The patents for their core IP expired. You can legally sell generic compatible lego blocks now. So to maintain mindshare they have to do licensed movie tie-ins, their own movies and other such stuff.
I get why but it feels less timeless than it used to, perhaps with less emphasis on creativity-led play. But what do I know - I'm a grownup.
In the age of Megabloks, Lego still had the moat of their pieces actually being fit for purpose. Megabloks were ass, and even a kid could instantly tell.
And their directions were always a ton better, for sets—though they used to be more like spot-the-difference puzzles than they are now, which I credit with my burying the needle on a spatial reasoning test in high school, so I’m kinda sad they lost that perhaps-accidental pedagogical value in the shift to the you-can-follow-them-in-your-sleep, modern style of directions.
But maybe the knockoff competitors aren’t as obviously-shit as they were in the earlier days?
The knock-offs I’ve handled recently are still terrible. They don’t fit well. No satisfying click. The colors feel off..
I wanted to like the cheaper brands but none of them have the same Lego engineering quality. We dusted off some of my old lego and the bricks still fit perfectly with the new bricks 30+ years later!
Even today the LEGO-compatible knock-offs are complete junk, my kids occasionally end up picking up a loose bag for £1 from the local charity shop. Pieces don't stick together properly (with each other, let alone LEGO pieces); legs, arms, and hands come off the minifigs; etc. You can instantly tell — even ignoring the assault rifles that would never make it in a LEGO box.
I get why but it feels less timeless than it used to, perhaps with less emphasis on creativity-led play. But what do I know - I'm a grownup.