LEGO SMART Play: My Opinion So Far
Posted by CapnRex101,
LEGO history is littered with attempts to combine traditional play sets with technology, some of which achieve mild success, while others are ended sooner than planned or utterly crash and burn.
SMART Play is the latest such effort and maybe the most ambitious, considering the extended development time of over nine years. I have now had some experience with the system, so this article covers my thoughts so far, based on playing with the bricks for a few hours and discussion with the system's developers.
The Good
Perhaps the most important thing I can say is that this is a great improvement on VIDIYO. Like many others, I was sure from the moment those sets were revealed that they would fail, mostly because the initial wave had almost nothing to do with the broader LEGO range. Other than the minifigures and attaching a few tiles to BeatBoxes, there was nothing 'LEGO' about them.
That is not the case with SMART Play, which does feel like a natural extension of the physical LEGO system in some ways. Only the charging dock feels truly separate, which makes sense. The integration with the Star Wars sets announced so far leaves plenty to be desired and I will come to that later, but the SMART Brick does feel at home when integrated with simpler models in the style of Classic sets, like the duck and dinosaur seen in promotional videos.
Also, I am fairly impressed with the technology. The reference to 'more than twenty patented world-firsts within its technology' in the press release feels like an overstatement, as I expect that refers to existing technologies being miniaturised or somehow repackaged. The functions seem familiar from other toys, after all, albeit perhaps not packed so tightly.
Nonetheless, the brick seems extremely versatile. I like the idea of the SMART Tags informing the brick how to behave, rather than each set containing a pre-programmed brick, which I was expecting. There would doubtless be some advantages to that, but the generic SMART Brick is far more adaptable and probably of greater interest to children and adult fans.
On that subject, these sets are very obviously designed with children in mind. Even so, I think there are potential applications for adult fans to use the bricks, particularly given their ability to transmit information. Huw knows far more about this aspect of LEGO sets than I do and he can hopefully experiment with integrating the SMART Brick into great ball contraptions and the like, though from what I have observed so far, there is potential.
There is also a lot still to be discovered about the SMART Brick, I imagine. I had the chance to interact with the upcoming Star Wars range for a few hours last month and was shown how the bricks can be linked together to create unique effects. For example, six bricks connected to form a disco floor light pattern. Sadly, I could not take photos or video at the time to record it, but the effect was clever.
Of course, actually buying several SMART Bricks would be very expensive currently, so I hope they will be available to purchase separately in the near future, or in smaller sets. Still, I expect playing with the bricks and tags for a while will reveal some surprising features, which is always fun.
You may notice that I have not really discussed the sets revealed so far, which brings us to the next section...
The Bad
By far the weakest application of the SMART Play system I have seen is in the Star Wars sets announced earlier this week. It goes without saying that the models do not look great because the brick needs to be readily accessible, resulting in substantial gaps. I am more concerned by the relative lack of functionality though, since only a few of the SMART Bricks' capabilities are actually used.
There is not a huge amount of variety in how the SMART Bricks are integrated in the new Star Wars sets. I think this is everything I have noted happening in the sets announced so far:
- Reactive sounds when moving vehicles or ground-based devices around.
- Occasional character-based sounds when flying ships around, such as R2-D2 screaming.
- Laser sounds when pushing a button on vehicles and turrets.
- Relevant sounds when certain minifigures are nearby, such as bursts of music or vaguely appropriate 'dialogue' noises.
- Reacts to the colours of a hammer and a fuel hose with sounds related to those tasks.
- Something approaching music plays when the brick is attached to the Mos Eisley Cantina and rocked back and forth.
- Lights activate when many features are used, but I think they are flawed and I will explain why later.
The proximity and colour sensors are only used for very limited purposes and it all seems fairly repetitive. From my experience, the SMART Brick always generates the same sound when you place Luke Skywalker in the X-wing, or turn the X-wing upside down when Artoo is on board, for instance. The brick seems far more versatile than the Star Wars sets demonstrate.
Furthermore, I find the sounds underwhelming in many cases. The brick is small, so it would be unrealistic to anticipate fantastic audio quality, although it still seems very tinny to me. Also, the synthesised imitations of some Star Wars sounds are nowhere near the sound effects from the films. It bothers me that the X-wing and other vehicles make a standardised laser noise, as only one example, instead of the memorable sounds from the movies.
Honestly, it feels like a legally distinct copy of Star Wars in some cases and I am surprised that Lucasfilm accepted the use of generic sounds. I would never expect synthesisers to achieve a faultless copy of the real sounds, but there are instances where the sounds are confusing and you struggle to recognise what they are supposed to be. This clip of 'music' playing at the Mos Eisley Cantina, recorded by Beyond the Brick, illustrates it best:
You can also hear the sounds representing dialogue in that video, which I dislike. Focusing on cadences, similar to Simlish, makes complete sense, but the sounds are hardly identifiable as dialogue, in my opinion. They sound more like ordinary robot noises to me, though a couple of characters I heard in Billund had more convincing 'dialogue', to be fair.
Perhaps more significant is a surprising inconsistency in how SMART Bricks seem to function. When I first played with the sets in Billund last month, activating certain features proved rather difficult. I assumed that was user error on my part, but I noticed LEGO employees having some trouble too, periodically having to swap out the brick because its battery had run out or due to other unknown issues.
