The LEGO Group just revealed their latest Ideas set, the Red London Telephone Box. But it seems like public reception isn’t too great. Granted every newly revealed LEGO set will have all sorts of criticism, but I feel like this set has made me realize a somewhat prevalent problem that has plagued many sets that have released in recent times. RaiderOfTheLostBrick calls it “yet another entry on the ever-expanding list of ‘LEGO Ideas sets that should remain as MOCs’”. And this really makes more sense than it should. Many are calling it overpriced. Many are saying it looks cool but not something they are actually willing to buy. But all things considered, the price per brick ratio is technically fair. With a roughly 0.08 US cents per price pricing, most builders would agree that’s a very fair price considering the set even comes with a light brick. The set is sufficiently large to warrant such a price, right?

Well that’s what I think is the issue. It’s too big. The benefits of having a large model is detailing. LEGO bricks are an element based building kit toy. The finest detail is limited by the LEGO elements that exist. The bigger the model the finer the details. However this becomes unnecessary with the simpler the model itself. For example, a large model of a cube does not benefit from its size more than a small model of a cube. Since there aren’t any fine details that need to be captured. Looking at pictures of the set so far has made me realized how few special details there are that would make this a particularly interesting build process. A smaller LEGO model may lack in detail but it actually makes up for it in a different aspect: interesting design choices. A smaller model will force the designer to use creative building techniques to emulate realistic details. It’s often more fun to see how a designer will create finer details without the crutch of being able to brute force it with sufficient amounts of bricks.

Take for example old Pokémon sprites. Consider this old and new Espeon sprite.

The one on the right definitely looks more detailed when both sprites are enlarged up close. But in the context of these being menu sprites on a small handheld console, the difference becomes less noticeable. One has a more chibi/squashed look but that’s more of an attribute of differing art styles rather than resolution size.

The point I’m making is that after a certain point, making a set larger can be detrimental since there’s too much added without really making things more interesting. A criticism of the Eiffel Tower is that it’s just repetitive. There aren’t really any intricate details that stay novel after building them 12 times. While the telephone box is nowhere nearly as bad, it doesn’t have the benefit of being an impressive large project. While the Eiffel Tower set is certainly more monotonous, it’s an impressive display and can be regarded as a massive fun project. Hobbyists can enjoy its scale. The telephone box is in that awkward size where it’s not big enough to be a particularly interesting display piece. So while its price per piece ratio is actually not bad, it just feels overpriced. Had it been smaller and had a more creative build with a proportionally priced price tag, I can see way more people praising it. But the LEGO Group is concerned with creating these massive “deluxe” feeling building experiences by making these 18+ sets. And in order to justify the 18+ label, they resort to just making it bigger so it feels like a more deluxe package. This just doesn’t really work.

That’s just my two cents at least.