2698 Ear To The Ground.

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I keep forgetting to thank the anonymous reader who sent me a LEGO set a week ago or so. You have been far too kind to me, even though I suspected you ould do exactly what you did when you asked about the outdated list. Regardless, and to the point, thank you. One of these days I might actually have my little area cleaned up so I can film myself calmly building these things. I put the police station together from, like, 2 years ago the last time my nephew visited so he would have something new to meddle with. It took the better part of his visit to do, but it also gave me something to focus on rather than trying to follow him all around while he narrated his ever evolving adventures. I like the modular buildings since you can line then up and connect them however you like. The police station goes nicely with the bank since they both have a built in heist story.

Now that Star Wars is falling apart as a franchise and they keep making the same 6 sets over and over instead of dipping into the newer lore it’s getting kind of boring. How many new sandspeeder sets does a person really need in a ten year period? It’s certainly not 4. Especially since each iteration is worse than the previous one now that inflation has caused the price of LEGO to get out of control. The new Yoda’s starfighter is a pale imitation of the previous version. Slightly smaller, fewer parts, less detail, higher price. The last time they released Slave 1 under its original name was the last good version of that ship at a reasonable price. The prestige set is better but the named set is a decent display one that didn’t stress the wallet too much at the time. The newest one where they dropped the ship’s name is just sad. It’s more like the original attempt, which isn’t a point in its favor.

Economic deterioration has affected all of the themes to the point where even I can’t convince myself I’m getting good value for money unless I’m picking over a clearance shelf. The Creator sets are little more than empty facades now. They’re trying to compensate by adopting a modern minimalist design, but I’m not fooled. UIt’ a cost cutting choice more than anything. Jurassic Park sets are leaning into the one dinosaur and a tiny vehicle build thing even harder than they were before and the builds are getting more and more sparse. I’m not sure how minifigures and dinosaurs take up so much of a set’s price but it’s getting laughable.

Who knows how long it’s going to be before this situation rights itself? It’s such a shame too because LEGO is working with some of the best franchises now and offering some things that could potentially be amazing if they weren’t happening at this point in time. The Legend Of Zelda set is cool, but such a price for the Deku Tree and a couple of admittedly nice figures is unfortunate. The Minecraft sets are nice, but the value just isn’t there now. You get so little for so much. Unfortunately not buying them is the solution to the problem at the consumer level, but the FOMO is dire. It is what it is though and we’re all stuck in this situation for the foreseeable future with basically every purchase of anything. Less and less for more and more. It will eventually hit that stopping point and it’s not gonna be pretty… That’s nothing new.

Anyway, I also keep forgetting to tell everyone that Google has been added to the list of banned words because the spam filter can’t seem to catch spam comments that mention Google. That strikes me as a little sinister and purposeful, but I can’t prove that. It’s just the feeling that I get. So if you absolutely have to talk about Google, be sure to cleverly misspell it. Much like Facebook it’s too mixed in with scams to be same for a comment section now.

I guess that’s about it for this week. Splatfest in Splatoon 3 this weekend for me. I’ll probabaly do all the point gathering on day one like usual and skip out of everything else except maybe to pop in on a couple of 3 way battles. We’re on the verge of the final Splatfests for the game at this point. I’m not sure how many remain, but the rumors are out there about the story ending Final Fest. I hope the franchise continues. I haven’t heard anything about active development, but someone’s probably working on something. They didn’t half ass the DLC for 3 so I’m hopeful for Splatoon 4. Guess time will tell on that one.

Anyway, I hope you have a nice weekend. Come back and see me on Monday if you can. As always, support links are right above the blog and scattered around the page too. Until next we meet, stay frosty.