As impressive as modern Lego is, they're equally as infuriating. Their prices are getting bonkers and they just keep making odd decisions. If nostalgia sells, which it clearly does, why not make more retro remakes that people can just buy whenever? My favorite set will probably always be the 1987 monorail that was handed down to me from my mom. It's in remarkably good condition and can even run on its own, truly a relic from a bygone age.
I find it odd since I never grew up with classic 80s and 90s lego, but that I resonate far more with those than anything I realistically built when I was younger
@@flambo6554 Same, first sets I got was in 96 and still I mostly buy 80s and 90s castle sets. Of course some of the sets were not that great, but I love the parts and looks.
I completely agree with you about the style and esthetics of modern LEGO. The company doesn't have the same goals with their set designs and it shows. Even though the sets of old were simplistic (maybe even primitive) to today's sets, I love them so much more than anything that's modern. Sure, we can say it's all about "nostalgia", but for me it's about how LEGO was a system of pieces that could be used to create anything. The modern sets look too pristine and polished with all of their specialty pieces making all of those different curves, angles and edges. The older sets were also interested in using color. The sets had fewer colors than modern sets, but they used color to also tell a story.
Funny Lego Story when I was small I really wanted the Krusty Krab Lego set and due to a miscommunication with my parents and extended family I got 2 of them They were freaking out talking about who was gonna return there's and I wanted both which confused them I built both and then drew a red number 2 on the sign and my dad still thinks it was the funniest thing I thought I was a genius
What's cool about Aquazone as the first underwater theme from LEGO, they didn't have to make it this sci-fi, and yet it carried itself. It could have started as standard boats, jetskis, fishermen and deep sea salvage, but no - they pushed boundaries and said, "this is a futuristic underwater theme where divers harvest crystals to power their underwater dwellings in a time where hydrogen was a limited resource." Like, that's kind of dark for a LEGO theme but made the struggle against foes and wildlife even more suspenseful.
And then, just shortly after they were like "well after Aquazone, everyone will think a standard diving theme could never be exciting, let's prove'em wrong..." And they created LEGO Divers, which was amazing in every way imaginable.
Technically they did the same thing with space, atleast when they started using minifigures in their sets. It started out super scifi in the late 1970s, then a "contemporary" space set finally came out in 1990 for the town theme; *Set 1682: Space Shuttle Launch* For the next few years there were a couple more one-off contemporary themed space sets released, but it wouldn't be until 1995 when an entire space subtheme of town called "Launch Command" came out, featuring 5 sets within it
i really hope lego starts appealing to that classic sense of "a new toy everyday." as you said, everything needs to be balanced. while i think the adult oriented sets are gorgeous display pieces, but i feel like they should have themes and sets more restrained and vague to encourage kids to think beyond the instructions. i think that's why i like the creator 3in1s, because it inherently encourages new ideas with the same pieces. (also besides the point but speed champions is technically still a licensed theme as most if not all the sets are based on real cars.)
yeah, but with speed champions, you could still easily incorporate them into other builds. yeah, that might be *specifically* a dodge charger, but there's not really any context given besides another one and a lil race light thingy. and thats just one of the big 2 packs, the single cars dont have *anything* extra (besides a fig) that said, they have recently started dipping into movie cars (namely dom's charger and bond's aston martin) but most of em are still just cars
Also lego Minecraft/Super mario despite being lisnced sets encorge that MOC and imaigitive play... And Super mario corses are super easy to build and can use anything aslong as the figures understand the colors.
I spent much of my childhood drooling over Lego sets in the catalogs. Just just the Shop at Home catalogs but the Lego DACTA and Educational ones as well (which were much more expensive). With our family being on a budget, most of the sets I got were smaller and I typically stuck to my favorite themes (Aquazone and Technic). When I got my first job I bought all of the larger Aquazone sets I never had as a kid on eBay. Even now I still fill Bricklink carts with Aquazone parts whenever I'm shopping on the site 😅
I'm only 26 and started being hooked on Lego around the age of 11 but this video is so relatable. These oldies give me so much nostlagia, I can't imagine how it would be if they actually were part of my childhood. I wish I had some of the adventurers of classic space sets. Like you and many Lego fans, I'm frustrated by the lack of unlicensed themes. One of my favorite theme is Atlantis, it's like a undersea wave for Adventurers. The colors scheme of the first phase was just perfect. Now every potential theme gets sucked into City Ninjago or Creator...
I have so much nostalgia for the 90's era sets (and even despite owning many) I still watch many videos on them. They're just so fun to see and talk about. The turning point from vintage to modern I feel is the introduction/transition to curved slopes. Lego only used to have linear slopes, hard edges, but in the 2000's there was a shift into using many curved slopes. Everything has become more smooth / curved, but the rigidity and chunkiness is a huge part of what makes vintage sets have that charming nostalgic aura about them. I'm happy you shouted out RR Slugger too - his content is just great, so much editing and love are put into their videos. My favorite is the iconic Aquazone Sea Lab base (6195). It was the perfect gift for a four year old on christmas. It has everything - raised baseplates, giant transparent pieces, chunky parts. it is just such a good toy. Rather than only a standalone structure, it is immersed in landscape to really set the scene. I appreciate the love for paradisa - pastels are not usually used in lego, and the sets just feel so comfy, they are a favorite of mine too. (Also I may have misheard but I'd label speed champions as a licensed theme as they use real life car brands and even technic is now falling into that trend)
I loved pink bricks as a kid, wished I could get more back then. Nowadays it's the opposite problem, brick assortments in the bulk sets give you like five different shades of pink and purple and it's hard to build anything cohesive looking.
Monkie Kid was designed specifically for the Chinese market. It isn't even really sold in stores anymore, mostly being available online in the west. They have a lot of crossover in terms of vibe - that's probably why it's not stocked in stores.
As a kid, my family never really had a lot of money. The biggest sets I got were the Dark Dragon's Den, Forbidden Cove and Bandit's Secret Hide-out, which were amazing but did leave me drooling over sets like the BSB, Temple of Anubis and Royal Knight's Castle. Now that I'm in a way better place financially, I get to fully enjoy what kid-me could only dream about and I'm slowly but surely collecting the sets I always wanted, which, turns out, are a lot. You'll be happy to hear I started my resurgence into LEGO with the Temple a few years ago and I even have five pirate ships adorning my piano. The set I remember most fondly from my youth would have to be Oasis Ambush. It's small, but it has everything it needs and everything it does, it does perfectly.
UA-cam's really been sending me down the Lego Rabbithole recently. Anyways. I've always been a huge Bionicle fan, on top of robots just being sick as hell the lore is extremely intricate, mystical and just downright exotic. The Matoran Universe concept and reveal just like, blew my socks off in 2009. With normal System stuff Rock Raiders is definitely my favorite theme, I'm a sucker for lived in, down to earth sci-fi. Exo Force, Alpha Team Operation Deep Sea, & Arctic were also ones I enjoyed quite a bit. Anyways the Lego rantsona is extremely cute, I want to hold their little yellow plastic hand. Will definitely give the rest of this channel a look as well.
I remember when I was a child, like 2009, looking at the police stations, or the big expensive Atlantis sets. I remember that feeling of trying to make my own city, with Lego sets and MOCs. So much fun.
I am really liking this wave of youtube videos covering what I think is the golden era of lego set design. It is that perfect period of time before lego got super detailed. The sets were just detailed enough to look awesome, but lack enough detail to leave stuff up to the imagination.
As a boy my mom would've discouraged my interest in them, but a friend of mine had that poolside set. I think there's a sense of class, sophistication, fun and chill vibes of leisure in it that makes them extremely appealing. Sure there's pink and some extra female figures in it, but it's just so dang immaculately themed a world that you can't help but want to relax along with everybody. Or have a strange Space or Castle crossover. :D
16:51 "create stories detatched from the established lore". Oddly enough, that's what I consider to be Bionicle's greatest streangth (Bionicle being what, to most, started this trend within Lego). Bionicle had its lore, its rules, its many and complex characters etc., but, at its core, it was a sandbox for your imagination: wanna expand the lore with more characters? Go on. Wanna add your own characters with their backstories? There's plenty of room for that too. Wanna create from scratch an entire different world with its own plot and rules? Please, do so. That's quintessential Lego to me, adapted for character-driven stories and adventures. So it differs from the coziness of these older sets, a feeling I highly share with you. I love the simplicity and expandability of old lines, that's their undisputed charm. On one hand, you were building settings and scenarios for many adventures, on the other hand, you were creating characters and cultures. Still, you had the freedom to take some of your bricks for your Bionicle sets/MOCs, enjoying the best of both worlds, which I did back in the days. Anyway, that was an excellent video, you encapsulated my general feeling of detatchment from most of modern Lego sets. I find myself enjoying smaller, cuter sets way more, because there's just some ingenuity behind them, that same spark from the older days.
Its greatest weakness, the lore distribution, also had its strengths. Most of the time kids would have bare bones synopsis of the story through the product and visual media that they could just form their own stories while still picturing their characters as part of the main story. It also helps that the world actively encouraged and validated kids to create alternate worlds and scenarios within Bionicle, due to the whole time travel and dimension hopping that was later introduced. It also helps that Bionicle community preserved most of the lines media for future posterity, so anyone can learn from the lore and go wild with it with their creations and stories. So many fan projects still exist and the community is going strong after decades and even after two theme cancellations.
I have a lot of information on this if you'd ever like to expand upon this video. It has to do with The LEGO Group letting off a lot of designers that were apart of the "golden age" in the early 2000s - 2010s. None of the original design guys stayed there despite their contract promise.
Of course I'm loaded with nostalgia for these older sets, but my problem with the newer ones is that I wouldn't even want to play with them? Like, just imagine smashing your figures around on a set like the Monkey Kid ones. Everything's gonna break off! And you'd have to either pause and immediately re-attach the pieces, or do it later when you've completely forgotten where everything goes. What a nightmare, honestly. That's a big problem I actually had with the Star Wars sets when I still played with Lego, all the antenna and guns just kept breaking off during play. Not a fan. I was however a fan of the Lego train sets, being a train fanatic and all. Would love to own some of them again, like 4559, but they go for a fortune these days, it sucks.
As a kid, the Paradisa sets were desirable even to the boys because of one thing they had in spades over other town sets: food. So many food pieces. Also, I''m convinced that Time Cruisers was just LEGO's excuse to put a bunch of leftover parts into a big set. Still loved them all the same. I'm super jelly of your pizzeria set, those are hard to find.
