I agree. It feels like most Lego sets on the market have several major/foundational pieces which are essentially useless outside of the model they're built for - some huge chunk of molded plastic. A big part of the joy of Lego sets in the past was that they showed you what was possible with these unassuming bricks. Sure, any big/intricate set would have some funny pieces, but they would mostly lend themselves to many forms of re-use that even a 10-year old could easily figure out. My 4 year-old has had a great time with Duplos, but I'm sort of leary about transitioning to Legos because to me, they've become more emblematic of consumerist collecting than creativity.