Lego
 

I just caught the end of the program about Lego on BBC2.

Now back in my day when you bought Lego you got a big bag of bricks, it was quite cheap and you had to use your imagination to build any number of cars, castles, space rockets etc.

Now it seems to be stupidly expensive, you get about 5 parts and you have to make whatever is shown on the box which is usually linked to the latest kids movie.

Am I just turning into a grumpy old woman wearing rose tinted spectacles? Or has the whole idea of Lego changed for the worse?

And is there a pain nastier than treading on a small Lego brick in bare feet?

Lego
 

Maybe, yes, and try kneeling on one.

Re: Lego
 

No, there is no pain worse than a piece of Lego underfoot. My response to the new kits is they are sort of dual use, my eldest used to get the kits and then put a number of them together to make the most fantastic things, my youngest on the other hand could only ever follow the instructions and his imagination would take him no further. Saying that following instructions was very good for my youngest, he is not always so good at that, and using imagination was excellent for my eldest was brilliant because he often lives in the here and now (apart from when he is writing stories). I love Lego and I think it is kind of sad that they have both grown out of it.

Re: Lego
 

Funny thing is when I went to see the foot specialist about my heel and he asked what the pain was like I asked if he had children. He said he did. So I said, you know that excruciating pain when you step on a Lego brick? He visibly winced and said ah right, it's bad then.

Re: Lego
 

I'm not sure what the program covered as I didn't see it. But from my memories as a child I had a mixture of the 2; that being the type that you built to direction and that you built from a random selection of bricks. From what I remember I preferred building the predefined object, but only because I didn't have a large enough selection of bricks to build the grand structures that my imagination could conjure up.

For me it was always somewhat disappointing though I did enjoy it.

James May did a good program about Meccano (Lego for the older child) not so long ago where he demonstrated the difference between the two types of build and that the instructions were purposely incorrect. The instructions were wrong to encourage the imagination and problem solving. I think that Lego could have done something similar with the prebuilt designs and that may have kept my imagination.

But these days I've long grown up from Lego and Meccano. I now dabble with motorbikes and the Haynes manual that takes its inspiration from Meccano instructions...

Re: Lego
 

This is exactly what the Lego movie is about!! The good guys make things from imagination whilst the baddy wants only things made from following the instructions!!!

Re: Lego
 

I am still a keen Lego enthusiast and have several sets and several parts purchased from either Brick Owl or Brick Link. :cheers:

I tend you build fun things of my own design and build the designs available on the web too. Most recently I have built a remote controlled triple motor powered rock crawler that has working full suspension and a V-Six model motor with moving pistons. No photos yet because the batteries in the controller have gone flat because that many motors draws a lot of power, but here are a couple of the others I have built.

https://fbcdn-sphotos-c-a.akamaihd.n...72867396_n.jpg

Drag Car with a V- eight model engine, twin electric motor drive, working steering and wheelie bars. Sadly the torque never raised the front wheels. :mrgreen:

https://fbcdn-sphotos-e-a.akamaihd.n...85013543_n.jpg

A tank with electrically driven tracks, model engine in the rear, torsion bar suspension on each of the road wheels and a rotating turret.

https://scontent-a-lhr.xx.fbcdn.net/...36881986_n.jpg
This is a view of the drive system and suspension bars.

https://fbcdn-sphotos-h-a.akamaihd.n...61795817_n.jpg
This is my truck with crane. This had driven rear wheels, model V-10 engine and front wheel steering. The crane had mechanical rams and winch operated through a gear box run by electric motors.

https://fbcdn-sphotos-d-a.akamaihd.n...51655964_n.jpg

Lego has moved on a lot in the last few years. I model with Technic, but you can build robots using the NTX kits. I found this video on Youtube a while back, the NTX controller is the box in the middle with two servos mounted on the side.

I also use this book which is more like an engineering text book than a kids play book. Being almost innumerate means I struggle with the mathematics inside, but fortunately there is not much of it there, but I have built a working four speed clutch controlled gear box and found advice on building four wheel drive suspension units for my rock crawler project.

https://scontent-b-lhr.xx.fbcdn.net/...13861251_n.jpg

Rock crawler prototype one, four wheel drive, but no suspension on the front.

Edit:- I also have plans for a street triple, I shall see if I can knock that together for you lot to see.

Re: Lego
 

Holy **** Jaynie!!!

Lego
 

Yep you're right LPH, it's the same for meccano that I grew up on, imagination plus instructions. My nephew got a set for Xmas and you can only build 2 things and nothing else. Shame really

Re: Lego
 

Lego is 90% imagination:
http://barryborsboom.files.wordpress..._lego_copy.jpg

Yes the new kits are designated for certain stuff but if you get a tub of the generic pieces then you have what we all remember. your car won't look anything like an Audi but it'll be a wheeled lego brick. Then refer to the above picture :)

Imagination is being supplanted because we can feed ourselves all these wonderful images and worlds that we can dream up in computers and movies. Lego just changed their business to keep up, if they didn't they wouldn't exist, which would you prefer?