For a long time, I held that my favorite LEGO set ever was 6242 Soldier's Fort - a set I enjoyed so much, I memorized the set number, that's rare. A Pirates set from 2009, this had lots of options for play around an imperial port from a jail cell, a palm tree with buried treasure, a weapons station, and a guard tower with a moving crane - and it only cost $50! Not to mention the 2 pirates and monkey who can break into the fort and thwart the guards and cannons and crocodile and escape with loot. This set packed alot of options as well as being semi-modular: you can shift around the order of the structures in multiple ways, and it was easy to see how to build more on top of it for an even larger naval force. I also enjoyed the stickers adding more life to the prison with a day counter and spider webs, or the wanted poster near the armory - I even used another Pirates set, 8396, Soldier's Arsenal, to add more flourish to the base - and LEGO didn't even advertise that combination! For $3.49, you get an extra soldier and a weapons rack that can easily integrate with the fort, or since the parts are basic enough, encourage you to build your own with more depth. I also enjoyed 7037 Tower Raid, with a similar prison break scenario centered around a military guard tower - gee, do I have a type. Released in Fantasy Era Castle in 2008, this set offers a bunch of figures to play with, but a more limited variety even at $30, as you had a tower with 4 floors matching against a siege vehicle with battering ram. It was cool when the two models combined, but it lacked alot of unique play scenarios. Fantasy Era is my favorite Castle line as it offers a wide range of world building, some that was only *hinted* in magazines like elves and sea serpents but never built as sets - not that I can't build my own! Nowadays, I wanna say Ninjago City or Galaxy Explorer are some of my favorite sets ever, but they do lack that "less is more" mentality that mid-2000's and earlier sets offered. They're both good sets and surprised me numerous times in building techniques, but I get less enjoyment out of them after they're built, what do they do now? They really beg me to do more with them, as well as other themes like Monkie Kid, but lately I've had a couple story ideas I wanna illustrate/photograph that aren't even about these themes, or very loose parts from them. Instead, I wanna explore more of Mars and what kind of civilization the humans and Martians can co-create. I wanna have a fantasy world fueled by music that conjures magical spells. But I also wanna expand my laid-back shore town, finally get a campground and hiking trail through nature while also being a vacation spot.
“They got caught up with if they could add more detail, but never stopped to ask if they should.” I’ve heard no one talk about this, because everyone talks about piece counts and price per piece but with the shift to overly detailed mocks, and axing baseplates I’m sure you’d see the ounce per dollar for sets steadily going down. The packaging has shrunk as well accordingly.
I have an old lego catalog from around 2005 ish that’s the size of the typical mid size instruction booklets at the time. All the sets in that catalog are stupid expensive now, but I keep it because of nostalgia. As for sets I loved to oogle at, it was always the space and castle themes
The nostalgia hit hard with this one. I remember flipping through those old catalogs. Town was definitely a favorite. The old big hull boats, Res Q, the 9V trains. One series I did enjoy from later was Monster Fighters, but it didn't last very long. Lego City does bring back some memories of the old though
I've always loved how the old licenced sets like Harry Potter and Star wars still had yellow figs for the characters, so bad they had to change it to real skin color and not keep the yellow.
As someone who grew up with Bionicle I feel like the story is part of what inspired so much creativity from me. I remember taking apart my sets to build my own Toa and Matoran and Rahi and all kinds of OCs that would fit into the universe. It's even inspired my own stories that I write stuff abt and think about now. It is a different kind of creativity and but think that's neat! :) I wish I was creative enough as a kid to come up with anything with brick tubs or more traditional themes but having that universe and story as a jumping board really helped me.
You made a great point about how the simplicity of older sets was better for expansion. As an AFOL with two jobs and many additional hobbies I don’t have the time to get my “expansions” for new sets on par with the instructions. Meanwhile, I rebuilt an old castle set and added an additional floor, a dungeon, and stairwells and it came out great. I have two Lion Knight’s Castles so I can make a big expansion and baring a bridge design I got from rebrickable and altered slightly, I’ve found it difficult to expand the castle more and maintain the same quality.
My favorite Lego theme is Power miners, not only were they affordable when they released in 2009-2010 but they had a cohesive story along with amazing set design along with most sets encouraging and sometimes giving you instructions to combine the sets to make new super cool creations, such a good theme
LEGO caters way too much to AFOLs these days, and AFOLs, to their complete discredit, are routinely surprised that the children's construction toy company doesn't _exclusively_ cater to them, and absolutely lose their minds in user forums anytime LEGO announces any theme or set that is for kids instead of being some old live-action sitcom millennial nostalgia bait. The Brickset reactions to LEGO Animal Crossing and LEGO Fortnite announcements have been deranged.
I shook my head *hard* wanting you to rip into the 90-Year sets. And arguably, the 60 Year of the Brick ones had a little stronger case - 5 sets with instructional builds but also encouraged to build your own models. Each set posed a phrase with a blank left open on the box, so *you*, the consumer, can fill in the blank in your own way. Every set featured things at minifigure scale, greater or lesser, and parts of castle, space, city, all colors and shapes, easy to work with and some in inventive ways. I won't forget the frog mouth made from a pirates treasure chest.
Lego Paradisa - memory unlocked! I had Seaside Cabana and it had that perfectly Golden Girls palette to me. It also just fit perfectly into the canon I had for my Lego - above water from Aquazone and the seaside of Town proper. Dang Bellville was a bummer.
I used to play with legos a lot as a kid but what I had the most fun with was the bin of legos at the after school boys & girls club. So many scattered sets. I can at least remember fragments of space and ice planet being mixed in there.
I remember gushing over the 90s space sets in the catalogue, and then for my 4th birthday I actually got that black and red robot. I wanted the castle sets of the time badly too but my parents couldn't afford them. Then some years later I got the big one out of fright knights. Played with that thing so much. I recognize so many scattered sets throughout the video, and some I actually own myself and played to death with as a kid, knowing every nook and cranny inside out. It's sort of etched into my memory, good memories.
I know it's like 7 months after this video got released, but I feel like the new Lego DreamZzz sets kind of do what you were wanting Lego to do again. Almost all of them come with alternate builds and are made to be customizable. They were released with an original TV show, but you can definitely create your own universe and build with what is given without knowing about the show.
I feel like the recent lunar mission subtheme (which is under City for some reason incomprehensible to me) is really good and sorta recaptures that reconfigurable aspect of the 90s sets. Like 60350 and 60349 and 60348 and all those. I think that does a pretty good job of recapturing the "themed, but also build your own" vibe of things like Rock Raiders or Insectoids or what-have-you
12:14 I too would stare at catalog images of these sets, and even nowadays I know there's a limited baseplate to house its functions, as a kid it was a world of possibilities. The set 2996 Lost Tomb always made me wonder if there was more than meets the eye, and while I learned later that it was a facade, I easily can adapt it into one of these other sets as a full tomb just like in the real Egyptian pyramids with branching passageways.
The city theme was my favourite, as a kid I got a fire station and a F1 pitstop, I really loved how simple the sets were because it'd let your imagination personalize the set as you wanted, even if you were a kid. I always wanted to build a full city but yeah, money. Modern sets look cool, honestly impressed by some of the sets shown in this video, like the monkie kids ones. But at the same time they feel too busy and leave little room for imagination. Also I'm a fan of studs showing in buildings instead of flat and detailed surfaces.
90's lego had a lot of iconic themes. I'ds love to see new or re-imagined sets within these classic themes. There's a lot of focus on novelty but some ideas are timeless like the bricks themselves
Apparently in the late 90s LEGO had made a series of boneheaded decisions at an executive level (think Galidor), and the company was on the verge of disaster when the Star Wars contract came in and saved the day. Of course this shaped every future decision and now 20+ years later LEGO is heavily reliant on licensed deals for its bread and butter lines. Having said that, there's a lot of great things being done across LEGO these days and the amount of parts, colours and variety available is astonishing, in some ways it's never been better. There have always been amazing artists and designers working for the company even if the company itself is (like most of them) run by boneheads so the art succeeds in spite of commerce. But yeah there's a simplistic charm to old LEGO where they had far far fewer pieces and techniques and colours to work with. Just look at those old LEGO catalogues, they were a work of art in themselves, I used to collect them and spend hours dreaming of owning all those sets...
My favorite Lego set as a kid was the black seas barracuda. I stared at that set for 3 years in the Lego catalogs, begging for it, and letting it be known that it was the only thing that I wanted for my birthday or Christmas. And after three years, I got it!
Lego Agents was my all time favorite theme growing up, I feel like themes from that era (Agents, Power Miner, space police) were in the perfect crossroads between retro lego and modern lego; they have a lot of the open ended structure and color palates of classic lego with the character and detail-oriented builds of today. Being able to come up with scenarios for my agents to act out was a joy, and I hope that lego can go back to finding that balance in their toy line
I definitely agree how the older sets seemed much more possible to add to. These newer sets are so detailed that it’s honestly hard to add stuff that looks cohesive with everything. The most I did when I was younger was add more guns and weapons to my Star Wars ships (specifically my republic gunship). I was into the early ninjago and was really into Bionicle but I was still really young when they came out and had a love for it once it was discontinued. Hero factory was also my jam but mainly because Bionicle wasn’t around lol.
Wow that intro literally defines me as an individual lol. Went to Legoland a couple of weeks ago with the family and it reignited my interest in legos. Made me want to buy some of the old sets I grew up with and display them in my office. After seeing how expensive they were I thought “well maybe the newer sets will be cheaper”. Only to realize that anything Lego new or old is ridiculously expensive. Just kinda of sucks as anyone getting into the hobby now can’t even afford it. I agree with this whole video. The older sets have a feeling like you can add more to them while the new sets while cool looking don’t have that same vibe about them.
Being a 2000's baby, the bionical sets always held a place in my heart, not only because they were cool action figures, but it always felt like there was more than I could understand about the lore and the setting itself that made me feel like I was only scratching the surface of it that I could never fully understand.
I had some lego sets, most of them were technic cars and lego city ones, I love these ; althought I definitely get a stronger feeling of nostalgia when I look at hotwheels or majorette, its less expensive and its way easier to find your dream car, so you can make a collection about any theme and honestly they are no limits when you learn how to customize them
My parents started me on stuff like Aquazone, Ninja, and the wild west themes. I kinda miss those old toys, because they *were* truly a little more generic and flexible in how you built and played. Any theme “lore” was the sort of thing you could write on the back of a postcard at most, and springboard ideas from there. Nowadays it feels like themes need to be licensed IP-related or a whole milkable multimedia phenomenon (lookin’ at you Ninjago), which feels constraining. There was a sort of joy in the earlier, looser themes that they only occasionally recapture. But eh, maybe I’m just being nostalgic. I’m sure kids love the new stuff just fine.
