloks in a flaming bottomless cauldron with K'Nex, my sequel trilogy DVDs, 1995 Power of the Force Star Wars action figures, and KRE-O.

Yellowcastle

I was a bit nervous requesting a replacement fuselage piece for my daughter’s Friends Airplane when I started imagining I’d get put on a list and potentially losing access to my new BnP drug fix. :o)

klinton

Here's my most certainly unpopular opinion: the Lego community has become an absolute parody of itself.

It's at the point where it's literally all about showing off what you've purchased (no one cares, seriously), with the focus squarely on merely collecting sets and paraphernalia with little to no attention paid to genuine creativity and building.

There are pockets of creative brilliance on display, but Lego discussion sites are largely devoid of what used to be the core of the hobby: unique creations and ingenuity.

I suppose I notice this more and more now as I become contented with my own collection, increasingly selective with new purchases, and more inclined to work on original builds from the piles of bricks and pieces I've amassed than to run out and purchase more every weekend to get my fix. I find I have less and less to say on forums, where the discussion is always skewed to "sets I just bought/want to buy" as opposed to "look what I made". If you're not buying new sets constantly, you've little to add to the discourse

Not that a "Lego as a collectible" stance is entirely bad in and of itself, but I do suddenly wonder how it became the sole thrust of the Lego community, hahaha. 

Yellowcastle

I respect your bravery. Lol

I find that my hobby and how I appreciate it are always changing.  I guess I go through the following phases:

• Procure new sets
• Look for deals and/or giveaways
• Organize currently owned sets
• Procure more parts
• Think about things I may want to design and build
• Procure more parts lol
• Sit down and design/build
• Procure more parts lol
• Read about new sets

When I’m designing/building, there’s really nothing to talk about until I’m done and even then, I don’t showcase.  So for me, all of the other aspects of my collecting are more endemic to discussion on a forum.  And if I did showcase, it would be “Here’s this thing I made” and “Very Cool” or more likely “Did your kid do that?” and then that would be about it.

I come here to get ideas on how to store and display, to talk about what a theme is missing, to grouse about the LEGO VUIP Program, to chuckle with Sumo, to leverage good deals found by Mad, to learn building techniques from Paper and collecting tips from Kenny, to commiserate with Bumble, to argue with the good Dr on Open Faced vs Open Backed (lol), to get Lost in 80s sets with Lucy and plunder the 90’s with PX, etc, etc. :o)

KungFuKenny

 In my own experience it seems like there are phases that you go through as an AFOL. Usually it starts with buying a set that catches your attention and brings you out of your dark age (probably a licensed set that reminds you of your childhood). Then it may move into collecting all of the sets of a certain theme. You may dabble in trying to find extreme sales and even reselling sets to make a profit to fund your new hobby. Then you move into parting out sets that you’ve bought that you couldn’t offload on eBay which then naturally leads into building MOC‘s from the spare parts. 

For myself, my main focus is collecting vintage sets that I either missed out on in my dark age or loved as a child. My other main focus is building MOCs, but I don’t always feature them here on the forum as I don’t like to spam the threads (too much!)

There are all types of collectors though. Some people collect only sealed sets.  Some only buy sets to part out for building MOCs.  Some people buy mostly for resale, and some are completionists. Luckily there’s room for all types in this hobby and on the forum!

560Heliport

@klinton Ouch! But you're not wrong.
 I don't visit other LEGO sites unless someone here mentions something. I get essentially all my LEGO news from Brickset: the main page and the Forum. I like the atmosphere here- we don't take ourselves or this hobby too seriously.
For my part, I would love to see more MOCs here- anything, I don't care if you think it's "nothing special", I want to see things built of LEGO! 
If you can get it in Canada, check out BrickJournal magazine. It focuses on amazing MOCs rather than sets. 

Astrobricks

I agree with @560Heliport. The atmosphere here is great, but it’s, perhaps obviously, set oriented. However, there are building and MOC threads, and both are a great place to accumulate Likes 🙂. I’d love to see more MOCs on here. People shouldn’t feel sheepish about sharing them. It certainly isn’t spamming if you post in the MOC thread or the building section. And maybe they would encourage me to build something!

bricktuary

Maybe it's always been like this, I dunno, but in the past I could certainly knock out MOCs that were the equal of or better than the commercial Lego sets. In the recent, say, 10 years the quality from TLG has just exploded, the modulars are a good example of that, super-intricate builds packed with detail. 

