Why are tiny pieces of plastic so expensive?

Because Lego has a monopoly, built on people not knowing the alternatives - and, in fact, the original inventor, Kiddie Craft, too - and using legal loopholes to sue anyone however possible.
Other manufacturers have long since overtook Lego in terms of quality (especially color consistency), quantity, love poured into design, licenses - while sometimes being a third of the price, but always cheaper. Including Cobi, who exclusively produce in Poland, while Lego also produces in China. One part of Burg Blaustein/Blaustein Castle (made by BlueBrixx) would probably cost as much as the whole thing if it was made by Lego!
- HQ Lego Alternatives:
  Military, aircraft, small cars: Cobi. Technic: CaDa has licensed premium lines like the AMG GT One . Models with Lighting: Fun Whole, but can near Lego pricing, with higher quality. Kids: Buy used Lego sets, don't bother too much with lost parts, replace them on Bricklink.
  And there is a few others. I listed only companies not ripping off duplicates. There is more good ones, and of course a lot of copycat companies.
  
  I've checked out everything you listed - and neither company has the range of Lego.
  That said, I'm ordering some sets from BlueBrix , that one seems the best from all mentioned in the topic. :)
  
  AreaX has a licenced SpongeBob Krusty Krab set that's actually really well made, well packaged and the instructions are on par with Lego. I bought one from the China warehouse with its full packaging (you can order without it for a bit cheaper) and it was a total of $117.
  If you handed me the pieces and told me it was Lego, I'd believe you until I saw there wasn't "LEGO" molded into the studs.
- Are there any good price comparisons for Lego vs alternatives? I didn't look at the piece per piece price, but the non-liscensed sets seem comparable at best (~€10 for a small build).
  The only things way out of proportion for Lego are licensed sets (Disney tax keeps going up) and minifigures (collectors blow a lot of money)
- Out of interest, are the alternatives compatible with Lego? As in, made to the same sizes?
  
  All I know are compatible, though they may not have the (exact) same color.
  
  Same sizes, yes, but never the same tolerances.
- LEGO is of vastly higher quality, in terms of tolerances and consistency.
  
  Yeah, no.
  Maybe 20 years ago? But nowadays LEGO has worse quality than nearly any other brand, especially in terms of color consistency.

I've never understood the Lego model thing with very specific pieces. The original point was to be creative and make whatever you could.
- That's my thinking too. The element of creativity is more fun (to me) than following instructions for something someone else designed.
  
  Sure but some people just enjoy the act of building. They don't want to be creative necessarily.
  
  As a Lego kid, I always built the model per the instructions, held onto it for a bit, then disassembled it and added the pieces to the bin. I liked following the instructions because they gave me assembly ideas. I liked the specialized pieces because they added more options for my own builds.
- I was into the Lego Star Wars sets in a major way when I was a kid. It's fun building things that you already think are cool. Then, afterward, it allows you to more easily build your own stuff in that style, because you have more specialized parts
- It's because money. Want to make a bunch of things? Buy a bunch a of sets. No more being satisfied with 1 10 dollar set

Just buy second hand. Seriously, we got a few kilos of duplos second hand for 40€. Probably one of the best toy purchases ever made.
- Sticky
  
  Put them to the laundry machine inside a laundry bag. Gets rid of almost anything, and deals no damage to the bricks.

The counterfeit ones are cheap
Waste your money if you want, or not
- Not even counterfeits, there are competing legitimate companies, like BlueBrixx, which are cheaper.
  
  Iirc bluebrixx use gobricks which are easily comparable to Lego. Mould King do too and also produce a lot of their own sets, bigger and cheaper than Lego. I'm also a fan of JieStar, clutch can be a bit tighter, but the quality is fine - Reobrix use JieStar and make some great original sets.