Your lil avatar is too cute, and the way you went through the timeline of Lego and all the old, nostalgic theme's that a lot of us weren't even around to experience was so nice and well done 😌
I had (still have) a bunch of the classic space theme sets from my childhood and a few of the town sets, I've been piecing them back together slowly (replacing lost pieces and such). I always loved the feel of the classic sets, very Space: 1999 meets 2001 A Space Odyssey, I'm really impressed with what they managed to do with that line without resorting to the generic "Good Guy vs. Bad Guy" trope that was standard in toys then.
When I was younger I always stared and drooled over the 70404 “King’s Castle” while playing with my childhood favorite Lego set, “Race For The Stolen Treasure” from Indiana Jones!
Bionicle was always my main go to but the aftermarket have not been kind to it. From sellers who don't know or care enough to sell any of it to hyper focused collectors that buy up a ton of it to flip it for a profit. To unreasonable prices on masks that was made in the millions. To niche parts having a prominent roll in many contest winning or alt builds which just drives prices through the roof. Its not easy being a bionicle fan these days. And I see the similar but not always the same issues with older themes. I love the older lego aesthetic but sometimes the most interesting sets cost more than most new sets
This is why I never bothered collecting all the Bionicle sets and masks, mostly cause its impossible due to the unique or extremely rare contest masks. Only bothered with certain character and their upgrades, along with certain group of sets. Pretty content to get the few sets I always wanted, might get additional sockets if the ones on the sets crack, and stop there.
I used to look at those lego books that had all the sets for a theme with them for hours upon hours imaging how I would play with them and stuff, I had the first book for lego starwars, and ninjago. Also very cool video
this is exactly the video i needed to get my partners into lego, amazing analysis! also dont let weird people in the comments gaslight you, your voice is really pretty as is!
Remember, Lego almost went bankrupt during the early 2000's for releasing too many juniorized unpopular themes and sets. I have nothing wrong as an adult fan with Lego today. One could argue that licensing actually saved them. Lego is stronger than ever and given the adult fan community, there are many impressive MOCs out there too.
Alternative word to battlements, "Crenellations." I find it a more fun word to say EDIT: Oooh, favorite sets... Well, I know as an adult I am constantly kicking myself for not being interested in Life on Mars as a kid, that theme rocks! But I also know that I had a few sets that contributed a bit to the problem we have today of LEGO being a middle man merchandizing company. I was and still in some ways am big into Star Wars, and when I was younger I ended up with a few really good Star Wars sets. I recall having an MTT and a hailfire droid... As it stands, what I wouldn't give to have LEGO go back to making things targeted toward kids imaginations. You're absolutely right that their modern sets are definitely more design pieces, but what LEGO needs is to go back to printing a new piece every 5 minutes because they need a whacky shape on a budget. Guard rails, molded base plates, that one car chassis from adventurers, the whole lot! I'd kill for a new space theme in the old, classic way that LEGO used to make things...
14:50 yeah that’s how I feel about modern lego. Waaaaaay too many licensed themes. No original ones anymore. Now on one hand I can get it. It’s strategically cheaper to license than put in a lot of work for a theme that might go bust after 1 wave. But as someone who grew up with lego in the 2000’s I still miss the days when we’d get like a new original theme every year.
I feel so spoiled growing up in the 90's... we had a new Space theme EVERY year, with a couple new sets coming out for the old ones, a new Castle theme every year or two, Pirates, and an abundance of City and aquatic theming of some sort. I loved Star Wars as a kid, but I absolutely see it as the beginning to the end of my interest in Lego as a brand.
I think you hit the nail on the head. With the newer sets is quite difficult to add something of your own imagination. Also ♥for giving Basil a shoutout.
I actually grew up with a lot of classic sets my dad got when he was a kid, he threw them all in one big grey bin mixed and told me and my sister to have at it.
7 місяців тому
I just discovered that they released some remakes of old sets. and as I was a pirate guy, the new Barracuda and the new Eldorado fortress was a no brainer for me. I spent 2 days building the Barracuda and another 5 mocing it to my own liking and building new islands and stories from the leftover pieces combining them with their 30 year old counterparts. They fit so well. And I didn't even open the fortress yet. They are stunning and awesome, but they are one offs. They are nostalgia pieces, sometimes you get a new release in every 2-3 years, sometimes don't. So you can't just go buy a new pirate set or polybag for your kid every now and then to let them play and build something. The new castle sets are also amazing, but they are big and expensive too. The only thing that is continuous and you can always find a new small addition to the set and still not limited by a franchise I think is the city sets. And I love them, colorful, cheerful, simple as hell yet still very clever. Also the new city space line this year is amazing, hope they will continue releasing them for years to come.
Thank you and I'm glad! The minifigure avatar was a last minute idea that I was like "noooo thats way too much work, id be crazy to draw unique expressions and poses just this video"
My golden era of LEGO was Power Miners, Tiny Turbos, Indiana Jones, and the first two waves of Ninjago. And while those themes were my childhood, nothing seemed to compare to the colorful creativity of the 90’s. The new sets seem so over-designed and void of what made the older sets so fun. I think they’re definitely better than the old stuff but I don’t know, something about that era is so captivating to me.
This is a long comment but stick with me if you can. I'd arguably say that the 2000's is *almost* just as good as the 1990's. Sure the original themes were often more specific, but you still got creative stuff like Bionicle, Exo Force, Space Police, Power Miners, and so on to make up for how imaginative they can be. Bionicle being huge wasn't an accident, it was so unique that it normally ditched the whole "Lego" branding on it for the marketing altogether. Yes it had a lot of stories and characters, but it also incentivized creativity like with alternate builds and combination models, most of which don't even have any significance in the story. For me, in my opinion, Lego truly died when they cancelled it. They didn't and still don't see it as a massive essential part that helped prove their worth, they instead treated it as a thing that was only there as a backup and got rid of it as soon as they could. I might be a bit pessimistic about this, but I genuinely think they only made G2 as an attempt to further damage that brand and prevent it from truly coming back again. They couldn't have made it more barebones and lacking of advertising even if they tried. It's pretty sinister really, taking what people loved and making it just worse enough with barely anyone noticing to the point of possibly keeping it in obscurity forever. They didn't *have* to do this either, they could've brought it back to its prime like they did with Ninjago not long after, but let's be real, Ninjago was only able to get away with it because it was already simpler to get away with. A lot more people would've noticed Bionicle getting worse in quality and it especially showed for 2016. Bionicle just isn't fit for their modern business model of succeeding with desperation anymore, so they intentionally killed it. Another thing that bothers me about modern Lego is how corporate everything feels. Gone are the whimsical designs that a child could easily come up with, only brands that are mostly replicated from cinema. Star Wars and Harry Potter might work fine since they are are already mysterious enough to fit with the core practices, and they did, but what is there to say about Marvel? DC? Ghostbusters? The Simpsons? Stranger Things? Hell a lot of it isn't even specifically meant for kids, or at least not with the same creativity mindset. It's not like they *can't* introduce brands that are already creative either, Minecraft is at least a decent example, especially given the theming of blocks. Or how about this: Where's The Amazing World of Gumball? No seriously, where is it? You're telling me that Lego is perfectly fine on making multiple minifigures for other shows many people do not like such as Teen Titans GO!, Powerpuff Girls 2016, and Adventure Time in Lego Dimensions, but not even one single figure on CN's most popular and well received show of all time? It infuriates me too because those two are a *perfect* fit for each other! Literally the main premise of that show is mixing together all sorts of animation styles together with main characters, who are kids btw, trying to do their best in their crazy world. How is that *not* prime material for a Lego line? I bet you we could even get some original sets out of that and it wouldn't be out of place. Mostly simplistic yet wacky sets as a kind of Time Cruisers spiritual successor? Now *THAT* is something I would be interested in! It just blows my mind how incompetent both companies are and not understanding what makes them special. And Gumball is just *one* example. How about LittleBigPlanet, that's another. It isn't just good looking sets or animation that propels something forward, it's the charming settings, the well written characters with enough room left to explore more in the future, the subtlety in some things that remain unanswered, the expansiveness of it all, etc. etc. So much of this needs to be taken into account when making something good, and when it is? By God it is glorious. Even all these years later fans old and new are still talking about stuff like Bionicle and Rock Raiders. Is there anyone talking about something like Hero Factory or Chima still? Barely. Sadly this line of thinking is gone with most other companies too, even other toy brands. Remember Highway 35 World Race and Acceleracers? Good luck seeing anything like that happening for Hot Wheels ever again, as a matter of fact it got cancelled because it was *too* successful. Remember the simple intricacies of feel good stories from modeled Thomas & Friends episodes? What it is now is not even close to what it resembled before even by the CGI era. What about Transformers? Nope, the last things of note they made is the Cybertron game, and now they are tryin to erase them from history with no one to legally play them and nothing captivating or morally questioning whatsoever. So much of the toy industry is like this now. They don't think kids can learn anything meaningful out of them anymore, they just think all of them are stupid, which is an insult to kids because there are indeed some out there that are smarter than most people would give them credit for. And again this doesn't just apply to toys, even *Pixar* is now guilty of this, which used to have some of the highest praised films ever made. The truth is that companies now hate it when something is successful and praised for its creativity because it challenges the worth of everything else they have. They want to sell multiple things, not one good thing, no matter how much money it makes. It's no secret that CN has tried to kill Gumball multiple times and is only still around because it's where most of their essential profits come from. The moment they let the creators of that go is the day that CN is completely toast. Lego and Hot Wheels were only able to get rid of what they can because they had enough wiggle room and knew that they didn't need them anymore since the toy landscape can easily change significantly, after all, they're just toys right? Why should a parent care if little Timmy over there doesn't like an expensive toy they bought him and thinks it's stupid? They're just uninterested kids after all. Surely there is absolutely nothing to worry about… At the end of the day, we all now that Lego is never going to be as good as they used to be. They were good back then because they *tried* very hard to make an impression. Same goes to Disney with their renaissance, or Nintendo with the N64 and GameCube. Once they got all the fortune they could ever need though, they don't need to worry about their stuff nearly as much as they used to. Oh sure we might get some rare diamonds here and there, but more often than not they were only able to slip through the cracks briefly and are around for such a short amount of time. It's why I'm a much bigger fan of supporting personal and indie creations now, lest you want to doom them to copyright hell and obscurity forever like with Making Fiends. I know it's easier said than done, but I'd prefer to *not* support big companies whenever possible or when I feel it's appropriate, even if it means piracy. Money is the joy thing that matters to them, so I am trying to not give them any to send that message accordingly. Of course many people will be ignorant of this and even overly defensive, but it's the only way they would listen, and it's the morally correct thing to do. If *I* no longer bought any newer Legos for many years now, so can you. I haven't bought any newer sets since 2016 and I do not regret it. If you still want to buy Legos though, just go for older ones or use sites like Bricklink to get parts for other things like MOCs. Yes you'd still be supporting Lego that way, but at least you'd let them know you're buying something you actually want. I'd even dare say that there should be no shame in some custom parts and molds/colors/prints/stickers when needed, but maybe that's just me. You know, like what some Bionicle fans are doing. You can't deny that a lot of it is good stuff. *Sorry for the gigantic mountain of text. I don't know why I care so much about this. Lol*
I was born in 2007 and even i agree with you on this. Vintage, classic sets are just so nice, and its honestly really hard to put my finger on why, considering i have no connection to these sets. There's just some sort of charm to them, and you did a really good job at describing that.
