I've noticed that kits for younger children have more special-purpose parts—I'm assuming to make the builds simpler by having fewer, larger parts. The "older" the kits get, the less specialized the pieces become.
Modern kits have an absolute shitload of tiny parts, too. IMO that’s worse since at least the special parts can usually be repurposed. My kids kits have way more parts but are like half the size of my old ones. So, so many short 1x and 2x pieces. We’re drowning in those.
[edit] oh and smooth, nubless pieces, too. Also often small. They love to cover everything in those now. You look at a modern set and a similar one from 20+ years ago and the newer one looks much nicer, in large part because it’s clad in tiny little smooth bricks, while the old one had exposed nubs everywhere. One looks nicer on a shelf, one’s nicer for modding and play.
