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Someone posted on Nextdoor that they were moving and put a bunch of stuff in their driveway for garbage/donation. They said feel free to come by and take whatever. One of the pics had two skateboards in it, and I wanted to get them for my kids. Got there 25 mins after the post and as I pulled up, I saw some lady grabbing pretty much everything and putting it next to her car. All the stuff wouldn't even fit in her Jetta, but she was selfish about it. Anyways, I saw the skateboards in her car and was bummed out. I decided to look anyway and lucked out on a box of Lego that was sitting under another box that she hadn't seen yet. Woohoo! Take that selfish lady!

Woke up to 3 emails: - 1st: Buyer asked me to ship item ASAP because it is for Valentines - 2nd: 5 minutes later reminding me to ship ASAP - 3rd: Cancellation request for the above order. Reason: Found better price I just want to wish good luck to the poor sap who got her order

Wreath backorded for July... at LEGO Shop at Home https://www.lego.com/en-us/product/christmas-wreath-2-in-1-40426

I've never seen someone simp so hard for an alternative brand to Lego. It appears that COBI has etched out a piece of a niche market that Lego for the longest time has said goes against their principles as a children's toy first. I don't see the issue with this. I don't get why you are advocating so hard for this thinking that Lego will be unthroned and these other brands will ruin the all might giant that is Lego. What a weird hill to try to die on as it were. Dude, other brands can coexist with Lego you know. And if Lego is indeed going down a spiral, then so be it. They will suffer the consequences. But you are also on a forum about specifically Lego investing, and the people who love Lego and have some form of loyalty to Lego. This isn't exactly the audience to be trying to mark your territory that some niche brand is going to bury Lego into the ground. It's one thing to bring attention to another brand that may have been improving, and bringing to light someone else who wants to fill in a niche market to otherwise unaware people. But to sit here and try to sort of equate yourself as a david fighting a goliath, is so very strange. You sit here and mock us as being loyal fanboys, is ironic since you are acting even more of a loyal fanboy to these offbrand brick companies. The irony seems completely lost on you dude.

Regarding COBI, I recently saw this review of a COBI Spitfire set by a British LEGO reviewer who has been quite critical of Lego knockoff brands in the past. Here he's pretty positive about the quality of the bricks and the model. Only negative is the minifig that is included. Since LEGO stays away from war models, this is a good niche market to get into for COBI and the likes. If I was a collector of WW2 models in buildable brick form, I would definitely be interested in COBI sets.

2/18 expected delivery. Will be my first monorail, extremely pumped! Saw this last night, pretty epic! https://imgur.com/gallery/0j9Z5Ql I will probably try a scaled down version.

Agreed, I actually do like the bottom of the front bumper/fairing though. But oh man, that grille looks like a horse's nostrils after running the Belmont.

I've seen cobi sets before (think it was at a local garden centre 😳), and they do look very nice. That review linked above confirms their quality and they appear to be a good overall product, not stealing designs, paying for licences to give products their correct name. Then, as per quoted section, we have the Chinese knock offs Xingbao (LEPlN), Decool etc. Stealing designs not paying for them, blatantly copying products like the Bugatti and calling it sports car or Alien Robot or whatever and not dealing with IP holders. Clearly wrong as Frank has acknowledged, legal ?, for now maybe, hopefully not for long. Like bogus Star Plan etc they will be caught eventually. Then we have bluebrixx as a German wholesaler/importer of all these brands? And Frank is defending all of their products. Cobi, no problem. Xingbao ? Behave

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.

Wait, so a site that sells COBI has an article claiming that COBI is equal to LEGO. I really need to stop unhiding your posts, I just get some much validation that I made the right choice to ignore you.

