I heard the company was having problems. Kinda hard to believe. I have a relative that collects lego, a bit of foaming there too. Most layouts would take up far less room.
They would have to be stupid to tank the company full with such a hadcore base, hopefully they just downsize. They are an important learning toy IMO, unfortunate more parents don't see that anymore.
I dont recall having more than a tin with a few pictures to build off, let alone specialized kits. But the accumulation of tins was huge. I had to use brick trapped tinker toys for wheels and gears till I could manage Erector Sets nuts and bolt....and then I couldn't care less about the others
I did have a toy rivet gun that spun fasteners till they melted and managed to attach a toy pull-back cars frame to a long Lego plate with it. It was still in "Grandmas toy box" last I looked