Sealed bags too organized?

[lowillsw]

The new sets for the past few years have been too organized with their bagging.  The bags used to be unnumbered to at the most from 3 bags each numbered from 1 through 4.  Nowadays the sets goes from bag 1 to bag 13.  The builds now seems to dumbed down since the bags are so organized.  When I build I just dump everything into 1 big pile to slow it down.  Does anyone else feel the same way with your newer builds?

[TheOrcKing]

For small to medium builds it seems frivolous to have every bag numbered but for a BIG set like Haunted House numbered bags was a savior. It maybe too organized but I do like the fact everything is done this way so well. It also helps me feel more confident everything is there with little to no chance of something missing. If anything, I like the fact the option to dump out everything in classic fashion or by the numbered books is even there to begin with.

[sadowsk1]

No, I like the organization.  It sounds like if you don't it's easy enough to fix.

[MartinP]

The new sets for the past few years have been too organized with their bagging.  The bags used to be unnumbered to at the most from 3 bags each numbered from 1 through 4.  Nowadays the sets goes from bag 1 to bag 13.  The builds now seems to dumbed down since the bags are so organized.  When I build I just dump everything into 1 big pile to slow it down.  Does anyone else feel the same way with your newer builds?

I only like the organization for the larger sets. It saves a lot of time trying to find pieces. For the smaller sets. I would not mind of it was all in one pile.

[DoNotInsertIntoMouth]

The new sets for the past few years have been too organized with their bagging.  The bags used to be unnumbered to at the most from 3 bags each numbered from 1 through 4.  Nowadays the sets goes from bag 1 to bag 13.  The builds now seems to dumbed down since the bags are so organized.  When I build I just dump everything into 1 big pile to slow it down.  Does anyone else feel the same way with your newer builds?

 

Lol - I read this in a "grumpy-old-man-talking-about-the-good-old-days-and-walking-4-miles-to-school-uphill" voice. Lol

 

I can see your point. I for one like the numbered bags just because I have dyslexic tendencies and sometimes pieces literally blend in with each other. So the more separate the better. Plus I hate sorting.

[boxofcorey]

It's a good way to appease both crowds... don't like it? Cut open the bags and dump them out as soon as you open the box and act like nothing has changed.

 

But for people like me that can't find the red brick hiding in a pile of white, it's helpful.

[Scissorino]

I HAD to sort the campervan pieces into colours otherwise it would have taken even longer than it has! I was expecting numbered bags.

[Grolim]

I like it.  I'm not a fan of looking for pieces, I like the actual building part.  After building dozens of used sets out of one big pile a couple of times recently I'm over the hunt for parts and just want to put them together.

 

Like boxofcorey said, it's now catered for both types of people as those who want to have a big pile can just cut them all open and do that.

[segreto]

I like it due the ability to see missing pieces before you are done going through the entire pile. I was missing a grey rod from Jek's starship last night, and I was able to figure out it was missing by going through just 1 bag.  Luckily, it was stuck in the crevice of the bag, but I didn't have to look to long to find it or figure out if I had to replace it.  

 

Also, it lets me see the extra pieces so I can put them elsewhere and not get them mixed up with the others.  This is hand when using the clear pieces and the transparent pieces that are the same size.

[naf]

I enjoy dumping out all the pieces in one big pile, brings back some nostalgia for the good old days.  A Lego building session isn't complete until you've ripped your hair out looking for that one critical piece only to discover it hiding in your pile of bricks hours later 

 

However, I don't think Lego produced sets with 1000+ pieces back in the 80's, so I can understand the need to give today's builds a little bit of organization.  But like others have said, the option is there to keep things as unorganized as you want.

[justafrog]

I enjoy dumping out all the pieces in one big pile, brings back some nostalgia for the good old days.  A Lego building session isn't complete until you've ripped your hair out looking for that one critical piece only to discover it hiding in your pile of bricks hours later 

 

However, I don't think Lego produced sets with 1000+ pieces back in the 80's, so I can understand the need to give today's builds a little bit of organization.  But like others have said, the option is there to keep things as unorganized as you want.

 

 

And for those who REALLY want a challenge, have your cat randomly choose two or three pieces as toys she can bat under the couch. Not that I have to ASK my cat to do this, mind you - she's a go-getter.

[CNH1974]

I prefer the accidental pinging pieces across the room and them disappearing - under a chair/into another pile of unsorted Lego/ or plain forever ie house until a move - method.

[comicblast]

I'm in the process of reading a book called "Brick by Brick" by David C. Robertson. It basically covers the history of the LEGO Company, but it has a heavy emphasis on the economics behind their valiant recovery from bankruptcy in the early 2000's. One of the problems that LEGO encountered was that the brick was becoming increasingly "obsolete" and old. Too old infact, for it to survive any longer in the world, according to some people. So, LEGO came up with some new, more digital products such as LEGO Studio, which I'm sure many of you recall, including Exobro94. Their studies also showed that consumbers (6-12 year olds) were spending less, and less time playing with their toys, increasing a need for "dumbed down" LEGO sets - LEGO sets that had larger and fewer pieces, easier instructions, etc. Obviously, the LEGO Company was distraught by this, but they did eventually find a balance between the ratio of pieces found in sets. In addition, they restricted the instructions WAY more. Remember the old instructions manuals? They had pretty general directions, and allowed for a whole lot of creative building after you built the set. Nope, not quite the way majority of sets today are.