I’ve always wanted a 4558 metroliner ever since I saw it in Brickfilms in the early 2000s. Got it a couple years ago and it remains the crown jewel of my collection
Shout out to second grade me who got the $50 firefighter boat set as a gift and absolutely *demolished* it and warped it into something different cuz oh idk, kids be kids and just like to have fun with their toys
Not gonna lie the only advantage of being a lego fan in latam is that a lot of the gift with purchases are sold individualy after and/or before they are "gifts" because people here are poor enough to not be rentable (not all get the treating but a lot of them do)
Themes like Exo Force, Pharaoh’s Quest, Power Miners, Alien Conquest, and Space Police 3 were the themes I loved and drooled over the most. They had some direction but enough to leave it open for childhood me to have endless fun with. The TV show tie-ins just drag out the imaginative fun from the lego city sets nowadays. Having Chase McCain as a cameo was fun. But having all these named characters is just “ehhhh…” to me
I gotta agree with you, i wasn't old enough to play with old system but i've always wanted to try, i haven't got any luck getting sets just up recently when i bought by 2.50 bucks a Gears set 001 from 1965. But alas, i guess that i shall keep looking for more. The old lego boxes are pure art. (As a graphic designer i fell in love with the old lego photos for sets, specially mid 60's)
The LEGO theme that I have the strongest nostalgic attachment to is the Racers line from 2003 to 2013. The slick, semi-futuristic designs of all the vehicles just reached out and grabbed the brain of kid me and wouldn’t let go. Whether it was the bigger Power Racers sets that featured powerful pullback motors, or the bite-sized Tiny Turbos that crammed a lot of detail into a super compact form (and you could often get two or more with one of the bigger track-based sets), there was something for everyone.
My favorite Lego Set? The one that got the most use were a couple linked ones, actually: The smaller Space Police mk 1 Cruiser with the detachable jail cell, was one. The other was the Black Knights Sea Serpent supplemented with The Black Knight mini figure and accessories micro kit. The biggest reason for the Sea Serpent is that it I could use it to have exploratory adventures with the few Black Knights Castle sets I had. And, I picked up some odd sets to expand their exploration, like some of the smaller Wild West Indian sets, and other Lego Castle sets from other, later themes. And, the Mk 1 Space Police Cruiser was just a cool, sleek space ship with similar encounter potential, with all the colors I enjoyed as a kid: Red and Blue.
When I was a kid I always wanted the 6990 Futuron monorail but it wasn't available anymore when my parents tried to find it in the early 90s. I could look at it for hours in the catalogs and dream of having it and operate the train. Later when I discovered Bricklink I bought it and it is just so fantastic I imagined it to be.
I think my favorite memory of Lego as a kid was having a Harry Potter set for the Forbidden forest. You were supposed to make like a cave or hut or something, but since i lost the instructions, i just made a stone spaceship being driven by people with pumpkins for heads. Almost glad i lost the booklet
Loved the Galaxy Explorer... as someone who grew up with (the middle of) the original three. The price for what they gave you was very generous, and the features were great. It did feel advanced compared to the original, since the original sets were sort of just a plate with a box on top, but it was sort of a combination of elements that made it magical and they managed to do that, too. I wish the set had been more popular than it seemed to be, but I'm happy it exists. Main thing I miss about old sets was because they had a more brickbuilt quality they were more versatile as sets you could just add to the pile. They seem to be getting back to that, but I fell out of Lego for a long time because there was this trend of over-specialized pieces for a while that took up a lot of space but didn't have much versatility. There's a bit of that still, and Basic sets often seem to be more vertical than horizontal, limiting building potential for me, but at least there seems to be a bit more versatility again.
I dunno, but I have looked at Rebrickable and what kind of sets were available in early 00s and I'm blown away with what kind of unimaginative trash we used to put up with. Nowadays set are still affordable, have so many more colors, character and random new elements, that just make Lego a ton of fun. Oddly enough I kinda love the vibe of 70s and 80s Lego, when everything was really blocky and simple, but honestly I wouldn't trade that for what we have now. So many people complain now about Lego prices, but but I think that those big sets put Lego to the next level and there are so many nice cheap sets. I think that we may be in actual golden era and not even realize that and that's a shame.
While I wasn’t alive when most of the the older retro sets were released, even today I enjoy playing with older sets then I do newer, and my favourite theme is the western, from 1996.
I’m so so glad that when I told my dad I wanted Lego, he went on eBay and bought me boxes of old Lego. I occasionally got a new set here or there but that classic stuff was the bulk of my collection. I got a couple of huge boxes of other kids old stuff! Some of the bricks were really old, some were very strange and clearly build for some specific purpose, and there were just lots of different bricks of all sorts! I would pour through those boxes trying to work out what different very specific bricks could be used for, and they would inspire me to build all sorts of different things. I loved it so much. So many stories, so many creations, so much fun. When I got new sets, it was like adding to this whole world I had. New characters and new parts. I got a submarine? Well now I can build crazy new spaceships when I want to play that game, or use the torso or head to create a unique character in my action movie games. They invited creativity and opened new concepts to explore. My little brother is about 10 years younger than me, and by the time he was old enough to play with lego, most of my collection had been given away. He never really got into Lego as much as I did. The lego he got was all from new sets, and the sets he had were such finely detailed things, far more intricate than the things he could ever hope to build himself. He had lego starwars sets and Harry Potter ones, as well as a load of other sets. He had a lot of Lego too, but half of it was from films or other existing story’s, so he never wanted to take them apart and make new things. At the time when I was about 17 I really didn’t understand this. I remembered playing with Lego in a completely different way, but of course what I had was a completely different toy. General Grievous’ ship looks like what it looks like, and if it doesn’t it’s not his ship, so why change it? Besides, you’re playing with it alongside other starwars lego, so you WANT General Grievous’ ship. It’s not that you can’t be creative, it’s just that you are almost incentivised not to be by the product itself. And that’s sad. Anyway thanks for the video, I really enjoyed it and it got all these ideas flooding to the top of my head, you really got me thinking about it and solidify these long dormant memories. Honestly really great video I loved it :) Ps. if you read all this then thank you, I love you :) Pps, I remember fawning over those sets in the catalogs too! I’ve never felt a greater sense of longing in my life than when looking at those huge pirate ships
I grew up with Lego in the 90's, but dropped it entirely after finishing middle school. Just recently been checking back on some Lego content again, and gotta say those new sets don't hold a candle to stuff from back then. The old sets had something that not only made me want to build them according to the instructions, but also to take them apart and make my own stuff with. Not getting that same feel when I look at any of the modern stuff.
Life on Mars may be my favorite Lego set I grew up with. The architecture of the Martian bases, the rovers and machines and just SO much nostalgia for the martians design, I love it. All in all, it really connected with my love for sci-fi and star wars Legos and how I could create these portals where armies of aliens could be waiting for a proper invasion.
I was right there with you gawking over the fright knights and adventurers sets. I was too young for them (‘95 baby) but my older brother had the catalogues. I remember in like 2000 I would ask for them for my birthday and Christmas but didn’t understand that they weren’t available. I eventually purchased all the sets I wanted when I was a kid. This entire video is something I tell my wife all the time. Like, new Lego is cool and the sets look objectively great up on display but I don’t think I would have loved Lego anywhere near as much as I do if I grew up with these themes. If you gave me a 1000 piece modern Star Wars set it just feels like the only thing that could be built with those pieces is the intended set. Also with you on the Galaxy explorer, it’s incredible. Probably going to pick up the blacktron set too on the aftermarket… sigh.
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As impressive as modern Lego is, they're equally as infuriating. Their prices are getting bonkers and they just keep making odd decisions. If nostalgia sells, which it clearly does, why not make more retro remakes that people can just buy whenever? My favorite set will probably always be the 1987 monorail that was handed down to me from my mom. It's in remarkably good condition and can even run on its own, truly a relic from a bygone age.
ahhh yes monorail, such a good line despite the fact that the tracks are worth more than gold by weight
Holy shite, your Monorail still runs? Isn't that a rarity nowadays?
Sadly the monorail parts were made by different company that went under.
Lego overall is not much more expensive than it was back then if you adjust for inflation.
Which monorail? The Futuron one?
As someone a bit younger, my favorites were always Exo-force and Power miners, the latter truly feeling like a final resurgance of the 90s philosophy
I mean it was basically just a remake of the 90s rock raiders line
I find it odd since I never grew up with classic 80s and 90s lego, but that I resonate far more with those than anything I realistically built when I was younger
@@vonfaustien3957 Poor mans version I would say.
@@flambo6554 Same, first sets I got was in 96 and still I mostly buy 80s and 90s castle sets. Of course some of the sets were not that great, but I love the parts and looks.
I think Power Miners being one of the last og themes to heavily feature combo and alternate models helped in that aspect a lot
I agree, the more "base" designs give off the feeling "I can do that too!", which is really inspiring for creativity.
seriously this. the whole point of lego was to encourage creativity back then...
I completely agree with you about the style and esthetics of modern LEGO. The company doesn't have the same goals with their set designs and it shows. Even though the sets of old were simplistic (maybe even primitive) to today's sets, I love them so much more than anything that's modern.
Sure, we can say it's all about "nostalgia", but for me it's about how LEGO was a system of pieces that could be used to create anything. The modern sets look too pristine and polished with all of their specialty pieces making all of those different curves, angles and edges. The older sets were also interested in using color. The sets had fewer colors than modern sets, but they used color to also tell a story.
True!
