Brick Wars - Anyone outside Germany taking notice?

[Frank Brickowski]

3 minutes ago, iahawks550 said:

Until these other products gain retail shelf space in America, no one will care about them. There is a good chance, like Megabloks, that even if they do, no one will care about them.

My fight isn't against the quality of these companies, or the design, or whatever. It's that Americans will consistently pay higher amounts for perceived quality and brand recognition.

As long as they don't have a choice and the only options are getting something for the price it has or not getting anything at all, well, they actually have to pay what they're asked for. That's the issue with a monopoly.

[roxio]

14 minutes ago, Frank Brickowski said:

Alright. You still didn't mention any specific set but let me assume you're referring to this forklift:

Now, with all seriousness: Are you actually saying that this forklift model is a design that is protectable at all in the first place? Are you familiar with the term "threshold of originality" - I suppose not. You simply cannot protect ANY brick model design you like just because you built it. Most of what is built by MOCers does not have the needed "threshold of originality" to even come close to a design that could ever be protected.

Moreover many MOC designs are in danger of being too close to original vehicle / architectural designs themselves, first of all. And you certainly cannot protect a brick model design based on a real vehicle / architecture itself. But even if no real vehicle / building is involved, 90% of the MOCs out there are just not "original" enought to ever become design-protected. This whole debate about MOCers having their designs stolen (or "stolen") is first and foremost a discussion about fairness, not about "legal" or "illegal". I'd also like to see MOCers being paid, but in terms of applicable laws, they stand pretty much bare-handed because their designs simply cannot be protected.

The designer created 10 alternative models from a Lego Creator set. Decool very closely copied 3 of them and for the other 7 used the exact same instructions the MOC had designed. 

[tyskr28]

31 minutes ago, Frank Brickowski said:

That's exactly what is happening in Germany right now. So it's very likely to happen in other countries as well. Only a matter of time. I mean mentioning especially COBI in a sentence containing the term "legal implications" is just laughable. They are the only ones NOT producing in China, but only in Europe. They have licenses with Boeing, Maserati, Paramount Pictures. Their quality is superior to LEGO's and their prices are still lower (though rising). Ask the very owner of this site if COBI is legit, I suppose he'll be among the first to approve it is.

Just to be clear here, I am not saying COBI (or MEGABlox, Oxford, etc) are doing anything illegal, you misunderstand. I was using them as examples of legitimate alternate brick companies already in existence, who have failed to take a significant portion of market share away from LEGO to this point. I do question the legality of some of the stuff bluebrixx is selling, but importantly I am not a lawyer, much less a judge so that call isn't up to me. In terms of this website and the threat to LEGO I am saying that I don't see any real evidence (data) that Bluebrixx, and the "brick wars" are having a large enough effect on the viability of LEGO as an investment, and that I currently don't see them as a threat because long-term the questionable legality (at the minimum unethical nature) of what they are doing in the U.S. 

Of course there is always the possibility this could change in the future, but given what you have presented so far I don't see it. Its easy to see youtube accounts with huge follower numbers bashing LEGO, forums of people upset at LEGO's practices and see some sort of trend. But of those 'millions' of people it is impossible to say how many of them bought LEGO in the past and have now stopped because of this uproar, how much money did each of them spend every year, how many of them still buy LEGO, and of those numbers what percentage of LEGO's total customer base does that account for, etc, etc.

[iahawks550]

9 minutes ago, Frank Brickowski said:

As long as they don't have a choice and the only options are getting something for the price it has or not getting anything at all, well, they actually have to pay what they're asked for. That's the issue with a monopoly.

and it's also my point with generic brands in this country that may be as good or better tasting than the original. Americans DO have a choice, and most often STILL buy the name brand at a higher price.

It's always possible another brand comes in and knocks off Lego, but it's a tough thing to do, it hasn't been done, and it would take years to do it.