Worryingly, I observed the same thing in London. Event attendees were given a twenty-minute demonstration of the SMART Play system, covering how the brick interacts with the new Star Wars sets, as well as a police car scenario and some animals. Again, the people showing us how the system works had to replace the brick at least twice and seemingly not because it was short on charge.
That will obviously not be possible for people with only one SMART Brick. There was literally a case full of freshly charged bricks awaiting use at the demonstration in London, so a cynic may wonder whether a few inconsistencies were expected, which would not be a good sign.
The Baffling
I can understand launching LEGO SMART Play with Star Wars in some regards, as the brand comes with an inherent fan base and its vehicles are iconic, even when somewhat distorted to accommodate the SMART Brick. However, that decision results in multiple avoidable issues, in my opinion, so it strikes me as a needless risk.
Firstly, we all understand that LEGO Star Wars sets are often expensive, so adding the cost of the SMART Play technology on top yields exceptionally expensive sets. I have major concerns about the value, but even if we generously assume the sets revealed so far represent fair value because of the SMART technology included, they are not easily accessible when the cheapest set available at launch costs £59.99, $69.99 or €69.99.
For that reason, I think starting with City, Creator or Classic would make more sense. Avoiding licensing costs would certainly lower the prices, making it easier for parents to buy the SMART Play sets for their children to test. While I am sure there will be cheaper sets produced in future, experience from VIDIYO illustrates how important a positive start can be.
One reason given for launching with Star Wars was that children already know how to engage with Star Wars vehicles. I would argue that trucks, helicopters and dinosaurs prove even more intuitive and it would be much easier to integrate the SMART Bricks with such sets, as opposed to vehicles with clearly defined appearances like an X-wing or TIE Advanced.
Lastly, steering clear of Star Wars would avoid complaints about the generic sounds. I can say from experience that the police car siren is a thousand times more convincing than the cantina band 'music'. Sets from City and Classic would probably have enabled greater flexibility as well, using the SMART technology to its full potential, rather than its limited utility in Star Wars sets.
My other source of confusion relates to the lights in the SMART Brick. I like the idea of the built-in lights and their brightness seems pretty good to me, although the lights play basically no role during play, at least with the Star Wars sets. The lights on either side of the brick alternate when firing the laser cannons, which is something, although their main use in the Star Wars sets is to highlight that an action is happening.
The brick seems to light up furiously as if to draw attention to itself doing something, but I have no idea why much of the time. Lights flash randomly when flying a fighter around or when Luke Skywalker and Darth Vader are fighting in 75427 Throne Room Duel & A-wing and they have no clear relationship with the action taking place.
Again, I noted better examples of the lights in use outside the upcoming Star Wars range. The aforementioned police siren coincides with alternating red and blue lights on the SMART Brick and the lights turn red with an alarm sounding when the helicopter flies upside down. Very little like that seems to happen with the Star Wars sets.
LEGO SMART Play doubtless has potential, which is more than could be said for VIDIYO and some other attempts at integrating technology with traditional sets. Even so, I am not currently convinced by its execution in the Star Wars sets revealed so far, where the functionality seems pretty predictable and limited.
This technology is more effective in other contexts, from what I have seen to date. Clearly, it is designed with children in mind and I think the SMART Brick feels more at home when linked to simpler Classic-style models than it does in LEGO Star Wars, at least at the moment.
The new SMART Play sets are now available to pre-order on LEGO.com.
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82 comments on this article
Don't tell me this is better than Vidiyo after showcasing those minifigures. Some of the Vidiyo-minifigures were exceptionally awesome (not all of them, obviously - some of them were the Samurapper).
If you want to compare the tech, fine. Sure. The Vidiyo-app was atrocious, as is par for the course. But man, don't bring the minifigs down to the level of those boring SW-figures, that's a bad look.
Also, if we're going to compare this to Vidiyo, then these bricks are going to need a better name. Something hip, something happening, something that'll really jive with the kidz deez dayz. And as an expert on the matter, I suggest... Bryqxz. You're WELCOME.
@Crux said:
"But man, don't bring the {Vidiyo} minifigs down to the level of those boring SW-figures, that's a bad look."
Did I miss something in the article? Where does @CapnRex101 do that?
Now that I've read enough of these articles, I wonder if the healthiest approach is for me to just *not care* about the Smart sets. I enjoy collecting minifigures and building small vignettes, so unless the 2026 Star Wars Advent Calendar is $99.99 USD because it includes a Smart Brick*, I really can just avoid this. I may as well be mad at Duplo for existing, which is to say, I shouldn't.
The only circumstance I might get mad at the Smart line is if it includes a minifigure that I really want but is only available in one of these sets. So far, not the case. (Rotating R2 is nice, but we all know what the back of the figure looks like and I can live without it.)
* - Not out of the realm of possibility.
I've commented on this too much already, but it is Friday afternoon, so...
There sure is potential, but for now I don't see enough fun in it. My kid (n=1) is not interested.
I also question the choice for Star Wars. Does Star Wars really take up space in kids heads? I rewatch Star Wars, sometimes with the kids, but I have to initiate it. Kpop demon hunters on the other hand was on continuous repeat for weeks. I seem to be the only one in this household to care about Star Wars. And I seem to be the only one not to care about Roblox, Minecraft, Fifa 2025, football, Stranger Things or Friends reruns...
I'm not angry that LEGO decided to release the smart bricks, but I think what you get doesn't rectify the price (which understandably, has to cover the research costs in some way). PARENTS, who have to pay for the toys, most likely won't see sufficient value and this is the first step to fail at brick toys.