 

Now to answer your question, I think it is very likely that the LEGO Company decided to organize this a little more to make things easier for the consumer - your 6-12 year old who spent only a little time on each LEGO set. Included are bigger pieces, more concrete instructions, and as you said, likely numbered sealed bags. I think it's just a way for LEGO the better cater to their targetted customer. Of course, as we all know, 6-12 year olds are not the only people who play with LEGO's, and are not the only targeted customer of LEGO's either, but one of the big reasons why juveniles have been the target of any company through products, ad campaigns, etc. is because they want to capture that customer for life, to make it a second nature, or a necessity to how they live.

 

Sorry for the long response, but I was really excited to use some of my new-found knowledge. I'll also be writing an article on the book some time to highlight some of the key facts that Roberson hit on the head. Stay tuned!

[MartinP]

I'm in the process of reading a book called "Brick by Brick" by David C. Robertson. It basically covers the history of the LEGO Company, but it has a heavy emphasis on the economics behind their valiant recovery from bankruptcy in the early 2000's. One of the problems that LEGO encountered was that the brick was becoming increasingly "obsolete" and old. Too old infact, for it to survive any longer in the world, according to some people. So, LEGO came up with some new, more digital products such as LEGO Studio, which I'm sure many of you recall, including Exobro94. Their studies also showed that consumbers (6-12 year olds) were spending less, and less time playing with their toys, increasing a need for "dumbed down" LEGO sets - LEGO sets that had larger and fewer pieces, easier instructions, etc. Obviously, the LEGO Company was distraught by this, but they did eventually find a balance between the ratio of pieces found in sets. In addition, they restricted the instructions WAY more. Remember the old instructions manuals? They had pretty general directions, and allowed for a whole lot of creative building after you built the set. Nope, not quite the way majority of sets today are.

 

Now to answer your question, I think it is very likely that the LEGO Company decided to organize this a little more to make things easier for the consumer - your 6-12 year old who spent only a little time on each LEGO set. Included are bigger pieces, more concrete instructions, and as you said, likely numbered sealed bags. I think it's just a way for LEGO the better cater to their targetted customer. Of course, as we all know, 6-12 year olds are not the only people who play with LEGO's, and are not the only targeted customer of LEGO's either, but one of the big reasons why juveniles have been the target of any company through products, ad campaigns, etc. is because they want to capture that customer for life, to make it a second nature, or a necessity to how they live.

 

Sorry for the long response, but I was really excited to use some of my new-found knowledge. I'll also be writing an article on the book some time to highlight some of the key facts that Roberson hit on the head. Stay tuned!

Very interesting. I remember comparing some of the old set instructions with the new ones and they were very different. The new ones are also very specified on what to build in that certain building step. The old instructions just give a general picture of what the set looks like after that step. IMO, I like the old ones because you can manipulate the set to what you want it to be.

[635-ukk]

I only like the organization for the larger sets. It saves a lot of time trying to find pieces. For the smaller sets. I would not mind of it was all in one pile.

I agree.

[CNH1974]

I'm in the process of reading a book called "Brick by Brick" by David C. Robertson. It basically covers the history of the LEGO Company, but it has a heavy emphasis on the economics behind their valiant recovery from bankruptcy in the early 2000's. One of the problems that LEGO encountered was that the brick was becoming increasingly "obsolete" and old. Too old infact, for it to survive any longer in the world, according to some people. So, LEGO came up with some new, more digital products such as LEGO Studio, which I'm sure many of you recall, including Exobro94. Their studies also showed that consumbers (6-12 year olds) were spending less, and less time playing with their toys, increasing a need for "dumbed down" LEGO sets - LEGO sets that had larger and fewer pieces, easier instructions, etc. Obviously, the LEGO Company was distraught by this, but they did eventually find a balance between the ratio of pieces found in sets. In addition, they restricted the instructions WAY more. Remember the old instructions manuals? They had pretty general directions, and allowed for a whole lot of creative building after you built the set. Nope, not quite the way majority of sets today are.

 

Now to answer your question, I think it is very likely that the LEGO Company decided to organize this a little more to make things easier for the consumer - your 6-12 year old who spent only a little time on each LEGO set. Included are bigger pieces, more concrete instructions, and as you said, likely numbered sealed bags. I think it's just a way for LEGO the better cater to their targetted customer. Of course, as we all know, 6-12 year olds are not the only people who play with LEGO's, and are not the only targeted customer of LEGO's either, but one of the big reasons why juveniles have been the target of any company through products, ad campaigns, etc. is because they want to capture that customer for life, to make it a second nature, or a necessity to how they live.

 

Sorry for the long response, but I was really excited to use some of my new-found knowledge. I'll also be writing an article on the book some time to highlight some of the key facts that Roberson hit on the head. Stay tuned!

 

i have looked up the book on Amazon, it seems a reasonable price and it gets good reviews. So I think I would be placing an order.

 

Last year I read: Building a History. I like reading histories of how products fare over a long time. This starts of very well and tells the early history of the company, but the modern times reads more like lists of themes. And it does not really cover the subject of what by the looks of it; Brick by Brick does in detail. And annoyingly all the pictures in the UK edition are in black and white. But the US edition is in colour.

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Building-History-The-Lego-Group/dp/1844681254/ref=pd_sim_b_8

 

Another book I highly recommend is Lego: A Love Story. I got this for about

[naf]

I prefer the accidental pinging pieces across the room and them disappearing - under a chair/into another pile of unsorted Lego/ or plain forever ie house until a move - method.

 

I can't tell you how many times I've done this.  I swear the pieces just launch out of my hand randomly at times, especially those little 1x1 round studs.

[MartinP]

I can't tell you how many times I've done this.  I swear the pieces just launch out of my hand randomly at times, especially those little 1x1 round studs.

That is why Lego gives you some extra small pieces. Just in case you lose them some how.

[arobert125]

It's all about efficiency in manufacturing and automation......throw in a pinch of quality and there you have it!