Funny Lego Story when I was small I really wanted the Krusty Krab Lego set and due to a miscommunication with my parents and extended family I got 2 of them
They were freaking out talking about who was gonna return there's and I wanted both which confused them
I built both and then drew a red number 2 on the sign and my dad still thinks it was the funniest thing
I thought I was a genius
Can confirm, that is genius.
I had the krusty krab set too actually! I think i still have all the pieces for it!
That IS genuis, friend!! Your younger self was correct in their assumption lol
Nice reference to the movie !
🦀❤💵
Haaa😂
What's cool about Aquazone as the first underwater theme from LEGO, they didn't have to make it this sci-fi, and yet it carried itself. It could have started as standard boats, jetskis, fishermen and deep sea salvage, but no - they pushed boundaries and said, "this is a futuristic underwater theme where divers harvest crystals to power their underwater dwellings in a time where hydrogen was a limited resource." Like, that's kind of dark for a LEGO theme but made the struggle against foes and wildlife even more suspenseful.
Do you remember, chrome knives?)
@@Wind-Waker7272 Yup, and I can still find some that haven't faded. Chrome swords and crystals too!
And then, just shortly after they were like "well after Aquazone, everyone will think a standard diving theme could never be exciting, let's prove'em wrong..." And they created LEGO Divers, which was amazing in every way imaginable.
Technically they did the same thing with space, atleast when they started using minifigures in their sets.
It started out super scifi in the late 1970s, then a "contemporary" space set finally came out in 1990 for the town theme; *Set 1682: Space Shuttle Launch*
For the next few years there were a couple more one-off contemporary themed space sets released, but it wouldn't be until 1995 when an entire space subtheme of town called "Launch Command" came out, featuring 5 sets within it
i really hope lego starts appealing to that classic sense of "a new toy everyday." as you said, everything needs to be balanced. while i think the adult oriented sets are gorgeous display pieces, but i feel like they should have themes and sets more restrained and vague to encourage kids to think beyond the instructions. i think that's why i like the creator 3in1s, because it inherently encourages new ideas with the same pieces. (also besides the point but speed champions is technically still a licensed theme as most if not all the sets are based on real cars.)
yeah, but with speed champions, you could still easily incorporate them into other builds. yeah, that might be *specifically* a dodge charger, but there's not really any context given besides another one and a lil race light thingy. and thats just one of the big 2 packs, the single cars dont have *anything* extra (besides a fig)
that said, they have recently started dipping into movie cars (namely dom's charger and bond's aston martin) but most of em are still just cars
Also lego Minecraft/Super mario despite being lisnced sets encorge that MOC and imaigitive play... And Super mario corses are super easy to build and can use anything aslong as the figures understand the colors.
I spent much of my childhood drooling over Lego sets in the catalogs. Just just the Shop at Home catalogs but the Lego DACTA and Educational ones as well (which were much more expensive). With our family being on a budget, most of the sets I got were smaller and I typically stuck to my favorite themes (Aquazone and Technic). When I got my first job I bought all of the larger Aquazone sets I never had as a kid on eBay. Even now I still fill Bricklink carts with Aquazone parts whenever I'm shopping on the site 😅
I'm only 26 and started being hooked on Lego around the age of 11 but this video is so relatable. These oldies give me so much nostlagia, I can't imagine how it would be if they actually were part of my childhood. I wish I had some of the adventurers of classic space sets. Like you and many Lego fans, I'm frustrated by the lack of unlicensed themes. One of my favorite theme is Atlantis, it's like a undersea wave for Adventurers. The colors scheme of the first phase was just perfect. Now every potential theme gets sucked into City Ninjago or Creator...
what do you mean nostalgia you weren't there
I have so much nostalgia for the 90's era sets (and even despite owning many) I still watch many videos on them. They're just so fun to see and talk about. The turning point from vintage to modern I feel is the introduction/transition to curved slopes. Lego only used to have linear slopes, hard edges, but in the 2000's there was a shift into using many curved slopes. Everything has become more smooth / curved, but the rigidity and chunkiness is a huge part of what makes vintage sets have that charming nostalgic aura about them.
I'm happy you shouted out RR Slugger too - his content is just great, so much editing and love are put into their videos.
My favorite is the iconic Aquazone Sea Lab base (6195). It was the perfect gift for a four year old on christmas. It has everything - raised baseplates, giant transparent pieces, chunky parts. it is just such a good toy. Rather than only a standalone structure, it is immersed in landscape to really set the scene.
I appreciate the love for paradisa - pastels are not usually used in lego, and the sets just feel so comfy, they are a favorite of mine too.
(Also I may have misheard but I'd label speed champions as a licensed theme as they use real life car brands and even technic is now falling into that trend)
I loved pink bricks as a kid, wished I could get more back then. Nowadays it's the opposite problem, brick assortments in the bulk sets give you like five different shades of pink and purple and it's hard to build anything cohesive looking.
The shades are for details
Monkie Kid was designed specifically for the Chinese market. It isn't even really sold in stores anymore, mostly being available online in the west. They have a lot of crossover in terms of vibe - that's probably why it's not stocked in stores.
As a kid, my family never really had a lot of money. The biggest sets I got were the Dark Dragon's Den, Forbidden Cove and Bandit's Secret Hide-out, which were amazing but did leave me drooling over sets like the BSB, Temple of Anubis and Royal Knight's Castle. Now that I'm in a way better place financially, I get to fully enjoy what kid-me could only dream about and I'm slowly but surely collecting the sets I always wanted, which, turns out, are a lot. You'll be happy to hear I started my resurgence into LEGO with the Temple a few years ago and I even have five pirate ships adorning my piano.
The set I remember most fondly from my youth would have to be Oasis Ambush. It's small, but it has everything it needs and everything it does, it does perfectly.
UA-cam's really been sending me down the Lego Rabbithole recently. Anyways. I've always been a huge Bionicle fan, on top of robots just being sick as hell the lore is extremely intricate, mystical and just downright exotic. The Matoran Universe concept and reveal just like, blew my socks off in 2009. With normal System stuff Rock Raiders is definitely my favorite theme, I'm a sucker for lived in, down to earth sci-fi. Exo Force, Alpha Team Operation Deep Sea, & Arctic were also ones I enjoyed quite a bit.
Anyways the Lego rantsona is extremely cute, I want to hold their little yellow plastic hand. Will definitely give the rest of this channel a look as well.
I remember when I was a child, like 2009, looking at the police stations, or the big expensive Atlantis sets. I remember that feeling of trying to make my own city, with Lego sets and MOCs. So much fun.
I am really liking this wave of youtube videos covering what I think is the golden era of lego set design. It is that perfect period of time before lego got super detailed. The sets were just detailed enough to look awesome, but lack enough detail to leave stuff up to the imagination.
Paradisa is the best theme ever made.
No more details, just, it’s the utter best.
It is pretty underrated. I don't own any of the sets, but I would love to make a 80s Miami style moc with those parts!
that pink ass vaporwave aesthetic is so DAMN juicy i love it
@@edgarego5813 It aged like fine wine cause of the new trends towards 80s dream liminal aesthetics
I feel like I can taste it just looking at the pictures, lol. Same as it tasted back in the 90s. Never had any of them, might have to get some
As a boy my mom would've discouraged my interest in them, but a friend of mine had that poolside set. I think there's a sense of class, sophistication, fun and chill vibes of leisure in it that makes them extremely appealing. Sure there's pink and some extra female figures in it, but it's just so dang immaculately themed a world that you can't help but want to relax along with everybody. Or have a strange Space or Castle crossover. :D
16:51 "create stories detatched from the established lore".
Oddly enough, that's what I consider to be Bionicle's greatest streangth (Bionicle being what, to most, started this trend within Lego).
Bionicle had its lore, its rules, its many and complex characters etc., but, at its core, it was a sandbox for your imagination: wanna expand the lore with more characters? Go on. Wanna add your own characters with their backstories? There's plenty of room for that too. Wanna create from scratch an entire different world with its own plot and rules? Please, do so.
That's quintessential Lego to me, adapted for character-driven stories and adventures. So it differs from the coziness of these older sets, a feeling I highly share with you. I love the simplicity and expandability of old lines, that's their undisputed charm.
On one hand, you were building settings and scenarios for many adventures, on the other hand, you were creating characters and cultures. Still, you had the freedom to take some of your bricks for your Bionicle sets/MOCs, enjoying the best of both worlds, which I did back in the days.
Anyway, that was an excellent video, you encapsulated my general feeling of detatchment from most of modern Lego sets. I find myself enjoying smaller, cuter sets way more, because there's just some ingenuity behind them, that same spark from the older days.
Its greatest weakness, the lore distribution, also had its strengths. Most of the time kids would have bare bones synopsis of the story through the product and visual media that they could just form their own stories while still picturing their characters as part of the main story. It also helps that the world actively encouraged and validated kids to create alternate worlds and scenarios within Bionicle, due to the whole time travel and dimension hopping that was later introduced.
It also helps that Bionicle community preserved most of the lines media for future posterity, so anyone can learn from the lore and go wild with it with their creations and stories. So many fan projects still exist and the community is going strong after decades and even after two theme cancellations.
I have a lot of information on this if you'd ever like to expand upon this video. It has to do with The LEGO Group letting off a lot of designers that were apart of the "golden age" in the early 2000s - 2010s. None of the original design guys stayed there despite their contract promise.
Oh I'm quite curious about this, do you have any links to articles about it or anything?
If you have any resources that you can share, please do! Would like to read about this.
Of course I'm loaded with nostalgia for these older sets, but my problem with the newer ones is that I wouldn't even want to play with them? Like, just imagine smashing your figures around on a set like the Monkey Kid ones. Everything's gonna break off! And you'd have to either pause and immediately re-attach the pieces, or do it later when you've completely forgotten where everything goes. What a nightmare, honestly. That's a big problem I actually had with the Star Wars sets when I still played with Lego, all the antenna and guns just kept breaking off during play. Not a fan.
I was however a fan of the Lego train sets, being a train fanatic and all. Would love to own some of them again, like 4559, but they go for a fortune these days, it sucks.
the glow in the dark ghost is engraved in my mind
As a kid, the Paradisa sets were desirable even to the boys because of one thing they had in spades over other town sets: food. So many food pieces.
Also, I''m convinced that Time Cruisers was just LEGO's excuse to put a bunch of leftover parts into a big set. Still loved them all the same.
I'm super jelly of your pizzeria set, those are hard to find.