Edited February 9, 2021 by iahawks550

[Frank Brickowski]

11 minutes ago, roxio said:

The designer created 10 alternative models from a Lego Creator set. Decool very closely copied 3 of them and for the other 7 used the exact same instructions the MOC had designed. 

I agree, IF they copied it, then that was unfair of Decool. Not illegal though.

Edited February 9, 2021 by Frank Brickowski

[spener90]

I'm all for some competition for Lego, but seeing some of the "original" sets on the website are cringeworthy. Legal or not, some of them are blatant copies from Lego. Others are just terrible. Also, those minifigures in the sets might be the worst part about them. I'll stick with my overpriced plastic.

[Frank Brickowski]

13 minutes ago, tyskr28 said:

Just to be clear here, I am not saying COBI (or MEGABlox, Oxford, etc) are doing anything illegal, you misunderstand. I was using them as examples of legitimate alternate brick companies already in existence, who have failed to take a significant portion of market share away from LEGO to this point. I do question the legality of some of the stuff bluebrixx is selling, but importantly I am not a lawyer, much less a judge so that call isn't up to me. In terms of this website and the threat to LEGO I am saying that I don't see any real evidence (data) that Bluebrixx, and the "brick wars" are having a large enough effect on the viability of LEGO as an investment, and that I currently don't see them as a threat because long-term the questionable legality (at the minimum unethical nature) of what they are doing in the U.S. 

Of course there is always the possibility this could change in the future, but given what you have presented so far I don't see it. Its easy to see youtube accounts with huge follower numbers bashing LEGO, forums of people upset at LEGO's practices and see some sort of trend. But of those 'millions' of people it is impossible to say how many of them bought LEGO in the past and have now stopped because of this uproar, how much money did each of them spend every year, how many of them still buy LEGO, and of those numbers what percentage of LEGO's total customer base does that account for, etc, etc.

Agreed. The entire LEGO world is not yet collapsing at this moment. I only wanted to let you know it's beginning in Germany right now and this whole issue will start changing more and more markets in years to come. It'll be very interesting to see the market numbers for Germany for 2020/21 and how LEGO will try to make them look nice anyway - but whatever they do, you'll still be able to see things changing in the numbers, too, anyway.

[Frank Brickowski]

13 minutes ago, iahawks550 said:

and it's also my point with generic brands in this country that may be as good or better tasting than the original. Americans DO have a choice, and most often STILL buy the name brand at a higher price.

It's always possible another brand comes in and knocks off Lego, but it's a tough thing to do, it hasn't been done, and it would take years to do it.

Alright. Obviously Germany is very different, good for German brick fans. A vast variety of sets LEGO will never produce, waiting for half the price at about identical quality. I hope brick fans in other markets will get more choices, too, soon.

[spener90]

2 minutes ago, Frank Brickowski said:

Alright. Obviously Germany is very different, good for German brick fans. A vast variety of sets LEGO will never produce, waiting for half the price at about identical quality. I hope brick fans in other markets will get more choices, too, soon.

You should post something that shows the quality comparison. I'm being serious with this comment. Because I'm sure I'm not the only one who at one point bought a MegaBloks set that ended up intermixing with my Lego, and over time have removed all of those bricks from my collection.

Also, the brilliant thing about Lego, is if they don't produce a set or building you want, you literally have the ability to BUILD the item you like. It is a very unrestrictive creative tool. So the idea that Lego will never produce certain sets, isn't a big deal.

[Frank Brickowski]

4 minutes ago, spener90 said:

You should post something that shows the quality comparison. I'm being serious with this comment. Because I'm sure I'm not the only one who at one point bought a MegaBloks set that ended up intermixing with my Lego, and over time have removed all of those bricks from my collection.

Also, the brilliant thing about Lego, is if they don't produce a set or building you want, you literally have the ability to BUILD the item you like. It is a very unrestrictive creative tool. So the idea that Lego will never produce certain sets, isn't a big deal.

