Believe it or not, I think Legos have gotten less creative. This isn't supposed to be a back in my day rant, but the Lego sets i've seen recently have a lot of specialized prefab components that take some of the creativeity out of some of it. Instead of making a piece that needs what you need it to, Lego has already done it. I remember I made a 2 speed transmission that had a neutral and reverse mounted in a 4 wheel independent suspension chassis when I was 10. Now those are just pre-assembled pieces that come with directions.