For a long time, I held that my favorite LEGO set ever was 6242 Soldier's Fort - a set I enjoyed so much, I memorized the set number, that's rare. A Pirates set from 2009, this had lots of options for play around an imperial port from a jail cell, a palm tree with buried treasure, a weapons station, and a guard tower with a moving crane - and it only cost $50! Not to mention the 2 pirates and monkey who can break into the fort and thwart the guards and cannons and crocodile and escape with loot. This set packed alot of options as well as being semi-modular: you can shift around the order of the structures in multiple ways, and it was easy to see how to build more on top of it for an even larger naval force. I also enjoyed the stickers adding more life to the prison with a day counter and spider webs, or the wanted poster near the armory - I even used another Pirates set, 8396, Soldier's Arsenal, to add more flourish to the base - and LEGO didn't even advertise that combination! For $3.49, you get an extra soldier and a weapons rack that can easily integrate with the fort, or since the parts are basic enough, encourage you to build your own with more depth.
I also enjoyed 7037 Tower Raid, with a similar prison break scenario centered around a military guard tower - gee, do I have a type. Released in Fantasy Era Castle in 2008, this set offers a bunch of figures to play with, but a more limited variety even at $30, as you had a tower with 4 floors matching against a siege vehicle with battering ram. It was cool when the two models combined, but it lacked alot of unique play scenarios. Fantasy Era is my favorite Castle line as it offers a wide range of world building, some that was only *hinted* in magazines like elves and sea serpents but never built as sets - not that I can't build my own!
Nowadays, I wanna say Ninjago City or Galaxy Explorer are some of my favorite sets ever, but they do lack that "less is more" mentality that mid-2000's and earlier sets offered. They're both good sets and surprised me numerous times in building techniques, but I get less enjoyment out of them after they're built, what do they do now? They really beg me to do more with them, as well as other themes like Monkie Kid, but lately I've had a couple story ideas I wanna illustrate/photograph that aren't even about these themes, or very loose parts from them. Instead, I wanna explore more of Mars and what kind of civilization the humans and Martians can co-create. I wanna have a fantasy world fueled by music that conjures magical spells. But I also wanna expand my laid-back shore town, finally get a campground and hiking trail through nature while also being a vacation spot.
“They got caught up with if they could add more detail, but never stopped to ask if they should.”
I’ve heard no one talk about this, because everyone talks about piece counts and price per piece but with the shift to overly detailed mocks, and axing baseplates I’m sure you’d see the ounce per dollar for sets steadily going down. The packaging has shrunk as well accordingly.
I miss town so much! That’s why I collected almost all of them in my adult years. 80s early 90s LEGO imo were the golden years of LEGO.
Wow, this video just put all my feelings on retro lego right in my face,
This video made me really happy, despite my lego nostalgia only going back to 2009.
I have an old lego catalog from around 2005 ish that’s the size of the typical mid size instruction booklets at the time. All the sets in that catalog are stupid expensive now, but I keep it because of nostalgia. As for sets I loved to oogle at, it was always the space and castle themes
The nostalgia hit hard with this one. I remember flipping through those old catalogs. Town was definitely a favorite. The old big hull boats, Res Q, the 9V trains. One series I did enjoy from later was Monster Fighters, but it didn't last very long. Lego City does bring back some memories of the old though
I've always loved how the old licenced sets like Harry Potter and Star wars still had yellow figs for the characters, so bad they had to change it to real skin color and not keep the yellow.
As someone who grew up with Bionicle I feel like the story is part of what inspired so much creativity from me. I remember taking apart my sets to build my own Toa and Matoran and Rahi and all kinds of OCs that would fit into the universe. It's even inspired my own stories that I write stuff abt and think about now. It is a different kind of creativity and but think that's neat! :)
I wish I was creative enough as a kid to come up with anything with brick tubs or more traditional themes but having that universe and story as a jumping board really helped me.
You made a great point about how the simplicity of older sets was better for expansion. As an AFOL with two jobs and many additional hobbies I don’t have the time to get my “expansions” for new sets on par with the instructions. Meanwhile, I rebuilt an old castle set and added an additional floor, a dungeon, and stairwells and it came out great. I have two Lion Knight’s Castles so I can make a big expansion and baring a bridge design I got from rebrickable and altered slightly, I’ve found it difficult to expand the castle more and maintain the same quality.
My favorite Lego theme is Power miners, not only were they affordable when they released in 2009-2010 but they had a cohesive story along with amazing set design along with most sets encouraging and sometimes giving you instructions to combine the sets to make new super cool creations, such a good theme
LEGO caters way too much to AFOLs these days, and AFOLs, to their complete discredit, are routinely surprised that the children's construction toy company doesn't _exclusively_ cater to them, and absolutely lose their minds in user forums anytime LEGO announces any theme or set that is for kids instead of being some old live-action sitcom millennial nostalgia bait. The Brickset reactions to LEGO Animal Crossing and LEGO Fortnite announcements have been deranged.
I was not expecting that voice to come out of that minifigure
I understand. irl usually minifigures don't talk so it can throw ya off.
I shook my head *hard* wanting you to rip into the 90-Year sets. And arguably, the 60 Year of the Brick ones had a little stronger case - 5 sets with instructional builds but also encouraged to build your own models. Each set posed a phrase with a blank left open on the box, so *you*, the consumer, can fill in the blank in your own way. Every set featured things at minifigure scale, greater or lesser, and parts of castle, space, city, all colors and shapes, easy to work with and some in inventive ways. I won't forget the frog mouth made from a pirates treasure chest.
I love the way the old minifigs look, the simplicity is amazing. And they peaked at the aesthetic of the old ninja sets
Lego Paradisa - memory unlocked! I had Seaside Cabana and it had that perfectly Golden Girls palette to me. It also just fit perfectly into the canon I had for my Lego - above water from Aquazone and the seaside of Town proper. Dang Bellville was a bummer.
I used to play with legos a lot as a kid but what I had the most fun with was the bin of legos at the after school boys & girls club. So many scattered sets. I can at least remember fragments of space and ice planet being mixed in there.
I remember gushing over the 90s space sets in the catalogue, and then for my 4th birthday I actually got that black and red robot. I wanted the castle sets of the time badly too but my parents couldn't afford them. Then some years later I got the big one out of fright knights. Played with that thing so much.
I recognize so many scattered sets throughout the video, and some I actually own myself and played to death with as a kid, knowing every nook and cranny inside out. It's sort of etched into my memory, good memories.
I know it's like 7 months after this video got released, but I feel like the new Lego DreamZzz sets kind of do what you were wanting Lego to do again. Almost all of them come with alternate builds and are made to be customizable. They were released with an original TV show, but you can definitely create your own universe and build with what is given without knowing about the show.
I feel like the recent lunar mission subtheme (which is under City for some reason incomprehensible to me) is really good and sorta recaptures that reconfigurable aspect of the 90s sets. Like 60350 and 60349 and 60348 and all those. I think that does a pretty good job of recapturing the "themed, but also build your own" vibe of things like Rock Raiders or Insectoids or what-have-you
12:14 I too would stare at catalog images of these sets, and even nowadays I know there's a limited baseplate to house its functions, as a kid it was a world of possibilities. The set 2996 Lost Tomb always made me wonder if there was more than meets the eye, and while I learned later that it was a facade, I easily can adapt it into one of these other sets as a full tomb just like in the real Egyptian pyramids with branching passageways.
The city theme was my favourite, as a kid I got a fire station and a F1 pitstop, I really loved how simple the sets were because it'd let your imagination personalize the set as you wanted, even if you were a kid. I always wanted to build a full city but yeah, money.
Modern sets look cool, honestly impressed by some of the sets shown in this video, like the monkie kids ones. But at the same time they feel too busy and leave little room for imagination.
Also I'm a fan of studs showing in buildings instead of flat and detailed surfaces.
90's lego had a lot of iconic themes. I'ds love to see new or re-imagined sets within these classic themes.
There's a lot of focus on novelty but some ideas are timeless like the bricks themselves
Apparently in the late 90s LEGO had made a series of boneheaded decisions at an executive level (think Galidor), and the company was on the verge of disaster when the Star Wars contract came in and saved the day. Of course this shaped every future decision and now 20+ years later LEGO is heavily reliant on licensed deals for its bread and butter lines. Having said that, there's a lot of great things being done across LEGO these days and the amount of parts, colours and variety available is astonishing, in some ways it's never been better. There have always been amazing artists and designers working for the company even if the company itself is (like most of them) run by boneheads so the art succeeds in spite of commerce. But yeah there's a simplistic charm to old LEGO where they had far far fewer pieces and techniques and colours to work with. Just look at those old LEGO catalogues, they were a work of art in themselves, I used to collect them and spend hours dreaming of owning all those sets...
My favorite Lego set as a kid was the black seas barracuda. I stared at that set for 3 years in the Lego catalogs, begging for it, and letting it be known that it was the only thing that I wanted for my birthday or Christmas. And after three years, I got it!
Lego Agents was my all time favorite theme growing up, I feel like themes from that era (Agents, Power Miner, space police) were in the perfect crossroads between retro lego and modern lego; they have a lot of the open ended structure and color palates of classic lego with the character and detail-oriented builds of today. Being able to come up with scenarios for my agents to act out was a joy, and I hope that lego can go back to finding that balance in their toy line
Trans-neon pieces for lasers were amazing.
Ogel such a cool villain. Like captain Nemo
I definitely agree how the older sets seemed much more possible to add to. These newer sets are so detailed that it’s honestly hard to add stuff that looks cohesive with everything. The most I did when I was younger was add more guns and weapons to my Star Wars ships (specifically my republic gunship). I was into the early ninjago and was really into Bionicle but I was still really young when they came out and had a love for it once it was discontinued. Hero factory was also my jam but mainly because Bionicle wasn’t around lol.
Wow that intro literally defines me as an individual lol. Went to Legoland a couple of weeks ago with the family and it reignited my interest in legos. Made me want to buy some of the old sets I grew up with and display them in my office. After seeing how expensive they were I thought “well maybe the newer sets will be cheaper”. Only to realize that anything Lego new or old is ridiculously expensive. Just kinda of sucks as anyone getting into the hobby now can’t even afford it. I agree with this whole video. The older sets have a feeling like you can add more to them while the new sets while cool looking don’t have that same vibe about them.
Being a 2000's baby, the bionical sets always held a place in my heart, not only because they were cool action figures, but it always felt like there was more than I could understand about the lore and the setting itself that made me feel like I was only scratching the surface of it that I could never fully understand.