1.) How does one compare the quality of different bricks? You either buy everything yourself and compare with your own hands. Or you read/watch reviews and trust or do not trust the reviewer. No matter what article or video I'd post here (and to my knowledge there simply is not the ONE video doing this), LEGO fanboys could claim every time that this or that source is not reliable for this or that reason. What you can do is read in forums across the web, watch tons of video reviews on different channels, check yourself buying some small sets from different competitors. One big problem besides the limited availability of alternative brands in the US is: most people don't speak German and so everything posted here right now, in the epicenter, is not really accessible to AFOBs only speaking English. I myself would be very interested in some reliable US reviewer(s) making an eloborate comparison of as many different brands as possible. But, well, in the US the vast majority of brick fans simply isn't interested in anything NOT LEGO, as you can witness here. So who would actually take the time writing an article/ recording a video doing such a comparison knowing he would get nothing but a shitstorm by AFOLs defending their LEGO religion afterwards?

2.) The ability to build anything out of bricks applies to all brands. So this is one reason MORE for alternative brands since they cost only 50% of what LEGO wants you to pay. And, come on, let's be honest, most AFOLs buy lots of sets they could well build with the bricks they already have - and still they buy the sets instead. So saying this is no big deal doesn't really apply to what is going on in real life.

[redghostx]

In this topic: Ethics and lack thereof.

[Brystheguy]

13 minutes ago, Frank Brickowski said:

 So who would actually take the time writing an article/ recording a video doing such a comparison knowing he would get nothing but a shitstorm by AFOLs defending their LEGO religion afterwards?

 

Well, I guess you would...

[spener90]

30 minutes ago, Frank Brickowski said:

So who would actually take the time writing an article/ recording a video doing such a comparison knowing he would get nothing but a shitstorm by AFOLs defending their LEGO religion afterwards?

Not me. Also, I'm not sure most of these comments are "defending" Lego, but more so questioning your general sentiment regarding the product your are pushing.

[Sozial]

I can only post 100 BSR in the category "building blocks" on Amazon again, which is clear indication that all things claimed are to a certain amount untrue.

https://www.amazon.de/gp/bestsellers/toys/360407031/ref=pd_zg_hrsr_toys

Edited February 9, 2021 by Sozial

[Frank Brickowski]

1 hour ago, Brystheguy said:

Well, I guess you would...

Maybe I would just to give everyone the same basic knowledge and be able to discuss advantages and disadvanteges of this or that brick brand in detail. But I'm not on YouTube and I have no website.

[Frank Brickowski]

31 minutes ago, Sozial said:

I can only post 100 BSR in the category "building blocks" on Amazon again, which is clear indication that all things claimed are to a certain amount untrue.

https://www.amazon.de/gp/bestsellers/toys/360407031/ref=pd_zg_hrsr_toys

Come on, what do you want to prove here? Of course, almost all alternative brick brands are sold via the general importers' / alternatives retailers' websites directly, not on Amazon.de. So it's not at all surprising you don't find any alternative sets in the Amazon Top 100. This is getting ridiculous.

Plus, I've written multiple times that it is BEGINNING in Germany, not that alternative bricks have taken over the entire market already. In terms of market share LEGO should be losing this year, it will remain some single-digit number, of course. So, again, claiming alternative brands should be in the Amazon Top 100 or my arguments are invalid is just ridiculous, sorry. This is a trend having started, about to grow each year LEGO does not change its way of communicating with others and not listening to AFOL's demands.

1 hour ago, redghostx said:

In this topic: Ethics and lack thereof.

Cue: Osprey...

[$20 on joe vs dan]

22 minutes ago, Frank Brickowski said:

Maybe I would just to give everyone the same basic knowledge and be able to discuss advantages and disadvanteges of this or that brick brand in detail. But I'm not on YouTube and I have no website.

just about anyone can post a vid on youtube

...and you seem passionate about your stance on this. Maybe consider actually doing a vid.  All you need is a phone to record your vid.

My take in reading your post is that you discredited yourself a bit by suggesting that some of these other brands quality were pretty close to LEGO.  It's my personal experience that they are not...but ofcourse my perceptions are relative to what I think is important quality metrics.