A shame. It's a nice idea at the wrong time for the wrong price. Also, I just can't see how the playability is when you decide to rebuild the sets into so,mething completely different.
However, no excuse why the TIE advanced turned out so hideously chibi, as you woul only have had to use some moederately longer plates for the wings.
This Lego venture is certainly worth a lot of discussion. Some early thoughts.
It amazes me that a company simply cannot, during years of development, see what everybody else can after five minutes exposure to the product.
The ‘smart’ brick is a constraint on play, not an enhancement of it.
Even if you were to associate a hundred different movement cues, with a hundred different sound effects [and these are of such a low fidelity as to be comical] you are still offering nothing compared with the imaginatively generated responses of a human brain, which are effectively infinite in number.
By having a finite set of outputs - and let’s be frank again, these amount to a crude light display or some garbled tinny noises - you are dictating a more generic play experience.
There are probably Atari 2600 games that enable a more diverse set of inputs and outputs. And that notion has to be held in mind, though it may seem to be an odd comparison.
The most sophisticated current video games offer interactive realms of dazzling scope, where the player is constantly triggering exciting, immersive experiences, often of a fidelity, and fantastical quality, that is mind blowing.
By trying to render an experience outside of the relationship between static models and the human imagination, Lego has merely created one so crude, so simplistic, and so frankly absurd in its limitations, that an average consumer, let alone a half-skeptical fan, can be fully forgiven for merely shrugging their shoulders in vague disbelief, or in the case of the AFOL, wondering whether the company has completely lost its mind, in its own tragic, vastly confused, groupthink wilderness.
Lord I loved the minifigs in the VIDIYO line, and even a couple of sets. I never got money to buy (or back-buy, today) them. But maybe someday. (I *am* backfilling holes in Hidden Side as I can...)
Neither of these care at all -- and even anti-care -- about the "tech" part.
I worry about the novelty of the sounds wearing off after a few minutes of play. Then you just have an expensive brick (or set). I guess time and the target audience will tell. As Capn implies, maybe other features will be unlocked or discovered in the future, sorta like NPU with other Lego pieces.
What sounds are played is probably determined by the smart tags, right? So they can always exchange and update these over time. But how is the firmware of the smart brick being updated, can it be updated at all?
Is the Smart Brick the same size as a standard 2x4 brick? It looks like it's a plate higher.
@darthnorman said:
"What sounds are played is probably determined by the smart tags, right? So they can always exchange and update these over time. But how is the firmware of the smart brick being updated, can it be updated at all?"
Think I heard there was a separate app that was only for updates. (someone correct me if I’m wrong)
@Crux said:
"Don't tell me this is better than Vidiyo after showcasing those minifigures. Some of the Vidiyo-minifigures were exceptionally awesome (not all of them, obviously - some of them were the Samurapper).
If you want to compare the tech, fine. Sure. The Vidiyo-app was atrocious, as is par for the course. But man, don't bring the minifigs down to the level of those boring SW-figures, that's a bad look.
Also, if we're going to compare this to Vidiyo, then these bricks are going to need a better name. Something hip, something happening, something that'll really jive with the kidz deez dayz. And as an expert on the matter, I suggest... Bryqxz. You're WELCOME."
Bryqxz is the goverment accepted name for non-Lego bricks, the same way wyngz has to be used for mechanically separated boneless formed chicken wing meat.
@woosterlegos said:
"Is the Smart Brick the same size as a standard 2x4 brick? It looks like it's a plate higher."
It's five plates tall, from what I've read on other sites.
This launch looks inauspicious in every possible way. Fumbled demonstrations of subpar functions, sky-high prices, and the root conceptual issues of adding nothing people wanted and ruining minifigures...to me, there is *only* baffling. I can't imagine why this was able to get so much dev and resources when the result is so awkward and looks so poor. Who kept saying "yes" all the way down?
@Blu_Ele said:
"This Lego venture is certainly worth a lot of discussion. Some early thoughts.
It amazes me that a company simply cannot, during years of development, see what everybody else can after five minutes exposure to the product."
"Everybody else" is a phrase which here means "people who share Blu_Ele's opinion."
Pretty sure people who make the same mistake over and over and over and over and over and over again had a name.
That's what the people at The LEGO Group who greenlit this dumb idea are.
At this point, I think the leadership teams at LEGO are competing with Disney to see who can destroy the soul and legacy of their brand faster.
It feels like this whole development cycle for this tech was rushed (re: Billund tech demo). Someone placed a hard deadline to get these sets on the market (in order to recoup investor/development losses) and the resultant product came out half-baked. So, after LEGO's earlier misses with launching tech into a separate theme (a la Vidiyo and Hidden Side), management decided to throw the SMART Brick into the top-selling product line to help prop up sales numbers. Which is a great sign when you are confident about the product (note: sarcasm).
There should've been another year of limited releases and play-testing (like they did with 60691, 60692, and 60693), more development, followed by a year of Creator/City/Ninjago sets at ALL price points, and THEN launch it into a licensed theme.
Baffling is the best word to describe this product launch. Who dropped the ball here? I mean, how do you not spend time and effort to get the iconic sounds from the Star Wars films packaged and ready for Day 1 use in actual Star Wars sets???
Lego must have a corrupt R&D department with all the random tech they introduce and then abandon. Same goes for specialized play features, like those silly ripcord helicopters and ninjago fliers. Why keep introducing different Ninjago spinners when the first iteration everyone knows was best?