I had some lego sets, most of them were technic cars and lego city ones, I love these ; althought I definitely get a stronger feeling of nostalgia when I look at hotwheels or majorette, its less expensive and its way easier to find your dream car, so you can make a collection about any theme and honestly they are no limits when you learn how to customize them
I think the Lego Creator theme Captures the nature of Old Legos perfectly
My parents started me on stuff like Aquazone, Ninja, and the wild west themes. I kinda miss those old toys, because they *were* truly a little more generic and flexible in how you built and played. Any theme “lore” was the sort of thing you could write on the back of a postcard at most, and springboard ideas from there.
Nowadays it feels like themes need to be licensed IP-related or a whole milkable multimedia phenomenon (lookin’ at you Ninjago), which feels constraining. There was a sort of joy in the earlier, looser themes that they only occasionally recapture.
But eh, maybe I’m just being nostalgic. I’m sure kids love the new stuff just fine.
Your lil avatar is too cute, and the way you went through the timeline of Lego and all the old, nostalgic theme's that a lot of us weren't even around to experience was so nice and well done 😌
Dude lego is gonna be my forever fixation that's for sure. I love the knights sets and making a kingdom atm
Also, i have the fire breathing fortress 😎
I had (still have) a bunch of the classic space theme sets from my childhood and a few of the town sets, I've been piecing them back together slowly (replacing lost pieces and such). I always loved the feel of the classic sets, very Space: 1999 meets 2001 A Space Odyssey, I'm really impressed with what they managed to do with that line without resorting to the generic "Good Guy vs. Bad Guy" trope that was standard in toys then.
When I was younger I always stared and drooled over the 70404 “King’s Castle” while playing with my childhood favorite Lego set, “Race For The Stolen Treasure” from Indiana Jones!
Bionicle was always my main go to but the aftermarket have not been kind to it. From sellers who don't know or care enough to sell any of it to hyper focused collectors that buy up a ton of it to flip it for a profit. To unreasonable prices on masks that was made in the millions. To niche parts having a prominent roll in many contest winning or alt builds which just drives prices through the roof. Its not easy being a bionicle fan these days.
And I see the similar but not always the same issues with older themes. I love the older lego aesthetic but sometimes the most interesting sets cost more than most new sets
"Golden"parts even more costy..
Its not actual gold but they don't really care
This is why I never bothered collecting all the Bionicle sets and masks, mostly cause its impossible due to the unique or extremely rare contest masks. Only bothered with certain character and their upgrades, along with certain group of sets. Pretty content to get the few sets I always wanted, might get additional sockets if the ones on the sets crack, and stop there.
I used to look at those lego books that had all the sets for a theme with them for hours upon hours imaging how I would play with them and stuff, I had the first book for lego starwars, and ninjago. Also very cool video
this is exactly the video i needed to get my partners into lego, amazing analysis!
also dont let weird people in the comments gaslight you, your voice is really pretty as is!
Remember, Lego almost went bankrupt during the early 2000's for releasing too many juniorized unpopular themes and sets. I have nothing wrong as an adult fan with Lego today. One could argue that licensing actually saved them. Lego is stronger than ever and given the adult fan community, there are many impressive MOCs out there too.
Alternative word to battlements, "Crenellations." I find it a more fun word to say
EDIT: Oooh, favorite sets... Well, I know as an adult I am constantly kicking myself for not being interested in Life on Mars as a kid, that theme rocks! But I also know that I had a few sets that contributed a bit to the problem we have today of LEGO being a middle man merchandizing company. I was and still in some ways am big into Star Wars, and when I was younger I ended up with a few really good Star Wars sets. I recall having an MTT and a hailfire droid... As it stands, what I wouldn't give to have LEGO go back to making things targeted toward kids imaginations. You're absolutely right that their modern sets are definitely more design pieces, but what LEGO needs is to go back to printing a new piece every 5 minutes because they need a whacky shape on a budget. Guard rails, molded base plates, that one car chassis from adventurers, the whole lot! I'd kill for a new space theme in the old, classic way that LEGO used to make things...
shame the space theme will never come to appear for a long while, star wars is too big
14:50 yeah that’s how I feel about modern lego. Waaaaaay too many licensed themes. No original ones anymore.
Now on one hand I can get it. It’s strategically cheaper to license than put in a lot of work for a theme that might go bust after 1 wave. But as someone who grew up with lego in the 2000’s I still miss the days when we’d get like a new original theme every year.
I feel so spoiled growing up in the 90's... we had a new Space theme EVERY year, with a couple new sets coming out for the old ones, a new Castle theme every year or two, Pirates, and an abundance of City and aquatic theming of some sort. I loved Star Wars as a kid, but I absolutely see it as the beginning to the end of my interest in Lego as a brand.
I think you hit the nail on the head. With the newer sets is quite difficult to add something of your own imagination.
Also ♥for giving Basil a shoutout.
I actually grew up with a lot of classic sets my dad got when he was a kid, he threw them all in one big grey bin mixed and told me and my sister to have at it.
I just discovered that they released some remakes of old sets. and as I was a pirate guy, the new Barracuda and the new Eldorado fortress was a no brainer for me. I spent 2 days building the Barracuda and another 5 mocing it to my own liking and building new islands and stories from the leftover pieces combining them with their 30 year old counterparts. They fit so well. And I didn't even open the fortress yet. They are stunning and awesome, but they are one offs. They are nostalgia pieces, sometimes you get a new release in every 2-3 years, sometimes don't. So you can't just go buy a new pirate set or polybag for your kid every now and then to let them play and build something. The new castle sets are also amazing, but they are big and expensive too. The only thing that is continuous and you can always find a new small addition to the set and still not limited by a franchise I think is the city sets. And I love them, colorful, cheerful, simple as hell yet still very clever. Also the new city space line this year is amazing, hope they will continue releasing them for years to come.
i love your legosona avatar and this video. My favorite was probably that pizza parlor set that was in the video, makes me hungry for pizza yum yum.
Thank you and I'm glad! The minifigure avatar was a last minute idea that I was like "noooo thats way too much work, id be crazy to draw unique expressions and poses just this video"
I didn't even know about the blacktron set because of the fact it's a "bonus" set.
that Lego Island soundtrack is fire
First off your lil Lego OC is 10/10 cute!!! Also though I loved the time cruisers comic from the Lego magazines.
My golden era of LEGO was Power Miners, Tiny Turbos, Indiana Jones, and the first two waves of Ninjago. And while those themes were my childhood, nothing seemed to compare to the colorful creativity of the 90’s. The new sets seem so over-designed and void of what made the older sets so fun. I think they’re definitely better than the old stuff but I don’t know, something about that era is so captivating to me.
This is a long comment but stick with me if you can. I'd arguably say that the 2000's is *almost* just as good as the 1990's. Sure the original themes were often more specific, but you still got creative stuff like Bionicle, Exo Force, Space Police, Power Miners, and so on to make up for how imaginative they can be. Bionicle being huge wasn't an accident, it was so unique that it normally ditched the whole "Lego" branding on it for the marketing altogether. Yes it had a lot of stories and characters, but it also incentivized creativity like with alternate builds and combination models, most of which don't even have any significance in the story. For me, in my opinion, Lego truly died when they cancelled it. They didn't and still don't see it as a massive essential part that helped prove their worth, they instead treated it as a thing that was only there as a backup and got rid of it as soon as they could. I might be a bit pessimistic about this, but I genuinely think they only made G2 as an attempt to further damage that brand and prevent it from truly coming back again. They couldn't have made it more barebones and lacking of advertising even if they tried. It's pretty sinister really, taking what people loved and making it just worse enough with barely anyone noticing to the point of possibly keeping it in obscurity forever. They didn't *have* to do this either, they could've brought it back to its prime like they did with Ninjago not long after, but let's be real, Ninjago was only able to get away with it because it was already simpler to get away with. A lot more people would've noticed Bionicle getting worse in quality and it especially showed for 2016. Bionicle just isn't fit for their modern business model of succeeding with desperation anymore, so they intentionally killed it.
Another thing that bothers me about modern Lego is how corporate everything feels. Gone are the whimsical designs that a child could easily come up with, only brands that are mostly replicated from cinema. Star Wars and Harry Potter might work fine since they are are already mysterious enough to fit with the core practices, and they did, but what is there to say about Marvel? DC? Ghostbusters? The Simpsons? Stranger Things? Hell a lot of it isn't even specifically meant for kids, or at least not with the same creativity mindset. It's not like they *can't* introduce brands that are already creative either, Minecraft is at least a decent example, especially given the theming of blocks. Or how about this: Where's The Amazing World of Gumball? No seriously, where is it? You're telling me that Lego is perfectly fine on making multiple minifigures for other shows many people do not like such as Teen Titans GO!, Powerpuff Girls 2016, and Adventure Time in Lego Dimensions, but not even one single figure on CN's most popular and well received show of all time? It infuriates me too because those two are a *perfect* fit for each other! Literally the main premise of that show is mixing together all sorts of animation styles together with main characters, who are kids btw, trying to do their best in their crazy world. How is that *not* prime material for a Lego line? I bet you we could even get some original sets out of that and it wouldn't be out of place. Mostly simplistic yet wacky sets as a kind of Time Cruisers spiritual successor? Now *THAT* is something I would be interested in! It just blows my mind how incompetent both companies are and not understanding what makes them special. And Gumball is just *one* example. How about LittleBigPlanet, that's another. It isn't just good looking sets or animation that propels something forward, it's the charming settings, the well written characters with enough room left to explore more in the future, the subtlety in some things that remain unanswered, the expansiveness of it all, etc. etc. So much of this needs to be taken into account when making something good, and when it is? By God it is glorious. Even all these years later fans old and new are still talking about stuff like Bionicle and Rock Raiders. Is there anyone talking about something like Hero Factory or Chima still? Barely.
Sadly this line of thinking is gone with most other companies too, even other toy brands. Remember Highway 35 World Race and Acceleracers? Good luck seeing anything like that happening for Hot Wheels ever again, as a matter of fact it got cancelled because it was *too* successful. Remember the simple intricacies of feel good stories from modeled Thomas & Friends episodes? What it is now is not even close to what it resembled before even by the CGI era. What about Transformers? Nope, the last things of note they made is the Cybertron game, and now they are tryin to erase them from history with no one to legally play them and nothing captivating or morally questioning whatsoever. So much of the toy industry is like this now. They don't think kids can learn anything meaningful out of them anymore, they just think all of them are stupid, which is an insult to kids because there are indeed some out there that are smarter than most people would give them credit for. And again this doesn't just apply to toys, even *Pixar* is now guilty of this, which used to have some of the highest praised films ever made.