Without getting into the merits of individual sets...an objective test of the same build using the different brick sources would be a decent baseline. Appearance test, hold test, durability (might be more challenging to show), etc.

There's also the concerns with the manufacturing processes...many here were shocked to see pics of the China warehouse that was raided a couple years ago; those were some really dirty conditions (and we all know how many LEGO end up in the mouths of young children). Not saying those are representative of say Cobi, but there's definitely the perception of guilt by association...until you remove ALL bogus offerings...there's exist links to the "dark side" of imitators. 

[Frank Brickowski]

25 minutes ago, $20 on joe vs dan said:

just about anyone can post a vid on youtube

...and you seem passionate about your stance on this. Maybe consider actually doing a vid.  All you need is a phone to record your vid.

My take in reading your post is that you discredited yourself a bit by suggesting that some of these other brands quality were pretty close to LEGO.  It's my personal experience that they are not...but ofcourse my perceptions are relative to what I think is important quality metrics.

Without getting into the merits of individual sets...an objective test of the same build using the different brick sources would be a decent baseline. Appearance test, hold test, durability (might be more challenging to show), etc.

There's also the concerns with the manufacturing processes...many here were shocked to see pics of the China warehouse that was raided a couple years ago; those were some really dirty conditions (and we all know how many LEGO end up in the mouths of young children). Not saying those are representative of say Cobi, but there's definitely the perception of guilt by association...until you remove ALL bogus offerings...there's exist links to the "dark side" of imitators. 

>My take in reading your post is that you discredited yourself a bit by suggesting that some of these other brands quality were pretty close to LEGO.  It's my personal experience that they are not...but ofcourse my perceptions are relative to what I think is important quality metrics.

What brands' bricks have you built with and when? Like I've written before: Things (quality) have changed at an immense speed in the past 2 years. Admittedly, most alternative brands (except COBI for instance) were much worse still only a year ago. But manufacturers like "GO bricks" (China) are said to be on par with LEGO actually - unfortunately I don't know which brands they provide their bricks to. And also Xingbao, Wange, Qman etc. are within 95-99% of LEGO (I've also written that before, I know). In all honesty, COBI in fact IS on par with LEGO in terms of quality. Not only regarding manufacturing itself but also in terms of prints - in this field they are better than LEGO that is. An estimated 90% of COBI sets are "pad printed, no stickers" (as they label it). And we're talking about perfect prints over multiple pieces, prints on the SIDES of PLATES, perfectly opaque prints on BLACK bricks (which LEGO often claims to be more or less impossble - yeah, it's impossible if you don't want to spend the money to do it properly).

>There's also the concerns with the manufacturing processes...many here were shocked to see pics of the China warehouse that was raided a couple years ago

Doing the broken record thing here: Yeah, I know, but things have changed massively. Much more rapidly than LEGO could ever change anything. No surprise AFOLs are not used to changes going that fast.

Overall thanks for your fair post and arguments. This is a style of discussing we can agree upon.

For a kind of bricks quality comparison, I'd like to recommend three videos of one of the German alternatives retailers (also general importer for QMan), who knows over 30 or even 50 brands from his own experience. Hopefully you get what he is talking about a bit, although it's in German. I don't care what some people might reply in terms of "credibility" or "non-credibility". There still is a limited variety of sources for videos of this kind, so you have to "take what you can get". If you've got something better, feel free to post it.

"Flop 10 alternative brand sets of the last 2 years"
 

"Top 10 alternative brands' sets of the last 2 years":
 

"Top 10 alternative brick brands"
 

 

Edited February 9, 2021 by Frank Brickowski

[Sozial]

1 hour ago, Frank Brickowski said:

Come on, what do you want to prove here?