I'm not sure opening eight stores during a global pandemic when building block toys are off the charts for sales is a strong argument. There just isn't enough data to prove your point. In fact, to prove the previous point you were dismissive of; LEGO has been sold out in many cases. If you just had to have a building set, you had to go to a non-LEGO source. LEGO's inability to keep up with demand has opened the door for non-LEGO companies. Once the pandemic is over, many will have been exposed to these non-LEGO companies. Some will be happy, others will never buy from them again. As others have said, when I buy a LOT and I'm sorting through the parts I can instantly see and feel the non-LEGO parts. They're not as square, not as glossy, and cheaply made. It is also interesting how much everyone else builds the exact same parts LEGO makes. Meaning, they're not as creative as LEGO. LEGO is the trendsetter and that costs money to do. Everyone else is just riding LEGO's coattails and trying to do it cheaper, which you can do if you never spend anything on R&D. I don't think anyone has an issue with non-LEGO brick makers producing sets. What isn't kosher is non-LEGO sellers producing sets LEGO already produces, non-licensed sets, or sets that have been designed by people who do not receive credit or compensation for their design.

Stopped in Michael’s to pickup some clearance from yesterday and found a few more on the shelves that rang up correctly at 60% off.

VIPoutlet on eBay has a couple 10261 Roller Coasters for sale for $332.32 with an additional 15% off in cart for $282.47 https://www.ebay.com/itm/LEGO-Creator-Roller-Coaster-10261/124550041200?hash=item1cffc2ce70:g:5rMAAOSwimdgE7uF This is a legit seller, but the boxes will probably be damaged so know that going in.

I found the links to the product display pages. pics are a lil better. what we really need here is for someone to take a loss and unwrap the coin case- the republic is at stake.. coin case: https://www.lego.com/en-us/product/collectable-coin-plastic-case-5006473 castle coin: https://www.lego.com/en-us/product/lego-castle-coin-5006472

For me at least, in NC, no tax and on Friends set Limit 2, only $5.44 shipping which is less than NC 7.025% tax. There was a $4.99 shipping option with no estimated date, too. I wanted it faster so I spent the extra half dollar.

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

Read this like I did, out of context and assuming you are talking about a cat. It's both amusing and super weird.

In this topic: Ethics and lack thereof.

But wait: All parents are price sensitive and all AFOLs will buy different brands since they are better/cheaper, so there wont be any fanboys in the future who will pay x2 to x5. Do you even notice how you contradict yourself?!?

JANGBRICKS' review of this COBI tank was quite positive. The review was posted on December 20, 2019.

This his is just too hostile and dumb as well. I hope you find your piece with whatever vendetta you are having with a toy company. If it would be Monsanto, Nestlé, h&m etc. I could understand your devoted energy, but I so i just see an angry guy. For once more can we close that thread?

And there it is folks... He wants to rip you off... Dude, no matter how much money you make off of selling Lego, you have given Lego the money to continue their dominance of galactic villainy!!!! And you don't give your money to Lego 'temporarily'.... You have permanently given them your money by buying a Lego set. Do you not understand how these kinds of transactions work????

Thank you for those listings. Here are some better pics I was able to crop. I may go after the Gold coin given its just a bigger version of the actual lego gold coins.

I took a look at Walmart this morning. You are right. It’s mostly war models, or military aircraft or vessels. I did see a Titanic model in there, too.

Cancelling

I think you may need to recalibrate your gauges, maverick. Not only has the minifig quickly become Lego's most Iconic product, anecdotally, everyone of the AFOL's ive come across in the past few years are small time hobbyist, or using Lego as an out to everyday stress. To believe the AVERAGE consumer wants serious modeling from Lego is seriously out of touch. And to think AFOL's dont care about figs is another indicator you are either talking out of your arse for good PR or you are truly out of touch. And I do appreciate the conversation you bring to the table. Any form of competition theoretically would make the customer a winner. Serious question, have your ever tried to resell any used set w/out the minifigs? Thank you for providing this link. From what I gather, they are doing things the right way. However, until they are able to produce a better minifig and retaining stronger/popular licenses, I only see them filling a niche that Lego refuses to enter.

So basically, they are the Canes Chicken to the much more superior Chic-Fil-A? Chic-Fil-A does all of the work to decide a location, and Canes just parks it across the street to catch the people not patient enough to wait in their lunch line.