In CITY there were also those light & sound siren bricks, the big yellow magnets, and the pneumatic water cannon.
There have been play gimmicks like this in the past, but with how frequent it's been in the past decade it seems like its change for change's sake. Isn't Lego supposed to be a system? Why constantly "innovate" then scrap ideas?
Lego should downsize whatever department is responsible. What on Earth are they thinking?
The one thing I just can’t understand, why didn’t they make this open source? Or at least have some sort of app you can pair the bricks to with a miriad of presets? They’ve had open source tech in the past, Mindstorm was pretty much infinitely scalable and you could do whatever you wanted with it. I understand there’s a difference there but still I feel it’s a valid point.
If you were able to upload your own audio, or at least choose sound bites from different Lego properties and decide how they interact with colors and different tags, I feel like this would have infinitely more value than what I see in it right now.
It lights up, cool, it makes a couple sounds, okay. As an adult fan, I just don’t see how those effects are useful or impactful to the way I experience Legos.
Also, I hadn’t seen that cantina video yet and lord that sound is terrible. As someone who works in A/V, even at that scale that quality loss shouldn’t be acceptable.
As a deaf person myself, I am curious about whether the tinny sounds as CapnRex lists in "The Bad" section of his review are going to be "wasted" on me.
For example, as paradoxical as it may seem (since I am deaf), I did enjoy building and am displaying 10334 "Retro Radio," mostly because I like the look of it. But the radio "station" sounds are lost on me.
I'm wondering if, likewise, the sounds emanating from a SMART LEGO brick would be pointless for me, and for many other deaf AFOLs out there.
Maybe just simplify it all to a City blue light and 'siren' sound from the 90's, or the creator 3 in1 house doorbell, but I guess the marketing people have to sell something new.
@darthnorman said:
"What sounds are played is probably determined by the smart tags, right? So they can always exchange and update these over time. But how is the firmware of the smart brick being updated, can it be updated at all?"
For what I understand about the technology, the sound is stored in the smart tags (or minifigs). When you put one tag near the smart brick, the sound is transferred in real time to the brick, to be played. In order to not have a lot of latency, the sound couldn't be HiFi. It would take to much time to be transferred, or you could have cuts while playing.
This is why the smart brick is versatile and depends on the tags or minifigs.
Must admit there is nothing in this article that suggests this is going to be a great success.
However, as I have said in other threads I understand I am not the target audience (which still seems to be a difficult concept for a number of people on here) and don't know where it will go after these initial three sets, so have no issue ignoring it (like many Lego areas - Duplo, Friends, the Botanicals obsession, etc) and certainly can't get upset/annoyed about it.
I can of course only speak about the kids I know, but those would get bored by this tech really quickly. And after the novelty has worn off, the "smart" bricks will just lie around in some corner of the parts bin, with the parents wondering why they wasted their money on the product.
Honestly, I think you are 100% on point with saying that it would've been a way smarter move to put smart bricks into a bunch of Lego City sets for example.
Not only are they cheaper because they lack the licensing fees, but they are often so much more playable than SW sets.
@jkole said:
"There should've been another year of limited releases and play-testing (like they did with 60691, 60692, and 60693), more development, followed by a year of Creator/City/Ninjago sets at ALL price points, and THEN launch it into a licensed theme."
Interesting, never heard of these sets before.
What was that Beta test about?
From the set details I can't see anything particularly noteworthy about them.
After hearing the tinny "dialogue" coming from the brick in the Cantina video, I now realize how accurate I was with my CommTech chip comparison.
This is just a modern take on Legos Light and Sound system from the late 80s: https://brickset.com/sets/tag-Light-And-Sound-System. I own 6780 and this is basically what Lego is doing with the Star Wars sets.
The brag about "no pre-recorded sounds" doesn't really hold water with licensed themes...
Did they give a reason for shortening everyone's capes? I'm sure that's not a permanent change?
@emQ said:
"Lord I loved the minifigs in the VIDIYO line, and even a couple of sets. I never got money to buy (or back-buy, today) them. But maybe someday. (I *am* backfilling holes in Hidden Side as I can...)
Neither of these care at all -- and even anti-care -- about the "tech" part."
I picked up almost the entire Vidyo line at massive discounts with very little effort pretty recently - the only bit that really put the screws on price-wise is the second line of CMF minifigs, which seem to have had a pretty limited release and are accordingly not even a little bit reasonable. They’re worth having a bit of a look for because the sets and minifigs are truly delightful, and in my opinion can easily be integrated into City stuff (if City can have aliens, it can have singing popstar mermaids, even if you have to headcanon that they’re costumes) or even Modulars, it’s just a shame the original pre-discount prices reflected a shaky app’s development and music use rights instead of the contents of the box.
@CapnRex101 said:
"Something approaching music plays..."
:-D
Having read the last few articles about this new system, I'm left with a single question.... Why the heck couldn't all this be done with a single push button brick?
If the user has to pick up and hold/move the brick to activate its features, whats wrong with something you can click? Surely it'd be much simpler, and easier, to have built something where you just have to replace a button battery and just have to press it when you want it to make a sound/light up, rather then having to rely on moving it in a certain way.