Plus the time I can devote to MOCs has dropped.

So that's why my MOCs look like poop and I'm not sharing them.

bookmum

@klinton here you go...just for you.

MaffyD

@klinton - https://www.brothers-brick.com/

You're welcome!

pxchris

@klinton I get what you're saying... I really do!

But...
One of the things I really love about the Brickset forums and community is that is it a bit more focused on the sets themselves. I am primarily a set collector, with a definite bent on classic sets from my younger years (though I certainly do buy a ridiculous amount of new sets too). I feel like I fit in here a bit more than in some other LEGO communities because so many of them do seem to me to be much more MOC focused, like Eurobricks for instance (I am involved in the Eurobricks Classic Pirates forum a fair amount as well and I can tell you that the focus there is probably 80/20 to MOCs). While I absolutely LOVE looking at the MOCs, I myself have just never made that leap into extensive MOC building of my own. I do dable here and there, and do enjoy it certainly, but it's just not what my main focus is on at least at this point in time. Most of the MOCs I've done in the last few years are actually more MODs of official sets than anything else.
So that's why I love the Brickset forums and the people here just as they are. A lot of set discussion and collecting with a bit of MOC thrown in for flavor. I always feel like I can get my MOC fix elsewhere (and I do regularly) like blogs such as Brothers Brick, social media, and YouTube channels like Beyond the Brick.

Astrobricks

MODs should also be encouraged 🙂. For many of us, it might be a more realistic achievement than full-on MOCs.

@bricktuary, I know what you mean! Many of Lego’s sets these days contain techniques and details that it would take me months or years to come up with on my own.

Phoenixio

klinton said:

It's at the point where it's literally all about showing off what you've purchased (no one cares, seriously), with the focus squarely on merely collecting sets and paraphernalia with little to no attention paid to genuine creativity and building.

I don't disagree at all, but to me, showing what you built is also showing off, and therefore is not super prone to discussions either.  And then you get into the more advanced stuff, like MOC modulars, and you hit a barrier because they don't want to post more pictures of their art since they're selling the instructions...

For me, one of my Lego dream is to build something so cool that others will make it as well.  Then you don't have to showoff or anything, people are just enjoying your work on their own.

CCC

I joined brickset and eurobricks forums at similar times. 

https://forum.brickset.com/discussion/2529/faq-can-we-discuss-mocs-here#latest

I always took this to mean brickSET for sets, eurobricks for MOCs.

Yellowcastle

A lot changes in 10 years. :o)

lowlead

bricktuary said:

...So that's why my MOCs look like poop and I'm not sharing them.

Ugh, I hear ya.  Back in the early days of LEGO SW I used to churn out MOCs like a little factory and post on Brickshelf (same username).  Now, MOC builders have stepped up their game to such an extent that I just find myself drooling at others' mind-boggling creations.  It's a horrible excuse to stop MOCing, but dang!  I'm just not that good =oD

SumoLego

Yellowcastle said:

A lot changes in 10 years. :o)

Nonsense.

-Ignoring evaporating hairline-

CCC

Yellowcastle said:

A lot changes in 10 years. :o)

Yeah it does. But people go on doing what they are used to doing.

klinton

lowlead said:

bricktuary said:

...So that's why my MOCs look like poop and I'm not sharing them.

Ugh, I hear ya.  Back in the early days of LEGO SW I used to churn out MOCs like a little factory and post on Brickshelf (same username).  Now, MOC builders have stepped up their game to such an extent that I just find myself drooling at others' mind-boggling creations.  It's a horrible excuse to stop MOCing, but dang!  I'm just not that good =oD

Awww. What does "good" have to do with anything? Are you happy with your creations? Do they fill a hole in your collection perfectly? 

A lot of the more elaborate MOCs are nice enough to behold, but they're a hair's breadth from collapsing in on themselves with the slightest touch. I need sturdy, satisfying builds that I can pick up and admire and that can withstand a curious assault from my turtle (he still loves climbing about on Lego structures, getting his Godzilla on, hahaha).

I have to say, the replies in here are far more calm than I was expecting. It's been something that's been irking me for months now, and I just had to vent it before exploding all over the 8 billionth "look at my haul" or "guess what set I'm building" post that popped up in my scroll on FB. Hahaha. Carry on collecting. :)

Bumblepants

@klinton my favorite is Reddit [picture of popular Lego set/videogame/book/whatever] "I'm diving in! Wish me luck!" with 1K upvotes or more. Add a pet to the picture for more internet points.

