Old Lego pieces hard to play with?

[condor]

I dug out an old (1985) basic set so my son could build with it. He's been building and disassembling the same set a couple of times now so I wanted to give him something new to build.

I found the old pieces really hard to put together and to remove. They are quite different from the buttery smooth pieces I'm used to from the new sets. Has anyone else noticed this on their old sets?

My son was getting frustrated since he couldn't press down hard enough for them to sit flush. And forget about taking it apart, I had to use a brick separator to help.

I think I found a new kragle alternative! [emoji1]

[Brickbuilder0937]

The environment that they were stored in could affect the clutch power. Overheating can be pretty hard on bricks, especially for older pieces.

[condor]

Hmm, that could be it. They used to be stored in a closet that would get up above 80 degrees F. It's too bad. I guess I'll have to stick with newer bricks for him to play with.

[Brick & Blue]

Also I think the female (The bottom of a brick) has changed and there is less connecting. However I have some older bricks from the 80s that my neighbor had in his garage for about 11 years so I'm not sure. I'll try to take a picture of the bottoms of the bricks when I have a chance.

[dr_spock]

I used my 1980 firemen for a photoshoot today and their legs were very stiff to move into a standing pose. They have been sitting in their fire trucks for years since the last time I touched them. The hinged roof of the old 4 wide vehicles they sat in on the otherhand were very loose.

[grommom]

I found some Samsonite bricks in a used lot I purchased and the blocks were a bit warped and don't all sit flush, but they sure are cool, a bunch of gears and wheels. Kind of makes up for the fact that most of the other stuff looks like it was owned by Sid from toy story :)

Like seriously, how do you get plates that look like they're torn in half? Run then over with your car?

[SEK527]

I found some Samsonite bricks in a used lot I purchased and the blocks were a bit warped and don't all sit flush, but they sure are cool, a bunch of gears and wheels. Kind of makes up for the fact that most of the other stuff looks like it was owned by Sid from toy story :)

Like seriously, how do you get plates that look like they're torn in half? Run then over with your car?

My (or rather my brother's) Samsonite pieces were my favorites. The majority of the rest of our pieces are damaged - not from Sid, but from our dog. Most of our old pieces are unusable. I wondered why there weren't any small pieces (1x1s) & my brother said the dog probably swallowed them. As I remember the ancient LEGO pieces were tough to play with & a knife was required to separate them. Now they seem stiffer then new LEGO, but I do remember that even my parents had a tough time separating them for us.

The two small space sets that I have from the 1980s are as good as my current pieces in terms of playability, but then again those pieces weren't taken outside, tossed in the pool, thrown, tr across the room, trambled etc.

[grommom]

My (or rather my brother's) Samsonite pieces were my favorites. The majority of the rest of our pieces are damaged - not from Sid, but from our dog. Most of our old pieces are unusable. I wondered why there weren't any small pieces (1x1s) & my brother said the dog probably swallowed them. As I remember the ancient LEGO pieces were tough to play with & a knife was required to separate them. Now they seem stiffer then new LEGO, but I do remember that even my parents had a tough time separating them for us.

The two small space sets that I have from the 1980s are as good as my current pieces in terms of playability, but then again those pieces weren't taken outside, tossed in the pool, thrown, tr across the room, trambled etc.

I would suspect dog but there don't seem to be those kind of teeth marks, there are teeth marks on some minifigures but I'm guessing someone used their teeth to pull the pieces apart, eg bite on legs and pull off head it torso with fingers. I'm beginning to wonder if they were played with on the driveway and were run over with bicycles etc.
The Samsonite bricks are in great condition, so either they were dad's or they were gotten at a yard sale or given to the kid when he or she was older. I'm guessing it's a he from the amount of dinosaurs and spider and star wars as well as the really chewed up female minifigures. I might be able to salvage some hands and heads to fix up some other random figs :)

[Richard J.]

I haven't noticed any issues with my older Legos but I remember them being tighter back then generally. Actually, I think the older bricks were heavier too. I wonder if they've lowered the plastic density slightly over the years or changed the formula to make bricks lighter.

P.S. Why do dogs chew or eat Legos anyway? They're not food, they're just plastic.