2022 was a pretty neat year for LEGO, but it can’t hold a candle to the absolute insanity that was 2002. Let’s hop in our Hypno Cruisers and jump back 20 years to explore what I like to call “The Great LEGO Plague of 2002”!
Photography and other resources used in this video: https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1r9MSp_QKHTEOvFFN_cWpmpxj80cdNvPw?usp=share_link
Looking for the tunes used in this video? Check them out for free right here: https://rrslugger.bandcamp.com/album/r-r-sluggers-rock-raiders-mix-tape
I created the photography, stop motion animation, and music in this video. Original artwork by Brett Halland. Thanks for watching!
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What a perfect video topic for a Friday the 13th!
We've got a double header weekend for Slugger fans – new video today and livestream tomorrow! Hope everyone has a great weekend and thanks for letting ole Slugger be a part of it. ❤
The livestream is going to be on Saturday, January 14th at 5 PM EDT right here on YouTube!
but i LOVED that piece….holy shit it was everywhere now that i think about it….
it did bother me they couldnt be stacked easily to make bigger slopes
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vMBw8ypCIqU&ab_channel=SolarSands2
Yet your channel mascot relies heavily on a very similarly shaped piece?🤔
While i love that piece, it did really chang things
I believe that the overuse of a piece like that is part of a normal lego pattern, of introducing some idea or system, overusing it, and then gradually transitioning into more sensible use of the piece. Towards the more tasteful choices later mentioned.
For example, between last year's and this year's use of the City road plates, we have seen a rapid reduction in the overuse.
But, I've liked the video, because hot takes like that are what keep discussion alive.
Always felt kind of hard to use those wedges, but the family of 42022, 42023 and 44126 that debuted along, and worked with the same proportions as the plague pieces, not so much. They at least got simpler connections and designs.
Seeing as you know your Lego pieces well, what’s the longest serving piece outside of the main brick piece group til it was retired or replaced by a newer version of it? This is about a piece that’s not special-made for a set or a theme exclusive set either.
I’m curious on what piece saw the most usage over the years and how it’s been used in sets.
I love those pieces so much, but they are SO HARD TO USE!!! My favorite use of them was for the pincers on a giant lobster in an Aqua Raiders set. I miss that series ☹️
I actually have to agree because when I build some mocs im always trying to find the same piece but facing the other direction so they can match up and it gets super difficult trying to find a matching one
Despite disagreeing I got to love how well made this video is. Love anything this guys makes, Also prints aren't a problem, Use imagination.
I disagree, largely because those Alpha team sets you mention were some of my favorite. The cockpit pieces were way nicer to work with that anything I'd had before.
Really entertaining though!
These pieces aren’t bad
I love how you compared it to the actual Black Plague to just show how awful the brick really is. The pain is still felt today with the occasional offset pieces that go missing on some sets.
Yeah, my dude that's a trash opinion and IMO no reason to NOT collect past 2002. I watched one of your other reviews and you seemed decent, but this is just flat out stupid. The blocky aesthetic you proclaim to be a fan of just doesn't work for many builds – such as some of my personal favorites from Knight's Kingdom, Exo-Force, and beyond – and those curved pieces are necessary to complete the look.
Hi. I got to know your channel through Solar Sands and I just wanted to say it's astoundingly beautiful the work you put into these videos.
As someone who has never cared much for Legos I've gotten a whole other level of appreciation for it.
Cheers
I’ve thought to myself for some time now that those pieces were ugly and fundamentally changed the look of lego in a negative way. I was a kid when those pieces started to be used in all kinds of sets, and they left a bad taste in my mouth that I couldn’t identify for many years.
I too dislike hyperspecific pieces and pieces that look fragile or look like they dont fit with lego like the quidditch hoops and the lever pieces
Hi there slugger
Hey what is your upload rate?
I agree that the thing where you get a bunch of used bricks and find the odd unmatched left shell or whatever is annoying; I have a whole ziplock bag full of the unmatched parts like that. But I don't think that's a fair complaint, because the same could be said about the wing pieces that existed long before then. It's just as annoying to find an unmatched 6×12 angled plate.
I also agree that the fact they're commonly printed does make them harder to use, but I never let that stop me. My latest build actually used the four printed shell parts from the Hot Scorcher set you showed in the video, and I think I used them to a really cool effect.
I do like the 90s Lego aesthetic a lot, but I don't think the addition of these parts was a bad thing. I think for 2002 it was new and exciting, and after that it was a tool that one could use. I will grant, some are better than others, but I think the benefits and the eventual versatility and possibilities that adding curves offered far outweighed that annoying bumpy look you get when you stack them.
I'll tell you what part(s) bug me though. Those giant airplane cockpit pieces, and the huge wings, like in set 7893, or 3181. Those things are a plague. Those and superhero sets. 😛
I'm here for the superb brickfilming B)
you are the greatest youtuber of all time i think.
you are so cool. do you know of Mixels
Worded so cringe
I think a video about the evolution of LEGO eyes would be interesting.