Fizyx

klinton said:

lowlead said:

bricktuary said:

...So that's why my MOCs look like poop and I'm not sharing them.

Ugh, I hear ya.  Back in the early days of LEGO SW I used to churn out MOCs like a little factory and post on Brickshelf (same username).  Now, MOC builders have stepped up their game to such an extent that I just find myself drooling at others' mind-boggling creations.  It's a horrible excuse to stop MOCing, but dang!  I'm just not that good =oD

Awww. What does "good" have to do with anything? Are you happy with your creations? Do they fill a hole in your collection perfectly? 

A lot of the more elaborate MOCs are nice enough to behold, but they're a hair's breadth from collapsing in on themselves with the slightest touch. I need sturdy, satisfying builds that I can pick up and admire and that can withstand a curious assault from my turtle (he still loves climbing about on Lego structures, getting his Godzilla on, hahaha).

I have to say, the replies in here are far more calm than I was expecting. It's been something that's been irking me for months now, and I just had to vent it before exploding all over the 8 billionth "look at my haul" or "guess what set I'm building" post that popped up in my scroll on FB. Hahaha. Carry on collecting. :)

I definitely hear you about the 'look at my haul' type stuff, and the showoff-y 'Look at this expensive set I'm building', especially when it comes to the internet as a whole, with specific parts of it being even worse. *coughYouTubecoughRedditcough*  But I think one of the things that I like about Brickset is that I feel like the APPROACH to those kinds of posts is much different.  At the very least, people seem to do a very good job of keeping things in their intended threads, so if you WANT to see stuff like that, it's easy to find, and if you don't, it's easy to avoid.
But more than that, I feel like people who post hauls and set building stuff on here do it for much different reasons, and with much different tones than I see other places.  Personally, when I see people posting pictures of what they've just gotten here, either in the brag threads or the 'What lego are you buying now' threads, I get a feeling of people who are genuinely excited about the opportunity they've had, and want to share that excitement with others.  In other places, haul posts just feel much less... organic and authentic.  They feel like the people posting them are usually just pushing crass consumerism and trying to drive feelings of envy and jealousy in their viewers, like 'look at all this stuff that I just got that you're never going to be able to even think about having.'  I kind of get the same difference in feelings about people talking about the sets they are building here.  Usually when people post about the sets they are building here, they include reasons that they are excited about the build, or what they are really enjoying about the build process in a way that feels very genuine to me.  This IS something I see elsewhere sometimes too, but most places it's outweighed by people just posting mechanical build posts with no feeling. 

Maybe all this is just me attributing a certain sense of goodwill and cheer to the forums that they don't necessarily deserve over a lot of other places on the internet, but it's also the reason why I'm much more willing to go into the 'what are you buying' threads here while staying as far away from 'haul' videos on YouTube as humanely possible.  I can certainly appreciate your points on it though, and wanting to avoid ANY posts/content like that, since I think there's always (even in genuine heartfelt excited posts) likely to be SOME level of 'keeping up with the Joneses' feeling, and I will never blame ANYONE for wanting to avoid that kind of BS. :)

I also wanted to say, on the MOC front, I think @lowlead hit the nail on the head.  I'm sure almost all of us have built our own things, but I know I personally would never post or talk about them because they tend to be silly little half-assed things.  Lots of fun, but in the golden age of absolutely amazing MOCs that we've been in for the last couple years (the last decade even?  Longer?) it definitely feels like it's not worth posting and talking about.  I think you are definitely right that it's a shame that so many people may feel that way.  That kind of fun building, off the cuff or without massive amounts of planning and buying pieces and all, it really is the heart of what makes LEGO so great, and it's a shame that it's gotten to the point where people can feel ashamed of their abilities or like what they do isn't 'good enough'.  You're totally right, what does good enough matter when it comes to LEGO? What matters is that you're building what you want to build and having fun doing it.  (But you're still never going to see my half-assed little MOCs I build when I'm just messing around. :P )

lowlead

klinton said:

...Awww. What does "good" have to do with anything? Are you happy with your creations?  Do they fill a hole in your creations perfectly?