The truth is that companies now hate it when something is successful and praised for its creativity because it challenges the worth of everything else they have. They want to sell multiple things, not one good thing, no matter how much money it makes. It's no secret that CN has tried to kill Gumball multiple times and is only still around because it's where most of their essential profits come from. The moment they let the creators of that go is the day that CN is completely toast. Lego and Hot Wheels were only able to get rid of what they can because they had enough wiggle room and knew that they didn't need them anymore since the toy landscape can easily change significantly, after all, they're just toys right? Why should a parent care if little Timmy over there doesn't like an expensive toy they bought him and thinks it's stupid? They're just uninterested kids after all. Surely there is absolutely nothing to worry about…
At the end of the day, we all now that Lego is never going to be as good as they used to be. They were good back then because they *tried* very hard to make an impression. Same goes to Disney with their renaissance, or Nintendo with the N64 and GameCube. Once they got all the fortune they could ever need though, they don't need to worry about their stuff nearly as much as they used to. Oh sure we might get some rare diamonds here and there, but more often than not they were only able to slip through the cracks briefly and are around for such a short amount of time. It's why I'm a much bigger fan of supporting personal and indie creations now, lest you want to doom them to copyright hell and obscurity forever like with Making Fiends. I know it's easier said than done, but I'd prefer to *not* support big companies whenever possible or when I feel it's appropriate, even if it means piracy. Money is the joy thing that matters to them, so I am trying to not give them any to send that message accordingly. Of course many people will be ignorant of this and even overly defensive, but it's the only way they would listen, and it's the morally correct thing to do. If *I* no longer bought any newer Legos for many years now, so can you. I haven't bought any newer sets since 2016 and I do not regret it. If you still want to buy Legos though, just go for older ones or use sites like Bricklink to get parts for other things like MOCs. Yes you'd still be supporting Lego that way, but at least you'd let them know you're buying something you actually want. I'd even dare say that there should be no shame in some custom parts and molds/colors/prints/stickers when needed, but maybe that's just me. You know, like what some Bionicle fans are doing. You can't deny that a lot of it is good stuff.
*Sorry for the gigantic mountain of text. I don't know why I care so much about this. Lol*
I cackled aloud when you said ✨️Johnny Thunderrrrrr✨️
I was born in 2007 and even i agree with you on this. Vintage, classic sets are just so nice, and its honestly really hard to put my finger on why, considering i have no connection to these sets. There's just some sort of charm to them, and you did a really good job at describing that.
I’ve always wanted a 4558 metroliner ever since I saw it in Brickfilms in the early 2000s. Got it a couple years ago and it remains the crown jewel of my collection
Shout out to second grade me who got the $50 firefighter boat set as a gift and absolutely *demolished* it and warped it into something different cuz oh idk, kids be kids and just like to have fun with their toys
Not gonna lie the only advantage of being a lego fan in latam is that a lot of the gift with purchases are sold individualy after and/or before they are "gifts" because people here are poor enough to not be rentable (not all get the treating but a lot of them do)
Themes like Exo Force, Pharaoh’s Quest, Power Miners, Alien Conquest, and Space Police 3 were the themes I loved and drooled over the most. They had some direction but enough to leave it open for childhood me to have endless fun with. The TV show tie-ins just drag out the imaginative fun from the lego city sets nowadays. Having Chase McCain as a cameo was fun. But having all these named characters is just “ehhhh…” to me
I gotta agree with you, i wasn't old enough to play with old system but i've always wanted to try, i haven't got any luck getting sets just up recently when i bought by 2.50 bucks a Gears set 001 from 1965. But alas, i guess that i shall keep looking for more. The old lego boxes are pure art. (As a graphic designer i fell in love with the old lego photos for sets, specially mid 60's)
The LEGO theme that I have the strongest nostalgic attachment to is the Racers line from 2003 to 2013. The slick, semi-futuristic designs of all the vehicles just reached out and grabbed the brain of kid me and wouldn’t let go.
Whether it was the bigger Power Racers sets that featured powerful pullback motors, or the bite-sized Tiny Turbos that crammed a lot of detail into a super compact form (and you could often get two or more with one of the bigger track-based sets), there was something for everyone.
If you wanna play the Rock Raiders game there is an Awesome fan remake of it called Manic Miners
My favorite Lego Set? The one that got the most use were a couple linked ones, actually: The smaller Space Police mk 1 Cruiser with the detachable jail cell, was one. The other was the Black Knights Sea Serpent supplemented with The Black Knight mini figure and accessories micro kit. The biggest reason for the Sea Serpent is that it I could use it to have exploratory adventures with the few Black Knights Castle sets I had. And, I picked up some odd sets to expand their exploration, like some of the smaller Wild West Indian sets, and other Lego Castle sets from other, later themes. And, the Mk 1 Space Police Cruiser was just a cool, sleek space ship with similar encounter potential, with all the colors I enjoyed as a kid: Red and Blue.
When I was a kid I always wanted the 6990 Futuron monorail but it wasn't available anymore when my parents tried to find it in the early 90s. I could look at it for hours in the catalogs and dream of having it and operate the train. Later when I discovered Bricklink I bought it and it is just so fantastic I imagined it to be.
I think my favorite memory of Lego as a kid was having a Harry Potter set for the Forbidden forest. You were supposed to make like a cave or hut or something, but since i lost the instructions, i just made a stone spaceship being driven by people with pumpkins for heads. Almost glad i lost the booklet
Loved the Galaxy Explorer... as someone who grew up with (the middle of) the original three. The price for what they gave you was very generous, and the features were great. It did feel advanced compared to the original, since the original sets were sort of just a plate with a box on top, but it was sort of a combination of elements that made it magical and they managed to do that, too. I wish the set had been more popular than it seemed to be, but I'm happy it exists.
Main thing I miss about old sets was because they had a more brickbuilt quality they were more versatile as sets you could just add to the pile. They seem to be getting back to that, but I fell out of Lego for a long time because there was this trend of over-specialized pieces for a while that took up a lot of space but didn't have much versatility. There's a bit of that still, and Basic sets often seem to be more vertical than horizontal, limiting building potential for me, but at least there seems to be a bit more versatility again.
I dunno, but I have looked at Rebrickable and what kind of sets were available in early 00s and I'm blown away with what kind of unimaginative trash we used to put up with. Nowadays set are still affordable, have so many more colors, character and random new elements, that just make Lego a ton of fun. Oddly enough I kinda love the vibe of 70s and 80s Lego, when everything was really blocky and simple, but honestly I wouldn't trade that for what we have now. So many people complain now about Lego prices, but but I think that those big sets put Lego to the next level and there are so many nice cheap sets. I think that we may be in actual golden era and not even realize that and that's a shame.
I’m really excited about the release of Lego Sonic toys, but I can’t shake off the feeling that they could’ve been much better…
Great video! Completely miss the charm of these old sets that allowed you to imagine outside the lines
I still remember getting the lego catalog in the mail every year and circling as many of the atlantas and ninjago sets as I could
While I wasn’t alive when most of the the older retro sets were released, even today I enjoy playing with older sets then I do newer, and my favourite theme is the western, from 1996.
I’m so so glad that when I told my dad I wanted Lego, he went on eBay and bought me boxes of old Lego. I occasionally got a new set here or there but that classic stuff was the bulk of my collection.
I got a couple of huge boxes of other kids old stuff! Some of the bricks were really old, some were very strange and clearly build for some specific purpose, and there were just lots of different bricks of all sorts! I would pour through those boxes trying to work out what different very specific bricks could be used for, and they would inspire me to build all sorts of different things. I loved it so much. So many stories, so many creations, so much fun.
When I got new sets, it was like adding to this whole world I had. New characters and new parts. I got a submarine? Well now I can build crazy new spaceships when I want to play that game, or use the torso or head to create a unique character in my action movie games. They invited creativity and opened new concepts to explore.
My little brother is about 10 years younger than me, and by the time he was old enough to play with lego, most of my collection had been given away. He never really got into Lego as much as I did. The lego he got was all from new sets, and the sets he had were such finely detailed things, far more intricate than the things he could ever hope to build himself.
He had lego starwars sets and Harry Potter ones, as well as a load of other sets. He had a lot of Lego too, but half of it was from films or other existing story’s, so he never wanted to take them apart and make new things.
At the time when I was about 17 I really didn’t understand this. I remembered playing with Lego in a completely different way, but of course what I had was a completely different toy. General Grievous’ ship looks like what it looks like, and if it doesn’t it’s not his ship, so why change it? Besides, you’re playing with it alongside other starwars lego, so you WANT General Grievous’ ship. It’s not that you can’t be creative, it’s just that you are almost incentivised not to be by the product itself. And that’s sad.
Anyway thanks for the video, I really enjoyed it and it got all these ideas flooding to the top of my head, you really got me thinking about it and solidify these long dormant memories. Honestly really great video I loved it :)
Ps. if you read all this then thank you, I love you :)
Pps, I remember fawning over those sets in the catalogs too! I’ve never felt a greater sense of longing in my life than when looking at those huge pirate ships
Your lego avatar is adorable
I couldn’t agree with your take on lego any more. RR slugger catching fire out here
Haha yes the R.R. Slugger cult is spreading
Really enjoyed the nostalgia trip. You hit a lot of ideas I have also been thinking about. Great editing, writing 👍
I grew up with Lego in the 90's, but dropped it entirely after finishing middle school. Just recently been checking back on some Lego content again, and gotta say those new sets don't hold a candle to stuff from back then. The old sets had something that not only made me want to build them according to the instructions, but also to take them apart and make my own stuff with. Not getting that same feel when I look at any of the modern stuff.
Im kind of a sucker for 2000's to early mid 2010's Lego City sets, something about that era is fun for me, brings me back to my youth
Life on Mars may be my favorite Lego set I grew up with. The architecture of the Martian bases, the rovers and machines and just SO much nostalgia for the martians design, I love it. All in all, it really connected with my love for sci-fi and star wars Legos and how I could create these portals where armies of aliens could be waiting for a proper invasion.
I was right there with you gawking over the fright knights and adventurers sets. I was too young for them (‘95 baby) but my older brother had the catalogues. I remember in like 2000 I would ask for them for my birthday and Christmas but didn’t understand that they weren’t available. I eventually purchased all the sets I wanted when I was a kid.
This entire video is something I tell my wife all the time. Like, new Lego is cool and the sets look objectively great up on display but I don’t think I would have loved Lego anywhere near as much as I do if I grew up with these themes. If you gave me a 1000 piece modern Star Wars set it just feels like the only thing that could be built with those pieces is the intended set.
Also with you on the Galaxy explorer, it’s incredible. Probably going to pick up the blacktron set too on the aftermarket… sigh.