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This is a family forum. I don’t think you’re allowed to talk about your Funwhole here. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Two separate things here, first I am surprised at how many people post pictures on Insta and FB of their "FLego", that's what they call it, fake lego builds. There is an amazing MOC that requires 2 1/2 Rivendell that I was looking at building, but even if not buying the minifigures you are looking at $1K if buying Lego. Also, the Titanic seems to be a big target for fake Lego and most of the UCS SW ships. I haven't looked at this in years so had no idea how prolific it had become. Quality with numbered bags seems to be way up based on reviews and prices are way down with new "official" stores offering purchase options in the USA. Printed instructions and even real "Lego" boxes. These are still stolen IP, knockoffs but not sure what percentage of the market share goes to them versus official Lego sets. Second, Brick Artisan the #2 ranked MOC builder on Rebrickable and BL designer reviewed a new to me building block company, so I thought if it was good enough for him I would give them a try since they are sold on Amazon. These are all original designs not stolen IP that come in boxes better than Lego and include some very unique elements that lego does not produce. I just did a cheap trial set, The Newsstand, for $28.50 and it includes a light kit. I have never built a Lego set with a light kit only light bricks and on this one it is totally integrated into the build so that nothing is visible. All very nice high quality printed parts and a horrible minifigure. The fit and finish was very good with no missing pieces and they do have a parts replacement option although I did not have to use it. The tolerances are so good that the clutch power is so strong that parts are difficult to separate which can be a bad thing. I was thinking about picking up the Farmers Market and Lakeside Cottage but not sure if I want to spend more money on this line. ETA: Oh, I left out the best thing. Name of this company is: Funwhole!

Lego has continued to raise prices, which has given the bootleg companies wiggle room on prices. Watching this consistently since this thread started all those years back, the bootleg prices have moved upwards as Lego provides them room to still be a comparable deal, and make a larger profit on top of it. Take Rivendell for example. Lego: $499.99. Bootleg: Less than 1/3 of the price. I'm sure enough people will be happy to get 3 large sets without "Lego" written on the studs, for the same price. This price difference is worse for resellers than Lego itself. Brick Bank on Amazon today: $655. Bootbank: Can be found at nearly 1/10 the price. Any set that bootleggers keep in production, is hurting product moving on the aftermarket. Sure, most buyers wouldn't buy at that price... but each person that is swayed will affect stagnation. We cater to the upper class with money to blow, but the cost of actual necessities is going up and people may still want to get their fix. I've seen enough "I'm a lifetime Lego buyer but after this, I'm hooked" posts on reddit/facebook to know that people with actual money are being swayed. I disagree with copyright infringement, but I don't blame anyone for saving money for something that they are shoving in their private residence... that someone would need to be close enough (and care enough to pay attention to) a little word written on the studs. I can't agree that the bootleg fans are about instant gratification though, as they wait months after an official Lego set release before they can get their hands on the same set. You'll see many posts about "when will bootlegs make this set" whenever a new desirable set appears. They've just decided that building something a couple months earlier isn't worth paying triple the price. A lot of AFOLs are quite vain about being able to afford expensive sets, and the bootleg fans laugh at them. If I wasn't playing with house money/damn good at finding deals... I can't say being prideful about spending multiple times more than someone else for a non-essential would be enough to make me do it. The younger generations have less disposable income, and have been raised in a culture that focuses on the experience versus the status. Getting the same exact build experience for 1/3 (or less) of the cost... all while not supporting billion dollar profits? That ticks all the boxes. Whether you agree or not, this generation is your future customers. Buying alternatives is going to be ingrained in them, and unlike previous generations... they're going to have an uphill climb with owning property and other essentials to living... I'm not sure the bulk of them are ever going to have "piss away" money to splurge on 400% aftermarket increases.

Interesting topic @Pseudoty Love the competition that F’s create for LEGO—this will push LEGO to up their game in terms of pricing, promotions, and creativity. LEGO has totally taken advantage of the consumer for way too long with their monopoly. The question, as stated above becomes, what percentage of consumers will ditch LEGO? I didn’t grow up with much, so owning an OEM LEGO set has special meaning to me—I don’t care if the F’s are one-to-one. My ability to buy unlimited LEGO to make up for the lack in my childhood speaks to all the hard work I did to change the hand that was dealt to me. I know I’m not alone on this, but I don’t think I represent the majority anymore. I’ve seen this in the timepiece game too. The Chinese Rolex super fakes are near one-to-one (dumbazz Rolex moved their machines to China in the 2000’s to save a buck and those machines were quickly replicated). Despite the one-to-one, almost all the hardworking dudes I know, could care less about the F’s because having the real thing represents something more. To the younger guys though, they’d prefer to own the whole Rolex collection of super fakes than own just one real one. The tide has turned with Gen Y and Z. It’s all about the instant gratification (why do the hard work), the need to be a superficial instagram star, and the hyper cycle of trends that creates a throwaway consumer culture. But maybe it’s me who’s been wrong this whole time. Did I overbuy into these brands marketing gimmicks, aspirational BS, and keeping up with the Jones’s that may not really exist? I kinda think Gen Y & Z are on to something—especially if the quality is becoming one-to-one.

From my understanding the quality is pretty much on par with Lego at this point, and they 1:1 copy everything. Many of the bootleg brands have switched to the numbered bag model, versus chaos building. This only aids to the brand name nostalgia. They also steal (or license in some cases) people's MOCs from rebrickable. https://www.reddit.com/r/bogus bricks/ Since the economy hit the shitter, more people have been lured towards bootlego, and many of them won't return when actual inflation dies down. It also doesn't help that previously you had to go out of your way to visit aliexpress to get bootleg bricks, but now there are a ton of sites with them. The biggest being Temu which takes your search history and shoves ad's at you regarding knockoff items at a fraction of the price. Shipping speeds are also way up on this stuff, and bootlegs that would take 6-8 weeks previously are in your hands in 1-2 weeks now.

showed the same for me. pick one of the lego's and search on amazon. Product page has the offer. Go from there,

https://www.amazon.com/promotion/psp/AVJP5GOM0MKMM?ref=clp_pc_cart_collapse_cpi_t1&redirectAsin=B0BXQ4VHDD&redirectMerchantId=ATVPDKIKX0DER

Amazon deal: LEGO Disney Wish: Asha’s Cottage 43231 is over 60% off when you apply the 20% off coupon at checkout. If you have amex points to use its another 40% off. Total was $9.76 per unit.