COBI is available in the USA via Amazon and Walmart.

I do not have a dog in this fight. I only would purchase from Lego (and less so last few years—other interests). But did find the following comparison/review, which may already have been posted (apologies if so). Now the review/comparison may not be objective given their interest in Cobi but appears to be somewhat fair. That said, do like the Titanic model that Cobi has. https://warbricks.com/cobi-bricks-vs-lego-understanding-the-difference/

Good question, but I don't know. What I know is they're the brick market leader in military vehicles and have a quality on par with LEGO (with a significantly higher clutch power - their sets being seen more as "model building" for display than for play and being disassmbled some time later). They got a licensing agreement with Boeing (newly released Apache & Chinook choppers for instance), a license for "Top Gun Maverick" with fighter planes, lots of WW2 stuff with tanks and other vehicles from different countries (US, Germany, France, UK, Russia etc.). Also a big variety of ships (some of them licensed for "World of Warships"). They're also covering some more modern conflicts and the Vietnam War for instance. 90% of what they release is "pad printed, no stickers" (their own labelling). Their own-designed minifigures are ugly as hell but most AFOLs care only about the models anyway. https://cobi.pl/en/

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.

Awww yeaaah!

21319 @amazon for $53.99 NL

My wife co-opted our daughter’s FRIENDS set and built that last week. Fun set!

Stretching the definition of the word 'today', but I've finished building a nice job lot I acquired a while ago. Paid £60 for it on eBay, with unhelpful photos and little idea of what was included (but I could just about make out some stickers from 7676 so took the plunge). I've had to spend probably another £150 Bricklinking various missing bits (in no small part made up of the minifigs from 4767) but I estimate that the value is probably ~ £1000 - £1100. I'll be keeping 4767 but selling the rest.

Amazon box left out in the rain, looking incredibly soggy, expecting the worst.

@TheOrcKing @Frank Brickowski 6991 on BL😱😱😱😱😱

Your assessment about copyright laws in Germany (EU) being similar or same as USA while in functionality might be true, they are completely different laws. Otherwise, Europe would be seeing Razor Crest LEGO sets just like we are in the USA. I can tell you that the images I saw on the Bluebrixx website would not fly in the USA. And even if Bluebrixx could win the court case (unlikely in USA), USA corporations would make sure to destroy Bluebrixx in litigation and bankrupt them before allowing them to use anything that resembles their property without proper licensing. (Keep in mind, we're not talking about just one corporation but multiple). BTW, you're assumption that because a company has been doing something therefore they are legit, is presumptuous. A toy company can avoid attention until they can't. Example: Modbrix. How many of us had ever heard of this company before someone there copyrighted the name "Razor Crest" or better put, Disney / Lucasfilm tried to do the right thing and found someone else had beat them to it? I believe this is how Bluebrixx has been avoiding attention, they aren't using the names, just images. But in some cases (new sets) they are using the name, so how long until they are in the news? Modbrix had copyrighted the name and image of the Razor Crest 30 days before Disney filed paperwork to do the same. Now, I'm reading that Modbrix produced the brick set without the original designer's permission, nor was the original designer receiving any compensation from the sale of said brick set. They apparently rectified this after the fact, but that should never have happened. This is the same kind of junk the Chinese knock-off brick companies pull and not just with LEGO, but with rebrickable and LEGO ideas designers as well. This is not cool on multiple levels. Update: As of last Friday, Lucasfilm now officially owns the "Razor Crest" name in Europe and Modbrix is no longer selling their Razor Crest brick set. https://www.stonewars.de/news/razor-crest-wortmarke-deutschland/

File SNAD return the entire lot and give negative feedback and make sure to leave "sells counterfeit minifigures".

