I was just thinking the same thing last Christmas as I was picking tubs of merchandise at Target. I don't think I ever had a Lego set based on any franchise. I did have one kick-ass spaceship that my sister got into and lost a bunch of pieces to. I had police cars, fire trucks, a dump truck, and a bunch of random block sets that I had fun just making whatever came to mind.

I love their space stuff from back in the day. I actually still have a big flying saucer on my bookcase next to a copy of War of the Worlds lol

Most of what I had was based on Star Wars Episode I ... so get ready for your heart attack, grandpa, this has been going on for some time. 

No, I know what you mean. Rather than instruction-driven sets like what I had, I think kids learning to play with their imagination is better. I'm a little biased because my cousin, who has a double Master's in MIT and works on secret government crap, played with them as a kid, and I've always heard his interest in engineering was somehow tied to it. 

Me, I was reading reviews for movies in the papers at three, so I was always quite advanced when it came to English ... would have liked someone to tell me print media and not talking like a fifth grader would die with the internet. At least I'm decently tech-savvy.

 I liked K'Nex a lot as a kid though. I was ... different.

We had some K'Nex but played a lot more with LEGOs. It helped that I have three siblings, so we all kind of shared. Most of our sets eventually wound up in a big bucket of pieces that we'd make all kinds of stuff with lol

I'm well aware of how long it's been going on. I was a subscriber to LEGO magazine for years and years and I think I still have the catalogue where they introduced the Star Wars sets somewhere. It was a big deal and certainly cool. I just think it's gotten out of hand

I like the old and new ways. I think the sets tied to properties can sometimes lead to some cool and unique pieces, but sometimes they are pretty bland. They've had some cool original series lately too, though like Power Miners and Monster Fighters (or something). It is a bit overwhelming to see how many sets are based on movies and stuff, but I think they just have more sets out there than they did in the 80s.

There is a Minecraft Lego set and Nintendo is apparently not too picky since they have Knex (or Mega Blocks) Mario Kart sets out there.

Can you tell I have a kid who is into Lego?

You bring up several good points. I think you're definitely right about there being more available, which I suppose is a good thing. I had forgotten about the Minecraft LEGOs and I'm kind of surprised they exist but on the other hand it's the most natural pairing in the world lol. And while it's cool that there are Mario Kart and Halo Mega Blocks/whatever, they're the poor man's substitute for actual LEGOs. I do hope we see some Nintendo themed sets eventually.

Oh, I agree! Nothing beats Lego for quality. I'm just saying Nintendo is apparently willing to sell their license for this stuff. Marvel started with Mega Bloks and later switched to Lego, so there's hope!

There's even a LEGO figure based off of Marilyn Monroe. Man they make everything lol. I always wanted one of those pirate ship sets when I was a kid, but never got one. I wasn't too big into LEGO as a kid, but have seen some pretty cool stuff that people have done with them.

I have three siblings and we were all into LEGOs to some degree, so we had quite a few. My older brother could always make the coolest stuff out of random crap lol

The new LEGO sets have too many specialized parts and I've always had a hard time putting together the things you're supposed to.  The instructions were always horrible (or maybe I was).  I do like most of the LEGO video games, though.  I wouldn't hold my breath for LEGO Zelda, licensing fees would be too expensive, I bet.

*breathes again* But the fact that there are Mario Kart Wii K'Nex does give me some hope.

There are Tyco blocks based on videogames.  My son loves the Halo stuff.  

I few weeks ago, I went with a couple of my kids to Toys R Us.  All I was looking for were just a plane pail of legos.  Nothing special.  Nothing fancy.  Just Legos.  I couldn't find one.  I did manage to get a few boxes of the big legos for my younger sons on sale.  They were great.  Just plain blocks.  There were 100 pieces in a box and I bought 4 of them.  They were only $10 each.  Damn shame I can't find the small blocks like that.  

Yeah, the best way to play with LEGOs is still to just make random stuff from a pile of blocks

James, do you have a Target nearby? They sell the pails of Lego bricks. I bet Walmart has them, too.

I didn't think about Target or Walmart.  I'll keep an eye out for them at those places.  If they have them, I know one thing I'll get the kids for the holidays.  Thanks. 

I can't wait for my son to get a bit older so I can play with his Lego's, lol.

I used to have the entire 'Under Sea' collection whenever I was younger. I don't remember the exact name of the set, but I remember it being awesome!

I had one of those! I also had most of the Arctic Expedition (or whatever it was called) but by that time I was more interested in displaying them than playing with them.

Those Star Wars sets came out about the time that I was moving on.  So, I am not quite sure if I stop playing Legos because of the Star Wars sets, or if I just grew out of them at the same time.  The Ice Planet was probably my favourtie of the different themes.