@8BrickMario said:
"This launch looks inauspicious in every possible way. Fumbled demonstrations of subpar functions, sky-high prices, and the root conceptual issues of adding nothing people wanted and ruining minifigures...to me, there is *only* baffling. I can't imagine why this was able to get so much dev and resources when the result is so awkward and looks so poor. Who kept saying "yes" all the way down?"
Exceptionally concise and to the point. Bravo !
@woosterlegos said:
"Is the Smart Brick the same size as a standard 2x4 brick? It looks like it's a plate higher."
It is 5 plates high
I'm much less impressed that it apparently took 9 years to develop. They better quickly show some impressive uses of them.
Also I felt the Lego guy doing the demonstration didn't seem very enthusiastic.
So long as these type ventures don't impact the viability of the company or the quality/cost of the sets we get, then I'm fine with LEGO trying something. But as @CapnRex101 opined, this may look so much different/better with a different theme. I wonder if they felt Star Wars guaranteed an easy victory lap due to its popularity and avoid a thud right out of the gate.
Let's all take a moment of thought for the LEGO Customer Service team as their lives are likely about to get a whole lot worse.
@ResIpsaLoquitur said:"...so unless the 2026 Star Wars Advent Calendar is $99.99 USD because it includes a Smart Brick..."
I'm hoping the 2026 SWAC is based on Rebuild the Galaxy and includes Jaxxon.
@Andrusi said:
" @Blu_Ele said:
"This Lego venture is certainly worth a lot of discussion. Some early thoughts.
It amazes me that a company simply cannot, during years of development, see what everybody else can after five minutes exposure to the product."
"Everybody else" is a phrase which here means "people who share Blu_Ele's opinion.""
You get a lot of that here. "I don't like it, so *obviously,* no one else will!"
@lluisgib said:" @darthnorman said:"What sounds are played is probably determined by the smart tags, right? So they can always exchange and update these over time. But how is the firmware of the smart brick being updated, can it be updated at all?"
For what I understand about the technology, the sound is stored in the smart tags (or minifigs). When you put one tag near the smart brick, the sound is transferred in real time to the brick, to be played. In order to not have a lot of latency, the sound couldn't be HiFi. It would take to much time to be transferred, or you could have cuts while playing.
This is why the smart brick is versatile and depends on the tags or minifigs. "
I don't think the sound is stored in the RFID chips per se, I think the chips contain instructions to tell the brick what sounds to make. They have the sheet music for a song, not a recording of the song.
The intersection of LEGO and technology peaked with the likes of 6450 and 6990.
I'm glad you touched on the near-pointlessness of the lights in the sets showcased. It makes sense that they would be integrated into this technology but they don't seem to be integrated into the sets themselves, and when the battery only lasts 45 minutes it begs the question why the lights can't be manually turned off to extend battery life.
@WokePope said:
"After hearing the tinny "dialogue" coming from the brick in the Cantina video, I now realize how accurate I was with my CommTech chip comparison."
I was wearing headphones, and I could barely hear anything other than the lever moving the platform back and forth.
@Blu_Ele said:
"This Lego venture is certainly worth a lot of discussion. Some early thoughts.
It amazes me that a company simply cannot, during years of development, see what everybody else can after five minutes exposure to the product.
The ‘smart’ brick is a constraint on play, not an enhancement of it.
Even if you were to associate a hundred different movement cues, with a hundred different sound effects [and these are of such a low fidelity as to be comical] you are still offering nothing compared with the imaginatively generated responses of a human brain, which are effectively infinite in number.
By having a finite set of outputs - and let’s be frank again, these amount to a crude light display or some garbled tinny noises - you are dictating a more generic play experience.
There are probably Atari 2600 games that enable a more diverse set of inputs and outputs. And that notion has to be held in mind, though it may seem to be an odd comparison.
The most sophisticated current video games offer interactive realms of dazzling scope, where the player is constantly triggering exciting, immersive experiences, often of a fidelity, and fantastical quality, that is mind blowing.
By trying to render an experience outside of the relationship between static models and the human imagination, Lego has merely created one so crude, so simplistic, and so frankly absurd in its limitations, that an average consumer, let alone a half-skeptical fan, can be fully forgiven for merely shrugging their shoulders in vague disbelief, or in the case of the AFOL, wondering whether the company has completely lost its mind, in its own tragic, vastly confused, groupthink wilderness."
Thank you for this. I am surprised the negative reactions to this new "system" have not been much stronger and reactive than they have been. I had a couple of sets with light and sound effects as a child in the 80s and I cannot for the life of me see that this is even close to as much of an improvement as we should expect given the 40 years between those sets and this smart system.
…*this* took *nine years?*
How. Wha.
Wat.
@gunoz said:
" @WokePope said:
"After hearing the tinny "dialogue" coming from the brick in the Cantina video, I now realize how accurate I was with my CommTech chip comparison."
I was wearing headphones, and I could barely hear anything other than the lever moving the platform back and forth."
I also had to strain my ears to hear the sounds coming from the brick.
But, I mean, it's accurate. Who could forget the iconic scene where Luke and Obi-wan enter Wuher's Cantina?
[Temu Alien Lounge Music Plays]
[Laughter]
"Hey! We don't serve their kind here."
*CLACK CLACK CLACK CLACK CLACK*
"What?"
"Your droids, they'll have to wait outside. We don't want them here."
"No, WHAT? I CAN'T HEAR YOU OVER--"
*CLACKING INTENSIFIES*
I want to at least try this before I make up my mind. It may yet be usable for my trains.