This thread has been interesting. There are claims both that Lego bricks are made to better tolerance, and the opposite, they they are worse. So which is it?
As I understand it, Lego moved their production out of country for a bit, but returned it because tolerances could not be met. So who are making these better, or equally good pieces now?
Full disclosure: I've 3d printed a few Lego bricks now, and some certainly came out better than others - but I did manage to get some fully adequate 4x2s printed. Now as for the angle supports for my Lego wall.. Not so much unfortunately.
- Lego's tolerances are pretty good, and so are a couple of other non-counterfeit brands. They might be a bit "stickier". Lego as an overall product is behind. The prices are not just high, rather borderline questionable. Color consistency is notoriously poor with certain colors, due to cost saving measures. They stopped using colored granulated plastics, and instead inject ink.
  They charge premium licensing prices and deliver stickers while Cobi is able to print it properly. Cobi is pricey mind you, but they at least deliver. Lego has no proper lighting, which opened the market for Fun Whole. They butchered and killed their robotics line up of Mindstorns. Lego butchered their Technic electronics with compatibility breakage and forced app usage. Lego abuses the that brand to keep selling model cars with few functions. Lego abused the Technic brand to publish a Mars Rover which has a design failing suspension and zero chassis stability.
  For cost savings, they fill the invisible insides with random colored blocks, drowning alternate uses.
  Their product photos are misleading, with photoshopped headlights which don't exist and other trickery.
  Lego has likely a way too big catalogue, sells perhaps not enough of most, and goes quantity over quality.
  The truth is, there are very well designed sets, with prints, no random colors, at acceptably high prices and they are adorable. And I would and maybe will purchase them and have done so not long ago. It's the amount of crap which comes out. I often assume the Internet scandalizes Lego's state, and of course they do, but when I walk past my local Lego shops, I see terrible designs, at ridiculous prices.
  If Lego would position themselves as a mainstream brand at medium prices, nobody would bat an eye. It's them often surcharging 50% above competition at lower quality which grinds people's gears really badly.
  
  From my experience the multi colored sections on the inside usually have a method to the madness. Like green bits on one side and red on the other which helps during assembly. They like to rotate the model a bunch in the instructions and it gives you some reference points. I’m sure some of it is cost savings as well. They just use whatever the most common color is for the brick. I agree with most of the other points. You definitely have to pick and choose the sets that are worth it.
  
  Man, comments like this are why I love the internet (and the current culture on Lemmy); You have given me a tiny glimpse into a part of the world I'm oblivious to; it's a reminder that basically everything that exists actually has a mind-blowing level of hidden depth and complexity, and people who care about these niche areas enough that this texture is their life.
  It makes me feel small, but in a good way.
  
  Can you give me a few examples of other good quality companies? I am looking to diversify, but I want the new sets to be Lego-comaptible.
- It's that moved away from big sets of random blocks to specialized kits.

Oh boy, let me tell you about the tiny pieces of plastic called warhammer...
- Hey, some are tiny pieces of metal.
- Tempting to get into epic scale compatible stuff tbh. Much cheaper than the official games workshop stuff if you instead just go for something that can fit the same rule set and theme.
  
  I'm just doing 3d printed now, specially because I pay a ton on taxes on imported stuff.
  For the price of 1 angron from gw, I got from 3d printing: angron, lord of skulls, 12 eightbound, 1 master of execution and 1 rhino (buying from a specialized shop)

If you're buying lego to build fine motor skills, it doesn't need to be the Lego brand or even building bricks.
Hell, remember Meccano? Now if you want something age appropriate for an 8-year-old that develops fine motor skills, Meccano is the way to go! Sure none of it is licensed like Lego, but you can build some crazy stuff! They were building full-on steam locomotives back in the day! Meccano was actually used to build differential analysers in the 1930s.

At which age and for which purchase was the first mortgage?

Eight is old enough to start using actual hand tools.
- "The children yearn for the mines."
- 8 years old need constant supervision when handling actual tools, especially sharp ones. Not because they don't understand how to use them conceptually but because they aren't coordinated or experienced enough not to hurt themselves.
  
  Can confirm, have an 8yo.
- Florida enters the chat

The really expensive ones are that price because of consoomers collecting the stuff. Same as action figures, funko pops, etc.

Bro lego technic is absolute fire btw. Even as an afult its fun. But as all hobbies it eats through your pockets.

Because a surprising number of people are willing to pay what they ask, so they keep asking them to pay more... and they do, apparently. I don't get it. But, it's what some people want.

- It's 2025, Lego quality is not "insane"
  It's run of the mill injection molded plastic that you can get for cents a piece.
- It's greed. There are alternative "interlocking toy brick" manufacturers, like BlueBrixx, that are cheaper than Lego.
  
  Bluebrixx are great! They’re also like 40% cheaper on average than Lego.
  
  Those are cheaper because they're made with much higher tolerances. You can 3D print crude legos for nothing more than the cost of filament. But they're not going to be any good.
  General rule of manufacturing. Every time you decrease the tolerances by an order of magnitude, you increase the cost by an order of magnitude.
- Are you for real? They aren't any different from compatible bricks which all "fit with every other piece".

You can buy a tonne of them on AliExpress

Because you are buying named brand ones. Also you can buy used ones by weight extremely cheap, and just wash them.