I love Mixels, and I feel that the introduction of new Eye pieces was perfect, but only one of those three types remained.
I feel a redesign can help it, add 1 or 2 studs. 1 at the tip and another at the other end.
You'll lose some smoothness and get small gaps but you gain slightly more uses and stability.
I begin buying lego from 95 to 2000, my dark age with lego was from 2000 to 2010 when I started to buy again, now Lego is much MUCH better, but Im worry about the price now.
back when i used to frequent used lego stores and seeing the swaths of printed 41747’s and its mirrored counterpart from this era, i couldnt help but feel something was off, and frankly, this video really said the words i was looking for at the time! personally, my favorite theme is exoforce, and it’s chock FULL of big, swoopy, hyper-specific curve pieces, among even bigger offenders, like bionicle weapon pieces. to me though, the mechs work because it plays on using hyper-specific, one-use wonders, and giving them new life. sure, most triangular curve pieces and the like may not be used in a lego castle or a modular building any time soon, but i do think it has a place in the lego parts catalog, but only to be used (as you excellently demonstrated) in MODERATION.
No, those two peices at the end are pure gold and ingrained in my childhood memories of when I used to play with lego.
Holy. Shit. I completely forgot Galidor existed until now, I remember seeing them and thinking they were nightmare fuel. I legit think my brain shut out the memory as a protective measure
I feel like plenty of comments are making great points and I certainly won't try to bust your opinion on what sort of Lego you like but one my favorite sets I own is 31039, the Creator Blue Power Jet which has not one, not two, but THREE pairs of the massive 12 stud long curving slopes, and it uses them beautifully. I think it's a fantastic looking set and is a wonderful build. I think it plays to the strengths of the pieces, the sleekness and the lack of studs lending themselves easily to the smooth shapes of the aircraft. However! Because those pieces are so large and also curved, they can be a bit of trouble getting stuck down all the way! But the set is wonderful, and in my opinion always word a mention.
i watched your entire backlog and just to say youre content is absolutely amazing. though we have some conflicting ideas on some things here and there. it dosnt push me away but pulls me more to your videos. very much enjoy this channel. P.S solar sands sent me
if you don't like those pieces just don't use them? lol
Oof. When I think about it I might have one moc where I use this kind of piece and it's on the top of a boat :')
I love using curved slopes, but those particular parts I only use once in a blue moon, and I agree they are far too restrictive. And they definitely were in far too many sets back then.
10:16 this peice is my all to,e favorite peice, sure it comes in limited colors but it’s awsome, sadly I only have one with a white base instead of a black one, white dosent look good
I have a theory on the piece and it's due to Star Wars
The 1999 x wing had an old piece reused it looked fine But the later ones used this newer piece
So they're just trying to make the X wing look better right using fancier legos right
Wrong If you watch the 1970 Star Wars the Tip is almost identical to the new piece
And given that the 1999 X wing was a best seller Lego decided to mass produce this part to make the X wing more like the movie And to accomplish that mass production they integrated it into all the sets all for the sake of Star Wars
Peer Reviewed™ and Science™ pilled™.
One of my personal favorite Lego lines, Chima used a lot of sloped pieces as you were showing the beginning which looking back on I did not realize just how bad it is from 2010 onward
I’m gonna be honest, I’ve been trying to find the rights words here, and I think I’ve got them.
It’s simple, it was a new era, the 2000’s, and things were changing, whether we liked it or not, gone were the bold simple colors, sharp angles, and boxy shapes of the 90’s, now we had curves and polished pearl-satin colors in everything, computers, toys, cars, clothing, and yes, even Lego. Lego simply had to evolve with the times, or be lost to history, though I will admit they could’ve done a better job integrating these new curved building styles. Some sets look flat out janky, whereas others, like The Super Chief, look absolutely fine with their curves.
But either way, looking back, they should’ve moved more slowly when bringing in these new curved elements, and not done it so out of the blue and harshly. It’s like a swimming pool, sure, you could just cannonball, but you might get bit back by cold water, (or worse water in your sinuses), and I think that’s what happened to Lego. They had all these new pieces, but no idea yet on how to properly use them.
Anyways, those are just my thoughts, too much change too fast, driven by a new era of the world.
Rockatoa, Brickticks out!
Curves and the updated browns and grays completely changed the look of Lego in such a short period of time. It’s a shame that it changed so much but it really opened up so many new possibilities and a completely new style. They were essential to Lego replicating many real and fictional things, just look at how much 2002 and beyond Star Wars sets vary from their earlier counterparts. LEGO lost its crude charm but unfortunately I’m not sure it would’ve survived if it hadn’t.
I don’t think there was any mandate though. Designers were simply excited to play with this new style of design. Even with the far more limited inventory of curved parts it must’ve been eye opening and they likely wanted to use them wherever possible, the same way designers now for example like to use new colors wherever possible.
Thanks Solar Sands