Are Big pieces all so bad?

[Vilmar]

I know lots of people on here complain about burps and lurps, panel pieces, and anyother sort of premodeled piece, but are they really that bad? First I would like to talk about the wall panels like on the first floor of tower raid. (the collasping wall) it makes a really nice piece. It is hard to make a window like that! From a newbie's prespective, is it not ceaper to use one burp then 50 1x2 bricks? it saves time and money to use them. There is such thing as over kill, but using a couple premodeled pieces makes a nice castle in the end.

[Blueandwhite]

I'll be very blunt here; big pieces are bad when overused in a set.

The biggest shortcoming of big pre-fab bricks is that they have a limited number of uses. Moreso large bricks that could be made by combining a number of smaller ones. These oversized, often single-use bricks may be cheaper but they are a poor-man's substitute for a brick made solution. Basic bricks can be rearranged into any number of combinations. A burp or lurp is always going to be an ugly rock piece. A panel wall will always look like a panel. As a cost-saving measure these pieces make sense, but they are no substitute for basic building bricks. Look at most large-scale MOCs. You don't see alot of pre-fab walls being used because the number of uses for these pieces is quite limited and when used in large numbers they look unnatural.

At the end of the day, larger bricks are a cost effective way to make sets bigger but their overuse can kill the building potential of a set or line.

[Vilmar]

wow, I will remeber that in the future

[ben_toy_tech]

Definitely what Blueandwhite said, and to add to that: LEGO artists (such as many of the members of this site) tend to 'stock up' on parts, and buy in bulk. Thus, it makes a lot of sense to purchase thousands of small pieces that can be configured any which way. The humble 1x1 plate is very popular, for instance. -Ben

[Karrde]

The problem with this piece is that it is not realistically useable enough for me. But I agree that Burps and Lurps can be useful.

[BreadMan]

While blueandwhite has some good points I wouldn't just swear off big bricks completely like that, you make some very good points as well vilmar. Burps and lurps I find especially useful, though it is important to add smaller bricks and spruce them up if you use a lot of them to avoid having your rockfaces look generic and repetitive. I have seen some very creative uses of big parts in the past and vilmar makes a point that some of them have shapes that you can't get exactly with other pieces. The other day I even found a great use for this piece which up until now I've always hated and thought useless. If nothing else I always nab big bricks when others are throwing them out to use as support pieces.

[Heir of Black Falcon]

I have to say I have always liked the wall panels but as B and W said one can get carried away using only wall panels, burps and lurps etc. I think the use in castles such as Black Monarch's or the Black Knight's Castles use them well and they look great.

Heir

[Count Blacktron]

Until I acquired a large quantity of Castle panel walls, I liked them a great deal. Now they just sit in a great big tub and I rarely use them. They don't have much use to me unless they are hidden between other bricks. Mostly I think that is the point of the larger elements; to provide support but not become the visible finish of the structure.

[DaleDVM]

I tend to disagree with most on this on a very fine point.

Large pieces are not bad because some sets have too many of them. The sets are bad because they have too many of the big pieces.

One thing noone has mentioned in this thread is the scale on which one is building. When you build on a very large scale the big pieces are almost essential. It is not just a matter of cost but also of weight and stability. For us who make very large MOCs this is so very important.

Professional Lego builders can fill large creations with solid brick because there is no personal cost. Also and more importantly they obtain strength by gluing the parts together and weight is of little consequence to them becasue the creations are moved infrequently.

I find the large pieces incredibly useful as filler and as a framework for the rest of my creations.

[Tycho McKorley]

Back when the internet was young(ish), I remember encountering a group of Lego enthusiasts who called themselves "purists." These guys not only rejected using non-Lego parts in their creations, but they also rejected any large prefabricated brick. They hated baseplates, BURPS, and more. Indeed, they were sort of like Lego fundamentalists.

I tried to adhere to their philosophy, but after about a week of doing so, I got bored. My thought now is that any piece, no matter how ugly the piece, it can still be used (even if only as structural support). Maybe we should have some contests, challenges, etc. that require the use of unusual/blocky elements. That might get our creative juices flowing.

[DerBum]

When I MOC something, I try to make things look like official Lego sets. I love the wall pieces because they make this task much easier. My first castle (the Kings Castle) was full of wall pieces and it currently stands proudly at the center of my collection display. I see no reason to hide them, Lego is a toy and I build toys with them. Some people use Lego bricks to make models though and I can see where these large pieces would detract from the appearance of their creations.

[pijani]

My thought now is that any piece, no matter how ugly the piece, it can still be used.

I totally agree

furthermore, the point of Lego is (I think) to "use everithing you can, combine it so when somebody else is looking at your MOc, he/she can reckognise what you intended to build

I am for big parts, and I usually use them all, and with small ones and slopes and archs, I make them interesting

The problem with this piece is that it is not realistically useable enough for me. But I agree that Burps and Lurps can be useful.

I must desagree, I will take a picture of my new castle, I just love combining those parts for center towers, I have about 100 of them, and I always stay short of them

these parts also give hight to my castles, or are great for some lonely high towers that are only small part of biger MOC

[BrianofBrick06]

In my opinion, any lego piece can be used when building a MOC. Some people only have a small amount of pieces, and in this case larger wall and rock panels are very helpful to them. Otherwise, even the greatest of builders should be able to come up with new and interesting ways to incorporate large pieces into their MOCs as well. Obviously the larger pieces are not as interesting or realistic, but sometimes it is like a fun task to see how well you can use other elements to make the MOC as a whole stand out (as opposed to just one piece). Personally, I try to use larger pieces as framework behind or underneath particular portions of my MOCs.

[Lord Lego 436]

I know lots of people on here complain about burps and lurps, panel pieces, and anyother sort of premodeled piece, but are they really that bad? First I would like to talk about the wall panels like on the first floor of tower raid. (the collasping wall) it makes a really nice piece. It is hard to make a window like that! From a newbie's prespective, is it not ceaper to use one burp then 50 1x2 bricks? it saves time and money to use them. There is such thing as over kill, but using a couple premodeled pieces makes a nice castle in the end.

I never use the panels, but it's always good to build OVER BURPS and LURPS with smaller rock pieces. Eggplant Wizard suggested it, so it must be true!

[Ye Olde Republic]

I think we all understand the meaning of the phrase "guns don't kill people, people kill people". While not even close to the same thing, the message can also be applied to 'big pieces' of LEGO...it's not the pieces themselves, it's how a builder chooses to use them. Take from that, what you will.