@linux_mclinuxface @Chigaze @AmeliasBrain I definitely mostly got kits when I was a kid but to be honest Lego wasn't my biggest "building block toy." I was actually way more into Construx (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Construx), and a lot more of my freestyle building was with those (though they were also kits). It kinda seems like, even aside from the bigger emphasis on branded stuff, there's also a big loss of variety of this kind of alternative building toy.
Either way when I was a kid I don't think most of the kits were branded ones. They were mostly just generic space ships and castles and towns. I kinda wonder if that also still felt more freeform-able since "Lego Millennium Falcon" feels a lot more shelf worthy than "Lego Space Ship no.204".