We had several Ice Planet sets. They were concurrent with our favorite, the Spyrius sets (or Spyrians, as we called them). We were missing the huge $100+ set (don't remember how much it was) and one of the big ships but we had everything else, even a couple duplicates, I think.

I cannot believe how awesome Legos were in the early 90s.  I totally forgot about that theme...  I miss those days.

That's my favorite period of LEGOs, with the Spyrians, Ice Planet, and Space Police. I did like the UFO sets that came out several years later though. I still have the big flying saucer on my bookcase next to a copy of War of the Worlds lol

You are bringing back all of the awesome memories of being a kid.  I think that I may have had that exact set, I do not remember though.  Nowadays all of the Legos are stored with my oldest brother in 3 or 4 large rubbermaid containers.  He has them because he also has kids who are the perfect age for Legos.

I've been buying my godson different lego sets the past few years now that he's old enough and notice the same. I've stayed away from the movie tie ins and have been getting him mostly lego city which he enjoys. Saying that though, I did get him the batcave last chrismas but how could I pass that up (it's pretty awesome).

I remember having an underwater lego base growing up which was awesome. Combining that with my western fort, I was able to have the sheriff and criminals go at it underwater. Good times!

Can't go wrong with Batman! As a side note, we had a lot of action figures but the Batmen were always the good guys and everybody else--Spider-Man, Power Rangers, Scooby Doo, whoever--was the bad guys. Good times indeed! But yeah, mixing sets was a lot of fun. We had island natives piloting giant space mechs lol

I dunno, my problem with newer sets isn't that there is a lot of branding, but rather that they have too many specialized parts. When I was little, I was really into legoes, but my parents wouldn't buy all too many for me, so I would build what the instructions said, but then I would take it apart and build something new with the pieces. I made some pretty creative stuff and lots of new sets have specialized pieces that aren't optimized for being build-friendly.

On an unrelateed note, I mostly stopped playing with legos when they stopped making the Bionicle sets. Dang,  those things were the coolest.

At one point I was really into the story, and I think I even have one of the games. I should dig that up one day.

Bionicle was pretty cool. For a while I followed real closely with the comics they sent out with LEGO Magazine. I never did watch any of the movies or play the games though.

Hehe, reading your blog in an old man's voice makes it funnier.

I could see why it could get overwhelming and there are some brand sets that don't seem like they fit (like a TMNT I saw), but i'm fine as long as they do a balance between original and branded properties. Besides, there's some very cool stuff of branded properties and like you, I would kill for a Zelda set.

Yeah, branded could be done right. I didn't have any qualms when they started with Star Wars. It's just so out of balance now.

Back to the Future Legos? Sweet! No, but seriously, you're right, Legos were far more creative "back in the day." That alien space ship you have (you still have it, right?) is awesome! One of my favorite Lego things I owned was the basketball set, remember? Each player had built-in springs, so when he was holding the ball, you simply tilted him back, let go, and the ball would fly into the air. That was awesome! 

Yup, my flying saucer is on my bookcase next to War of the Worlds lol. Yeah, that basketball game was fun. No way to play defense, though, I guess  I loved turning that pirate ship into an airship.

I listened to an NPR/MarketPlace report about the rise and fall of LEGO. they seem to link it to too much overbranding and overly complex lego sets that require to buy in on a specific theme than sets that let you make whatever you wished without the need of specific format themes. Plus they said their prior works in non lego creations that were suppose to bring in the teenage and young child crowds fell thru.

So when they tried to go back to non themed LEGOs, they've had a hard time trying to break from that model given how there are so many types of brand name LEGOs like the lord of the rings, star wars and pirates of the carribean.

Yeah, it was a cool novelty when they introduced the first Star Wars LEGOs but it's just gotten out of control since then and now they're stuck with this business model of branded themes. If they had made them limited time only sales that were just one arm of their business, they could have made them real collector's items. Now everyone just expects them and people like me just roll their eyes when they see yet another property getting the LEGO treatment.

It is pretty sad that the licensed set greatly out number the regular lego sets. And I agree this can limit a kids imagination. I grew up poor so when it came to toys I had a little bit of everything. So a team of transformers taking on a rival group of evil GI Joes and He-Man guys was all part of how my brother and I played. We would build "playsets" from boxes or legos.

But Lego does have a series that I have actually been collecting recently called Creator. Each set can make three different vehicles or whatever you can dream up. I use them to come up with vehicle designs for my comic book.

We had a smattering of all sorts of toys when I was a kid. We even saved things like milk bottle caps and yogurt cups and used them for all sorts of games. And we always pitted the Batmen action figures against everyone else, those evil Power Rangers and Spider-Men and whoever else happened to be at hand. Good times