[xrd]

I love Legos and by extension the company that makes them, and I still believe what you are saying, that everyone will have to buy new stuff, is exactly the reason the LEGO company is making this choice. They don't make a penny (unless they are somehow involved in a secondary market which probably has much lower margins and higher costs) unless you buy something new, and migrating to a new ecosystem makes so much sense if that's the goal.

[lupire]

Did you know that today's LEGO bricks are compatible with bricks manufactured in 1975?

There is no "migrating" here. LEGO correctly noted that Mindstorms was not very popular with the consumer market, and too complicated for the education market, so Prime is a vastly simpler product that's more accessible from education.

[jacobolus]

Lego Technics motors, battery packs, remote controls, etc. from a few years ago are incompatible with the current ones, because they decided they wanted to raise the prices across the board and tie everything to smart phone apps.

[nicoburns]

They are, but unlike in 1975, LEGO now makes it very difficult for people to actually buy just bricks. They won't sell plain packs of bricks to shops unless they buy large numbers of the themed sets.

[scionthefly]

I used to buy Technix sets (sp?) and spend days playing with gear and pulley and wheel and motor systems. I don't think a single time in all my childhood did I ever sit down with a Lego set and build some themed toy that they suggested on the box.

All I really want is bricks, plates, shafts, couplers, gears, pulleys, motors, sensors, and assorted things. I'll come up with the projects myself. They don't seem to want people like me, since I have not been able to buy that kind of kit since the 80s.

[euroderf]

Try some old Meccano.

[nl]

I great up in the 1980s loving lego, and you couldn't buy just bricks then.

OTOH now you can get https://www.amazon.com.au/LEGO-Classic-10717-Bricks-Piece/dp... very easily (and there are smaller sets that cost a lot less too)

[TedDoesntTalk]

In the USA, you could definitely buy plain bricks in the 1970s. Probably the early to mid 80s, too, but I can’t be certain.

[PhasmaFelis]

But unlike 1975, anyone who wants can buy plain packs online.

[Nullabillity]

> unless they are somehow involved in a secondary market

LEGO owns BrickLink, as of a few years ago.

[PhasmaFelis]

Didn't Lego recently buy BrickLink? So they do own the secondary market, in a fairly real sense.