^^Nope!  Annnnnd not even close!  LOL!  Other creators' custom MOCs do, though!

Case in point, the custom Star Destroyer Eviscerator (by Eurobricks member 2mpaired).

That damn thing took him almost TWO YEARS of trial and error design - I just don't have that level of motivation (yet), but I'll happily make a fun project of sourcing the parts and spending two Winter months assembling something that spectacular.

My comments were most certainly not a woe is me type of thing, I'm just at peace with how my enjoyment of LEGO has morphed over time - wouldn't change a thing. =o)

Astrobricks

I think an important point has been almost revealed above. 

I’m probably biased, but I feel BS Forums operates much more as a community than places like FB, YouTube, and Reddit. The tone is from people posting and responding with some thought beforehand as to whether their comments will be understood, constructive, and kind. Those other places are much more focused on “Look at me!”, collecting clicks ($$$), and upvotes. I maintain a more positive outlook on pretty much everything by avoiding them (mostly).

Yellowcastle

Whatever.

lol :o)

klinton

Astrobricks said:

I think an important point has been almost revealed above. 

I’m probably biased, but I feel BS Forums operates much more as a community than places like FB, YouTube, and Reddit. The tone is from people posting and responding with some thought beforehand as to whether their comments will be understood, constructive, and kind. Those other places are much more focused on “Look at me!”, collecting clicks ($$$), and upvotes. I maintain a more positive outlook on pretty much everything by avoiding them (mostly).

Oh, absolutely. This forum is (in my opinion) the gold standard of what an online community should be. It's always a pleasure to post here and/or just read others' comments. Everyone is civil and enthusiastic without the self important airs and drama you find literally anywhere else (like, even on the front page of the main site, hahaha). This is a magical little oasis. 

SumoLego

klinton said:
This is a magical little oasis. 

This... is a magic oasis.

CCC

Remember that some MOC posts are not really "look at what I created" but "buy my instructions". For some of the prices charged, I would expect those to be heavily refined and not just a couple of evenings of building time. 

veyniac

I feel like the MOC community is just inherently less vocal. The people who like to sit down and build something neat generally are not the type to plaster their creation all over social media and shout "LOOK WHAT I DID!" Most creative people either do not like to brag or don't think their creation is worth showing off.

Yellowcastle

Or are too busy creating.  The rest of us bums have free time on our hands. :o)

daewoo

I like seeing MOCs and MODs in person.  Photos don't really do it for me.  When I have shared a photo of something I modded or a MOC, it's in my LUG's discord server or shared only via text to a few friends.  I get that people can be proud of what they create but the loudest people don't seem to be creating anything, just buying and showing off.  I don't consume any content like that, it's just not worth my time.

EGRoberts

Look what I did!



Kidding, found it on the web... Hope I can be half as creative someday as the creator of this moc..

bricktuary

^ Lovely looking interlocking plastic blocks

CCC

EGRoberts said:

Look what I did!



Kidding, found it on the web... Hope I can be half as creative someday as the creator of this moc..

There are submissions worse than that on IDEAS!

PDelahanty

An unpopular opinion I've had since I first saw the term in the 90s is that I think "MOC" is a dumb term.  Yes, my stuff is my own creation and yours are your own creations...and that's why I hate the acronym.  Due to the "M" for "My", it really only works when you're talking about YOUR own stuff.  It would be pretty stupid sounding to say, "Let me see your my own creation!"

I used to be active on the Lego Usenet newsgroups back in the day when some of the abbreviations originated online and I wish I had pushed for something different like "Original Build" or "Original Creation" without the "My".

SquirrelFromSpace

PDelahanty said:

An unpopular opinion I've had since I first saw the term in the 90s is that I think "MOC" is a dumb term.  Yes, my stuff is my own creation and yours are your own creations...and that's why I hate the acronym.  Due to the "M" for "My", it really only works when you're talking about YOUR own stuff.  It would be pretty stupid sounding to say, "Let me see your my own creation!"

I used to be active on the Lego Usenet newsgroups back in the day when some of the abbreviations originated online and I wish I had pushed for something different like "Original Build" or "Original Creation" without the "My".

I think MOC has stuck around because it's easy to remember and rolls off the tongue well. Your Own Creation would come off as YOC, which kinda sounds like the name of a Dr. Suess character. I always associated "MOC" with "Mock-UP". Something that someone makes to show off to others, whether it's considered complete our not. 