Do you feel a little bit dirty each time you have to type in "SMART" instead of "Smart"? I mean, I guess we're all used to "LEGO" instead of "Lego" by now but I'm tired of the trend of brands and trademarks to be ALL CAPS like they're super awesome and important.
LEGO is really inviting the DUMB jokes with this branding.
Maybe I’m missing something, but why do the smart bricks and tags have to be packaged with the sets? Why not sell the sets minus the smart features for a regular price and have the tech available as an add-on, like they sometimes do with power features. Maybe I’m being naive but feels like the best of both worlds to me.
@xprojected said:
"Do you feel a little bit dirty each time you have to type in "SMART" instead of "Smart"? I mean, I guess we're all used to "LEGO" instead of "Lego" by now but I'm tired of the trend of brands and trademarks to be ALL CAPS like they're super awesome and important."
Wait, you mean we're NOT supposed to yell it? Like '*inhale* SMART BRIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIICK *exhale* *cough up lung*' My bad, that's on me, everyone.
If Lego want to go down the tech route, I’d much rather they released compatible lighting kits than whatever this is supposed to be (I genuinely fell asleep watching the introduction video it seemed that uninspiring to me).
As soon as I read: "six bricks connected to form a disco floor light pattern", I immediately thought about the potential of the IDEAS Daft Punk Concert set being the first one aimed at adults to include the smart-brick. It could work. Or just bump up the price and be an absolutely wasted gimmick.
https://beta.ideas.lego.com/product-ideas/4248139c-e8e8-47a9-852a-96e00d620012?tab=official-updates
Since after several days I honestly have yet to form a strong or even medium opinion (I keep getting stuck on “I guess it’s fine but also it’s… fine. my cited’s have not been ex’d, and my rious’ have not been fu’d, etc.”), I suppose I’ll wait and see the tech turns up in a set I really want and see how I feel about it then.
@8BrickMario said:
"This launch looks inauspicious in every possible way. Fumbled demonstrations of subpar functions, sky-high prices, and the root conceptual issues of adding nothing people wanted and ruining minifigures...to me, there is *only* baffling. I can't imagine why this was able to get so much dev and resources when the result is so awkward and looks so poor. Who kept saying "yes" all the way down?"
Stockholders, probably.
Smart bricks are such silly idea. Nobdy will buy it except for confused grandparents....
If they builds were atleast decent and half the price on the sets, then maybe.
With prices like this and terrible builds..... NO
This was really informational and helpful. I definitely have my doubts about the way this tech is being rolled out--time will tell if they can course-correct.
Adults are so boring...
I currently have no opinion on these SMART bricks at this point. It's unlikely I will be buying any of the Star Wars sets they are releasing them in. So until such time they come out with a set that interests me I reserve judgement. I might have actually bought the original three sets they tested out last year because those seemed somewhat interesting. Too bad most of the world wasn't allowed to buy those sets.
@WokePope said:
" @gunoz said:
" @WokePope said:
"After hearing the tinny "dialogue" coming from the brick in the Cantina video, I now realize how accurate I was with my CommTech chip comparison."
I was wearing headphones, and I could barely hear anything other than the lever moving the platform back and forth."
I also had to strain my ears to hear the sounds coming from the brick.
But, I mean, it's accurate. Who could forget the iconic scene where Luke and Obi-wan enter Wuher's Cantina?
[Temu Alien Lounge Music Plays]
[Laughter]
"Hey! We don't serve their kind here."
*CLACK CLACK CLACK CLACK CLACK*
"What?"
"Your droids, they'll have to wait outside. We don't want them here."
"No, WHAT? I CAN'T HEAR YOU OVER--"
*CLACKING INTENSIFIES*"
Agreed. The "music" function of the new Cantina set is one of the worst play features I've ever seen.
Trying to get the Smart Brick to play its music with the in-built noisy mechanism is like powering a radio that plays soft ballet music with a generator DRIVEN BY A MOTORCYCLE ENGINE.
Additionally, without or without the Smart Brick in place, the mechanism itself is just an eyesore and RUINS the look of the build.
"Perhaps more significant is a surprising inconsistency in how SMART Bricks seem to function"
That's one of the most telling comments in the article. If this doesn't work as expected first time, every time, it's going to crash & burn in the flaming Lego will receive.
I've seen 2 articles already in National press on this, unusual for a new Lego release. One was overwhelmingly negative, the other was more positive in a "not for me but maybe for the kids" kind of way.
@ToysFromTheAttic said:
" @8BrickMario said:
"This launch looks inauspicious in every possible way. Fumbled demonstrations of subpar functions, sky-high prices, and the root conceptual issues of adding nothing people wanted and ruining minifigures...to me, there is *only* baffling. I can't imagine why this was able to get so much dev and resources when the result is so awkward and looks so poor. Who kept saying "yes" all the way down?"
Stockholders, probably."
LEGO has no stockholders, though. It's a private company.
@ToysFromTheAttic said:
" @8BrickMario said:
"This launch looks inauspicious in every possible way. Fumbled demonstrations of subpar functions, sky-high prices, and the root conceptual issues of adding nothing people wanted and ruining minifigures...to me, there is *only* baffling. I can't imagine why this was able to get so much dev and resources when the result is so awkward and looks so poor. Who kept saying "yes" all the way down?"
Stockholders, probably."
TGL is privately owned. no stocks. It was the management. Same one that keeps making eletronic gimmicks that fail. This is just another one.