With the familiar disclaimer that I am not a lawyer, I will add that this set in particular is skirting a very fine line, if not crossing it. In the U.S. at least. It certainly shares a very strong resemblance to the Alien Chestburster, which as noted above was designed and created by the artist HR Giger for the movie, originally owned by 21st Century Fox I believe and now Disney. Copyrights for graphic characters (which this would fall under as a primarily visual character and recognisable by distinctive visual characteristics) are good for a minimum 50 years, if it is trademarked this can be renewed indefinitely (trademark and copyright are different yes, but share many of the same legal characteristics, as has been seen over the past 20 years). There are many ins and outs to copyright law, again I'm not a lawyer, but in my work copyrights, reproduction rights and licensing are something we deal with frequently. People like to use concrete terms when it comes to copyright but in the end it doesn't matter if you sell/use something as an "outer space bug" as opposed to "Alien Chestburster", or change a minor aspect of it's appearance, there is no guarantee that this is enough differentiation to avoid litigation. In the end it is up to a judge to determine if something is infringing on a copyright. In copyright law for visual designs and products this has to do with a combination of factors that are examined; appearance, context, character traits, and of course, precedence. I'm certainly no expert but based on my dealings I would highly recommend any retailer stay away from selling this product, especially with Disney as the new copyright holders. Its one thing for the Arvo bros to sell it on their own website, it's likely not worth the legal expense for Disney to pursue, but if a large organized company (for instance a company in a position to challenge LEGO's market position) is using this likeness to make money without permission (and maybe they do have permission for all I know) it is only a matter of time. And while a small outfit may get a cease and desist as a warning, a larger company likely would not, especially if the copyright holder thinks they are making any decent sum of money or are using the copyrighted material in a way the copyright holder does not approve of. And no, the offender would not get thrown in jail, but they could be charged a hefty sum and face other civil consequences depending on the circumstances. Its important to note the difference in selling instructions vs. sets the way most independent moc designers do, as this does change things and moves copyright into an even grayer area, here simply changing to a non trademarked name might be enough, it's a bit harder to say definitively. But when larger companies get involved with this it is very problematic, it's easy to say what's the big deal it's just big bad Disney but imagine if LEGO published an original design of a distinctive character by a moc designer, changed a few bricks and the name of the character with no credit to the designer then you begin to see why. Of course in fact this does happen all the time, unfortunately independent designers and artists frequently don't have the resources to take big companies to court, which in a perverse way is why it is all the more important for these large copyright holders to fight these things because they are often the only ones who can. In any event its certainly not ethical and likely not legal. Edit:.If you made it through that wall of text, congats lol.

I have no Insight into lego sales, but stock levels at retailers are on the lower end, so I suppose demand is high or supply low. @Frank B AFOLs are a part of legos business but ITS children what drive sales and the demands of AFOLs are just funny to me, If you dont like it dont buy it, but most people buy it and whine about it on the Internet.

this take is dubious...anyone who says that making a set that looks just like the Razor Crest and claims some sort of legal loophole as making it OK is wrong. I appreciate you trying to enlighten members of this forum of the battles lines drawn in Germany...but I can't agree with your take on "legal". IMO, any idea, name, or image that is a copy or a close copy is wrong regardless of legal loopholes. Not saying LEGO is a saint, but the example of using their name (which is copyrighted) to refer to nonLEGO bricks sounds wrong to me.

make sure you tick 'gift' it will come in a box. if you are obsessed over mint boxes you will drive yourself mad. the longer you do this, the less you care about minor damage. there is a way around it, but not very ethical.

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Ok which one of you (in other videos he references Brickpicker often) has a paid group focusing on 3 sets and is taking a HELOC to buy them. He kinda looks like a pharmacist

Both of mine came this way as well. Was very impressed. Even more so that the skating rink wasn't destroyed by them either.

Straight from Lego. Box within a box. Nice.

Organizing by color makes it actually harder to find bricks, but it is typically the first categorization system used. After a while you will realize that sorting by brick type is the way to go, which can later be refined into sorting by subtype or even color, depending on the amount of available storage.

Way too much work! Sent from my SM-G950U using Brickpicker Forum mobile app