The thing I wanted to prove is, that there is no ground for your claim that alternative brands gain market share in germany. That might be true for AFOLs who think their demands have not be met by LEGO and now buy sets from other companies who offer that kind of sets. The problem with your assumption is that there is no data available to backup your claim. Only because you post some videos of youtubers, that doesnt mean that the viewers actually buy the sets, of course to a certain extent yes that will happen.

1 hour ago, Frank Brickowski said:

Of course, almost all alternative brick brands are sold via the general importers' / alternatives retailers' websites directly, not on Amazon.de. So it's not at all surprising you don't find any alternative sets in the Amazon Top 100. This is getting ridiculous.

Why is that "of course"? If you know Amazon your know that 100 BSR mean a lot of volume.

1 hour ago, Frank Brickowski said:

Plus, I've written multiple times that it is BEGINNING in Germany, not that alternative bricks have taken over the entire market already. In terms of market share LEGO should be losing this year, it will remain some single-digit number, of course. So, again, claiming alternative brands should be in the Amazon Top 100 or my arguments are invalid is just ridiculous, sorry. This is a trend having started, about to grow each year LEGO does not change its way of communicating with others and not listening to AFOL's demands.

For the other thing, Lego is mainly a children toy, which is bought by parents who couldnt care less about other brick companys. If they would be price sensitive they certainly wouldnt buy and EOL sets for 2-6 times RRP. 

I just would be interested what is your motive about that warfare against Lego is. 

 

[Frank Brickowski]

41 minutes ago, Sozial said:

The thing I wanted to prove is, that there is no ground for your claim that alternative brands gain market share in germany. That might be true for AFOLs who think their demands have not be met by LEGO and now buy sets from other companies who offer that kind of sets. The problem with your assumption is that there is no data available to backup your claim. Only because you post some videos of youtubers, that doesnt mean that the viewers actually buy the sets, of course to a certain extent yes that will happen.

I admitted several times I cannot prove my arguments with numbers yet because they simply are not yet available. Once again: You wanting to prove the opposite by referring to the Top 100 on Amazon is 100% off. If something is not or barely sold on Amazon at all how could it possibly appear in any top list? How could it appear in any top list if the trend is only starting?
"Some videos on Youtube"? Add up what number of people have seen those videos, have read the articles in renowned newspapers' websites like FAZ. The YouTube videos (on several big channels) caused by the current LEGO vs. Held vs. BlueBrixx vs. Johnny's World conflict alone should meanwhile add up to a DOUBLE-DIGIT MILLION amount of views. Plus the hundreds of thousands of views about every single LEGO-critical video by the Held has. If you are aware how social media works on emotional topics, well, I think it's safe to say that LEGO is losing much more than only a few hundred customers.
  

41 minutes ago, Sozial said:

Why is that "of course"? If you know Amazon your know that 100 BSR mean a lot of volume.

 

The "of course" was referring to alternative brick brands mostly NOT being sold on Amazon.de but via the specific German retailers' websites directly.

  

41 minutes ago, Sozial said:

For the other thing, Lego is mainly a children toy, which is bought by parents who couldnt care less about other brick companys. If they would be price sensitive they certainly wouldnt buy and EOL sets for 2-6 times RRP. 

 

Parents are not price sensitive? You honestly think that? Isn't it much more likely they are very much price sensitive but simply have never heard about alternative brands? BECAUSE it is "just a kids toy" to many, they would happily pay LESS for bricks of about the same quality. Come on, how many parents are acutally paying EOL sets for 6x the price for their kids. What percentage of parents are we talking about here? 1-5% maybe? The remaining 95% of parents is what counts. As soon as they get to know their options, which is the case now, LEGO will be in even bigger trouble than that caused by AFOLs switching to the other brands.
 

41 minutes ago, Sozial said:

I just would be interested what is your motive about that warfare against Lego is. 

