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Machiavellian on 04 February 2018
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SuperNova said:
Machiavellian said:

Or I could spend 10 bucks one year, another 10 bucks another year and ..... While parents who like nice expensive gimmicks have blown hundreds in the same amount of time for the same experience.  I could not tell you how many times I have seen parents purchase a expensive toy only to see their kids get more fun out of playing with the box it came in then the toy itself.

it's NOT the same experience though? That is why I ponted out the software. You're not paying 70$ for cardboard. You're paying 60$ for a software that transforms the cardboard into something you can't possibly buy with 10$ this year and 10$ the next.

The combination of physical feedback, the basic coding experience for kids, the audiovisual feedback and the magic of transforming something you build out of cardboard into a truly functional item is not easily replicated. Sure, kids can use their imagiation, nothing wrong with that, but pretending that that is the same experience as working and figuring out the tools you have at hand to make someting truly work, is just factually wrong.

You might be of the opinion that it's unneccissary and that's fine, but it's not the same.

My point is that when you make a toy for kids, there are considerations that a parent will make.  Just having fun is fine.  Most toys come with fun that is just the the start.  Having fun at a high cost and less durability comes into question is that fun worth the price of admission.  If the toy only last a week or is so shabby by a week time that it cannot be played then its a bad toy no matter how much fun it was in the beginning.  As a parent, I want that toy to last for as long as the kid wants to play with it.  Not me shelling out more money every week or have to hear the crappy whining until you get something new.

Also just because you can do some very simple logic programming doesn't make this toy any better than a kid with a cardboard box cutting, designing and building their toy from duck tape.  If anything it takes more effort and skill to make something truly functional instead of already having the parts cut out and you just put them together, load up the software and do one or two things to get it to work.

Because my son loves to do this type of creative work, I looked into Mindstorm and that Lego Boost creative toolbox.  Definitely a higher price but the longevity is worth the cash and offer a higher ceiling than something like Labo.  Labo sounds like a nice cash grab but I believe kids that do enjoy something like this will outgrow it quickly and it would have been better to just invest in already tried and true products on the market that gives you all the points Labo does including the durability, longevity and creative growth.