I believe that in Europe, everything is a bit more "sophisticated" than Non-Europeans might think.
For example, in Germany there is "Fischer-Technik" from the Fischer-Werke. The founder Artur Fischer became multi-millionnaire by inventing the synchronous camera flash (1949), selling this to AGFA and then the invention of the "Fischer-Dübel" (= plastic S-Plug for screws and nails, 1958), which was a bestseller in times of German reconstrudtion:
en.wikipedia.org
Since 1965, they also produced metal toys for "little technicians" and as far as I know, they also co-operate for some years with LEGO, because "Fischertechnik" had more experience with electric toys and combinations of plastic with metal than LEGO ever had. But the prices of "Fischertechnik"-toys are even much higher than of LEGO. I get a dizzy feeling when I see what parents have to pay today for their sweet little "devils":
www.fischertechnik.de
www.fischertechnik.de
But every toy in my childhood had some advantages - no matter if they were of plastic, metal or wood. The cannons from my "Fort Independence" could fire through loopholes which I burned with a candle into the plastic palisades and some of my plastic cowboys were killed by long "Indian arrow-" needles from the sewing machine of my mother. Because the needles were hot, they also beautifully stuck in the warm back of some plastic cowboys.
Concerning "modern writing" on PC's: Every teacher and professor I ever had, warned us students to send or give them any of our texts without having printed it before on paper and having read it twice, because on a screen, you never see the whole text as on paper. So, you often use for successive sections and paragraphs the same introduction or the same phrases or mistakes as only some sentences before without remembering or remarking it. Our professors called this "Bildschirm-Blindheit" (= "screen-blindness"). And please don't tell me how often I used here "By the way, ..." or "Right now, ..."! I know, it is terrible often!