Just like most of the other AFOBs having an issue with them, I don't like their style of communicating with others, their way of ignoring the community, their style of trying to hurt competitors in every way they can think of instead of improving their own products, the way they like to present themselves as a "hip" brand (see collaborations with Uniqlo, Levi's, Adidas) instead of actually caring most about their core products - kids toys / adult collectors' models. Instead they give kids "Hidden Side", "Mario" and "Vidio" - forcing them to use smart devices instead of offering them interesting brick sets with no strings attached. They force AFOLs into using the Powered Up app on their devices, making much of the RC equipment they already spent a lot of money on obsolete/incompatible. They introduce a new road plates system for no reason (except maximizing profit), with thousands of fans having spent serious money on CITY layouts on standard baseplates. They give you stickers instead of prints in $500+ sets to save some cents in production. They are constantly giving customers less for about the same or higher prices. Their quality is declining meanwhile (color inconsistencies, worse print quality on minifigures for instance). They still have one of the worst shop websites. They ban people for buying TOO MUCH (still shaking my head on this one especially) or ban them for any other reason without any explanation at all. They introduce things like the black VIP card, making fans believe they'll get special advantages - only to abandon the whole idea only months later. They have ridiculous double standards when it comes to military models and violence (cue Osprey, cue Sopwith Camel, cue Indiana Jones). I could go on with this further, but I'm just tired right now. I hope you get what my personal problem with them is. Thankfully millions of German AFOBs are becoming aware of what this company really is.

Edited February 9, 2021 by Frank Brickowski

[Graphicski]

Many thanks to brickowski. This thread kept me amused in this evenings downtime.

Having read through the topics start to current posting your obviously  passionate, but so evasive and contradictory. Harder to pin down than a senior politician on question time - when ever asked for a specific example or source you come back with paragraphs of babble. Your replies and arguments have been so dismissive and evasive.

Comparing lego quality to cobi etc is a good one. As someone who buys and sells joblots, so often I'm forever picking out cheap damn knockoff bricks - I don't have to pay much attention and do it by sight and feel of the cheapness of the knockoffs. I tried selling a kilo of randoms once to see what happened and got 25p for the lot. Investment and personal build wise I'll stick with lego exclusively thanks. 

Popular lego YouTuber on here Jangbricks has done alternate companies builds and often points out inferior quality though has admitted its improved but still not great. Including cobi. 

Your stance on how terrible Lego as a company are for taking on peddlers of knockoffs who are trying to rip off and basterdise their products - good for them. I know not much of the detail of copyright but as a small company graphic designer in the past I was always very aware of using even generic looking artwork or images that had been used in another companies advertising that could be spotted and cracked down on as infringement or required royalties to use. Even as a student! The few Alien products you've shown are clearly carbon copies of a licenced property owned by a large and powerful corporation- different name or not. Just like the old bogus bricks bogus bricks star 'wnrs' UCS copy cats lego went after. They changed the name trying to be clever- didn't help them there.

I've bought one megabloks set in the past couple of years and the clutch power was all over the place and one large part was completely warped. Reported to customer service, request replacement and got nothing back. 

Terrible uncaring despicable lego on the other hand have the best customer service bar none. And besides the product that's what as a customer I care about most. Built an old BNIB UCS set that's been laying around - stickers were warped (yes not a fan of them admittedly) and screwed the canopy piece in my attempt to use them. Emailed lego and in a couple of days got a personal, friendly response with apologies that it's long not been in production so stickers no chance BUT have dug out a canopy from a dusty corner and its on its way. No costs, no questions or proof of purchase to send such a specialised and rare piece. Brilliant. 

Lego are obviously struggling. I mean all those products selling out and profit increases during covid. Your lot has 8 stores in the whole of Germany? Geez they are practically global and own the market there already! Sounds a bit like Wilko lego over here. They do their own sets and versions of lego. Terrible stuff but cheap and fills a niche. But if blue brixx are taking and building using other companies properties and licences that won't end well. 

IMO your peddling like crazy to sell this/your companies stuff. Your passions kind of endearing. 

Also you've dropped the mic and said enough times your out of here, don't care what people say, not commenting again and giving up on saving us from terrible lego. 

Then 30 seconds your back lol.

