Lego’s Smart Brick Is Dividing Its Adult Fanbase

Small speakers hum as two “Star Wars”-themed Lego lightsabers clash. Lights beam from the top of a Lego-built airplane. A roaring engine sound kicks in as multiple vehicles race across the floor.

It’s all part of a high-tech — and polarizing — update from Lego called Smart Play that the toymaker unveiled at the Consumer Electronics Show earlier this week in Las Vegas.

Lego says its new line of chip-based bricks is “one of the most significant evolutions” since the launch of figurines in 1978.

At the center of the system is what Lego calls a Smart Brick. It’s the same size as the classic two-by-four Lego piece — a design that has remained largely unchanged since the company began producing plastic bricks in the early 1930s — but it contains sensors, lights, and a tiny speaker.

The move pushes the famously analog toy deeper into the world of embedded technology. Among adult fans of Lego — known as AFOLs — the reaction has been mixed.

Online, some longtime builders and parents have voiced concern about what they see as the growing “tech-ification” of toys traditionally more reliant on one’s imagination.

In interviews with Business Insider, Lego purists, toy enthusiasts, and industry watchers said they’re intrigued by the technology — but some worry the added electronics will push Lego’s prices even higher.

“I’ve loved the creativity involved without Smart Bricks,” Jake Doll, 33, a Lego enthusiast who posts to AFOL communities on TikTok, told Business Insider. “I think they’ll put more investment in tech as it can increase the overall purchase price.”

The bricks can sense what’s happening around them, including light detection, player movement, and proximity to other figurines. When multiple Smart Bricks are used together, they communicate wirelessly with one another, allowing Lego sets to react in coordinated ways.

Lego says the system doesn’t rely on AI or a constant internet connection. The bricks charge wirelessly, don’t require disposable batteries, and play pre-programmed sounds directly from built-in speakers.

The company plans to debut the technology in three “Star Wars”-themed sets: a $70 Darth Vader set with 473 pieces, a $100 Luke’s Red Five X-Wing set with 584 pieces, and a $160 Darth Vader’s Throne Room Duel & A-Wing set with 962 pieces. They will hit store shelves on March 1.

“This isn’t changing direction from what the Lego brand has always been,” Tom Donaldson, the head of Legos’s Creative Play Lab, told Business Insider in a statement. “It’s an expansion — we’re staying true to our brand while innovating to meet how kids play today. The Lego brick our fans know and love isn’t going anywhere; we’re just making our play even more magical.”

Bob Friedland, 50, a toy expert and former Toys R Us executive, told Business Insider he isn’t planning to buy the Lego Smart Play sets when they launch.

Right now, he owns 115 sets, according to his Lego app. That includes collections themed around “Hocus Pocus,” “Stranger Things,” and van Gogh’s Starry Night. In a phone interview, Friedland said he’s more interested in a $28, fully analog Lego DeLorean DMC replica from “Back to the Future.”

He said that Lego — which launched a 9,000-piece Star Wars-themed build for $999 in September — risks alienating already inflation-strained customers with increasingly expensive sets.

“These bricks will definitely bump up against the already-existing feeling that Lego is too expensive,” he said.

Smart Play isn’t Lego’s first attempt to blend bricks with technology.

In 1998, the company launched Lego Mindstorms, a line of programmable robotics kits that allowed builders to create machines that responded to sensors and computer code. More recently, Lego introduced the Lego Super Mario line in 2020, which featured interactive figures that triggered sound effects when placed on certain blocks.

Friedland said that much of the online concern around toy “tech-ification” is attributable to other companies focusing on launching AI in teddy bears and dolls.

Mattel, for example, has partnered with OpenAI to put AI tech in some Barbie dolls. Child development researchers have warned that AI-enabled plushies aren’t meeting basic safety standards. Online chatbots have appeared on children’s iPads.

But other parents said they aren’t sure their Lego-loving kids are even going to be interested in the company’s new tech.

“As an adult fan, my joy stems from the building process and sharing that experience with my kids,” Reid Exley, 43, a father of two and Lego enthusiast with more than 50 sets, said. “My kids would likely enjoy the novelty of the sounds and interactivity. However, I suspect that novelty would quickly wear off and Lego play would remain largely unchanged.”

Some fans see Lego’s launch of the Smart Play system less as a distraction — and more as an intriguing puzzle with potential.

“Are dolls that cry less creative than dolls that don’t? Not really,” Friedland said. “I can already see myself trying to figure out Easter eggs that are unlocked by placing the Smart Brick in the right place or tapping it in the right sequence while it’s next to the right colored brick.”

He also told Business Insider that the current state of childhood play needs some new tech disruption. The Lego set, in his mind, could fit that bill.

“Parents who are wary of tech will likely look at this as a better alternative than a phone or iPad,” he said. “I think this is a much better solution than the AI toys out there.”