I agree. Its probably hard for Lego since they want to innovate but WE dont want it. We just want bricks.

This seems a little different though no? Like it appears to be a fully contained system that should work as long as you have a smart brick and tags. It doesn’t need to physically interact with the various tech enabled elements so at worst you end up with some plates and minifigs with what appear to be passive electronics inside that still work as normal pieces.

I think what I’m most leery of is that the smart brick itself looks like it has a fully seal battery that isn’t user serviceable which means in a few years these just become e-waste. I hope LEGO has considered that and has a way to replace them.

These look fundamentally different to Powered Functions or Mind Storms for instance which were focused on expanding the capabilities of LEGO to be interactive. The Smart Brick though looks very specifically aimed at enhancing the play pillar of LEGO and not at what most AFL want (in the creativity or building/engineering pillars). This isn’t really for the 16+ audience is my big takeaway, it’s for kids in the same way the Mario interactive figures are for kids mainly.

Think of how many incompatible motor systems they’ve made over the years

Maybe I'm missing some, but the 9V, Power Functions, and Mindstorms motors were fairly compatible with each other via official LEGO adapters.