SumoLego

PDelahanty said:

...I think "MOC" is a dumb term...

I generally hate acronyms.  There's a level of 'oh, you don't know what the acronym means' language elitism that I find tiresome.

blokey9

i used to work for a company that just loved TLAs.

Yellowcastle

SumoLego said:

PDelahanty said:

...I think "MOC" is a dumb term...

I generally hate acronyms.  There's a level of 'oh, you don't know what the acronym means' language elitism that I find tiresome.

GWP kettle meet TFA pot. :o)

Brickchap

What is the thing with the new 4+ City set instructions USE YO HAYNDS? (Jangbricks reference, see his review of the city wildlife jeep rescue set with the lion in it). Each page has a picture of giant hands, so child knows that they have to USE YO HAYNDS to build the Lego.

Quite frankly, What the Hell?? . Are kids thesedays that backward/technology obsessed that they have to be shown to USE YO HAYNDS to build Lego? Like what are you going to tap the bricks and they go together themselves? Or just look at them and the set is built???

I understand 4 year olds may not understand instructions 100%, although youd think parents would be there to help. And considering that fact that kids for the past what, 60 years have been able to work out you need to USE YO HAYNDS to put the pieces together, why cant kids today understand that??

sipuss

@Brickchap

https://brickset.com/article/60343/review-10772-mickey-mouse-s-propeller-plane

stlux

Further information on the new instructions in this video by the design managers of the 4+ sets (from 02:20): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vjE9C8qKFgI

It prevents small kids from picking the wrong quantity of parts and from skipping the left page of the instructions. Things I have seen happen with small children in my own family.

So no, it's not because "KiDs ThEsE dAyS aRe StUpId aNd DoNt KnOw HoW tO UsE tHeIr HaNdS!"

Charmiefcb

I don't have an issue with the big hands in Juniors sets. I think maybe a Fabuland type manual would be a good idea for Juniors/4+ sets. A little story to go along with the build.

lowlead

SumoLego said:

I generally hate acronyms...

The glossaries will happily take that as a compliment.

Istokg

My unpopular opinion has to do with SNOT (Studs Not On Top) technique of building.  Back in the 1950s-80s there were very very few SNOT techniques to building any LEGO sets.  Today we are inundated with it, especially with the adult sets.  Building used to be just stacking bricks on top of each other... but now we are tortured by  3 volume instructions for some sets.  A few SNOT techniques in a built set are OK... but we are inundated with them in many builds.  When TLG talks about illegal builds... they should include SNOT building... since it too defies the general purpose of LEGO.

FollowsClosely

^ This is an "unpopular-lego-opinions" thread, not a "wrong-lego-opinions" thread!

veyniac

^^The "general purpose of Lego" is to facilitate creative construction. SNOT bricks made it possible to build in multiple directions instead of just mindlessly stacking bricks on top of each other, which I think allows for greater creativity. Old sets do have a certain charm about them, but in the end they look like a child's drawing, not an artist's painting.

Istokg

veyniac said:

^^The "general purpose of Lego" is to facilitate creative construction. SNOT bricks made it possible to build in multiple directions instead of just mindlessly stacking bricks on top of each other, which I think allows for greater creativity. Old sets do have a certain charm about them, but in the end they look like a child's drawing, not an artist's painting.

Um... well I guess it's all a matter of opinion... the old Town Plan System didn't have anything cartoonish about it...



While on the other hand, the Modulars include quite some cartoonish colors and odd designs.  Somehow using 1x1 round bricks as oversized Ionic column tops, just doesn't quite cut it... 😎

Istokg

FollowsClosely said:

^ This is an "unpopular-lego-opinions" thread, not a "wrong-lego-opinions" thread!

Hehehe... I think they can be mutually "inclusive"... 😉

Phoenixio

Istokg said:

veyniac said:

Old sets do have a certain charm about them, but in the end they look like a child's drawing, not an artist's painting.

Um... well I guess it's all a matter of opinion... the old Town Plan System didn't have anything cartoonish about it...

Cartoonish might not be the exact word, but the roof on those, ouch!

I've just destroyed all my modulars for an imminent move, and the creative techniques they've used throughout to portray details are amazing.  As others have said, LEGO has added so many new pieces beyond the brick that allow for real creativity.  The architectural details on all of them wouldn't be possible with only bricks.