Cheers for the read. All the best with blue brixx. 

Edited February 9, 2021 by Graphicski

[KShine]

If there was a better brick, I don't expect that many would deny it - but there's not.

Edited February 10, 2021 by KShine

[Sozial]

10 hours ago, Frank Brickowski said:

Parents are not price sensitive? You honestly think that? Isn't it much more likely they are very much price sensitive but simply have never heard about alternative brands? BECAUSE it is "just a kids toy" to many, they would happily pay LESS for bricks of about the same quality. Come on, how many parents are acutally paying EOL sets for 6x the price for their kids. What percentage of parents are we talking about here? 1-5% maybe? The remaining 95% of parents is what counts. As soon as they get to know their options, which is the case now, LEGO will be in even bigger trouble than that caused by AFOLs switching to the other brands.

If you would have sold a decent amount of Lego or Toys in general you would know. I doesnt matter how many we are talking percentage wise, there are enough out there, if there would not be, many of us wouldnt do what they are doing.

With that said, you are just an angry brickbuilder who tries to convince dealers who are earning their money with reselling, that what they doing has no future prospects and not in a nice way.

If you have any connection with bluebrixx than well done, if not a big waste of your time.

[coelian]

7 hours ago, KShine said:

If there was a better brick, I don't expect that many would deny it - but there's not.

Not just better, but even if on par and cheaper it will be noticed. To date I have tried bogus bricks and Oxford, not impressed.  

Even prior to the pandemic Lego revenues have been steadily increasing with huge growth in the China market, one reason why it is so successful in China despite the plentitude of knock offs or other brands is that Lego is well known for its quality and parents are more than happy to pay a premium for it. 

As an investment, I don't see the value going away anything soon. Even as a relative newcomer to the game (~1.5 years selling, collecting for 6 years) there is still money to be made if you play your cards right.

[Frank Brickowski]

10 hours ago, Graphicski said:

Having read through the topics start to current posting your obviously  passionate, but so evasive and contradictory. Harder to pin down than a senior politician on question time - when ever asked for a specific example or source you come back with paragraphs of babble. Your replies and arguments have been so dismissive and evasive.

Yeah, being constantly attacked for about everything I'm writing about this topic from 10 people at the same time, it's actually very easy to reply (irony off). Especially when knowing about nobody will even try to understand but dismiss all of it instead as being invalid. Dozens of times people have claimed the sets I'm talking about being sold ILLEGALLY, which simply is not the case. Instead of asking "what is possible for having a brick choice", people are solely looking for any reasons to put alternatives into a bad light. Very disturbing. Praying to your LEGO god, you seem to have to destroy anything not 100% in line.

 

10 hours ago, Graphicski said:

Comparing lego quality to cobi etc is a good one. As someone who buys and sells joblots, so often I'm forever picking out cheap damn knockoff bricks - I don't have to pay much attention and do it by sight and feel of the cheapness of the knockoffs. I tried selling a kilo of randoms once to see what happened and got 25p for the lot. Investment and personal build wise I'll stick with lego exclusively thanks. 

Popular lego YouTuber on here Jangbricks has done alternate companies builds and often points out inferior quality though has admitted its improved but still not great. Including cobi. 

Having quite a problem to stop laughing right now. JANG? Seriously? He is one of if not THE biggest LEGO fanboy on all of US YouTube. Citing him as a source for an objective comparison is nothing but ridiculous. Plus I don't remember him reviewing an alternative set in about a year (except some small HALO stuff) - and I can only repeat what I've said multiple times: things are changing at dramatic speed. If JANG has said COBI is "not great", he's just wrong. Sorry, COBI has become a premium brick brand in recent years - so much they can even raise prices (still cheaper than LEGO). People still are happy to pay because of the superb quality.

Most of the rest you're writing is nothing but incredibly tiring fanboy talk. Lots of wrong info, outdated experiences, nothing of value for the discussion. Thanks however for trying.

 

Edited February 10, 2021 by Frank Brickowski