This week, with the release of LEGO Dimensions, I’ve been thinking a lot about LEGO and cost. One of my favorite things about LEGO is the built in constraints: there are only so many pieces and colors to choose from. This is why I get such joy from a really inventive LEGO design. But, LEGO is also expensive, and the expense adds to the constraints. If I want to build a My Own Creation (MOC), I have to use the LEGO parts I either already own or ones that I can afford. The popularity of LEGO combined with the rarity of some of the parts leads to some pieces and colors becoming prohibitively expensive. Within these constraints, people have been able to create some amazing builds, but I’ve also read complaints in the LEGO community that LEGO can sometimes be about “who has the most money.”
One of the more expensive colors is sand green, and someone recently posted this picture on Reddit of a dinosaur built with a lot of the sand green bricks. They titled the post “I estimate that’s about 1 billion in sand green bricks right there.” No kidding. I went and looked the bricks up. Some of those bricks go for $100 each. One hundred dollars for a single brick. That’s a money game.
In some sense, it would be nice to have an unlimited supply of whatever brick I wanted to build with. In the recent documentary, Brickumentary, LEGO artist Nathan Sawaya told us he spends six figures a year on LEGO. That’s a lot of money for LEGO, more than I will ever have to spend on bricks. But, at the same time, I sort of like having to work within the constraints of what I have on hand. Even with my somewhat large collection, I’ll never have all the bricks I want to work with, so that’s where creativity comes in. Theoretically, the more you spend the fewer constraints you have, which is probably true to an extent. I’ll probably never be able to build a sand green modular, for example, unless LEGO issues another sand green building in their modular line. The modulars are just too big, and so I’m stuck building with a different color. And, that’s ok, it doesn’t take away from my enjoyment; it just makes it a different experience building with more common colors.
This week, with the release of LEGO Dimensions, I’m feeling this same sense of money vs versatility in the game. Initially, I vowed to stay far away from LEGO Dimensions because of the expense, but of course I gave in. When I stood in Toys R Us yesterday looking at all the variety, I was a little overwhelmed. Someone on Reddit added up the costs of all the launch day sets and came up with a price tag of $445, which is way too much for me. Four hundred dollars would buy a lot of actual LEGO. Still, I picked up the starter kit and a couple of sets I knew I would want later and went home to see how it all worked.
I’ve played most of the LEGO video games, but I’ve never played any of the Skylanders type games, so I didn’t know what to expect. I expected to feel constrained by my comparative lack of characters in the game. But, I didn’t really feel constrained at all. Sure, there were some things I couldn’t do and times when I walked up to a puzzle only to be told “you need X character to do that.” But, that’s no different than any other LEGO video game. The only difference is that in the older LEGO games, I was able to unlock all the characters eventually, and if I choose, I could go back and replay those areas that I missed originally. In LEGO Dimensions, I can also do that, except I can’t unlock the characters, I have to pay. And, they aren’t cheap. Prices range from about $15 for the fun packs with one character and vehicle or gadget and $20 for the team packs that usually contain two characters with vehicles or gadgets to $30 for level packs which give you a character with vehicle or gadget and a new game level. That being said, I don’t feel like not having them detracted from the game or created any real constraints at all, but having them was just fun. One of the packs I bought was The Wizard of Oz because I thought the minifig was adorable. While she was not essential to the gameplay, she was fun in the game and I like flying around as her.
Some of the other packs, like Portal come with their own level, and that might be more worth the money. At least in that case you are getting more actual play time and additional narrative. But, overall, I don’t feel compelled to buy all the packs just to buy them. Some of them have really great minifigs, and that will be a consideration. But, buying a pack for a minifig and spending that much money on a pack that doesn’t measurable ease the constraints of the game are two very different things for me. I like LEGO Dimensions; it’s a fun game. I’m just not sure what these packs are supposed to add other than just something else for us to purchase.
