Resolved: K'nex are better than Legos

Cultural/Economical benefits First, I would like to point out that LegoLand is completely relevant in this debate for the following counter-reasons. I would also like to note that my opponent himself shows how LegoLand is relevant by attempting to refute it past the simple "It's irrelevant". If he actually believed it to be irrelevant, he would have left it at that. 1. LegoLand is a product of Lego. My opponent's definition was "The Lego brand of children's toy, taken to include the entire line of lego product ". If we are to abide by these rules, the former part of the sentence is irrelevant, for the latter part (entire line of lego product) states that all lego products are fair game. SO not just the children's toys. LegoLand is a trademark of Lego and contains almost nothing but amazing feats of the Lego toys. Without Legos, there would be no LegoLand. Thus, LegoLand is a product of Legos, making it completely relevant. May the reader note that in R1 my opponent explicitly stated that there are no restrictions on argumentative strategy, so this strategy does not violate ANY rules. 2. There is no reason that LegoLand be ruled out on the grounds that it is owned by Merlin Entertainment, for we are debating about the product itself. LegoLand is a product of Lego, therefore, no matter who actually owns the LegoLands, it's still relevant. The economic benefits are extremely topical in this debate. May the reader recall my definition of better. It's extremely advantageous to have Lego over K'nex because of the economic benefit Lego's provides. This point still stands. My opponent tries stating that K'nex offer education that leads to economic stimulus, but this is a completely hollow assumption, and nothing more. 2. Popular Demand My opponent fails to realize that my statistics on Legos show how popular they are with children. "Children around the world spend 5 billion hours a year playing with LEGO bricks". If that's not enough to show how absolutely in demand Legos are, then you can see the other numbers I presented. This leads back to my definition of better through economics, again. Legos are more economically advantageous because they are so popular. Showing that there are more Legos then people shows that it's absolutely a valuable commodity. Of course you can say there is more sand, but Legos need to be manufactured; costs go into producing them, so they would only keep producing them if they are making a profit. They are obviously making a profit, seeing as there are so many Lego's in production. Showing a higher demand in Legos shows how the kids want Legos more than K'nex. Say it's marketing all you want, but the numbers stand. It's not just a market trick that leads Lego's in every house in America. 3. Easy Handling My opponent concedes that K'nex require more time and are more complicated to master. I would like to remind the reader that these toys have a target audience; children. Would a 5-7 year old really spend long periods of time trying to work K'nex and trying to understand them? A better question would be do they have the attention span to do such a thing. This will be expanded later. The same 'missing piece' situation can apply to K'nex, so here they are equal. 4. Unlimited Imagination It's true that K'nex offers a large outlet for creativity, but the same can be said of Lego. Stating that it has more bizarre pieces in it's sets doesn't take away any value. If anything, it keeps kids interested, unlike engineering, which few kids are interested in. So here, it can be said they are equal. Now on to my opponent's case for K'nex. Versatility I must make it clear that Lego has adapted many of the K'nex type toys; the type of snapping rods found in K'nex is also found in Legos. My opponent even acknowledges this in his R2. He tries making the case for K'nex by saying Lego pieces are more rare to come by, but this simply isn't true. Any pieces you need are accessible at any toy store. In any event, I will concede that K'nex offers a large variety of structures that one can build; some of which Lego's could not mimic, but alas, the same can be said of K'nex. Their more realistic shapes takes away from the fun Lego provides. See my opponent's example of the Star Trek space ship. There are blasters and everything on that baby! What's also important to note is that since Lego offers such a wide variety of kits with different pieces, it keeps users interested. Sure, on their own they could build a giant K'nex clock, but Lego's give kids a manual on how to build impressive models so that any kid can do it, and many different models to choose from. It's so much easier to follow instructions then to try and master engineering on your own, and this is why Lego is the more popular and advantageous product. Moveable Structures Lego can create moveable structures a well. The car. My opponent again conceded that Lego can do this. So again, they are equal. Engineering Education This point is an extreme stretch of the imagination. TO say that a young child has the patience and dedication to grasp even the basic concepts of engineering (trusses, pulleys, etc.) is naive. Children don't necessarily want to understand the engineering aspect behind the toy. My opponent is bias in this, as he is becoming an engineer himself, so of course he views this as an advantage. I also would view this as an extremely awesome advantage. However, the kids do not, seeing as Lego is much more popular. There is no way that K'nex are going to spark engineering interest. In fact, they haven't. "Employment of engineers is expected to grow about as fast as the average for all occupations over the next decade ". This quote refutes this point. There will be no special rise in engineering Source 1. http://www.bls.gov...