Legos, anyone?

[sketchley]

4 hours ago, Bolt said:

Not sue if this has been seen yet..

wasn't able to post the link so here's a photo of the article..

 

"Lego unveils tech-filled Smart Bricks - to play experts' unease" appeared in the BBC in the last 12 hours:

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/crmlnmnwzk2o

 

I have mixed feelings about the Smart Bricks.  It's great that Lego is continuing to innovate, but I'm not sure if this is the right direction...

[Bolt]

33 minutes ago, sketchley said:

"Lego unveils tech-filled Smart Bricks - to play experts' unease" appeared in the BBC in the last 12 hours:

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/crmlnmnwzk2o

 

I have mixed feelings about the Smart Bricks.  It's great that Lego is continuing to innovate, but I'm not sure if this is the right direction...

Personally, I'm not going to rush out to get these. I think it's a bit of a gimmick. Admittedly, these "smart bricks " , that can react to each other with laser play and play SW music , may be fun, but I don't see this as a must have. But LEGO will probably make a killing on this new technology, as the younger generations will eat it up. And hey, they have to stay on top of their game, right? And i'm sure we will now be seeing the same technology in their Marvel, Ninjago, Harry Potter, etc. etc. offerings in the coming years.

Edited Wednesday at 04:24 AM by Bolt

[M'Kyuun]

On 1/6/2026 at 8:23 PM, Bolt said:

Personally, I'm not going to rush out to get these. I think it's a bit of a gimmick. Admittedly, these "smart bricks " , that can react to each other with laser play and play SW music , may be fun, but I don't see this as a must have. But LEGO will probably make a killing on this new technology, as the younger generations will eat it up. And hey, they have to stay on top of their game, right? And i'm sure we will now be seeing the same technology in their Marvel, Ninjago, Harry Potter, etc. etc. offerings in the coming years.

I've never been a big fan of lights or sounds in my toys. It just never mattered to me, and the toys usually suffer concessions for it, especially from the 70s-90s when electronics were much larger, energy burning incandescent light bulbs were the only option, and the toy required a voluminous load of batteries to affect the functions. That said I own a number that have said gimmicks, and every now and again I'll activate them for a quick thrill and to make sure the batteries are still viable. My favorite of these toys is Transformers Animated Ultra Magnus: Jeff Bennett's Robert Stack impression is spot on and his lines, taken nigh verbatim from the show, are still smile-inducing. Second runner up would be Agent Knight with his William Daniels sound-alike delivering KITT's lines, and that pulsing scanner and the whoo-whoo sound effect. Good stuff, that.

However, smart bricks aren't the breakthrough innovation I would have asked for, either now or as a wee lad. A family of this, however- that would be game changing. 

[danth]

On 1/6/2026 at 8:23 PM, Bolt said:

But LEGO will probably make a killing on this new technology, as the younger generations will eat it up.

I don't think this is true, and historically, these kind of forced gimmicks fail. Vidiyo, Hidden Side, Dimensions...

The Mario theme is doing okay, I presume, probably due to the popularity of the franchise, and the quality of set designs, and if I had to guess, not at all due to the weird Mario/Luigi figures with the embedded electronics. For instance, I bought this set, but I have no interest in the Mario figure (shown faded out).

But even though I don't really like that Mario figure, at least it makes sense. Mario is basically the "smart brick" in these sets, and his expressions and speech change based on the tiles he interacts with. You move him around, he says things and makes faces. That makes sense.

But just having a brick, sitting there in a exposed in a weird spot, making primitive noises and flashing? That doesn't really work.

What's well integrated in Mario sets is weirdly forced into these Star Wars sets. 

Edited Friday at 09:50 PM by danth

[M'Kyuun]

1 hour ago, danth said:

I don't think this is true, and historically, these kind of forced gimmicks fail. Vidiyo, Hidden Side, Dimensions...

The Mario theme is doing okay, I presume, probably due to the popularity of the franchise, and the quality of set designs, and if I had to guess, not at all due to the weird Mario/Luigi figures with the embedded electronics. For instance, I bought this set, but I have no interest in the Mario figure (shown faded out).

But even though I don't really like that Mario figure, at least it makes sense. Mario is basically the "smart brick" in these sets, and his expressions and speech change based on the tiles he interacts with. You move him around, he says things and makes faces. That makes sense.

But just having a brick, sitting there in a exposed in a weird spot, making primitive noises and flashing? That doesn't really work.

What's well integrated in Mario sets is weirdly forced into these Star Wars sets. 

Even the light-up lightsabers, which make more sense IMHO, were a very short-lived gimmick (that also crossed over to City as flashlights for police). It seems the build quality of the sets in which these smart bricks are being employed is rather substandard to poor; for my money at any age, I'd rather have the most accurate depiction of the subject matter over lights and sounds. However, that's just my own preference as an older LEGO fan growing up in the very analog days of the 70s and 80s. At any rate, you make a good point about LEGO's other attempts at integrating the digital into their regular building play pattern, and they've all ended with lackluster results. IMHO, LEGO is best as a construction toy, so ever-improving on that core tenant should be their focus.

Edit: I'll amend my comment about lackluster builds, as I bought a few of the Hidden Side sets, and while I cared little for the digital features, the sets themselves were good to downright excellent builds, judging from the few I own personally. Looking at the other sets, though, I thought the majority were brilliantly done, as they not only had the digital features on the periphery, but most of the sets themselves had transformative features built in to represent the haunted nature of buildings and objects. It was imaginative and well-implemented, IMHO, one of their better stand-alone themes.

Edited Friday at 11:50 PM by M'Kyuun