@TurtleFinland said:
"Adults are so boring..."
Compared to turtles?
They are Light & Sound bricks... but they go to eleven!
That's one more than ten.
@Kalking said:
"…*this* took *nine years?*
How. Wha.
Wat."
Keep in mind that that includes market research, experimentation, exploring various avenues, probably more than a few false starts, reworking things according to changes in technology, the aforementioned Jungle sets from 2024, possibly some other stuff we've already seen, and whatever I've forgotten, and *then,* after all that, the entire normal start-to-finish process of designing new Lego sets. It's not like they spent nine years solely on whatever single part of this you like least.
Once again, the famous Jurassic Park quote comes to mind: “Your scientists were so preoccupied with whether or not they could, they didn't stop to think if they should”. It doesn’t bother me as much as the app controlled sets, but for all of the press and excitement they’re trying to generate, I suspect most will just see this is an expensive gimmick on the self and move on, preferring to stick with what makes Lego so enjoyable in the first place.
@Andrusi said:
"Keep in mind that that includes...probably more than a few false starts"
Like this one? :o)
@Andrusi said:
" @Blu_Ele said:
"This Lego venture is certainly worth a lot of discussion. Some early thoughts.
It amazes me that a company simply cannot, during years of development, see what everybody else can after five minutes exposure to the product."
"Everybody else" is a phrase which here means "people who share Blu_Ele's opinion.""
Yes, I apologize for exaggerating a little for effect :-). It would be fairer to say “what a vocal number of dedicated Lego fans …”
The article hits on the right word which seems to resonate - “baffling”. Some of this reaction stems from the gulf between the apparent sophistication of the technical development and the underwhelming end effect.
One issue among many is the Lego play testing process. Given the abject failure now of at least a few recent(ish) product lines, one has to wonder how deeply flawed this process is. If the ‘smart’ brick is a commercial failure I would suggest Lego needs to rip up their entire testing methodology and start again.
On a less serious note, what is this refueling effect introduced in these sets?! I can only keep thinking of Luke desperately checking the X-wing ‘fuel gauge’ and saying “damn, I can’t blow this thing and go home just yet, got to refuel first!”.
That video literally made me laugh out loud and say "that's horrible". And there wasn't even anyone else around!
@GrizBe said:
"Having read the last few articles about this new system, I'm left with a single question.... Why the heck couldn't all this be done with a single push button brick?
If the user has to pick up and hold/move the brick to activate its features, whats wrong with something you can click? Surely it'd be much simpler, and easier, to have built something where you just have to replace a button battery and just have to press it when you want it to make a sound/light up, rather then having to rely on moving it in a certain way."
If it's already got an accelerometer in there, using that to turn it on uses less space than putting a button in there. It's also possible that the built-in rechargeable battery gives it more life than a button cell would, and a button cell might also take up more space, since you'd need some infrastructure around that that you wouldn't need with a built-in battery.
@xprojected said:"Do you feel a little bit dirty each time you have to type in "SMART" instead of "Smart"? I mean, I guess we're all used to "LEGO" instead of "Lego" by now but I'm tired of the trend of brands and trademarks to be ALL CAPS like they're super awesome and important."
I've always just used "Lego."
@yellowcastle said:
" @TurtleFinland said:
"Adults are so boring..."
Compared to turtles?"
It's a computer. All nerds should celebrate this day. I do.
The practical issues of the brick going flat , parents or more responsible children having to recharge it, and then waiting patiently for hours for it happen will ultimately reduce the interest in its use.
Thats before kids lose or somehow break the thing.
City sets should be a fast follower.
These needed to be super cheap and quickly ubiquitous to succeed.
@Blu_Ele said:
"One issue among many is the Lego play testing process. Given the abject failure now of at least a few recent(ish) product lines, one has to wonder how deeply flawed this process is. If the ‘smart’ brick is a commercial failure I would suggest Lego needs to rip up their entire testing methodology and start again."
LEGO has recently reached an unprecedented level of popularity and profitability. As such, their internal testing processes are probably good to go. Additionally, there might not be universal agreement as to which steps were actually missteps. I agree that they should do a serious after-action review if SMART fails to thrive but I don't see a need to throw the baby out with the bath water.
@pvp3020 said:
"Maybe I’m missing something, but why do the smart bricks and tags have to be packaged with the sets? Why not sell the sets minus the smart features for a regular price and have the tech available as an add-on, like they sometimes do with power features. Maybe I’m being naive but feels like the best of both worlds to me."
The whole point of those sets is to use the smart bricks with them. Why would anybody want to buy them without the core feature when the designs are so heavily handicapped for that feature. "Oh boy a deformed x-wing with random ground equipment and a rebel and storm trooper with no Luke or R2"
Like what? Thats seriously your argument? You either want the sets for the smart brick features or you dont want them at all.
@Dean_Dingus_2000 said:
" @pvp3020 said:
"Maybe I’m missing something, but why do the smart bricks and tags have to be packaged with the sets? Why not sell the sets minus the smart features for a regular price and have the tech available as an add-on, like they sometimes do with power features. Maybe I’m being naive but feels like the best of both worlds to me."
The whole point of those sets is to use the smart bricks with them. Why would anybody want to buy them without the core feature when the designs are so heavily handicapped for that feature. "Oh boy a deformed x-wing with random ground equipment and a rebel and storm trooper with no Luke or R2"
Like what? Thats seriously your argument? You either want the sets for the smart brick features or you dont want them at all. "
Clearly the sets would have to be designed in such a way that they don't look like mutants. If they look weird in order to accommodate the smart brick, then that should have been a red flag to someone.
I'm not suggesting buying these weird looking sets without the smart features. What I'm suggesting is the smart features could be sold as a complementary add-on to ANY set. "Do you want an X-wing? Well here's one we made earlier. Do you want one that makes laser sounds and swooshing noises and can interact with figures? Here's an add-on pack to do just that, with minifiugres that talk!"
I get why Lego have done it this way, I just think it's a mistake.
I think the potential in the tech is pretty cool, particularly for non-licensed sounds like things you might hear in City. But I won’t be buying the initial Star Wars smart brick sets due to the price - therein lies the main problem, even before I’ve discovered tinny Cantina noises or inconsistent responses.
Great coverage of the smart bricks on Brickset though in general - entertaining if nothing else!
Seeing those City Jungle prototype sets again I really have to ask why the actual mass-market products look so much worse... I guess it makes sense to launch them in Star Wars though after the last unfun overengineered high-tech disappointment, the Skywalker Saga game
I think the concept itself is fundamentally overengineered.
The idea of including light + sound in a children's toy is solid - sure, they can imagine/create their own sounds too, but actually having flashing lights and siren noises from a car does add immersiveness. It's not here to replace immagination, but adds to it. Fine. 60215 did something similar, and I thought it was pretty cool.
What's baffling is how they've overengineered this feature so much (and thus driven up the prices so much!) for seemingly little in return.........and somehow nobody during has pointed out this fundamental flaw during development.
First off - why wireless charging??? Rather than just including a USB-C port underneath the brick, where you can just integrate/build the brick into your model and leave a 1x2 hole underneath, they've made it so that the brick must be removed entirely for charging, thus must be placed in an accessible location - which limits where you can place it within the model, and thus harms the aesthetics pretty significantly.
Wired charging would be twice as fast, instead of their current “45 minutes of play time and 3 hours for a full charge” situation.
I would be somewhat convinced if they found a way to wirelessly charge the brick by placing the entire model onto a charging pad, but no, I suppose wireless charging tech isn't there yet.
And the non-programmable sensors…. Why?? Rather than have say, 4 buttons (one on each stud?) that each play a different effect, they've decided to take the input from NFC tags, colour sensors, and a proximity sensor....meaning that the model, (like the X-wing), you must build a huge mechanism that physically slides the entire brick back and fourth so the colour sensor “sees” a different colour to play a noise. The lights also don’t seem to do very much - they’re not very bright, and the effects are minimal.
Fine, the NFC tags play a different noise depending on the minifigure, and proximity sensor is can apparently sync up a few bricks to work together….but considering these are $100+ each, I don’t see many people doing this, and it doesn’t add much either.
I do want to give them credit where credit is due - not having to use an app is a plus, albiet I feel it took them a couple of flopped products in the past to finally realise this...
Kids aren't fumb. This brick is.
It has potential, but not tealized here.
@yellowcastle said:
" @Blu_Ele said:
"One issue among many is the Lego play testing process. Given the abject failure now of at least a few recent(ish) product lines, one has to wonder how deeply flawed this process is. If the ‘smart’ brick is a commercial failure I would suggest Lego needs to rip up their entire testing methodology and start again."
LEGO has recently reached an unprecedented level of popularity and profitability. As such, their internal testing processes are probably good to go. Additionally, there might not be universal agreement as to which steps were actually missteps. I agree that they should do a serious after-action review if SMART fails to thrive but I don't see a need to throw the baby out with the bath water.
"
You’re no doubt right that, broadly speaking, their methods of gauging the appeal of new products has been successful in the context of the last two decades. I just get very uneasy when something ‘innovative’, like Vidiyo, goes to market, as it were. If ever a product was transparently doomed for failure, then surely this was it. What misled the company so much about its potential?
So, it will be fascinating to see what happens with the ‘smart’ brick, commercially and with regards future products, despite the fact I feel like I could write a very long essay on the multitude of ways I believe it is misguided.
I can see some uses of this tech, but I don't want to buy a whole set for it, especially if it's licensed. Lego may sell it seperately, like they do with Technic motors. Add some tiles for various purposes and that's it. I don't know, maybe it's more bankable than mediocre 4+ Star Wars sets.
Probably should've waited on the star wars integration. Show it off with city or maybe ninjago.
I have a similar takeaway from what I could gather through the Internet. The interactivity the Star Wars set offer feels strangely undercooked so it brings into question all the trade-offs that you make to get it. All of the other demos that I've seen have been a lot more interesting and show that the SMART Play system has tremendous potential. The iconic IP route basically backfired.
If I had the opportunity I would ask the designers how do they decide how much interactivity to add to a set? Is the interactivity in those Star Wars set simple by choice or because of some limitation? It feels to me that the Smart bricks could do more there, it's certainly capable of it unless I'm missing something, thought it might need some more complex build to achieve. Let's not forget that those sets are 6+/8+/9+.
Anyway, we won't see the best of what this can do until enough of it is out there. One key aspect of this is that it's SYSTEM just like LEGO is, and those need a certain amount of critical mass to really take off. Three set is pretty meaningless. I do wish they add started with a Classic set with a wide variety of basic tags. Simple builds gain more from the added life and generic tags are more reusable than Palpatine's throne.